Happy (HOLLA)days

What the heck...where did this week go?! I probably say that every week...but seriously, this month is flying by and I never want it to end! I have had SUCH a wonderful Christmas season so far for so many different reasons. Let me share some of them with you.

1. The members. I love this ward! They are so loving toward the missionaries especially recently with Christmas coming up. They realize how difficult it is to be away from our friends and family this time of year and they make sure they do all they can to help us have fun. In sacrament meeting yesterday, we were brought up in THREE different talks! One talked about how grateful they were for our "25 days of Christmas" text messages that we send out every day, one talked about having us over to cut down a Christmas tree in the forest at night with their family and how it almost crushed me as it came down, and one talked about how we are like the Who's in the Grinch with our joy and Christmas spirit. Say whaaaat!

2. My companion. Both of us have one Christmas to spend on our missions and we have the chance to spend it with each other! Her and I have grown so close and I love her so much. I'm so glad I've been able to get to know her and have her get to know me! She's a special companion since she's the one I'm spending the holidays with and I couldn't ask for anyone better. I'm positive we are going to remain best friends after the mish! What's even better is that we are going home on the same day next year so we'll be able to meet up again and go through the temple the day before we leave with the mission president and we will fly home together AND meet each other's families at the airport that we've both heard so much about :)

3. Service. I have NEVER found so much joy through service before...I used to see service as a burden or as some sort of duty that we need to do. I used to dislike sacrificing time out of my perfectly fine day to do a job of some sort for somebody else. As I've been focusing on service this month, I have grown an incredible amount of love for it! There is pure joy in putting other people's happiness above your own. There's no good way to describe it!

4. The savior. I hope you've all taken the time to watch the #ASaviorIsBorn video released by the church! We have been showing that in every lesson and with every door approach so I have seen it at least 100 times and I could watch it 100 times more if I had to. It has an amazingly powerful message that brings in the spirit every single time. I have especially loved focusing on Christ's birth and the blessings I have personally received because He was born. He was born so that we can be born again and what greater gift is there than that? He lived a perfect life and showed us the example to follow in order to return to live with our Father in heaven again. I have a very strong testimony thanks to my new outlook of the true meaning of Christmas of the birth of our savior! This never would have came to be if it wasn't for me serving Him this Christmas despite how challenging it may be. I will NEVER regret this.. 

We had zone conference this week! I absolutely love zone conference. Guess where it was being held this time? The TOPSHAM chapel! I was able to go back to my first area and be in the first church building of my mission....it's where it all started! It was so strange, it was like a huge clash of my mission all into one. I was in Topsham, with sister cox, sister daughety was also there, and my two roommates at the MTC that I love were there. All four sections of my mission in one day hahaha but it was SO good to see all of them again! 

The topic at zone conference was Christmas and the birth of Christ (of course) and the atonement. Zone conferences are literally spiritual feasts that we are able to sit and inhale for seven hours straight...there is nothing better than that! Being reminded of the redeeming power as well as the enabling power of the atonement was my favorite part. The spirit was so strong and I was better able to understand how I can apply those principles into my life. President Stoker also talked about grace and strengthening our weaknesses. He said, "The Lord makes up for our weakness when are are teaching and talking to people. This comes with the power of our calling. Not our ability to speak/teach well...He will look past that and use us as an instrument." Missionaries are the most self conscious people you'll ever meet...We might seem all tough and confident but we are all scared to death and unsure of ourselves. Thankfully, the Lord understands that and He makes up for the rest. He called us here to do His work and if we fall short in some way, He will work with us and make up for what we missed. (THANK GOODNESS). 

I've been opening up the 12 Days of Christmas gifts throughout the week and I have LOVED it! They make my entire day and it's something I will remember for the rest of my life. Thank you so much nena and papa for spending time and effort to do this for me...I couldn't be more happy with it :)

*drum roll*

I GET TO SKYPE MY FAMILY THIS WEEK!!!!! This will be my first time speaking to them face to face in 6 whole months :))) I can't wait! Best Christmas present I could ever receive! It'll be at 5:00 pm your time for whoever wants to be a part of it.

I love you all so very much and I hope you have the merriest of Christmases. #ASaviorIsBorn #merrychristmas

Tracting in the SNOW

We love our elf Ella!!

Bethel's Live Nativity!

Helped a lady in the ward put lights on her Christmas tree :) :)

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O Little Town of Bethel-hem

Helloooooo everyone! I hope you're all sledding and having snowball fights and feeling the Christmas spirit with all that snow on the ground!!! Must be nice..we haven't had a single inch of snow yet. And according to the weatherman, we won't be getting any before Christmas either. *cries for 40 days and 40 nights* remember how people have been warning me for months about the winters here in Maine? Soon enough I'm going to have to return my winter boots or something if it doesn't start going below 40 degrees! Sigh.

Anyway, this week has been GREAT! We've had so many good things happen and the spirit of Christmas is truly taking over our lives and I feel like I haven't stopped smiling. Everyone here is so happy and willing to give and serve and I've received more packages than I know what to do with and we got TWO NEW (possibly 4) INVESTIGATORS YESTERDAY and sister Lilly surprised us with homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast this morning and I'm just overall happy :)

Hahaha so on Friday night we had the ward Christmas party which was obviously SO MUCH FUN. The missionaries in the ward (us and the elders) sang a song that sister cox and I put together about missionary work in New England. We sang it to the tune of "rocking around the Christmas tree" (idea credit to Julie)❤️ Here are our lyrics!!

Walking around
your neighborhood,
Oh look! It's another dooryard.
Making sure
we choose the right door,
And dodge all your barking dogs
Will they let us in to teach a lesson?
Or rejection?
Footsteps sounding closer, and oh, look, he must be 104!

Hello sir, were the missionaries,
Oh, wait, he cannot hear,
Can you hear us now!?! (yells)
We teach about Christ, would that interest you at all?

He lets in, it smells like 40 cats! We're used to that!
Now he tells the story of his life
it's an hour later
"Sorry sir, but we have to go
We've gotta hit that member meal
It's been lots of fun
Do you know a time
We can come back to teach you more?"
That for you's a story of our life...every day
Walking through your neighborhoods
Declaring the gospel to all of New Englaaaand...

The ward absolutely loved it and they thought we were just hilarious:) they're all so proud of the way they live that they weren't even close to offended. It's nearly impossible to offend a Mainer by the way they live!! I love them. Ahh.

Oh, here's a story about how we almost died...no big deal. The other night we were driving around trying to find a member's house which is nearly impossible here in new england. The road system here is IMPOSSIBLE and so confusing and the GPS is absolutely zero help. It knows probably less than we do most of the time! It takes us to roads that are actually driveways or ATV trails or roads that don't even exist. I don't even know how to explain it...you just have to be here to witness it yourself haha driving is just ridiculous!

Anyway, so the other night our awesome GPS decided to take us to an ATV trail in the dark...in the rain...and in the thick fog. Thanks :') we eventually found out that we weren't on an actual road and tried to turn around but since it was SO muddy, we started sliding everywhere and we thought we were going to get stuck. Even if we did get stuck, we wouldn't have been able to call anyone because there is never any reception anywhere here in New England. Because Heavenly Father loves us and protects us, he took control of sister Cox's hands. She didn't even know what was going on, but all of a sudden her arms where turning the wheel in the exact way it needed too in order to remain from getting stuck. She also said that the whole time, her dads words rang through her head to "turn into the slide" which also kept us from getting stuck. We made it out alive so ALL IS WELL :) it was just very cool to see the blessings of protection.

We received the teaching record of two people this week from Manchester New Hampshire...they just moved into our area so we went over to their house last night to introduce ourselves and HOLY COW they are golden! The lady and her two kids are from the UK so they have the cuuuutest British accent. The fiancée is super nice but he doesn't have an accent, dang. I could listen to her and her kids talk all day! They absolutely love the church and everything we teach, they've been to the JSM, and they're just such great people. We set up an appointment to share a lesson on Tuesday so I'll have to let you know how it goes! They are actually quite a miracle to sister cox and I because recently we've decided to start praying specifically for a family to teach. We've been doing that for the past two weeks and TA-DA! We receive the teaching records of a family. #blessings

CHRISTMAS IS NEXT WEEK WHATWHATWHAT! I get to skype my stinking family and I couldn't be more excited :) I've been receiving some awesome packages in the mail and I couldn't be more thankful. I only get to spend Christmas on my mission once so we are trying to make the most of it!

I gave my 20 minute talk yesterday and it went great! 3 different people asked for a copy of it. Thank you nena for helping me out with that!!!! Couldn't have done it without you :)

I received the 12 days of Christmas from nena and papa and that made my whole week too. I was actually able to open the first day this morning and AHH it was so fun :) I LOVED all the homemade
ornaments!!!!! Thank you so much to those of you that made one for me. They are so cute and they're already hanging on the tree. Thank you nena and papa! I can't wait to see what else I have in store. We also got our own little elf named Ella! She's the little sister of my family's elf named Eddie. She's the cutest thing and she's so excited to join us in our lessons and in our studying and our planning and our Christmas celebrations. I never want this season to end!

I don't have a lot of time today since we are going to cut our P-Day short so that we can volunteer at the local food pantry...but I LOVE YOU ALL!!! If you feel the desperate need to send a letter or something....

750 North Road
Bethel, Maine 04217

Merry Christmas!

Share the #ASaviorIsBorn video!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Making needhams (needums) with a lady in the ward. They're SO GOOD. It's a Maine Christmas treat!

We are #spoiled

I want a picture like this with all my companions...this one symbolizes the weather and the scenery we've been having every day together. Bare trees, cloudy skies, and how dark it gets so early in the day. 5 minutes after this was taken, it was dark out. It gets dark here at 4:00!!!! Crazy.

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Sunny with a chance of CHRISTMAS

This week was SO GOOD! So many uplifting and happy things happened which is what Sister Cox and I needed. The week started out difficult so we decided to reach out to our bishop who lives up the street for a blessing. He was more than happy to give us one and ever since then, I've felt so much happier.

Thursday in particular was our miracle day. First, we found out that Sister McLaren got a TEMPLE DATE! She's been recovering from smoking and she's been coming to church regularly now and her progress is just phenomenal. Now she's going to the temple for her first time tomorrow and that brings me SO MUCH JOY. 

In the same day, we went to visit an older woman who has a disease and is basically just waiting for her death at any moment. It's so so sad. Sister cox and I went to see her and she was in her bed looking so frail and sad...it was horrible. She asked us if we would sing her a song (remember how I don't sing?) and we said we would. We ended up singing 'I Stand all Amazed' and I've never had an experience like that before. The spirit was so strong and the lady was in bed with her eyes closed and a small smile on her face. It brought tears to my eyes as the feeling of joy and gratitude washed over me. I am so blessed to be a missionary and to have this opportunity to do these things for these people. These experiences are what being a missionary is all about! 

Another cool thing happened with planning for a certain lesson. I had a prompting that we should share a specific general conference talk with them and that night as we were reading it with them, the husband said "I feel like I really needed to hear all of this. I feel like this was written just for me." It was so neat to have been able to be that tool in the Lord's hand to share that talk with Brother Bernier at the time he needed it most.

An update on the 25 days of Christmas...its been going wonderfully! Since this is such a boony area, everyone lives pretty far away from each other and we don't have enough miles to bring them something individually every day so we just text them and encourage them to do different things. We've shared conference talks, we invited them to call up a relative that they haven't talked to in a while to wish them a merry christmas, we've challenged them to bake something to take to a friend or neighbor, etc. It's been so uplifting to hear their miracles and experiences as they've done these things and AHH I just love being a missionary :)

Something really different about this week was how often we were tracting and knocking on SO MANY DOORS offering them the new Christmas video. We dedicated hours out of our days just to go and offer it to people which was actually pretty successful! The video was an awesome tool to use as a door approach and it made us less threatening and the video brought a nice innocent spirit. We even got a couple return appointments out of it which is a stinkin miracle. There was even a man who tried paying us which was a first....we didn't take the money of course but it was cool to be offered it nonetheless :,)

I've been asked to give a TWENTY-MINUTE talk in sacrament meeting next week. And I'm teaching gospel principles that day....I didn't sign up for this. (Yes I did...oops). I have no idea what to speak about for twenty minutes. #help

Did you all watch the Christmas Devotional?! It was SO GOOD and I wish it could have gone on forever. I loved how Elder David A. Bednar brought up the comparison of Christ referring Himself as The Light and how the Christmas holiday has so many symbols of light. Christmas lights on our trees, on our homes, candles, etc. Samuel the Lamanite also prophesied the sign of Christ's birth with light. I just loved it all!

A scripture that I found this past week during my personal study time is something I'd like to share with all of you as well. It's 1 Peter 4: 12-13 which says:

Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Look at your trials as opportunities. We are given these hard times to give us a chance to grow closer to our Heavenly Father. He isn't punishing us or shoving trials down our throats because He's bored...He knows what we can handle and even when it seems like we can't handle it, that's when He begs you to draw nearer to Him so He can take on the rest.

"No pain that we suffer, or trial that we experience is wasted." -Orson F Whitney

Like the scripture said, once His glory is revealed, we will find that exceeding joy. Until then, work hard and turn towards the Lord. All our strength and answers can be found through Him :) I should probably take my own advice because there are times where the trials I'm facing seem a lot more apparent than the blessings I'm being given. There are times where I feel abandoned or lonely and I feel like God is stepping back to watch me handle things myself which sometimes may be the case, but it isn't always. There are times where I feel like my testimony isn't where it needs to be for someone serving a mission like I am. 

I need to ALWAYS remind myself that I am never alone...I am not waking up before the sun, knocking on doors, giving 20 minute talks, missing my friends and family, or anything like that alone. I would not be able to do this by myself! There is no way I have the strength and capacity to handle this without any extra help. I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father and for my Savior and their love for me and for their willingness to stand right next to me during this time. I am so blessed.

Also, today we've been invited to go chop down a Christmas tree with the bishop and his family :) YAY. I've never chopped down a tree before so it should be fun! I looove bishop Lilly and his wife SO MUCH. They had us over for the devotional last night and Sister Lilly comes with us to lessons all the time. They're so coooool. 

LOVE YOU ALL HAVE A GOOD WEEK

Oh...by the way....this week the temp has been in the 50's. Somebody explain that kthanksbye

AND another thing...sister cox and I and the elders that are also serving in this ward have to do a skit at the ward Christmas party this Friday. PLEASE SEND IDEAS WE ARE PANICKING.

We got matching pajamas. Why are we so adorable.

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Ho-Ho-HOLY 1 MORE YEAR

Today is my "one more year" mark!!! In one year from today I'm flying home and returning to the real world. That makes me so sick to think about...I want to stay out here forever but yet I can't wait to start my life back up. Being a missionary is so rewarding and so uplifting and I've learned so much about myself and about this gospel. I really wouldn't trade this sacred time for the world...I can't wait to see all the experiences this next year will bring!

We are in week 3 here in Bethel, Maine and I really like it here! We haven't had any snow yet (thank goodness) but the weather has been freezing so it might as well be snowing...all the lakes are getting frozen over which is never a good sign..help. This past week has been very long, but very good. As you all know, we had thanksgiving! Two families were kind enough to feed us and invite us to their family parties which was very nice :) I really really missed my family traditions and it was a strange experience having to spend a major holiday away from home...I'm not sure if I liked it very much but everyone says the first one is the worst. We'll see! I'm just grateful the members here are so willing to make sure we are always happy☺️ 

It might sound very strange, but this year I am thankful for my trials. I am grateful for the experiences I've had before my mission and all growing up that has brought me here today. I am grateful for the way these trials have strengthened me and have given me a way to relate to people here. I am thankful for the testimony that these difficult trials have formed and that I am able to share it every single day with those that need it. I know it's not normal to be giving thanks for all the hard and challenging times in my life, but being out here on a mission has showed me the things I've learned and the far way I've come from them. I wouldn't trade my trials for anything.

Anyway, enough about gratitude...ITS CHRISTMAS TIME!!! You have no idea how excited I am. We put our tree up, we play Christmas music all the time, we bought stockings and Santa hats, and we have lights stringing all over our apartment. Sister Cox and I wear our hats as we plan and we wore them to one of our appointments we have also been planning a "25 Days of Christmas" for our investigators and less-active members in the ward that we've been working with. We want to do something for them every day this December so if anyone has good ideas, send them my way! That would be so helpful :)

IMPORTANT: the new Christmas video has officially been released by the church. It's the #ASaviorIsBorn and as missionaries, we've been trained and pushed and encouraged to share this video and to get people on the christmas.mormon.org website as much as possible! It's our 'Christmas initiative' and it's SUCH a wonderful message. Please go watch it and share it on your social media! The church is stressing this video so much because they know how much good it can do in this crazy world. FLOOD THE INTERNET WITH LIGHT. Thanks :) 

I have an ipad which means I can share photos and videos on the iCloud sharing thing. If you want to be a part of that so you can see what I'm up to throughout the week, send me your number or just let me know and I'll add you!

Church was crazy yesterday...it was like the Sister Cox and Watson show. Sister Cox spoke in sacrament, we both taught gospel principles, and then we taught third hour with all the relief society, priesthood, young women's, and young men's. Soooo basically the whole ward! We taught about member-missionary work and showed them the new Christmas video. Sometimes I wonder why I signed up for a mission when I'm terrified of speaking in front of people. Hmm. But it all worked out! The ward is really on board with helping us out which is awweessooommmeeeee.

Oh...here's some horrible news....our investigator Vivian who has been progressing with flying colors decided to come up to us at church yesterday and tell us that she doesn't want to be baptized. Are you serious. She's been more active in this church lately than 2/3 of the actual members are! She owns and reads all the materials, we teach her twice a week, she comes to ALL the ward activities, and now she comes out to say that she doesn't want to be baptized. We don't understand it. She's been being taught for 3 months now so I've only taught her about 5 times and I really thought she had that desire. It's literally heartbreaking when something like this happens...you love the people SO much that it kills you inside when you have to see them not realize the bigger picture. Sooooo frustrating :( 

I'm not sure what else to talk about...but I'm just super excited to serve at this time of year and focus on our Savior Jesus Christ. I feel so blessed to be representing Him at such a vulnerable time for the people who are unaware of everything He suffered for us. This time of year is a perfect time to serve and to love and to sacrifice your own time for the sake of others. I have a new love for service and I find pure joy as I put other's happiness above my own.

Merry Christmas!

Love, Sister Watson

Weekly planning with our Dr. Pepper's and Santa hats :)

Our tree!! :) :)

Welcome to Maine!

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(maine)iac is BACK!

Sister Watson has been transferred back to Maine!!  I'm serving in the Oxford ward but I'm living in Bethel, Maine which is an hour away from the ward building. Yeah, an HOUR away! This is nothing like Utah. You could drive one hour in Utah and pass 100 church buildings -.- but the area is beautiful (of course) and I forgot how much I miss Maine. I'm also a little over an hour away from my first area in Bath! Home sweet home! My new companion is Sister Cox and she's from Saratoga Springs, Utah. She's been out for one transfer more than me so we are both still figuring things out together haha :)

Also...I got to see SISTER CROOK at transfer meeting! We probably made a fool of ourselves as we sprinted towards each other and cried as we hugged for like 5 minutes. I have missed her more than words can describe but she's been transferred to New Hampshire as a sister training leader! As scary  as that calling is, I'm sure she will do excellent at it. Guess who else was at transfer meeting? BROTHER SYPHER! He drove all the way to manchester to surprise sister crook and I :))))) it was such a joyous reunion and I was so overwhelmingly happy in that moment. Then I had to say goodbye again which is a whole different story.............

But guess who else was at transfer meeting as well? Sister smith! She's from the Topsham ward from when I served in Bath. Remember brother smith who was my ward mission leader and would give us ice cream all the time? Yeah, it's his wife. It was so good to see her :) what makes it even better was that she was my ride home! I got to drive with her and catch up with her and talk about the ward for a while! 

When she heard where I was going, she told me it's a perfect area for me because "this ward needs some pizzazz". Apparently I have pizzazz haha :) She then surprised me by stopping by Brother Smith's work to say hi to him! he was SO excited to see me! Since we couldn't hug, he just shook/held my hand until it was time to leave. He is so excited that I'm only serving about an hour away from him now because "now he can come visit me" :) sister smith has a stake calling that takes her to different wards so I'll be seeing them often! #blessed

I met a big part of the ward on Wednesday since they all had young men's and women's and activity days all at the same time. I feel so welcomed and so loved and I really feel like I'm meant to be here. I met a recent convert named Michael who's probably in his 50's and as I was introducing myself/shaking his hand, he was just staring at me and eventually he blurts out "holy smokes....you look like a movie star!!!!" I definitely was not expecting that but it made my day nonetheless :) 

That same night Sister Cox and I were asked to share a lesson on family history for the young women's! I thought it was going to be terrifying because there are only 3 young women in the ward and it was my first day but it turned out great. It was fun to read the stories in the family history app under my great grandparents and learn more about them. We also talked to them about journaling and the importance of it. I didn't learn that for myself until I came on this mission..writing in my journal is probably the best part of the day and I can't wait to share it with my children and their children etc.

I don't know why, but ever since I've been here I've been so much more outgoing with everyone and it's been so easy for me to talk to people and start lessons which is something I've always struggled with. I feel like I've been myself and it's making this so much more fun. Sister Cox even brought that up to me...she said that I'm very outgoing and I'm a blessing to her because she's very shy and this is her first time being senior companion so it's good that I'm taking lead and helping her out. I hate to say it...but I truly was meant to be transferred out of my beloved south royalton at this time. There's work that needs to be done here and maybe by the time I do all i can here, I can be transferred back to SoRo..who knows?

Our apartment is literally in the middle of the woods in the northern Maine. We live above a garage which is a part of a huge house, but it's being remodeled so we're living above the garage :') Again...I'm in the forest. Im in a northern part of Maine. East coast. Winter is coming. DEATH. The people here are warning us and preparing us for the worst. We are going to get so much snow!!!! Don't be alarmed if you don't hear from me one week. The plan of salvation is a real thing and I'll eventually see you all again...ha...hahaha...haha.

Thanksgiving is this week! (And my moms birthday) you all better spoil her like crazy! She deserves it. Don't worry about me on thanksgiving...there are about 3 different families planning on feeding us...*gains 64 pounds* IM SO EXCITED. Here's my advice for you.... 2 Nephi 9:51 (last 6 words)

We are also putting our Christmas tree up today in our apartment and I'm so excited for that too. Last night we went over to the bishop's house to help his wife wrap Christmas presents. We were her little elves and it was so much fun! They are such a cute family...definitely in the "utah family" category. They have three sons and they're all the cutest little things :) they're the ones having us over on Christmas to eat and to skype our families. 

Okay I love you all and I hope you stuff yourselves to death this week. Also, HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY MOMMA. 

Love, Sister Watson

P.s I wish you all understood how many Sherlock Holmes jokes I've heard since I've left home...It's ridiculous

Tracting....

My view as I'm driving to church!

Out the window of our apartment :)

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Bye South Royalton :(

Well. I haven't stopped crying since Saturday night....sister daughter and I are both being transferred out of South Royalton. My heart is broken. Im going to remain junior companion in my new area and I'm absolutely devastated and completely in shock. I have fallen in love with this place and every single person here...now I'm having to leave them all RIGHT before the holidays. The Lord better have something good in the plans for me because I'm not very happy right now.

Apparently they're having to move in two sisters with amazing singing voices to serve at the Joseph smith memorial for Christmas. Maybe I'll be transferred back here once Christmas is over....who knows. But even over the phone, President Stoker apologized directly to me because he "knew I loved this place and I was very happy here". Ugh. Goodbyes are the absolute worst..it was like leaving home all over again. I didn't even realize how attached I got to some people until it was the time to tell them I'm leaving and we are both in tears. This place is truly special..

Besides all that, the past week has been completely insane. We had the social media splits so if you put #socialmediasplits or #lds into facebook you might be able to see me in action! It was super stressful to set up specific appointments and align our schedules up with member's schedules but we did it.

I had my second lobster experience the other night which was....yeah. I'm still not a fan. She also gave us big artichokes where we had to peel off the leaves and slide them against our teeth to get the layer of skin off. Ummm...

Our investigator Jay is really good at reading people and basically seeing into their soul. Every time we visit him (oh my gosh I'm going to miss him too) he tells me more about myself and the walls I have and all that strange stuff. He predicted a lot of different things about me and he was very right about all of it. Creepy. He also knows I struggle with homesickness so he said he's going to give me a small box that he has where I can write out my thoughts or prayers or whatever I want to put in there and lock it up until the end of my mission. I thought it was very nice of him!

A guy that came home from his mission about a month ago is working at the JSM and I guess he overheard one of the senior missionary couples talking about my homesickness (why does everyone know/talk about this?!) at the memorial so he came up to me the other day and gave me advice. He told me to HAVE FUN and to make everyone laugh and to make every experience or appointment fun somehow. See what I'm having to leave?!

Believe me, I didn't let Heavenly Father get away too easy with all of this though. I had a lengthy lecture with him after I got the call about the transfer letting Him know I was not happy with Him. He kindly put into my head the talk "Grateful in Any Circumstance" by President Uchtdorf that we've been sharing with members for the past week. It's about being thankful in the midst of trial. Point taken Heavenly Father.....woops.

Sorry this email isn't long...I don't know what else to say. I hope everyone had a great week, I'll let you know where I'm at in the world next Monday.

Our last weekly planning...

Brother Sypher knows I don't like vegetables so he surprised me with putting all fruits into my salad instead I'm going to miss him so much it's ridiculous :'(

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Novem...brrr???

**Last weeks email wasn't posted until today. Sorry :) Here's last week's email**

Sometimes I'm surprised by how blessed i really am. I'm serving in the literal promised land and I have more support than I know what to do with at home and even out here in this ward. Ever since my testimony last Sunday, people from the ward make the extra effort to ask how I'm doing and they give me a hug and they do whatever they can to make me feel better. This past week has been one of the best so far when I thought it was going to be the worst...such a miracle! We've had so much success with investigators and lessons and service opportunities.

I also received 3 packages and a letter in the mail every day from my family since they left me to go on a cruise..... and let us not forget the fact that it was in the 70's and sunny this week here..it was beautiful!!!!! I probably got a sun tan as I was hanging Christmas lights at the JSM. heck yeah.

On Saturday we had zone conference with half of our mission at the JSM. Elder Nielson from the Seventy and his wife came to speak to us and holy cow...the spiritual upliftment was real. It was basically 7 straight hours of being soaked in the spirit. I learned so much and I received all sorts of revelation and I was just spiritually edified. He taught a lot about the redeeming power of the atonement in comparison to the enabling power of the atonement. We will ALL go through trials and challenges and we will ALL need help from the savior to get through certain ones. Personally, I believe there is no possible way I would be able to serve this mission alone. I have found strength through the enabling power of Jesus Christ. I do all that I possibly can, and He fills in the rest. How lucky are we?!

His wife talked to all the sisters about marriage (ow) and our purpose as sister missionaries and just so many other things that I needed to hear. I wish that zone conference could have lasted forever. Sister Farr and Sister Edwards left for home yesterday... :( I'm going to miss them! In case you didn't know, they were the senior sisters living in the Bath, Maine apartment when sister crook and I came into that area. They served there before us for about 9 months!

While I was serving at the JSM this last Thursday, sister Farr came up to me and showed me an email she received from the relief society president in that ward in Maine. It gave a list of sisters in the ward that are going to the temple at the end of this month and in that list were many sisters that we worked with while there. There were sisters that thought they would never make it to the temple and I just cried as I saw the work and the prayers given in their behalf by us are now going to the temple this month. This is such a huge step for them and I'm overwhelmed with joy at the thought of them being able to experience it!

Last Tuesday we had a lesson with Stuart about tithing (which he was more than happy to pay thank goodness) but after the lesson we started walking back to the park where our car was and as we were passing one of the houses, some guy yelled at us from his porch something about how nice the weather was. So we went up and talked to him (Jessie) and found out he had just moved in two days prior. He's religious as far as going to any church he can that's around wherever he lives...so of course we invited him to our church before he commits to anything else while he's just barely moving in. He's from a town close by so he knew where our church was. "Is it the huge white one with the lights at Christmas time?" Yes jessie...yes it is. So we committed him to come to church and he was more than willing to! We then gave him our number and we walked back to our car. Before we even got there, he was already texting us and asking us about our missions and stuff. Since then, he's been texting us every day! We now know he's 24 and he's been guessing our names which has been a complete fail on his part..I don't know why everyone wants to know our first names so bad. Hopefully we can get the "weather dude on the porch" baptized somewhere in the near future! *fingers crossed*

We stacked wood for an elderly man and his wife that just got home from the hospital due to health problems which was fun! They have NINE border collies and they're just about the cutest things ever. I'm 100% going to own one of those some day.  Haha and one of the elders I used to serve with in Maine found out that I was going to be at the same zone conference with him so he surprised me with a loaf of his famous banana bread that I LOVE. So so so so so happy :D

Oh yeah...we were supposed to have 4 investigators at church yesterday and only 1 showed up which was Stuart. That was actually a very very sad time to stand there in confidence that those people will come only to see that they never do. :( I hate people and their stinkin agency!

Yesterday we went with my ward mission leader and his wife to some people in further cities in our area where we can't usually go because of our miles. But we went to two different less active members houses and BOTH were home, BOTH let us in, and BOTH were willing to have us come back another time. That n e v e r happens in one day! We were very lucky and I can't wait to visit them again.

THIS IS THE LAST WEEK OF THE TRANSFER. WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT. That means I've been in south royalton for almost 6 weeks. Are you serious...that went by so fast! Sister Daughety and I have a feeling that she's going to be the one getting transferred out which is awful. I'll be so sad :'( I'll let y'all know what happens though! I hope I stay here for at least 9 more transfers then I'll be going home. Thanks president stoker you're the best. OH and within the next transfer are thanksgiving and christmas so I'll be able to talk to my family by the time that transfer ends. YESSSSSS. :) I hope everyone had a great week! Love y'all bunches

New calling in life or what?

If my husband doesn't propose to me here under this bridge I'm actually going to be very upset. #jsm

Sneak peak of one of the Joseph smith tour rooms

They had the JSM lights on for the missionaries on Saturday night since our zone conference was held there. Blesseddddddd

The g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g THE GRINCH. (all the missionaries were doing it...peer pressure was real) ((sorry))

S W A G

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Deep Clean Halloween ☠‏

Such...a...long...week. But to start off, I would like to proudly say that I beat ALL the elders at basketball. Yep, all of them. We had district P-Day last monday and one of the activities we did was basketball and I whooped them all at lightning. My dad would be so proud :')

We were able to teach Stewart and his wife/ex wife (Valerie) the plan of salvation this week! Since we are completely out of miles, we couldn't make it to Randolph where he lives so we called him up and offered to give him the lesson over the phone. He doesn't have his license so he relies on Valerie to drive him around but she wasn't supposed to be home that day to drive him anywhere. When we called him and told him about having the lesson over the phone, he said that Valerie's plans fell through so she would be able to drive him to the church building which is just a few minutes away from us. MIRACLE. 

That just shows how devoted he is to learning about the gospel. He easily could have accepted the lesson simply over the phone but he grabbed Valerie and drove the 30 minutes to the church building just to hear our lesson. A few days earlier at church we gave him a triple combination so that he could read the Doctrine & Covenants. When we met with him for our lesson he had all sorts of bookmarks in there and he was so excited to tell us what he's learned. And you should've seen him when he talked about the Articles of Faith! It was like he found some sort of hidden treasure or something..he just couldn't believe it. But he's still on for his baptismal date of November 28th and he's still saying sober. 

Sister daughtey and I were asked to speak at young women's about missionary work which was quite intimidating but it turned out to be a lot of fun :) we started off telling them about what we do and how we decided to serve a mission. I also told them about my first couple of weeks and months and how incredibly difficult they were emotionally, spiritually, physically, and mentally. 

In my set-apart blessing, it talks about the power that prayer has on the difficult days of my mission. "Those days that are difficult for you, and those days that you miss those you love, you will kneel in prayer. The Lord blesses you that you will be able to know and feel the prayers from those you love so very much. In those moments you will arise and go about the work with increased light and understanding that prayers really do make all the difference. You will then be able to teach others about the power of prayer." 

I shared that with them after telling them the experience I had in Maine when I was having SUCH a hard time. I remember just thinking about people at home and how much more difficult a mission is than I had thought. Then a thought came to my mind to read my set-apart blessing and that's the section of the blessing my eyes went to first. I immediately got down on my knees and prayed. I prayed so hard to have the strength and focus to continue this mission the best that I can and I instantly was comforted. I felt so strongly all those prayers that are being said in my behalf at home. 

I remember my mind erasing all those thoughts about home and the people at home I was having and they were replaced with the love of the people here in New England and for the missionary work I have to look forward to. Priesthood blessings are such an incredible gift to us and I'm so thankful for all the blessings I've received because they ALL make such a difference. After I cried through that story, they started asking us questions about funny stories, awkward stories, etc. that we've encountered since being out here which was super fun :)

I've been putting Christmas lights up at the JSM!!!! It's going to look SO GOOD when it's all done. Hopefully I stay here another transfer so I can see the annual light presentation the day after thanksgiving. They have a live nativity and everything...I don't remember if I mentioned that in a past email so I'm sorry if I have. I'm so excited for it!

We were able to go to a relief society activity this past week too which was great. I love the women in this ward! The theme was South Royalton Airlines so we all had our boarding passes (they passed them out at church the Sunday prior) and we sat in the set-up of an airplane. There were supposed to be 3 stewardesses but one decided not to show up....guess who had to take her place? ME *screams* so I had to go around and be a part of the presentation or whatever it was. Maybe I found my true calling in life, who knows!

The whole theme was about visiting teaching and the importance of it...so I hope all y'all have been keeping up with that! Great blessings come from faithful diligence. Just saying'. We serve at the Red Door Church in our area every week which is pretty interesting..they really love us for some reason although they've tried inviting us to anti-mormon programs and stuff. We talked to President Stoker about it but he said as long as they love us and accept our service, it's okay for us to be there because we are positively representing our religion. We help them make dinner and serve it to the people that come to their Community Dinner every Friday night. It's different, but it's a cool experience.

My whole family is on a cruise this week. Ha. Hahaha. Haha. *tries not to think about it*

"DEEP CLEAN HALLOWEEN! DEEP CLEAN HALLOWEEN! DEEP CLEAN HALLOWEEN!" Sister daughtey and sister watson chant as they spend their entire Halloween trapped in their apartment cleaning. We aren't allowed out past 5:00 on Halloween night so they have all the missionaries deep clean their entire apartments all day. hope everyone had fun though! I miss haunted houses and scary movies and trick or treating...#mishprobs 

I hit my four month mark yesterday! It's crazy to think that 4 months ago I was in the MTC being whiplashed by the spirit and now here I am in my second area with my second companion having the time of my life. I'm so lucky and I'm so blessed and I'm so happy and I'm so excited for what the next year will bring! 

Another personal spiritual experience happened yesterday too. I bore my testimony on my knowledge of Heavenly Father knowing each and every one of us personally and individually. The night before, I was having a rough night and the negatives of everything were weighing out more than the positives. I decided to pick up a paperback Book of Mormon that was laying around in our apartment and I tried to do the "flip to a random page/verse and have a life changing experience" kind of thing. I prayed so hard that I'd flip to a page that would make me feel better. 

The verse I turned to was 3 Nephi 12:12 which says, "For ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven.." It doesn't sound very profound, but it hit me so hard in that moment. I needed to BE HAPPY. I needed to be exceedingly glad and I needed to find that great joy that is in missionary work. Then, the next day I'm sitting in fast/testimony meeting and every...single....testimony was focused on missionary work and the joys of it and the blessings from it. All of them. So as I sat there crying in my seat, I was overwhelmed with the feeling of love coming directly from God. He knew I was struggling and He knew what I needed to hear. 

So I got up to the front and faced my fear of crying and speaking at the same time. It was tragic but after sacrament meeting I had all the moms in the ward coming up to me comforting me giving me "mom hugs" because they said I pulled out their motherly instincts as they sat watching me cry up there. So mom, I'm being taken care of...don't worry ;) it was so sweet...I had two senior missionaries that were old women come up to me crying because they were so thankful for my testimony and how they know what I'm going through etc. I felt so much love from every single person that day. I LOVE THIS WARD. 

Anyway, I hope that everyone had a faaaantastic week!

Rainstorms!

I was designated the Photographer for brother sypher at a dinner party for his son. Soooo this is what happened when he gave me his phone to use :)

Our Halloween costumes #deepcleanhalloween #fierce

Went on splits again this week but this time it was with sister Farr. She goes back home to centerville this week! I'm gonna miss her and sister edwards SO MUCH.

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Week Fo' in So-Ro

I cannot believe I'm already in week four here in my beloved outh Royalton..time needs to slow down! This past week has been pretty eye opening for me actually. I saw such a significant change in myself and it's all thanks to our exchange that we had with our sister training leaders. Y'all know (oh my gosh being with sister daughety is making me talk southern helphelphelp I didn't even mean to write that) how I feel about exchanges so you can imagine how I was feeling -.-

I left and went to Northfield for a day with Sister Petersen. I was pretty nervous about this because she's 28, she's been out for about 15 months, and she was just an incredible missionary. The intimidation I had going into this was so real...but I learned so much from her during that exchange. I can't exactly pinpoint what it was specifically, but she made me want to become better. With every single thing she did, she did it by the spirit. She didn't plan lessons beforehand, she would just go in with full confidence that eventually she will figure out what that person needs to hear. And it always worked! It was scary for me because I'm used to having a plan before I teach someone..and now I'm being thrown into people's houses I've never met before, and I had to think of things on the spot.

Thanks to some panicked prayers in my heart, I was able to pull it off and I knew the Holy Ghost was putting words into my mouth and thoughts in my mind right at the times I needed it most. I've always struggled with recognizing the spirit and discerning it between that and my own thoughts. Seeing her faith and her surety of her spiritual promptings, it made me want to refine my own abilities to recognize the spirit. Maybe exchanges aren't so terrible after all!

I was able to do my favorite thing at the Joseph Smith Memorial this past week...RAKING. I don't know why but I seriously love raking. It's a good thing I live in a land of trees and trees and more trees. There were inches of layered leaves ALL over the grounds at the JSM and we were able to help clear them up. It was super fun at first, but the leaves were wet and since it was such a thick layer, it was heavy to constantly be raking them. After a couple hours of doing it, I think I'm going to be sore for the rest of my life. but when we were done, we had a massive pile of leaves and sister daughter and I jumped in them and we couldn't stop laughing! Two senior sisters came down to pick us up in their cool gator thing and they said they could hear us laughing from clear up the hill..woops. Haha!

I also got my first official tour through it last Monday too which was AMAZING. I learned so much about the history of Joseph Smith and I still can't believe I'm serving in his literal birthplace. He only lived here for a couple of years before be moved to New Hampshire and then New York, but it's neat to see the outlined property of his house and the actual front step that he had as well as the actual hearth stone that he had for his fireplace. The spirit was so strong as I listened to stories in detail about his leg surgery, his children with Emma, the first vision, his martyrdom, etc.

There was a point where I had to keep myself from being emotional because the spirit was so strong. Because of Joseph Smith, I'm serving a mission. Because of him, we're able to read the Book of Mormon and come closer to the savior as we read it. Because of him, we have the priesthood and a church to attend each week and we have so many different things just because he prayed and asked a simple question. My testimony of Joseph Smith tripled in size after that tour and I couldn't be more thankful for that.

On exchanges we went and contacted a less active in their ward. Sister Petersen hadn't ever met her so this was the first time for both of us. We finally find this house after some long searching and it was up this huge hill in the trees (which is normal for people here in New England). So we knock on the door and this tiny old woman comes to answer it. We introduce ourselves and she just stares at us. She is silent as we stand there awkwardly waiting for her to respond...still nothing. She leans in close and says "WHAT?" She's completely deaf. We had to lean into her ear and yell everything in order to communicate!! She kindly let us in once she found out what was going on. Across the room was an even tinier old woman on her bed who looked completely frail and ready to roll over in her grave. She yelled to us to come in and sit down so we did. The lady that answered the door was named Virginia and the lady on the bed was named Madilyn.

Madilyn: (to sister peterson) "where are you from?"
Sister Petersen: "Kansas!"
Madilyn: "oh Montpellier! I just love Montpellier"

And that right there is just about how every conversation we had with them was like. It was SO funny. Virginia was nearly deaf but could see fairly well and her mom Madilyn was nearly blind but could hear better than her daughter..she's also 103!! They talked about doing the dishes and how they had to use their hands to tell if they were clean or not...so gross.

Then sister Petersen had this bright idea to sing a hymn to them. Excuse me....Brianne doesn't sing. The only thing getting me to do it was the fact that they most likely couldn't hear me anyway. After we sang I Stand All Amazed, the mom wouldn't stop telling me how amazing I am at singing... ?!?!?!?! I am absolutely sure she was hearing sister Petersen though because she sounded like a professional singer. She told me I was so good and it was just too funny because in reality I sound like a dying elephant :')

GOOD NEWS! We have a baptismal date with Stewart!!!!!!!! He's doing so stinkin great with avoiding smoking and drinking and he loves reading the book of mormon and he got himself a ride to church this Sunday and gosh I'm so excited for him! He's our little miracle he is planning on being baptized on November 28. YAY :)

Then there's our other investigator Jay...we went and helped him move his dryer down some steep stairs at his house because he's been having bad health issues. After that we just talked with him and his wife for a while and he thought it would be hilarious to make me try some sort of hot sauce. Him and sister daughety convinced me it's not that hot and dumb little me believed them. My mouth has never been in more pain in its life. I've officially felt that fire sensation in the saying "my mouth is on fire"! I started sweating and they were laughing so hard at me and I drank about 2 cups of milk and 29282 cups of water. Absolutely nothing was working. EVERYTHING burned and it was a burn that stung like crazy! I don't think I will ever recover from that. Just thought y'all should know..haha maybe one day I'll get revenge on Jay.

Our mission has a new policy where we aren't allowed to take pictures with our iPads during proselyting time because we "aren't supposed to look like tourists." sooooo sorry if there's a lack of pictures every week :( sorry! I'll do my best.

The leaves are nearly all off the trees so fall is almost over..ugh. The weather is getting colder and colder but at least it hasn't snowed since last Sunday! Cross your fingers that the snow holds back until at least the end of November...Okay well I hope everyone has an amazing week!!!! And happy Halloween!!!

This is in my favorite town of Woodstock

Does everyone remember my first lobster experience in Maine? Someone finally sent this to me LOOK AT IT IM SO EMBARRASSING.

I still love my footie pajamas obviously

Went on splits for the first time on my mission with Sister Edwards! She's a senior sister missionary and I love her to death. We got lost in the boonies without service so no GPS or phone was working so we had to stop at some random house to ask where on earth we were...

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❄️☔️☁️⁉️

ITS SNOWING. WHAT. WHY. NO. Yesterday we had our first drastic snowfall . People here told me it doesn't start snowing until at least the end of November or in December. It's worse in different areas but where I live it's just a layer of death. It didn't really snow until yesterday during church but it was duuuumping. One of our investigators asked us to come do some yard work the other day since he's sick. While we were dragging giant branches and sticks through his yard, it starts hailing and raining..actually it was more like sleet. IT WAS SO COLD. They're all saying its a bad sign that winter here is going to last about 8 months and their winters are brutal. Please pray for me.

Oh my gosh the most embarrassing thing happened...sister daughety and I were in for the night so we had our cheetah footie pajamas on and we were just laying in bed putting in information about former investigators into our Area Book Planner app. All of a sudden we hear a knock at our door and we immediately think it's our 80 year old neighbor Pat probably bringing us some more puzzles. We realize what we are wearing as we are standing at the door but we just didn't care because Pat loves us anyway. We open the door and sure enough, it's a college guy that lived above us. 

Ha...hahaha...haha..so we hide behind the door and crane our necks so he can't see us and he asks us for a big pot for his pasta or something. I'm laughing behind sister daughety at this whole situation so I turn around and go into the kitchen to escape the awkward mess and then I'm called back to the door to hold the door open so sister daughtey can go look for the specific pan. Hiiiii so now it's just me and Mr. College and my cheetah footie pajamas. He could hardly speak English so I couldn't understand what he was saying which was also interesting. Sister daughtey comes back and she again hides behind me/the door and shows this poor guy the only pan we have which ended up not being the size he needed. Thankfully he finally left and sister daughtey and I were just soaking in our own embarrassment...so we made ourselves a bowl of ice cream to get over it. #missionarylife 

I was able to serve at the Joseph Smith Memorial again this week! That's always the highlight for me. We weeded around the buildings and I got to rake some leaves which for some reason is one of my favorite things to do. During lunch, one of the senior missionaries that serve there, Elder Ence, brought us up Patriarch Hill and holy cow...it is BEAUTIFUL. It looks over all the hills and you can see the monument which looks tiny from where you are. I'll post a picture, don't worry. But I also saw Joseph smiths grandpa's house/property which was way cool! I haven't been able to take a full tour of the memorial yet but hopefully I can later today since its P-Day. 

Wanna hear some miracles? We have an investigator named Stewart who's been quite golden so far. He's been very prepared and he's progressing pretty well. At first he thought we worshipped some sort of Holy Zombie or something so he's been fairly shocked to see what we actually believeSmiling face with open mouth and cold sweat but he is so receptive to everything we teach and he's loved the Book of Mormon so far. He's taken a tour of the JSM and he watched a part of general conference and he went to stake conference last week AND him and his wife/ex wife (they're divorced but living together) came to church yesterday. 

He's been working on quitting smoking and drinking so that's his biggest challenge that's getting in the way of baptism. It was testimony meeting and a lady from the ward went up and talked about obedience. He told us he loved it because it reminded him of how important it is to be obedient with the word of wisdom no matter how difficult it is. Then in the next class called Gospel Principles, the lesson was all about the word of wisdom. He couldn't believe how inspired everything was and he knew that the testimony and the lesson was just for him. The spirit is so cool :) he now wants to be baptized so bad and his wife/ex wife that wasn't interested before is now agreeing to read the Book of Mormon and she took a gospel principles book. We were talking to her after class and she said that she's been praying for something like this for about 30 years. Blessings everywhere...I'm tellin ya! 

I went to the cutest town in the USA and that's not even a joke..it was literally voted the cutest town in America and I am able to have a say in that. It's called Woodstock and AHH it's adorable and I never wanted to leaveSmiling face with heart-shaped eyes it was perfect and I want to live there for the rest of my life. 

Lately I've been having a hard time focusing my desires on missionary work rather than things like music, family, friends, etc. But I was reading and I came to Alma 29:6 which hit me like a ton of bricks. It says, "why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?" Alma too was desiring more than what he's been called to do as a missionary. It's so hard to put all your thoughts and desires into this calling but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. This is a sacred calling that I'll never get back. It's such a short time and I cannot take advantage of it. I've seen through my own prayer and fasting lately that my desires are starting to change and correct itself which is such a miracle for me. I love being a missionary and I am so blessed to wear that name tag every day and represent Him. Anyway, here are some pictures!!! Have a good week :)

Here we are today on our way to breakfast with Brother Sypher!

Just a typical road in Vermont!

The footie pajamas my mom sent us :)

#mylife

Driving around the memorial in our fashionable JSM service clothes :)

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