Rain Storm!!!

WOW! This week was fun! It went by pretty quick, but it ended with a bang on Saturday night. We had a ward bbq which the Velazquez family were going to come to, but then the rain storm hit. We still ended up going, but there were maybe 3-4 families there.... and they were the ones who planned it. I felt bad! But really, this was a crazy storm!!! The streets were completely flooded up to our knees (not joking), so we had to park our car and walk after the bbq to go to an appointment. And I've NEVER seen rain or floods like this one. We ended up pushing a few dead cars out of streets with people and it was actually pretty fun! Our shoes are ruined, and our clothes got drenched, but we laughed lots and we didn't want to go in early, but the assistants told the district leader to come find us cause other sisters cars were flooding and they didn't want us to get stuck. We told them we parked our car in a safe place and we would be fine till 9:00 and we kept going down the street, but they followed us and then told us our apartment flooded.... So they took us home and our apartment was fine. I was so mad! haha But the next day Sister Hinton and Petersen asked Elder Nottingham (the assistant) why he lied to us about our apartment, and he said that was the only way he could get me to go home. Oh well!

I guess there are supposed to be more storms this week, so we'll see if it happens again. I'll have to send pics.

Guess what?! The Velazquez family came to church again! It was their 3rd week in a row and they are loving it. We had a linger longer after church and they stayed for that and I'm pretty sure every person in the ward went up and greeted them! I was grateful a few ladies even invited Jessica to have her kids do play groups with them. They really like the ward. Earlier last week I went over there teaching with a member in our ward while Sister Hinton and Petersen went to another lesson. We taught them the Word of Wisdom and that seriously has to be one of their biggest hurdles cause they love coffee... But they both said they would live it and just pray for the strength to overcome it. I love their family so much! I can't wait to see them get sealed next year! The quote that says, "Missionary; someone who leaves their family for a short time so other families can be eternal." is so true! I love getting to see their progress in the gospel :) On Friday night they invited us over for dinner and they really opened up to us. I just felt bad cause I was a little sick on Friday and so trying not to get sick at the dinner table was a little hard, but Heavenly Father blessed me. :)

President Ashton called us last week with a referral of someone he contacted while he was out to eat. We contacted her the next day and we've been teaching her. Sister Hinton went on Splits with a less active sister in our ward who said she would come teaching with us and she had a great lesson with her. I think it even helped the less active out way more than the investigator cause she was able to teach 50% of the lesson with Sister Hinton and bare testimony of the truths she knows. She even asked to share something in church on Sunday in Sunday school and she said how big of an impact that made on her! We are trying to do that with more less actives so they will have the fire burning in them to do missionary work.

I was able to go to the District leader council this morning to set some zone goals for the month with the elders. It felt so weird being the only girl and having NO companion by my side... I think I'm going to be awkward when I get home! Anyway, it was a cool experience to set those goals with the Help of Heavenly Father. We all got the same number in our heads for how many baptisms they zone can get this month! It was definitely inspired. Tomorrow we have a mission leader council and I've been asked to talk about how mission exchanges are going with the sisters and how we can improve. I just wish everyone wanted to be obedient so they could receive the blessings. So many people want to get blessings without doing their part. But for the most part this mission is doing really well! We just have to Increase our Faith to bring more people to Christ.

We've also been teaching with several of the youth in the ward still and they are doing great! We have missionary correlation every Saturday morning at our bishops house (and his wife makes yummy breakfast!!) and he told us and the elders that the youth in the ward have made a 180 degree change the past few months and he can see several of them serving missions where as before he would have never thought they could make it! President Ashton is inspired to have us working closely with the youth. They need just as much strengthening as anyone else, if not more!

I love being a missionary!

I was able to go back to Memorial this past week to help some sisters there and we had a really cool experience! We had several of our lessons fall through and we were knocking at this one persons door and I saw across the way that there was a door open and I told the sisters we needed to go try them. We went up and knocked on their door and it ended up being a Spanish couple that spoke zero English. I told them we would be right back and we went to go get some Spanish pamphlets in the car. We ended up teaching them a 45 minute lesson!!!! They are going to be baptized. We sent them to the Spanish elders and told them this is a golden referral. After the lesson the lady told me she wanted this for her son as well and he lived in Mexico. She called him and had me speak to him about the gospel. We told him about mormon.org and contacting the missionaries there.

I think Heavenly Father needed me to learn a little Spanish from Sister Moreno so we could at least tell the family about the beginning of this great plan God has for us!

Things are going great! I will try to send some pictures from this past week. :)

I love y'all so much! Can't wait to talk to you in a few weeks.

Sister Avery

Ping Pong Ball!?

It sounds like everyone back home is doing well! I am always excited to hear how everything and everyone is doing on Mondays. :) Mom, I'm so proud of you to be building all of that stuff. I tell people down here all the time that I hope I can be like you because you never stop learning. I really like that!

You are probably wondering why my heading is "ping pong ball"..... Well that is because that is what I was this week. I felt homeless cause I was all over the place. haha The housing missionary, Elder Nilsen (who is like family we are so close), even bought me my own blow up mattress and sleeping bag so I have somewhere to sleep while I'm on exchanges. Ah I have so much to talk about and so many stories, but I'm really bad about typing them all out so some will have to wait but I'll see what I can write today.

Monday I got to start out here in Mission Bend and we did a family night with a less active mother and two of her kids. We did it on building our foundation on Christ, and it was really interesting because their house is very old and it hasn't been in good shape, but the past year they have been fixing it up and working on the foundation to get it solid so they are safe. We talked about how it takes time to build that foundation but over time it will become solidified so they don't have to worry about the effects of building our homes or our testimonies on the sand. We were expecting them at church yesterday and even got a text from her that morning but they never showed up. We are going to keep working with them!

Tuesday we had our district meeting and then I went to Alief with Sister Howard and Sister Cordova. They are starting to feel a little more comfortable in their area and I think they are starting to get the hang of things better, but President still wants me to spend time there as much as I can. We found 3 new investigators while I was there and were able to extend some baptismal dates! I hope that helped them get excited and feel like there is work to do.
 It's been a little bit hard because Sister Howard has a very strong personality and wants to be independent so I don't think she wants me there. She even mentioned on the phone last night that she didn't know how much help I was being there and she said she would just call when she needs me.... I feel bad because I feel like I'm giving my all to help them out the best that I can, but she doesn't seem to recognize it. In studies today I was thinking about how Christ must feel that every day from lots of us. We feel like we can do it on our own, but when something bad happens we call for help. It made me realize that I shouldn't just be calling for help when I'm having a hard time, but at all times! Even in the best of days.
While I was there in Alief we had our interviews with President and for some reason after interviews I was just having a hard time feeling very overwhelmed with everything, Elder Nilsen came to inspect their apartment and while there he gave them a talk about cleanliness and how the Spirit only dwells in clean places and then he talked to us about how special we are to our Father in Heaven and how he wants the Spirit to be with us so we can feel of His love. I needed that. It's cool how the Lord sends answers to prayers through those around us.

Wednesday night late I went back to Mission Bend and then Thursday morning I left to go on an exchange with the Maplewood sisters. The zone leaders asked if I could go help them because they aren't finding any new investigators and they aren't talking to anyone. I went there super worried because I feel like so much work had been done there last year and I didn't want to find that area dead. One of the sisters that just got transferred there is one of the disobedient ones that we've been trying to work with and so I think I went in with the wrong mindset to change things there, but I left realizing that the best way to help people change isn't to tell them what they are doing wrong, but instead to show them (or try to show them) the way we should be doing things. She responded in a better way than if I were to just go in there and tell her what's up.

Oh man being back in Maplewood was a rollercoaster. The first thing I hear is that Daniel got drunk the night before and fell and he wasn't doing well. The weird thing was that I got a letter from him on monday and he said that he had fallen into his alcohol a few weeks ago and then realized what he was doing and so while he was watching conference he realized the impact of the Atonement. So when I heard that he drunk  again I was so mad! I knew the Erianne in me would go in there and be like, "Daniel, WHAT THE HECK!!!!" But I knew that the Spirit definitely had to guide us through that visit. I've changed a lot on my mission.... I'm usually the most talkative one in the lessons, but for some reason I mostly just sat there and listened. We read the scriptures and talked about how Alma applied the atonement even after he was one of the vilest of sinners, and then felt the overwhelming joy that Christ offers us. Daniel just cried. He kept saying over and over, "How could God take someone back into His arms like me?" I realize how deep the Atonement of our Savior is, but it really took on a different meaning for me that night. It's hard to see people suffer through that and other things, but I'm so grateful to see the Atonement take effect in peoples lives here.
 At the end of the visit I had him sign a "contract" that he would do his best to apply the Atonement in His life each day through his prayers. We saw him last night at an investigator devotional and he seems to be doing much better.

We also got to see Noo while I was there and it was fun because she didn't know I was coming, and I hid behind the sisters when we came in so after a minute of her talking with them I popped out and she was SO excited! It made my day. :) Noo is preparing to go through the temple in July! I'm so excited for her. She is doing great!!!

This is the best part of missionary work is seeing people progress and learn more about the gospel to the point that you can see the light in their faces!

I'm glad I was able to go to Maplewood and help out there. So much is happening! They saw me yesterday and told me they went out contacting and felt a lot more comfortable. :) I hope it helped them.

Friday night I came back to Mission Bend and Saturday morning Ashley got Baptized!!!! She was glowing she was so excited. The young womens president spoke at her baptism and talked about how each of us are so different and lots of people wondered why she didn't get baptized with her twin, but then she told us that the Spirit teaches us according to our understanding. Each of us have different life experiences so we can learn in the way Heavenly Father knows is best. Ashley and Laurens grandparents came to the baptism and they told us they felt the Holy Ghost there so strong. The Young Women even sang and I could see her grandma tearing up. We are hopefully going to start teaching them. :)

After the baptism we met with Jessica and Anthony Velazquez! They are the family that came to church last week that are AWESOME! I love their family so much. Seriously, every single time I come out of their home I feel so happy and I know they will be baptized but it's a matter of when the Lord feels is best. I can't wait to see them sealed in the temple.
When we walked into their home I felt different, it felt brighter there, and later in the lesson they told us they have been reading the Book of Mormon! She read all the way to 1 Nephi 8 since Wednesday. :) Her husband Anthony is someone who studies all religions and reads lot and lots of religious books, but he told us she has never picked one up the whole 10 years of their married life until now. We brought them a kids Book of Mormon for their girls and they were really excited about it. Yesterday they came to church!!!!! As a whole family. :) Jessica was a little hesitant about sending her kids to primary, and her youngest to nursery but she let them go. About half way through sunday school they nursery leader came in with Emma who was screaming. She was pretty sad so they went out into the foyer and then decided to go home to get her food. The two older girls stayed and came home with their neighbor. I hope they liked church! We are going to see them on Tuesday so I'll let you know next week but please keep them in your prayers. Anthony is very smart and he told us this week, "The Book of Mormon is the most correct of all the books I've read and it lines up spiritually, but academically I don't agree with some things." AGH! Academically doesn't matter!!!! So please pray that his heart will soften.

Last night, like I said before, was the investigator devotional. A member in our ward invited her neighbor, Angela, who we haven't taught yet but she wants us to teach her this week! She really liked it. The Lord is preparing peoples hearts!

I am so grateful to be a missionary. It's been hard, but Salvation isn't easy and it was never easy for our Savior. I'm grateful to know He is there at all times.

I love y'all!

Sister Avery

Work as hard as you can, then work a little bit harder!

Hello my family!

 I can't believe that it's snowing it Utah today!!! That is crazy. It has been pretty hot and humid here, but last week on transfer day we got a nice rain storm while trying to move everyones stuff into different cars. That was fun. haha It sounds like everything is going well with everyone! I'm glad that school ends for you this week mom, now you can relax a little bit. You need a little break from all the stuff you do. Maybe you and dad should take a vacation?

 Things here are going well! I'm trying not to stress too much cause I really love this new calling, but it keeps me super busy. I miss being able to write in my journal at night because of all the phone calls I get or make, but I'm hoping Heavenly Father will bless me with a good memory so I can write things down later. We've seen miracle after miracle here in mission bend! I love this area. I was only able to be in Alief one day this past week helping Sister Howard and Cordova, but I'll probably be there most of this week, and Memorial on exchanges with other sisters this weekend before Ashleys baptism. It's fun getting to go work with the other sisters! We have some really good sisters in this mission. To answer dads question... Each zone has a "Sister Coordinator" and then the Sister Coordinator comes to Sister Ker and I, who are the Sister Training Leaders and we go straight to President. But Sister Ker and I also cover a zone of sisters. It's kinda confusing, but it helps the Elders to not deal with the sisters problems, and now president isn't getting as many phone calls from people. So he just stays in close contact with us to help the sisters.

 Transfer meeting last week was so cool! I love being in the mission field at this time when the gospel of Jesus Christ is spreading quicker than ever before. It was a HUGE transfer with about 24 incoming missionaries. I love being a part of Gods army! I've been thinking a lot about how He is really preparing the youth of the church now because these are the last days and he needs all he can get. I have never taught so many youth in my mission as I have in this area. We are teaching 4-5 teenage investigators, and our Bishop has also asked us to start doing the missionary lessons with all of the youth in the ward to help them prepare for missions and share the gospel with their friends. It's been really successful as we started last week. They have given us lots of their friends names to go try! The young women in our ward are excited to come teach with us. :)

 Oh!! I didn't even tell y'all about my new companion. Sister Petersen! She is from Tremonton Utah. This is her 2nd transfer so I'm her follow up trainer, but it's cool cause her first trainer is Sister Workinger! So in mission lingo, she is my granddaughter! haha. It's been a fun week with her and Sister Hinton. They will probably get to know each other better than I'll get to know them since I won't be here a lot, but they are both really good missionaries. Both are very shy and timid.

Sister Howard went to Alief which is right next to Mission Bend. They even meet in the same church building as us, but it is a very struggling area. They even had to take a portion of mission bend ward and stick in in Alief because there weren't enough solid leadership positions. I feel really bad for Sister Howard cause she has been stressed out, but I told her to just act as though she's opening a new area like she did with us in mission bend. I hope I can help them this week. It's just hard cause the sisters that were there before never worked.... I don't get why people come on missions if they don't want to do what they've been called to do.... Anyways.

 Cool experience while I was in Alief... We got a call from one of their investigators whose husband had a stroke the night before and was in the hospital. We asked one of the Senior missionaries, Elder Lamb, to come with us to the hospital to give him a blessing. So we went over there and after his blessing we asked the investigator Melissa if she would like one too because she was super emotional and hadn't slept all night. We went down to the Chapel in the hospital and Elder Lamb and another Elder gave her a blessing. After the blessing she was all red, and she explained the spirit exactly. She said, "Have y'all ever had a blessing? It feels so warm, before I was cold but it's like an instant heater in my body. I didn't think I'd be at peace just like that."

We all sat there smiling because she knew now the feeling of the Spirit as the comforter!

Last Friday we had a zone meeting which was really good, and after we had a church tour set up with an investigator family we've been working with all last transfer! Their names are Jessica and Anthony Valascez and they have 3 girls, Danielle, Gabi, and Emma. They are the cutest family ever!!!! We were so excited when they told us they wanted to see our church. We have invited them several times but they haven't been able to come to church so this was a good way to show them what it would be like and know where to go. We ended the church tour at the baptismal font and we bore testimony of the our Savior. I could see in Jessicas eyes through her tears that she knew this was right! Two days later she and the girls came to church!!!! We taught them last night after church and I can't wait to see their family sealed in the Temple! I know it will happen, but it needs to happen in the Lords time.

 

Saturday morning we got to go to a volleyball game of a young women in our ward! It made me so homesick for volleyball, but it was good to go support her and let nonmembers see us missionaries in a non threatening way. That was fun!

Also on Saturday Sister Petersens investigator from Memorial got baptized so we got to go to that! It was also the baptism of Tyson, from memorial who I taught a few times before I got transferred. His mom was the one who came back to church after not being there for 13 years!

Yesterday at church Ashley Casey got up and bore her testimony in Sacrament meeting! It was so cool to see how far she has come. She wasn't going to be able to make it to church yesterday because of some service hours she needed to do for her school, but we fasted for her to come and she made it. She also had her baptismal interview and passed, so her baptism is this Saturday! We are excited. :) Great things are happening here in Texas. Please keep her in your prayers.

How is y'alls Book of Mormon reading? I remember challenging y'all to read it before I come home. Do you think you'll be finished?!? I'm starting it for my last time here soon. I'm in Mormon now, so I've still got another week or two but you should start now and try to finish before July!

 I love you so much and I'm grateful for y'all in my life. I couldn't be the missionary I am without each of you.

 

Sister Avery

Transfers again !?!

Hello my beautiful family! How are y'all doing today?! It sounds like y'all had a fun spring break down in St. George! I'm glad you were safe. :) How is it getting back into school and work again? I hope you'll celebrate Allison's birthday for me tomorrow! Happy Birthday Ally! I can't believe you're already 16!

 

General Conference was so great! I always love it cause I leave feeling very spiritually boosted and ready to work again. Usually on Monday morning I wake up super tired ready to take a nap since it's p-day, but today I felt like going out and working haha. What was y'alls favorite talk? I think mine was either the one by President Uchtdorf on light, or the one by President Monson on Obedience and Truth. We had a less active teenager Arturo come with us on Saturday morning and he loved it! We are trying to work with him to get him excited about preparing for a mission. His dad is a member who even served a mission but is now inactive completely. It's sad. But we are going to have him be a fellow shipper for one of our new investigators who is his age and is preparing for baptism. It'd be cool if Arturo could baptize Alfredo!

Then on Sunday morning we got Laruen's twin sister Ashley to come watch conference. Lauren watched it at a members home, and Ashley wasn't going to come at all, but we talked her into it since she's been looking for lots of direction in her life right now. She LOVED IT! She loved President Monson and his stories. During conference she asked for a piece of paper and by the end of conference she had filled the whole page. She was writing thoughts of how she can help strengthen the youth in the ward. WOW! She isn't even a member yet, but she's excited to serve. After conference finished she leaned over to us and she said, "2 things, First I want to be baptized, and second here is a list of ideas of things I think would help the youth to be more united and come closer to Christ." It made me so excited.

 

It's been so cool to see how working with the youth of the church makes such a big difference. This area seems to be one of the best areas for working with the youth cause everyone seems to be willing to help us with whatever, and it's been fun since several of our investigators are in their youth.

 

Alfredo is a 16 year old who was taught by the Elders back in December. We received his teaching record from some other elders and on it they never had a reason for stopping their visits, but there was a sticky note on the page that said, "Next Appointment 12/14" So one day this week when we were on splits I went over there with a member from our ward and he said that the missionaries never came back by when they were supposed to bring him a Book Of Mormon. I guess after transfers the new missionaries never got the memo. It made me so sad, but grateful that he was still willing to receive us. He is on the hunt for the truth and his family is supportive of him learning. We actually were able to go back the next day and teach him and his mom (who is learning with the Jehovahs Witnesses right now...) His mom seemed genuinely interested! Alfredo accepted a baptismal date for April 27th so we are trying to help his family get to that point too. Pray for them if you will!

 

We also found 2 other investigators last night. After conference we were able to visit several members, but we were having a hard time getting into some investigators homes. We prayed to know where to go and door after door weren't open. It was about 8:35 and I was thinking in my head, "ok this is the last one then we will head back..." But in our prayer before we knocked on a less actives home we prayed to find a new investigator. I thought it was a little strange cause we had never met this guy, but it just came out. So we went up and knocked. this very nice old guy came out and told us we must be looking for his son. He was in bed but he let us come in and visit with him and his wife. They explained that their son got baptized several years ago and they actually went to church with him for several years. They wanted us to come back, and since we didn't have a lot of time to talk we set up another appointment for Tuesday! They are awesome. The Lord answers prayers. I think sometimes we forget to be specific in our prayers, but the power of prayer is real.

 

I got 2 unexpected calls from President Ashton this week. The first was him asking my advice on transfers for some sisters in the mission and the second was him calling and telling me what he was going to do... I feel so inadequate for the assignments he has given me and the ones that are coming. Transfers are this week and we found out that Sister Howard is getting transferred. Sister Hinton will stay here in Mission Bend, and I will be working in both of their areas. Which means one day I'll be here in mission bend and the next day I'll be in Sister Howards area (I'm sworn to secrecy on where that is at till Wednesday.) Both Sister Howard and Sister Hinton will have another companion to work with on the days that I'm not in their area.

Me and 5 other sisters got called into Zone leader council this week and were given new leadership assignments. The missions around the world are implementing sister leadership positions, so we will now have coordinating sisters over each zone, and 2 "Senior Sisters" over the mission. He has asked that Sister Ker (a Spanish sister) and I be the Senior Sisters. We will be coordinating exchanges, dealing with obedience issues, phone calls, and just helping the sisters serve the best they can. Which means not only will I be over two areas, but I'll be going on exchanges at least weekly with different sisters in the mission. I'm excited but also a little nervous. I hope I can do all I'm supposed to.

These next two transfers are going to fly by. I'm so sad how quickly time is going. Lots of my friends are leaving tomorrow, and next transfer several others are going. Some of my best friends are from my mission!

 

Oh! I was going to tell y'all something really cool I learned this week. I had a specific question I went into conference with and so I was taking notes and everything and after the Saturday afternoon session I asked my companions if their question had been answered. They both said yes, and I was thinking to myself... well I hope my answer comes tomorrow cause I sure didn't get mine yet. Anyways, so that night we had to go home and finish our studies, and during my studies I read the scripture in 3 Nephi 17:3 and thought a lot about how much instruction Christ had given to the Nephites and how spiritually drained they must have felt. But He told them to go ponder and pray about the things He had given them and in the morning their minds would be ready to receive more. So I decided to go back through my notes and review the question I had and the things I learned. I realized that in almost every single talk given on Saturday my question had been answered. I gained a new testimony on the power of pondering. I'm always to quick to talk, but I need to work on pondering and praying more.

 

I can't wait to hear y'alls favorite conference talks!

 

I love you so much and I'm grateful for y'alls support! I have the best family in the world!!!!

 

I love you!

 

Sister Avery

April showers bring........floods

Yesterday was great! The only thing I would have changed is the HUGE down pour of rain right after church. It was super hot when we came outside, but 5 minutes later there were sheets of rain and then hail! It was crazy. The members we were going to dinner with had an Easter egg hunt set up outside for us, but we weren't able to do it cause of the rain. Oh well! Maybe next year?

How was y'alls Easter weekend? Mine was great! I'm grateful Sister Zollinger sent y'all the pictures of us. She is such a great Relief Society President. We get texts from her all throughout the week of people to go visit, or asking what we know about a certain sister and how she can help get her to church. I hope I can be like her one day.
 I loved the Easter package I received. :) Mom, you know me too well. I love everything in that package. Thanks for not sending too many sweets... I'm trying to diet haha. My companions aren't much help with that though. It was Sister Howards birthday on Saturday and it seems like wherever we went there was cake...

I'm excited about Kailey and Allison getting to go to Prom together!!! I want to see their pictures. I'm so bummed I won't get to be there for them to help get them all ready, so you better send lots of pictures, ok?

So... this may be a little bit shorter of an email since I just emailed y'all last Wednesday but we'll see how it goes.

Last Thursday one of our investigators (who is a member referral) invited us to her sons baseball game. President Ashton has changed the rules on that kind of stuff so that we can go out and be seen in the community as being normal people too. We still wear our proselyting clothes, but it was fun being at a sporting event again. We got a few weird looks but it was great to support this family! They are totally ready for the gospel, but it's been hard to go teach them cause they are SO busy. But we're supposed to be seeing them tomorrow so wish us luck to get in. Their youngest son has pneumonia so we may have to wait a few more days.

On Friday I went into the mission office to register for my BYU classes.  I thought it was going to be a huge long process since I don't really know what classes I need for Rec Therapy, but they allowed me to call the counselors at BYU in my department and get help! It was soo helpful and definitely an answer to my prayers. The girl that answered is actually in the program so she told me what to take so I'll be on track.
Friday night we had the 2nd counselor of the mission presidency and his wife come to a lesson with us since the Muslims have to be interview before they can be taught by us. We went by his home and he couldn't let us in because of their custom of not allowing another man in the home with his wife. We were bummed cause this man is AWESOME! We met him last week and gave him a Book of Mormon and then coincidentally we ran into him a few days later and he had already read through 2 Nephi. He had some great questions about the Spirit and the God head. We hope we can try again soon to teach him. It's always hard setting up interviews for them, but I'm so grateful I've come to know so many Muslims throughout my mission. They are very very kind people.

On Saturday we went to the family history center with a less active member and I was looking over my family tree and there are several names that need to be taken to the temple that are in the 'ready' status. Y'all should take them!!! It got me excited to do family history. :) And it was really good for Tanya-- the less active-- cause she has cancer and wants to be able to do all her work for her family before she passes on. She told us being in there doing their work was so relaxing so she wants to keep doing it. :) Tanya is Greg's cousin. Speaking of Greg. The missionaries from San Diego called us last night and told us they were going to visit Greg. We are hoping and Praying they got in and were able to help him with everything there. It was kinda surreal to talk to missionaries from another mission. It made us all realize how big the Lords work is. As we were in finishing up our night the missionaries in other parts of the world are still going! I love it!

Sunday we had a joint Priesthood and Relief Society and the Bishop had all 6 of us missionaries come up and we explained that our mission president now wants us to go with the members of the church to their kids activities, sporting events, etc. so that non members can see us more in the community. They were able to brainstorm ideas of having us come with them, or help with service projects! We are really excited to see how it all turns out. I'm hoping we get to stay here... Transfers are next week. :( This transfer went way to fast.

Last night after dinner with the members we had ANOTHER (yes.... the sacrifices we make to teach the gospel... haha)  dinner with an investigator family we've been teaching (another one that has been hard to teach cause of their busy schedule). But when we got there they had neighbors there and also the husband's mother was there from Florida. They were very very standoff-ish when we walked in and seemed to have no intent to talk with us, but as we sat over eating at the table the wife of the family we are teaching asked us a question about our life as a missionary, and then after that all heads turned on us and question after question came! It was so great! They opened up a ton and were amazed at what missionaries do. We taught an Easter message and when we left the neighbor guy said, "I just have to tell yall how courageous I think you are for coming out here not knowing anyone and coming to random people to share this message." They opened up a ton! We are going to go stop by their house again this week and invite them to conference this weekend!
It felt so good coming out of that lessons! Being a missionary is totally worth it. Even when you are super tired! The message is true!

I'm grateful for my Savior and His sacrifice and love for us. He died for us, but He also lives for us! I can't wait for conference this weekend. :)

I'm grateful for y'all! I love you so much and pray for you lots. Stay safe if you're traveling this weekend. PLEASE!

I LOVE YOU!

Sister Avery