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 :)