such an EXCITING week!!!!

First off, transfer news. 

I'M WITH SISTER LEDFORD AGAIN!!!!! :D Repeated companion in the mission - Check!  I'm excited beyond belief.  Sister Ledford was the 2nd missionary I trained, and now I get to train her on being a STL.  I'm SOOOOOO excited!!! I get to be in a STL companionship, and it's sounding like a dream!  No getting used to a new companion cause we already know each other, we can talk about the Sisters we're serving without holding back information, and we get to drive down to MLC together, and just be the best companionship in all the world.  AH! :D I'm just giddy!! :)  This transfer will be "DA BEST!!!!" - Quote from Shane, our recent convert from Aztec

So, mailing address will stay the same at

P.O. Box 203

St. Michael's, AZ 86511

Also, my first trainee, Sister Nielsen, was called as a STL too!!!! It's going to be a party at MLC every month!!!! :D

News from this week in random order, cause I forgot my sticky note with highlights on it once again... 

I bought a blanket at the flee market and I'm **obsessed** with it now!  It's super soft, and the greatest thing of my life.  You can see it in the picture I sent of us crocheting.

We helped the relief society make quiet books on Wednesday.  Sister Porter and I sorted out buttons... it wasn't the most exciting moment of my life... but we laughed as we put some buttons in our eyes and looked like the movie Coraline.  It creeped me out, not gonna lie.

We had a crazy hail storm Sunday morning!!! Sister Porter and I couldn't sleep during the night, then right at 5:30 we heard the LOUDEST thing of thunder ever!  I'm never scared of thunder, but that one had me a little scared.  It was quite the event.

Oh, I went on exchanges again on Monday - Tuesday.  I was with Sister Woods.  Love her so much.

Aaaannnddd... yeah.  We've had a few exciting experiences with the Elders this past week (they say hello by the way).  We had a transfer "party".  We opened up our bottle of apple peach cider and shared some with them after we got transfer news.  Then we had breakfast with them.

OH!  Our Stake President put on a steak dinner for the missionaries in the zone this past week!  The steak was as big as my plate.  And I ate it all.  #foodcomafordays!  It was topped with a slice of pie, corn and beans.  Soooo much food!

And yeah, that's about it I think.  I hope all of you are doing well!!! I LOVE YOU! Stay tuned for Cardon and Ledford Adventures PART 2! :D

Love,

Sister Cardon

We be attractive

As Sisters, we always have to look good!  These are our most attractive moments ;) mud masks and end of the day, let out your bun, hair.

Straight Outta Navajo Nation :)

A less active made these shirts and game some to us :)  LOVE THEM!

The good times are back!!

GUESS WHO MY NEW COMPANION IS!!!!!!!!!????!!!!!!!! 

SISTER LEDFORD!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

The Companionship of Miracles is BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

We're gonna kill it here in St. Mikes together!!!! :D  I got to train her in the ways of normal missionary life, now I get to train her in the ways of being a STL as she was just called!  WE GET TO BE A STL COMPANIONSHIP!!!!!!! :D :D :D And guess what else?!  SISTER NELSEN WAS CALLLED AS AN STL TOO!!!!!! I"m gonna have friends at MLC! :D  I'm so giddy with excitement :)

PS I'm still waiting for the day I'm with Sister Scoffield.  But she was just released as a STL :( so the chances aren't too high right now.

Breakfast for the Elders :)

We decided to do one last breakfast for everyone.  Today was breakfast burritos. I wish you knew just how massive that pan is with the eggs...

ps - My hair is long!  And straight! :D  (the natural curl is definitely still there.  I just decided to straighten it today)

Crochet and hail

My blanket is the same color as my companions, but on the other side

St Michael, Arizona district

Becca and her companion, Sister Porter on the right.

You Are Loved! Don't Give Up!

New theme song for our companionship - You Are Loved by Josh Groban.  Sister Porter and I listen to it at appropriate volumes and motivate ourselves through its lyrics.  It's so good. 

Wow, this weekend was incredible beyond belief. The beginning of the week was boring... nothing happened... but then the weekend happened and it was a spiritual FEAST!  First off, we had a special MLC with President Lynn G Robbins (presidency of the 70) and then I got to go to Fred Emery's baptism.  I have never been so spiritually enlightened.  Also, I haven't smiled that much for so long in a LONG time.  Ah, it still just makes me so happy!!!

Wait, there were a few highlights from the beginning of the week, so we'll start there.  We had a FHE lesson on the Word of Wisdom on Tuesday.  It was pretty fun.  We had cut out pictures of different foods, both good and bad, from a grocery ad, then we had two bags, one with a smiley on it and one with a frown and then the kids had to look at the food item and put it in the appropriate bag.  It was pretty great.  

We had a full district meeting on Thursday.  We had 3 visitors - the 2 zone leaders and one of the Assistants to the President.  It made for an exciting meeting as we actually had a good number of people.

Elder Robbins was INCREDIBLE!  My favorite parts were how we learned how to be like Nephi and not like Laman and Lemuel (Book of Mormon characters for those of you who read my emails and aren't LDS).  Nephi is seriously my hero in the Book of Mormon.  The more I read about him, the more I want to be like him.  So we learned that the trick is to take full responsibility for any choice we make.  If we give excuses, or we blame someone else, or we run away, or we give up, or anything else like that, then we are like Laman and Lemuel.  It really opened my eyes.  I realized that I tend to give excuses for my actions way too often.  I need to change that to just owning it and giving **reasons** for my actions, and still accept responsibility.  

The entire MLC was like Marriage and Parenting 101.  We learned all about raising kids... so, when I get to that point in life I should be super prepared ;) 

Then that night, as we were getting ready for bed in Farmington 7th's apartment (where we were staying the night) we had a surprise visit by Sister Jessee, Sister Bowler, and Sister Hererra!  Holy Hannah, that was the GREATEST moment of my life!!!!!!!! Wow, I just couldn't believe it.  Sister Bowler and Sister Jessee are some of my absolute favorite people on this entire planet!  We talked for a really long time.  It was so good :)  How I miss those two!!!!

The next morning was Fred's baptism.  I got to see all my Flora Vista people!!!! Ah!!! I was dying from happiness the entire time.  I got to sit next to S. Bowler for the second half, and man, I've missed singing with her.  She sings like a pro.  We took pictures with Fred, and I couldn't help but give him the biggest side hug the entire time.  Oh, he's the cutest cowboy ever!  Fun fact, it was his birthday.  So he will never forget the day he was baptized! :D

There was a musical number there, mother, if you would like to find the sheet music for me and send it my way that would be beyond amazing.  The song was called I will Stand as a Witness of Christ by Sally Deford.  I think I have that right.  It was amazing!!!!!! I want to sing it on the mission if possible.  I was just melting the entire time it was being sung.

After the baptism, we went to get Vanilla Moose.  Of course.  It was delicious like always :)

Other cool happenings - I've decided where I'm going to live when I come home!  Sister Brennan and Sister Scoffield and I are going to room together down in Provo/Orem area.  I'm stoked beyond belief.  These are the Sisters I came out on the mission with, so we're all in the same stage in life.  It's going to be a party and a half every day!

Well, that's mostly it.  I love all of you so much!!!!! 

Love,

Becca

surprise!

Sister Hailey Bowler just stopped by our house after traveling with Sister Amy Jessie to Fred's baptism in New Mexico.  They had been the original two missionaries to find Fred, although they calculated he had 14 sister missionaries teach him before he was baptized.
The following are some pictures from that trip, courtesy of Hailey.

MUD!

Gotta love that Rez mud :)

shoot... doesn't look like these pictures turned out, but I'll resend them next week

CARS!

Holbrook is what Cars was based off of!  So I literally went to Cars Land this past week :)

Look at the Cozy Cone! ;)

surprise gifts

LOVED the package from the family reunion!!!! :D  It totally made me cry

The shirt fits SO well!!! It's the comfiest thing ever.  It's my new favorite.

Apricots from Sister Porter's Grandpa

sun and tan lines!

chopping "Woods"

When we got to chop woods in skirts :)





Yep, that's my companion

And us chopping some super hard wood... I promise we chop better when it's better wood

Sunday Selfie and Mud Masks!

It's a tradition.  Quote from last night "you know, if you had told me a year ago that I'd be on a mission, wearing a mud mask on the Navajo Reservation and crocheting while listening to classical music in a trailer, I would have called you crazy."  We had unique pass times.

Where did my companion go?

We've had a crazy day today.  We went in to Gallup for the first part of the day, and so we're emailing super late.  Sorry about that.  But we're back on track, and life is good!  Even better than usual because we got to go to Walmart today :)  Oh the joys of Walmart.  They have so much stuff!  Haha, I've totally taken it for granted my entire life.

So, this week was filled with lots of exchanges.  I was only with my companion about a day and a half total... But it was exciting!  I got to see the Sisters from Holbrook, and did the first half of the exchanges with Joseph City.  These Sisters in our mission are top notch!  Spiritual giants, every one.  I love them all so much.

Random Highlights of the week (cause my brain isn't working well enough to go in order of when they happened)- 

We discovered a way to "feed the missionaries"!  Who ever said that missionaries wouldn't be able to do that?  We have a Senior couple and then 2 sets of Elders that live by us, and we've fed them breakfast a few different times the past week.  They've enjoyed German Pancakes, waffles, and french toaststrada.  The great thing about it all is that I can use my normal recipes made for 10 people and then not worry about eating the same meal the next week because of all the leftovers. I love it.  Sweet and Sour Chicken might be coming up soon... :)

We went to Navajo Class!  So good.  Except for St. Mikes Navajo is different from Shiprock Navajo... it's taking a little getting used to.

We had a really weird experience on Sunday. Sister Porter's grandpa came into town and surprise visited us.  We got a call from the other ward's bishop telling us there was someone we needed to come see, and then ... Grandpa!  It was... weird.  But it was handled well at least.

12 Week as a mission is going well.  I'm honestly loving it.  We're figuring out hymns that go along with all our lesson points to make it more interesting. 

I'm in the kitchen a lot lately.  Recent creations are parmesan zucchini bread, all those breakfast things, pumpkin oatmeal cookies... we're enjoying ourselves over here :)  But still trying to stay healthy

Still crocheting.  My blanket is getting big!!!! :D  #success.

We've been traveling lots while going to and from exchanges.  I think I've spent ... 10+ hours in the car this week.  Too much.  But we'll have even more this week... maybe.  Eh, maybe half actually, cause it's just one Farmington trip and a trip to Gallup.

Quote of the week - "Repentance is moment by moment."

Aaaaannndddd... that's roughly it.  

OH! THANK YOU for the package from the Family Reunion!  The notes made me cry before I even got to reading them.  I LOVE IT!  Wow, I felt so special.  What a blessing it is to have SIX missionaries out from the Cardon Family right now!! #ProudToBeACardon!

I love you all so much!  And I hope everyone is doing well!

GUESS WHAT!!!! Fred from Flora Vista is being baptized on Saturday, and I GET TO GO!!!!!!!! :D I cried when President said I could.  Ah, I'm just so excited!  Fred is just the cutest cowboy of my life.  It should be an adventure!

I love you!

Love,

Becca

Hey There!

Okay, so forgive me, but I forgot to write a sticky note with a list of things that happened this week, so it's gonna be a little scatterbrained today.

I CHOPPED WOODS FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!!! :D We actually got to do it twice this week!  The first time we were prepared in our service clothes and everything.  Then the second time it was last minute so we got to chop wood in our skirts.  We still looked pretty boss ;)  I'm sore a wee bit, but that's okay!  I'm definitely working on all those life skills out here.  If the zombie apocalypse happens, I'll at least be warm :)

We also weeded a ton.  I should have taken before and after pictures, cause it was night and day difference.  Even more life skills - check!

Paul's in the MTC! Crazy sauce.  There was a precious moment in my interview with my mission president this past week.  I was interviewed the same day Paul was going into the MTC, and of course that was mentioned.  Well, President Adams got a little teary eyed as we talked about it, and how my family now has two missionaries out. And then in the closing prayer he prayed for Paul specifically.  It was so special.  I truly love my mission president.

We had a super spiritual zone training this past Thursday!  We learned lots and practiced lots. The part us mission leaders were worried about was the council at the end of the meeting.  In the last MLC in Farmington, President Adams came up with the idea of the mission doing 12 week training again as a mission.  Lots of people have negative opinions of 12 week.  Cause, not gonna lie, it's awful going through it during the first part of your mission.  I didn't like it until I was called to train and did it over again.  So we knew the thoughts on the program, so we knew that through this council we would need to have it be where the missionaries came up with the idea themselves.  I was asked to lead the council, since I knew where the end result needed to go.  So we started with asking the question "how do we become a miracle mission"  then we established a plan to accomplish our ideas.  Then I had to pause everything and tell everyone to stop and without saying a word or having any reaction to consider my next suggestion.  I then suggested doing 12 week as a zone to relearn how to be a missionary.  I pointed out that this is a program the 1st Presidency of the Church have put together to teach missionaries to be successful missionaries.  After 30 seconds of silence and pondering, everyone agreed to do it and said it was a good idea.  That's when we broke the news to them that this was actually something the entire mission would be doing together and that they'd be reporting their progress to President Adams every week.  But it was so amazing to see how everyone agreed to the same conclusion President Adams had come to.

We almost got stuck in the mud!That was exciting.  Our truck was slipping and sliding and stopped moving for a little while, but it was good. We survived without needing to call the vehicle coordinator.

I'VE BEEN ADOPTED INTO A CLAN!!!!!!!! Finally!!!! I've waited my entire mission for this moment.  I'm now part of the Destchin Apache Clan, or in other words the Bear Clan.  I am brave, loyal, and something else.  I'm so excited.  Now when I give my homecoming talk, or any talk for that matter, I can introduce myself with my clan.  SO GOOD!

I also accidentally kicked an Elder this week... oops.  They were coming at S. Porter and I with a big bug... so in self defense, I kicked him.  But it wasn't a hard kick!  I caught myself halfway through the kick so it was pretty gentle.

Also, happy international friendship day!!!!!!! :D Yesterday.  Sorry I'm a day late.

And that's about it from me!  Sorry I can't think of other highlights off the top of my head.  I love you all!!!!

Love,

Becca :)

ps - Quote I love - "We will never be prompted by the Holy Ghost to do something we cannot do."

pps - It's super humid right now... I feel like I'm in Florida again.

Chinle zone conference

With sister porter

random pics

July MLC

Group Picture from the MLC group!  Mission Leaders - ASSEMBLE! ;)

"Impressive looking group!"

Sister Lowe

New Mexico Farmington Mission Secretary

photos from Angie Chee

Love.  Love, love, LOVE!

Frank, Angie, and Kim!!!! Best day EVER!


Angie said: We love u so much!!!! Thank you for being there!!! 



This is a selfie I took on Sister Chee's phone about 3 months ago... it looks awful, but she loves it haha

Bonus: baptism photo from Sister Brown

tracting adventures

Another fantastic week!

Highlights of this week - SO MANY! 

First and foremost, Frank and Kim Chee were baptized on Saturday!!!! :D  And I got to go!  It was such a happy day :)  I love that family with ALL my heart!  Sister Brown and I and the Young Women did a musical number... that no one practiced... it was interesting.  I was singing so confidently on the 2nd verse, and then realized that I was so focused on sight reading the notes that I was still singing the words to the 1st verse.... oops.  It was a bit of a mess, but I think Kim still liked it.  

I also was majorly sunburned this past week!  But it's okay, cause it turned into a tan.  I'm working on "da Lord's tan" once again ;)  Soon, I will look Native.  Soon.

Sister Porter and I went to MLC this past week and took a different route to get there.  We went through Crystal... and oh my GOSH!  It was **GORGEOUS!!!!!**  There were mountains!  And trees!  And so many beautiful things!!!  I felt like I was driving through Provo canyon or something like that.

I received a priesthood blessing from President Adams this past week.  Oh my goodness.  I have such a testimony of the priesthood!  It works!  There is no doubt.  After the blessing I was immediately blessed with peace and joy and just a ton of comfort and confidence.  Life is good :)

I've officially taught a lesson in a Hogan!!!!! So good.  I feel like I've officially served on the Rez now.

We gave lots of service this week!  We collected tin cans around someone's property for them to recycle.  That was an adventure.  And then we helped our bishop's wife paint her new classroom almost all day Friday.  We had 3 sets of missionaries working on it, it was fun.

We had a linger longer after church yesterday... man, that was interesting.  It turned out well in the end, but before was a little bit of chaos.  Bishop came up to us last minute and asked us if we would make mashed potatoes.  He had the potatoes, but then we just needed to provide butter and milk.  So the Elders provided milk, and we provided butter, and we all made a massive batch of potatoes.  Poor Elders.  They didn't know how to make them... thank goodness Sister Porter and I did!  But we now all are professional mashed potato makers.  #lifeskills

Sister Porter and I had a bit of a movie night last night!  It was enjoyable :)  We pulled out Paul and Jacob's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  Love that production.  We both had fun sitting in bed, eating popcorn, and kinda singing along to the music.  Good times.  I'm so thankful President Adams had approved that little film.

Aaaannnddd.... yep!  That's more or less our week!  It was an adventure.  We were thrown for a loop with MLC and super extended weekly planning, but it all worked out.  

I love you all!! Hope you're doing well!!

Love,

Becca