104 degrees and 100% Humidity. OH-YEAH. 😎

One, two, skip to my Lou! Hello hello! First, I cannot even believe it's halfway through August. Where does the time go?! And Sister Livingston brought it to my attention this morning that I only have 9 transfers left. I'm down to single transfers?! CRAZZYY. I remember counting down transfers till Rach got home from her mission. So weird that I'm out here now! I LOVE IT!!!

Monday was great! We switched our p day to Wednesday for the temple. So we had a lesson with Michelle, we helped her clean her home. We also did a lot of finding. We talked with lots of people! Met a way cool guy named Cornelio from Romania. He was kind. He had talked with missionaries before on several occasions in Romania and here. We gave him a Book of Mormon, Resto pamphlet, and plan of salvation pamphlet. He wants to read all of them! Although, he doesn't seem  super interested in joining. We are going back to give him a Romanian Book of Mormon,  and we will see what's up :) we also went to the mission office to pick up supplies. We helped the hermanas with a car situation. And had dinner with the Christensens! Love them!! I just love this Ward so much. Transfers are coming up too quick. I am 99% sure I'm leaving too. :'( hate it. Ha. Okay ha! FUNNY STORY: We were going to check on one of our potential investigators, his name is Maurice. He is a super big guy, in the military, works for the president basically. Anyway, we knocked a few times and we were just standing there at his doorway talking to one another. A few moments pass by. Then WABAM! He like opens the door and wasn't expecting us to be there, he was getting ready to go somewhere and he opens the door and finds us there and I have never seen a big guy like him look so frightened! HAHAH IT WAS SO FUNNY. He got pretty startled. So did I!! It scared us all! Ha he was like, "Man y'all almost got kicked!" He told us he hasn't been scared in over ten years, and two Mormon girls finally got him. HAHAHA. It was funny. Oh! We also had lunch with brother Vance at Denny's, haha that man is hilarious. He is so nice to take us out to lunch. He made us brownies too, how nice right? I love the elderly. I miss my residents at Beehive homes. :')

Tuesday oh my lands! Was miraculous. I feel like every day is miraculous in its own way :) we had zone training which was super awesome. I always get so pumped up afterwards to go preach the gospel! We have this goal as a mission to get 300 baptisms this year. We have 161 baptisms so far, but they set this new goal starting next Monday to find 300 new investigators and invite them to be baptized in the first lesson, all in one week. So I'm super pumped! It'll be awesome. Sis liv and I are gonna go find and invite like crazy! HOO-RAH! The rest of the day we went finding and checked on a lot of people. We had dinner with the sweet Maney family. We then were invited to help out with the relief society activity that night, which was about family history. It was so good!! They talked about different ways we can get into family history. They did a little skit in the beginning and we were in it. Anyway, have you guys ever heard of relative finder? Well it's super cool, it will show you what famous people you are related to! Ma, go check it out and let me know who we are related to! Okay but get THIS. Our investigator Kayla was able to come to the activity (p.s. Also we found out that she isn't moving out of our area, wahoo!! AND..... MARGO showed up!! It was super awesome! We weren't expecting it because we hadn't heard back from her, but she came and it was so great. MIRACLESS!! :) p.s. Funniest story. Sis Wilson, the one we had dinner with the other night, told us such a cute story. Her 7 year old son wanted to come say hi to us at church last Sunday, and he was going to but then apparently he was like, "hmm... No mom. They're too old for me." HAHAHA so cute and funny right?! I was laughing so hard. Oh snap, try the CTR 8 class bud ;) hahah.

Wednesday we went to the TEMPLLEEE!! It was the best thing ever. So uplifting and spiritual. So peaceful. So much HAPPINESS. :) We went with the Hermanas and my favorite, Sister Liechty!! I love her so much! She seriously feels like a mom and a BFF combined. She takes such good care of us. I love her. Gonna miss her so much when I leave! Ma, I want you to meet her! You both would be such great friends :) After the temple, Sis Liechty took us all to cafe rio which was super good. Then we came home and went grocery shopping really quick then emailed. It was a super fast p day! 

That evening was way fun, we went over to Bonas! She taught us how to make spring rolls. Look at me ma, learning how to make Cambodian food! Say WHAA?! Haha they were SO GOOD! And healthy! Mm MMM. She stuffed us too, we had just eaten cafe rio and we were like oh yeah we're getting full, and she was like NOPE! She kept them coming. Haha.  It was an amazing day!!

Thursday was SO. FUN. AND MIRACULOUS!!!! We went on exchanges with our STLs, sister Bray and sister Walton. Sis Walton came out with sister frei and were companions for awhile! Sis bray is from England!!! I love her accent oh my lands. I want to go there. Anyway, I was with her for exchanges. We did SO many things and I learned so much from her!! We talked with the most people I have talked with in one day! Each time we met someone we invited them to be baptized and gave them a Book of Mormon. She was on FIRE! She taught me so much. I just want to be so much better in so many ways! I love what we can learn from other missionaries. Anyways, we sang nearer my god to thee to a woman we just met and she loved it. We picked up garbage in someone's yard, we had lunch at El Paso which was super good! I sweat 500 gallons of sweat, I swear. It was the most I've ever sweat in my mission. But it was AMAZING!! we saw so many miracles. We had a lesson with our less active member Zac. Two members came and it was such a solid lesson. Zac hasn't prayed and refused to pray for a long time. But guess what. HE PRAYED!! Let alone in front of us!!! And it was so amazing. He was crying. The members were crying. I was choked up. I felt the spirit so strong. WOW. I LOVE THE GOSPEL!!!!

Okay but Scary story: we went to check on a man named William right before we were about to go home for the night. We pull up, they have zero light outside. It's completely dark. As we are walking up sister bray was like, "oh yes, they have really scary dogs so we have to be careful." We get to the door, their screen door was the only thing that was shut and it had rips in it. Their other door was wide open. So we knock. All of a sudden. The most terrifying barking noise I've ever heard in my life comes charging at the door! We are like holding the screen door shut, all the while this 300 lb pit bull is trying to eat us alive through the screen!! It was TERRIFYING!! This lady then ran to the door, yelling at us to run, like asap. So I start booking it and sister bray was like oh is William home?! Haha anyway, this man came and got the dog and we were able to talk with the woman. So all was well :) but it was pretty terrifying in the moment. Then I got saran wrapped to sis liv that night. OH SISTERSSS. I'll send pics. :) it was such an awesome exchange!! Loved it!!

Friday we planned and dropped off a Romanian Book of Mormon to our friend Cornelio. We invited him to be baptized and he said he wanted to read the book first. We also got to see Rita finally!! She is doing well, and we are going back to see her today to show her how to do family history! She said she has names to put in so they can have their work done in the temple! I was like WHAAA?! So so awesome. Also her dog almost attacked us. They always do haha. What is up with ferocious dogs wanting to eat us?! Idk! Then we had an awesome lesson with Melanie, Ayokos sister. We showed a video about the Book of Mormon and she said she was reading it! MIRACLES! THENNN we had a lesson with Kayla! And her good friend Jacky, who's a member, was there. We talked a lot about baptism and Jacky bore her testimony to Kayla. Well... Guess what.... Kayla is back on date for August 29th!! She is super excited!! She has come SO far. She told us she knows 100% this church is true. MAN I LOVE MISSIONS!!

Saturday we helped a lady move into the apartment above us. I was dripping sweat all day too! It was like 104 with 100% humidity. SO HOT!! We also went to jackies and watered her flowers! She has this cute little garden and she calls it the missionary garden. :) becausewe all come and take care of it with her. She fed us brownies and snacks. Then we got to see her basement. It was pretty scary, we ran down to take some laundry down there and her basement is straight scary movie status. Half the lights were off and it just looked like ascary movie could be filmed down there! And I hate it when you're the last one going up the stairs and you have to turn off the lights and run super fast... that's what happened to me. Haha. We had a lesson with Barb and Darlene and we had to drop them. They aren't interested in changing religions but they love when we come over. Sad day but all is well. Love them! 

We saw gramma, and she is still a crack up. She gave us some African clothes! When we go over, it makes her super happy. She gets so energetic and happy it's hilarious. Here was one of our conversations:"Gramma why are you laughing? "(She Giggles) Because I luhv you!"*a little while later*"Why are you yelling at me?""Because I luhv you!"HAHA. ALL IN THE NAME OF LOVE. :) we saw Kayla and had a tithing lesson with her! She is so solid. We also helped clean her kitchen. We had a quick lesson with Ben and also saw Agartha that night. We  had dinner with the Xidis fam and they were having a pot luck with other members in the Ward! Sis Xidis is a crack up. She reminds me of aunt Angie and Trisha combined. Haha it is so funny!! Feels like home :) also we got to go to a baptism! Sam Obbin got baptized by his younger brother, Josh, who just got baptized a few months ago. It was so sweet.! Also Kayla was able to come!! And she keeps talking about her baptism with everyone, she is the cutest and I just love her dearly. I love being a missionary so much. My testimony of the gospel and of my savior grows everyday. I love it here and am so grateful to be here! I love this work. It is the greatest thing I have ever had the privilege of doing.


Sunday we went to church, and had dinner with the Baileys!! Love them! Cutest family. Reminds me of home! :) they fed us Peruvian food!! See pics :) we also saw grandma again. We did some finding and met a drunk guy who said we could come back tomorrow! Haha and then unintentionally contacted a Referral named Patrick. He told me my handshake was too firm and tried to teach me to have a softer handshake. Don't worry dad, I wasn't takin it ;) we had an AMAZING LESSON with Melanie!! She's French, and Ayokos sister. We watched a restoration video by L. Tom Perry and she said that the video just makes sense!! WHAT?! It was a miracle. And she said she would think and pray about baptism!! She wants to come to church when she is off of work. This was a complete miracle, we have been working with her for a long time and she is really progressing now. It's amazing. Then we had a lesson with Kayla about the baptismal interview questions. She is another miracle! She has come SO FAR. Her testimony is amazing. She knows the gospel is true and the Savior lives. She is so excited to be baptized. She has been through awful things, and I am so excited to watch her take this step in her life. I love her like she's another one of my sisters! She is the best. I JUST LOVE THESE PEOPLE SOO MUCH! It's going to break my heart to leave them. I'm so grateful for the gospel. 

Yesterday during studies, I was reading through the restoration and Joseph Smith's first vision. I had the thought, "do I really know if the first vision is true?" As I was reading the first vision, the most peaceful and tranquil feeling came over my heart and body. I know those feelings don't just come out of nowhere. They are brought by the Holy Ghost. I know for a fact Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know he was called to be a prophet and that the gospel was restored through him. I admire his faithful dedication to serving the Lord and doing what the Lord commanded Him. Never once did he deny the vision he had. Never once did he waiver in his faith. I love where he says, "I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it." What an amazing man he was. I love the words written in the hymn Praise to the Man, especially where it says, "Millions shall know brother Joseph again." I KNOW this to be true. I know that as we go out to declare the message of the restoration to our friends, family, or complete strangers, we will have angels on our right and our left to help us. God will guide us and give us the words we should say. Let the whole world know about the Restoration of the Gospel and of the Savior. He lives!! I know that He lives.

XOXOXOX

SEESTER HYMAS :)


P.s. Fun fact: I've jammed to MO-TABs "I Believe in Christ" more times than I can count within the last few days. Okay maybe just a few times but seriously that song brings the spirit so quick and hits me like a ton of bricks! I. LOVE. THAT. SONG!!! If you're ever having a bad day, just blast it in your car. You'll either be smiling ear to ear or be bawling like a baby in no time. Both happen to me ALLS the times. You should go listen to it now. DO IT. :)