Awesome Week!

Sorry that last week's entry was so short; we had a total of about 20
minutes to email.
My mom, sister and grandma passed through Rock Springs on their way to
Rexburg (for Kam's graduation) and dropped off a basket for me. Thanks mama, 
grandma and boo.
My week has been awesome! A*y is going to be baptized this Saturday,
August 1st! We got to do service and wash all 4 of our High Priest
Group Leader's cars! We also have been working super hard on finding
new people to teach. Elder Thompson gave a training on Friday at
district meeting about finding and we all shared what has been our
most successful way of finding new people to teach. Obedience is the
best way to find! Heavenly Father always blesses us as we show Him
that we are willing to follow the things he asks us to do. This week
Sister Carlson and I are going to focus on being strictly obedient! We
know that the Lord will bless us.
Yesterday we were able to teach Elders Quorum! We got to teach from
the talk, "Fatherhood--Our Eternal Destiny" by Larry M. Gibson.
Obviously we were pros at teaching about fatherhood! It was awesome to
hear all the men's comments about how they find opportunities to teach
their children about the gospel every day. The talk also talked about
how appreciating womanhood helps men to be better fathers and
husbands. All guys should read that talk.
I am impressed every day as I have experiences that test my faith and
grow my testimony. I have the blessing every day to stand up for what
I believe in. At the youth fireside that we got to speak at yesterday
there was a young woman that shared her experience of helping someone
come  unto the gospel. She said that because this experience made her
feel so good she now wants to serve a mission. Seeing the conversion
process is the most divine addiction. It is addicting to see people
accept the beautiful truths of the gospel. As we take part in this
process we have the desire to be a part of it more and more.
I love you all! Share the good news of Jesus Christ!

Short post this week!

Yesterday we went on a mission hike (hence why this blog entry is so
short!)! It was about 5 miles mostly uphill. I almost forgot how out
of shape I am! Hahahaaa. It was so good to see everyone from my
mission. It really made me grateful that I have this experience and
that I have these missionaries to look back on these times with.
Missions are hard and yet so rewarding. I am grateful for all of the
difficult times and all of the good times. I am blessed with so many
opportunities to share the gospel that I love! I am so grateful to be a 
missionary!

Another fantastic week!

(Go to the kitchen and fill a beautiful glass with some chocolate
milk. Lift it up) Cheers to another fantastic week as a missionary!
This week went by so quickly but it was full of lots of miracles!
First: our investigator Sh**on came to church!!!!!! She is super busy
with her life and she was able to switch shifts yesterday and come to
all three hours of church! It was awesome! Our ward mission leader
introduced her in front of everyone which made her nervous! She had
lots of questions about the sacrament, the temple and baptism. Three
things that I love to answer questions about!
Second: A*Y IS SO CLOSE TO GETTING BAPTIZED! The lesson this week we
taught about baptism and confirmation and the priesthood. We brought a
recent convert that is A*y's age. We had the recent convert talk about
her conversion story and share a little bit about her baptism. When we
asked A*y how she felt she said, "It just makes me so excited for my
baptism!"
Third: We called a member in the bishopric and he didn't answer and we
were listening to his voicemail and it said, "Hi this is ____ ___
sorry I couldn't come to the phone right now but if you leave me your
name, a short message, and your favorite color I will get back to you
soon"! Hahahaaa everyone's voicemail should demand a favorite  color.
So on the voicemail Sister Carlson left a message and finished it
with, "....our favorite color is baptism---I mean blue!" Hahahaaa.
Fourth: There was a couple that hasn't been to church in YEARS that we
have been visiting. The wife really wants to start coming back to
church but the husband is being less than supportive....Well, guess
who was at church on Sunday? Both of them. A happy wife is a happy
life.
Anyways, everything is going so well. We are studying integrity this
month as a mission and it is one of those attributes that everyone has
to go to the dictionary for a definition. I read one of the best talks
by D. Todd Christofferson titled, "Let Us Be Men". Everyone should
read that talk. I love that Heavenly Father placed us on this earth to
both get a body and to gain experience. I am grateful that He promises
us that we can become like Him! It will take a lot of hard work but
all good things in life take hard work.

Thankful for blessings!

I hope that everyone had a HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!
This week has been lots of hard work but it has also been so fun! For
the 4th of July we played flag football with Young Men, then we
contacted in the afternoon and then we went to the cute Ra**er
family's house for dinner! Then we went to a returning-member's house
and we had SMORES and roasted starbursts! Let's all take a moment to
recognize the genius that made smores. Then Sister Carlson and I went
home, got in our jammies and watched the fireworks from our backyard.
It was so fun!
We didn't pick up any new investigators this week but A*y told us that
she is going to set a date to be baptized! Her and her less-active
husband have been working with the bishop on getting him ready to
baptize her!
I have been so distracted the past transfer. I have always had dying
companions (companions that are going home within the next couple
months) but it hasn't hit me until this transfer because I hit a year
and my time is slowly getting close to the end. It was so helpful to
go to the temple and get a spiritual reboot but I was still having
lots of thoughts about home and my future. The past couple of weeks I
have been having this feeling to get a priesthood blessing but I have
put it off with excuses "I don't want to bother the elders", "I don't
even have a reason to get one", "I don't need to, I'm just being a
baby". On Saturday I woke up with a bad headache and it kept getting
worse. I tried drinking a ton of water, I rubbed my temples, I tried
my pressure points, I even broke down and took some advil....NOTHING
HELPED! Finally I told Sister Carlson to call the elders and ask them
when they could give me a blessing. AS SOON AS SHE CALLED THE ELDERS
THE HEADACHE STOPPED. I'm not even kidding. Heavenly Father really
wanted me to get a blessing. Elder Thompson gave me a blessing that
afternoon; it was God speaking exactly to me. It was amazing. He
answered EVERY question and concern that I had been having. He told
me, among other things, that I was in Rock Springs for a reason and I
needed to give my mission my all so that I could find all the people
that need me. I know that mission's end and that I will eventually
return home but until then I am working on giving the Lord everything.
Elder Thompson said, "If you are still breathing, you have more to
give". I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows what a
poor listener I am and knows when He needs to talk directly to me.
I am grateful beyond words for the blessing of this gospel in my life.
I am grateful for the good examples that are around me. I am most of
all grateful for my Savior who provides me a way back to live with my
family and my Father in Heaven.
Have a great week!