The Morrill of the Story

New Christmas outfit....thanks mom! :)   This week was slow and hard, but ultimately good. We saw a lot of tender mercies from the Lord that all made up for it. On Monday we went to FHE with the YSA which was fun because we were able to build ginger bread houses. Then on Tuesday we had our Christmas devotional with our mission president which was so awesome! I just loved it. We got to eat a yummy lunch and watch A Christmas Carol. My mission has definitely gotten to me because the whole time I was watching that I was trying to pick out all the gospel principles. There were quite a few! Like the repentance and the atonement and even eternal marriage haha. After the movie we had a little devotional in the chapel where one of the Elders read the real Christmas story. It had scriptures from all over everyone of them talking about Christ, starting from the preexistence all the way until after His death. It was really cool and so spiritual to have all those script...

 Puppies! Me and Sister Lewis before she left for home.  I will miss her!     I was sick this week with an upper respiratory infection which wasn't fun, but we had as good a week as I think we could have. We saw a lot of people that Sister Tuna wanted to say good bye to. We were able to see the Tylers and Cathy and we also had dinner with our Bishop who is just the sweetest most hilarious man ever. He's a baptist convert and has a really cool conversion story, I guess he was even pretty anti-Mormon but was able to gain a testimony of more truth. He didn't tell us all the story, but I'm excited to hear more. Then since I was going to be the only sister left here in Killeen, I was able to drive up to transfers with everyone to pick up Sister Larsen. I was able to see Sister Lewis and Sister Carbno there! It was awesome. Then I met Sister Larsen who is just hilarious and so patient and caring. Since I was so sick for a couple of days last w...

    Transfer news is that I am staying and that Sister Tuna is leaving. My new companion's name is Sister Larson. No one knows anything about her haha. So I guess I will find out all about her on Wednesday . It's been truly wonderful serving here with Sister Tuna. She's going to Bedford! Which is right next to Euless so I've been able to tell her a little bit about the area. So yeah that's my life. This week was really good. We were able to accomplish some good things. We've gone caroling to member's friends quite a bit which has been so much fun! I want to go caroling for the rest of my life! People love it! No matter who they are. It's really amazing to see the spirit of Christmas touch their hearts. Which sounds pretty cheesy, but I feel like Christmas really does have it's own special spirit. I just feel like the Holy Ghost is able touch most everyone during this period. It's really amazing. We found two awesome new i...

The tree my mom sent me :)   Happy late thanksgiving ! We ate very well over here. We had a thanksgiving lunch and then a thanksgiving dinner, and we were able to teach non-members at both so that was really awesome! This week has been a somewhat turbulent one, but it has ultimately been good. The rest of my Monday last week was fun because we all played soccer as a zone. I think I forgot how fun soccer is, and also how out of shape I am haha. On Tuesday we  had to go get new tires because one of our tires is completely bald. We only waited at the place for 6 hours! It was crazy. We finally have new tires though so that's good. Let's see, a lot happened this week so I'm going to try to just stick with the highlights. We were blessed to teach a lot of lessons this week! We had an appointment with a couple named Ariel and Sebastian. We thought they were both non-members but it turns out that Sebastian was actually born in the church and was bap...

This week had it's ups and downs, but it ended on an up and that's all that matters. On Tuesday we were blessed with multiple appointments and people who were willing to come out and help us teach at those appointments. We've actually decided that it might be best for the Elders that we split a ward with to teach Christopher from now on. He's a single guy living by himself so it'll just be easier for the Elders to be able to see him and work with him. We were able to meet with one of our more promising investigators named Emma. Her and her husband are in the process of getting a divorce and are battling about the custody of their small child. It's been rough on her, but she says that she's found a lot of comfort from the Book of Mormon and has been trying to learn more about charity and having love for others. Look at her trying to be alll Christlike! It was pretty cool. What's even better is that she came to the ward's Thanksgivi...

Brrr!  35 degrees on transfer day! Hello! So transfers are upon us again and I am going down to Copperas Cove which is in the Killeen Stake by the military base. I'm so excited! My companion's name is Sister Tuna. I'm super sad to be leaving Arlington but I know that the Lord is sending me where He needs me. It's going to be really cool, we're over the 2nd ward and also the YSA Branch. I'm really excited. I don't have the new address quite yet, but I'll update you next week. This week has been pretty good! Scout and her brother got baptized! It was so very tender. The whole family was there and they were just so happy! Sad news is that Scout's brother is moving down to Austin to live with the Aunt and Uncle who have practically raised him. So we won't get to see him as often. They said they'll still come visit though. I'm just so happy that Scout and her brother made this choice. It's going to set the foundation for the res...

      So. Lucy did not get baptized this week. It's actually really okay though. She sent us a message last Monday night and said that she wasn't ready and that she was still having some commandment issues. It was really hard and sad to hear about, especially because she had made so much progress, but we understood. We weren't able to meet with her for a couple of days, but when we did finally meet with her it was amazing. Actually the second time we met with her was a little more amazing. The first time we saw her after Monday she said that she just wanted a little more time so we set another date for November 15th . However when we came back the second time she was just honest with us and told us that she didn't think she'd be ready and that she wanted to put off a baptismal date at this time so that she could really get ready to make this covenant. She realized that the consequences of messing up after baptism are a lot worse than mes...

Zone Meeting   With Sis. Carbno and Sis. Ames   This week was great! Let's see, where do I start? Let's start with Lucy.  Lucy is still doing awesome! She's still on track for baptism despite some of the trials she has had this past week. Satan is working really hard on her. We had an awesome lesson with her on Tuesday with a wonderful member from our ward. We talked a lot about faith and she seemed to find a lot of strength from that. Wednesday is when it started to get a little crazy. We also decided in the lesson that we were going to have some priesthood holders come over the next night to give her a priesthood blessing. So the next day we were in a lesson with Scout and had gotten a phone call and some texts from Lucy. After the lesson we were able to check the messages and she told us that she wasn't feeling up to us coming over anymore and that she was getting evicted because of her dogs and just wasn't feeling too happy. We mess...

  Lindsey and "Lucy"     Also to be known as "Teaching the gospel BABY!" or Week 3 of transfer 7. This week was really awesome and full of the spirit! We had like 5 meetings this week. Wednesday was our only full proselyting day. That's because a member of the quorum of the Seventy came named Elder Cardon! We had a mission conference with him, then a mission fireside where he and his wife also spoke, then we also had a shortened zone conference with just President and Sister Ames, then our stake had two sessions of Stake Conference. Elder Cardon spoke at both of them, as well as President Ames. It was really cool to see them like basically every day this week. We talked a lot about increasing our faith and about listening to the spirit. It was really good.   Lucy is doing really well! We set up a game plan with her to help her quit smoking and drinking completely. She's cut back a lot but is still working on it. What's aw...

 Half way package :)  Can you believe she's half way???   Tri-panionship still going strong! Kitty!!   Also funny story: I was incredibly sassy in Sunday school yesterday . I probably shouldn't have been though haha. We were teaching the lesson and I was writing on the chalk board. I was standing on my tip toes to write something and heard some people snickering, then as I turned around the old ward mission leader asked if I'd like a step stool (he's the kind of guy who loves to tease everyone and is just in general very hilarious). So I asked if he was volunteering. It was funny, but probably not becoming of a disciple of the Lord haha.   This week was really good! We've had a lot of good variety. We've been working a lot on finding and found 4 new promising investigators! We're really excited about it. We've also had some good lessons with the people we're already working with. We were also so blessed to have 4 of...

    Being in a trio is awesome! It's like a missionary party everyday! Plus it has helped Sister Lewis and I to get a fresh perspective on missionary work. When you've been working together for so long it can be easy to kind of get into the same old routine with our work. Sister Carbno is a wonderful missionary who has helped us learn so much already. It's going to be a wonderful transfer. This week was pretty great! We helped Saul move out of his place, but we taught him and had a really awesome lesson. In Sunday school last week we talked about the word of wisdom. So in our lesson Saul was asking about it. So we explained that there are certain commandments that Latter Day Saints follow. Then he asked what else there was that he'd have to do to prepare for baptism! It was so amazing! We're sad he's moved into a different ward, but we know he's going to do so well there. I can't wait to hear about his baptism one day! We were a...

BAPTISM! Let's see. Where do I start? Lots of exciting things are happening and are in the process of happening. I guess I'll start with transfer news. Transfers are this Wednesday and...Sister Lewis and I will both be staying...and we'll be joined by another sister! Trio time! It's going to be really interesting but I know it's what the Lord would have happen. It's going to be great! So we're currently in the process of reorganizing our apartment. One of the many miracles of the week is that we finally saw Lucy! It was kind of funny how it happened though. So we didn't have any members feeding us for dinner on Wednesday . We planned to go to one place but were way too full from a member feeding us lunch that day so we decided to go to McDonald's to just get a little snack type thing. We eat all our food and are about to leave when Lucy walks in! It was amazing. We didn't stay and talk with her too long, but it was ju...

      This week was pretty good! We met an awesome new investigator this week! he referred himself on mormon.org and is soooooooo prepared! It's amazing! His name is Saul. He told us that he'd been going to a church somewhere else in Texas and that he'd gotten really close with them and felt like he was a lot happier. Then he had to move and hasn't gone back to a church since and has just felt like everything has been falling apart because of that. So the Spanish Elders actually knocked on his door and talked to him a little. Saul told us that he felt like he should just talk with them. So they talked and he liked what they had to say and then he got referred to us. He's been so amazing to talk to. He has a lot of questions about things in the bible and religion and when we answer them with restored truth he says that it all makes sense! We've told him a little bit about the apostasy and are excited to talk to him about the rest! He eve...

Cooled off this week!   So I didn't think I'd have that much to update y'all with on account of just talking to you a few days ago. I was wrong. These last 3 and half days have been crazy! So on Friday we had to drive our car to Euless to have some damage on it looked at. (We weren't in a car accident or anything, it just got scraped.) It was really awesome to be in my first area again! So we take the car to have pictures taken at a damage repair shop and then we go to the mission office to have our bike rack looked at. We got a bike rack a little while back, but it was too big for the hitch. So one of the Elders takes a look at it, and then tells us that we need to go to Uhaul so that they can look at the hitch and basically confirm that yes the hitch is too small. So we do that, and then they tell us that the bike rack is too big for the hitch. Then we drive back to the mission office where the office Elder sends us with two other Elders to go and...

The Bishop and his wife who took them to the temple today. At the Dallas temple Sisters for life! Yet another kitty! Yep, still love sharks! AHHHH!          I LOVE THE TEMPLE! This week was pretty awesome. The reason this update is so late is because we had the great privilege of going to the Dallas temple. We have to take that time out of our p-day and the temple isn't open on mondays so we have to take a different day for that so that we can go. Funny/awesome story. Sister Lewis and I stopped at QT (gas station) for a bathroom break and to get some drinks. As we're getting our drinks this guy asks us how we're doing and then introduces himself as "Brother Eddie". So we're like "Oh are you a member?" and he's like "No, but I'm a Christian" and so we proceeded to talk to him about his beliefs and then he asked us a bunch of questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint...

  This is the cutest picture....you can see the genuine friends they have become! :)   Hello everyone! This week had been pretty awesome! On Tuesday we had interviews with our mission president. President Ames is too amazing! He gave me some really good advice and I also got a nice blessing from my Heavenly Father through him. The priesthood is so awesome and I'm so grateful that we have that power on the Earth today. God truly does love us. President Ames also came out to see Lucy with us along with a member of the stake presidency. It was a really great lesson, full of the spirit. We talked about why coming to church and reading and praying are so important. We set another baptismal date with Lucy for the 27th of September . Same day as Bobby and Mary's! That will be a wonderful day! We were also able to see Bobby and Mary on Tuesday and they are doing wonderful. They're so excited to get baptized! AND we also met with Chandler that day as well. It...

 Kittens!  Yum!  We got to tour the Texas Ranger's stadium :) Offering my best managerial skills? This week was crazy! But full of miracles. We finally met with Lucy! After like a week and a half of silence. It was crazy. Apparently she's having a really hard time right now. Her life just kind of blew up and then apparently she felt guilty because she'd "been bad" and was too ashamed to talk to us. We told her she never needs to be ashamed to see us because we'd never judge her and we shared John 8 with her where it talks about the woman taken in adultery. She seems to be doing a little better now. We're going to try to see her again tonight and then also tomorrow . Bobby and Mary are doing well. Mary is down to half a pack of cigarettes and is continuing to wean herself off. It's amazing how determined she is! We had a really good lesson with the both of them at one of our recent converts houses. They weren...

   Only in Texas??       Storm Approaching       Transfer news is that Sister Lewis and I are both staying here in Arlington. We're really excited to have another transfer together. So Monday night we met with a new investigator named Chandler and his wife Monica. They're expecting a baby on September 1st . They're really great. Chandler has like a ton of questions though. It can be hard to get through all the material, especially cause they're very deep thinking complicated questions. He's a really cool guy though and he came to church this week and loved it. The elders in the 3rd ward were teaching him but then he moved into our area so we took over the teaching. We're going to see them again tonight . Tuesday we did some yard work at Bobby's and then later in the evening went on an exchange with the Relief Society president here. She's a real neat lady and we were able to meet with a less active member w...

  This week was a roller coaster. Tuesday we had some awesome success. We had two surprise lessons with a member present so we were happy about that. We were also able to finally get in contact with a man who we had received as a referral quite a while ago. He and his family are having some rough times, their little daughter has some serious health issues and we're hoping to see him and his family again sometime this week. Friday was a day full of miracles! So after dinner we weren't too sure where to go cause we had a couple of options. We decided to go see Lucy. So when we get there we knock on her door and she isn't home. So we get in the car and are just about to pull away when she shows up with her carpool from work! Then we proceed to have an awesome lesson with her. She told us that she gave a Book of Mormon out to someone at work! AND that she has quit smoking (or is at least smoking a lot less and weaning herself off of tobacco) AND that she...

I'm not going to lie. Last week and parts of this week were hard for me. So sorry for the short update last week. Tuesday was a good day. Sister Lewis and I were able to teach our first three lessons of the day in a lot more balance than we have before. It's always hard when getting a new companion to figure out how best you work together in lessons. I was actually able to feel the spirit influencing the words that I was saying, and it was an amazing thing to experience. My mind was clear and I could feel the power of the words that were given to me by the spirit. I'm so grateful that I was able to be an instrument in the Lord's hand like that. We were able to teach Kent who was having a really hard time. She was also able to make it to church! It was really cool. We were also able to get her a priesthood blessing because she's had some deaths in the family lately and has been feeling a little depressed. We also met with Bobby this week and taught ...