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!!!