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