"Is the Way I'm Living Making My Heavenly Father Proud?"

Mornin!
It is so weird that this transfer is already over! It was slow, but yet so fast! Time is so weird and it is really important to make the most of the time we have. I've reflected on life before the mission haha and realized how poorly I used my time, at times I did things that were good, and sometimes things that were better, but I now feel I have a better understanding how to use my time best! It is still something that I am definitely working on but I'm glad that I have been able to improve while being here. But I am grateful for this next transfer I've already been thinking about some goals to set and pray that I can now make this transfer the best of my mission. I thought to
myself this morning, I cannot believe I only have 2 transfers left that is crazy!!! Then I thought, what if instead of having 13 transfers in my mission if I had only 2 transfers to serve what would I do with that short amount of time? It has really got me thinking how I can serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength these next two
transfers:) I just love being a missionary so much!!!!! I loved hearing about nana and gramps 60th wedding anniversary and that is still sooooo cool that Elder Emery could be there. The pictures and everything are so motivating to me our family is a part of this gospel and I get to be hear serving in texas!! This gospel is true and it changes lives and blesses families so much. I love it!!

Cute District :)

This week we saw jerry a couple times after one of the lessons he said
that he stayed up until 430 talking to his mom about gospel subjects!
He really liked it and we read alma 34 with him and it really hit him
too. He has some medical problems and was in so much pain he wasn't
able to attend church yesterday but said we are still good to see him
tonight. He has a meeting set up with the bishop on wednesday too so
that is way way good!! Kelly and Sav came to church and are doing
well, kellys fire has seemed to die down a bit, shes reading the bom
and still doing everything but she doesn't want to set a day for her
baptism or doesn't seem to determined to quit smoking like she was a
couple weeks ago, but yesterday in gospel principles we talked about the wow and it was a really good lesson so hopefully that will help
her:) I"m really excited for her to attend stake and general conference coming up that will be great!!

In Azle on exchange.  I want to live here.  Pool and lake in the backyard :)

Mirror Selfie hahahaha

So last week I think I told you that we met Tori who is living at Madisons house ( a Less active) well we saw her twice this week and she is amaaaaazing!! We had given her a plan of salvation pamphlet on
sunday and a mormon.org card when we came tuesday she had read the pamphlet and had looked up her questions on mormon.org!!! We went over everything and she said it all made sense! We shared the book of
mormon with her and she said she would totally read it! She then said the closing prayer and in the prayer asked to know when it would be her time to be baptized. And we didn't even invite her to pray for that! Sister Carbno saw her on exchange on friday too but I guess it was kinda a mad house so they couldn't talk too much but she should be at church next week! Also we sent her an email with the bom answers questions of the soul questions and references and she looked all of them up!!! And Madison dug up her quad and is getting involved now
too! ah I've only seen them twice but I just love them so much already!!!! We also met Kenzie yesterday she recently gained a faith in Christ just a year ago and attends one of the big nondenominational mega churches but accepted a copy of the bom and a return appointment she said she wakes up at 5 every morning and studies scriptures for and hour and she said she was really excited to read the bom this morning!!! So cool!!

Me thinking about myself living in bed bugs. . . . 

Also yesterday we visited a LA teresa and she usually doesn't really like us to talk to her about the gospel and the Book of Mormon hah she's so funny but we shared a cool story with her and she went and found her dusty old quad and we talked a lot about reading the book of mormon and she texted us last night and said that what we talked about
really hit her and is really getting her to think "is the way I'm
living making my Heavenly Father proud?" it was the sweetest message to receive and to see her desire to change. But isn't that a powerful question to ask? If we could always remember that and ask ourselves that every day that would be awesome.  I'm totally going to do that now. :)

Stinker!

Love y'all!!  Sister Wells

The Work Is Great Here but We Have Bed Bugs!

This week was quite eventful but very good!! You know the saying goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite? Welllll Let's just say our neighbors are not just infested with bed bugs, but they are TAKEN over by bed bugs!! But I'll get to that later, I'll just start from the beginning, we saw Jerry on Monday evening and had the

Pre bed bug steam and spray.  Lots of work!

best member come with us, she is a convert of about 4-5 years and her testimony is very strong about tithing and actually is in a very similar situation as jerry with finances and what not and past jobs, it was amazing, the spirit was definitely there and I think he is understanding the why. I was thinking awhile ago about how I feel bad telling him he has to pay tithing, but then I stopped myself and said no I should be glad to teach him about this, because oh what wonderful blessings he will see in his life as he does so. His mother who has cancer right now sat in both of our lessons this week and she asked for a priesthood blessing so yesterday before church, Bro Sanders our ward mission leader and Bishopric gave her a blessing and then she stayed for church, I think she liked it! We will see them again tonight, so we will follow up on everything. We are going to be teaching about prayer, the who, what, when, where, why and how! Because we really feel that is what he needs, he isn't really praying specifically for answers to questions and for help we feel and not sure if he recognizes answers to his prayers. We pray that this will help him and his mother yvonne to progress.

Our apartment

Wednesday was the day we found out that we had bed bugs because of our neighbors.  So that day was kinda crazy! We were talking to our other neighbor the night before sharing our cupcakes and noticed she had similar bites to us so we went to the office and they checked all our apts they said our other neighbor you could press the mattress and millions of bed bugs came out!!

Lil stinker on my towel ewwwww

Cleaning up from bed bugs

And they are going through our walls! The office elders came to help and it seems to be helping, not so many

bites these last few nights!! Also we were able to see kelly and savannah and they are doing well, they didn't make it to sacrament yesterday but made it to the last two hours. Kelly has been reading the bom and the bible often which is sooooo awesome! And we made savannah a baptism calendar to prepare for the 12th to help her be prepared and remember to read and pray with her mom everyday!

Also president did come to all the missionaries apartments for interviews he is the BEST hopefully he didn't get bed bugs hahah. It was the greatest!

Interview with Pres at the Apt selfie with the zone leaders :) Love these people!

We met a lot of new people this week like every week and there are so many that seemed prepared but it is just so hard to get back and see them, they either aren't there or have to cancel. But, I know that they are in our path for a reason.  Saturday we did a lot of service! For a less active and also for a new referral we had received last week and yesterday carol our investigator came to church also! We are trying to be better in ward council by having specific things to ask different auxiliaries to do so we can help the people we are teaching. The longer I've been on my mission the more important I see the use of members! Like it's not the missionaries investigator, it's the wards investigator and they need to be involved as much as possible. So we are trying to work on that, I was spoiled in flower mound the member work is amazing so we are trying to get that here!!!

Got the clothes cleaned and dried and now 

they are frying in black trash bags in our car!
Bye bye bed bugs!

Also yesterday we visited a less active girl and her friend just moved in and is interested in questions that the plan of s alvationanswers so we gave her a pamphlet and we will see her tomorrow!!! Yay!! The work is great here I'm really starting to love it so much!!:)

And I love y'all so much!:) have a great week!

Sister Wells

Glen had these made for us.  Aren't they amazing?!  Love him!

Turn to the Lord in All Things - He Will Help

Howdy howdy!!

This week was a long week which definitely had its ups and downs, but
it turned out pretty well! So we saw Jerry a few times this week and
talked to him a lot about the fireside he really really enjoyed it! He
knows his next step is baptism, but he has some fears, he fears he
isn't really worthy, he doesn't feel that he has a place at our church
because the people are much wealthier than him and he feels that when
he is baptized he might not get the Holy Ghost because he isn't good
enough. He also doesn't really believe in the Old Testament. But his
biggest concern is tithing, he does not have much money at all and he
literally does not believe that he can pay it. He let us know all
these concerns yesterday after church, we are glad that he finally
told us, because he's been meeting with the sisters for months and
they could never really see what was holding him back from baptism. So
our prayers are really focused on Jerry and how we can help him. I
know that if he understands that the law of tithing is from God then
it will work out. We are teaching him tonight with a sister who is in
a similar situation who was baptized a few years ago but faithfully
pays her tithing, we hope her testimony can strengthen him and give
him hope as well. He is so sweet, but so quiet and I can see that he
doesn't have much joy in his life but I know the gospel will help him
have that and help his family too.

Mission Leader Council

We also saw Kelly and Savannah a couple times but they didn't come to
church yesterday, we are just hoping that they were in Arlington going
to church there with their friends that are members, they don't have
cell phones so it's hard! But they are great we read the BoM with them
and we talked to Kelly about her baptism and she said she wants to
have it on a day separate from Savannah but soon after, she said I
don't see any reason to wait, so we are hoping for end of September
beginning of October, hopefully we can set a solid date this week. We
have brought a lot of people to our lessons to help her feel welcomed
and fellowshipped and she really likes it and wants to start going to
zumba every tuesday with the ladies! Yay!! Love them both so much!!

We were able to ride our bikes this week since we got our bike rack!

This area is huge so we take our bikes to the area we want to be in and then bike around! I have loved using the LDS tools app to find less actives in an area, we are trying to visit all of the less active and part-member families right now and it's going pretty well!!

My comp had a little bit of a hard time this week, but I learned a lot from it, I have not prayed so hard and so sincere I don't think ever, I know that when we turn to the Lord in all things that he will help us. It was a learning experience for sure. Zone council was wonderful, I learned a lot and the spirit testified truths to me and called me to repentance and gave me answers to questions it was so great! And I love the missionaries here, I'm sad we are so far apart so we never see each other but they are all such an inspiration and example to me!!












We went on exchange with the sisters in chapel creek and I absolutely loved being with sister clark and sister foster there.

Sister Clark and Foster

They are in the ghetto part of fort worth haha I love it! So many crazies!!  It was so cool though because we were tracking and we shared a BofM with this guy and then we kept going and this other lady Lenicia was her name ha wanted a BoM and the other sisters didn't have one in their bag and I had just given mine away so we said we have one in our car can we go run and get it? she said yes I realllllly want that book!! Whoa so cool! So we literally ran in this heat to get it haha. So the lesson learned is to stuff as many copies of the bom in my bag:) I love the little miracles that are found in every single day!!

Saturday we drove to Euless for president to meet with Sister Carbno,
she has been soooooo much better since then. I'm really glad and I love her.:) Hopefully I can help her and be a better companion!! So the sad thing is I was supppppeeerr excited because there's this polynesian restaurant in Euless and I found the address and everything so we could go after her meeting with him and we get there and on Saturdays it doesn't op en until 4pm. So livid. I saw their menu and everything and it has all my favorite foods that sister tuna and I would always eat!!ahhh hahah

This dog is so weird, he loves me!

Anywho we met a lot of great people this week and have appts with them this week and we are super excited about that! We also have interviews with president this week and some exchanges with the sisters:) Goodness this transfer is just flying by!!

I love y'all so much!! Love to hear from you!! Thank you for your prayers:) They are felt!

Sister Wells

Everytime we go by this house I'm like what the weird who put a dragon thing in their yard....and can you see the hippo in the back right?? so odd.  The people are super Atheist, not super nice.

Lots of People To Meet With

Morning!

This week went really well, we were able to have a lot of members at
our lessons and were able to have some really great lessons. We saw
Jerry twice and we went over the restoration because it didn't feel
like he understood it well and doesn't believe joseph smith was a
prophet. I think because he just doesn't understand it. The lesson
went ok but we reviewed it again on thursday and it made a lot more
sense we invited him to read the pamphlet and to look at the
additional study in the back. We went over that with him when we saw
him. Asking the questions then reading the scriptures really seemed to
solidify it in his mind so it was great!!! He came to church yesterday
and I think what he needs is a really good fellowshipper, he has many
people he knows but he's really quiet he just needs someone to be by
his side so we will continue to pray about that to see who would be
best. He came to presidents fireside last night and loved it!!
Sooooooo glad that he was able to come, presidents inspired words
really hit his heart we are excited to see him tonight to hopefully
have him set a baptismal date!! Also kelly loved it as welll so glad
she was able to come too!! She is savannahs mom, savannah has a date
to get baptized in september and kelly has always just been thinking
that she was supporting her daughter and that she likes the church and
will come but that she wasn't going to join herself. But she started
crying before the meeting even started because she just felt the
spirit testify to her that this is important for her too. It's amazing
how the spirit really works on our hearts. I know she felt it very
strong last night and we are excited to see her and savannah again and
plan for her baptism as well!! So many miracles everyday:) At one of
our lessons we were teaching savannah the plan of salvation and kelly
was sharing her testimony with her telling her that she believed that
this plan was true and that this really is the true doctrine it was
really cool to see her share that with her daughter:) I love them!!!

The Lyfe

We met some cool people this week too. A lady that went to our church with her friend from 6th grade until she graduated and she had us ove rbut she just thinks her husband will be against it but she would love
to come to church with us! She said they are busy until september so we will look forward to seeing her then! Also a lady in our apartment complex approached us and wanted to know who we were and what we did
and so we talked and literally everything she was saying was music to our ears. She said I know that there are parts of the bible that are missing and I believe that there were other people in the world that wrote down records about God and Christ, not just in Jerusalem and we told her yes we believe that too!! We gave her a bom and invited her to learn more and hopefully we will see her tomorrow!! We also taught a less active family with a daughter who has a boyfriend who is not a member and I feel he has lots of potential and we also found another less active lady that said she is ready to come back to church!! It was really exciting! There are lots of great things happening here!

We also had MLC this week and we talked a lot about the doctrine of repentance we were talking about how we teach to our investigators and we talked about the different steps but noticed that we don't put our
focus on the Redeemer which is the most important part. When we think about the gospel of Jesus Christ it really is repentance. I will now teach it with Christ centered in my teaching! If we read in the scriptures over and over again we are commanded to declare repentance and nothing but repentance and faith in the Lord. We learned that in greek it is translated to metanoeo. meta means change noeo can mean nuse which means mind. or it can mean gnos which is knowledge. pneuma= air/spirit. pneo=breathe.

Hopefully that makes sense, it means that repentance brings a change
of mind, knowledge, spirit and even the way we breathe. That is pretty
powerful! Elder Nelson said that repentance is a lifelong curriculum
and is what brings real conversion! How true! I know that when I
remember to keep a repentant heart that I  feel closer to God. I'm so
grateful for repentance and how with it we access all of the
atonement, both the redeeming and the enabling power.

Not very nice people live on Wells Lane -- to bad! :(

Oh and yesterday I was able to see sister benson!!! I wanted to cry I miss her so much!! And the pratts were there too they sang for the musical number at the fireside they are amaaaazing singers and it was
the best seeing them again:) also my funny/weird story, so we were handing out the programs at church yesterday welcoming everyone and I see this guy walk in from the other door and I just smile and say hi he comes over to me and asks if I'm related to britney spears............... I said no and he was like oh ok and then kept walking. So weird, I think I should be offended by that hahahah but I
just keep laughing. Oh and this spanish lady yelled at us way hardcore this week and told us never to step on her property again and we said ok sorry is there anything we can do for you and she said noooo get
off my property never come back so I said we won't and she got even more mad it was crazy!! haha its great I love the crazies here:) Its been really hot but amazing!! I know the hearts of the people here are being prepared:)

Hurrah for Israel!!

Sista Wells

So many deer in their yard!

Lots of Little Miracles

Heyyo!!

This week was pretty good and I think that I'm starting to get used to the area!! We were able to see Jerry a couple times this week and he came to church yesterday!! We have been able to see where a lot of his concerns reside as we have been going over the baptismal interview questions, we can see where we need to reteach and help him understand the why of the commandments. On Friday after the lesson he said that he would pray about a day to be baptized!! The sisters have been working with him for awhile and he is so sweet and has an honest heart, I know that if he will pray more specifically about Joseph Smith and the BofM that he will find his answer and be prepared to enter the waters of baptism and receive the holy ghost and make it to the temple!! We have a couple lessons set up with him this week all at members homes so it should be really wonderful!!

Also Savannah and Kelly came to church yesterday again!! They also have been meeting with the sisters for a while but are progressing really well!!! Savannah has a date for September 12th to be baptized hopefully we can help Kelly be prepared for that date too, the only real struggle will be with the wow. We showed them the baptismal font yesterday with savannahs primary teacher and her daughter who was baptized just a few months ago and we talked about why we get baptized it was really cool and Kelly's husband Charlie came to that part too, hopefully his heart will continue to be softened throughout this process!! We also have a few lesson with them this week and are trying to find good families that would match well with them and that have kiddos savannahs age:) She is so sweet she is the one leading this family on this journey even though she doesn't really understand everything, she knows that it is important and I know the spirit is really working with her and really their whole family!!

Us Today - 8/3/15

So this week there were lots of little miracles, the ones I mentioned above but also others! On Wednesday sister carbno had a appt with the counselor in Carrollton, I was already a little antsy about it because it is an hour away and then its an hour appt then we have to drive
back and I just never want to waste time! But I know that she needed this. But the appt went over half and hour so we got caught in all the evening traffic so it took about 2 hours to drive home.... I felt so angry inside so I kept praying to have help to get rid of that so that
it wouldn't make the rest of the night bad because we had a few good lessons planned. Next thing you know I fell asleep for about 15 minutes in the car and when I woke up I felt so much more at peace. haha may seem like a weird way to answer a prayer, but I was so
grateful:)

Also yesterday I was fasting for a few different things, to help me love the area and be able to work well with the members and Sister Carbno and also for our investigators. Then bam, they all came to
church, and then last night we met soooo many solid people that sincerely have a desire to learn more about the gospel seriously we have a lot of return appts it's so cool! I feel that sister Carbno and I are starting to be more unified. I know that if we are one in purpose
then nothing can stop us:)

We had two exchanges this week one with the Fort Worth 5 sisters and one with Stephenville! I went to Fort Worth with Sister Sua'ava and it was great!! She is a doll and a hard worker, they are doing great work there! The zone leaders phone didn't get our text message earlier in the week asking for driving privileges for the exchange so we kept waiting to get them but they never texted us, so the day of we call them and they said they never got the message ahhh!! So we went on exchange but none of us could drive. It was actually really cool though because every single lesson we went to had a member there no matter what kind of lesson it was and then they would drive us to the next one! We were able to talk with everyone that was outside, it went really well.

I went to Stephenville with Sister Alo this weekend for the second exchange, goodness I love all these polynesians!! I just want to be one so bad haha! We had a great time the first night, visiting some part member
and less active families she loves the work, but on Saturday she felt sick so we had to stay inside basically the whole time. ! While sister alo was feeling sick I checked their area book and then sister carbno came and
we checked more, but they still aren't finished. I did it for 5 hours..... dreadful!! Its awful because in flo mo i already did all this and finished but weatherford is way behind... its ok though!!!

I'm getting lots of weird bug bites :(

Sorry i'm typing fast I can't remember any funny stories but I will try to think of some!! I love ya'll to death!!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sister Wells