happy halloween!

thank you mama C! we love packages!

inside the package!

the lovely english sisters made us dinner & dessert!

we had to make the most of halloween in an apartment..

beautiful October sky

oh, and check out my wonderful companions blog! tarateachingthetruth.blogspot.com

hello brooklyn.

my last goodbye to Sister Porter! Love this woman.

and now....

BROOKLYN, NY!

I feel so blessed to be serving here in Midwood, Brooklyn! I can't wait to be a part of this work in this part of the Lord's vinyard.

so long patchogue...

I'M GETTING TRANSFERED!

Yep, you read it right- i'm leaving Patchogue! I felt it comin about a week ago...its weird to be leaving but i'm excited!!! I have no idea where i will go and who my companion will be...so i'm anxious! Transfer meeting is tomorrow so i won't be able to tell you where until next Monday! I think i'm going to the city!! I hope so cause i feel fat out here haha. The members were so sweet yesterday, i spoke in sacrament again and cried a little when i said i would miss them...but they are all so sweet! Julio our ward mission leader gave me a scarf and the Medinas gave me a card and a gift card, super sweet of them all. Dave said to me, "no one can or will ever replace you. your just too sweet." I told some of them i will be back to visit them so you and dad better plan on that. ;)

Thank you so much for the super cute fun package!!! You are so creative! We loved it! We all bundled up and opened it together in our freezing, no heat, 50 degree house. Yes, it is so cold. But hopefully will be fixed this week!

It will be hard to leave the area because we are teaching a lot of people right now...(R) is a newer investigator, we have only taught her once but are going back tonight. Her little girl is so cute...she would just stare at us and say, "Hi pretty." :) so adorable. We had a really cool, spiritual experience with (D), i love this woman. I posted about it on my blog so everyone go read it there...:) kelseykarenlew.blogspot.com I will miss her a lot!! We helped her paint her room this week, it was super fun! We had a Trunk or Treat and chili cookoff this weekend and it was AMAZING! There were so many people i didn't know what to do with myself! We had the (Z) FINALLY come to an activity and they brought their family, a new investigator family, and members brought friends! It was so awesome, such a blessing...our prayers were answered.
 

 

 

This week my testimony has grown so much of God's perfect plan. From the begining to the end, down to each of our individual lives. I know he has a plan for every one of us and it is perfect if we let him guide us. I know the plan of happiness is true with all of my heart. I am so grateful i get to spend eternity with all of you! I love & miss you all very much! Have a great week!! P.S. i have the CUTEST nephews in the entire world. Ali- hahahah nice outfit punk. ;)

 

pictures to come...

 

pure joy

today we had a lesson with someone very special to me.
from the moment we met her i felt a connection and love for this daughter of God.
we taught her the plan of salvation by reading 2 nephi 2...

it was reality to me of the great and perfect plan God has
created for ALL of his children. as we were reading
she would say things like, "i've heard this before...yeah i know this...this makes sense...".
at first its hard to understand scripture words as we know,
so as we read we would break down the verse and explain it in "now day" words.

by the end her understanding was increasing,
she didn't ask as many questions, and she taught us what the scriptures were saying.
at the end we said a prayer and we look up and
her face was wet with tears as she said, "i know its true."
those words have never meant so much. the spirit was so strong.

my testimony grew of the plan of happiness
and the truthfulness of the book of mormon,
it truly contains the plan for each and every one of our lives.
this woman is so incredible and radiates light.
its amazing to watch people find joy.

i'm glad that i live in this beautiful world

this whole week i've been amazed at the world around me...to be more specific; the leaves that are changing and falling. autumn is my favorite season for many reasons, here are a few:

• the colorful leaves
• the weather
• sweaters
• boots
• hot coco
• pumpkin flavored anything
• family time

poor sister porter has to listen to me say, "oh my, the trees are so pretty! look at them! the colors are beautiful!" at least 12 times a day. she is so sweet to never tell me to stop.

i am so grateful for this beautiful world that God has created for all of us, all because He loves us so much. i am so grateful for my senses, to hear, smell, touch, taste, and see the world around me. i'm striving to be more thankful for everything God has given me, because He literally has given me ALL that i have & enjoy. there is a primary song that i am reminded of & love...

 

Whenever I hear the song of a bird

Or look at the blue, blue sky,

Whenever I feel the rain on my face

Or the wind as it rushes by,

Whenever I touch a velvet rose

Or walk by our lilac tree,

I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world

Heav'nly Father created for me.

He gave me my eyes that I might see

The color of butterfly wings.

He gave me my ears that I might hear

The magical sound of things.

He gave me my life, my mind, my heart:

I thank him rev'rently

For all his creations, of which I'm a part.

Yes, I know Heav'nly Father loves me.

 

 

 

 

bendiciones, gozo y amor.

Well, this week was awesome! Full of blessings from Heavenly Father, we hit all of our goals for the week and more. Our investigators are doing really well, (I) is doing better little by little and her mom likes us now! She came to stake conference with us and her boyfriend and he got ordained as an elder and she came out crying, it was so cute and powerful for her! (F) is doing well, its been hard to get her to church because one of her sons has been really sick but she is amazing. She gets it all and wants it but doesn't understand why she needs to be baptized (because she already was in a different church) but we are working on it! (D) is so ready, i love that woman. I don't remember if i've told you about her but she is (J) sister, she is like 30, says she is unhappy and just wants to find happiness. I was like well don't you worry girl, we have the answer! :) We taught her the Restoration and she was just so focused and the spirit was so strong. I was bearing my testimony to her about the church and book of mormon and that she is a daughter of God and my eyes started tearing up, she just started crying...the spirit was so strong. (J) made me hold his bird and it bit my finger so hard!! It was bruised for a couple days haha. (F) (sister porters bro) we taught again last night and it went really well...i was prompted to ask him if he wanted to recieve the melkezidek priesthood. He is such a good guy and wants to but it just takes some action!

 

 

I got to go to the temple this week for my 6 month mark!! Even though i'm at like 8. It was AMAZING! Seriously, my favorite place on this earth. The new movie was so good! I want to go back!! I rode the subway for the first time, it was fun! Sister Sandberg and I did almost get closed in the door haha we might have almost ate it in front of the city of New York. haha! Good times. AND i ate my first NY hotdog! It was good i guess. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went on exchanges this week and we visited a lady (S). Her husband has MS and a bunch of other disabilities...but she really taught me a lesson of Love. True love. She takes care of him so well, loves him so much and is just so loving. Its hard to say what i saw and felt when i was with her. It made me want to love like her someday.

We had stake conference yesterday and it was really good! Our stake president is incredible, i wish you could all meet him. One thing he said that i liked..."our greatest desire should be to be recieved by the Savior." oh and random news- we are getting ipads and iphones in November! Uh, so crazy. But it will be very very helpful! I won't believe it til i see it. ;)

 

I wanted to share something i studied this week...ive been trying to get to know my Heavenly Fateher and Savior better and i was reading Jesus the Christ and it was talking about Christ's life when he was young. He lived a boyhood life, learned just like we did, grew grace upon grace-not all at once, the only difference is that he grew perfectly. I am so grateful for His perfect example i have to follow! Learning more about Him brings me to love Him and God more. I am so grateful for the knowledge and testimony i have that God and Christ live and love me and all of you.

 

I love and miss you all! Have a fantastic week. :)

 

 

happy, happy, happy

Oh my gosh i am just so happy right now! Even though i wish i could be there with all of you for all these exciting times!! But i believe mom when she says it will all be made up to me one day. :) And the joy i feel here just makes it even better! CONGRATS JADE AND RYLIE!! So so happy for you guys! And my family is just the most gorgeous family i've ever seen, even in the desert. :) Love you and miss you all!!

This week was good! It went by fast. We are still teaching all of our investigators and finally got to meet with (I) again! She is so strong for only being 16, she really wants this decision to be for the rest of her life and not go inactive in a year or later. Which is amazing and we are so glad she understands! All of the others are progressing little by little. We continue to see tender mercies daily, its just a given. :) We were able to help Hna. V with english this week. We went to her work to help her, she works at a flower place and she knows i love flowers so she made a bouqet for me! It was adorable. I told her she has to make my wedding bouquet, and she says "all the way in utah??" and i said yep! :) Then she told me i'm going to have a bunch of little mormon babies. haha. We visited a less active woman i kept feeling like we should go see...so we finally got an appointment set up with her. Its amazing how the spirit leads us to those who need us and God in their lives more. She said she really needed us there that day, she sang hymns to us and had us sing to her. (yes my voice is still awful.) It was super cute! At church yesterday i had another organ problem...i was just up there playing and like NO ONE sings. So pretty much i just play 4 musical numbers every Sunday. Anyways...i was playing the song and all the sudden it just like holds out the last note i played like super loud and just kept going!! I was like what the?! So i scramble a little then just shut it off. Oh heavens...it was a tad embarrassing. Then in RS i started playing and Sister Porter started leading before we were suppose to and the RS president was like wait not yet! Oh those missionary moments....

So last night we had really cool experience! Along with using Facebook we are aloud to Skype or Facetime or whatever to teach! So sister porters older brother has been less active for like 6 years...so we got to start teaching him last night! It was so special! Its amazing how the Lord is using all the things he can in these days for missionary work. Its just more and more of a testimony to me that this gospel is true!

Well i love you all and i'm so happy for all of you! You guys are the best! Have a good week!!

moments that matter most

I love the message this video gives! If we could all take a step back and look at what really matters most, we would all appreciate and enjoy life much more. I have noticed when I enjoy every moment I can and notice the little moments in my life...I am much, much happier.

livin the life of New York

Hey everyone! So sorry this hasn't been updated in awhile. But we now have the privilage of using Facebook and Blogs for missionary purposes! I will be posting my weekly letters and other happy things. :) Thanks for reading!