It's Amazing to See How Many Times the Spirit Really Led Us

Mission Leader Conference

Morning! 
This week was good! We saw P and he came to the regional conference yesterday which was amazing and looooved it and to the fireside and looooved that. He said it was the greatest birthday!! We did family history with J and he is so excited to go to the temple next week! We have a few names already:) MLC was really great I learned a lot and am still trying to know how to be more effective in Ward councils, it's been going pretty well in this area! 

Love my Sister Benson!

Sister Robison

 We met a LA named R this week and she said she really has been wanting to come back to church and she wants her boyfriend C to learn more:) we are so excited about that! We are going to see them on Thursday! We have been actually finding lots of part member families recently which is great and they always want to have us over for dinner and we can teach them:) so many great opportunities! I'm excited to see them all this week! I don't have much to say, I just feel weird because of everything coming so close it's just not real but we are just working really hard and are busy busy everyday, I love it! It's amazing to look back at the week and see how many times the spirit really led us to see or help people:) I love being a missionary!

I love you!
Sister wells

P.S. Words sister Sua'ava from Hawaii says

Pecan she says it like peekin

Apricot like appricot

Audi like oddy

Hahahah I seriously am laughing all day with her:) I love it!

Glen sharing the BofM :)

4 Polys, haha

Short and Sweet

Morning!

This week has been great! We saw M a few times she invited us
to a Halloween party which was fun, she doesn't agree with the godhead
though so we are trying to help her understand! But like all her
friends and family are members we just don't really know why she
isn't! J is progressing still to go to the temple! P came to
church again and is studying the BofM he won't say yes to baptism
though because he just wants to take it one step at a time. We had
lots of service opportunities this week too! We worked at the manna
sale and it was neat because they made lunch for all the helpers and
we sat down with five or six ladies and they just said, tell me
something I don't know and we told them all about the church and what
we do, it was so good because we were able to clear up a lot of
confusion and misinformation that they had! I still love Sis Sua, she's
the best! Things are going great! And I'm thankful for interviews -- they were
amaaaaaaazing! I have been pondering about it a lot:)

Hurrah for Israel!

Sister Wells

Mama Bells waffles - she made me eat two - I'm dying right now.  Love her!

P giving more rides

Sleepy Sua

Having a Positive Attitude is Seriously So Powerful!!!

Morning!!

I love sister Sua'ava! We are working so hard but having so much fun!!! She had to go to the doc because she has acute bronchitis but she is doing better!! We saw C he is doing great with reading the BoM but not the wow he just doesn't understand it still ah its so hard but I think what he really needs to know is if Joseph Smith was a prophet so we are talking about prophets tonight! The Nevils are a part member family that we had dinner with last week and the wife said that she would like to take the lessons! Yay we are so excited!! We also saw P our new investigator and he is amazzzing!! we call him P with a Y. He came to church yesterday!! Has read the first 8 chapters of the BoM but he is seriously studying them!! He basically told us everything he had read and it took 30min on the phone because he went all in detail so good. He loved the church, he said he needed to go home and pray and ponder about it! He is just thirsting for knowledge wow so amazing!! We will see him on Wednesday again so excited!! K seems to have lost her fire, her date is not the 21st anymore, she said she wants to be baptized but she doesn't know when and we found out her and charlie aren't married.... so another thing to work through, they didn't come to church yesterday, I don't know what to do to get that fire in her again. I know that if she read the BoM she would feel that, but she doesn't its so hard but I love the family so much and they all came even charlie her husband to the trunk or treat on Saturday!! We had tons of people there it was amazing! We need to have more activities in this ward hopefully as we are making a ward mission plan, we will be able to plan that because we had a great turn out but this ward hardly ever has activities.

At Weatherford Lake

I didn't really realize until this week that the last couple months I wasn't as happy as normal, I mean I was happy and I was loving my mission, but this week I was just so happy, I felt like my normal self again, I was laughing and just not so stressed like I was before, and that is one goal I made for this transfer, was to not stress and worry about things that I can't control, but to just work my hardest and enjoy doing it, and I really do enjoy it! I look forward to everyday, for our appointments, for our service opportunities and for tracting!! All of it!! Having a positive attitude is seriously so powerful!! I'm thankful for Sis Sua for being so fun and calm all the time because she is helping me:) Oh and I'm in 3 Nephi now and my studies have been amazing lately there is so much goodness in the scriptures!!!!! Right now when I have thoughts that aren't kind about others or distracting I try to quote "let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly: then shall they confidence wax strong in the presence of God" it helps keep me focused and on track:)

 Story: at Sis H house(less active) she asks me randomly during the lesson. what is your first name? I said Sister. she said no tell it to me, I was intimidated so I told her and she just says "that's a man's name" like no hesitation no flinch, just blurts that out. ok hahahhaahah I died laughing!!! Her dog is the one in the vids i sent. ok then I left my Ipad at her house so we called her but we were at our apartment already and she said she was going to be gone the next day so she would put it into a plastic bag and stick it in the ice box outside so we could get it........(she's a lil old) hahah thank goodness she didn't do that!!!

Then remember the guy that asked if I was related to Britney Spears?? This time he asked if I was a Jessica Simpson look alike. Goodness!  Then he was naming all these movie stars he thought I looked like it was so weird then he said my beauty is overwhelming..... i just love Texas it's crazy hahahah ok bye love y'all

Sister Wells

Phyllip took us for a ride in this! :)

Goodbye Sister Carbno--Hello Sister Sua'Ava!

Good morning!!

This week was pretty good and crazy!! We were able to see  C and he has a date for November now!! He comes to church and he is cutting back on his wow problems but we pray he will be ready by that date!! J was interviewed by bishop for the priesthood and his temple recommend so yay!!! Also K came to church and we were able to have dinner with her at our ward mission leaders house on Tuesday before Sister Carbno left!! We also found 2 new investigators this week!! C and P! It was so amazing, we found them both by tracting but they seem genuinely interested, P was very interested in the Articles of Faith!! Sweet man. We also found a new part member family and we will be seeing them tonight for dinner! So excited to ask them to take the lessons!! 

Bye Bye Sister Carby

So Sister Simbeck was sick on transfer day but she is training so she was supposed to go get her newbie so I stayed with her a few hours in Stephenville and then Sister Sua'ava came with her comp Sis Harbour and switched and I took sister Harbour to my area, she is so cute and seriously her and Sister Simbeck are like the same!! They have fun personalities and like to work hard, I can tell that sister Harbour really did prepare for her mission and she is going to just be great!! I hope it was a good first day for her, we talked to lots of people and had a couple lessons:)

Poor Sister Simbeck -- she was really sick

Yesterday was kinda crazy because first I was asked to get up during sacrament meeting to share the mission goal of reading the BofM for 20 minutes everyday and then to invite each family to share 1 copy of the BofM before Christmas, that is our wards goal! Then we had to teach Sunday school because our teacher got sick the day before, and then we taught the lesson for the youth fireside last night about 21 tips, it was great and I know Heavenly Father really helped us, because we definitely didn't have too much time to prepare! So it was a fun busy day:) Sister Sua is awesome she is nice and likes to work hard and is just chill, and I love that I'm so glad to be with her for this transfer. I know it's going to be great because just these last few days were great being able to go go go and to laugh and have fun too:) 

This week as I read "Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord" it made me think about how I can improve so I can be more clean, we can clean our minds, our thoughts, our words, our deeds, our actions and so many things and I am working to be better so that I can more fully have the Holy Ghost to direct me. I'm grateful for the guidance that I do receive already, I'm grateful for a correct knowledge of the Godhead and of the gospel! There truly is no greater or joyful message than the one we share!!!

I'm also loving rereading the conference talks and I'm almost finished with the doctrine and covenants and the BofM again yay I looooove the scriptures!!!!

Last Zone P-day :(

Ok so last Sunday was fast Sunday and G who is an excommunicated member who is going to get rebaptized soon got up to share his testimony Sunday and I wish you just knew him but while he's walking up the aisles he's like shaking everybody's hand just random kids and teenage boys he doesn't even know hahah then shakes all of the bishoprics hands before he shares his testimony hahah and he is a Texas talker so it was a lil long but when he actually was bearing his testimony it was so sweet and powerful, a testimony always brings the spirit:) Then we saw him at the waffle house on Tuesday before Sis Carbno was to leave so we get there and he was late so this other old guy wayne starts talking to us about all these visions and angels he's seen and saying how the breastplate of Jacob? that has 10 tribes of Israel is in Texas and Texas is the New Jerusalem and all this oh man it was so interesting, Texas pride. haha anywho we start sharing with him what we believe and stuff and were able to place a BofM so yay!! Then G shows up and so we sit down with him and we have a member with us too and start talking to him and tell him we gave wayne a BofM so he yells to wayne come join us so now we have 5 of us sitting at a lil waffle house booth hahah and they both are Texas talkers so you can imagine the trouble we were having to talk. ha So finally we squeeze our way in and I start to read a sentence from a talk from conference out loud and it's saying something about not procrastinating and Martina one of the workers says "and that is hard not to do, I'm a procrastinator" so you understand that is all she said because she walked by right when I was reading that and G just says do you want a BofM? She was kinda caught off guard and says um sure so he tells Sister Carbno to give her so she gets one out of her bag but then glen just keeps going on and on about the BofM and how Joseph Smith used the urim and thummim to translate and he was trying to show her how Joseph would of done it by using a salt shaker.... too far.... hahah Finally we were able to share the BofM and she actually seemed really interested!!! I couldn't keep from laughing like the whole time ha I love G he is a great missionary he really just wants to share it with everyone because he loves it and I love that, he just goes a little crazy when doing so:) hah and my other story for the week is about Sis Sua, 

Hello Sister Sua'Ava!

So she is so scared of animals she told me that she is trying to like dogs but she thinks cats are just eww. Every house we go to she asks the people if they have pets and asks if they'll just put them in another room haha but we were knocking doors and there's always dogs in peoples yards so she walks really slowly never taking her eyes off them and when they get close to her she says "excuse me sir" or "can I help you?" it is so so funny!!

kk love y'all!!!

Sister Wells

They call me the horse whisperer :)  I love them -- Wish I could ride them!

I Think My Chest Was Going to Burst

Good morning!!!

WOW!! Yesterday's fireside was AMAZING!!! I think my chest was about to burst because of the spirit that was so strong at the fireside and because my heart was going to burst too because I just love everyone so so much! Hearing Bill and Sophie was so touching. I was just cryin like a baby last night, I love them and I love that they love the gospel of Jesus Christ. Bill told me he was going to write a book called The Unlikely Mormon, and that what he shared yesterday was just the first chapter. And then to hear another of my favorite people Bro Pratt share his testimony was so powerful, the Pratts and the Johnsons have changed Sister Benson's and my life forever. They are such great examples to me. Then the musical number was unreal too! It really felt that it was a praise and prayer to God, oh how I love music! And then Pres Ames' talk was amazing too! 

What a great day!  J and Brother Westbrook

 J's baptism was great!! It was such a wonderful wonderful day:) He invited all his family and I know they felt the spirit, his face was glowing and he said he felt the spirit so strongly all weekend and it was the best weekend:) While him and Bro Westbrook were changing Sis Carbno shared the restoration, it was beautiful, and we were able to share a BoM with his cousin afterwards!! And then shortly after was Tori's baptism, she is attending the YSA but we found and taught her the first few lessons and she is so special to my heart, she asked me to give the talk on baptism, it was such a great day!! And Carrol our investigator came to the baptism, he said that he's never witnessed one before he came to church yesterday too! Can't wait to ask him about everything tonight at our lesson, he is getting so close:) 

 This week was good! Sister Simbeck and I worked hard together while our comps were doing all their going home stuff and I'm excited for her to train she will be great I love her! I am soooooo excited to have sister Sua'ava as my companion wow my 3rd Polynesian it's like Heavenly Father knows that I love them so much:) I can't wait to get to work with her here and to work my very hardest this next transfer!! 

Hurrah for Israel!!! 

Sista Wells

Pillow that Sister Pratt made for me :)

Back

My God Goggles

Helloooooo!

So update, things are going well, J had his baptismal interview and is getting baptized on Saturday!! Tooo excited--then we are hoping to bring him and K to the fireside on Sunday which is going to be amazing!! Wanna know why?? Because pres pratt will be sharing his testimony and the pratts leave on their mission the very next day, and bill and sophie will be sharing their testimonies too!!!!!! yayya!! and then of course pres ames will be speaking as well!! We went on exchange with decatur yay we get to go there again! I used to go on xc there when I was in Denton so I saw one of their investigators again who is like my bff and I got on him because he still wasn't living the WoW but he set a goal to be baptized for Nov 6 so hope all goes well!! Sister Cisco my mtc comp is serving there, i LOVE her so it was so good to see her!! MLC was great! And so was general conference wow it was soooo great!! Just what I needed all my questions were answered even in ways that I didn't expect! One thing that really stood out to me was the talk when Larrry R. Lawrence said to pray and ask what is keeping me from progressing? I did that, I was told that I was selfish, and I am, so I am really thinking of ways to overcome this by seeing others as God sees them, I'm calling it my God goggles (because
I like to swim haha) and if I put those on everyday then I will see people through Gods eyes!! I wish I could just say all my favorite parts from the conference but that would take forever I really look forward to reading and listening to them again:) Seriously for missionaries we base our lives off of general conference like with
time and stuff it's so funny!! I'm also excited to start ponderizing even though Devin Durrant was a mish prez in dallas....fort worth is better!! My scripture this week is Mark 8:35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. What is y'alls?!!

Charlie had this pic when I sam him this week.  The good ole days in Denton :)

Ronnie took us for a ride around her land she's a LA, deer, horses, cows and armadillos.  Living the dream!

Update on k.. she's being flakey so no news. C is good!! He is going to come to J's baptism the first baptism he said that he will ever witness!! And he told us he guessed giving up beer wouldn't be that big of a deal!! Yayy!! Oh and tori the one we gave to the ysa is getting baptized on Saturday too booya!! And she asked me to give a talk so we get to be at that one too!! Good weekend up ahead!! Sis Carbno has all her going home stuff this week, exit interview, temple trip, so sister simbeck and I will be working so hard here in Hudson Oaks while our companions prepare to depart the beloved Texas!! Stinks for them haah!! Anywho cool/funny story, yesterday we were at T's (LA) for dinner and the subject got onto the word of wisdom and for some reason I thought that she lived the wow don't ask me why because she wears a budweiser hat all the time but I thought sister carbno said that she used to have issues with that but didn't anymore... but we start talking about it and I tell her the story about how Joseph came to asking the question and got his answer in d&c 89 how him and other leaders while meeting would be having tobacco and stuff and then emma would have to clean it up after and it was grosssss so joseph asked the Lord about it and now we know the wow!! And we talked about how back then people didn't know that smoking could kill you, but we know that now!! Then I told her maybe it's the same for coffee and tea, we don't see how it could really harm us now but maybe in the future we will see!! The Lord knows a lot more than we do! Then I keep going on, because I talk a lot ya know and she states that she doesn't think substances can take over our body so we don't have self control and she said she always fights people on that about the WoW and I told her well it doesn't really matter if you believe that or not but it's a commandment from God and if we don't keep our temples clean then the spirit cannot dwell within us, she was like whoa I never thought of it like that before! and anywho it was a good convo then we start cleaning up from dinner and T is opening up these bottles and pouring them down the drain and it's not until after that sister carbno tells me that those bottles were vodka!!! haha I'm so clueless and she said that her coffee maker was right on the kitchen table too! At first I was feeling kind of bad because I must've sounded really bold!!! But hey it worked because she poured it down the drain!! Bold is good:)

Well I can't remember anything else wait actually I just did! We are starting a new thing as a mission a new BoM challenge and it is to read 20min of the BoM each day and share 1 BoM each day!! So excited!! Y'all should join us! But you don't have to share 1 BoM each day! But I challenge you to share 1 with someone before Thanksgiving!! Will you do that?!! The BoM is amazing I'm in Alma right now and loving it more than ever!! Seriously it gets better every time!! Ok love y'all! bye

Sister Wells

Isn't this pic cool??? I never saw it before!

I "Had" To Share My Testimony

hey y'all!!

Sooooo this week was greattttt!!! J is doing well!! He is still working towards the 10th:) He has his baptism interview this week:) He even cleaned the church Friday night with some of the families in the ward and then we had a little lesson with him at the church right after and it was really good, he is in Ether now and we asked him about the BoM and how he feels about it since he started reading a few months ago, he said that it is exciting and it feels him with emotion at times. We talked about how he's felt the spirit while reading and the spirit was just so strong! He used to always say that he felt it brought him closer to Christ but didn't know if it was all true.. but he said he knew that the Book of Mormon was the word of God. And that's all he said, a simple testimony but it was powerful, and I've realized that with testimonies, you don't have to say a lot or use fancy words, you just have to say what you feel in your heart, the things that the spirit has testified to you that are true. 

Actually speaking of testimonies I had to share mine this week at the end of zone conference, I say "had" because it's not like I don't like to share it, but it was because this was my very last zone conference:(:(:( they always have the missionaries that won't be at the next zone conf. share their testimony. So I still have a long time so it was like you know when you see someone at the grocery store and you're like hi and talk and stuff then you keep shopping and you're just both in the same aisle...its kinda weird*. I felt like that because it makes it seem like I'm leaving soon but nope haha I'll still be here a couple months haha so weird, but done with that and don't have to worry about it for a while!! But the zone conference was amazing!! Seriously!! We really just talked about the doctrine of Christ, all things that we have heard before, but the spirit each taught us new things that we needed to apply into our lives and into our work! Seriously the spirit makes you tired! So the meeting ended at 8 and we had a meeting the next day in Hurst on the Sabbath day observance, it was the training that was recorded that the apostles gave for all the general authorities and they wanted all the missionaries to see it before general conference!! So since we had that the next day the sisters in Stephenville asked pres if they could just stay at our apartment so that they wouldn't have to drive all the way home that night and then drive all the back the next morning.

Sleepover with the Stephenville sisters

Soooo of course I wasn't going to let them sleep on the floor so we gave them our beds but I refused to sleep on the floor because ew the carpet is gross here, I mean elders used to live here... and bed bugs too!!! So I made this little bed out of the chairs and had it just right so my head could lay on my desk and it was good beside that the arm of the chair was hitting my collar bone but I didn't care hahah. This story ends sadly, I woke up at midnight and went to the bed bug floor.. ew I know right! My life is so hard. hahaha just kidding I'm so spoiled!!! Anywho the meeting was wonderful!! I just am loving all this sabbath day training! And thanks for all your thoughts on it as well!! A few notes I had from our discussion: I realized the importance of keeping the chapel quiet and being there early to ponder and pray before the meeting begins.  As a missionary I always struggle with this because I want to talk to the members and the investigators, so my new goal is wait in the foyer and welcome everyone and investigators and talk as much as I need there and then when in the chapel to not talk. Another thought pres ames shared was that when we partake of the bread and of the water, it really becomes a part of us, I guess in a way it kind of dissolves in us and is part of our body. When I think of that symbolically it really makes me think, is Christ and his atonement a part of me? Thank you so much for teaching me and our family to keep the sabbath holy! I may have not always been the best but I am grateful!

Jimmy Johns lunch at the dog park

K and S are doing well!! K is still working on the WoW she said she wants to quit by Nov 17... that's too far away so we are gonna work on that:) butttt the primary program was yesterday!!! and S was so cute up there singing and saying her part!! She told her mom that when she is older she wants to go on a mission! So precious!! Oh and Carrol came to Sunday school again!! Yay!! That is only his second time he will only stay for sacrament, but not class! Now we just need to get him to priesthood!!

Unfortunately I haven't watched all of the womens session because kinda funny story we got a ride to the church (we have no miles) and there weren't very many sisters there but the guy in charge of the projector wasn't  there and we couldn't get the projector to show the picture.... so all the ladies left to their homes... but we had T coming so we didn't wanna leave her.. so she came but then she left because right now she is living at her bf's house and his dad's gf is crazy and doesn't like the church so the family is in chaos so they were having a family meeting she called it a come to Jesus meeting, ha so she had to leave to that!! It was so crazy. So T is the one we were teaching but we passed her off to the elders in the ysa because she's 18 but we still contact her and stuff because her friend M is a LA in our ward and we just love T and she has a baptism date for October 10th!!! She is having a lot of opposition from family and friends but she is so solid and firm she wants this and it's so cool!!! We love her!! So we were at the church and the elders came to do something and they are so nice and got it on in the clerks office for us so we heard Pres Uchtdorfs talk which was sooo good!!!! I'm so excited for general conference this weekend!!!!!

God bless!

Sister Wells

*metaphor credit to Lizzy Pratt