Miracles DO happen!

I'm sorry to hear about the news from home. :( Send my love to their family during this time. Isn't it so great that we know the plan of salvation? It brings me so much comfort to know that we will be with our families for eternity! 

This was a slow week... but full of miracles. We set 4 baptismal dates this week AND found a new investigator! 

Last P-Day, I literally slept alllllll dayyyyy. Then I woke up to head off to proselyte from 6 to 9 pm... And then I came home and slept all through the night! Can you tell I'm exhausted?! Soooo tired. All the time. But... there's no break for a missionary! Keep working! Keep working!

The onion harvesting is in the process, so the air in Parma always smells of onions and makes my eyes start to water. ;) And onions are covering the roads because they fall off of the trucks. People eat onions like apples around here... so the other day, Sister Pritchard and I decided to pick one up off of the road and give it a try.... It was nasty. We're hoping that we can go out and have a "day on the farm" with someone from the ward sometime soon. We want to really experience the life of the every day farmer. haha :)

We met with Anne this week- she says that she wants us to come over, but every time we try and talk about the gospel the conversation always turns for the worst. So, this time we just went over there to visit. We ended up quilting with her for... 2 hours. It was a long time. haha! But she's helping us make book covers for our scriptures. And she is so excited about it! So, I guess now is my time to learn how to sew. :) 

Our bestie, Amanda, decided that she was going to do some facebook challenge... and enlisted our help. (Picture to follow.) Of course, we agreed, because I LOVE doing random things like that. haha! So we poured ice cold water over her head... and I got a little wet. haha. It was fun :) She says that it's OUR turn to do it today... I'll have to think some more about that one. ;) 

One of my favorite activities to do on my mission is to bake cookies, and then take them to people's houses. It's the best! Who can turn down a plate of delicious cookies?! Sister Pritchard and I always write a scripture on a sticky note and put in on top as well. Gotta have some spiritual uplifting! :) I always recommend that members give it a try with their neighbors. :)

Penny is our new investigator. She actually asked one of our ward missionaries if she could meet with us! (Member missionary work at it's finest!!!) We've set up weekly appointments with her. She was actually a member at one point... but... ya know, stuff happened. But she wants to come back! And she is amazing. We're hoping to visit with her again on Thursday :) 

We attended the Meridian Temple groundbreaking this weekend! Well... the broadcast of it. :) Elder Kent F. Richards told us to pick up a small stone and keep it as a reminder of our covenants, and also admonished the community to start doing their family history! He challenged everyone to get family names ready so that the Meridian temple can run on ONLY family names! (That's a BIG challenge! But the Boise temple is almost to that point.) Elder David A. Bednar also came and spoke- he talked about how we need to be grateful even when times are "easy". He joked about how some of us will drive by the temple site every day, take pictures of the progress, make a scrapbook of all of the news articles, show it to all of our friends and family for generations to come... and then we won't ever attend the temple. We will become preoccupied with the "oh, I can go tomorrow"'s and the "when I'm done with this"'s. He said that when times are "easy", THAT is when we will find if we are truly grateful. I challenge everyone to recommit themselves to attend the temple as often as they possibly can!
"The decision to build a temple is not based on the numbers, but is based on the HEARTS of the people." -David A. Bednar

Rocky, Richard, and Elsie all committed to prepare for baptism for September 21!!! We have only had 2 lessons with them... and we've already taught them about The Restoration, The Plan of Salvation, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, Tithing/Fast Offerings, Modesty, Word of Wisdom, the Priesthood, Studying Scriptures, Prayer, Obedience, 10 Commandments, Eternal Marriage, ANDDDDD Temples and Family History Work!!! They are SO prepared for the gospel! They ask a million questions (Which I LOVE!) and they study the scriptures together and pray about everything that we teach them! Elsie told us that she's been praying about it, and that she knows that it's true. She even told us that, several years ago, she received an impression that she needed to quit drinking coffee and smoking, but didn't know why. AND, at about that same time, she was feeling like she needed to get baptized, but didn't know what church to get baptized in. She said that she knows that this is the true church that she needs to be baptized. WHAT?! It was amazing! And after we taught them all how to pray, Richard offered the most wonderful prayer I have ever heard. *tears!* They're even starting to use "LDS lingo" in their conversations with us. I'm just so excited for them. :D

So many miracles are happening. So many people are ready for the gospel! Go out and invite them!!!

Sister Gubler

I LOVE this district!

The weeks are going by faster and faster... The first 6 months of my mission went by SO SLOW. Every day felt like an eternity. Now we're struggling to get everything done that we need to in one day! It's awesome! And I'm almost at 7 months! WHAT?! Craziness. I love my mission, don't get me wrong. But being on your mission makes you so excited to get back and start the rest of your life.

Mother- Why would I, a missionary, go to a home decor store?? haha! I don't think that's an effective activity. Especially when I'm no where near Nampa right now. :P What do you think I do all day?! Shop?! haha

You should send me some cute missionary stickers! I love decorating my letters/envelopes with stickers. And every transfer we decorate our missionary planners. :) Thanks for sending that package- I'll look for it today. :D I'm sure that I'll love whatever is in it. :D

Yay! School is starting up again! I'm not sure if I'm happy for that or not... Summer time is great for missionary work (for the most part). People tend to be home more. I hope that the boys enjoy school though! It'll be a great year!
Sorry that Nana and Papa won't be able to visit SC. I guess we'll have to move closer to the west coast! ;) I'd be totally cool with that. haha Saves me some money with having to travel to and fro after every semester. ;)

I really don't ever see my mission president- besides at interviews (which happen every 3 months). He's more quiet... And he doesn't do a lot of trainings at zone conferences or anything. Most of the time he shares a parable from the scriptures and then talks about it. He's a nice guy. I'm sure if I ever became a Sister Training Leader I'd get to know him a bit more. Normally you really only ever get to know him if you're having some issues.... Soooo, maybe I need to get some issues or something? hahahaha! I did ask him for a blessing once, after a zone conference a couple months ago. And it was really nice. I've felt more focused after that experience.
And his wife is really quiet too. She's really nice though. She's a good listener... Because that's really all she does- LISTEN! They're awesome people.

 6:30 am morning workout!
Sister Pritchard and I have been working out a lot more this week. We've been going to the church at 6:30am with Kristey (the one who's sent you pictures this week) and doing Zumba. It's been a lot of fun, and a great workout! (Btw, we should totally go do those Zumba classes at the YMCA when I get home. I'm going to need to lose some mission weight. haha) I've been feeling a lot healthier... and a lot more tired. Mostly tired actually. :P But hopefully, after a couple weeks of working out, I'll get used to it and not want to fall asleep during every lesson we have.

 The missionaries helped make these love bears to be donated.

 Sister G (as she is called) was studying for a lesson she would be presenting to a newly baptized member.

We had our first district meeting of the transfer on Wednesday! I LOVE this district. :) They're my kind of people. (A lot of changes happened in the mission this transfer- with missionaries moving around.) But I'm finding that- even at 6 months- I'm starting to be known as one of the "older missionaries". There's only 2 other missionaries in the district (Elders) that have been out longer than I have- in a district of 10 Elders and Sisters. So, it's kind of cool actually. :) I don't feel like a "useless greenie" anymore. :)

Ready for the awkward tracting story of the week?! We had a zone tracting blitz in Ontario on Saturday. This house had a door covered in frosted glass (so you couldn't see right through it, but you could see movement) and there was an open window right next to the door. We went up to this door, knocked, and we hear this little kid yell, "Grandpa! Someone's here!" ...no answer. "Evan! Someone's here!" ...then we heard a whispered, "Shh, just come here. Don't answer the door." And then silence for a while. (RUDE) I was about ready to walk away and give up, when Sister Pritchard sees the little kid through the frosted window of the door and says, "Hi! How are you?" The kid had been caught. hahahaha All of a sudden, this teenager pops up from underneath the window and opens the door. He had been laying down underneath the window and trying to hide from us! Are you serious, people?! Come on. Our conversation was short, they obviously weren't interested. But I was trying REALLY hard to not saying anything about it. haha Who hides underneath a window?!?! Like that's not obvious.

Service for the week: We helped Kyna pick up horse poop again this week. It was a lot better, now that it wasn't 106 degrees outside. haha! We also went back and dug up huge weeds in the Reeder's backyard. (work out!) And we also attended a Relief Society humanitarian night. We made backpacks for kids in need, stuffed love bears for the hospitals, and tied quilts for families. It was a lot of fun.

We had another 2 lessons with Mariah and Dallas this week... We are seriously their only friends. And it's kind of sad. So our lessons have turned into marriage counseling sessions. I think they forget that I haven't been married... haha I don't know what I'm talking about half the time. I'm a missionary- not a marriage counselor. haha! But they are continuing to grow in their faith and in their testimonies. So I can't complain!

Did I tell you about Jesus Delarosa?? He thought he was a member? Well, we found out on Sunday that he's not. He just received a blessing when he was in prison. So, now we have a new investigator! haha YAY! But, yeah, he's been in prison and done who knows what in his life... so if he were to get baptized, it would probably take a while. He's an interesting guy. But he came to church and stayed for 2 hours yesterday! :)

The Stewart's have accepted the invitation to prepare for baptism!! We went over there for our first lesson, after they had been attending church for 3 weeks straight, and they are awesome!!! They have already noticed so many blessings from coming to church and from making little changes in their lives. They had a brother pass away in 2012, and they love the plan of salvation and the temple. At first, they were a little uneasy about listening to the lessons. They had attended church and heard things that didn't make sense. But after explaining things more simply and more in depth, they accepted it. And they all committed to reading The Book of Mormon and praying together and individually. They are just an amazing family.

Sister Gubler

 They found these glasses at the church and were being silly with them.

I just want to say...

IT'S MY 6 MONTH MARK! YAY!

So... I totally forgot my planner today. So I'm shooting from the hip on this email.

But I'm not getting transferred. Sister Pritchard and I are both staying in Parma.

We had a lesson with Anne this last Friday. That was interesting. We felt that she was trying to convert US to HER religion... She told us about her mission trip to Honduras and read us the scriptures of salvation from the Bible and cried and cried. And we just sat there as she preached to us. It was interesting. Not that I didn't mind hearing about her religious background- I was just confused as to why she'd invite us over and then not even let us talk. Haha. But that's happened a few times on my mission. She's a very "born again Christian"- she told us that we don't need authority to baptize, that we don't need a prophet, we don't need a church, we don't need additional scripture, shared the typical scripture from Revelation, etc. But we testified, gave her a Book of Mormon, told her to ask God if it's true, and invited her to church again. Aaaand- she was at church again on Sunday. And she was taking a LOT of notes. We have another appointment with heron Friday.

We did service this week. And it was amazing. (Service is my favorite part of missionary work!)
We went up to the local Girls Camp and dug up weeds on Tuesday night for a 2 ward service project. It was great to see so many people there- and we got 2 fields cleaned up in an hour and a half. Boom! Quick work!
And on Saturday we went and helped Old Brother Reeder with his yard. Sister Reeder has MS, and so Brother Reeder has been sacrificing all of his time taking care of her and building a ramp from their front door so that she can get outside. Because of that, his yard has turned into weeds and dirt. Sister Pritchard (being from AZ) had never run a lawn mower before... so that job was delegated to myself. Like I said, the whole yard is dirt and weeds, so when I started the lawn mower the dirt turned into a dust cloud around me... and stayed that way until I was done. And rocks were flying out from the mower and hitting me (which hurt really bad). Brother Reeder gave me a dust mask- but that didn't help the amount of dirt that was flying into my nose. Bleh. We then dug out the weeds that I had mowed down and gotten the front of his house ready to plant flowers. We were there for about 2 hours. Sister Pritchard was making fun of me because you could barely even see my skin underneath all of the dirt... haha! I wish I had brought my camera to take a picture!
It was all made worth it when Brother Reeder brought his wife up to the window of their house so that she could watch us work. She was beaming from ear to ear and gave us a wave. It was awesome.

Remember Rocky? The guy who came to church last week? Well, we went back to invite him again (but he wasn't home) so we talked to his brother! And his brother Richard came to church! YAY!
Funny story about that though... Their crazy uncle was there... And he started telling us about how he's seen things that we wouldn't believe! He's even seen the Garden of Eden in a vision! It's in Southern Ukraine! And that we didn't have to believe him... That nobody did... But, if we wanted to come over later that week, he would tell us about all of the things he knows about the world. Meanwhile, Richard and his friend were CRACKING UP in the background... haha. Oh, the life of a missionary.

Man... I can't think of much else that happened this week... This is what happens when you don't plan ahead! Pictures to come!

Sister Gubler

 We went and got Parma hats... Yup. Our life is exciting.

 Hermana Turner, my first and best and closest friend here in the mission, has completed her 18 months and is returning home tomorrow. SAD DAY! It finally hit me that our missions really do come to an end... 

We met these guys yesterday. They bring every missionary that enters their home a "garment grooming device"... haha! (They've only ever had Elders over. We were the FIRST SISTERS to get one! I consider that an honor.) But they're not from ID, they were visiting from AZ. :)