Hello everyone!!!

This week has been great! I have come to gain a testimony that whenever we push ourselves beyond our normal capabilities, we see miracles. This happened three times this week.

The first happened on my first Exchange this week. Sister Wawro had the flu on Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Wednesday Sister Brooksby was not feeling well either so I went with Sister Argo and covered her Area's and my Area's appointments. I loved it! We started off in my Area, consulting with a member about the best possible way to do a booth on Red Square. In addition to the fact that he used this same finding tool in his mission in Baltimore, he is now a professional in the Advertising field and had some wonderful insight. After that appointment, we went to their Area to cover a few of their appointments. One of my favorite was with a woman named Dorcas. Sister Argo said that this was a Potential Investigator, and that this would be a casual visit to try to peak her interest in the Book of Mormon. I felt ok with that idea, and before we went to the house we said a prayer in the car. As I prayed for the Spirit to be with us and to be able to teach Dorcas with power and authority, I felt electrified and knew that this would not be the type of appointment we originally thought it would be. We talked with Dorcas for a little bit, and after having an opening prayer we could sense that she was open to more. We ended up teaching Dorcas about the restoration of the Gospel, and she was open and interested. She still did have some doubts because she was a very active Seventh Day Adventist, but she was willing to try to read it. We were about to wrap up, when the Spirit told me that I knew I should invite her to be baptized. I invited her, and she said that when she knew it was true that she would be! It was such a great experience, and I know we had that opportunity because the Lord recognized our efforts. Later on in the day, we were able to make all of our other appointments and had fun with the Spirit.

I am personally not a fan of shots. I had a bad experience when I was younger, and I tried to get over my aversion to needles in college by donating blood, but when I get out of the habit it becomes hard again.  Flu shots are definitely not my favorite either. However, it was a rule in this mission that everyone had to get one, and I tried to be the happiest I could be. The only way people could tell was when I was getting it done, Sister Choi, the Mission President's wife looked at me and said, "Well Sister Allred! You look grumpy!" To say the least I was not pleased, but I persevered. What happened was later, because we had to wait in line at the Church with all of the other missionaries and then get stuck in an hour and a half of traffic, by the time we got home Sister Wawro and I both felt ill. She recovered faster than I did, but even after the lunch hour was over I still felt very, very nauseous. Sister Imai was worried and so she called the mission nurse and told me that we would be staying inside. Then, something in my mind clicked and I remembered President CHoi telling a story from his mission when he was sick, and still went out and the Lord blessed him. I said a quick prayer, and I felt if I did the same we would be blessed. So, we headed outside and I was still not well, but Sister Imai ran into a young man who was walking by at that very moment, and he is now a new investigator! I knew that there was a blessing from obedience, and it was pretty instant. Even though I did not really feel better until many hours later, I knew that the Lord recognized our sacrifice and wanted to bless us.


This Sunday was a Member Missionary Fireside, and all of the missionaries had to learn music and be in the choir. I was sitting in the back when again, I did not feel well. I was really nervous, but did not want to leave. Then, the ASL Elders came up and asked if I could help interpret that meeting. I was a bit hesitant because I was not feeling well, but I wanted to serve so I did. IT WAS WONDERFUL! I loved it so much. My nausea died down and I was able to interpret for a few of the women's testimony, and then for fourty-five minutes I interpreted for a deaf-blind man named Roy. He was a sweetheart, and told me his conversion story. Can I just say- I love interpreting! It is something that I have really started to enjoy on my mission. Especially for deaf-blind people. I think it was adorable- after the fireside, Elder Rainey had to do something so he handed Roy to me. Straight away from touching my hands, he smiled and signed, "Sister Allred! I missed you!" It was so precious, he recognized me from my hands alone! I felt the significance of that moment teaching me a lesson. Who's hands would I recognize? Definitely my parents, and probably my sibling's. However, just by touch I don't think I would be able to for anyone else. Then I thought of our Savior, and how important it is to recognize His hands in our life. I have been thinking a lot about it, and I think that will be a new goal for me to do.

Well, I just wrote the subject for this email and suddenly got sad :( So I will not dwell on the fact it was my last, but rather on what was discussed. 

It was a great opportunity to get all caught up with all of the protocols and standards in this mission. I love being here, and President Choi is wonderful! Something that was very much emphasized was the difference between sacrifice and obedience. What the Spirit taught me is that sacrifice (in a mission sense) is passive, and not active. We all decided to give certain things up when we decided to serve- school, family, the world. But what matters right now, is being active, which is exact obedience. I have gained a testimony of exact obedience on my mission and now love it :) This presentation by President Choi was impressive though. He just put everything into context, and honestly it just makes sense. He is a great teacher and I am honored to be here in this mission to be tutored by him. 

One of my favorite experiences was this last week with a member named Nate. He is really fun to be with, and I felt impressed that we needed to commit him to comply with one of the mission rules- to sing hymns in the shower. You should have seen his reaction! He totally did not want to, but after being coaxed for a while he reluctantly agreed. Nate is a champ, and did it for quite a few days this week! 

On Wednesday I was able to go out to lunch with Irene- a friend from High School! I love her so much, and it was great to catch up. Also she is willing to meet up occasionally and help us with our Chinese language learning. She is from Taiwan, and so might as well get tutored from the expert!

We had a miracle this week. We have been needing a new binder for our Area Book, and the Zone Leaders had not been able to get it to us yet. So, we pestered them a little bit, and they told us if we were able to get 5 member present in a lesson with an investigator that day,  they would hand deliver it. Well, little did you know but I have developed skills with bartering on my Mission (I have been to China town quite a bit here ;) and so we bartered them down to three. Which by the way, would still be a complete miracle We knew that we could get at least one that night, but had no idea for the others. So, we were trying to find a member that was hanging around in the Institute to go out contacting with us, when we walked into the Library and met Shaelee. She is a non-member, and wanted a Church tour! So of course we took her on one, got to know her, and we were going to end in the Chapel. Well, right at that moment Michael (who was the perfect person to be friends with Shaelee) is walking by with his long-board and so we invite him to come along. Michael bore a pure and perfect testimony to her, and the Spirit was very strong. Shaelee wants to learn more, and we are so excited! Total miracle that we met her, and then the fact that someone was able to walk by, with time to be in the lesson, and who was as perfect as Michael? God's hand everyone, God is involved in our lives!

Michael and Shaelee are very hipster, and so Sister Wawro and I had a good time after the lesson trying to explain what a hipster was. "They like to wear ugly things, and try to be original but are really just like everyone else... because everyone else is doing it." "Seesters, that does not make sense!" "We know Sister Imai, we know!"

We had a great lesson with Makaela this week. First off, she surprised us on Tuesday night by just showing up at the Institute with her boyfriend- best surprise ever! We had a lesson scheduled but at least we were able to visit with her. Then, in our lesson it turned into a lesson entirely on the Atonement. I love the feeling when I know that the Spirit is talking, and not me. Normally afterwards I can only kind of remember what I said, and mostly I just remember the feeling of peace and warmth. I love being an instrument in the Lord's hand and being able to share personal experiences to help strengthen others.

Chinese- eeeehhhhhhhh baby steps! I can now pray, and ish understand. In Mandarin Sunday Schoool, Elder Zhao would look back occasionally and just giggle because he thought it was so funny how I did not understand anything. At one point in the lesson, they asked in English if I had anything to add to the attributes of Christ that was not written up on the board. In reply, I said, 'Well, if I could understand what was already written up there then I would totally share something very insightful buuuuuuttttt....." and then all of the Chinese students just laughed. Good thing they all understand English! 

We had a great experience with an investigator named JW. He is getting a Master's in Music at the University of Washington, and is very sensitive to the Spirit. He actually called out to us on the street on our way to an appointment, and we were able to set up a time to meet with him. For our first lesson, we decided to teach the lesson through song. A particular highlight was to the song, "A Child's Prayer". I had remembered your challenge to us at the New Missionary Training Meeting to use this song, and the result was quite wonderful. We were on exchanges with Sister Brooksby at the time, and so she was playing the piano while Sister Wawro and I sang it for him. The music was out and we invited him to sing along when he was comfortable. After one time through, he asked if we could sing it two or three more times! He said that he felt, "moved upon by the Holy Spirit!" We testified to him that he was feeling the Holy Ghost because it's role is to witness of truth. JW truly can receive answers to his prayers, just as it promises in that song. We sang it another time, and he was overjoyed. Another moment was when we sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer". Before we sang, Sister Wawro explained the story, and recited the First Vision. Then, I played the piano while Sister Wawro sang a solo for the first verse, and we all joined in on the remaining verses. JW was visibly touched and we are looking forward to setting a date with him next time we meet. 

Our service this week was editing English papers for the Chinese students. Ha! It has been so long since I have done anything like that, but it was a great refresher. It just cracks me up that that is what we are allowed to do as service here. I worked on one girl's essay for about 3 hours! But, it is now finished and she has her application to the Public Health program submitted :)

Moment on Saturday with a member "Eh, after about 45 min I just mentally went, 'I'm counting this as service!' " 

Yesterday girl in the YSA Ward got her call to Jacksonville, FL where Sister Munro is! I told her to email Sister Munro and get all of the details. There, one of the Ward members brought his friend Abdul, and Abdul wants to meet with us. Poor guy, he has been in the 

funny moment:  Sister Imai tells everyone that I am old. She goes up to people and says "she is thirty!" "twenty SIster Imai, twenty!!"

teaching Sister Imai how to say her R's. One of the cutest things ever!

Love you all! Have a great week!

This week has been incredible!  I truly have loved being in the SYSA 2nd Ward. I have so many things to say, that I don't know how I can summarize them for you. I truly cannot stop singing the praises of this Ward. I have been on a lot of college Campus's on my Mission and have been to a lot of YSA Wards, but this Ward is the best, hands down. I am not just saying that either, it truly is impressive. I think it all starts with the Bishop, Bishop Chan. He is young, about mid-thirties and a business man. He is so loving and kind, and truly cares for his Ward Members.

 I think the next factor is that there is outstanding strong leadership from the Young Single Adults. Most of these people are working for Amazon or Google and have graduated from Ivy Leagues and BYU. They are all driven to succeed and have a drive to do the Lord's work. I think a perfect example was Ward Council yesterday. During Ward Council Bishop Chan moved the meeting right along, got things done, and encouraged the leaders to have that love for the new Ward Members. He started out stating what the purpose of Ward Council was, and that it was to talk about individuals. This was the first Sunday of the new Semester, and he had already met with all of the new Freshman. School has only been in for three days!!!! He went through all of them, stated what their needs were, how we could help, and who he thought would get along with who. He was moving along so fast I almost did not have enough time to write it all down. Man, I loved it! Fast paced, discussing things effectively- I am just a huge fan. 

 Bishop Chan made an effort to come up to all of the visitors and investigators before Church started, and it impressed me. Really, I will now LOVE and look forward to bringing investigators to Church because I know they will feel welcomed and encouraged. Because this is such an awesome Ward, it is even more encouragement for me to try my best to find people through our own efforts and to help the Ward Members to find people for us to teach. Right now our Area is in a building period where we are putting in place initiatives and procedures so that we can be more successful and efficient in the upcoming weeks with both of these Areas of finding.  

One of those initiatives is to have a Member Area Book. The idea is that we are going to have lessons with Members who need help and encouragement doing missionary work. Some do not know how to, so we are planning on role playing with them different scenarios and giving them tips. We will then keep track of their progress in an Area Book, and have the main  focus be if they kept their commitments to extend commitments. We want them to know that they succeed when they invite, so that is what we will praise them on. Also, there are quite a few returned missionaries here who are on top of it, and just need extra encouragement. When presented, the idea of additional accountability and quick weekly follow-ups have been excitedly received, and so we know from this idea that it will help the conversion of these members and will hasten the Lord's work in this portion of His vineyard.  

My companions are truly incredible. I love Sister Imai. She is such a sweetheart, and a great cook! She has such a desire to serve others and to share this Gospel. She is wonderfully patient with Sister Wawro and I, and is a great missionary. Sister Wawro has been a joy to have! I hope she never gets her Visa to Taiwan! Well, I know it will have to happen eventually, so I guess I hope I can have her for as much of the Transfer as possible. She has a way with people and to truly discern their needs. She also has a wonderful background with Public Relations and is similar to me in different ways, and is a great support system for the work. She has taken the front with inviting and talking to investigators and members! I wish I had been as awesome as she was at the beginning of my Mission.

Working on Red Square has been great, and well, I find that I personally need to find more ways to have conversations with Street Contacting. Needless to say, I cannot just bring up Church History and have people want to listen to me anymore like in Nauvoo! One of the ideas is to have a survey that we ask students to fill out, and to have the questions relate to religion. I also am a believer in that all of God's children need the opportunity to hear God's word, so right now we are also looking for more opportunities to possibly proselyte on Seattle University campus. 

So right now we are teaching a lot of the Chinese, and well, haha, my Chinese is very, very basic. I can now say , "Hello, I am a missionary and my name is Sister Hong.", which means red :) I can -ish now understand some Chinese because Sister Wawro says certain phrases so often, but man it is a totally different world! I am at least glad that we can still teach English people otherwise there would be no hope for me.

So going from talents I do not have (speaking Chinese), there is actually a big focus in this mission about using your talents to share the Gospel. Well, for our Area, it is actually HUGE!~ It covers all of downtown Seattle and the U-District, and five universities. The hard thing is that we are not allowed to proselyte on two of them, and the big winner is U of W because there is a big commons Area where we are allowed to proselyte and there are so many Chinese people who attend U of W. We have gone and Street Contacted these past few days, which pretty much means gone and stopped people on their way to class, and get insulted in random languages :) . Well, Sister Wawro and I just felt that there had to be a better way, and so we are putting together our talents for making things happen. Sister Wawro and I both think the biggest problem is that we are stopping people on their way to a destination, whereas we need to become the destination. We want to put together a booth for campus to get traffic and to peak people's curiosity. We have even brainstormed ideas for themes for different days, that way the booth is constantly changing. We have met with our Ward Mission Leader, and another SYSA's Ward Mission Leader, and now have an appointment with the Institute Council to talk about it on Friday. The main consensus is that the booth needs to be run by students, and the booth needs to be focused on drawing people in to have gospel conversations. It takes about 7 exposures to have someone think about an idea, and twice that to start to form questions. We want this booth to be an exposure or a place to reap the rewards! We found out that the Institute had put on a booth before, but it did not have a clear vision and it was not done consistently. So, now the vision is that the booth will attract the elect people that are willing to learn more about the Gospel, and not just about the Institute. Then, when they get there, and if they are interested, the students can introduce us since we will be right there on Red Square! We are very excited and so far it has been well received, and so hopefully I will have more to report on next week.

So, a MIRACLE happened this week! I was walking along U-Dubb (University of Washington) campus and Sister Wawro and I needed to find the Administrative building. We felt that we should go up to a group of students and ask them for directions, and so we did, and I looked across the group, and BAM! I saw Irene Shieh from Timpview! We were lab partners in AP Biology, and we were pretty good friends! It was a total blast from the past, and we just ran towards each other and hugged each other for the longest time. Her friends and Sister Wawro had no idea what was going on, so Sister Wawro just started talking to Irene's friends in Chinese. Irene and I caught up, and it was just so good to see her. She is from Taiwan, and is the cutest thing! She was the person who explained to me about Chinese characters and a lot about the culture my Senior Year of High School.  She is doing so well, and is just a great person. I am going to try to invite her to General Conference and watch it with her this next Saturday. 

So we are emailing with the other Elders in our District today, and I have to quote the District Leader, Elder Carpenter. First off, he is hilarious! He has wit, which I truly appreciate. He tries to build up people, and is just an adorable little Elder. So, needless to say, a great District Leader. He just barely said aloud, " Well, my Grandma sent me an email that said that if we truly do not develop and use our talents for the furthering of the Lord's kingdom, we will inherit the Terrestrial Kingdom......... Well, good thing we are working on the Booth!" Haha! I love it! 

This week has been awesome, and I have loved it! Seattle is crazy beautiful, I love the city, and the members rock. I hope you all have a good week!

My goodness, where to start. Well, last week I was still in Nauvoo, and had some incredible experiences with my beloved Sister Mills. 

Since it was my last week, I was tying up all of my loose ends in Nauvoo and I feel like I was blessed, big time. All of my investigators answered their phones and kept their appointments this week! It was great! I am so thrilled and excited to see how my investigators are progressing, and I love it :) Some of them will have to wait to be taught again until I get home, but I was able to help a few agree to local missionaries. 

One experience in particular was with a friend of Sister Russell's, my old companion. He was really struggling, and she asked me to call him. It was an incredible experience! I felt the Spirit just rush through me, and felt the words come to my mind. I know that my lesson with him was inspired, and that as he continues to pray he will find strength. For this man, his main problem was that he was taught how to pray by the missionaries, but not taught how to pray to find answers to his everyday problems and questions. By doing this and turning to the Lord with every thought, he will become a powerhouse!

On Tuesday Sister Mills and I helped Sister Etherington set up the big map that shows where all of our investigators are in the US. It was so cool to see all of the pins of the people the 12 of us are teaching! Also that night we helped Seniors make Mormon.org profiles and to make personal pass-along cards. These Seniors are so cute, and I miss them so much! 

On Thursday it was Sister Kupfer's birthday, so we all went over to their house early in the morning and woke her up with singing and making breakfast for her. Later that day, I was in Sarah Granger Kimball Home. It was a wonderful last site to be with Sister Mills, and we had a great time scampering about and having fun. I just love talking with her, we build each other up and help the other create high expectations for our lives. Since it was my last week I was able to serve in two sites, the other one was the Log School House on Exchanges with Sister Hintze. She is so bubbly and we had a great experience with a woman who was obsessed with David Archuleta!

Saturday was a packing day, and I got it all done in a pretty short amount of time! I realized though that if I am left alone in a room I have zero motivation to pack, so I had to have Sister Mills in there to just sit on the bed and to cheer me on. Ha! She was so funny, she was really tired because she had been cleaning and cooking, and so she was just flat on her back, occasionally responding in order to help me. What a sweetheart!

Sunday was a beautiful day. It was Sister Morales's birthday, and so Sister Mills and I had planned a lunch for everyone while I was at my Departing Interview. I loved that time to be with President Gibbons, and I am so grateful for my time here in Nauvoo. It is also Parker's birthday, and so I thought it was fitting that in honor of him, my last day would be spent in Carthage. Parker always loved Joseph Smith, and during my last tour of Carthage I thought of Parker's testimony of the Prophet. How I love being in that special, sacred place!

On Monday morning all of the Sisters came to say goodbye, and uhhhhh it is so hard! I love all of them so much and they are such incredible missionaries. It made it a little bit better knowing that I would be able to see Sister Hansen, Hughes and Mills in three months, but it will be a while for the other ones. They all are just so precious and dear to me, I love them with all of my heart!

So Sister Etherington, President and Sister Gibbons and I piled into the Mission President car and headed for St. Louis. We headed straight for the airport for Sister Etherington's flight, and I was able to walk all the way with her till Security. She started crying as she hugged me which was difficult to say the least! I love her so dearly, so I tried to maintain my composure as I said goodbye. Three months seems like too long till I see her again, but then at the same time it is not long enough for my Mission! I need longer!

After we dropped off Sister Etherington, President Gibbons, Sister Gibbons and I went to see the St. Louis Arch, or the Gateway Arch. It was really cool, and we went all the way to the top in the little elevator pods. Personally, I feel that it was cooler to look up at it than to look down from the top because the arch is so beautiful. Little did I know, but the Arch is just to commemorate the start of "The West", and below it is a museum. It was great too look around and then at my request we went to the St. Louis Science Museum. I wish the art museums would have been open, but it was fun to play with the science experiments and stuff. Not quite as good as the Exploratorium in San Francisco, but pretty close! We then drove to the St. Louis Temple to walk around, and we ended the night at the cheesecake factory. I love being with the Gibbons so much! They are simply delightful and I really enjoy their company. 

Then, Tuesday morning I got up bright and early, and went onto a plane! First flight was not too bad, the lady next to me was quite engrossed with the work on her laptop. The second flight was wonderful. Sat next two two men, one was a retired minister for a Lutheran Church up in Everett. With all of his stories, he always included how much people weighed, it was kind of funny. The other man who sat next to me was a man from Tulsa, OK and was headed to Seattle to spend time with his brother. It is also quite funny because the exact area of Seattle he was heading to was the one I am now assigned to! Which leads me to my next story....

So I am in a trio with Sister Imai, (like ee-mai), from Osaka, Japan who has 5 weeks left, and Sister Wawro (like Zorro with a W) from Dallas, TX who is a visa waiter for Tai Chung, Taiwan Mission who has only been in the field for one day! Kind of ironic that I know I am only here for three months, but I am the one person in the companionship who will be here the longest! We cover one of the YSA Wards for the University of Washington. It is right next to downtown Seattle, and it is beauuuuuuutiiiiiiiful!

I truly could not be happier. I love YSA wards! Also, here is the best part- it is a Chinese ward. WAAAAT? It is though! So half of the ward is Chinese, so it looks like Sister Allred here will be learning a little bit of Chinese in Seattle :) They are not changing my official Mission language from ASL to Chinese, but I am expected to learn as much as I can. Apparently most of our converts will be Chinese because they are so prepared and ready to learn the Gospel! Also, turns out I will be able to use my ASL here too. If there are any deaf students, I get dibs on teaching them :) Also there is an ASL branch close by (as in an hour by car), but they already have 2 companionships assigned to them. Turns out that those companionships are all Elders though, so if they need a Sister to be taught she will drive to me and I will teach her. Crazy right? Apparently though because everyone feels sorry for me that I will not use my ASL as often, I do get first priority though for interpreting Member Missionary Firesides which is for the whole Stake. Yay!

So for my Ward, Sacrament Meeting is all in English, and then there are separate classes for Chinese and English.... or at least that is what I think. Honestly, I am not the person to ask, I literally have not even been in this Area for 24 hours yet.... sooo..... this information is likely to change as I get to know more :) 

I am loving being here in the YSA 2nd Ward. It is delightful! I am thrilled to be with such wonderful companions as Sister Imai and Sister Wawro. I have a passion for working with students, and I feel blessed to be able to be here and to make connections. 

Sister Wawro and I have already had an experience with teaching someone. Last night we were busy changing apartments and did not have any appointments, but we were able to find a person to teach. Sister Wawro, Imai and I were outside of the first apartment, waiting for the other Sisters to  come by with the car. Because there are so many people here, we split up to talk to as many people as we can. To be honest, it just feels like the Visitor's Center in Nauvoo during Pageant time! It is about the same amount of people that reject you (it was always awkward when members rejected us, so at least now with non-members it is somewhat expected) and the same amount of people that will talk with you.  We talked with everyone that came by, and Sister Wawro and I met a man named Abraham. Well, it is pronounced Abraheem because it is Arabic. He is from Egypt, and is actually a master's student that has a job teaching the Islamic Studies at the University. He is quite a liberal Muslim, and Sister Wawro and I were impressed with his pursuit of knowledge. I was also very surprised with the confidence and natural teaching ability that Sister Wawro has. She is a powerful teacher and it is natural for her to ask inspired questions. It has been one of my goals to teach someone who is Muslim, so check off the list! Huzzah! We are going to meet with him next week and talk about the Book of Mormon. Abraham is already crazy prepared, and so I am excited to see how this turns out. 

I am also so grateful for Sister Imai. I am so happy that I am with an obedient companion, and especially with someone so sweet. She is a delight to be around, and a great example. I am so glad that I have someone this loving to be able to show me the culture of the mission and to help me to have a great start. This mission is quite different than the others I have been in. As in there are little rules for every way of life (like literally everything!), and part of me feels like it might be a tad excessive, but mostly I am on board. I love being obedient and doing my best, so at least now I have more ways to measure and record how I am doing my job. 

This morning was the first day of classes for the U of W, and so campus was busy! It was great, and we went to a place called Red Square. It is a commons area that had red brick, and that is where we go contacting people. I am personally more of a fan of doing member missionary work and having the members find investigators for us (leads to more lasting and natural conversion) but I think it will be fun to occasionally meet people there. I have already made a few connections and I am excited to see how this will work out. Also, it does rain as much as people say- my shoes are already soaked! Looks like I need to go get some rain boots!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Families

Isn't it a blessing that families can be together forever?! 

My siblings and I

Love you bud, 

Happy Birthday Parker

Well, yesterday was quite a surprise!

I was just doing my thing, minding my own business at lunch when the Assistants called and told Sister Mills and I that our Outbound Assignments had just barely come in, and that we would be meeting at the Seventies Hall (the first MTC) with all of the Sisters so they could all participate. 

I have been trying to put my Outbound Assignment out of my mind because....well... I don't want to go! I have loved being in Nauvoo so much and the thought of leaving this place and leaving my Sisters and the Seniors is just too much to bear. However, I know that this is Heavenly Father's will, and the fact that I am leaving will make me appreciate the time I am here even more. 

So, at 7:30 all of the Sister Missionaries and a few Senior Missionaries met at the Seventies Hall with our Mission President. The Assistants and President gave us a few words of wisdom, and then told us where we were going.

So the Sisters that were getting our calls is the original trio: Sister Etherington, Sister Munro and myself! We have been best friends since the MTC, and we have loved being so close together this past year. So it is fitting that we got our Outbound Assignments at the same time, together!

Sister Etherington's first Outbound was in the Iowa Des Moines Mission, and served in a little town called Lamoni in Iowa. Lamoni is a college town for a Community of Christ University. (Community of Christ was formerly known as RLDS, a break-off from the Church). She got her second Outbound Assignment to Ventura, California!!

Sister Munro served her first Outbound in the Texas Fort Worth Mission in a little town called Venus and worked with a Ward there. She got her second Outbound Assignment to Jacksonville, Florida! She is just meant for the South! :)

Well now we get to me....... *drumroll*..... as you all know I served my first Outbound in the Idaho Pocatello Mission, three months in Rigby and three months in Rexburg. I have such fond memories from those Areas. Well, for my second Outbound Assignment, Heavenly Father is sending me back out West- 

to the WASHINGTON SEATTLE MISSION!!!!!!! 

I am so excited! I am thrilled to be able to go to Washington! I looked up the Mission Boundaries and it is actually pretty small- mostly the city of Seattle and the surrounding cities/suburbs. There is a little part of rural Washington, but only a little bit. It looks like there are three or four other missions in Washington that cover the other parts, so during my three months in the Washington Seattle Mission I will be close to Seattle!

If you want to look at the mission boundaries (or really any other mission boundaries too) just go to lds.org and log into your account, then go to maps. Missions should show up as an option on the left-hand side, and you can look at all of the missions in the world!

I am so excited for this next chapter of my mission, but it will be bittersweet to leave. I have loved Nauvoo so much, but I know that I am meant to go to Seattle. So, the outline of my Mission will be:

Nauvoo- 3 months

Pocatello Mission- 6 months

Nauvoo- 6 months

Seattle Mission- 3 months

That's all for now! President gave us a few minutes to email everyone the good news, and my time is now but later on today Sister Etherington will email the video of us getting our calls, and hopefully that can be put up on my blog so everyone can see it. 

Have a great week! I will talk to you guys next Monday!

Sorry, this is going to be really short! I was working on school stuff, but I still want to send this out so I will remember this week!

This week has been awesome! Had some great teaching time with a recent convert who I met on Pageant grounds. She now goes to BYU and is truly incredible. She has a wonderful testimony, and shared with me her conversion story. I felt like I have learned so much from her, and I am continually impressed with her desire to do good! 

I gave a tour to three blind people of the women's garden. The Women's Garden is full of statues of women in different phases of their lives, and it was beautiful to see the way they felt the art, and responded to my reading the scriptures that were associated with them. Two of them were non-members and really enjoyed it!

On Satuday, two little girls who's first language is French just attached themselves to me for two and a half hours. Their names were Melanie (5) and Lorena(3). They were always holding my hand, wanting me to play with them, or watch them do something! It was very cute! I actually really liked it, and when they left, Melanie looked up at me in the eyes and said in her cute little french accent, "Promise that you won't forget me!!!" Oh my heart melted, it was so cute!

Sister Mills and I independently felt like we needed to stop by the local ice cream shop on Saturday night during weekly planning. Funny, neither one of us wanted some but felt like we needed to be there. Ended up meeting a man that is going through a divorce and teaching him a very spiritual lesson, right there in the middle of the shop. Really wonderful experience

Had Zone Conference last night, it was all about marriage, and divorce. Interesting, and also gained a lot of insight for what I want my eternal marriage to be like.

Sister Mills is a doll, and I love her a lot. 

It was a great week! I love you all!