Changing Times, Changing Leaves

Man! Weeks are fast but so long! We had exchanges this week and Sister Johnson came here to work with me. It was super fun! She is an amazing teacher! Just great! She pushed me out of my comfort zone and I realized I need to be more bold. I think I am getting to comfortable with this area. It feels like home. That's is going to kick me in the rear soon! We got to visit with a lot of less actives this week which I didn't even realize until we reported on Sunday.  We were a lot more successful than we thought! 

We go help Sally a lot and at first she was really apprehensive about church stuff. Now she is reading the Book of Mormon. She gave us her friend to go visit, Marge. She made it sound so delicate and scary for us to see her. She didn't want us to use her name when we went to her and she was nervous, therefore we were nervous. Our hearts were just pounding knocking on Marge's door. She was an angel! Holy cow! It was such a relief! We offered our service to her and she gladly took it and we are going back this week!

We had a family move in our ward several weeks ago. The mom was so excited they had sister missionaries! So she invited us over for dinner this Sunday. It was so fun! The kids are such good missionaries. Maggie gave a friend a BOM and now she is taking the discussions and going to church! (in Madison) The kids played guitar for us and sang together in harmonies. So fun! This morning her mom called us, I am pretty sure she was crying, just thanking us for taking the time to come over and how much it meant to her that her kids got that interaction and that they were able to be happy with the move. It was certainly humbling to hear that. I hope I can be that missionary kids can look up to. If I can just make a good impact, wow, that would be great!

I had my first mission migraine. Not fun! It happened in the middle of a lesson with the Stolls and I just could not read. I couldn't see. I leaned over to S. Weaver and told her and she did a great job just taking over and me just sitting there. I couldn't even think. I got to take a 20 minute nap which made it bearable but wow! I need to keep some Excedrin on me!

Funny story! So the Elders gave a BOM to a guy working out at a park about 2 months ago. It totally did not work out. Last week when we were emailing we happened to sit by him. He leaned over and asked me if we were from the church. I said yes and he was welcome to come, gave him our card. He said some Elders had invited him and he didn't know why he didn't go. After we told the Elders and they figured out who it was and told us his story and how he had thrown the BOM away. We went to the library again and he was here. He came up and slipped Sister Weaver his phone number! It was so funny! We didn't really know what to do. It was probably him flirting but what if he wanted to know more. So we called and set up an apointment at the church. We invited the Schroeders who are awesome. She can blaze a hole right to your soul and he is a 6'6 marine :) Our perfect back up!

But yeah, great week! I love the work and am happy! I ate salmon this week! It wasn't too bad, but I definitely won't be buying any for myself. I love you all a ton! We get to see our mission president this week for interviews so it should be good! Love you all!

Love you more than all the changing leaves on the trees!

Anne!

It's always darkest before the dawn

It is always so hard to recall the week. Pday to pday is so short but the week is an eternity! It got cold this week. Crazy! One day it was 84 and the next 42. Chilly! Broke out the tights, cardigans and jackets! Thankful it is supposed to warm up a little bit at the end of the week. Not winter yet. But winter is supposed to hit harder this year than last. Apparently bad winters come in pairs. 

We took Sally on a church tour this week. We went in the chapel and I played some songs for her, she felt the spirit and everything. We invited her to church and she just said no. She is so sweet though, I think something traumatizing happened and she has an aversion towards churches. She did feed us a lot of food though. We ate lunch at home when she called us and told us she just bought us a pizza. So of course we go over there and eat the pizza. Then we have dinner. Then we go to mutual where we got fed more. All in all, I became a beached whale. 

I am sorry to say I don't really have the best news to report concerning our investigators. We got hardcore, abruptly dropped by Gina. Patti also cancelled coming to church and our appointment and won't reschedule. She wants a break. Granted I am not giving up hope, especially for her. She has been amazing and kept all commitments up to this point. I know the Lord will strengthen her, she is going through some hard times. We also found out another investigator was meeting with us so she could get money from the church.. no bueno. And no new investigators. But the work still goes on. The members are working hard to help us teach and find people for us to teach. It is always darkest before the sun rises. It is funny though, me and Sister Weaver were talking about this. On paper we really did have a bad teaching week, if we are being honest. However, I feel like we have changed enough that it will not drag us down! We still have good attitudes and smiles! We know that God will bring to pass miracles! He is shaping and molding us, I wouldn't rather have anyone else mold me! I love this work and I love being a missionary! I love our ward, it really is a family. I love my companion, she is such an amazing example of courage  and pressing on! I started the Book of Mormon over again. I am doing a faster pace read this time where I have to read ten pages a day, so usually I have to read during meals and at night. I love it! I decided to study faith this time.It is interesting because it revolves so much around action words, and those action words revolve around keeping the commandments. Doing what the Lord would have us do. Like Nephi says  "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." The Lord will provide a way. Nephi didn't build a ship in a day.

Beside people are just so nice to us. We do get tender mercies all the time. We went to Harriet's yesterday and Jim printed out photos of us cooking together and gave us German chocolate. Then Harriet gave me some really nice flats that she had only worn once! Just a happy week. One lady opened the door BECAUSE we had name tags. It was so strange. She already had a Book of Mormon, but doesn't need us to come back because she has connections in Madison but she did ask for us to pray with her and was super nice. That was a huge tender mercy after tracting for an hour in the cold with not much success. But yeah, good week! 

I love you more than I love technology!

Anne!

More Than All the Corn

Guess who finished the Book of Mormon today! I did! And I LOVED it! I really read a lot this week! I had over 80 pages left on pday last. I don't know why I felt such a desire to finish it so fast. But now I can say it took me 4 and a half months which is sweet. I don't think I have ever sat down and read the Book of Mormon like that. And I am so excited to read it again! It is the best part about finishing, you get to start over! 

So let's see, what happened this week. Tuesday night we taught Patti with the Edgars and it was great! She agreed to take all the missionary lessons so we are teaching her tonight in the Edgar's home. It is lot of pressure teaching member's friends but it is the best because you get to see more people enjoying the joy of the gospel and sharing it. We didn't get home until later then we would have liked to though. This week was bad with getting home on time. Something always came up last minute. We are definitely going to do better about that. We need as much help as we can from the Lord.

Wednesday was Sister Weaver's birthday! I love birthdays while having companions because I get to enjoy it just as much! She woke up and I had decorated with balloons and a happy birthday sign. Then I made pancakes and eggs. Then pancakes turned out great even though I had never made them before, so wahoo! We may have eaten a donut too for breakfast. Sadly though Sister Weaver got sick on her birthday though. But it was good because she had to take a nap which is one of the best gifts you can get as a missionary. Therefore I got one too because we have to stick together! I just realized that is why I finished the Book of Mormon so fast! She had to rest a lot. Thankfully I haven't gotten sick yet... I am trying really hard not too. 

Thursday was a great day besides weekly planning and staying in sick most of the day. Sally made us lunch and she is just very adamant in making sure our mothers know we are getting taken care of! And oh boy are we! It is so humbling. Then we went to dinner at a member's house and their little girl had been excited about us coming all day. She made up a dance for us but her mom told her she couldn't because the music she picked was music we couldn't listen to. So she ran up stairs and came down all dressed up in her leotard and she had changed the music to a primary song so we could listen! It was so cute! It almost made me cry! Boy, am I going to be a blubbering mother when I grow up! 

We helped Harriet this week bake food for her husband's uncle's funeral and we finally are getting some spiritual progress out of her! Her husband, Jim who is a nonmember, also is really liking us being in their house. He doesn't do the spiritual thing, yet, but he is super friendly to us! I just love Harriet. I had a dream where a came to their house after my mission with a bag slung over my shoulder with all my stuff and I moved in. I told them my dream and they got a kick out of it. They said they would totally let me move in though! It was funny!  

Saturday we brought Megan, a "wayward" youth, to our lesson with the Stolls and she just loved it! The Stolls loved her too! We had a lot of cancelled appointments that day though so we, especially I, were kind of frustrated. So of course if appointments go through you go tracting which is not the best thing when you've had rejection thrown at you all day. BUT we taught four doorstep lessons and gave away 3 BOMs so it turned out awesome! 

Sunday was ward conference and they talked a lot about missionary work, which of course we love. Our bishop is very passionate about member missionary work. He feels a great responsibility to have 3 sets of missionaries in the ward. He asked each person to give us one person to teach. We have a great ward! Being a missionary is awesome! I love it! Again, our ward just takes care of us so well! Our investigators too. 

I hope my lovely fam has a fantastic week this week! I love y'all so much! I am glad you got home from your trip safely! I am glad you enjoyed your game dad after a long week of work! Yes we do have BYU fans out here. They are all pretty big cheesheads though. Occasionally you will find a Chicago fan too. It is a pretty big rivalry. And I loved your story mom, even if you think it is lame :)

I love you more than all the corn here! There is a lot!

Anne

Preparation Day on a Tuesday Throws Everything... All is Well

I have no idea what happened this week. It has been a long one! Tuesday pdays are just no good, it throws me off. All is well though! Sally gave us a ridiculously good and ridiculously easy peanut butter cookie recipe. So I ate a ton of cookies this week. We made them and gave them to a lot of people though. I think we made like 8 batches. It was fun! We street contacted this guy named Gary. It was one where he was sitting right there but it feels so impolite to interrupt someone in the middle of their smoke. Just kidding. So we go up the courage and went and opened our mouths. He had read the whole bible when he was locked up. So we gave him a Book of Mormon and got a return appointment for that night. We went back and this boy told us no one had lived in that house for a month. I love when that happens. I just hope he reads from the Book of Mormon. 

We did lots of service this week. We trimmed bushes and it was rather fun. I see why Molly enjoys cutting hair! It was fun chopping away. We got to meet the new missionaries in our district this week. I am starting to get old out here! Elder Stephens and I have been in Sun Prairie the longest now! Weird stuff. I am not the newbie. I got an awesome package this week! You guys just know me too well! I love this ward. I am already getting scared of leaving even though I am not at risk of leaving until October! 

We weeded Marie's yard for two hours in the warm sun. It felt good to be outside in the green grass. Getting your hands dirty. Sally, another lady we do service for, had us come over and unload her groceries because she just had surgery on her hand. She ended up giving us a bag of food. She said she was doing it because our moms would appreciate knowing we are out here getting taken care of! We sure are. We get way more than we deserve! She also finally read the Book of Mormon! It only took us 7 months to get her to touch that thing! She also accepted a church tour. Hearts were softened this week! 

Huge miracle! We visited a lady named Patti. She is a member referral from a year ago. They really want her to get the lessons and the last missionaries who taught her kind of dropped the ball. We have knocked on her home a million times! Monday she was there and let us right in! We couldn't stay long so we read a verse from the BOM and left her with the commitment to read 10 minutes everyday and she said she would! Well she invited us to dinner for today! Which is good and bad because we really wanted to teach her with the members and you can't exactly invite other people to dinner. Lo and behold she invited the members on her own! So that is what we have tonight. Extra prayers for tonight! This is my first time teaching a member's friend and it is nerve racking! Expect miracles! 

We followed up on several people who we gave BOMs to a couple weeks ago and they have been reading! So cool! They don't want to meet yet but still reading. 

We also did a lot of stuff this week with family history. We were able to talk to a part member family through it and we taught the 12 year olds Sunday School. We made them cookies, figures. Guess what we forgot. It was fast Sunday of course. We have ward conference next week so they moved it to this week. All was well though, we hid them in the kitchen. It is rather comical, there is a little cricket infestation in our church building. So there are crickets in the chapel now and you can totally hear them chirping! Not the best background noise for a meeting! We were a little early to a meeting at the church so Sister Weaver was crawling under the pews catching crickets and throwing them outside. It was funny. 

So overall a great week! Chuck full of miracles! The Lord is on our side. I still don't like working on holidays though. It makes me to nervous after losing our teaching pool over the fourth. But we are still intact. I am gaining such a testimony of the Book of Mormon! That is what it all relies on. Whether it is true. There is no way it couldn't be, it is a great reminder of me to keep going. It's purpose is to convince others of Christ. It brings us close to him then any other book. We can know of a surety of his love through this amazing book. I love the opportunity I have to read and study from it every day. Just beautiful! 

I love you all! Thank you for all your love and support!

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

Anne

Hot and Beautiful

Now you guys know what it feel like for me out here in the rain all the time! It makes me feel closer to you knowing you got so much rain in bear lake! It has been so hot and muggy this week! Wow! This is what a real Wisconsin summer apparently feels like. We have just been lucky up to this point! I'd wish for the cold but I might regret that!

Tuesday we finally got to teach a sit down lesson! We have been itching for one of those. It has been a while. No one likes to keep commitments. Sister Weaver may or may not have gotten chastised by the mission office for her driving...again... I do feel safer now, she has gotten better! Oh man I love her, it is good she can put up with my teasing. Tuesday was a food day. We stopped by the Stolls to invite them to a ward members potluck and we ended up eating pie with the Stolls. Then we went to the Sellars for dinner and ate dessert there too. Then we took the Madison sisters to the Fullmers to show off Brother Fullmer's BOM knowledge and art skills and we ended up having cake there. My tummy was not too thrilled with me by the end of the night. 

Wednesday we did exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders so I spent the day in Madison with Sister Martin. It was so good! It was eye opening to see a different area. We taught a family of theirs that is now living out of their van. It was so heart wrenching to not be able to do more for them. Oh boy were they so sweet. We taught them in the chapel while their 12 year old daughter was at mutual. Wow! They want the best for their daughter and they are trying so hard to get out of the cycle of past generations. They have made so much progress! It was impressive and humbling! We had a ton of appointments! I didn't know that was possible. They do so much good work in Madison! We also volunteered at Bethesda's which is basically the Lutheran version of D.I. It was fun! 

Thursday we visited a lot of ward members. We are trying to work smartly and get investigators into members home. We have yet for it to happen. I think once we can finally get it to happen it will be a domino effect. It will lessen the fear of everyone else and hopefully we will get more referrals. Everything works out so much better when you have a strong fellowshipper, I can testify to that after seeing the recent converts in Madison. We are trying. 

Friday the Stolls took us out for a delicious lunch and then we went to the church and I did a little recital for them. I played some songs from the books they gave me then some of my own and played the piece I played on Sunday. Then Brother Stoll requested I played "I Need Thee Every Hour" and oh boy! The spirit was so strong! We talked about receiving answers from the Book of Mormon. We talked about the story of the Brother Of Jared again but with another amazing insight we found this week. Brother Stoll asked last week as we taught the Brother of Jared why in the world did he choose stones and take all that work to molten them. We came up with some good answers and analogies. Then lo and behold! During studies we found a gem! In Genesis 6:16 it is talking about Noah's ark and how he had windows. In the footnote for window is the Hebrew word tsohar which can actually be interpreted as a shining stone! This means that Ether found his answer through reading his scriptures! Isn't that awesome! He didn't just come up with some random idea. He was reading his scriptures and knew what Noah did. I love it. It changes the whole story for me! 

Saturday was another food day. I think half of missionary work in Wisconsin revolves around food. There is just no way around it! We went to Harriet's and made manicotti so we can eat this week. Then after that we went to a potluck at the Millers. That was a lot of fun! The Stolls came and one of the Elders investigator and the Miller's non-member daughter and son-in-law. We ate a ton and threw around a football which was fun! We also haven't seen Alex in a while. Afterward's we went to her house with a plate of brownies. Their family ended up having us stay over and eat with them! Steak, shrimp fettuccine and tons of fresh produce! Wow! So nice! It was a feast! Food all day! 

Sunday was great! We were so close to having our investigator Gina at church! Oh boy! We got a last minute text saying she got called into work. At least she contacted us! That is a good sign! In Relief Society one of the sisters was complaining about how she couldn't keep doing her family history because she can't find her great-grandma anywhere. Luckily we were going to her house after and helped her out. We were able to find the great grandma PLUS four more generations back. I LOVE family history! It is SO important and there is ALWAYS more to be done. If you are ever stuck I will help you find something. The work is never done. Not until the great Jehovah says it is! 

It has been a great week! We definitely are seeing miracles come to pass! This area is getting ready for a harvest! We are doing our best to help God in this great and marvelous work! Again, there is always more to be done!

I love you more than I sweat in the humidity this week!
Anne!

Hold my leg! Hold it, hold it!

This week was Wundubar! Have no idea if that is how you spell it, I can't google it. It is week 5 in the transfer! Ah! We are really scared for transfer texts this Saturday. Our district is due for some major changes. We have all been here for quite a while. I hope I don't get transferred. It is really iffy. You should be fine sending to my address or to the mission home if you aren't sure. This is a fast transfer that is for sure.

Monday we finally got in with a less active that I have been trying to meet for the last 4 months. We brought her visiting teacher, Sister Edgar who is just boss. Such a good member missionary. She just sits down with Angela and straight up asks her how she feels about her testimony, what is keeping her from coming to church and reminded her of how much she loved church. It was boss. Then we went to the Millers and she always makes such good food! They gave us fresh cucumbers and zucchini to fry up. That is what I cooked in my healthy picture.

Tuesday/ Wednesday was awesome. We get a phone call from the Sun Prairie Elders. They told us they were just walking down the street when this lady pulled over and stopped them! She then asked if they were missionaries that left their home for two years to teach people. In shock they said yes and she asked if they would come over and teach her. Yes. But it is a woman and she lives in our area so they handed her off to us. She is really cool. The thing that got her interested is the Mormon bloggers. It is a running joke in her family that she is obsessed with Mormon bloggers. So we went and taught/ answered a ton of her questions. It was great. She wouldn't really commit to much, but if anything it planted a huge seed and she knows what she needs to do.

Wednesday night we had the Steven's Point sisters stay with us and we went to our mission tour together early Thursday morning. It was SO good. Basically a HUGE zone conference. There were 3 zones there and we heard from President and Sister Cutler as well as Elder and Sister Martino of the seventy. The first half was super uplifting. The Savior loves each of us and how his atonement is for each of us individually. It was great, some tears and all. And I happened to do a singing musical number because I know how to read music for alto. Is what just eight missionaries SATB two to a part. Oh boy I don't know what I got myself into there. But whatever, I didn't die. After lunch we got down to business. We all got kind of chastised a little bit on how we all need to use the members better. So we talked a ton about that. How in the story of Alma and Amulek, Amulek is basically a less active. Alma reactivates him and the teach all of Amuleks family. Then they go to the city and no one is listening. Zeezrom comes out and Alma tries to teach them. Then bam! Amulek comes out, member missionary, and astonishes Zeezrom. It wasn't Alma the amazing teacher. It was Amulek who was just gaining his testimony as well. Just good stuff. But man was it a long day. We were gone from 6:30 in the morning and didn't get back until 6 p.m.

Friday I just ate a ton of ice cream. There went all my healthiness. I think we had ice cream 4 times that day. It was great. Living the dream. Basically that is all I remember about Friday. We were spiritually hung over from Friday still. Saturday we sat down and had correlation over breakfast with our ward mission leader and discussed stuff from a missionary broadcast they had for the members here in Wisconsin. It was good. Our ward is feeling the fire. We brought Brother Sellars to our lesson with the Stolls this week so he could basically re-give his talk on Sunday about the Brother of Jared. The Stolls absolutely loved it! Then they pulled out this huge box for me filled with old piano music! It was awesome! They said take what you want, so I took some. It is really cool. One book that I love is from 1937, beautiful music. We also finally found an investigator that Sister Packer found but I never met because she was always busy. We sat down and taught her a lesson.

Now for the big day. Sunday. It was kind of crazy. I volunteered to do a piano number for sacrament meeting so we could get the Stolls to come. So of course they did. But 2 days before we also got a call from the bishopric asking us to give talks on Sunday. So we did that too. AND my favorite, Harriet. Her granddaughter was blessed today so Harriet, her daughter and her boyfriend and the baby all came to church today! It was great to see them there. Great church day. That night people were strangely rude to us. More so than usually and so consistent. Everyone gave basically the same answer and wouldn't give us the time of day. Then finally we put two and two together. There was a Brewers game on against the Dodgers. We need to get a game schedule or something. Oh man, too good. Baseball comes first. Then we went to Harriets to help her fold her laundry and wow. Harriet and Jim are so nice to us. The loaded us up with corn, cucumbers, homemade pickles and tomatoes. So good.

Anyways I am loving the life! I scored quite a few baskets in bball today! I feel good! We are trying to change a lot of things so we can get a baptism before General Conference. Something has to happen this week for us to make that goal. 30/125 areas have made it. Lots of prayers and lots of focus on being obedient. It'll be good. I know the Lord has a plan for us. I know I can rely on him, I just have to do my part.

Love you more than Wisconsin loves their cheese!
Anne

That's not all I can do

This week was grand! There is this older woman in the ward who calls me up every time she has computer problems. It makes me quite happy to fix her computer or internet! She calls me her little miracle worker even though it is a pretty easy fix, but any chance to touch a computer right? We did lots of service this week. We helped paint, cook, garden, weed, prune, it was fun!

The desert of the week was ice cream! I think at least 5 different people fed us either popsicles or just ice cream. So of course we had to go buy some too. We found it on sale for 3 bucks and we couldn't decide which flavors and almost got four buckets but we settled on only 2 though.

We met a lot of people this week. We did a lot of tracting. It is funny those moments when you realize what you are doing. You are in some random state far from home, going door to door and talking to complete strangers. Most of them just spill out details of their life that you would never expect and we are there to tell them about a book. But it makes you think, I better make sure I bare my testimony of this book by the spirit otherwise it is for not. There are so many moments where I open my mouth and start talking, having no idea what I am going to say or even what I am saying! Yet the spirit does it's work and the next thing you know the Book is in someone else's arms. I LOVE that feeling. We met this woman who wasn't too religious and never had really heard of the BOM and when we gave it to her, she just clutched it to her chest. If only she really knew the power that book had she'd never let go of it!

Cool story. Yesterday we were up in Marshall trying to find a less active I have never been able to have a sit down lesson with and we found one of them and he said their family would be home the next day and we could come! But it went faster than we had planned for and we had about 12 minutes to kill before we had to leave for dinner. So we found a less active on the ward list who no missionary has met for at least 7 months, somehow she had fallen between the cracks. So we go to the door doing a "Hi, we are the new missionaries in the ward" approach and without hesitation she tells us to come in! She clears off a seat for us and just starts talking and she gave us her cell phone number so we could call her to come again! It was wonderful! I have never been that well received. Sadly we couldn't stay long, but she asked what member's house we were eating at and she just raved about them! So when we went to dinner we asked about the less active and told the member what had just happened and they were in shock. They couldn't believe that she happily let us in! So apparently that was a huge miracle!

Sunday Brother Sellars gave a phenomenal talk about prayer! It was so good. He talked about how the brother of Jared is the perfect example of prayer. He asked God for 3 things. Air to breathe in the boats, how the are going to steer and how they will see. God then tells him exaclty what to do. To cut holes in the boat so they can breathe. For steering God says don't worry about it, I got you covered, don't be concerned about it. Lastly for the light, figure it out. So he did. He worked hard to figure out a plan and make some molten stones. Then he went to the Lord very humbly stating how great God is. Then he said "Lord touch these stones" not could you maybe please think about it. He knew the Lord had the power to. And notice that the Lord took care of all the life threatening situations but left the non-life threatening one "unanswered" It was an opportunity for the brother of Jared to grow and exercise faith. Next followed one of the greatest examples of faith and the brother of Jared saw the Lord's finger! How great is that! I loved it! I left church with a grin on my face.

Anyways, great week. We are working really hard to find someone to baptize before general conference. It will come. We have a mission tour this week so I am excited for spiritual experiences! I love you all! Stay smiling!

Love you more than I love ice cream! (feel special!)
Anne

C'mon with the rain, I've got a smile on my face!

This week was great! We started off by going to the Fullmers for dinner and FHE (the cool painting guy) It was great. My mind=blown when we go there. Who knew you could learn so much about the gospel. I don't know why there isn't more excitement about the Book of Mormon. This book is legit, I am growing a very strong love for it. I am in the middle of Alma and I think everyday after personal studies I tell Sister Weaver something from what I read that I have never noticed or even heard of. It is really fun getting to know the characters as real people! They are real and have very real personalities and struggles. I love that the church is finally making great videos, but I must admit there are still only cheesy BOM ones. I made a joke to Sister Weaver, and she loved it because I am funny, that we should raise tithing to 15% so we could get some legit movies :) That'd be great! The newest one has one of the actors from Kid History in it and it is pretty hilarious to see him playing a serious role. Anyways, that isn't of importance.

We did a lot of tracting this week, found a lot of people but none who followed through. Wednesday we went to mutual and they made this delicious heart clogging dessert. It was this like s'mores lasagna. So good, so deadly. And we had a delicious fruit pizza at a members home. I now am craving fruit pizza. Dang. Maybe next week. I don't know why I talk about food so much in my emails, I just enjoy this whole getting fed thing. We always joke about when we get home we are going to be weirded out when people don't just give us free stuff :) We will have to work for it! 

We had a great storm this week with hail pummeling us! Now it is raining again. Sadly Sister Weaver doesn't like playing in the rain, that is like the only downside though ;) She cares about her hair, who knew? We went and helped a member paint her bookshelves and she had a ukulele and let me play it! It brought joy to my soul. I am excited to cultivate my talents after my mission. 

One time when we knocked doors this week the Jehovah's witnesses had been there like one hour earlier because there were pamphlets of theirs in every door. I may or may not have done something with them as we knocked doors :) We did knock on this man's door and we got talking, had a really good conversation and he got talking about him and his partner and their family. We were worried he'd get upset at us but turns out he has walked the Mormon trail and really appreciates the Mormons and admires what they went through. He took a Book of Mormon and said he would read it. That was pretty cool. We also had a member in the ward call us up saying there were these men cleaning the windows and she felt prompted to give one of them a Book of Mormon but she didn't have one. So we ran over gave her one and briefly saw him. Not anyone you'd expect to want a BOM. Scraggly hair, tattoos and you could just tell he had a hard life. She called us after she gave it to him and said when she handed it him he immediately gave her a huge hug and expressed his gratitude promising to read it cover to cover. Great member missionary! Go you mom too! I am impressed you brought a BOM with you on your vacation! Our ward's missionary motto is "shot on goal" even if they don't except all that matters is that you tried! I am so happy you are being a missionary too! It brings joy to my heart, our work would double if every member did that!

Oh! Something else I have been trying to do is memorizing scriptures. I remember mom always joking with Molly to memorize the BOM and it would improve your memory. It works. I memorized 3 scriptures this week (not short ones I might add ;) and it is neat that I can even do that. I have never been able to easily memorize things. It has always been a struggle, but I just feel more aware now and clear. Elder Scott has a great talk called "The Power of Scriptures" It is a great talk! D&C6:34-37 has been an amazing comfort to me this week :) I love the scriptures!

Well I hope you guys take care of yourselves! Keep on being amazing! 

I love you loads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anne

I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you

Family!

Dad, I can't believe you saw a bear. That's gross. Don't do that. Just say no. It's like drugs, not even once. But really. :) Anyways! Happy Birthday! I hope that was fun! You should send me some cake and ice cream :D I am trying to convince my comp to let us get ice cream now. I can't believe Jessica comes home this week! And Alexis and Elise are getting married! Wow! Tell them all I love them and that is awesome! Congratulations! It's just weird. You all can't have a life while I am gone :)

Anyways, have I mentioned how much I love Sister Weaver?! We have so much fun together! Its ridiculous! Lots of singing and craziness.I have laughed so hard this week. Tears, multiple times :) But this week was crazy good! We have finally been seeing progress in our work! First time really since the 4th! We finally have cleaned up after that mess. Tuesday we taught 5 lessons and placed 2 BOMs. We knocked on a potentials door and we hear a girl on the other side scream at the top of her lungs, "There's people at the door!!! Run for your lives! It's two blonde women!" It was hilarious! My favorite and most honest thing I have heard so far :) But the mom answered the door and let us in and we are teaching her now! So extra good. The only catch though is she believes in...are you ready for this? I don't think you are. Prepare yourselves. She believes in Greek Mythology. :) And she got that belief from the Bible. Something about a Pegasus. Anyways, we are not entirely sure how to teach her. She loves that we believe in prophets though! If anyone has taught someone who has believed in this I would love to hear how it was done :) We had 15 minutes left before we could go in so we street contacted on Main st. which could also be known as Bar st. Or Bar central :) And it actually turned out successful and we got a new investigator!

Wednesday we went to mutual with the Young Women and did Zumba with them, that was awesome. My thighs were particularly sore.Then weekly planning day was particularly not good for my mental health :) We just go a little stir crazy, emphasis on the crazy! And we made cinnamon rolls, monkey bread and sticky buns with Harriet! That was fun! And delectable. We met more crazy high potential people. Summer does get in the way a little bit. You find someone then they go on a 3 week vacation :) The seed is planted though! That is what counts. Hearts are softened and there are many BOM there waiting in homes for the right time.

We went tracting in the ghetto and this guy answered the door with almost no clothes on, but he took a Book of Mormon and told us his O.G. would be very interested and to come back. We are too white to know what an O.G. is and took a wild guess that is meant old grandma, but I am still not entirely sure :) We found a former investigator who just had her aunt pass away and has so many questions and ALL can be answered with the plan of salvation! I am so excited! She is so prepared! She already knows the importance of baptism! It is great! This week we will get to see where all of this is going to go!

Sunday, halfway through Sunday School, church got cancelled. My companion and I were thinking there must have been a freak snow storm ;) But thank goodness no. Just the sewage in the bathroom was..coming back up. Not water, but other stuff. So that was interesting. It might have been a blessing that no investigators were at church that day! And we stole, I mean borrowed, some church movies from the church library. I knew modern day prophets were cool but I had no idea how boss they really were. I have really been enjoying church videos :) I got past the cheesiness bothering me. Then Sunday night, miracle! We had a lot drop through at 8 and it isn't ideal for tracting because people get really mad when you knock on their doors that late. So we just go over and over the ward list trying to figure out what to do. We saw a name of a less active but just passed over it because a couple weeks ago she just got kind of upset at us. But we just felt like it was the thing to do. So we went and it was a miracle how it all came together. But long story short we saw a new painting in her house and felt prompted to talk about it. She ended up letting us in her house and she is going to let us back! I am so excited! It was meant to be! I really do love her paintings. They are just the happy things in the world! I want one! She reminds me of you mom, she likes sewing painting and cleanliness! She is great.

Welp! I hope you guys have a fun time in Oregon and stuff. It is funny how people say Oregon here. Sister Weaver is from Salem. They say it like Or-ray-gone it is funny. Silly Wisconsins :)

I love you all! Remember the Book of Mormon can answer any questions! It is the best book EVER!

Love you more than the Wisconsin has rain!

Anne!

p.s. It has been an awesomely cool summer. Last week with the heat index it was 106, next day in the 60s :) I don't like sweating so I am loving the cool spell

The Fun Has Arrived!

Oh my goodness! So I got a new companion this week! First new companion! I was super nervous and scared. But oh my goodness! We get along! It is almost freaky how similar we are. There is only one tiny difference ;) She's 4"11' :) That's right. No one in my family can ever call me short again! I love her though! We have had so much fun together already!

Anyways! This week! Tuesday! It was CRAZY! Fullest schedule yet on my mission. We said bye to sooooo many people! We had Breakfast with the Greers again and beat our french toast record. The 6 of us had 46 pieces. I know, we are fat. It was so fun though. We finally saw Alex again! So last time we saw her she was in 1 Nephi 20 well now she is in Mosiah 20! Incredible! She is reading everyday! Every time I lose faith in her she pulls through! I need to learn my lesson. She also said she wants to be baptized before the end of the year! So cool! Then we had dinner at the most amazing person. Brother Fullmer. He is a Book of Mormon guru. Doctrine genius. He is the guy who planned youth conference. Anyways little did I know he is an author AND artist. I bought his Book of Mormon book and I will have to send it home when I am done looking at it. It is so neat! Anyways the went there for dinner and they have a parrot who can talk. I got to hold her! So fun. He showed us his art studio and blew our minds with it. So neat, I told him he can't get rid of us. I feel bad though his family is super busy. He is the Madison institute director and wow. I just can't even describe their families awesomeness. Busy day and some tears when we said our nightly companionship prayers. Sister Packer is just a sweetheart!
Wednesday we booked it out of the apartment and went to transfer point. Had to say goodbye, it was sad. There were 5 sisters all waiting at transfers so we went and worked with the Madison sisters and had fun. The 3 of us getting new companions we all were saying goodbye to our trainers and feeling nervous for our first new comp. It was kind of funny. We went and saw they Mad sister's new convert and he had us all sign his BOM and I was the only one who hadn't met him before. He kept calling us angels and I was the newest angel :) So cute! Then the cars pulled up and I got my new comp! It was a slight shock with the height :) But by day 2 we realized how similar we are and just have been having so much fun together! She is the designated driver but I "know" the area. I keep getting us lost :) But whatever, we will both learn. I get so turned around it isn't even funny. I need my mountains.


Sister Weaver comes from the ghetto in Waukesha so she says she feels unsafe with the safety here. But we had a good conversation with our drunk neighbor so she feels better now :) She has seen the Sasquatch gang and loves LOTR. So I love her. And she brought really good music with her. Christian music, who knew?
We went and visited Sister Pink, oh my goodness I love her! She is just a sweetheart! She sent me the sweetest email afterwards as well! She is another one I just HAVE to stay in touch with after my mission. People are just too good to us out here!


The Elders in our ward finally got an investigator at church. His name is Goldie, yes he is as interesting as his name. Our Sunday School teacher likes to go around the class and ask us our name and a question. This week it was what is your favorite summer produce? I said strawberries, others said corn and tomatoes. He said "I love hanging with my brothers here (the elders) and looking at the sweet sisters" Me and Sister Weaver just went wide eyed and the Elders had to leave the room so they could go laugh. It was pretty hilarious. Thankfully the Elders had apologized in advance for anything he said or asked.
My mind has gone crazy this week so I can't think of what all happened. I have been eaten alive by mosquitos. I have at least 40 bites and that is not in the slightest an exaggeration. Nothing works, it is painful.
You guys sound like you are having a blast being empty nesters. I told my comp you need to miss me more ;) You deserve it though. That sounds crazy about what happened in Rexburg! All it was was rain and it did all of that? Wow. That is so weird. So weird. I wish I could see the videos, it just sounds fake. Really neat story though.


I read something really neat this week about consecration. He was talking about sacrifice. As missionaries we sacrifice a lot. But he said if you were consecrated it isn't a sacrifice at that point because you know it is God's will and you know the blessings will be a hundred fold. I love that! It is so true. I am still learning but I do know that I would rather be doing this right now than anything else. It is more than worth it. These are God's children, my brothers and sisters! I will do all I can for them in this short time I have here. God has given me everything, I wish I could give more. I love being a missionary and I love the Book of Mormon. It has the most amazing examples we can look up to!


I love you all so much!


Anne