The adventures of Nkauj Nag Xiong

My dearest family!

Oh my goodness! This week has been all over the board! I can't believe how fast the time flew by! Well I am just going to write about some key points of my week I guess! As all ya'll saw, I did get to speak in church this Sunday. My topic was on obedience. Our ward does monthly themes. I cracked some terrible jokes at the beginning, but it was a good crowd. Now my ward thinks I am funny, or at least so I think. I felt close to passing out before, I don't know why I was so nervous. I have no idea what I want to talk on this week. We will see. One thing at a time.

We had two investigators at church! I had to use my talk for all it is worth. Lexi was able to make it! That was great. She had homecoming the night before and didn't wake up until 15 minutes before church but she still came! Also Josh came to church! The Mackrory family was having us over for dinner, so they also invited Josh to dinner! So we were able to have a lesson with Josh in their home. It was wonderful! Brother Mackrory left a powerful testimony with Josh of how the Book of Mormon changed his life. We really hope this is a turning point for Josh. The Spirit was so strong and his answers to our questions were so spot on.

I had my final interview with President Cutler on Friday. That phone call was rather shocking! There are so many missionaries going home that he had to do some early. It was a great interview. President Cutler is one of the greatest, most exemplary men I know. He really leads in the Saviors way. Some of his marriage questions did get some eye rolls and cringes out of me. Sister Rosenblum said she could hear us laughing. I had exchanges this week with Sister Kelley and we had a really great time. We stopped at Great Harvest pumpkin bread! Oh it reminded me of home! I haven't had great harvest in years! We also saw Dawn and taught her the Plan of Salvation! It was a beautiful lesson! She also let us know her concerns and how we could help get to the point where she could be baptized and she agreed to work towards December 5th! So exciting! Also Carlene, a deaf member in the 2nd ward gave me contact info of a deaf member in IF who is willing to help me sign! So exciting!

I am so grateful for all the love and support you have all given me. Your prayers have definitely boosted me up. Your letters and packages have brought me joy. You have given me the foundation I needed to serve this mission. This mission has been the best thing that has happened to me up to this point in my life. It doesn't end here though, life will only get better if I use the things I have learned. I wouldn't trade anything in this mission that I have experienced. I have truly felt joy as I have watched others change and as I have felt that change within my heart. I have experienced such sorrow and grief, however that burden was lifted and carried by my Savior. I have learned the redeeming and freeing power of the atonement. It is only with the help of my Savior and the relationship that I was able to create with him that I am here at this point. I will forever be grateful. I can never deny the miracles and the Spirit that guides God's work. It truly is a marvelous work and a wonder to be a part of.

I love you all so much and I can't wait to get to hug everyone of you!

I love you more than infinity and beyond!

Sister Trent

The Last Leaf

Dear Family!

It was a great week! We had a beautiful baptism. Deandre got baptized! Now I know it's confusing. Kristy got baptized the weekend before I got here and she is a 30 year old single mom of 3 boys. Deandre is 10, Zavier is 7 and Travon is 6. Deandre almost got baptized 3 other times but Kristy didn't feel quite comfortable yet. He was grinning ear to ear, jumping from floor to ceiling and running from wall to wall. Such a cute boy. There was a very good turn out. I got to play the piano and pray and Sister Rosenblum got to give a talk on baptism. She made a joke that Deandre liked me better because he let me just pray :) However I have to give a talk this week in church because of her so I have been throwing her under the bus for everything there is to volunteer for. Travon was so excited for the baptism too that after the kids were playing on the stage and Travon spun right off the stage and landed on his face. That poor kid just has a bruised half of his face. It was fun to help Deandre to prepare for this moment.

Sunday after church Kristy had us over for dinner and the cutest thing happened. The boys lost their volleyball and were all upset and Zavier told them if they said a prayer the Holy Ghost would help them find it. So Deandre said a prayer and they all went searching and found it! It was such a great experience. I think especially for Kristy. She has 3 rambunctious boys but that was a tender moment.

We had a really fun time this week tracting in the fall leaves. We came up with the motto, "A block a day keeps Satan locked away" Cheesy I know, but it keeps us motivated. We had one of my favorite Book of Mormon experiences this week. We were tracting on a street and knew there was a less active nearby that we had never met. So we knocked on his door and this guy answered the door looking shocked we were there. He was a hilariously happy guy. Probably because it was Sunday and that is the day every Wisconsinite drinks their little heart out. We asked if he had ever heard of the Book of Mormon before. Very thrilled he said, "Yeah! That is a great book!" We were kind of taken aback. No one has ever given that response before. He had a good Mormon friend in college but never had a Book of Mormon. So we gave him one and set up a return appointment. So I hope that goes well and that he is just as receptive sober :)

We saw Jim again this week and he took us out to lunch. I can't wait to tell you all about this man. They need to make a movie about him. He has a cool conversion story.

What's your verse? Mine is D&C 121:41-42. It is a good one! I changed mine last week to D&C 6:34. I have always liked it but this week it stood out to me when it says let earth and hell combine against you that earth could represent things we can't control. Like sudden things no expects, health issues, accidents, unforeseen things. Hell could represent evil things that people do that effect you. It was really helpful to me and neat.

I love you all! Have a great week! Be safe! Take care!

I love you more than all the falling leaves!

Anne

Dear Family!

Well can you believe it was General Conference! I LOVED it! What more can you want in life? It is literally manna to the soul. Fun fact! I have 2 actually that correlate with conference. Did you know that Elder Renlund was President Cutler's mission companion in Sweden?! How cool is that! That was a weird reality. Then fun fact number 2! Elder Schwitzer who spoke is coming to the mission next month for a mission tour and general conference. President Cutler and his wife entertain authorities when they come and President Cutler is taking Jim and his wife and Elder Schwitzer and to lunch! How cool is that! Jim seemed pretty excited. I really hope and pray that pans out. He accepted the invitation, it is just a matter of getting him there. When we met with Jim he gave us an electronic copy of his book he wrote on being a spiritual guide. It aligns pretty well with Preach My Gospel.

Oh! I made something really really cool this week! I am not going to tell you what it was or send a picture. I just want you to wait in anticipation and see it in real life.

There was a funeral for one of our members this Saturday and the Rebarchik's from West Allis came! Oh it was great to see them! I gave them a note for Fred. I really hope I can say goodbye to people in West Allis while I am in Milwaukee for transfers!

We saw Dawn again, sadly she did not make it to conference. That would have been exciting. But she is noting the changes in herself as she reads and meets with us. Baby steps.

Sunday, Sister Rhodes made us a big breakfast and had some other families from the ward over, too. We watched the first session at her house and then watched the second session at the church. Her breakfast is to die for. I think quality breakfast foods are great! She makes syrup out of cookie butter. Wow. After that, The Barker's had us over for dinner for additional amazing food. The cooks in the ward are spectacular.

The crazy pictures are of us and some youth at volleyball. It was the two young men's last week before they leave on their missions. They took all of us missionaries out to dinner too! It is funny seeing that. We also had a young man in our ward come home from his mission this week too. Ah!

Did mom cry during Elder Holland's talk? I bet moms all around the world were weeping. That was beautiful! I loved Elder Hales talk. It answered a bajillion life questions. I loved all that was said about saving money in general conference too! I also like the ponderize talk. As I am sure all of facebook loved. Are there enough memes about it yet? What is your verse? Mine is 3 Nephi 9:14 this week. I'll tell you how it goes next week!

Well I hope ya'll have a spectacular week full of safe travels! That is so exciting Tyler is going to the temple! I can't wait to go to the sealing! Be safe! Make good choices! I love you!

I love you more than the air smells of cows!

Anne

I am the baker, I bake the cake. Make no mistake, I like to bake.

Dear Family,

Well it's been a pretty good week! It was a really good Sunday this week. It was ward conference which is just especially edifying. The best part was they asked me to substitute as the primary pianist! Oh it was fantastic! I walked in and I told the chorister, "I just can't play A Child's Prayer, ok?" Literally 10 seconds later the primary president got up, welcomed the kids and announced we'd be singing A Child's Prayer! Oh boy! It turned out better than I would have imagined. I need improvement for sure but considering how many times I've touch a piano on my mission and that I was warmed up I would say it was an accomplishment!

We went to mass with Josh on Saturday and we took Nikisha with us. It was a good experience again. He isn't as willing to come to our church now though. He did take the 3 of us to dinner afterwards at a ridiculously nice Korean restaurant. It was delicious, but lets just say if I was paying for myself I would have taken one look at the menu and walked out. It was very nice of him. Nikisha is just wonderful. Every time we take her out with us she always invites people to church and tells them how great it is!

Wednesday we made a list from the ward list of people we wanted to go meet and it actually turned out to be a wonderful experience. From my previous experience of doing that either no is home, they pretend not to be home, or say get away from my home. But 3 of the 5 let us in and it was so good! Wonderful people and one came to church on Sunday!

We also saw Dawn again this week. She is opening up to us more and being more honest about her concerns which is just so helpful! She is so prepared for the gospel! We just need to help her have the courage to step foot in the church.

It was also birthday week this week. We knocked on Nikisha's door and happened to be right in time for her son De'Angelo's birthday cake and presents! It's like missionaries have a 6th sense for food. We didn't know it was his birthday even. The next day we baked a cake for Kristy's birthday and took family photos for her. It was fun until we were out in the middle of a field and unreasonably large spiders started crawling on us. Not cool. Kristy's son's baptism did get postponed for the last time :) October 10th is the official date! Which means the adversary is going to try hard to make it not happen. Keep him in your prayers, DeAndre. He is a good kid,, nevertheless he is a rambunctious kid.

Saturday night we had a neat experience. We dropped by Kristy's house and Carolyn a former investigator was sitting in her kitchen. She is going through a rough time and she asked if the Elders could give her a priesthood blessing. So we called the Elders and got them over. The Spirit was very strong and I think it made an impression on everyone there.

We also saw Jim this week. He is still reading Jesus the Christ and studying. We gave him like 4 hefty talks to read and he said he'll happily read them by our next meeting. It's so funny, the first thing he does when he picks up a talk is turn to the back and look at the sources. If he doesn't like the sources he tosses it. It has made me pretty impressed with the knowledge of our church leaders though. They, according to Jim, have some great sources. We gave him one and he'll say, "Oh I have this book, I've read that one, I wrote a paper on that one, I know the author of that one, this guy taught me,ect." Our jaws all drop a little bit. I hope my IQ goes up every time we meet with him.

I feel like like my letters are getting progressively shorter. I think it's a combination of the weeks are flying by and my brain is fried. I can hardly remember a thing anymore. I did have a dream dad gave me an iPhone 6. You may think that is a joke but it is not :) I just went back and added more to my letter so you can imagine how short it was. Sorry if it makes no sense. Safe travels and everything. Next week borrow one of Jake's computers to write my letter on ;) Have fun holding the new baby!

I love you more than all the birthday cakes in the world!

Anne

Amazing Grace!

Dear Family,

I am waiting on the edge of my seat for baby news! I vote that as soon as pictures can be taken and printed, they should be sent! Because that will hopefully get here faster than me waiting until next Monday to meet baby boy Trent and all the exciting weights and measurements and name and cuteness. I hope all goes well.

Of course we saw Jim again this week. That man. It is a pleasure to be in his company. We gave him "The Blueprint of Christ's Church" last week and so we talked about it this week. There are a few points that he didn't entirely agree with, yet. And a lot of key ones that he was okay with believing. We got onto the subject of infant baptism. We got talking and he had similar beliefs about children being clean and whatnot, so we asked his thoughts on original sin. Oh boy! He got all excited, went to the other room and came out with a paper. It was a sermon he gave at his granddaughter's baptism. His daughter asked him to give the sermon, he asked her if she was sure. He got up there and gave this wonderful sermon that destroyed the concept of original sin. It really was a good sermon. I am hoping to leave his house next time with a copy. He was reading it out loud to us and saying things like, "Wow! This is really good! I can't believe I wrote this!", "I sound like a Mormon! This is really scary!" It was hilarious. He is coming along. He is going to watch general conference this week. He is looking forward to hearing from his friend Dieter.

We also went to one of our investigators house and she showed us the most amazing quilt I have seen in my life! I took a picture of it for you mom :)

Lexi and Stacy made it to both volleyball and mutual this week. We went with Lexi to mutual and it happened to be a barbecue. We stayed to true to the missionary motto, they come, they eat, they leave. Our bishop saw us when we showed up and said, "Of course the missionaries found the free food! It's too bad the Elders weren't smart enough" It gave us a good laugh. Our bishop is a character. He also had the youth sing really loud to get the neighbors to ask him questions to present missionary opportunities. We helped people move this week, we got sweet unexpected dinners and lunches! So many kind people so kindly fed us. We met a lot of members in the ward. We traveled way out in the boonies of Wisconsin to locate people. Spent way too much time in the car, but I would say it was a successful adventure. Saw some sweet cars. Met some nice people. Ate ice cream. Rode our bikes. Attempted to run. Taught the gospel. It was great. Laughed. Sweat. Smiled. Itched.

That's my summary. I loved general conference as well. I am 100%, positively, absolutely stoked for general conference. I am on the edge of my seat excited. I can't wait.

Now for my favorite part of this week. Sacrament meeting. It was one of those moments that will forever go down as one of my favorites. Let me tell you about the sweetest woman named Alberta. I hope no one takes this story the wrong way, I love this woman as does everyone in the ward. She is a character and a half. She is the spunkiest 85 year old woman I have ever met, just this tiniest petite little thing. Her eyes are so wrinkled and droopy she can hardly see, so when she wants a good look at you just just props her eyes open. So cute! She will sit down at the piano, hold her eyes open to look at the key of the song and start playing like a concert pianist. Also, you can never get away with singing a song unless she leads with both arms, very animated. She got up and bore a 25 minute testimony telling a story of one members who passed away. She got all caught up with it and she was going, using the best metaphors I have ever heard in my life. She all the sudden exclaimed, "Let's all just sing one verse of Amazing Grace!" She lifted her arms, took a breath, I was getting ready to take a breath wondering who all was going to sing. The Bishop jumped up, whispered something to her. She went back to the pulpit and told us the bishop said no. It was cute and hilarious. Our bishop's face was so red! It was a good moment.

Dawn is doing well still, we are working slowly but surely getting her to the church. DeAndre is set for the 10th for his baptism. We are very excited for that! The work is going well. Great ward, great life.

I hope this week is fantastic for you. Have fun watching general conference and be safe! I love you all so much! Love you more than I wish we would have kept singing!

Anne

I Got Straightened Out

Dear Family!

I just feel so good today! For many reasons! I feel blessed! I just opened my email to a new job at Deseret Book, blessing from on high! It is celestial work there. Thank you Heavenly Father! Also last night we were at the best kind of dinner parties. It was at the Wihongi's with the usual feast from on high. 4-5 fun families. One of which is Brother Haskin's which I have mentioned before. He is the 8th degree black belt. Well turns out that he not only knows how to take apart the body but also put it back together. He looked at me and said, "Sister Trent you look wrong." What? He then uses fancy terms I don't know how to repeat. He then asked if he could realign my back. Yes. So he did! It was awesome! I was popping more than popcorn! I didn't feel bad before but now I feel great! 

I forgot to tell you a funny story from last week. So we went and saw Josh again and we had to meet outside because we didn't have a member with us. He had all of these plants on his porch one of which were peppers that neither of us had ever seen before. They are named "Devil's Spit" That should have been a sign. So Sister Rosenblum said she would eat one if one of us ate one. Of course all of us had way too much pride to say no even though we knew better. So I ate a whole one. Oh my goodness. At first it wasn't bad. then everything went painful numb. The more you breathed the more it hurt! Thankfully he gave us a glass of milk. I was okay, Sister Rosenblum wasn't as ok. But we all survived!

So we had a miracle this week. We have been trying to contact this less active man for ages! Never home. We pulled up this time and he was outside smoking! Which is a good thing in it's own little way. But he immediately shared his conversion story and bore a beautiful testimony. He was so close to going on a mission but he slipped up smoking once and it went downhill. The cutest part was he had his son come out and the son was helping tell the conversion story. He is only 12 but he knew his dad's story and he knew his love for the gospel. The kids ended up coming to church on Sunday! Fransisco didn't but one step at a time. 

Just a side note. That will help you understand the pictures I will send. The brown hair is from an awesome package from Jake & April's family. I can't explain it anymore than that. We thought we would put it to good use. 

It has been exciting in our ward, 2 young men just got their mission calls and it is still strange as always to be on this end and see that! Both have 5 weeks to prepare. That is crazy to me considering I had 4 months! Our ward is so great though. We have been having lots of opportunities to get to know the members better. They are so sweet. I would live in Appleton. 

We were able to also finally see Dawn again! She is a little difficult to get a hold of! She is just the sweetest thing though! Oh my goodness. She loves the Book of Mormon and reads it. She is pretty sickly which is why it is hard to get in with her. So this time we decided to give her several pamphlets so she could read and study. I think it will help a lot with being able to teach her. She gets to have it mostly between her and the Spirit. She was crying and just felt the Spirit so strong, she loves the strengths she receives from the Book of Mormon and she just loves Joseph Smith. It is interesting yet neat having to teach her in the way that helps her the best. 

We had a lot of things not go as planned this week but it didn't go really as planned. But that is okay, the Lord still blesses us with His love. I am always just struck by His great mercy for us. It is indescribable. He blesses me with a really cool not coincidence yesterday. So ther Elders in another ward have been trying to get me to meet a deaf member in the 2nd ward for a while now but it just hasn't worked out. I finally got to see her for 10 minutes before church started. She is so kind and I am so rusty. We were talking and I find out she just moved from Idaho Falls 2 years ago! WHAT? I couldn't believe it! What are the chances! We didn't have too much time  to talk, we will hopefully next Sunday. meanwhile I will be brushing up on my signing. I am going to find out where all the deaf people are in IF so I can go be friends with them. I am pretty excited! 

I love you so much family! I appreciate all the letters! It's exciting times! I can't wait to see pictures of my new nephew and here news about Lindsey! I hope all goes well!

I love you more than I love fall weather!

Anne

p.s. To answer you're questions. Yes we still ride bikes. Not as much. I am sure the last week of the month it will be a lot. Sister Homan and Kelsea were companions. Sister Rosenblum is an awesome companion! I love her!

I'm Singing in the Rain

Dear Family!

Wisconsin is bipolar. However we are currently experiencing my favorite kind of weather, that is RAIN! Lots of it! We had a huge rain storm one night and we got an inch of rain that night. We've gotten some good thunderstorms too that shake the soul and windows. It is still raining, I am pretty sure it has been 24 hours straight too! 

This week really not too much "missionary proselyting" stuff happened. We had a week full of meetings and stuff! Let me give you a meeting log. 

So Tuesday we had a zone training meeting down in Neenah and it took a very long time. And I can't remember really what happened because this missionary forgot her notebook which my brain doesn't work without. But we also had to pack up and clean and get ready to move for Wednesday!

So Wednesday we knew we were moving and the mission office said to leave our whole day empty because it would take all day. We thought we could get it done in 6 hours. Boy were we wrong. All day! We were SO exhausted by the end of the day. It was ridiculous. My whole body and mind was done. I don't know how ya'll ever moved houses! We moved apartments that are furnished. But it was worth it because I love our new apartment! It is beautiful and bright and happy.

Didn't mean to send that yet. My bad. I will include pics of the apartment though. The only problem is the AC does nothing for our room. It's hot. I am sure we won't have to worry too much longer about that.  

We did have cool missionary moment. With Jim. We went to his house on Thursday. He was speechless. It was the most genuine I have ever seen him. He is reading Jesus the Christ and it went along perfectly with the Godhead because he is reading about the pre-mortal life and grand council. He just has never thought of it that way. Ever. It was like he was in shock. Now he is really studying. He asked to have two weeks between our meeting because he wanted to study more. I really hope this is a turning point for him. I think his meeting with the missionaries went from entertainment, to better entertainment/curiosity, now he needs to know. We will keep praying that he can accept the truths he learns. We have another article to throw at him to keep adding :) 

Friday we had our halfway training point for the new missionaries. That was fun! I saw a lot of  missionaries I hadn't seen in awhile and met a lot of new good ones! I met a fellow nerd, Sister Palmer who is going to Janesville and Sister Stosich is finishing her training. We had lots of roleplays and lots of stuff thrown at the new missionaries. I remember those days. It was neat though to hear all the things said for the missionaries in  the beginning of their missions yet the Spirit still spoke to me about what I needed nearing the not beginning. 

I also took Sister Rosenblum out for her taste of Wisconsin at Culver's, she enjoyed Custard. 

Saturday was a great day because it was our first full proselyting day all week! We went out to New London and helped out Selina, a less active with organizing an cleaning. She fed us a delicious lunch and her daughter is so funny. We also had an appointment with Fernando and his daughter. She begged to come to church and they were so close to but right before church he texted us telling us he will come next week. So we will be crossing our fingers. 

Sunday we had a huge feast at the Wihongi's. I am sure I gained 20 pounds from that meal. You can't beat Wihongi food and there is so much of it! You can't stop! I don't really want to give you a food log either. I could. 

Yesterday we went over to teach her family a lesson and she was really frustrated with her boys not cleaning and she was telling us how she wanted to just throw all their stuff away! (sound familiar?) So we asked if they wanted to throw stuff away and they said yes! So we went up and gave away to black garbage bags full of toys! Willingly. They still have a lot. Hopefully that will help Kristy feel better, less of a mess to make right. Of course where there is a will there is a way. We also walked with her and the boys to church because they are a block away from us. It was hot but fun. 

It was a good week despite all the long stuff, it threw me off. It was actually very good and just the right boost. I definitely can feel the Lord's love and his guidance in the work. I can't wait for a good work week this week!

I love you more than I love the mountains!

Anne

Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Dearest family of mine whom I love,

Wisconsin sure know how to have bipolar weather. I had to whip out my jacket today, did you know that? It is chilly. My fingers might freeze to the keyboard. I also could be a little dramatic right now. Just a little. It has dropped 40 degrees since last Saturday when I almost died of heat. Enough complaining, I get it. 

Guess who came to church this week! Jim did! We didn't get to talk to him because he had to go a little early but that was huge! President Cutler will be thrilled! We had a good lesson. We assign him whole books between visits. He read 3 Nephi this time, 1 Nephi last time. I guess it will be how we get him to read the whole thing. We also gave him Jesus the Christ. And an Ensign. We know how to load him up. It is fun teaching him. He is getting ready for a few books to be my good bye present, including the one he wrote. Wha?

Oh another crazy story. So, Nikisha put braids in bubbles hair and then let me trim the bottoms of the braids. It's funny because I offer to almost everybody who talks about their hair that I could cut it for them. They all ask if I cut hair and I say no. But they let me! I couldn't believe it! I don't think it was bad either. I walk in the footsteps of my seester. 

Also the Elders told deaf members in their ward (Neenah) that I sign and they want to meet me, however then they mislead them into thinking I was good enough to interpret! Ha! Good one! So I am nervous about that one. 

Nikisha has been helping us so much this week. She has been giving us rides, feeding us, letting us borrow bikes. I just love her and her family. She is taking her calling very seriously. So is Kristy. Her son Travon had strep Saturday night and she felt so bad about not being able to go to church the next day. So we had her home teacher come over and give him a blessing and guess what! They were able to come to church! So that was great!

So this week we tracted into a Jehovah's Witness. She was interested but she talked to us and I got to ask about her beliefs. It was really helpful to find out what they actually believe in because they get a pretty bad rap. 

We found a former investigator this week. His name is Fernando. he is so nice! He came to church in the past and loved it and wants to come and bring his daughter. We met with him outside and it was about 7:30-8, getting dark. He pulled up a chair for me and I sit and hear a splash and look down and a river of water is flowing out from the chair that I just sat in... It was funny! I gave Sister Rosenblum this wide-eyed look and she tried not to laugh as she saw all the water. Thankfully it was dark. I just strategically walked around the rest of the night. My dress just soaked up the water :) it was good. 

We were also able to get in contact with Josh again! We both just know he needs the gospel. We are trying different tactics. 

Well it sounds like the Audi is a lot of fun, and a lot of fun to show off. Can't wait to drive it. I hope everyone is doing well. Tell grandpa I miss him and give him a hug for me. I hope he is okay! Just hug everyone for me! And fyi, it was Devon who sent the chips! That is a good friend. 

I love you more than I already love the Audi,

Anne

Who Sent the Chips?

Dear Family!

It was another good week. Wisconsin just knows how to throw them at you! It has been a HOT week! Wow! I don't know if I have ever sweat so much in my life. Sister Rosenblum was just living the life because she comes from this kind of heat. It shouldn't be legal to get that hot. Someone needs to change something. If I thought we drove a ton last week! Oh boy was I wrong! I had never been to the edge of our ward boundaries but now I have been on both ends. It is a big ward! So last week a member brought her friend Camille to church. We got talking to her and she was actually moving soon. So we said we would help her here and other missionaries would help her in Milwaukee. She gave us her address and when we plugged it into the GPS it was in Clintonville 35 miles away! Whew! So we had a nice road trip up there. We helped pack a lot of her stuff, she had cats so Sister Rosenblum and I were sneezing and sniffling away. But it was all good, after she took us for ice cream and we taught her a lesson. She had a ton of questions and could really feel the Spirit, so by the end she asked if we could not only ask the missionaries in Milwaukee to help her move but to teach her! Yes! It was great!

We got to see Jim again this week, he finally gave us his paper he has been writing, I will attach it below. It is pretty good! Kind of mind boggling, he really is a philosopher. It is great going over there. He is just amazed by what he is learning. That is what you get if you study the Book of Mormon! Good stuff.

Wow! Craziest thing happened this week. I almost forgot. This may not sound all extraordinare to you but to me and Sister Rosenblum, we are greatly astonished! So, Thursday morning I get off on a tangent about Earthquake chips. I talked about how we used to sell them at the Lion House until it shut down and we had no more chips. I told her about me and Aleesha going on crazy adventures to find these chips in Utah. No luck, but we found a substitute and figured that was it, no more Earthquake chips. Thursday I got this huge package that said Idaho potatoes. Inside were 8 big bags of these chips! What!? What are the odds. I went on a 15 minute tangent about them and that day I get a box of them. And there was no clues on the box as to who they were from. Modern day miracle. Probably one of the 3 nephites I suppose. 

So our neighbors Stacy and Lexi came to volleyball again. They are great! They were supposed to come to church too but they ended up not making it. However Stacy is now helping me with my family tree. Hopefully we find some good stuff. 

So Saturday was crazy. It was a really really hot day and of all days we picked that one to go out to New London. We don't have a lot of miles so we decided to walk around New London. Oh boy, bad idea. I'd rather do that on a rainy day than 95 hot and humid! Thankfully half way through a less active member let us in, gave us cold water and a giant piece of zucchini cake. Yum! Yum! Good stuff. We met lots of new people though and gave away several Book of Mormons so it was worth it. 

I have really enjoyed my studies this week. I have been reading Acts. I have never really read it before, but it was so good. Paul is so cool. He is the best missionary. I had some hardcore sweet movies running through my head as I read it. Hollywood needs to move on from Noah and Exodus and so Paul. And the Book of Mormon. Oh man. My imagination I think has improved a lot on my mission. It may be my lack of movies or it may be reading has improved and I can understand scripture better. Or both. That is all besides the point though. I  loved Paul's determination. He had his conversion and he never would do anything to taint that. He wanted to let everyone know that Jesus really was the Christ. I think it is interesting, a lot of people believe that around here however they don't understand what that means. The gospel is so beautiful, it makes sense, it can fill your soul with light and joy. It is better than Earthquake Chips!

Anyways! I am glad you found the car! So glad, I literally shouted out loud for joy. I have witnesses. Good thing I am ok at stick shift and can improve. Mmm.. I will have sweet dreams about convertibles. 

I love you more than all the sweet things in this world,

Anne

Organs, typewriters and wicker chairs

Mi Familia! 

It was a pretty good week! Lots of driving again! Good thing I love to drive! We had a zone conference out in Oneida. It is a cute little branch made up of a lot of members of the Oneida tribe. They were probably the nicest branch. Usually like 5 or 6 relief society women come and help feed us. There were like 20 members, the activity day girls sang for us. They made traditional Oneida tacos! It was great. I don't know too many people in my zone yet. It was my last zone conference. I had to give my final testimony. It was dreadful. It made me want to barf. Still kind of makes me want to barf. :) 

So, we are still meeting the Episcopal priest, Jim. Guess what. He met his match! Sister Rosenblum! It was great! She was sent here for him! Wrapped up with a pretty bow! He is very analytical, he is writing papers convincing himself of the church. That is great, he is learning in his way. Well Sister Rosenblum is really good at taking info and presenting it in a very nice understanding way. It makes sense (sometimes I lack that ;) ) It was so good. When he found out a new missionary was coming he said he would be nice and not scare her off. Turns out she made him sweat! Just what he needed. I think it will be a motivator for him to study more. He has got to be on his toes now. 

The laundromat family is great. The missionaries are going over there 3 times a week with members and Cap is coming to bball Saturdays at 6 in the morning! However they haven't made it to church yet unfortunately. But they are on fire! 

We were able to finally see Dawn again! She is the one who wanted to read the Book of Mormon for 15 years! She has been sick and won't answer the door. Well we "happened" to come around the time that her brother was supposed to come and we knocked his knock. So, she answered the door! Yipee! That was great! She is still as sweet as ever! She recommitted to read and we reset her baptism date for October. 

We were able to get in contact with Amanda and Micah again! They have so much potential! I also can't spell. I am pretty sure I have had to fix a word in almost every sentence. That is probably why I am taking so long to write this. They are just a cute little family and both the husband and wife are wanting to learn more! Bonus! Usually the spouse anti's the other. Not this one! 

We gave Gregg one of the young men our meal calendar this Sunday to take around. He went around the building and invited everyone to sign up! It was so funny! He got his mom to sign up and they live out in the boonies! It was a beautiful drive! It was perfect because there was a new part member family that just moved there that we stopped by to see! They are so nice! LOTS of potential! He oversees all the goodwills here. So we went to his store today and had lots of fun ;)

We play volleyball on Friday nights with all the missionaries, investigators and members! We had a good turn out this week! Our family history neighbor Stacy came with her daughter. Walter came with Nikisha. Kristy and her family came! It was just a blast! I totally bruised my wrist. And my ego. Who am I kidding. 

This was a great week. I have been reading the New Testament and I am almost done with John. It just hits me again and again how much the Savior loves us. We don't have to be perfect, we just have to live up to what we can. Thank goodness for mercy. I love this gospel.

I hope ya'll have a great week!

I love you more than I love spell check! (If I didn't have it you could tell how much I loved it by the struggle of my spelling in this letter)

Anne :)