'ello Govnuh...[Feb. 23, 2015]

Lake Shawnee. Where to begin.... Well, it's my area and I have already met a lot of the members, because my last comp (in Kaw Valley, which happens to border part of this area) served here a few months ago, so we saw a lot of them again...including Ben, who I think I mentioned before. He has been to a few of our appointments and he bought us dinner one time. At dinner we were sitting down and he looks over and in a knee-jerk reaction exclaims, that's the effin (edited from what he actually said) governor! The man sitting in the table next to us looks up and decides to wisely change tables. Ben just laughs and explains the governor made a lot of budget cuts, especially to schools, so he is not so well liked with the Kansans at this point in time. Ben is a convert that my last comp introduced the church to. He was high at the time (when he first met my comp) and has a crazy conversion story. He is probably the coolest recent convert you could meet.
One house we have been to belongs to this awesome lady named Sister Jackson and she has 3 kids and her husband is deployed. She works at Petco and she has a ton of reptiles....(yaaaaay).... I only screamed about three times during dinner with geckos flying everywhere. I found out later that they actually have a cello (1/2 size, but I'm not complaining), so ironically, I can't wait to get back there.
Lake Shawnee Sisters haven't had any investigators come to church in the past 3 and 1/2 months, but we had one on Sunday, so that was sweet!
I got to go to Debbie's baptism on Friday and it was so AWESOME! She is so prepared! I think at this point I should just find out all the Debbie's in the area and visit them. Anyways, to compile all of Debbie's conversion, we met her the second night in Kaw Valley at a member's home. The member invited her to Meet the Mormons via email and she went with her. She invited her to talk with the missionaries and Debbie was like, "Well I'm probably not going to convert, but I'll see what they have to say...haha." We started teaching her every Thursday at the member's home and we sent her daily texts with scriptures. She was eating it up! Her trial of faith was whether she should continue without her teenagers also in it as well, but she received her answer that she should. She got baptized!!!
Our Zone has 10 Missionaries, 3 Districts, 2 new, never been District Leader District Leaders, 3 Trainees and 1 never been Zone Leader Zone Leader. It's gonna go one way, or the other...so this will be interesting.

Me, Debbie, Sister Mitchell (last comp)
Sister Hansen (her trainee/new comp)

Sister Budge (member we had dinner
at/with Debbie on Thursdays),
Me, Debbie, Sister Mitchell,
Sister Hansen, Brother Budge

Elder Ives (District Leader that went home)
Elder Mcgee, Elder Stum,
Sister Mitchell, me, Elder Hunt

 

Goin' Around this Roundabout...[Feb. 16, 2015]

Soooo, my companion got a training packet and my potential to go to Debbie's baptism on the 20th started to seriously dwindle. Since, she will stay to train someone and I will be cast off the island. I actually was freaking out a little bit, but my freakouts aren't as bad as they used to be....sticky notes weren't flung in the air like they were in Goodland when I found out that was about to be closed.
The Elders are hilarious, but they were starting to drive me insane.
"Hey, can you meet us at the church?"  "No, we are in North Topeka, ain't no one got miles for that." Wait, why do you care about miles you aren't going to be here?
Then at dinner last night the lady was like, "Oh my goodness you should come over for p-day and we can play games and cook food!" I was YES then one of the Elders was like, "Wait, you're not going to be here." I threatened him with a fork...
Then we were asking her her favorite part about her mission. She said going to the baptisms. Thanks.
Well, I fasted and then the miracle...uh miraculously....came through. The APs called Sister Mitchell to tell her her trainee...and then we asked where I was going? and they said Lake Shawnee...which is in Topeka. So I totes am going to make it! I am so happy! We called Debbie and she was so happy she got goosebumps. Lake Shawnee is struggling a bit right now, so it'll be tough and with my track record it'll be closed in 2 transfers, but we're going to thrash the crap out of it.
Last Monday, we had dinner with this young family and the mom got out some cool whip and said oh it's still frozen...one little girl was like Frozen?...and a little boy gave a loud rendition of "Let it Go". Then another little girl was like, why does no one give Elsa balloons?-- Because she let's them go. It's an obsession.
We had lunch at this place called Pie Five and it was so good! It had the same vibe as Chipotle except with pizza and you could put whatever on it. Then I was sitting down eating my delicous chicken tomato alfredo pizza and Tongue Tied by Grouplove came on and I felt like my ears were bleeding. It was the strangest experience, because it was the one song that I listened to the most before I came out and haven't heard since I left. It's like someone calling you by your first name...ahh!!



 

My new comp is curly haired sister in back.

 

Pool Party: It was a Cool Party!...[Feb. 9, 2015]

Well the miracle of the week was that the Elders' investigator in our Ward got baptized. He is a whopping 495 pounds with understandable bum, knees, and hips. For two weeks, the Elders have been on a hunt for something for him to wear in the font. We miraculously were going to the temple, so we got a 5x suit from the font there....but not so miraculously, because it didn't fit. They ended up having a member make new pants.
The night before we were asking the Missionaries how they felt towards the baptism ,and one said, "Normally I am excited with butterfly's and everything, but this is a different kind of nervousness." The Elders are two sticks and our Mission Leader was planning on baptizing him with the Elders catching him and lifting him up. I was so excited to see how it would work....it didn't.
They first tried with chairs, but the chairs were too tall. So, we took a little intermission where one Bishopric member came out of the font with suits and told a couple more burly Elders to suit up. Then, with one Ward Mission Leader, one Bishopric member and 3 Missionaries, they attempted to baptize him. But, he was so scared and he half screamed; which, is not so cool when you are about to go under water. He came up coughing, and it was a mess.  So, they attempted one more time, and I prayed in my head SO HARD. Well, like one intense spiritual trust fall that 495 pound man got completely immersed, and he came back up a new man. It was fantastic and we couldn't help but ring out an applause! It was incredible!!
The temple was also an awesome experience. Such a blessing we can go there! After we did our session, I was lucky enough to be one of the first in the celestial room. It was so cool, because slowly, one by one each of my fellow missionaries came in and each time they came in, in my head it was like, "Yes, they made it."
Funny story...but not...the night before the temple I realized that I didn't have the phone with me and we could NOT find it. At first, I was like, aw man, we can't talk with anyone. Then I was like, Aw YES, we can't talk with anyone! I didn't realize how much stress that thing gave me. I figured it would come back somehow...which it did...but that night, before the temple trip.  The phone is our only alarm, so that was scary seeing if we would wake up. But after waking up for 7 months at exactly 6:30 every day, it was not a problem.  It ended up being in the driveway of our dinner  appointment the night before.
We also had another miracle. We were able to put an investigator...who coincidentally also is named Debbie...on date. Exactly one day after transfers...yay...send in prayers that I stay here! We also have our District Leader...an ex AP talking with President about it. So, fingers crossed. We have been teaching her since we first got here.  She was the investigator we met the night we got here at the member's home. We have been texting her every day scriptures and she eats them up. She loves the church. Her only hold up was her kids weren't so hot about it and she doesn't want to get into something with out them. But we told her how she will be a fantastic example for them, and we made a pro/con list for her. After a giant group fast... she's getting baptized!

Baptism as written by Elder Mcgee:

"So, it's the day of Raymonds baptism! Me, Elder Stum, our Ward Mission Leader, and Raymond are all dressed in white and the baptismal service has begun. We struggled to help him down the steps and into the baptismal font. When he was finally in the font we were relieved, but we had no idea what kind of struggles laid ahead. Attempt number one was very unsuccessful. As we tipped him down into the water, for some reason he inhaled and kept his eyes wide open. He started to panic. The look on his face was the essence of fear. So naturally, the moment we heard gargling we brought him back up. That's when we knew we couldn't do this alone. I summoned another Elder, whom is our District Leader and is known by the name of Elder Ives and the 2nd counselor in our Bishopric. We told them to put some jumpsuits on and hop in! Once the five of us, not including Raymond himself, were in the font we were ready to get this guy baptized. After one more failed attempt, we were more determined then ever! Third time's the charm we got this 495 pound man fully submersed! We all smiled from ear to ear and Raymond was  entered into a covenant. Doesn't get better than that folks!"

 

Also, I found out that there was no trust fall! Elder Ives kicked out his legs as he went down, subtly enough that we couldn't see, but it must've taken the leg strength of a pro soccer player.

Ward Mission Leader, Man being baptized,
his Wife, Elder Stum, Elder Mcgee

Elder Mcgee and Elder Stum
fitting into his pants.

 

Teardrops on my Guitar...[Feb. 2, 2015]

Every three months 1 or 2 zones get to go to the temple (Kansas City or Oklahoma) and there is about 10 zones. So the likeliness of going is not very likely, but luckily I am in one of the two zones that gets to go this quarter, so I get to go tomorrow! I am so excited it is hard to focus, but I will try.

Last Monday, I got my hair cut by a member of the ward who is a hairstylist...come to find out she really specializes in mens hair...she cut my layers just a tad too short and didn't frame the front, so in the end it came out looking like I had a mullet. Sister Mitchell (my comp who is a certified hair stylist) fixed it a bit, but there was no way going around it. Bangs. At first, I was like, "Oh hello awkward teenage years, hows it goin'?"...but then I straightened them and I took a gander in the mirror and I was like wait...I don't know? So I'm considering the bangs...let your opinion be heard and email me cuz I can't decide. They can grow out in like 3 weeks, or I can keep them the way they are.

We are teaching a lady who is a mom of 2 kids on missions and she has 2 boys at home. Her husband is like the biggest teddy bear and they are all converts...except for the mom. She goes to church every week and she even is in Cub Scouts. Really she is a mormon in all aspects, despite the fact that she has never been baptized...and oh yeah she also doesn't believe in God.

She had an experience over Christmas where she prayed for the first time and a miracle happened that made her start thinking, but she still has so much further to go. It's almost like she is scared to acknowledge the faith that she does have. She really is such a phenomenon, we asked her last night, "Do you have any desires that you look forward to?"...no..."Do you ever think about what happens after we die?"...no....THEY DIDN'T TEACH ME THIS IN THE MTC! We learned we just have to be more bold and start where she is at.

On Weds. I lost my magnetic name tag...probably just flung off at some stop when we left the car. I didn't have it for the lesson that night...super awkward...we were about to chalk it as a member present...just kidding...we actually did cuz we actually had a member with us.

I had a dream last night and I had just gotten home and I was like MAN that last 11 months flew by! I told my companion in the morning and we had a good laugh, because it really feels like the past 7 months have flown by that fast.

We had our District Meeting this morning (cuz the temple is tomorrow :]) and one sister shared this testimony (background: they have had a really rough (number wise and everything else wise) past couple months) and last week everything went so well....so many miracles. She was saying the only thing that changed was her attitude. She kept trying to do better and was stressed so bad and just having a really rough time. She finally just decided to not stress...to give it all to the Lord and be happy. Then everything started coming. I totally went through that when I was in Goodland, and she articulated exactly what I went through, so well. I realized that even though I did just give up all that stress and not worry about how "I" was going to get the numbers, but what I could do to serve the Lord better, even though I did all that...Goodland just wasn't ready and it was time for us to serve else where.

 

 

 

Awko Taco...[Jan. 26, 2015]

 Well, these days we spend a lot of time looking up former investigators (we have hundreds in our area book). Well yesterday, we had a stack of about 8 on two different streets, and we visited a couple and then we went to this one house. It was about 3:00pm. We were standing on the doorstep and there was all this KU stuff everywhere, so we figured they were college students or something. Then the mailbox had different names on it then the former we were going to see, so we figured they moved. So I pulled out a Book of Mormon, and we knocked. This girl answers the door, and she looks like she's in her twenties. I was like, "Hi! How are you?" (normally, a person who doesn't know us gives off a vibe that says..."What the crap are you doing on my doorstep and I'm going to do everything to get through this as fast as possible!") she did not give off this vibe, but instead said, "I'm good, how are you?" We were like, "Great." Then she said, "You're early."
I was thinking she was like going to be all smart with us and say like...the end of the world hasn't happened yet or something...and Sister Mitchell thought...she was having a party later and we were guests arriving early. Well, I just figured let's get on with this, so I introduced ourselves. She was like, "Yeah, I'm expecting missionaries in 3 hours for dinner." We were like, "Wait, really? What missionaries?" She was like, "Umm..."  We were like, "The Elders or Sherwood or something?" She was like, "Maybe." Then I thought about it and I was like, "Are you Melanie Mortenson?" She was like, "Yeah." I was like oh snap we just tracted into our dinner.
She wasn't in church for the past three weeks, so we didn't know what she looked like.
This week we had dinner with this one sweet old couple. She made these "taco burgers" which tasted like a better version of sloppy joes. It was taco meat, with lettuce and cheese. Yum. Unfortunately, we had them right after we had a District lunch after our District Meeting that was at a Chinese buffet that's called Chow Time. It has been closed down about 5 times, but miraculously I didn't get food poisoning.
We also had dinner with a recent convert that Sister Mitchell introduced the Gospel to when she was in Topeka (in a different ward) about 7 months ago. He had some issues with drugs before he was a member, and we were deciding where to eat (it was once again Friday night, a great night apparently to bum off of members for out to eat food.). We were standing on a corner and looking at the glorious bounty of restaurant choices before us. He was listing off a couple and he was like, "Yeah that sandwich shop place over there is where I got my weed. Okay...then he was listing off more--and he was like Cracker Barrel--I was like, "Is that where you got your crack?"...he just looked at me like--oh my gosh. I crack myself up way too much....bahaha it never gets old. He told us his conversion story, it was awesome.
This is the first week that I didn't take pictures, so here's a pic of my name tag. I wrote the scripture on the back so I measure how much I lived up to it every time I take it off. There's your cheesy thing for the week.

The Westboro Baptist Church of ToPEKa...[Jan. 19, 2015]

I don't remember if I told this story before, but I don't think I have and it is fairly pertinent. Well, about 3 months ago when I was in Goodland, we were emailing and a man came up to us and asked if we were the missionaries for Goodland. We were like, uhh yeah....
We were in Goodland, we knew all the members in Goodland, we were super confused who this guy was. He was like, "Well I'm from California and I took a trip up here by bus to tour the colleges in Kansas and see if I want to go here, but this trip has been the worst and I never want to step foot in Kansas again."
He was yelling this in the middle of the library which was in Kansas, it was super awkward. We were like, "Oh no, why has Kansas been so bad?" He said, "I was late to my bus so I was stranded in Goodland (super sad day for him) and I have been calling your Branch President (he was on vacation at the time) and the Branch President in Colby (branch 30 minutes away that is not our branch) and no one has helped me, what, is this the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka?!" At the time Sis. Fosselman and I had no idea what the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka was. Well, we helped him out as much as we could and he finally made it to his bus and left.  Later that week at District Meeting the Elders were like, "Did he keep comparing us to the Westboro Baptist Church to you like he did for us?" We were like, "Yeah! What is that?" The Elder said it's a church in Topeka that hates gays very openly. Well later down the road Elder Osorio explained to us that there is a rainbow house right across the street, where gays live and they painted the house rainbow and the mailbox. They just sit there and look at this Westboro Baptist Church that constantly protests against gays.
When I found out I was going to Topeka I decided I needed to find this house. One day we were coming back from an appt., and we passed right by it! It's even in our area! So naturally we got some pics. They are at the bottom.
This week has been full of ups and downs. One day we had 4 appts. and by around 4:00pm all appointments got canceled, so we were sitting in our car. On top of that my companion (whoops, forgot to mention she has diabetes) had a low blood sugar, like way low, so she was checking that and eating chocolate (having a companion with diabetes has been great for my diet regime (dang it we're trying to be less sarcastic as a zone...not gonna happen...I take pride in seeing how many times I can get my zone leaders to be sarcastic on the phone!) Like always, I was thinking about what I was going to eat for dinner and finally we decided to go to Texas Roadhouse--buy something cheap like a salad and just eat amrap (as many rolls as possible...I just made that up on the spot--I'm in a weird mood!)
Well, we forgot it was Friday night, so it was super busy....It was awesome! While waiting for a table with everyone else stuck there, we just passed out pass along cards. Then some girl comes up to us and goes, I" just got off my mission yesterday!" This might not seem like such a miracle if you are in Utah right now, but here in Kansas members are few and far between, or at least I thought. She just has Elders in her ward so she gave us her number to call her whenever we need someone! They also ended up paying for our meal. I LOVE MEMBERS!!
Yesterday this 12 year old gave a talk and he had a whole stack of printer paper. In big typed out letters on each page he had about a sentence or half a sentence of his talk. Totes doing that for my homecoming. One page got stuck and he was halfway through a sentence....
Also, yesterday there was this lady that was randomly at church, I asked the Elders, "Are you teaching her?" "No"....so we went up and talked with her. A less active just invited her to come. Needless to say, we have an appt. on Tuesday. Oh she's also African American. I've been praying for a blacktism....[I have to intervene...she is in a weird mood...either she has been in Kansas too long or someone slipped something in her Wheaties!!  I don't make this stuff up fyi!!...it is cut and paste!]
We had an investigator come to church, and she is just so awesome. She is the one that had dinner with us the first night we were here, with the members. She said last Thursday that she has just been looking forward to meeting with us all week and she just feels peace and light when she is with us. She cried all through church and she texted us that she talked with her daughter about the church and it was a really good discussion. She has 3 teenage kids and she really wants them to be on board with it as well, so we will see what happens. I'm so excited, she has been prepared and she is ready. She has just been eating up whatever we give her. We send her scriptures every day and yesterday she said she just spent all morning on mormon.org and watching Mormon messages. They suck you in, just like we do.~~ Hey, I just met you and this is crazy, but here's a Book of Mormon, wanna get baptized maybe?~~ ...Yeah, I'm in a weird mood.
I've been studying humility lately and more specifically how I can rely on the atonement more. It's been crazy, I feel like my mind has been blown every day. I've been reading a lot of Jesus the Christ, which either hurts your brain or makes it want to explode and lots of conference talks. I never realized how really profound the atonement is. It's been great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When One Door Closes...[Jan. 12, 2015]

Well, my days in Goodland are done and did. We visited Debbie one last time, and after telling us a long rendition about her morning where her neighbor drove her to Walmart. She backed him up and fell. Her yogurt got all over her and she was like at least it didn't go up my nose! Now everything isn't really as bad as you think, because the yogurt didn't go up your nose! She threatened to duct tape us to the wall. We told her that would probably not change anything, so she let us go :'(
I'm in Kaw Valley now, which is a ward (yeah, ward, I almost forgot what that meant!) in Topeka. Topeka is like heaven, but not, but it is. Our first night here, we got a memo from the Elders that we had a dinner with the Budges. We called up Sister Budge and she explained her friend, whom she had taken to church before but isn't a member, is going to be there as well and if we wouldn't mind teaching her about the Restoration. Yeah, we didn't mind. We have had a dinner every night since I've been here, and the meal calendar for this month is like almost full.
I talked with one zone leader here and he said he never served in the West and I was like, "Aw man, that's too bad." He's like, "No it's not, see I actually like working with the members." Then I realized wait, members can actually do missionary work, say what?
We had only 2 investigators when we got here and because they were on date, our district leader said the rest to just start at point A and get them all going again. We haven't been able to meet with too many people in our short time here, but the people we have, have been so solid.  Something else, they actually like have cars and money and stuff ...I know! Church isn't a half hour away! ...and they have about every restaurant you could possibly dream of here. I've seriously died (according to my niece who's watched too much Frozen, I've died in the ocean) and gone to heaven. Oh also, there is like hills here (small, but still not as flat as the West) (according to Sheri Dew who grew up in western Kansas, if you stood on a tuna can, you can see all of Kansas) ...and there's trees. I was standing outside and said, I've never seen so many trees in my LIFE! Then I remembered oh wait, sorry Oregon....
We went to Red Robin as a district today, so I was sitting there and one Elder was reading the other's license and was like '94, man you're so old!  I just raised my eyebrow then turned to the sisters to do some quick ...wait how old are you's?  Then found out I was the oldest one at the table of 8 missionaries. Aghhh! By the time I get back I'm going to be getting off the plane in one of those wheelchairs they have the airport people push for you.
The apartment we moved into was an Elders apartment before. It actually wasn't like dirty or anything, there was just random stuff everywhere. I swore off sweets, but in every cupboard there was some sort of candy. We put everything in a big box and then put it all in a closet. There was also 7 swords that were made from PVC pipe, pool noodles and duct tape. Elders....
There was a lot of food too, so that was nice. Plus, we have a dishwasher, washer and dryer...yes!
My comp is Sister Mitchell who is from a ranch in Spanish Fork canyon in Utah. She is a licensed hairstylist...yes! She is 20 and is super sweet. She also is hilarious. She has been out 10 months.

Our last district leader asked us
to decorate his planner...this
 is the back of it.
The Elder in the place of the
healed girl is Elder Pettit
...he laughed so it's all good.

My Dream Catcher



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