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 :)

Hey Ya'll

Dear Family!

It was a great week! It's been so hot I think my brain is fried! It really is! So We got to take a nice long road trip down to Milwaukee on Tuesday night and I got to pick up my trainee. Her name is Sister Rosenblum, she's from the south ya'll! She is from Memphis, Tennessee! She is great! She is an only child. Her favorite color is yellow. Her dad is a Jew. She has taught me lots of cool things about jewish culture and the bible. My accent is really mixed up right now. You won't be able to tell where I served my mission. At all. :) It is the hardest thing to not pick up on. She is really fun, I love her! It is going to be a great 12 weeks! There is nothing more perfect!

When we went to Milwaukee I got to see of 4 companions! Sister Packer, Plante, Weaver and Rousseau! It was really sweet! And guess who else I got to see!! Tina!!!! I just love her! It was so great to see her again. I emailed her last Monday and told her I would be at the church :) Sneaky sneaky...

So Monday we did laundry at a new laundromat and we met a great family. We were so excited to go and teach them the next day. We show up to their house and meet the kids and it was incredible. I have never seen anything quite like it, but their countenances were just glowing! Especially the oldest, his name is Cap and he is 14. We taught the restoration and they were so excited to learn what a prophet was. Cap understood so well he explained it to his mom. Then we told the story of Joseph Smith. They were thrilled that he was 14 years old. Cap immediately thought of Samuel in the bible. The way Juanita looked at her son when she heard about Joseph was just a look of complete love! She could see her son's potential. It was the sweetest. I haven't felt the Spirit like that while teaching. This family is prepared. We set a baptismal date with them and they were so excited. We drove away and realized they lived outside our ward boundaries :) Oops! So we had a lesson with the 2nd ward elders and did a little pass off. That was a neat lesson too. Juanita asked about missions and when we explained them and that we left our families she looked over at Cap and asked, "Would you want to do something like that?" It was so cute! And they are getting involved with the other ward. It was just so great to be a part of that! 

Tuesday we saw a really cool investigator. His name is Jim, he used to be an episcopal priest. He really teaches us more than we could ever teach him. He is writing a paper on progressive revelation and teaching himself really. He is one of the most religiously smart men I have ever met. He will make a great member! 

We went to go find a potential investigator, she wasn't home but Jay was. When we first started to talk he said some pretty choice words and didn't seem very interested. But we kept talking and it turned out great. His heart just softened as we explained how Christ's church was set up and how ours was set up. The same! He accepted a Book of Mormon and was eager to meet again. 

We met with Alex again, he has a lot of promise! The Young Men in our ward are just great examples off missionaries! It is so great! These young people are so prepared! We got to see Brandon again, his sister got to him so he is starting to be hesitant. The key is the Book of Mormon. He just needs to keep reading. Every one should read. 

Church was really cool this Sunday! Two people showed up who the members invited! One was a young woman who comes to volleyball nights. It was so great to have her at church! Then one of the members invited her friend who was about to move. We volunteered to help her move and she was so happy! She was happy that there were missionaries in Milwaukee where she is moving to as well! She just loved church! She even clapped for one of the comments in Relief Society!

Well it sounds like you are all having a blast! I hope no one gets too sun burnt! I pray everyone will drive home safely! I just love you all so much! 

I love you more than ice cream melts in the sun!

Anne

A Catholic Father, a Baptist Priest, and a Mormon Missionary

Dear Family!

Another great week! But when is it not! I mean this is the life. Bear Lake doesn't sound nearly as good as Appleton Wisconsin, where the apples are ripe already to harvest! But next year you can take me to see this Juanito Bandito. I have his shirt already. So. Crazy stuff here. Sister Rousseau goes home on Wednesday and guess who just got an email saying she is training? Sister Goldwater. And possibly a Sister Trent too. So that is awesomely terrifying. But on the bright side that means I get to finish my mission off here! Yay! No more transfers!!! I am so happy! 

So Josh invited us to go to mass with him. So we went to St. Pius Catholic church on Saturday. We show up and the Father is like right there, he didn't look to thrilled with us being there. After mass we were talking to Josh when he invited the 2 Fathers to come talk with us, again both didn't really want to but they did. We started talking about the family because they had a really good family conference coming up. We talked about Elder Eyring going to the Vatican for the marriage and family symposium and they just opened up. We ended up volunteering for their family conference that will be in a month. It was a cool interfaith experience where we could unite in the same beliefs in defending the family. Also Josh came to church with us! It was great!

Then Sunday after church we had an appointment with a family, Jennifer and Jed. They are Baptist and had a lot of questions so we brought a very knowledgeable family from the ward, the Bowmans. We show up and they had invited their pastor...oh boy! It was an interesting meeting. It had potential to blow up but it was pretty good. Everyone walked away with the Book of Mormon and an invitation to read. We will see what comes of it. I feel like the people here in Appleton are very educated, it's making me study my Bible a lot more than I ever needed to before. 

So we went to a less active member's house but she wasn't there. Her son was there with 2 friends. None of them were super religious because I think they have never gotten the chance. They all were open but we went to visit one of them, Jayden, and he is reading! He is keeping commitments! It is great! He is 16 and he lives with his family and his aunt's family. Every time we go we meet new people! 4 people in the house are reading the Book of Mormon! Yay! That is so exciting! Jayden is coming to the Young Men's President's home tonight. His whole family is very supportive, it's so great!

We did see Deborah! She also came to church Sunday! She is very free spirited! We are trying to help her find her family. She has had a complicated past so hopefully we can find her links. We set a baptism date for October 17th! It'll be good. We are having her meet with us in member's homes this week. She is so kind! 

So Kristy's son Deandre is preparing for baptism. She has been praying to find her 3 boys suits but she hasn't been able to. She found them all suits this week for $8.50! The boys were SO excited! They looked so nice on Sunday! She said Deandre woke her up, before her alarm went off, with his suit on and told her he was ready to go!  Too cute! We are helping her other son prepare for his 8th birthday and get him excited. 

So we met Alex this week, he is friends with several young men in this ward. We met him at the church and had a really good lesson and he committed to be baptized! It's great! All of his friends are prepping for missions. What better way than helping your friends! Also we went on exchanges with the YSA sisters so we could transition our YSA aged investigators. We met with Brandon. He is just so solid! He went to church 2 weeks now and is so excited for baptism! He knows its true and it just makes sense! We met a really cute Spanish family too that we are handing over to the Spanish Elders. You can just call us the Appleton referral center! It is funny with the rotation of our investigators. So many great people! The orchard is red and ripe! So sweet and delicious!

So we are doing laundry right now at a really cool laundromat. They even have a tanning bed. It can help improve my watch tan ;) Anyways! It has been just great to see the work of the Lord progressing! I am excited to see what the next 2 transfers bring! It has just been so amazing to see the enabling power of the atonement help us carry on. It is only through him :) I hope you continue to all have fun with spontaneous vacation. Maybe in a few months we can spontaneous back to Wisconsin! Eheheh! I love you all! Be safe! 

I love you as much as bed bugs love biting!

Anne

The measuring cups can't measure

My dearest family!

Where does one begin. First, it is crazy hot. God blessed me to withstand the cold, I need to do a little more praying on the heat. I swear my companion doesn't sweat. She still wears sweaters and cardigans and here I am in a t-shirt wiping off my gallons of sweat. You're welcome :) Funny story about weather. So Monday we had a little tornado apparently come through. Sister Rousseau and I had a great sleep and woke up in the morning with the alert on our phone. We didn't think it was a very big deal, we went outside though and the wind had down quite a bit of damage. There was tree debris everywhere and signs knocked over. However this Friday we woke up to a huge storm! Sister Rousseau may have woken up yelling, "I don't want to die!" It was pretty sketchy. We kept checking the phone for an alert but didn't get one. We are still safe and plan on staying that way. 

This morning we went on another dairy tour! There were 7,800 cows at this one! It was great! We stink but that's ok! We almost got to see the cows calving but not quite. We did get to go to the calf stalls and stick our hands up calves mouths! It was great! It was funny! I never had the bravery to do that before. Our tour guide was pretty funny and he thought it was amusing. We got to see there prize cows too. Their winner is worth $400,000. That is a shiny penny! I got to pet $400,000 dollars! It was in my hands! Anyways. 

So this is going to be all out of order because I forgot my journal! So miracle #1. After church we were chatting it up in the Relief Society room when a member rushed in, "Sisters! An investigator is waiting at the door looking for missionaries!" So we booked it on over! Her name was Deborah, she had biked to the church. She met with missionaries 2 years ago but was at a place in her life when she couldn't do much. But she really wanted to meet and learn more. Her grandma was mormon so she had connections and good memories. It was sweet! So last night we went over with Nikisha, who by the way just got called to be a ward missionary, and shared the Book of Mormon. It was great! She is a sincere learner! God has definitely led her here! It was all so crazy! 

Sister Wheeler was able to drive us out to New London this week and it was so great! We got to see Brandon again! He loves this gospel. He has always struggled with religion because it never quite made sense to him or lined up. As we taught the Plan of Salvation he just loved it. It made sense. The loves this church! So he agreed to be baptized on September 12th! AND he went to church on Sunday to the YSA ward! And he loved it! On his way back he had lunch at the Wheeler's house with us. They are all gamers and connected really well. Brandon was just beaming. So he is now transitioned to the YSA sisters but we will still get to go to his baptism. He is a great Young Man! 

We had dinner at a member's and had to go to a Relief Society activity afterwards. It was pouring rain and we were driving and we drove past this man walking. We were about two miles away when the Spirit couldn't yell any louder, so we turned around and went to go talk to him. He name is Josh, he is in his early 30s and he has to walk with a walker. He liked to party and was driving home and got in a terrible car accident and broke his neck. He said it is how God saved his life. It is his tragic blessing. He became catholic after and has loved it. We gave him a Book of Mormon and when we came back the next day he was sitting outside reading it! He is just fantastic! I can't wait to see where this goes! 

Friday I went on exchanges with Sister Pope! It was great! It is always fun to switch things up. We were going to a member's house for dinner and she lived in this apartment complex. There was only 3 visitor parking spots which were all full. So we asked this lady where we could park and she kindly let us use her spot! After we parked we went up to her and thanked her and introduced ourselves. When we introduced ourselves as Sisters she exclaimed, "Oh! Sisters! Do you have an extra Book of Mormon? I am looking for a church to go to!" Why yes, yes we do! It was great! Her name is Shantel! Lets just hope she keeps her appointment and reads! We also met a guy who built the Washington D.C. temple! He just loved it! He got to share some really cool tidbits with us. He needs to be Mormon. 

We also met another really cool family this week! It has just been miracles falling from the heavens. Again, I don't know what is going on. It is such a fantastic thing. It truly is a marvelous work and a wonder. There is no way God could not be in this. This is his work, and I don't know how I am blessed enough to be a part of it! I wouldn't rather be any other place! I love this work! I love all of you too! I hope you have a blessed week!

I love you more than I want to be a cow!

Anne

Onward! Ever Onward!

My dearest familia!

It has been a really good week! Just full of mucho miracles! I don't even know how to handle myself! We got to go apartment scouting this week for the mission office this week! That was really fun! We taught several lessons to building managers :) It is really fun apartment shopping though. Don't worry, you can still send letters to this address until further notice. 

So that family we were teaching is getting a little scared, we are going back this week to see what is up. They probably heard something bad about the church. We keep praying for them though! We got cut a ton of miles this week so we weren't able to make it out to New London to see them and Brandon. But we did call Brandon and guess what! He read all of 1 Nephi and loves it! He is so excited about the Book of Mormon! We are trying to get some YSA people up there this week so he can go to the YSA ward! We will see how that goes! Miracle!

Friday was a miraculous day! We went to see Gabe. He is 18, his mom is less active and he is not a member. Since the last time we met with him he has been reading everyday! And he can tell the difference in his life! So he agreed to be baptized August 29th! So exciting! We are trying to get him transitioned to YSA as well! He would make a great missionary!

Then we got a referral from the 2nd ward's elders. They met this woman in the park and had a nice little chat. Got her address and name and sent us. We showed up at her doorstep and she has been waiting to read the Book of Mormon for 15 years! She has read the Bible every year, she just felt she needed more. She didn't know where to get one! So we promptly gave her a copy! She was so excited and she wanted to be baptized! So she is working towards August 29th as well! It is amazing! She was supposed to come to church this Sunday. We were pretty sad she didn't show up, so we called her. She had gotten sick but she has been reading and she also has finished 1 Nephi! In 2 days! She said she took breaks to go to the bathroom and eat :) She is so cute! And she loves being called Sister. So we call her Sister Dawn! So exciting! Huge miracle! We are going there tonight with a member. 

Also Nikisha's husband Walter has been a lot more open. He still "isn't interested" But he is interacting with us, and the members more! He came to sports night at the church! Nikisha took us to one of the young men's mission farewell party. It was great! They had a lot of non-member friends there! Sister Rousseau is always on the prowl. 

A sister in our ward Sister Rose, is really good friends with Valine's old neighbor Rich or Richie by the way! She knows Valine and Paul too! Small world isn't it! 

We met another really awesome scientific nerdy guy! It is great because our whole teaching pool was basically women so we have been looking for potential priesthood holders and God keeps blessing us. He out did me though in nerdiness I had a hard time keeping up. He gave really good life advice which I love. He had met with missionaries in college 12 years ago. He was super excited to read the Book of Mormon as well. It will just be hard to catch him considering he is a workaholic. 

We took one of the youth out tracting with us and lo and behold we ran into the doctor we met a couple weeks ago. He happened to be standing outside of his friends house at that moment and we happened to be walking somewhere and passed him. Coincidence! I think not! It's incredible. I don't even know. 

We have been praying and fasting as a mission for each area to have a progressing investigator and for 75 baptisms by the end of September and we are definitely seeing the blessings as we work together in unity and charity. There is such power in prayer! I love it! I am so grateful that the Lord allows us to see all these blessings! He is too merciful! I love Him so much and am forever indebted! 

I love you more than all the diapers that are having to be bought with all these babies!

Anne

Happy Fourth!

Dear Family!

So much happened this week! I don't even know where to start. Let me pull up my planner. First off, who knew it was July! Wow! Appleton celebrated it on the 3rd which was weird. You should celebrate the holiday on the holiday. I guess I should just hop right on into the good stuff! Nikisha and Bubbles got baptized! It was a beautiful baptism! The ward was so great! They planned the whole thing and all they left us in charge of was filling the font. I got to go practice the organ while it filled because guess who played this Sunday? I did! Oh it was scary! Anyways it was such a good baptism! The Spirit was incredibly strong! Sister Adams-Hart got to come back and pack all of her stuff. She is being transferred again to Madison. I feel sorry she is hopping around, I know how that goes, I am glad it wasn't me though! That sounded terrible, it wasn't. She is excited. Kristy, a recent convert of 3 weeks, gave the talk on baptism at the baptism. It was so great. All these amazingly strong converts! They are so solid! I just got an email from Tina, she just called as a ward missionary and so did Fred! I am so excited! At the baptism Nikisha the Spirit just hit me and helped me see how big missionary work is. It is so much bigger than what our focus of "missionary work" is. The Lord is just orchestrating this beautifully masterpiece. Placing everyone where they need to be. It is beautiful! It was so sweet to see a mother and daughter get baptized together. It made for a special spirit. It was so cute. Nikisha and Bubbles were just beaming.

Sister Adams-Hart, Bubbles (Bernistien), Nikisha, Sister Trent, Sister Rousseau

Walter (Nikisha's husband), Sister Rousseau, me, Sister Adams-Hart, Nikisha, Kristy (got baptized 3 weeks ago!) The two red shirtboys are Kristy's and middle is Nikisha's

Good times! We went up to a little town named New London this week and found some great people. One was named Brandon, he was a potential. He opened the dorr and said he thinks we would disagree on some topics and that it just isn't his thing. So we asked him what his concerns were. And he said he believed in both science and religion and he had gotten some Christians really upset over that. You know me, I just lit up! That is one of my favorite things! I could talk to you all day about how religion and science are inseparable! He in turn just lit up! He got really excited to! It was exciting! Now he REALLY wants to study the Mormon religion! If only we met more people like that. I don't even have to try to connect. I just get my nerd on. If only I had glasses.

Then! Miracle! Another one! We went to our first return appointment wo this lady named Jill. Last week we saw a really cute house so we thought to ourselves we best go knock on that door. It is super cute. So we did and we found Jill! She was so great. We came back this Friday and her whole family "happened" to be there. The Spirit totally set this up. We got to teach their whole family together! It was beautiful! The husband, Joe started going off while were talking about the apostasy and he was sure we were still in that apostasy today. We asked him what it would mean to him if he knew there was a prophet. He said it would mean so much to him, that he could have the guidance and clarity in this world. So we told them about Joseph Smith and then we testified of a living prophet and he just started tearing up! Then they all committed to be baptized on August 29th! It was incredible!

We have been praying a lot for families lately. One morning we both were praying hard to find a family. We went to visit an investigator and found out she was in the hospital. We went to go visit her and her doctor came in mentioned how he knew some mormons and left. Later we were walking out to our car and guess who we passed in the parking lot. This doctor! He accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would share it with his FAMILY! Then he mentioned how he knew a member here as well! We got in the car and we both knew he was an answer to our prayers. We called the member that he knew and now the member is working with him! So cool!
The fourth was crazy, we didn't have any set appointmen
ts so we just went finding all day! It was great! There were many people. Many interesting people!

I am glad you all had so much fun! The pictures looked like a blast! The ice cream sounded amazing. Now I wish I would have bought some today. Last Monday we went and visited a dairy farm, I will include pictures! It was great! Fully robotic! They are high tech out here!

I love you more than ice cream!
Anne

The disbandment!

Dear Family!

I love being a missionary! There is so much to write about but I have not yet been blessed with that kind of patience. Someday you will hear all the stories! First off as you make this monumental decision in which sport car to get, just remember that a convertible is necessary. You must, there is no other way. And way to go for selling the tin can! If your other car needs a home I would happily be considered as a candidate. 

We got a call from our mission president. As much as I love that man, getting a call from him is nerve racking. A sister had to go home temporarily and Sister Adams-Hart got sent to replace her. She was supposed to only be there for 2 weeks and come back, but we got another frightening call and she will be coming back to collect all of her stuff. It was a fantabulous week as a trio. I highly recommend it. We were made for each other. So now Sister Rousseau and I are embarking on our adventures alone, together. We are still having a blast together though. It is a match made in heaven. She is as bold as bold gets. I love it. We have many fun adventures together. 

So this week during wonderful weekly planning we got a miracle phone call. A woman from Washington called. She was baptized a year and a half ago and was in Wisconsin visiting her parents. She was calling so when she came to church she would have a friendly face to sit by. Well she happened to be calling from her nonmember mom's phone! And said they would be at the house and that it would only take a few minutes. So we showed up at the house and Tori and her parents, Roger and Patricia were all sitting down ready for a lesson! Tori goes on to explain how she had not spoken to her parents in 7 years. They never got along. Ever. They could hardly be in the same room together. But the gospel changed her so much, that they have been in the same room together for 4 days! Her mom was just beaming! She was so thrilled. She testified of the change in her daughter and how it was a miracle. Also that the whole thing was no coincidence. They were all crying and the Spirit was so strong. We testified of eternal families, it was beautiful. Tori told us that when she was meeting with the bishop to get a temple recommend to go to the temple she just didn't feel worthy because she didn't honor her parents. She thought there was no way to repair the relationship with her parents. Yet two weeks later there she was sitting in their house. They all agreed to come on Sunday. Tori and her dad showed up, the mom was a little overwhelmed. We are going to help them paint their house so hopefully they feel a little more comfortable. Especially when Tori does go to the temple I think the blessings will just flow on her family!

We also met with a really cute old couple. Usually older people are set in their ways. We met them last Saturday and shared the Book of Mormon with them. They are very Roman Catholic, Donny and Diane. We helped one of the ward members move in next door so that is how we met them. So this week we brought the members over. Donny started off by asking about his reading assignment we left last time, 3 Nephi 11-12 and the intro. He read all of it and read more. He was so excited that there was a record of Christ visiting others! He was very knowledgeable and was thrilled and he is going to convert himself. He stated that he was not looking to be converted just for knowledge. He immediately followed by asking if he could please keep his copy of the Book of Mormon and if we could give his wife her own so they could both mark up their own copies :) It was so cute! With his thirst for the truth I don't think we will have to teach anything. Just answer questions. He guided himself through the whole lesson. 

This week is going to be really exciting! Nikisha and her daughter Bubble (Bernastein) are getting baptized on Wednesday night at 6! They are so excited! It has really been fun working with them! You can just see the glow in them already! The gospel changes peoples lives! It is the most wonderful thing in the world!

I hope you all have a fantastic fourth of July! Be safe! Make wise choices in convertibles. Have fun with sweet baby Keeganne. I love her already! I would love pictures to hang on my wall of her :) I am glad you enjoyed Wisconsin cheese! That is so sweet of the Briggs! They are a wonderful family! 

I love you more than all the fireworks in the world! 

Anne