I'm ALWAYS praying for missionary experiences

Hello, lovely people!

This week was quite eventful. :) Tell Chase that I'm ALWAYS praying for missionary experiences. haha That's my LIFE now! 
I'm glad that things at home are going well! I still haven't received any letters from my family... What's that all about? haha. I get letters AND emails from everyone else but you guys. ;)


Monday was P-Day- as usual. I love all of the emails that I'm getting! It's nice to know that people still remember me... haha! Keep 'em comin'! :)
Sister Perrin (my second mother haha) took us to Gordman's and I ended up buying some Boise State moccasins. I couldn't buy a shirt because I knew I'd never wear it. That would be against all the BYU-Idaho pride I have inside of me. So I bought shoes- to signify me always stepping on Boise State. (I thought I was pretty funny.) And that night, we went to go have FHE with the Bell family. (That's a new thing that I started in the ward. Monday nights are SO hard to find people to teach. So we sent around a sign up to have FHE with families. It gives them an opportunity to invite non-members/less actives/struggling youth.) We gave a lesson on "CPR for the Soul"- Church, Prayer, Reading Scriptures. It was so much fun and the kids LOVED it! Afterwards, we played play-dough pictionary- such a fun family activity!

Tuesday we had exchanges! And, of course, everything got confused. Haha. Our Sister Training Leader is actually a Spanish speaking missionary. I was supposed to go with her 2 companions (they're a trio) and she was supposed to come here to Kuna with Sister Happy. Yeah, well, we got that mixed up. haha So she came with me instead! Sister Turner (the STL) was so much fun! I love Sister Happy- but it was nice to be able to talk to someone without having to talk really slow, explain what words mean, and help them have conversations with people. haha Man, I love my companion. I'm definitely learning patience! (Can you tell?) 
We visited with Grandpa again- he ended up giving us the entire plan of salvation lesson. What a chatterbox! He is so funny. But we love visiting with him every week. And he told us that he really appreciates it. So it will continue! :) And afterwards we went and helped a widowed woman in the ward with her garden. (Yes, again in our skirts... when will I learn?) Okay people... I do NOT know how to work in a garden. I have NO idea what I'm doing. haha I guess I'll come home with a new talent though! For dinner that night, we went to the Perrin's. :) They knew that Sister Happy was going to be gone that night because of the exchanges, so they made me HAMBURGERS AND NACHOS!!!! YAY YAY YAY!!!! It was the BEST dinner I've had in a LONG LONG LONG time. *sigh* I'm still thinking about it. haha

Wednesday was pretty uneventful. Not much happened- other than I woke up with terrible shoulder pain. Ouch! But what else is knew in my life? haha

We helped someone move- we started out unpacking books but were then delegated to pulling weeds, don't know how that happened. But it was fun! And then we went over a member's house to do service- but then we just helped her make dinner instead. Which is still service! haha We didn't get to eat the dinner though... Bummer. It was tacos.

Thursday was HILARIOUS. We had dinner at the koala house. (I have pictures!) Yay Koalas! 

Everyone here has made us stuffed crescent rolls... I don't know when they became so popular. But they're good! (Aaaaaand... now I'm realizing that a majority of this email has been about what I've eaten. See what my life has become?! This is surely an email for Nana to read.) 

We met with Lyle that night (I don't know if I've mentioned him before...). Lyle is less active, and has been for 20+ years. He has Parkinson's disease, which makes it nearly impossible to him to sit and talk with us for longer than 20-30 minutes at a time. It's hard to watch him constantly be in pain and not be able to do anything about it. Lyle and his wife, Tami, just got back together after being separated for a few months. Their goal is to start coming back to church and then to be sealed in the temple! They are so in love. We visited them after they had gotten back together- ALL SMILES! :)

We also met with Dave that night as well. He is doing AWESOME! He's been coming to church every week. We finished giving him all of the discussions. And he's cut down on his coffee by half! He's started meeting with the Bishop about preparing to go to the temple to be sealed to his wife. He is AMAZING! And he's really pushing hard to do whatever he needs to to get there. :)

Friday was our last district meeting before transfers. We visited, took pictures, had a bbq (with hamburgers- yum). 

Here's a picture of Sister Anderson and I at our combined district BBQ. She's the ONE other Sister in the mission from South Carolina. We're best buddies. haha (Well, I think so.)

Aaaaaand.... Guess who I saw today! Sister Tyler!

It's so true that as soon as you get comfortable, everything changes! That afternoon, as we were home for dinner, I caught Sister Happy trying to make a grilled cheese sandwich... OH NO! haha She buttered both sides of the bread (lotsssss of butter) and put them on the pan at the same time. I caught her just before she was about to put the cheese straight on the pan! haha. I then told her that you're supposed to put the cheese on the bread for it to melt. So, she warmed up her bread, took it off the pan, placed the cheese in the middle... and pretty much just ate a cold cheese sandwich with toasted bread. haha! "When you made it, it was so good!" Nice try, Sister Happy! 

I spent most of the day trying to help Sister Happy with her talk. She's still really nervous about speaking in English. So I would read it, reread it. Add in words and change words. Help her think of things to write about. It took a long time.... But I was glad to help. She did great. :)

Saturday we received transfer calls! Sister Happy: Staying! Sister Gubler: Staying! Yep, we'll be in Kuna for at least another 6 weeks- until May 10th.
But, wait! There's more! We are becoming a trio! (Say what?!) We're not so sure how we feel about that... But we'll make it work. Our new companion will surely be great.

                                       Sister Happy and I with our new companion, Sister Keyser!

(I just got back from picking up our new companion, Sister Keyser. She didn't get to email today, and Happy and I missed about 30 minutes of email time to come pick her up- so we came back. :)  )

ANDDDDD WE GET A CAR!!! A CAR! A CAR! A CAR! A CAR! We are SO excited about that! We're going to be so much more productive now- and the members are sure happy that they won't have to drive us everywhere, all the time anymore. We should be getting the car sometime this week. :) Prayers have been answered! Saturday we also went over to the Bell's house and helped them organize/clean. They just moved into their house in November (it was a really fast move), so they're still trying to get things in the right places. And they are so great at always having nonmember friends over at their house when we come to give a spiritual thought or do an FHE. So we decided to say "thank you" by organizing their pantry, closets, garage, etc. :)

And then the FIRST EVER General Womens Meeting was that night! Okay- can I just say- that was the BEST MEETING EVER. We hasn't even sang the opening song yet and the spirit was just like, WHOOSH! LET'S MAKE SISTER GUBLER CRY! It was so powerful. Music invites the spirit so quickly! When the 8-11 year olds stood and sang "Teach Me to Walk in the Light", and then the older sisters joined in on the second verse, it was so powerful. We were watching it at the stake center, and there was not a dry eye in the building. It's so beautiful how so many sisters, of all ages, were gathered together to learn. My favorite thing in the meeting was, well, several things:

1. WOMEN NEED EACH OTHER. It's true. We do. We need other women to talk to, to learn from, to comfort and support us. I loved how President Eyring said that, "[we] are more alike as daughters of God than [we] are different". That's so true! There is an unbreakable bond between sisters. And I don't have any sisters in my family- so I love that I can have sisters through the gospel.

2. THE BEST WAY TO STRENGTHEN YOUR FAMILY IS TO KEEP YOUR COVENANTS. It's true, too! Through keeping our covenants, we can receive blessings for ourselves, and also our families. And also, through keeping our covenants, we can be an example to our children of how to live. I don't remember who said it... but they mentioned that we need to raise our children in covenant keeping homes. Loved that.

3. THERE IS NO AGE BARRIER WHEN IT COMES TO CHRISTLIKE SERVICE. This is also SO TRUE! We all can learn and grow from each other- whether we are 8 or 80. I loved the story about the 80 year old Mia Maid advisor- I feel like that will be me one day. The young people will help me stay "hip" and "with the times". But it reminded me that I need to reach out more to those that are older and younger than me. We are all daughters of God, and Sisters. We need to strengthen each other.

And then Sunday. Man. This week seemed much longer than the others.
We both spoke in sacrament, and I sang as well. That was a little weird. I've never done both on the same week. But it worked out fine- and we received a lot of compliments from members of the ward. :)
Afterwards we went to gospel principles- where Kassi (I talked about her before... but I misspelled her name and wrote "Cassie") and her boyfriend, Andy, stayed the whole time! It was great! We pulled in couples from the ward to sit in the class so that they wouldn't feel awkward as the only students. haha. But the lesson was on Adam and Eve, the Fall, and agency. Kassi participated a TON and really enjoyed the class and also the people that were in there. We found out that they are going to General Conference next week with a family in the ward- WOOT! And, while we were at church, I gave her a list of scriptures about Jesus Christ to study (she had previously told me that she didn't really know anything about Christ)- to which she teared up and gave me a HUGE hug and said "thank you". I didn't know it would mean that much to her, but she continued to show everyone the list and hold it like I had given her a $500 necklace. We went over and taught Kassi again that night. Previously, Andy hasn't participated in any lessons. He'd leave the room and come back to give her looks that said, "I want to leave." But she'd always ignore him. Andy is a member, but hasn't stepped foot in a church since he was 17. But he sat in for half of the lesson this time! He asked a ton of questions that he's had his whole life- mostly deeper doctrine (evolution, angels, resurrected beings, how there are 3 Nephites walking around, you have to play "patty cake" before you can get into heaven... haha I tried not to laugh about some of them.) But we were so happy that he was open about his concerns and realized that we don't know the answers to everything. :) But we taught Kassi about the plan of salvation and she LOVED the fact that God gives us millions of chances to be happy. She said that the plan gives her greater purpose in life. I asked her if she's read the Book of Mormon and prayed about the things that we've taught her. She said that she's been praying a LOT lately ( and has been receiving a million blessings from Heavenly Father) and she can't even get through a full prayer without getting a HUGE smile and saying to herself: "You KNOW this is true!" Kassi studied world religions in college- she knows a lot about a lot of different beliefs. But she told us that she's never found a religion that has touched her heart so personally as this has. She told us that she finds so much strength in knowing that she is a daughter of God- and has even written it on her mirror at home! What a great example! After hearing all this... I was just... AH! It was awesome! I asked her if she would be baptized- AND SHE SAID YES! We're aiming for May 10th- but there's a lot that needs to happen before that point. But she really wants us to be the missionaries at her baptism. :) She said that she loves how, when we talk, everything is so exciting! And I told her, "That's because the gospel is SO exciting! Heavenly Father loves us and we are His children! How could someone not want to hear about it?"
Kassi is inspiring. She pushes me to be a better person and to call upon Heavenly Father for everything that I do. She prayed for us, for the first time, at the end of our lesson and, oh boy, the spirit was so strong. I'm so excited for her. This is the first step to something great in her life!


(This greenie ain't doin' too bad!)

Love,
Sister Gubler 

I was tired of looking at our mormon.org cards and Book of Mormons sitting in boxes... so I got creative! :)