So this week has been ... interesting. Well I just wanted to say how much I appreciated your tape. I have had some things on my mind that have been concerning me. The reason I am not going into detail is because I have decided to not let this affect me. I am on a mission. This is my short period of time to give everything to the Lord. One night I couldn't really sleep and I was just praying for comfort and guidance. Then the quote by president Hinckley's father came to mind. "FORGET YOURSELF AND GO TO WORK". So I decided that is what I must do. It's interesting to be in a place where you really have no one to just talk to about your feelings or something that is bothering you. That is except the Lord. I am so grateful for the chance I have been given to 100% rely on the Lord. With no best friend or mother to cry to. lol. Anyways. I have already seen a difference in myself as I have made a strong effort to focus 100% of my thoughts and deeds on this work. The deeds part is easy... the thoughts part is a bit of a challenge. haha. I know that as I surrender my will and my dreams and my hopes during this time in my life to do only what the Lord wants done, I will find what will really bring me happiness. The work will be easier and my burdens will not be my burdens anymore. ANYWAYS... thank you for your support. Your tape was a tender mercy for sure.

So on to happier things. We helped a less active lady a couple of weeks ago pull up the carpet in her apartment and clean up the place a bit and so this week she made us dinner to repay us. She is from Belize and o man it was so delicious and yes... she taught me how to make some of it myself. Sweet plantains are now my specialty. haha. But the coolest part was after the lesson we taught her about the temple and during the lesson I felt prompted to promise her that if she prepared to go the temple and then attended regularly that her family would see a difference in her and have a desire to learn about the gospel (which they are not receptive to at this point in time). After I said it I thought WHOA... did I really just say that? Where did that come from? It was really awesome to feel the spirit teach through me and that I could make promises that God wanted for her.

So funny story: We were sleeping one night and I awoke to a noise but I was too sleepy to realize what it was. Then I kept hearing these cracks and pops and bangs outside of our apartment. Then I heard fire trucks. Lots of them. I was so delirious that I didn't quite know what it was until I smelt smoke and burning rubber. So I got up at like 4 am and looked out the window only to see nothing but dark smoke and the lights of the fire trucks shining though right in front of our apartment. I freaked out and yelled "SISTER GET UP OUR APARTMENT BUILDING IS ON FIREEEEEE!!!" She obviously jumped up and then followed me out to the other sisters room. Man I was panicked so many thoughts went through my head. one being "man I am glad all my clothes are ugly, I dont care that they will burn". haha. So I run into the other room and again yell "GET UP OUR APARTMENT IS ON FIRE!!" One of the sisters bolted up like we did and the other one laughed. Then she explained to me that she had been up for like the last hour watching what really had happened. A car had crashed into a truck in the street in front of our apartment. It was pretty intense but still ... no fire in our apartment. haha. The car had caught on fire and that's what I saw. Its funny what happens when you are half asleep and possibly high on rubber. :D

So the work is going well we are working on getting our ward members excited to share the gospel with their friends. We are going to try and do the pass along card thing that they did in our ward a while ago. One person gives a card away, then passes it to someone else to do. This week I did have the chance to bear my testimony about the family proclamation which I JUST LOVE. Especially with my major in school I am so glad to know what God expects from each of us and our families.

Keep sending me recipes mom. I like to hear quick little things I can make. Well I gotta rush off. We are going to the Holocaust museum on the bottom of the island. WOOt..

Love you all to the moon and back

I love being a missionary!!!
-Sis

Man i think computers are such a pain sometimes. I just tried to write my letter to the president like 5 times and something weird kept happening. Anyways. It sounds like everything is going well back home. Seems like some distant life I had. LOL!

Sis Gananha is from Tokyo.

Man I usually write down things I want to say in my letters but I had a massive headache last night so I went to bed early. Now I cant remember what to tell you about.

Well on Sunday I sang in church it was seriously the most stressful Sunday of my whole mission. A good stressful but stressful none the less. We had to go to ward council at 10 and then we had to pick one of our investigators up to go early with us and then she brought one of her friends. Then during ward council the bishop gets a call and says well looks like a general authority will be joining us for church today. AHHHH... I WAS SINGING! And then the my pianist was late to practice and we had 3 investigators at church and a less active who had not been there in 5 years. O man and none of our ward missionaries were there to help. WOW... JUST WOW! buttttttttttttt needless to say the Lord gave us the help we needed and it all worked out. The general authority was Elder Stevenson. He spoke in conference right after Elder Bednar. Anyways he was so sweet. My song went well. and our investigators all enjoyed church. God is for sure watchin out for us.

Gene was not able to make it to church this week when I sang and boy was he sad. The reason was because last Sunday the elevators were not working right in his building and he didn't want to miss church so this sweet 91 year old man walked down 20 flights of stairs. Just for church. It hurt him quite a bit but can you believe that?? Amazing..

So today for pday we did something I think mom will appreciate. We went to salvation army!!! I wanted to find a fan but no luck. But all the clothes and shoes were half off and so i found a top for 2 bucks and some rain boots that would be 5 if they were half off. But as I got to the counter the guy informed they were not on sale. So I was like o ok I wont get them then. Then he looked at my name tag and then looked at me and said "is it out of your budget?" and I was like well yea but that's ok. Then he said.. well my eyes are pretty bad let me look again. and then he said o yea they are on sale. hahah. And gave them to me for 5 dollars. What a tender mercy! So mom just so you know your not the only one who can charm the thrift store workers. hahah. I bet now that I finally got rain boots it wont rain anymore. lol.

Sis Ganaha has been sick. :( She has a bad cough but it doesn't effect her work. Shes amazing. I just hope i don't get it. Its going around the mission I guess.

We have seen a lot of small miracles this week. We talked to a lady on the street and she invited us in right away. Then we met her two adorable twin daughters who are 21 and looking for more truth. Unfortunately they will be for the singles ward missionaries but still a solid investigators is good for everyone.

My knees have been bothering me a lot. I think I have the lovely Wadsworth knees YIPPEE!! But I think it also has a lot to do with walking about 8 miles a day on hard concrete.


LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK..
TATERS

So transfers came and went FINALLY I AM NOT MOVING OR LOOSIN A COMPANION. Such a tender mercy. I don't think I could handle another change. I am soooo so so so soo grateful to be with Sis Ganaha again. She is a super star and I love being with her. So this week was kinda strange and filled with events that don't usually happen. For example we got a new mission president. We surprised President and Sis Searle before they left though and the whole mission got together and sang them a song as they came in and then just told them how much we loved them and the coolest thing happened. President gave us permission to hug HIM!!!! AHHHH! It was sooooo awesome! We don't get to do that like ever. It was hard to see them go and a little strange to meet our new mission president. They are much different from the searles. They are from Rexburg Idaho. lol. My favorite place (they will never know that btw). They are not bad or anything I am really learning to love them. they are just different. I really don't know them very well so I don't know what to tell you about them other than I have come to know that in order to be a mission president you have to be pretty amazing so I know they will be great. Also this week we had FOURTH OF JULY. I have never loved this holiday as much as I do now as a missionary. Why? because we have to be in by 6 rather than 9 :D SOOO we had our selves a little party . I made guacamole burgers for everyone. Well actually I just made the burgers (From scratch) and the hermanas made the guac. Mom you will love them I will make them when I get home. It's amazing the new recipes I am learning. I feel more like a chef though because I don't use recipes!! WOOT! Any ways then we played games like pictionary and charades. We laughed so hard it was fun fun fun. Then we made s'mores over the gas stove. And the best part was we got to go on the roof of our 35 floored apartment and watch the fireworks the city had over the Hudson river. It was amazingggg!!! So great. I will never forget it. It was a nice little break and totally re-energized us all.

We have gotten some new investigators that we are excited about. They are all having a hard time getting to church for one reason or another. Yesterday we taught a lesson the lady was so sweet. I am so grateful for the little things that have been happening to really get this area up and running. Sis G and I have been working so hard and its not easy to stay super positive when it feels like your efforts are going no where. But I am always reminded of my Savior's love as I see all the miracles, however small they may be.

Something interesting I have learned as a sister missionary is that you can in fact tan through nylons. HAHA. I realized this as I saw the thick shoe strap line across my foot. lol. I know hott right? It has really warmed up and is continuing to get warmer and more humid. YAY? haha

So I have decided that i love Japanese food. My companion is totally hookin me on all these foods. If will be fun to cook some of it for you when I get back. UMMM... We now have a greenie living with us. She is adorable and is from Arizona so she knows what Im going through with the weather here. It will be fun to have a greenie around who is excited about all the new things. It makes me think a lot about what I felt like as a newbie.

So the lady in our ward who is over choosing musical numbers has asked me to sing in church on Sunday. AHHH. I'm nervous because there is so much real talent in the area but I will do it because I know if I share my talent it will grow. So I am hoping that at least by the end of the song I will sound like Celine Dion. haha. I didn't bring any of my music with me though so a sweet lady in the ward found a song for me that was in my range and then fed us dinner this week so she could teach it to me. I hope it goes well. Its hard because we don't have much down time to practice but I know Heavenly Father will help me out.

We had a huge group of missionaries go home this cycle. Two of my favorite sisters. Its so sad to see people go. Its crazy to think they are going "home". To that other world. haha. I hope some of them stay single long enough to room with me when I get home. They are all talk and say they will be and want to live with me but we will see how long that lasts. HAHA.

I came across a scripture D&C 49:27-28. I really love this because it talks about how Christ is always with us and will come quickly when we call. What a comfort that is as we go out and serve him here in Harlem!

LOVE YOU GUYS to the moon and back.

-taters

Hmmmm

Well this last week has been rough. We are being challenged FOR SURE. This area is proving to be harder than I thought to build. With transfers coming up I feel like I have not done as much as I should have but there is still time. I am working on staying positive and looking for all the tender mercies that God always shows us. One thing I saw this week for the first time were LIGHTNING BUGS! They are so amazing!!! I felt bad for the lady I was talking to when I first saw them because I got so excited I could hardly contain myself. She was like "yea... they are everywhere". HAHA. They are so cool. So beautiful. I bet the Lord had fun thinking that one up.

I am starting this cool thing. I am asking for the recipe of all my favorite meals that members feed us. I am making a little cookbook for when I go home. It's been so fun to see what people make and they get all excited when I ask for the recipe. I don't think elders ever do that. But my future family will should be very excited cuz I have been fed some great meals!

Yes I am going to church at the temple now. It's pretty cool. We see a lot of people who are visiting. It has made it difficult to get to know the ward though. I can never tell who is really in our ward. Last week I sat next to Lauren's (our lauren) BYU dance teachers. There were two of them here visiting because one of our ward members was a big BYU modern dancer too and she was speaking. Anyways when I told them I was related to Lauren they got all excited and told me how one of their sons had a big crush on Lauren and then they were like ... o that means you're Kyle's sister. OOO WE LOVE KYLE TOO... ahaha it was funny. We also have a missionary here who knows the Cahoons and he was so excited to hear Devan and Kelsi got married. I know I have said it many times but i really love being a member of our family. We have the best people around!

So yes it rains here a ton. We have been drenched like 5/7 days a week this whole cycle. I donno what is going on. Its good to know it is not always like this. I really want to invest in some rain boots but I don't think I have enough money for that. They have cut our money down even more because the church is trying to save money. Which is fine. It's just fun trying to live off pretty much nothing. Guess it's good practice right? :D

I love sis. Ganaha so much. She is so amazing. I hope we get to stay together!!! *fingers crossed* I really don't know what will happen with the next transfers. But yesterday I went on a split in the BRONX!! HAHA. It seriously is so great there. Way nicer then where I live and work now. Man I am excited to go there. It will be interesting to see the Lord's timing on that one because it is the ward that Dave lives in during his off track. But there are 3 sets of missionaries in that ward so the sisters don't actually cover his area but I would see him at church on Sundays. CRAZY.

So it's going to be an interesting next week. Today President and Sister Searle are leaving. I actually wrote to President Smith in my weekly President's letter today. That was weird. But I am excited to see what the change will bring. I was just thinking how inspired and close to the spirit you have to be to be a mission president. The old president only gets 3 hours tops with the new one before he leaves it all to him. They are not supposed to talk about the missionaries at all. So i guess all the missionaries get a fresh start (other than the APs opinions). I will miss the searles. They are so amazing. We got a tender mercy to see them on Monday with all the missionaries and president gave the elders permission to hug sister searle and we got permission to hug him. IT WAS SO EXCITING!!!!! HAHAHAH!

Anyways I don't really have anything else exciting to say. I am super exhausted. I love you all so much. Thanks for all you do to support me.

LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK.

-SIS