as promised

As promised, I'm writing my mass email first.  So, I apologize if people don't get responses from me today.  I'll do my best though!  But goodness, I don't even know how to describe this week!! Obviously we had Christmas and it was a wonderful day!  We were inside most of the day doing our weekly planning, but we got to break for a little while to Skype home and go have dinner with a member.  It was pretty wonderful.  I loved seeing the family and Sean! (who is basically family). You all looked wonderful! :)  

Miracles of the week:  I was SO blessed in the fact that Skyping home didn't distract me from the missionary work I have the privilege of doing here.  I was worried almost the entire week that the conversation I would have with my family would take up all my thoughts afterwards and I wouldn't be able to focus on missionary work.  But Heavenly Father answers prayers and helped me stay completely focused after skyping.  It was SO wonderful!  I love you family, but right now it doesn't do well to think about home all the time.  There are so many other things I have to think about.

Other miracles: Sister Ledford invited someone to be baptized and they accepted!!!!!!! :D  This just happened last night, so we're still super excited about it!  Our investigator's name is Blake and he's 16, almost 17.  His school teacher is a member from our ward and so Blake was introduced to the church through that.  We've taught him twice now and he knows that this is where he needs to be.  When he accepted the invitation to be baptized his first response was "well, if it brings me closer to Heavenly Father, then yes."  How great is that?!!?  He is so incredible and such a wise teenager!

Other things... mmmm..... 

Funny story!  We've learned the art of re-gifting!!! Oh my word, with all the sweets we've been getting we've decided that we just can't take any more.  So one night we got a *really* big plate of what looked like absolutely delicious sweets.  But we already had a mountain back home.  So we had a little extra time at the end of the night, picked a less active to go visit that we've never met before, and since it was late we grabbed the plate of goodies and gave it to him!  Kinda like bribery to get him to listen to a lesson.  It worked!!! :D  And we should be meeting with him regularly now! :D

We went caroling as a zone.  That was pretty exciting.  Just about 16 missionaries going from door to door.  It was quite the sight.

Aaaannnnddd... yeah.  We gave sacrament meeting talks yesterday!  That was fun!  Sister Ledford was so nervous, but she did SO well!!! I truly think she did even better than I did!  She was incredible.  Our topic was missionary work and setting goals.  And I want to challenge ALL of you to do missionary work!! Talk to people about your beliefs!  Tell them about the gospel!  And go out with the missionaries!!! Missionaries absolutely love it.  And tell the missionaries about your friends!  The best way to do missionary work is through the members of the church.  And there is no greater joy than spreading the gospel.  I love it with all my heart and soul.

Well, I love you all!!! I hope you enjoy the pictures I sent as well!!! 

Happy New Year!!!!! :D

Love,

Sister Becca Cardon :)

opening presents

So much to write...!!!‏

So much to write, so little time!!!!!

So, I have a new companion!  Her name is Sister Ledford.  She's from Hayburn Idaho and she's absolutely fantastic!  She's super bold, super fearless, and super awesome.  She's been a dancer the past 9 years and she's definitely kicking my trash in workouts in the morning.  I thought I was alright at planks and pushups... but man was I wrong! We're back to running in the mornings, and though I'm a little out of practice, I've been loving it!

Our week has been absolutely insane.  Sister Ledford was supposed to fly in Monday at 9:00 am and didn't get here til Thursday at 1:00 pm.  So transfers were insane.  I had Sister Nielsen for an extra day, then went into a trio with the two other sisters that are training this transfer and we worked our area.  But we've seen SO many miracles this past week!!! The fact that we even had appointments most every day was a miracle in itself as we had to cancel and reschedule basically every appointment this week.  It's been fun.

Christmas is coming up, and I'm excited, but it doesn't seem real.  The ward has been really kind to us as they have been giving us presents and such.  They're just darling.

Ahhh...!!! I'm out of time.  But I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! And I'll try to send pictures and more next week.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!! Remember the reason for the season!!!

Love,

Becca :)

It's a Small World After all....‏

Oh my word, GUESS WHO I MET!!!!! Harvey Johnson - cousin to Grandpa Cardon!! We came home for studies last night and there was a random stranger visiting with Sister Alford (the member we live with).  We said normal hellos and such and then after a few minutes he asked if I knew any Cardon's in El Paso.  When I told him my dad grew up there we made the connection of our relations!  And it was just insane! Seriously, it was a very exciting moment.  I'm finding relations everywhere!

Things that have happened this week...

Well, transfers news happened!  We found out that Sister Nielsen is leaving me :(  And I'll be staying in Flora Vista and will be training again!  So, my address will be staying the same! Address for anything - P.O. Box 719 Flora Vista, NM 87415

I'm excited to train again, it should be good!  But it's still sad to see Sister Nielsen go.  I was expecting to be the one to leave while she stayed and trained... but the Lord knows what He's doing.  I'm happy for the opportunity :)  Poor trainee though, she's gonna have to get used to having a lot of exchanges for her first transfer.  Should be good!

This week I got to do a lot of hair stuff!  We ombre'd Sister Nielsen's hair (super subtle, but super cute) and then I cut Sister Alford's, Sister Gerber-Chavez, and Sister Navarro's hair.  It was a busy Monday to say the least.

We also got to go out with our Mission President's wife for a night and it was amazing!!! She is just incredible and I love her so much!  She took us out to dinner at a Mexican place, joined us for 3 lessons, then observed our nightly planning.  The lessons went really smoothly and the Spirit was there in abundance.  It was wonderful!

We've been sharing the Christmas video with as many people as possible, and I hope you're doing the same!!! It's such a simple video, and it's really heart-warming.  It truly brings in the Spirit of Christmas.  So check out A Savior Is Born on Christmas.mormon.org or look it up on youtube.  Or hopefully you've seen it on facebook and have shared it yourself by now.  If you haven't, do it!  Whether you're LDS or not! :) Cause it's all the same belief in Christ :)

The most accurate picture of our district ever... And a nice one :) of district #2

We had our last district meeting for the transfer!  Some pictures describe our district perfectly... And I got a picture with Elder Schellenberg!  I don't know if I mentioned this before or not, but Elder Schellenberg is my Zone Leader, so I get to see him all the time!  It's crazy how many people I'm related to out here...

And then I got the pictures of my new niece!!! AH!!!! I was so excited when Sister Alford showed me the pictures!!! And it happened on my 6 month mark day!!! So it should be pretty easy to remember how old she is :)

I also had my first Missionary Leadership Conference on my 6 month mark day.  Holy Hannah.  The meeting was INCREDIBLE!!!! I learned SO MUCH! And learned so many things that will improve missionary work in the mission!  Something that was *really* focused on was planning.  Previously, planning was good, but now it's a lot more efficient.  I love meetings!!!!!! Really, I love learning new things!  And being a Sister Training Leader definitely gives me lots of opportunities to learn!  Also, they catered Costa Vida for lunch... no biggie... ;)

We had the opportunity to go to 2 Christmas parties this year!  Haha, it was great.  At Flora Vista's it was a Cowboy Christmas theme.  And we got to serve the meat :) But then we were given a hard time because we had been told to portion control everything so we were giving fairly small portions to everyone.  Then at the end of the night we had a ton of meat left over... The Young Men's president wouldn't stop teasing us about it.  Even in ward council it was brought up.  It made us laugh.  Then Aztec 1st's party was a lot more Christ centered which was good.  Sister Nielsen and I sang a duet together!  It went pretty well!  We sang Silent Night while a ward member signed the song next to us.  It was awesome!

We met with Fred on Saturday.  This old cowboy is the sweetest man of my life!!!! He loves the missionaries so much and is the kindest person ever!  He gave us both an incredible Christmas present... I just couldn't even believe it.  This man is the greatest.

Then the last part of the week has been filled with goodbyes for Sister Nielsen.  I've loved every moment I've had with this Sister and I'm so excited to continue to watch her grow!!! Now on to the next trainee :)  I'll be finding out who it is tomorrow, so I'll let you know next Monday!

I love you all SO much and hope you are doing well!!! I also love this gospel with all my heart.  Christmas is fantastic because everyone has a focus on the Savior, but I'm thankful that I get to think about Him all year round and think about everything that He has done for me.  Which is a lot.

I love you!!!

Love,

Becca :)

transfer "cups"

transfers

Last night Becca was sitting ON the phone, waiting for transfer news, obsessing and worrying.
I texted Sarah, "She will end up where she needs to be.  New adventures await, but you must be willing to set sail .. and answer the phone."  (My excellent advice made her moan, groan and laugh.)

News finally came that Sister Cardon is staying and training - although they don't know yet where Sister  Nielson is going.
Transfer news is never fun when your companion has to leave :( but Sister Cardon is looking forward to training.

It's beginning to look a lot like...‏

It's beginning to look a lot like not Christmas.  There still isn't snow.  But it's all good!  It's still cold, so no worries.  We're really getting into the Spirit of the holiday here ;)

This week has been so fantastic!  We went on the final exchange that will happen under my watch and it was SO NICE to know that it was done.  I love exchanges and all, but it's really nice being in my area now instead of YSA all the time.

We had stake conference, and it was fantastic!  You will never appreciate Sunday meetings as much as you appreciate them on your mission.  It's nice having someone else do the teaching and come up with the insights.  And you learn SO MUCH!  I loved it!

We also got to participate in a thing called Joy to the World this past week!  If you look up the facebook event Joy to the World - A Celebration of Christ you'll be able to see a picture of me!! Sister Nielsen and I were in charge of taking pictures of the event and it was so much fun!  But Elders were in charge of pictures the other nights, so if there's a bad picture don't blame us ;)

And we've been able to use the new Christmas Video- A Savior is Born this past week.  It's been amazing!!!!!! Everyone go to Christmas.Mormon.org and enjoy those videos.  They are FANTASTIC!! I love the simple Christmas story being told by youth from around the world.

aaaannnddd... that's roughly it.  Sorry it's short!  My brain is going a million miles per hour as I'm trying to do everything today.  But know that I love you all and that I'll be sending Christmas cards soon!  It should be exciting :) 

We get transfer news this week, so if people are sending things they might want to send it quickly.  Cause I've got a feeling I'm not staying in Flora Vista much longer.  If you send it after next week, you might want to send it to 400 W Apache Farmington, NM 87401 just to be safe.  But you'll know if I have a new address or not for sure next email.

Also, a few have asked what's on a missionary christmas list.  Here's some ideas - 

Stamps, Costco Chocolate Covered caramel macadamia cluster things, gift cards to office max, staples, target, walmart or costa vida, Bath and Body Works Christmas lotions (like Vanilla Bean Noel), pictures of what you've been up to, church music or instrumental or whatever, and LETTERS!!! Simply hearing from people is the greatest gift ever.

I love you SO MUCH!!!!!

Love,

Becca :)

Becca sends a pic for Amy's birthday

Just getting into that Holiday Spirit :)‏

Hellllllloooooooo Family!!!! (If anyone has done the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor in Disney World, that was said in the way they say "Hellloooooo Humans!".  Just so ya know. I still have Disney quotes and references galore)

Alright, so, this week has been eventful!  We went on two MORE exchanges!! ...So many exchanges... but within these exchanges I learned the art of TTI's (also known as door approaches) and I also learned where Drew Barrymore's mother's home is! It's in Farmington!!!! Super cool :) If I get transferred to YSA I might "tract" into the home ;) But also in the exchanges I got to see my previous companion Sister Campbell which was wonderful!! I still just love her so much!

We had Thanksgiving this past week which was nice.  I didn't gain a million pounds, so that was a nice bonus.  We had a potluck with our zone and Sister Alford sent us with literally 2 garbage bags of food plus 2 9x13 pans of dip/ham.  It was a LOT of food.  Then we had our normal dinner with the Lewis' which equaled more food, and then a Navajo lady gave us fry bread! Fry bread was the highlight food of the day :)  Sister Nielsen learned how to make it, and it was pretty entertaining.  But she did really well!!! :D

We also got to put up Sister Alford's Christmas decorations! Pictures have been sent. 

And we had an awkward moment where I accidentally sent that turkey/indian picture to a wrong number... ha, so some random person got a pretty embarrassing picture for Thanksgiving.  They should be thankful for that ;)

But we ended the week with me getting sick.  I think it's because of the stress from exchanges and such.  So that hasn't been too fun, but it's not bad enough for me to stay inside so we're still going out and working.  Which is what I prefer.  

By the way, thanks for the package!!! I love it so much :) Family, you're the greatest :)

Aaaannnddd... yeah, I'm sadly out of time, but I hope the pictures help!!! :D

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Love,

Becca :)

It's Christmas time again!‏

We're decorating for Christmas!!! :D  

Haha, Sarah is our "neighbor" as she lives across the hall from us in her room so she got us door mats to make things official.  

Captain America is the greatest :)‏

Thanks for the greatest Stocking Stuffer ever!!! :D

Deck the tree with... ribbon??‏

I've never decorated a tree with ribbon before, but it doesn't look *too* shabby for a first time attempt! Sister Nielsen helped a lot.  Tis the season!!! :D

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the turkey and the Indian (aka Sister Nielsen and Sister Cardon.)  The sisters are getting ready for district meeting and potluck snacks but never fear they'll be well fed at different members feasts.  Have a wonderful holiday. I'm so grateful you send such hard working, dedicated, and joyful missionaries to my home. - Sarah

Week in Review!!‏

Wow, so this week was wonderful!  We went on 2 different exchanges and it definitely had us exhausted at the end of the week. Lesson learned - don't do two exchanges on the week you go on a 3 hour drive to Blanding, Utah.  That was a lot to do.  And our lesson count for the week definitely reflected the time we spent out of our area.  But it was good!!! It was super weird being in Utah for 24 hours, and a renewed my dislike for Utah roads (after getting 4 aggressive driving warnings from TiWi... stupid roads) but it was fantastic working with the Sisters in Blanding :)

I also did the first part of an exchange with Farmington YSA! I got to participate in their FHE and Institute class which was wonderful!

Funny story of the week: We "Toilet Papered" Sarah's "house" this week.  It translates to we grabbed some rolls of toilet paper and placed them around her room which is across from ours in the house with a note saying "You've been TP'd! With love".  She got us back.  And reused our note.  She really put an effort into it ;)

I'm about out of time... ah!  But guess what!  Sister McKenna Woods is from Ogden!!! And she knew a LOT of the people I knew.  She even used to go country dancing at Union station!  We had a lot to talk about :)

Well, I hope the pictures help make up for my super short email this week... Sorry about that!  Just know that I love you all for all eternity!!!!

Love,

Becca :)

Roadtrip!!!‏

We got to go to Blanding Utah this past week for exchanges!!! 3 hours of driving + 2 aggressive driving scoldings later we finally made it!!! Look how great my companion looks! ;)

New Mexico sunsets... The prettiest things in the world, and can't be captured by a silly little camera.

And then there's more driving pictures :)

When nothing goes according to plan....‏

Well, this week didn't really go according to plan whatsoever.  We were supposed to go to Mesa Verde on Monday, and have a baptism on Saturday, confirmation on Sunday, and a ton of appointments... but... none of those things happened.  But we were still blessed immensely and it simply strengthens my testimony of how Heavenly Father has a plan and He's going to do it His way.

I failed to write a list of things that happened this week... so I might be a little scatter brained today.  Forgive me.

We did service at an investigator's house this week!  Fred is this 73 year old cowboy that's the coolest person ever.  We cleaned the wall behind his stove... It actually was highly enjoyable. Though, he says that we giggle a lot... Such is my life :)  Just gotta enjoy to the end rather than endure!

We also have new investigators!!!!! We had a bunch of referrals we were able to contact this week and a lot of them are pretty promising!  We have a total of 4 new investigators and we are SO excited to be teaching the gospel to new people!  One we got because a less active cancelled her lesson with us and so we had the time to contact people.  So, while we were sad we didn't get a lesson with our less active, we are so thankful we were able to find someone ready to hear this message of joy! :)

Our baptism didn't happen this week :(  It was sad, but it needed to happen. Jason understands that he's gotta fully live the Word of Wisdom and respects that the church has that standard.  He's got a weakness for tea and had had some.  So he's still off of chewing tobacco!  But we were so focused on that that we didn't think about mentioning tea.  But it's not a matter of "if" he'll be baptized, only "when".  Especially now that his life is insane.  He moved to Texas today and we don't know when he'll be back to get the rest of the family and bring them down with him.  Life is just crazy.

We had a fun experience this week where we had an appointment for every hour of our day (11-8pm) and every single one of them didn't happen.... That was great.  But you know, we still got to finish the things that we needed to do that day and we still saw the Lord's hand in everything.  Even if it didn't go according to plan.  Theme of our week.

But this week we're going to be going on exchanges for my first time as a Sister Training Leader!  Should be good!!!! :)  I'll be in the YSA branch for the next 24 hours :)  I'm kinda excited for that.  Sister Nielsen will be staying in Flora Vista with another Sister.  She's gonna do great!! :D

Well, I love you all and hope you're doing AMAZING!!! Keep staying strong!  Keep reading scriptures, going to church, and praying.  The Lord will definitely help you out as you follow Him :)  I know I've seen it in my life daily.  And I'm so thankful that I have a knowledge of Him and His goodness.  Truly, we have a Heavenly Father that loves us perfectly and I love that we can turn to Him for anything and everything.

I love you!!!

Love,
Becca :)

out to dinner

Hello from Aztec New mexico!  Took these beautiful amazing sister missionaries to Mexican food!  They are healthy and happy and doing wonderful.  Thank you for letting them serve here!

Spiritual Feast :)

This week has just been amazing.  Overview - we had a family history fair with the stake, had stake conference, went to enrichment night, arranged Jason's baptism, and ate way too much.

So, this past week we went to Flora Vista's enrichment night, which is basically when all the older ladies in the ward get together and do crafty things and such.  This month the "craft" was sending off care packages to missionaries.  So Sister Nielsen and I got to speak before everyone started writing letters about missionary work and how they can be involved as well and support the full time missionaries.  It was so much fun :) 

Oh! Guess what!! We got to put up a Christmas tree this week!!!! :D Yes, it's before thanksgiving, but it still pretty much made my week :)  It was the same kind of tree my family puts up, so it felt a little like home for a bit :)

We had a little scare with Jason's baptism this past week.  We called to reserve the building and found out that it was already full for the day and they suggested moving the baptism to Friday.  However, it's Friday the 13th this week and Jason's already superstitious. But, miraculously, everything worked out!  We're still having the baptism on Saturday and Jason is SO excited!!! And we are as well :)

We also got to watch an 8 year old we're fairly close to be baptized last Saturday :)  There are baptisms all over!! ;)

Miracle of the week:  We met with a recent convert that hasn't met with missionaries for roughly 3 months.  But she met with us!  AND she came to stake conference!!! It was so so so great!!! She's re-committed herself to the church and coming and such, so hopefully we'll be able to help her out as much as possible.

Random fact - there's a family in the ward that is bound and determined to have Sister Nielsen and I gain about 500+ pounds each.  They feed us sooooooo much food whenever we see them, then insist on giving us a ton of dessert as well.  Last night they had us take home enough dessert to feed a small army.  It included things like cheesecake, boston cream pie, chocolate croissants, a chocolate cream cake, and a few other random things.  It was just insane.  We have dessert for the next 4 transfers I think.

We also went to a family history fair this week.  It was SO good!!!!!!! I wish I could do family history all day now!  They talked about recording stories and putting them on Family Search, and then putting pictures on there, and doing so many things there.  And there's SO much work to do!! So, family and friends, I issue the challenge to you to do family history work.  Even if it's uploading stories and pictures.  It would be an awesome family activity to do.  And SO worthwhile!!  There are lots of people waiting for their work to be done and YOU can do it for them :)

We also went to Stake Conference.  Holy Hannah, it was incredible!!  It was broadcast from Salt Lake and just amazing.  Some points I took from it...

-Simplify your life.  Declutter. Look at clothes, apps, video games, and other things in your life and make it simple.  There are a lot of good things that get in the way of us doing the best things in life.  Like family time.  Or family history work.

-I loved the quote "if you quit the gospel, where will you go?"  This gospel is everything you need in life.

- You can't eliminate to find the truth of this gospel.  There will *always* be other things to look into.  You have to trust that the Spirit is telling the truth to you and go with it.  Have a testimony of the basic truths, then go from there.

- Commit NOW in your decisions.  Have a firm commitment to living standards of the church or anything else so when a moment comes when you have to decide on living it or not, you already have that decision made.  Put the Lord first.

- Fully occupy the missionaries in your area.  Give them referrals!!!!!! Go out with them! Invite them into your homes!  Missionaries are the tools you can use in sharing the gospel, but you've gotta give them something to work with.  I know that when members are involved things are SO much better!

- Be patient and loving towards all people

- Know that right is still right, and wrong is still wrong.  It doesn't change with the world's ideas.

-Go to the temple!

- Be active in the gospel, and not just in church.  Going to meetings isn't enough, you need to be studying the gospel and living the standards.

I loved listening to the church leaders yesterday.  It was simply amazing.  I love our leaders SO much!!  They truly are inspired in the messages they give.

Well, I love you all SO much and hope you are all doing well!!!!

Love,

Becca :)

the "new" Mexicans ... ;)

"We are the cutest Mexican Cal girls out there."  (I really worry about these sisters when they get extremely tired.) - Sarah

We might have a little bit of fun out here on the mission... (Becca)

package arrived

Becca's loving her new winter outfits!

This is Halloween :)

Hey Family and Friends!

This past week had SO many things happen!!! First off, we got transfer news!  And GUESS WHAT!  Sister Nielsen and I are staying together!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D  This is my first transfer that I kept my companion!! And I'm so excited!!! But also, I was called as a Sister Training Leader!  Meaning I have the responsibility of serving a few assigned Sister companionships. I'll be leading out some exchanges and making sure they're doing alright.  Should be fun.  At the very least, I'll get to go to Missionary Leadership Conference and know first hand what's going on in the mission!  So that will be really nice :)  It's a little daunting being called as a STL, but I know the Lord will help me out.

Miracles of the week:  Mike Phillips cut his smoking from 57 cigarettes a day to 25 in a week!!!!!! :D  And DeAnna, a recent convert, went to the temple for the first time to do baptisms this past week!!!! :D

Sister Nielsen was sick, so that wasn't fun.  We stayed in for a day... I don't like staying in.  But she felt better the next day so that was good!

I got to cut and color hair this week!  That was fantastic :)  I love being a cosmetologist!!!

We went to a ward Halloween party which was super fun!  I Disney Bounded Snow White on Friday and then Captain America on Saturday :)  I love being a Disney Nerd.

Well, I love you all but I'm sadly out of time.  I'll write next week!!!!

Hope you're doing well!!!!

Love,

Becca :)

new job description

Guess who's the NEW Sister Training Leader??? (Sister Training Leaders are the female equivalent of Zone Leaders.)

We are all enlisted

Hello Hello!!

How has everything been?? I love all of you so much!

This week has been an unusual one.  We spent a LOT of our time in Flora Vista and it was fantastic, but I feel slightly guilty about not spending an equal amount of time in Aztec 1st ward.  This whole juggling two wards can be difficult.  Especially when everyone in Aztec 1st cancels on you.  Such is the life of a missionary.

We saw a LOT of less actives this week!  We had a member go out with us for half a day while we tried to meet people.  Members bring absolute miracles when it comes to missionary work!! So, advice from Sister Cardon, members - go out with the missionaries!  It seriously is the greatest thing ever :)  We love the members so much!!!

Miracle of the week: Our investigator Mike Phillips made it to church!!! Mike is an interesting character.  He knows the church is true and has been taught by a lot of missionaries, but the one thing holding him back from being baptized is the fact that he has a major smoking addiction.  But he's on a medication to help him quit smoking and we have him on date for the end of November!! YAY!!!! ... Hopefully we don't need to move his date.

Speaking of people on date, we have a baptism coming up!!!!!!!! :D And I'm SOOOO excited!!!! This person's name is Jason Hook and he's been taught by missionaries for forever and a day.  Sister Jessee taught him when she served in Flora Vista a year ago and he had already been taught for a while at that point.  But he's finally made the commitment and made the final step of quitting chewing tobacco and was going to be baptized on Halloween this week!! However, he's superstitious and so we moved it to next week.  I'm SO excited for him!!!!! I love seeing people change their life for the better!  It's incredible to watch :)  And he's going to be an absolutely fantastic member!  He's already doing missionary work with his friends as he sees that church is the sure way to change your life for the best.  I just love him so much. 

Accomplishment of the week: I got my hair into a ponytail!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!! :D Sister Nielsen was nice enough to take a picture of it.

And we found the cutest halloween decorations ever... They're Disney!! I need them in my life.

But yes, that's about it.

I love you all and can't wait to hear from you again!!

Love

Becca :)

PS Sporting their ponytails on Sunday night...

They're ecstatic!  (They get a little weird after working and being gone for 15 hours.)

excerpts from Sean's letter

Emma's translation:
"Dear Sean,
I miss you so much...."

What Becca really said:
[I'm happy.] The Lord's work includes spreading a message of joy and I'm so grateful I get to be the voice of the message.  And I'm blessed with the people that are in my life.  They all are truly amazing and supportive.  And I'm blessed to know so many people!  I've got people in Utah, Florida, and now New Mexico.  Life is so good.

[Sean sent Becca a picture of Captain America at Comicon.]  Her response:
Thank-you so much for the picture of you with Chris Evans!!  It is still the greatest thing ever. :)  I was as happy as a little kid in a candy store when I saw it.  Wait...no, I was much happier than that.

long hair

Sarah sent me a text with the following picture and message:

Their hair has really grown out in New Mexico.

I'm going on a cruise!‏

Guess what happened!  Sister Nielsen and I got a call this past week saying that we won a Bahama cruise for two!  So... We'll be leaving New Mexico for a little while (probably all of winter) and will return after some days in the sun.  

Just kidding.  But we did get a call saying we won a cruise.  The only set back is that we're busy doing the Lord's work.  That will just have to happen in a few months.

Quote of the week from Sister Nielsen talking about a lotion: "This stuff smells really good!  Wanna hear?"  ...yes, my companion is super smart.  At least she has the excuse that she's blonde ;)

We got to give a lot of service this week!  Two days were at the Senior Community Center and they were the cutest old people ever.  Second day we went we walked in on them doing dancing exercise stuff.  I decided that that will be me when I'm super old.  My arms will barely move, but I'll be dancing :)  And we got to paint!  It was so great!  The only service I didn't enjoy so much was when we had to move a bunch of trash.  I was gagging basically the whole time... it was awful.  But we were able to move some of the trash, so it was good!  Just don't ask me what the weird liquid that came out of the bags was.  Cause I don't even want to know.

I also got to work with Sister Scoffield and Sister Steele this week!  It was so fun going on exchanges with them!

And I got to sing in the ward choir yesterday!  Sister Nielsen and I were roped into it, but it worked out.  Even with only having one week of practice.  It was a simple thing of I am I child of God.

I got my drivers license by the way!  Thank you SO much for sending it!!!! Now I don't need to worry about something expiring on me.

Well, I love you all and hope you're doing well!!!!! I can't wait to hear from you again!

Love,

Becca :)

from the pen of Becca Lyn...

You may have noticed Becca didn't have time to send out a group email on Monday, but she did write a letter home and I am including excerpts from that for all of you to keep up to date with her adventures. - Linnea

Hey there!  I'm so sorry my weekly email was basically nonexistent today! (Oct 12, 2015)  Time just flew by a lot faster than I expected!

This week has been amazing though.  Sis. Nielsen and I did the mini-MTC thing which was wonderful!  I had two companions for the day and we did a lot of work together.  We did personal study, companionship study, 3 short lessons of the Restoration, we went to a member's home and had dinner there and shared the same message with them, and had trainings and a fireside.  Whew!  It was a long day, but a good one.  I loved being with future missionaries.  They have such an incredible Spirit about them.  And you could definitely tell who consistently prays, reads scriptures, and follows the example of Christ and who kinda does it once a week on Sunday.  The consistent once were confident and had a very bright light in their eyes.  I loved seeing it in others!  And I know all of you can have that light in your eye as you do what Heavenly Father has asked you to do.

It hit me towards the end of the day that almost all the future missionaries I worked with were Paul's age.  Man, that's crazy!  But all of the kids will quickly get to that age.  Don't procrastinate your learning and preparing!  Start NOW to prepare for a mission.  The challenge we gave the future missionaries here was 10 minutes in the scriptures and Preach my gospel every day.  I know that will prepare anyone who wants to go on a mission.

The rest of the week was fairly normal.  We had zone conference and got to see tons of missionaries there.

I've been feeling kinda sick the past 2 weeks ...That hasn't been fun.  I was going to nap today, but letter writing is taking much longer than expected.

I had my 4 month mark Saturday!  That's just crazy.  I still feel brand new.  There's just SO much to learn!!  And at this rate I feel like my mission will finish before I truly get the hang of it.  But it's still so wonderful.

...Has it been getting cold in Ogden?  I know here in New Mexico the fuzzy socks you sent me are my best friends.  Feel free to send more!

Okay, I saw Brenton's email of questions and answers, and I think that would be pretty cool to do.  So, anyone have any questions?

Alright, I love you all!! I'm gonna try to feel better by taking a nap now.

Love you!!!

Love, 

Becca

PS My hair is getting long!!!!

gotta run!

Sorry, this week has been insane and email time has slipped away!  (I'm trying to write, but people keep sending me things! Ha, I had 20 letters to read today... and only and hour of computer time.) But here's a picture from some of our adventures this week!

I love you all!!!!!

Love,

Becca :)

These are the Sisters I worked with in the Mini MTC thing on Saturday!  Sister Christensen and Sister Jaquez.  Greatest Sisters ever!!!  I'll say more next week :)

PS Some of those emails she was responding to included a photo I sent her of Paul getting his eagle scout.  She said, "Greatest picture ever.  Tell Paul that I love him and that I'm so proud of him! :D"

Her words of encouragement:  These [family] letters are seriously my favorite things to get!  Though, I've noticed the lack of pictures. Have you been enjoying the pictures we send from Sister Alford? [Yep!  You'll find them posted on the blog...]

4 months

Texting conversation:
"We are celebrating Sister Cardon's four months into her mission.  Doesn't take much for us to have a party."
"Looks like she is reliving her childhood. Pass the cake and ice cream.  My spell checker calls her sister cartoon."
"You do not realize how true that statement is.  They are teaching a young man who is the music teacher at my school and at every lesson he brings donuts or cake or pastry and juice to drink.  We have to be careful to not have lessons too many days a week or we'd all be rolling around."
"And not just with laughter!"
"Right.  I think we could've called her sister cartoon.  She's a hoot."

Put on your dancing shoes

My favorite quote from conference is probably the one by Uchtdorf that said "Put on your dancing shoes and skip along the path of life, singing along the way."  I love cheerfully going through life!  It's easy to become a pessimist, but the more rewarding thing to do is count the blessings Heavenly Father gives us every day and then go from there.  Because He gives us SO much!!! Even on the hardest of days, there are still little miracles.  And noticing those things definitely helps me have hope for a better tomorrow and rest of forever.

Well, this week was amazing!  I LOVED watching conference!  There were so many incredible messages shared!  I loved the talks about how amazing women are and how they are a strength to others and they have a great influence to those around them.  Ah, it was just so good!  And there was such a focus on families and sabbath day observance.  I definitely got the message that we need to be a light to the world and that we are examples to the world.  We have to be so mindful of everything we do!  And make sure that it's pleasing to the Lord.  Because people truly do look at us and notice how we differ from others.  It's so good!!!  :)  Because we can totally help others change for the better as we do our best to live the Lord's standards.

And a little miracle came from Conference!  Our investigator Robert came!!!! :D  He came to Sunday morning and it was just wonderful!  I really hope he continues to progress.  I was glad he managed to come to the session that President Monson spoke. But oh my word, I'm so worried for President Monson.  He's not looking so well.  But you know, it just went to show that he is dedicated to this work and to the Lord.  He will testify of Christ until his very last breath like every other apostle and prophet we have/had.  These men we have as our leaders are incredible!!!

And it was awesome to see Kim B. Clark speak!  He was the BYU-Idaho president when I went there so I felt pretty cool when I saw him at the pulpit and knew that I had powdered his face before.  And saw him every week of my semesters there.  It was also pretty cool seeing Elder Oaks and Sister Linda K Burton because I had powdered their faces (and Elder Oaks' head) before too... Coolest BYU-Idaho job ever!  

I was able to make cinnamon rolls Sunday morning to keep up that Cardon tradition for the sunday morning session of conference :)  They were delicious!  Though, I wish I had had our family recipe... oh well, next time.

The area here is doing amazing.  Things are truly moving forward and I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store for everything.  Guess what!  Sister Nielsen and I get to go do a training for a mini MTC thing they're having in Farminton this Saturday!!!! SO EXCITED!!!!!! I'll tell you how it went next week :)  We're just blessed with this opportunity :)

I love you all!!!! Make sure you let your light shine this week!!!

Love,

Becca :)

Companions are just the greatest!  They open your eyes to new outfits :)  Sister Nielsen helped me out with wardrobe stuff on Conference weekend.  I might not look the greatest in the picture, but I promise it was super cute.

We sent in our miles for the month and couldn't help but have a little fun with the letter :)