Greetings one and all,
I don't know if I told you details on my new companion, Sister Keyser!
She's joined Sister Happy and I here in Kuna, we'll be here for at least 5 more weeks together (until May 11th). She's from Orlando, Florida- the land of the Happiest Place on Earth. She's been out in the mission for 5 months- and served in La Grande, Oregon for that entire time. She is such a breath of fresh air! She constantly reminds me to have fun and relax- which, all my friends know, is sometimes hard for me to do. I think I'm too much of a go-getter. Sister Keyser fits right into our little team. We're taking Kuna by storm!
We also got a car- a 2014 Chevy Cruiser.
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So nice. Riding in style. It's felt awesome to be able to drive again. The car has the ability for you to drive it with a stick shift or on automatic... yeah, I didn't know that. So I drove it on manual for the first few days. That was interesting. But I finally figured it out! haha. We've DOUBLED our numbers and our productivity since getting the car. It's been such a blessing.
Monday night we had FHE with the Perrin family. (That's who sent you the picture, Mom.) It was a BLAST.
We'd played a game where you go around the room and each person has to answer a gospel question. If you get it wrong, you have 30 seconds to run outside and make a basket from the free-throw line and run back to sit in your chair. If you didn't make it in time, you'd get a point. The person with the most points at the end had to clean the kitchen! haha. It was the best. But 3 of the boys ended in a tie. So they pulled out the classic Perrin family tie-breaker- DANCE OFF! It was so hilarious watching these young teenage boys dance. They tried to get me to dance too- luckily I'm a missionary and can't! haha. Gotta love it. I want my family to have that kind of relationship. :)
Tuesday night we visited an older widowed woman in the ward and helped her decorate her house for Easter. She has about 10 TUBS of "Ty" beanie babies for EACH MONTH. What?! That's worth a lot of money! But while we helped her set those up around her house, I discovered engravings on some of her wooden furniture. After asking her about it, she showed me each piece in her home and explained that her husband made her everything in the house. And when he would make something, the finishing touch would be a little love note to her engraved in the wood. CUTE! I almost started tearing up- yep, that's right- the two of us almost had a cry session together. It was so sweet! After she showed us the furniture, she showed me a HUGE ORGAN that she has in her home! And so we played it together, and laughed at how bad each of us was. Such a good bonding experience.
This week we did a service project for one of the lady's in our ward. She is amazing and she was SO excited that we came over to help her. I think she said "HOT DOG!" about 50 times when we were there. haha. Cute. Her husband is working in Texas for the year, so we went over to help her in her yard. Yeah, I don't know if you've been in Kuna before. But people in Kuna don't have "yards" like you'd see in a neighborhood. We're talking... several acres. A LOT OF YARD. But we trimmed her rose bushes (if roses are the flower of love, then love hurts- bad) and also totally cleared out the ditch in front of her house. I came up with the "smart" idea of vacuuming all of the leaves out of the rose bushes- we couldn't seem to grab them out without cutting our hands off. But, HEY!, it worked! :) And the ditch in front of her house took us 2 days to complete. Well, technically 1 day... since we spent half a day each day. But my entire body is so sore from that amazing experience. What a workout!
We had another visit with Grandpa Welker! He said something really amazing that's been on my mind a lot lately: "Of you don't have time to do it RIGHT, when will you have the time to do it OVER?"
On Sunday night, we actually had 2 dinner appointments. Double the food. I thought I was going to DIE. And then, at the end of the night, we ended up going home with 3 bags of cookies. That's missionary life for ya.
We met with Danny and Jackie again last night! They both committed to baptism on May 11th! Danny is SO EXCITED! He was even like, "This is going to be my Mother's Day present to you, Mom! You should get baptized with me!" And so his mom agreed to baptism as well- not just because of what he said, but that gave her a push to act on how she's been feeling about the gospel. :) Yay! Go baptisms!
Oh yes! Now for my favorite thing to talk about- GENERAL CONFERENCE!
Kassi and Andy both attended conference in Salt Lake on Saturday. Yay! They loved it. :)
I received a picture of Kassi at conference! :)
I got SO MUCH out of conference. I thought that it didn't last long enough though. I could have gone for about 10 more sessions. The church pew was super comfortable. :) I loved the messages about Christlike love and service, as well as the messages about having the faith to defend your faith and obey the Spirit. Here are just a point or two that I got out of each talk- you don't have to put these on the blog, you can just read them:
Jeffrey R. Holland: Christlike love is the greatest need we have on this planet. Love, flowing from righteousness, can change the world. (I also loved his talk because, it's true, missionaries DO shed many tears for those who do not accept the gospel.)
Ronald A. Rasband: Reaching out to rescue souls is an eternal symbol of love.
Carlos H. Amado: Even at the end of His life, Christ still forgave and was thinking of others.
Linda S. Reeves: The best filter is the testimony of a loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Prayer, scripture study, church, and FHE are the very things that will take about stress and worry.
Neil L. Anderson: Trees that grow in a windy environment grow to be stronger. Find strength through: prophet, temple, Book of Mormon. Everyone deserves love.
Henry B. Eyring: There is always a chance, even for the most struggling people, to come home. Never force righteousness, for righteousness much be chosen. "If you let Him be the leader of your family, things will work out."
Russell M. Nelson: Be your full self, all the time. Be careful of sayings like, "be on my best behavior". Increase your faith, proclaim your faith, let your faith show.
Richard G. Scott: Share your love, trust, and your knowledge of the truth. He shared a lot of great missionary tools for sharing the gospel!
Robert D. Hales: Obedience makes us progressively stronger. Obedience is motivated by pure love for Heavenly Father.
Claudio D. Zivic: Always check and make sure that you are on the right path. If not, repent and turn back to the right way.
W. Craig Zwick: We need to practice Christlike communication. Practice asking, "What are you thinking?" and then listen so you can understand. We can minister grace through cultivated language.
Quentin L. Cook: Family should be at the top of our priority list. We need to be connect to both our roots and our branches.
Dieter F. Uchtdorf: Endings seem impossible to us because we are made of the stuff of eternity. Endings are not existing- only everlasting beginnings. Have gratitude IN not just AFTER.
M. Russell Ballard: Follow up! If we follow up, the Lord will NOT let us down. Invite and follow up with trust and faith.
Jean A. Stevens:The gospel is not weight- it is wings. The Lord has power to deliver us- through our faith.
Gary E. Stevenson: What do I need to do next in order to make it to the metal stand? You are an eternal being, and this life is YOUR 4 minutes.
David A. Bednar: Is the load I'm carrying creating sufficient spiritual traction? The Lord strengthens us, he doesn't take our burdens away. Study the Atonement as you assess your load.
Thomas S. Monson: We cannot fully love God if we do not love others, and we cannot fully love others if we do not love God. Each person has the power within themselves to increase the level of love and kindness in the world.
Boyd K. Packer: We can all have a self discovery of eternal truths.
William R. Walker: Live true to the faith that our parents have cherished. Honor the legacy of your righteous ancestors.
L. Tom Perry: Always be ready to receive that gentle tub from the spirit. Then be willing to completely alter your course to fulfill that prompting.
Lawrence E. Corbridge: Whenever there are good things, there will always be opposition.
Michael John U. Teh: Trials in life help us to refocus our priorities. Have treasures in heaven.
Marcos A. Aidukaitis (awesome accent!): Faith requires work. One must not roam through garbage.
D. Todd Christofferson: In due course, all shall see and all shall know.
I'd love to hear of people's thoughts on conference. There's always something that each of us can get out of it.
--Sister Gubler
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