It's December 19th and LIFE IS AWESOME!!!

This has been an awesome week! One of our investigators got baptized and we have two baptisms for Christas Eve (a brother and sister)! Jackie's baptism was beautiful. She found us and has been completely prepared for the gospel. She understands so much and accepts it all with faith. She's read a lot of the Book of Mormon and says it makes her cry sometimes because it just fills her up inside. It was definitely a special day for all of us! Jorge and Karina are getting baptized this Saturday and they're very much like Jackie. Their parents were less-active and since we've been coming they've made changes in their lives very gracefully. They pray as a family and read the Book of Mormon; and they've testified of the happy changes they've seen happening. They're sweet and sincere and they have sooo much love in their home! The gospel IS TRUE! I love missionary work!! The people that we teach are prepared to hear this message and it's beautiful when they recognize the truth!

I'm excited for a Christmas in the mission field and I'm not homesick at all. People always look down on it and think it's a sad thing, but it's special! I'll only have 2 Christmases in the mission field and I'm thankful for them! Everything's different and special while you're out on your mission serving. I think it will be a lot of fun and a very special Christmas! It already has been! Check out the mission bloghttp://nevadalasvegaswestmission.blogspot.com/ to find out what we did this last Saturday. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! LIKE THE BEST DAY EVERRRRRR! I loved it all!!!

Being a missoinary is RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING!! There aren't words to describe it. We see miracles!! I love my life and my love for my mission is just growing and growing. I've come to cherish it even more. Many missionaries here talk about how Nevada is their home and I'm starting to feel that now. This is where I belong. Being a missionary is who I am. I feel like coming into the mission field means shedding your old skin and creating a new missionary identity. I've been going through this process and now, 4 months out, I feel like I'm fully a missionary. Training has a lot to do with it. I'm working my buns off!! haha. That dedication is real! As a missionary, you experience A LOT each and every day! I looooove it though! I feel like I'm truly living life more than I ever have before. My joy has become more full and I'm one happy person!!!

soooo......I'm TRAINING!!!!!!! (This also means that I'll be staying in the Lone Mountain Zone for the next 3 months!)

I get to meet my new companion today at 5. We'll pick her up from the mission office and she'll stay with us tonight. In the morning we'll take Sister Sprouse back up to the mission office for transfers and then my companion and I will be on our own. Craaaazy!!

We found out on Tuesday. I was sick (blegh!) and so we made arrangements for me to go to bed early. Riiight after I got up onto the bunk bed the phone rang. Dun dun dun. Sister Sprouse was at the desk and saw it was from President Black, so I hopped down. Transfer calls weren't supposed to come until later in the week and we had something else that President could've been calling about so we assumed it was that. And then President asked to speak to me. And we knew what that meant. (If you're training, President's the one to call you. Otherwise it's the AP's). He was making the calls early b/c of Thanksgiving. I found out I was training a brand new missionary after being out only three months. Needless to say, I didn't get my early sleep in. haha.

I've gone through a lot of emotions about this. I definitely don't feel ready, but we never feel ready for things like this. We watched the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie this week with one of our recent converts, (go watch it if you haven't and watch it again if you have!!) and it's sooo awesome. At one point in the movie he says, "The Lord calls us in our weakness but He qualifies us for the work." That's how I feel right about now. Faith and confidence are key. There's SO MUCH to juggle being a missionary. Like, you have no idea..especially with being as busy as we are. I have a challenge ahead of me. But I'm ready to take it on. I know that I'm called to do this work.

I 100% KNOW this is from Heavenly Father. This will be a stretching experience for me. That's what He wants and so that's what I want. There's SO MUCH to do/remember/juggle being a missionary. Like, you have no idea..especially with being as busy as we are. Taking all the load upon myself while training a new missionary will be trying. I definitely have a challenge ahead of me. The next 3 months will probably be extremely difficult and stretching at times. I know it's going to be hard, but I'm soooo excited for this opportunity to learn. I'm about to grow a ton!!! This is sooooo good. Having the experience of being senior companion this early will DEFINITELY prepare me for the rest of my mission!!! I'm so excited because this will help me to become the missionary that I desire to be!!!!! Heavenly Father knows what I need to help me succeed!

I'm also sooooo excited for my new missionary. I know that Heavenly Father has his hands in all things and that I was meant to be her trainer. I know that I'm meant to have her be my next companion. I'm excited to watch her grow and to become used to this crazy missionary life! I hope that I have a positive lasting impact on her mission and her life! I can't wait to meet her!!!

Transfers are bitter sweet....Sister Sprouse is going up north to Fallon!!!! I'm sooo sad to see her go. We're suuuuuuuch great friends. I LOVE HER. She raised me up when I was brand new and just trying to get through the daily tasks. She compleeeetely built my confidence when I felt so weak at the beginning. She and I have had soooo many laughs together. We've witnessed miracles together and shared the feelings of hearts with one another. We've become a good team. I was soooo blessed and soo privileged to be trained by her.. It's going to be hard parting ways after spending every moment together for 3 months. We've become great friends and I will definitely miss her! Cool stuff though...Sister Sprouse is going up to Fallon to join my MTC companion, Sister Badger. Exciting!!! It's neat for me to have them be together. I'm definitely going to write them fun letters!

About this week: Thanksgiving was sooooooo nice! We had the Turkey Bowl with all the missionaries. The weather was perfect and it was sooo fun just to chill. We had yummy food with members and chilled the rest of the day. Amazing! This week was soooo crazy! We had to take some time out because I was sick and we had our regular P-day, a non-proselyting holiday, and we were preparing for Sister Sprouse leaving (updating all our records, making goodbye visits, etc.). There was A LOT that could've interfered with the work...but we ended up having 23 lessons this week! This brought us exactly to our goal of 100 lessons for the transfer. Umm...miracle? I think, yes. Heavenly Father is sooooooooo awesome!!!

I LOVE MY MISSION. I want everyone to know that I am SO GRATEFUL I'm here in Las Vegas serving the Lord and His people. I've never had passion like this before in my life. I've never worked so hard for something. I'm so happy to give my whole soul to this work. It's all for my Savior!

I'm about to work the hardest I've ever worked in my life before. It's going to be trying, but I'm up for it! Life is hard but we're here to learn and grow!! Look at your challenges as opportunities, for that's what they are :)

A wedding a few weeks ago-Chris and Kristy

Kathy and Sister Sprouse and Me; Kathy's a SUPER amazing convert of like a year and a 1/2. She lives in Sister Sprouse's old area and comes with us a lot. She's sooooo much fun!!! I <3 her!!

Chris's Baptism-the man who got married a few weeks ago!

Tracting fun!!

Random Tidbits for November 21st!

Transfers are a week from todayyyyyyyy!?!?!?!?!?! We'll find out what's happening this week. They start making the phone calls on Wednesday and finish up on Saturday night, so it might be a long wait. Anything could happen!!!

On Thanksgiving all the missionaries in the south part of the mission will get together and the elders will play football for their little turkey bowl. It should be lots of fun!!

Things are AMAZING!!! We had an awesome baptism on Saturday! We lost an investigator because of that, buttttttt we got a moooooore! So we have TWENTY INVESTIGATORS. ASDKASDAS;DLJASLDLASND;NSADNASND;AS;LDASDKSAND;KJSA;D!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

SAY WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!!?!?!? My life is crazy. Sometimes my head spins. woah woah woah woah woah woah woah! I wonder what's going to happen with transfers. We have such a good thing going right now. We'll have to see!

Gotta go!! Have a greattttttt week everyone!!!

Our new investigator!! Story time!!! So that woman that drove up to the church....SHE'S AMAZING!!!

Teaching her the first lesson was a suuuper spiritual experience. She told us that a few weeks ago when she met us she called her daughter later that night because she was excited. She could tell something was different...and all we did was get her info that day. She's already said that she felt like she was missing something and she knows that this is it. Just teaching her was spiritual. She really is yearning for truth. It was amazing!!! And then at the end of the lesson we extended a baptismal invitation and she said yes so we asked her if she would be baptized on the 17th of December. She started to cry because that's her birthday!!! She was sooo prepared to hear this gospel. For 55 years, Heavenly Father has been preparing her for this! She's going to love this gospel and become a strong member. She wants a personal relationship with God and I know that she'll find that through this great church! Sister Sprouse and I walked out of that lesson just amazed. We're SOOOOO BLESSED. Being involved in someone's life when they're making this great and joyous change is special opportunity. Serving a mission truly is a privilege!

We have 1 baptism this Saturday. Woot woot!! We were going to have 4 (that 1 plus the 3 children who are getting baptized before their parents) but we've decided to work on having the whole family be baptized together. It will be one SPECIAL day!!!

We have another family that's so great. They are a lessactive family with 2 children who are 14 and 10 and aren't baptized....but they will be in December!!! And a cute little 4 year old too. The 10 year old's a little nervous of the water, which is cute, but he's still excited. They're amazing! They've been wanting to come back to church but haven't really done it. They need us to get in there and give them a gentle little push. They want to be strong in the gospel! They're ready to be committed to it! They have a very strong family and a house full of love (which is refreshing and very different from other families we teach) and they will find so much more of that as they follow Jesus Christ! :)

We really are so blessed! Sister Sprouse and I find ourselves saying a lottttt of thankful prayers! MISSIONARY WORK ROCKS!!!!!

Another thing that might not be as funny to you. Sometimes I repeat myself when talking on the phone and all. After the call Sister Sprouse and I both laugh really hard cuz I end up just repeating myself over and over. It just happens...and it's comical. I need to work on my speaking skillz. haha. Maybe when I come home I won't "talk like a teenager" anymore! Anyway, this is an example of something like it. Can you guess the key word?? I didn't even realize what I did until I read it later. bahaha. (PS-DON'T USE THAT PHONE #. I tried to block it out on the computer but I couldn't.)Funny sign b/c there are 50 bajillion stray cats all over the city of Las Vegas. They're eeeeverywhere. There's a reward and it says "responds to dolly." Probably not very funny to you but we cracked up when we saw this! The joys of tracting...finding random things. That truck's taller than me!!!
NO MAIL?!?!?! :( Write

me peeps!!!Wormies!!! Put rice in a sock and heat it up. Sooo good for sore muscles. Shout out to HEIDI MARIE BORG!!! ow ow!!! I decided to try it out and my comp and I fell in love!! We were taking ours to someone to borrow cuz they were in pain. More wormy love! Heidi, I owe my life to you :) Craziness for you :) A kid was taking the pic so I had to get a little wild. haha.

It's October 8th and this has been an amazing week!


We had our mission tour yesterday! All the missionaries in the south part of the mission were gathered together to hear a general authority come and teach us. It was Elder Yamashita and his wife. He spoke in general conference this October about...missionaries! haha. We learned a lot from them and from President and Sister Black. It was a greaaaattt meeting and I'm thankful we were able to have it!


His wife was SOOOO cute. She doesn't speak English as well and she was adorable in speaking to us. She made us commit to write 100 good things about our companions. Everyone was like 100?! haha. She made us say a lot of stuff out loud as a group and she was suuuper enthusiastic. When she spoke at another time, she had us read D&C 33:8-10 and then made us repeat as a group, "open your mouth" as we did this she told us to get louder and louder...and then she brought out a big origami mouth and made it open and close as we said open your mouth. hahahaha.....and thennnn, she had the AP's pass out origami paper and she taught us all how to make origami mouths from the pulpit. It was hilarious!!


We have an awesome story about how we met our newest investigator. At church 2 weeks ago we went out to get something from the car in between meetings. This woman drove up and asked what denomination the church was! We invited her in but she didn't feel dressed to come in. So we set up a time to visit her. We taught her on Friday and she came to church this Sunday! She's so solid too! She really wants to LEARN! Of allllll the people that could've been out in the parking lot, it was us. And the timing was juuuust right. Heavenly Father is DIRECTING THIS WORK!!


AND GUESS WHAAAAAAAAT......We have four, yes fouuuuur, baptisms on the 19th!!!! We have 3 little kiddos and then another person that's totally separate. The parents of the kids are getting baptized later cuz they're getting married first and they're planning their wedding. Um....amazing? I THINK YES! I'll have had 6 baptisms in my first 3 months. whooo!! This area is unusually busy and I love it!! Especially right now. It seems like the work has picked up again. It didn't ever die down but it wasn't as crazy there for a weeks. We're super busy!!!!! And everyone's way more solid than before. I'm so blessed to be experiencing all this!! I LOVE THE PEOPLE I'M SERVING!!! I've had the opportunity to get close to them and be their messenger of the happy happy gospel of Jesus Christ!

Lovely, lovely people who read my blog and have the restored gospel, SHARE THIS GREAT MESSAGE! I've imagined what it'll be like after we leave this mortal life. Will I be excited to see my friends only to find them sorely disappointed in me? Will they look at me and ask, "You knew this?! You had this truth? You knew how blessed my life could be and you kept this to yourself? I love you, why didn't you show your love for me?" I DO NOT want this to happen. I'm NOT okay with that. I want to give this great gift that will change everything if people will only accept it. Think about your friends, your family, people that you know, show your love for them by giving them the gospel. Let them know what it means to you!!! have missionary work in your heart because you have love in your heart. Keep doing awesome things and being awesome people!!! I love you all!!!

It's October 24th!! BAPTISM!!!! I love baptisms!!! A ten year old girl we've been teaching got baptized on Saturday. Her parents have been less active for a long time but the sisters started visiting them about 4 months ago and we've been going back every week. It's been so awesome to see the whole family reactivated. She has a 4 y.o. little brother who's usually a little wild thing but he was so calm and serious for the baptism. They had family come down from Idaho (some of which were less active or non-members) and it was great for all involved to see this special day. Baptisms are sooo AMAZING! I love them because the whole service is focused on what a big step this is for the individual (and in this case, the family). It's such a beautiful day for them. All throughout the service I think about where they've been, how far they've come, and where they're going. Their lives are chaaaanging. They're making a sacred promise with their Heavenly Father. It's all just so BEAUTIFUL! Being at a baptism of someone I've taught is almost like being in the temple. The Spirit is sooooo present! I know Heavenly Father's looking down on them with happiness. Ahhhh, I love this family. And I see them as a FOREVER family. One day they'll get to be sealed in the temple so they can be together for eternity. They're beautiful! I love them and I'm so happy for them. I love this work. It's so sacred. As missionaries we deal (very directly!) with the welfare of souls. I'm so grateful to be able to witness and be a part of these special times in people's lives!!!!

IT'S OCTOBER 17TH AND I'VE BEEN OUT A WHOLE TRANSFER!!! CRAZIEST THING EVER!!! That alllllso means it's been 2 months since I entered the MTC. TIME FLIIIIIIIIIIES. I'M LOOOOOVING MY MISSION!! I'm sooooo excited for this next transfer. Sister Sprouse and I are gonna rock it!! We have hiiiigh expctations and hiiigh goals! We've got a good groove going and so we're starting this transfer awesome!! We have a baptismthis Saturday too! WOOT WOOT! No time for more. The Book of Mormon really is the word of God. It testifies of Christ allll throughout its pages. It's continuing to CHANGE my life and give me joy! Read it and share it!!!

First...random bits!

I'm WAAAAAAAAY behind in journal writing!!! and in letter writing!!!! and this P-day's been allll sorts of crazy (We made plans to go hiking and had to change them like 50 bajilllion times and then everything crummmmbled at the last minute. hahah. it was so ridiculous but hilaaarious!) and so I haven't had time to really catch up. That will come! I'll make a better effort to catch up this week!

I've been suuuuper lucky with the weather! Like I missed the hard core heat by a DAY (the day we got here and since then hasn't been too bad). It's rained more than usual since I've been here and it's been windy and chilly at times with some of the storms in the distance.

It's been one AWESOME week! As a companionship Sister Sprouse and I have grown a lot. We've taken a lot of time this week to evaluate how we're doing. We've decided to be more open about when we don't feel as focused and to help each other out. We took time to identify a lot of areas where we could change and improve and recorded all our thoughts. We've prayed about how to keep these goals and feel that we've received a lot of inspiration with it all. It's been super exciting to reevaluate how we are doing and how we can improve! We've also started a new little study program (our "Book of Mormon tool kit")to help us teach from the Book of Mormon more often and more effectively. I feel like we're on the same page more and I suuuuper believe that companionship unity is sooo key in what we're doing. haha. I LOVE IT ALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!

Monday, October 3rd!!

Um... WOAH. Time FLIES!! I seriously think nothing compares to the mission in this aspect. NOTHING. It's like a vacuum takes it all away and it doesn't feel like that time ever even existed!!!! I've been in the field almost 1 MONTH now. WHAAAAAAT?!?! It's basically ridiculous. I can't BELIEVE IT. I'm starting to realize how short tansfers are. Six weeks goes by in a snap!! It all just makes me realize how important each day is. I don't want to end my mission regretting those days when I shouldv'e worked harder. They all count for SO MUCH.

General conference was AWESOME!! As usual, I'm amaaaazed. I could go on and on about that but I'm just gonna say go watch it if you haven't (lds.org). Those precious hours are worth everything and are so profound and special. We have a LIVING prophet. We must show our gratitude by being willing to listen to him!!

It's been a buussssssy week! Sis. Sprouse and I have been POOOOOPED all week. I think we pushed our bodies to the max and they got mad at us. We hadn't even done anything out of the ordinary but I think everything just caught up to us. She's been out 9 months and it really wearrrrrrs on your body! And my body's still adjusting to it all. The mission takes a toll because it's not just the physical aspect of being busy all the time, but we're really giving of ourselves. It's emotionally, physically, spiritually, and mentally A LOT. I've never experienced something to this extreme and I'm stillllll trying to catch up with it all. I think after doing it all for a month and a half (MTC plus in-field) my body had to freak out a bit. haha. I'm learning to deal with it though. Mission life is stressful but I'm getting used to the rigorous and taxing work. We're completly sustained by Heavenly Father. There's NO way we could be doing all that we are if He weren't getting us through it. There's SO much that's asked of missionaries but we're made able because of the sacredness and specialness of our callings. IT'S ALL SO WORTH IT. And we get P-days, so it's all good. They're sooooo needed in like 50 bajillion different ways. haha. So after being revived this week will be a lot better!

Sometimes I'm still so amazed at how busy we are. It's hard for me to gauge and realize how big it all is because everything's new to me. My idea of a mission at this point is being this busy, because that's what I've experienced; but then I hear other missionaries talk about their areas and I can't imagine having to deal with such slowness of the work. Thinking that my experience could be like that whenever I'm transferred out of this area is not okay. I wanna work my hardest and be effective!!

I want my whole mission to be the way it is now. I LOVE THIS WORK. I don't know why I've been blessed to staarrrrt off my mission this way. I know it's little crazy to expect it to always be this successful (cuz this is rare!), but I have high expectations. I've gotta shoot for the stars! At this point my perspective has changed. I believe that I can be an AMAZING missionary through completely relying on the Lord. Before I came on my mission and for a while since I've been here I knew I wanted to be obedient. I knrew that if I was coming on a mission, I wanted to do it right. I didn't expect much of myself because I didn't really know what to expect. I believed I could do the work but I guess I saw myself as an average missionary. I had high expectations for myself, as an individual, in being obedient and coming closer to the Lord but I didn't think as much about what I would do, as a missionary, for Him. I have real motivation now. I believe in myself. I've reflected on what I want to do as a missionary and what I want to become. I want to be an extraordinary missionary and I don't want to have ONE regret. I know I can do this. I'm so humbled and so grateful for all that I've been given. There's NO way to repay the Lord. He just continues to give. But I want to show my LOVE for Him by being a top-notch missionary, by excelling, and by becoming what He wants be to be. It won't be easy, that's for sure; and success won't always show in the work, but I HAVE HOPE.

So many missionaries are wasting their time. It's been said that 80% of missionaries do 20% of the work and 20% of the missionaries do 80% of the work, and I've heard from missionaries with more experience that this is very true. I want to be at the top! I want to rise above. I can NOT let this time go by and not do my best for the Lord. This time flies by and I've gotta make the MOST of it. I don't want to sound boastful, but I have real passion now. I've never experienced this with anything before in my life. I want to be my best and I'm willing to do the work. I've found that faith and real trust/completely relying on the Lord are my weaknesses. But I know, because of Ether 12:27, that those can become my STRENGTHS. How grateful I am for this. Heavenly Father knows me and my struggles and He's willing to pick me up and carry me along. I've so experienced this since I've been out. He is SO aware of me. One night I felt so alone. I wasn't experiencing what I expected to as a missionary. I was being impatient with myself. I wasn't feeling the Spirit guide me the way I thought it did with missionaries. I just felt so far removed from Heavenly Father. I felt like I wanted to be a good missionary SO bad, but EVERYTHING in my natural man was hoooolding me back. I prayed and cried and looked for answers, but went to sleep frustrated. The next morning during studies we studied the atonement for a lesson we had that day. I NEEDED that lesson. I learned so much about my Savior. I'm so grateful for Him. Heavenly Father gave me everything I needed that very next morning. I felt so humbled. People say that the mission breaks you down to build you up and that's so true. I know that I am weak, but He is strong. In Preach My Gospel it says that our confidence should be in Christ and not our own abilities (or lack thereof!). I found this in the MTC and it's carried me all along the way. There's more to that quote but I've run out of time. eek!

In ALL WE DO, we must rely on Christ. He's eeeeeverything!!! He's given me so much strength and He'll do the same for you!!!

Love you all, do good things!!

Oh my goodness. THERE'S ALWAYS SO MUCH TO WRITE!!!!!! AND NO TIME TO WRITE IT!!!!

My birthday has been awesome!!! I'm 22, baby!!! haha.

#1-My companion put all sorts of suuuper cute signs all over the walls that I woke up to. She gave me a skirt (kind of a mission tradition thing) and wrote me a suuuper nice note. I LOVE HER!!!!

#2-We went to Red Rock and hiked. It was all the sisters in the south part of the mission and sister Black. I loooooooved it. It was soooooo refreshing and fun. The sisters are hilaaaarius. I wish I could've stayed there all day. So so so so so so nice!!!

#3-Having my birthday on P-day is EXTRA COOL cuz I receive all these amazing emails on the actual day! Yes!! Thanks to all the great emails from people who thought about me. It means sooooo much!! I wish I had time to respond to each one individually but there's NEVER enough time!

It's been sooooooooo awesome and happy. I've felt so loved and appreciated. Your support love and kind words are so special to me! I miss all you WONDERFUL, AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, MINDBLOWING people out there. I have SO MUCH LOVE for all of my friends and family of Provo and West Virginia. You all hold such special places in my heart!

On to this week. There's so much to tell. We set 2 more people with a date (an engaged couple)!!! We also realized that 3 of the people we're teaching (2 with a date) have to be passed off to the young single adult missionaries. I'm sad to see them go but I know it'll be good for them!

The Relief Society General Broadcast was SOOOO AWESOME! You have no idea how ridiculously excited I am for conference. I'm not sure about what we're doing and all but I soooooooooo hope I get to see all four sessions in their entirety.

We had a baptism on Saturday!!! It was AMAZING! My first baptism! It was so spiritual and sacred. I loved it. It was a great time for reflection and it made me realize how much I take my being baptized and having the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost for granted. It was so HUGE for this person. So many people are living their whole lives without the precious blessings of the gospel and it made me so motivated to give that great gift of baptism and confirmation to more people!

Heavenly Father is COMPLETELY directing this work. I AM SO BLESSED to be teaching the people that I am. I'm learning so much from them and I love them soooooooo much!!!

Eek. There's no more time. ENJOY CONFERENCE! Take it seriously and listen carefully! It will give you direction and answers to your prayers!!!!

That's Sister Sprouse and me! I'll send more soooon!!!!

Hello all!! My emails won't usually be this long but we have some extra time today and I have a lot to catch up on!!! It's September 19th! I've been on my mission for over a month now and I've been in the field for exactly 2 weeks!! I didn't really get to email for the blog last week so there's a lot to tell!


I don't think I stressed it enough before that it's waaaaaay ghetto here. I'm living in the hood. haha. Sister Sprouse and I love it!! She has a ghetto book with all her crazy stories and I'm definitely gonna copy her! We have adventures all the time and let's just say I'm gonna have some legit street cred after this area. haha.


And it all affects how we teach too. Hearing about some of the other areas makes me realize the awesomeness that we have here. It's way different. People are waaay more willing to listen. But there are addictions of every kind and pretty much everyone is looking for a job and needs money help. Most people don't have much of a religious background (or the best education) so I'm learning to teach SUPER SIMPLY. It's so awesome here though! I love the uniqueness of this area and I'm so excited to be here!


I LOVE Sister Sprouse. She's pretty much perfect for me! We crack up all the time and we're so happy to be missionaries. Being with her is effortless. We're pretty sure we were bff's before we came to earth. haha. And I'm learning SOOOOO MUCH from her!! Yesterday someone gave his homecoming talk in one of our wards (we cover two wards). It was way exciting to hear but when the Bishop presented his plaque it was like a horror movie. We were so sad to think about that being us someday. It hurt our hearts and we wanted to cry. We just love our missions SO MUCH! I wanna be companions with her foreeeeever. hehe.


Seriously the phrase to describe this transfer is BEST OF THE BEST! I've been blessed SO MUCH to have such greatness at the beginning of mission. This is the best most misionaries have in their whole missions and I'm starting out here! Crazy!! I really don't understand why Heavenly Father has given me so much!! But I do know that where much is given, much is required! I'm trying to be worthy of His great trust.


For example: we have TEN people set with baptismal dates at the moment!! RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME!!! Like this is suuuuuuuuuper unusual. And we should have more soon. My head is exploding!!
One person is getting baptized this week. The sisters were working with him before and he's WAY awesome and SUPER solid. I'm sooo excited for this Saturday! We're teaching a family of 7 (6 are set with a date, 1 wasn't there when we taught), a few individuals and a few couples. I know that they've all been prepared by Heavenly Father. This work is COMPLETELY guided by Him. Seeing the changes of heart these people have had and the way the Spirit works has strengthened my testimony so much! I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's true church on the earth and that the power of the Priesthood within this church is REAL. We have such authority as missionaries only because it's given to us from God. I love being the messenger of the restored gospel for these people. In the MTC they talked about missions being so great because it's like a front-row seat to seeing the atonement work in the lives of people and that's so true!! One of my faaaavorite things is hearing investigators pray. I love hearing people sincerely talk to their Heavenly Father and strengthen their relationship with Him! THERE IS REAL JOY IN MISSIONARY WORK!!


I've been so blessed to start my mission off busy and with all these progressing people. I'm working on having real faith that shows my complete trust in Heavenly Father. I think this has really been the struggle of my life up to this point and I know it's something that I'll have to continue to work on. But it's all about FAITH. It makes ALL the difference. I don't even know how to explain. It just makes ALL the difference.


After so much confusion about what to do with my life these past few years, I'm SO happy where I'm at and I know that's because the Lord is happy with where I'm at. There are so many evidences of this in my life right now! I CANNOT express how grateful I am to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I'm learning so much about Christ and I'm striving to be like Him. He is my Savior and I love Him. I'm so grateful for prayer and for the knowledge of my individual importance to Heavenly Father. He has watched out for me in so many ways leading up to my mission and so much while I'm here. When thinking back about how I got here, I don't even know how I made the decision to serve. It was all Him gently guiding me to where I NEEDED to be.


Even when I doubt myself and my abilities to teach, I have complete confidence in the message that I have to share. I know it's real and it will CHANGE people's lives! The gospel of Jesus Christ is for EVERYONE. Heavenly Father SO wants His children to hear and accept the gospel and to receive the great HAPPINESS and BLESSINGS that come from it. That's why it's so important that we open our mouths. We carry a message with us that people are so desperately searching for. I'm so blessed to have it and so I must share it. Missionary work is the best work on the EARTH!!!
Sister Aubrey Ruth Dillistone

PICS FROM THE MTC!!!


My companions! The redhead is Sister Badger and the blond is Sister Brown!


The elders at the temple are my district. From left to right: E. Nielsen, E. Reiber, E. Calquin, E. Mangum, E. Wilson, E. Mitchell, and E. Albertson
They were AWESOMEEEEE!!!
The comps were: E. Nielsen and Calquin, E. Albertson and Mitchell, and then the trio of E. Mangum Wilson and Reiber


That's all that I have time for. I love you all!! The gospel is SO true. It changes hearts. I LOVE THE MISSION FIELD. It all just feels so right!!

WOAH! This is one big WHIRLWIND if there ever was one!!! And there's so much to tell!! We arrived yesterday! We had a ton of training and stuff but we were all EXHAUSTED. At 6 I met my trainer, Sister Sprouse, and her old companion, Sister Dixon. I'm in the Lone Mountain area which is like right by the mission office. I'll tell more about that later. We went staight to dinner with some members. They were waaaay awesome about it being my first dinner appointment ever. haha. Then we went to play games with some progressing investigators. I was POOOOOPED so I'm pretty sure I didn't look like I was having fun and didn't make the best impression. So I'm definitely excited to go back and act like a real person who's actually alive. haha. Then we had to go pick up some soup from an investigator before we went home. With training and all being so long I didn't realize any of that was going to be happening. This morning we dropped off Sister Dixon at transfers so she could go to her new area. And now it's just Sister Sprouse and me. I'm the FOURTH person she's trained! She's way awesome, super understanding, and really encouraging. She's making sure not to overwhelm me with all the tonnnns of information I'll have to learn. I love her already!!!


Oh and all the sisters are way cool. I'd seen them all on the blog (BTW, go visit that!!! Sister Black's going to pics up soon!) At transfers they were all really loud and jovial and craaacking up. haha. My kind of girls! lol.


We're living at members' home! President Black said about 50% live in members' homes. I had NO clue. I thought we were all in apartments so that was a surprise. It's pretty neat though! The family consists of the parents, one daughter still at home (a senior in HS), and a dog that's exactly like Mitzi.


Another surprising tidbit: half the missionaries are down in just the small area of Vegas. I figured since the mision is so big I'd spend a lot of time elsewhere and when everyone talked about Vegas I was like 'yeah, whatever, that's such a small part of the mission,' but I was totally wrong!


It's staaarting to feel real. Last night when we were meeting with people it just felt like I was tagging along with the sisters. haha. It totally felt like I was just visiting. Luckily it's starting to feel a little more real and I'm getting excited. There are SO many emotions it's crazy. But just as has happened all up to this point, Heavenly Father has strengthened me and given me the ability to take it all in without going crazy. haha. but there's SO MUCH TO TAKE IN!! I get scared when I think about teaching real people and my own stuff and all but when Sister Sprouse talks about it and from interacting with people a just the little bit that I have, it all makes me feel soooooooo good inside. The gospel is true. The work is real. Hearts can change. And I'm soooo excited to witness that!!


P-days are Mondays, we're just emailing today b/c of the holiday yesterday.


So on to the Lone Mountain area!!! The church is super strong here! People always talk about that in Vegas but I was definitely surprised. My area is like 2 and 1/2 by 1 mile by wide. CRAZY!!! There's so much here! Sister Sprouse and Sister Dixon were talking about how they opened this area up to sisters like 6 months ago and it went on fire. It's SOOOO busy. It's a more humble area...the most ghetto area in the mission that sisters serve in. haha. YESSSSS! :) I can't believe how many bajillion investigators/potentials there are. Sister Sprouse narrowed it down to 66 that we're going to work on right now. HOLY MOLY. My brain's going to explode!!! She also said that with contacting and tracting and stuff about 40% of the time people are interested. WOAHIE. haha. I'm glad to be in an area where the people are so receptive. It makes it all a little less scary. Oh and they're doing a new program for new missionaries with their trainers. I'm suuuuper excited about it cuz it's supposed to be really effective in helping us become better missionaries faster! It's a 12 week thing, which means that I'm for sure going to be here with Sister Sprouse for the next transfer. Yay!


I meant to add pictures but there was no time. I'll be sure to do that next week!!
I LOVE YOU ALLL!!!!

Hello all!!!
It was GREAAAAAAAATTTTTT hearing from you all. I WANT TO HEAR MORE!!!! Tell me alllll about the move!! How's everyone adjusting?! AIMEE....THIS MEANS YOU NEED TO WRITE MEEEEEEEEEE! haha. tell me about school and the pets and everything. pleeeeeease. I get lots of letters from my friends but none. from. my. family. RUDE. FIX THIS. (sorry I gotta guilt trip but hey, just write. haha). I know it's craaaazy busy there and all though so I understand.


DearElder is super awesome. You go on the site and email and they will print it out at the MTC and put it in the mailbox with the rest of the mail. So yeah. SUPER COOL. So UUUUUSE IT! I think I heard it only works in the MTC so use it while we still can. I'm not sure though. You'll have to look it up on the site. I wanna hear about eeeeeverything. And it's better to have letters cuz then I can keep them with me instead of only being able to look at them at one time. AND I only have 30 mins on the comp. so I gotta spend my time with my fingers flying on the keyboard, not trying to read all you wrote. But I LOVED receiving your emails anyway. I won't be able to respond to them individually though cuz there's only so much time. But Joe, you crack me up!!! keep those letters coming. it's fun to hear all the little details of what's going on.


I pretty much have NO time to write this week. Once again, the MTC is FLYING BY!!!! I have this reaaaallly super cool analogy/metaphor thing that I came up with that's changed my view about entering the field but I have no time to write! Basically I'm changing my attitide so that I'm happy and not scared of going into the field. It's made a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE DIFFERENCE. I was kinda freaking out there for a bit, but now I'm all excited about it. and I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE IT HERE. My district and my companions are SERIOUSLY THE BESSSSSTTTT. It just gets better and better!! I FINALLY saw Timmy on Sunday. His classroom's in the same building I live in but we've missed each other this whole time! Anyway life is DANG AWESOME AT THE MTC!!!!


AND YAAAAAAAAAAAY FOR TAMMY!!!! I wanna hear allllllllll about Luke!! and get pictures too!!! YAY FOR NEW NEPHEWS!!! I was gonna ask about him this week but Patty told me the good news (Thanks a bunch, big sis!!!!)! What day was he born? LOVE IT!!!


SEND ME MAILLLLLLL!
hehehe
Love,
Sister Dillistone!!!!!

The MTC rocks!! There's SOOOOO much to tell and I only have 30 minutes do I'm rushing through! I'll have to actually write letters to be able to tell you more. Tuesday's my P-day! Oh and I'll be flying out into the field on September 5th!

So this has been the FASTEST WEEK OF MY LIFE! I like can't evern remember the past 5 days. haha.Jennifer and Heidi dropped me off on Wednesday and it's been a whirlwind since then. Coming in was really neat and by the end of that night, pretty much 100% of my worries about the MTC were gone. I love it here! I'm surprised at how well I've adjusted to the whole dealio of "missionary life." Within the first 15 minutes I saw a sister from my ward and since then I'm pretty sure I've seen AT LEAST 30 people I know with teachers, missionaries, and employees. I didn't expect that at all but I'm seeing people everywhere! The one person I was looking for is pretty elusive though. I can't find Timmy ANYWHERE! I've been looking and I deffffffinitely should've seen him by now. I heard you could put notes in other missionaries' mailboxes so we tried to do that, but I can't send notes to elders. haha. I wonder what the dealio is. I'm pretty sure he's still here!! It's driving me crazy.

So shout out to Ariel. You know how we passed each other up and I couldn't see you right before I came to the MTC....well you were busy being in Washington with my companion! Sister Brown told me you were there for her farewell talk and that you said you knew someone else going into the MTC at the same time. Smalllll world, isn't it!! haha.

I'm in a trio. For the first few days I was kinda frustrated and just kept thinking about how pretty much everything would be easier being in a companionship, but I really LOVE my companions now. I'm with Sister Badger, who's also going to Vegas West and Sister Brown who is, along with all the elders in my district, going to Denver North. We have 7 elders and then the trio of sisters in my district. It took a little while to open up but I LOVE them now. THEY CRACK ME UP!! We definitely have some characters and it makes everything fun. There's a whole district of elders in the classroom next to us that's going to my mission too! We've gotten to know some of them and I want to know more. It's so exciting to meet people that are also going to Vegas West. The guy that I met on FB who's going there isn't in that district and they said there are more so there'll definitely be a big incoming group of missionaries when I get to the field.

So I've been surprised with how well I've been handling it all. The Lord has definitely blessed me! The emotions of it all kinda caught up with me on Sunday and then the tiredness of it all caught up with our whole district on Monday. haha. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT IT'S ALMOST BEEN A WEEK. I seriously can't comprehend it. Our roommates left to their missions this morning and I'm already missing this place.

The Spirit is so strong here it's unbelievable and I just love it. My faith has grown SO MUCH. I don't know why I was so scared to go on a mission. I'm still scared of the field but the MTC is a safe and happy place haha. I'm relying on my Heavenly Father more than ever before and I can really see the power of sincere prayer. I've been wanting so badly to be able to teach by the spirit and last night I had that experience. IT CHANGED EVERYTHING. I've gotten such a deeper understanding of why we must invite people to be baptized. It truly is the best thing for them and if we love them, we know that it's a disservice to not let them know about it and invite them. It was a great experience. I let the Spirit lead. I really don't remember much of what I said but I was weak afterwards and so grateful to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. It was "Tim" (our teachers act as investigators but it's SUPER real). He was our very first teaching appointment and let's just say it was a traumatic experience. haha. We confused him even more and on the second appointment, I so wanted him to have the clarity of mind and know what he was missing in his life. It was a beautiful experience. Focusing on the individual and his/her needs is so important. I've come to really learn to LOVE people here and want the best for them.

My faith has grown so much. I know that this is the Lord's work I'm doing. If I tried to do it myself I would fail miserably and it would be worthless but when I learn and teach by the Spirit, Christ takes over and does all the work.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEEEE!!!!!! I have a letter ready to send but I don't know where to send it so SEND ME YOUR NEW ADDRESS!!! Oh and everyone use DearElder.com! IT'S AMAZING!!! haha. I wanna hear from you all!!! Telkl me about the move and all that good stuff. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Thank you for all the support and love you've given me. It means the world to me!

Love,

Sister Dillistone

ps-I KNOW THIS IS WHERE I'M SUPPOSED TO BE! AND THAT'S A BEAUTIFUL THING!!! I've never been so sure in my life!! I love it!!

Called to Serve!

Hello all!! I'm dedicating my life to the Lord for the next eighteen months by serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'll teach people the gospel of Jesus Christ and have a good time doing it! Here are a few of my thoughts on my decision to serve as I get ready to begin my mission next Wednesday.

Why and how sisters decide to go on missions is a common discussion topic and something that I've pondered a lot. It seems like some people handle the whole situation of going on a mission so gracefully and sometimes I feel like I've clunked all the way through the process. Every step of the way proved to be way more personal and difficult than I anticipated. For me it all started with a prompting that came in the fall of 2009 to just think about serving a mission and explore whether or not it was something for me. This led me on the long and hard road of...dun dun dun...decision making! Although it wasn't always apparent at the time I can see now that Heavenly Father gently guided me along the way and helped me do something that was personally really difficult. Initially, I just wanted to be told what my path was supposed to be and I was frustrated with the confusion I felt. But Heavenly Father knew me. He knew that I needed it to be my choice, which is now something that I hold dear. He knew what I didn't and lovingly prepared me for this time in my life in countless ways.

So why did I chose to serve a mission? I've questioned my motivation many, many times. Am I doing it for the right reasons? Do I have enough motivation for when things get hard? Why is this the choice that I'm making? Do I really want to do this? What is making me continue to chose this path when every step of the way has been difficult? All throughout the decision making process I constantly felt the need to evaluate my motives.

So with all that thinking, I came up with three main reasons why I chose to serve. #1-I'm selfish. haha. I know that the intense learning experience I will have will provide things for me that I can't get in any other way. I want the skills, habits, knowledge, and testimony growth that a mission will provide. #2-I know that I would be so unhappy with myself if I didn't serve. I have no reason not to serve and I feel like I would be throwing away an amazing experience just because of my own fear and laziness. My conscience won't allow me to chicken out from something that I know deep down I need to do. #3-I believe in what I believe; and I want to bring that joy to others. I've been given so much and I feel a responsibility to do something with that. I know that living the gospel brings true happiness. As my testimony grows I can't help but wish that the feelings I have could be shared with others. I want others to feel the comfort and peace that the Atonement brings in our moments of need, to develop a real relationship with their Father in Heaven, to know that they're so loved by their Savior, and to feel the surety of truthfulness that the Holy Ghost can provide. 

When I question myself, I remind myself of these reasons and I remember that this is something I want to do. I'm happy. I know that what I'm doing is right and I'm content.

I'm really excited for this time in my life...definitely a tad bit more than nervous, but I'm working on that. I'm taking it one day at a time...and focusing on not being an emotional basketcase. haha. Humbled and ready to learn, I'm going forward with faith and that's all I can ask of myself right now. I trust that my Heavenly Father will take care of me and guide me. I know that this will be one AMAZING experience and although I don't think I'll ever feel prepared enough, I'm excited to embark on this new adventure.

And as always...it's gonna be a paaaarrtaaaay! ;)