Week #18 - Happy New Year... almost

Good Morning Mom and Dad!

I honestly have no idea when I will be able to e-mail next p-day because I am being transfered this Wednesday. I have no idea where or who my new companion will be. I just know I am really going to miss Sister Williams she has helped me to grow so much as a missionary and really help me overcome my fear of talking with people. So if Jenny and Allen could send my package to the mission office that would be awesome. 905 Kierre Dr., North Little Rock, AR, 72116-3709....(You might want to double check that zip code)
I love daddy too! I hope everything with work is going well!
And to clear up the confusion I love the name Trixie. I think it is super cute and perfect for a little elf.
I was so glad to be able to talk to ya'll you all look so awesome and I love you all so much! I am sorry the morning had been stressful. But I know that we were having a ton of success that Christmas morning so it was all totally worth it...right?!? 2014 is going to be totally amazing I am so excited for it to come! Only 2 more days to wait!
I am glad the package got there... (there is a picture in the "walk in the park" one can you write the name sister foster and Little Rock on the back of it?) thank you so much.
I bet your talk was awesome!! Wish I was there for it! We had our spanish investigator, Juana, come to church this last Sunday and I had to try and translate for her... what a joke... but the Gospel Essentials class was fabulous I was able to teach the first lesson about how God is our loving heavenly father. We had a couple ward members in the class that bore their testimonies and I was able to translate it was really pretty awesome... and the spirit was super strong. But third hour came and it was impossible to translate for her at the rate and depth that they were talking about so she eventually fell asleep...oops. But the second hour was totally worth it.
I bet the Primary sounded like a choir of angels!
Dad...going shopping??? Oh I can tell that he is just going to love that! You are going to have to send pictures of the new outfits...maybe even a fashion show!
I am a little bit envious that you got to go shopping with Laura! I tried to get you to go shopping with me all the time...maybe that was the problem! lol teehee.
So I need to tell you about Christmas Eve and Christmas. We were able to find a TON of english investigators it was absolutely amazing and we found this one family that was super elect the dad's name is Cory and he has three young children, we didn't get to meet the mom but we were able to pray with him and give a brief synopsis of the Restoration, we have an appointment tomorrow to teach him the full lesson. He had just recently moved and was actually looking for a church to attend. We had actually received him as a referral from 3 different people! It was amazing!
Christmas was awesome we were able to eat with the Clements and the Lands. They are pretty much our adopted family here in Pocahontas. Love them so Super much!
Then two days ago was a total joke of a day. It started out with me burning my hand with my flat iron and then just went downhill from there. No one wanted to talk to us... All of our appointments fell through... by the end of the day I was ready to just punch my pillow..(aggressive, I know!) But the mercy of the Lord is amazing we have had the best week of teaching than we have ever had! We were able to teach 17 lessons, 2 member present lessons, 9 Recent convert/ less active member lessons, and we received 7 new investigators! How awesome is that! I am super sad to be leaving this area but I know there are others that I need to find and teach.
...ummm...that was pretty much our week....
Love ya'll so much!
Have a happy new year!
Hermana Ives

Week #17 - Skype info

Hey family!

Thanks for the Skype account info...I'm not sure what time we are Skyping probably around 5-7pm (the time zone here)...I may end up just calling instead of Skyping....(would you be super disappointed if that happened?) And  yes we have a time limit it has to be 45 minutes. Plenty of time to get all caught up with each other! =D

Teehee I love packages I am opening one each day til Christmas eve to open yours! I like packages!
I don't really get the Elf on the Shelf thing....what is the point? And personally I like the name Trixie.

Wow, driving all the way to Yakima! That sounds like fun. Is Mamie having a girl or a boy? Do they have a name picked out yet?

Wow you really went to town with those Christmas seeds that is really cool!

This week was crazy I got the flu and pretty much slept for 2 days straight...Sister Williams was about to go stir crazy because she had to study all day long, both days. And then after that we had zone conference! We got mission T-shirts and we were able to watch Ephriam's Rescue! Wow what a good movie! "You know the problem with multiple wives? Multiple mother-in-laws!"  Super excited to watch it again when I get home!

I have really been missing Costco sushi...so if it isn't on the list of things to do first thing when I get back...it should be! lol

Who knew that scarves are such a popular gift to give sister missionaries?!? I love it! I have received 4 so far! Que bueno! I wear them all the time so I am most definitely not complaining! =D

We were spiritual harvesting on Friday and we knocked on this one door and the lady who opened the door had a big smile on her face and invited us in. She kept saying how much she enjoyed talking to me and how special my smile was and how many conversations we have had...(I have never met this lady before in my life) But she was determined that she knew me, it was very interesting and we were able to leave her with a book of Mormon.

Ummmm....what else... we had to help in Primary yesterday....I very strongly dislike being given a class of 6 children under the age of 8 with and hour and 10 minutes to fill and no time to look at the lesson manual. Ridonculous!

yup yup... that pretty much sums up this week.
Oh we had a flash flood this week too! That was pretty cool actually - I love the rain.
Love,
Hermana Ives

Week #16 - This week has been...interesting???

Hey Parents!!!
This week has been a very....intense, weird, funny, depressing, mixture of stuff...
(wow, is that a hook or what?!?)
Here is a little summary of Zone Meeting:
~ 2 John 1:9-10 - get to the POINT, the doctrine is why you are talking to people not the fact that they have pink flamingoes in their front yard aka lawnd.
~ men can deny your words but they cannot deny the word of God.
~ Eye contact is a must
(district, zone and specialized training meetings are so amazing but they always make me feel very imperfect and an awful missionary...)
Anywho zone meeting was all the way down in Searcy Arkansas...so that was a 2 hour drive that totally killed our miles for the week) But on our way back into Pocahontas we felt impressed to stop in Walnut Ridge. We looked at the branch list and decided to go see this specific less active member. (the member wasn't home so we decided to knock on at least 3 doors in this neighborhood) anyways we felt very prompted to knock this one door. she opened the door and instantly said come in (she didn't even know who we were!) Crazy, she kept talking about how she just had no idea which church was correct and how to teach her son to be respectful and trust in God (it was crazy how ready this lady was - Felicia) Anywho we set up a return appointment and that was a super awesome day. (The elders played a prank on us today and left the scripture verse 3 Nephi 3:7 ...we haven't quite decided how to get them back yet...so if you have any ideas we would love to hear them.)
Okay so what are the odds of meeting someone in Pocahontas Arkansas who happened to live in France the same time Mitt Romney was in France on his mission and just happened to track into her?!? I know right CRAAAAAAAZZZYY! (but she wasn't really interested in talking to us... but that was a pretty crazy happenstance.)
So I had to give a Sunday talk this last Sunday.... (having time to write a talk especially without a computer is a complete joke!) But I did it with little note cards it was about Faith, and essentially went we can never have enough faith...Amen.
So you would never think it of me but the Primary children in this branch LOVE me!!! =) yup I am a pretty cool sister missionary to know. (I am even getting over my fear of children- even more, so that is pretty awesome)
We are teaching a 10 year old (Heather) who is going to get baptized this month. And we are teaching an 8 year old (Ashley) Who really wants to be baptized but her mom doesn't seem to be to interested in talking to us ( but Ashley's upstairs neighbor is a member and one of her best friends lives there, so she wants to come to church with her friend Kaylea)
We are finally kind of getting a teaching pool! Yeah! And we have finally found 2 Spanish investigators! AAAAAHHHHHHH! Super duper excited we had a lesson with Juanna from Guatemala yesterday with Sister Whitlock which was pretty awesome. She wants to come to church (and I am super excited but at the same time super scared because there is NO ONE in her age group 16 and even fewer people who could actually talk to her in Spanish....) So I have no idea what to do.
On Saturday we had a branch Christmas party... there was a choir and program... (we were in the choir...) When the pianist is the oldest person in the branch and the choir director isn't much younger things really drag and are off tune....I have to say that it was all I could do to not laugh my head off as I was watching everyone yawn and nod off. Then to make it worse having people come up to you afterwards and say "we could really hear you two" that is not a complement in a choir... it was just so bad... but it was fun to talk with everyone.
Sunday I gave my talk.... I'm not sure how well it was received but at least it is done. We had to help out in Primary with music because they didn't have a pianist... (Branches made up of entirely retired people are interesting) anywho Sister Williams and I kind of took over Primary singing time... which was pretty fun.
Sunday evening I was able to get a blessing from the elders.... it was actually pretty comical because it talked about my companion as well... and how we are going through the same struggles and we need to talk to each other more (Sister Williams wasn't to pleased that she was being rebuked along with me in MY blessing) We laughed about it the entire way home though.
And that in a pretty small nutshell was my week!
que bueno,
Hermana Ives

Week #15 - Keeping Warm

Dear Mom and Dad!

Warm enough....I am warm...Black knee high socks would be a good thing.. I haven't gotten boots yet because there isn't a JCPenny's in Pocahontas.

Good job on working on family history and missionary work! I am still working on talking to people at every opportunity as well.

I would love some charcoal, and I am taking superfood every morning so I am going to need some more superfood pretty soon.

I am glad that you have all the Christmas decorations up now! And so many goodies! How awesome is that! Sister William's mom sent us a Christmas countdown! Super cool! Sister Williams is allergic to chocolate so the candy countdown is all of her favorite candies!

How many missionaries to we have in the ward? Do we just have sisters or do we have a set of both?

I miss going to the temple and I am so glad that you are taking advantage of the great blessing that we have to have a Spokane temple right by home!

How you have jellies??? You are going to have to send me pictures! I bet they are totally adorable!
How long will Ling be in Taiwan? Is she feeling better now that chemo is overwith?

You were at church to make up for our lack of church here. Church was cancelled because of the snow/ice storm we got here last Wednesday and the roads are so bad. (Don't worry we were told to stay indoors all day because of all the snow and ice.)

I am glad that everyone is getting my letters! I have made it a goal of mine for my entire mission to write back every letter/card that I get.

Christmas Wishlist....CDs, Socks, I don't really NEED anything, leggings would be useful. maybe a new watch....

I would love to write Mary Simpson. What specifically would you like me to write about? Would you like me to send me the letter to you or directly to Mary Simpson?

Caroling is going to be awesome! I want to go caroling! I think it would be an awesome finding tool!

Have you ever heard of snow ice cream? I had it for the first time yesterday! It was absolutely delicious!
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 cup milk/ almond milk
-5-6c cups of snow

Stir vanilla, sugar, and milk together for 3 minutes
Then stir in the snow thoroughly
And then enjoy!!! Yummmmm!

Anywho...it has been a good week!
I love you!
Hermana Ives

Week #14

Dear Família!

 

Wow that sounds like a super fun FHE! Did dad plan this one or you? =D

 

The power of fasting is so amazing! I have been learning so much on my mission and how to use fasting has really been one of the top things to learn! I absolutely love fasting now and it has made such a difference in missionary work!
 

Facebook is such an awesome tool! And our mission is going to be getting iPads starting in May! To further the work both here and with our friends at home! I am so excited it is going to help the work so much! Plus our scriptures, preach my gospel, area book, and planners are going to be on the iPad!!! Talk about convenience!

 

Thanks for giving it to Spencer! The letter he sent me didn't have a return address!

Keep sending me stamps and you will continue to receive letters! Great exchange! teehee

Okay yeah I am not sure if I am going to send them before Christmas or not...I was hoping to send the one that I am writing in right now as well, but I also wanted them to be somewhat of a Christmas "present"... no sé...

 

lol! Elder Ives! Oh my goodness! lol, no kidding about brutal rejection! I had my first bible bash a couple days ago... (apparently) This little old lady opened the door and I started to introduce us and she interrupted me and said, "I know what you believe and you can't change me." Then she continued to question me about what it meant to be a Christian, what Jesus did for us on the cross, and so forth when I answered her questions she seemed to be satisfied and then said, "Well, you believe that you will be eternally pregnant in heaven." (ummm....I have never heard that before...) and she continued on about polygamy... anyway it was mild and we answered her questions and corrected some false beliefs...the conversation ended with "Well, you have such a beautiful smile, and you do too dear, I really do wish you didn't believe in that Mormon religion..."  (Can I just say it is super weird having someone tell you that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe in God and then tell you that they wished you didn't believe the way that you do...

Way to go mom with the missionary work!!! Super impressed and happy for you!

 

Coolest realization this week...well there were many, one of the coolest realizations this week 3 Nephi 21:9-10 and the statement: missionaries= members with name tags... we really are no different than any other member except that all we do is missionary work for a certain amount of time.

 

Thanksgiving dinner of favorites: there was a turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, chicken chili, chicken Caesar salad, funeral potatoes, gravy, stuffing, just a bunch of stuff it was crazy

 

Wow!! You wrote that candy cane poem?!?! That was fabulous mom! great job!
 

I am serving in the Pocahontas Branch! Pretty tight little branch mostly grandparent aged members. and it is fun hearing all about grandchildren and especially great grand children lol.

 

Thank you so much for your package and I hope you have a wonderful FHE!

 

Can you believe I have been on my mission for this long and have NEVER had a correlation meeting? Super ridiculous! I really hope that the one we are supposed to have on Wednesday doesn't fall through!

 

I love you so much! I will write more of the stories of this week in a letter because I really need to go shopping. Especially to get myself some more tights! Can never have enough tights! lol

 

Love you all!

 

Have a wonderful time getting ready for Christmas! Are the Christmas decorations up yet? ....are they going to be put up???

 

Have a great week!

 

Love 

 

Hermana Ives