A flat tire and Christmas 👍🎄 - 12/27/21

 Well, this was an eventful week to say the least. Last P-day, as Richards and I were driving home, Richards made a sharp turn and hit a curb (which is not out of the ordinary) but this time, we heard a loud BOOM and the next thing we know our PSI starts slowly but steadily declining and our tire goes flat. Despite my dad's many attempts to teach me how to change a tire, I still had no clue how to. Luckily, the ZL's were able to come to our rescue :) The next day we went to Firestone to get our tire replaced. We were there for 2.5 hours and we ended up not even getting it replaced because there was some conflict between firestone and our Elder in charge of the automobiles. So that sort of sucked and we still have to find a time to get that replaced. 

Sister Richards and I also made cookies and cards for a lot of people. We went caroling this week, ate with a lot of people who were kind enough to take us in during the holidays. We definitely ate too much food and we still have literal buckets of candy and sweets that we don't know what to do with. We had 3 Christmas breakfasts which was kind of awesome because breakfast is my favorite meal. So yeah, this week was busy in a different way than usual. 

One of my favorite parts though was delivering presents to Cora and her kids. She was so grateful for them and I know that her kids were too. This week, I've been thinking a lot about everlasting joy. Matthew 20:28 says "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." One descriptive word used for Christ is "servant." His purpose in coming down to Earth was to save us all, but I can't imagine that he did this begrudgingly or sadly. True charity brings everlasting joy no matter the trial. You will never have regrets about helping and giving to other people when you are doing it with love. Every now and then, it's good to reflect back on our lives and to remember the moments where we had everlasting joy and to pick them apart and understand what caused that joy. For me, many of my most joyful moments are moments with my family, moments that I accomplished something hard, and especially moments where I served and was able to make someone else's day. I invite you to do the same and reflect and figure out what makes you truly joyous. 

Pics from this week

- our flat tire (oof) 

-me and Sister Richards got matching Mac and cheese pins because of our obsession and search to find the best store bought kind

- got this yummy cake from cute Claudia Cooper

-we made cute Christmas cards

-White elephant

-our caroling group 

-Sister Richards and I twinning

Coco bom - 12/20/21

 Oh man what an exciting week, and I barely got any pictures of it! Tuesday night we had a Relief Society activity that we invited one of our friends to. She came an hour late, but still, she came and that made us so happy It was a great way for her to get to know people in the ward and to help her start feeling more comfortable here (our RS ladies and this cute little girl named Amira did a really good job at that). 

Christmas season as a missionary is just the best. People are just so giving. Our downstairs neighbor brought us up some small apple pies that she made. They were soooo good. Also, a lady that we did service for gave us a Christmas tree she wasn’t using, which we were in desperate need of. We received multiple cupcakes, cookies, goody bags, and presents. We sure feel loved over here, and we have a few ideas on how to pass the love along that we'll hopefully do this week. 

We also had YW’s on Wednesday, and one of the two friends that we invited came. We had a blast making hot chocolate bombs   

Other cool things that happened:

-the Davis’ took us to Cocoshrimp which is only our favorite place to eat ever. 

-Little Cashman Greco had his birthday on Saturday so now he’s 3!! It was Spiderman themed. Which reminds me that I'm hearing a lot of good things about the Spiderman movie that just came out. It's kinda rough to think I'll have to wait 1.5 years to see it!

*Colt had his baptism this Saturday!! Woot woot! Although I did none of the teaching, it was really amazing to see him baptized. His uncle baptized him and it was so funny, he accidently said Colt Dwayne Johnson instead of Colt Dwayne Knifong We all laughed and they started over. 

- We did not get our missionary money until after P-day this week so we didn’t go to the store and buy any groceries! So about mid-week we ran out of options and started to eat a lot of pasta because thats all we had.  It was ok though because God blessed us with the Grecos who told us that we could come over to their house and eat their food every once in a while, so we survived :)

**I gave a talk on Sunday, and Cora came with her husband Victor!!! He’s never come to church before so that was so exciting!!

*I had my first exchange. I went with Sister Bingham who is a missionary for the YSA and the Tongan ward, and wow was it a blast. We delivered cookies to members and friends. Then, we had dinner with this awesome member Kafoa. I was so full at the end of the dinner, but like a true poly, he insisted that we both get our own deserts. Boy were we full. Then, after that we went to the YSA’s institue class which was just a short lesson with a meal after because it’s the Christmas season. So then we of course had to eat a little then, and they insisted that we take some home haha. We then played volleyball because that’s what they YSA does, and let me tell ya, playing volleyball with the YSA is way more intense than playing on P-day with all the other missionaries.

Pics: 

- the tree that Char gave us

-Dinner with Kafoa

- me and Sister Richards tracking on a cold day

-Hot chocolate bombs 

- Samantha

-Bingham and I made cookies at YSA Institute

- there's a snake in my boot

- Sister Bingham and I work out at Brother Lee's gym

I guess I had more pictures than I thought lol

We still have to ask Colts mom for the pictures we have with him, but don't worry. I'll put those on here when I get them.  

Email sent 5 minutes later:  Wow, sometimes I'm a goon Hopefully you haven't noticed, but I've sent my weekly emails before I've actually finished them like two different times now. That is why this title is the way that it is, and I apologize for that. 

Coco, veggies, and the cutest doormat - 12-13-21

Coco, veggies, and the cutest doormat - 12-13-21

Well this week went by so fast. We had our Christmas Zone Conference this week which was so fun! We watched Coco, ate a yummy potato and meat lunch, had a talent show, and listened to the testimonies of everyone leaving this transfer. It was practically a full day activity. Apparently, not all Zone Conferences are like this, but I'm sure glad that my first one was a good one at least. 

One other fun thing was caroling with the Youth! This was such a simple way to meet people and give them our card to contact us. Plus, we got cookies and hot chocolate after so it was a win-win. Being a missionary is so cool because people will just give you things. This cute lady Jeanine, who isn't a member of our church, called us up to give us some produce. So now we have lots of potatoes, carrots, and onions from her. Also, just last night we were at the Coopers' house. They're a family in our ward who often feeds us dinner. On our way out, we asked where they got their doormat because we have been looking everywhere for a cute Christmas one. When we got home, someone rang our doorbell, and lo and behold, when we opened the door, there was their exact doormat with some cookies on top! Little acts like these truly make my day! What an amazing family and an amazing act of christ-like love. 

Teaching this week has been a little hard. A lot of our friends have had to cancel on us last minute for a lot of different reasons. According to my comp, this is pretty common. So I guess what I've learned is to not take any teaching moment for granted. We did have one very successful lesson with one of our friends though. She knows that this church is true and wants to get baptized, but she knows that it will be a war with her family. That really got me thinking. What would I give up, risk, or sacrifice for this gospel and my testimony? Would I be able to potentially give up my relationship with my family or friends? I think that's very important to ponder. What I've learned from the scriptures is that committing to this church wasn't meant to be easy. We are asked to "believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross and bear the shame of the world" (Jacob 1:8) Now, why would we put ourselves through that? For me, it's because I know that it's true, and I know that carrying Christ's cross on my shoulders makes me stronger. He has the power to heal, comfort, pacify, and bring hope. Through Him I can be made whole and I can have peace here on earth and after.

Pics from the week:

-Family picture with my 2 "sisters" and my "mom"

peppermint shakes...again

we went to the play Scrooge last p-day

-just your everyday Texas pride (Christmas edition)

caroling

our cute doormat

Coco shrimp, cookies, and cockroaches? 12-6-21

 This week was jam packed with service! This was the first week I was able to go to the food bank, which for those you who know me, I love going to the Utah Foodbank and helping out, so this was a treat and reminded me so much of home. We also helped these two really cute old ladies named Jeanine and Jean and were able to pray with them after our service. We are already planning a time to help them out again and talk to them about our church. As we were walking out of the house, we heard Jean say, "aren't they just the cutest little things?" And that just made my whole day haha. I won't tell you all the service we did or else we'd be here for a while, but I can't help myself from talking about just one more. We weren't able to go the past two weeks, but usually we help a lady named Janie. Janie owns a pretty little dress shop, and we just go sweep and clean mirrors for her. It was here where I encountered my first cockroach. I won't go into details, but lets just say that it was dead, and then it was alive and wouldn't die, and now the sound of Sister Richards shoe crunching on the cockroach has been traumatizing my mind all week. It was all worth it though because after we were done cleaning, Janie let us try on some dresses!

Another fun thing that happened was when our neighbors/best friends the Grecos asked us to help with their elf on a shelf. All we had to do was ring the door bell and run. We hid in the garage so that we would be able to hear the kids when they opened the front door (the front door and the garage door are right by each other) All was going well until their dog Mayvie kept barking and we heard Sister Greco say to put the dog in the garage. Sister Richards and I looked at each other and then we bolted out of there so fast. Luckily we weren't caught.  :)

Just yesterday, one of our friends came to church with her daughter! We were able to bare our testimonies in sacrament for her and take her to Sunday school. We're going to ask her to be baptized soon! I'm so excited!!!

Spiritual thought: The Christmas Devotional last night was amazing. Something that really stood out to me is to share your gifts even if you think they aren't developed enough. Share your testimony even if you don't think it's strong enough. Share your time and your love especially when you think you don't have enough. Just share because you can offer much more than you know and it will mean more to people than you think. Also, if you haven't watched the Christmas devotional, I would highly consider watching it.

Pics from this week

- Christmas lights

-Grand opening of Coco shrimp. Yes, we got free T-shirts for all those asking

-Richards converted me to peppermint shakes from Chick-fil-A

-got a package from my familia!!!

-at the food bank