3/24/14...Saying thanks and goodbye

 MICKEY EARS from the FICA family

 View from the house I have been staying at

The Mannings! They have been kind enough to let us stay at their home for the past 6 weeks and have been SO good to us. Great people here in the Pocatello Stake!

3/24/2014..District Leader and New area!!

I have been called as a District Leader. :) I was quite surprise but I am humbled that Heavenly Father would choose me to fill this position. As a District Leader, I preside at District Meetings that we hold ever Tuesday. At those meetings we have trainings, talk about our investigators, talk about how we can strengthen our areas and also do accountability where we look at our District's numbers and where we can improve and of course, the things that we are doing very well. :)Also, I will do follow up phone calls with my district each day and call them and see how they and their investigators are doing. Also, I will go on exchanges with District members, or I would normally do that. ;) Exchanges are where the district leader will go with each Missionary in his district individually and see how their area and they are doing as a missionary for a day and night BUT my entire district, minus my companion and I, is sister missionaries......... SO I won't be doing exchanges! haha! ;) Also, I report the numbers for our district to the Zone Leaders and I get to go on exchanges with my new Zone leaders as well!!!! I'm SO excited for that!!! :) I will also be doing the follow up training for a new missionary.
 I'm headed to the Pocatello North Stake and Elder Bertosh is going to be my new companion. I've met him already and I love the guy :) He has only been out a month and a half and I am REALLY looking forward to working with him! Also, we cover three wards in our new area ALL in ONE church building so that will be nice. ;) Also, I was just  notified that it is a walking area so I will be able to thin out a little! ;) Other than that, this past week has been a lot of saying goodbye and setting up a lot of times to come by people's houses. We were still able to teach quite a bit though and an AMAZING less active family that we have been working with forever came to church and told us that they are really working a lot of things out in their lives. :) It was a miracle because we have been praying and fasting for them too! :) I'm pretty sure my pictures will tell my weeks story though. :) Other than that, Elder Wootton and I have been having a ball, have been LOVING the sunshine and have just been enjoying our time in this wonderful stake.

3/17/2014.. GO #19

 GO POCATELLO! For our last district, we got these sweet jerseys and they are AWESOME

 We did service one morning and walked up this BIG hill and this was the view about halfway up! WOW I know! It was beautiful and so sunny!

 We made a cheesecake into pac-man! :)

The inhumanity! That poor deer! My hypothesis is that somebody used it as target practice until it was out of business. ;)

3/17/2014...WITH A PURPOSE

This past week was so incredible! We got to set a baptismal date with a wonderful young man! He is 12 and his dad is a member but his mother is not. He has had a lot of struggles of late but has found a lot of comfort in church. He is INCREDIBLE! He told us that church makes him really happy and he feels better when he is there. So, we took him on a church tour and when we were in front of the picture of Peter, James and John restoring the Priesthood and giving the keys to Joseph Smith,
 we asked him if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized and he accepted for April 26th! We are really hoping we will be able to help him progress towards that and be with him every step of the way! Our mission has a goal for every companionship to baptize this April so hopefully, and with FAITH, this little guy will be baptized and receive those blessings!

3/10/2014..Deer and Pouring rain!!!

 It POURED rain for about 10 min and then stopped! Just enough time to get a picture though!

 That deer was REALLY close to our car! Just another day in Pocatello

We met this woman who has the most INCREDIBLE view of Pocatello right
outside her house and she let us take pictures on it!

3/10/2014..Making a difference!!

Overall, this week went quite well! Looking back, it feels kinda weird. For one thing, it FLEW by!! Another, it didn't feel like we taught a lot but looking back at our numbers, we taught quite a bit and even better, we had a lot of QUALITY lessons with a lot of WONDERFUL people! I really feel like we are making a difference in a lot of different places. Chris is still progressing very well! He came to all three hours of church this past sunday and is still very eager to learn! We are working with him to overcome some Word of Wisdom problems but HE CAN DO IT! And I am loving the opportunity to help him. :) We also got to take him to a baptism for a 12 yr old boy and he absolutely loved it! He was talking about me baptizing him and I said that I would absolutely love to! :) It has truly been such a pleasure and honor to teach him. Heavenly Father definitely put him in our path and I'm so grateful for the spirit prompting us to help him. Looking back at everything that has happened, this was and is an experience of a lifetime! EVERYDAY on the mission is an experience of a lifetime! Other than that, we had a wonderful district meeting with muffins this past Tuesday, I got a very nice and heartwarming letter from Grandma Chambers and we also got to do the Sauna this past P-Day! It was soooooooooo fantastic! :) I also got to go on an exchange! Our district Leader, Elder Olson came to my area and we had such a good day. :) It was quite an eye opening day for me and I sure learned a lot. I have a fantastic District Leaders who sure knows his stuff. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father has given me the opportunity to learn from him. :) Other than those awesome things, Elder Wootton and I are looking forward to a GREAT week of teaching, LOTS of finding, and lots of sowing. Heavenly Father has great things in store for us, I just know it! Oh! Also, I'm working on the piano quite a bit! I  ant to come back pretty darn good! Keep me in your prayers in that regard please! ;)

3/3/2014...Salad in a water pitcher and more

 Oh the joy of making salad!! Our dinner appointment fell through but they got us a bunch of stuff so we went to the church to prepare it! The bummer was that we didn't have a mixing bowl for the salad! SO! We got creative! We took a water pitcher and put the salad, crutons, and dressing in it and then sealed it with aluminum foil and shook it!mmmmm..... delicious!

 Beautiful Pocatello from our kitchen window!

 ZONE CONFERENCE!!!

 Elder Payne and Sister Payne (The coolest senior missionaries EVER!)

Brother Phillips and I!!!!

3/3/2013..Humility through trials

Indeed it was a great week. :) It was a little harder than
the past weeks have been. I feel like I am entering a phase of great spiritual growth
but that spiritual growth is also coupled with some pretty good lookin trials.
:) This past week we had three investigators drop us in a sense. Two of them
don't want to get baptized in March, which is when we had their baptismal dates
scheduled. The other one, I'm not so sure about because we haven't been able to
talk to but I don't think she will be baptized in March because she feels
really pressured and doesn't have a lot of support BUT we only talked to the
mom about this so hopefully when we get to talk to her we can at least keep
teaching her and having lessons over at her bishop's house. :) it was kinda
rough. But, Dad's email really tied into what this week has given me.
Sometimes, when you pray for humility and with a desire to grow, Heavenly
Father really lets you have the opportunities where that can be possible, AKA the
trials and tribulations. :) Overall though, it's ok. :) We are still getting by
and we still have another investigator. :) He came to church this past week
too! AND we got to watch Prophet of the Restoration with him and he was crying
a bunch. Tomorrow, we are gonna teach him the Plan of Salvation too. :) It was
kinda funny though because we came over about 30 min before church started and
he didn't know how to tie a tie so I got to help him. We tied the tie and got
all ready to go and it was such a good experience. It was fast and testimony
meeting so that was AWESOME. I really hope he felt the spirit. :) Other than
that, Sister Fica is doing SOOOOOO good. :) She is so happy and just has a new
light about her. :) Also, the Siler's cabin is coming along quite well. It is
really stressing them out but hopefully it will be finished soon. :) We got to
help them move out of their rental and now, they are staying with some member's
in their ward until their house is done. I cannot wait til they get to move in.
It will be such a wonderful relief for them. :) Other than that...... oh! We
had Zone Conference! It was a really really wonderful experience. Lots of good trainings,
lots of good talks and lots of inspiration. Something is out there, Elder
Wootten and I just have to go find it. :) Overall, the week went well. Elder
Wootten is doing awesome, learning more and more each day and I'm learning lots from him as well. :)