... they can't even tell I am a cowgirl!!

WELL! Good morning! How is everyone doing? Man... It is getting chilly here. We used to go outside and run in the mornings and this week it has been even too cold for that! haha I do not want the snow to come. AT ALL. :/ But nevertheless, the work still goes on! I feel like once it gets cold outside the work picks up cause more people stay inside and it gives US a better chance to see them! :) So I guess I will just tough out the cold weather because meeting with people is much better! :)
Well this week was a great week! (I am sure everyone is getting tired of me saying that but when I look at the week as a whole, every week is really great! Yes, there are the ups and downs... but there is always more ups because I am a servant for the Lord! That alone is the biggest up I can have!) So really, it was great! :)

Tuesday: We were able to have district meeting and so that was good. We got told that we need to work on our baptismal dates. Get more people on the date to enter the waters of baptism so that was our goal this week. (don't worry we did good) After that we were able to go to see two investigators, one teenage kid... who needs a lot of help. I don't know if he takes us seriously... Then a new lady we met... so we will see how that goes! :) After we went to see a member who broke her arm and so that was really good! :) She said the closing prayer to our meeting and she blessed my comps and my whole life, our friends, our family, our future family, our grandkids, the whole works! It was pretty great! :) ha! After that we spent the night knocking doors... (cause that’s what our bishop wants us to be doing.. yay.) Every single door said no, except one! It was this man that was super impressed that young girls, like us, would care so much to come out and share the gospel with those that don't have it! We shared Joseph Smiths story and he loved it! He said... yes... that’s really cool! So we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said that he will read it and we said we will follow up with that! :) So pray for him!

Wednesday: We had a super busy day this day, and we were able to see lots of people and help them come closer to our Father in Heaven! We saw a man we met in the Park one day... he kind of would rather preach to us so we don't think we can see him much anymore. We also saw Dominique-our investigator that is about 20 and has 2 kids but is soo awesome! She really just wants to make life better for her and her kids! She loves seeing us and calls us her "Missionary girls" We also saw a less active member and had a great lesson with him! Then we were able to go to dinner at a member’s house! (the family that knows Chris dad) so that was great! :) Then we went to see a lady that has a baptismal date for Oct. 27! She is the mother of a recent convert. She has been hard to get ahold of so this was the first time I met with her and it was a great meeting! We talked about her goal and how she is preparing to be baptized and what she still needs to do! It was good and she was really receptive! :) After that we were able to meet with her son and talk with him about the Book of Mormon! Then we called it a night. As you can see, BUSY! :) Love busy days!

Thursday: GREAT DAY! :) We were able to go to Liberty Island one last time before they close the part that we do down. So it was so fun to be able to go and see so many different people again. It is such an amazing privilage to be able to go there and serve! An experience that I will never forget! :) I hope I am close enough so that I can do it next year too! Then we were late getting home because of the Jersey Traffic. (where we live in NY.. the traffic is sooooo much better then Jersey.) Then we went to Young Women’s because we had two people coming and we played Volleyball with them! :) It was fun! After we met with the Ward Mission Leader (who is actually our Senior Couple over the Zone. They live by us. Elder and Sister Kay. They help out with the ward because it is struggling so bad...) And that was our day!

Friday: Was another really, really great day! :) We were able to see Dominique that morning and teach her the Plan of Salvation and she said she wants to be baptized so that will be happening on Oct. 27 as well! :) Then we met with these two other investigators, who we randomly met outside and wanted to learn more and they were super interested! They loved the Joseph Smith Story! So hopefully things will go good there! :) Then we met with the guy who likes to preach to us... one last time. ha! It is hard because I felt such a love for that guy... he just isn't ready to hear our message. And when we have such little time, we can't be preached to. So hopefully missionaries will find him in the future! After that we met with an investigator who likes to party... but we were able to talk to him more about the Book of Mormon. He likes our messages! :) Then we saw a 15 year old and she is a friend from a recent convert who just started to come to church last week. We asked her if she wanted to learn more about things and she said yes! She loves our church because people are so nice to her! :) Sooo we went over there and we were able to teach her the first lesson and she loved it and also wants to be baptized! Soo she will be baptized on Oct 27 as well! :) We are super excited because she is really prepared! :) Only problem is... at the end of the lesson... her dad came in and she told him that she is getting baptized and he didn't really like that... he is catholic... so we need prayers because we are going to go over and talk to him on Saturday. Hopefully he will soften his heart and allow her to be baptized!!!!

Saturday: This day we were able to go down to Jersey for a big service project! 5 zones came together and cleaned up Passaic, New Jersey! It was fun to see everyone and to be able to do service for the community! Then we came home and got ready and we had a lesson with another investigator... and sadly he said he doesn't think this is the path for him. So he dropped us. It was really hard but I really feel that he will come back around one day! After that, members took us out to eat at Chilis!! :) mmm! The members are great! That was fun! Then we were able to have two lessons that night and we saw another guy who is actually scheduled to be baptized next week... however, we went over the Word of Wisdom... and so the date might be pushed back a little bit. Sooo yes. Then we had one more lesson then Correlation that night and that was it! :)

Sunday: The greatest day ever! Soooo... I was asked to talk in church on Sunday and introduce myself and talk about why I came on a mission (I thought I was almost off the hook...) I think it went okay. No one believed me when I told them that I ride horses... haha New York is getting to me... they can't even tell I am a cowgirl!! AHHH!!!!!!!! But it went good... I think... The 15 year old was able to come to church and 3 of our Less actives that we have been working with were there too so that was really good! :) After that we went home and we had to do weekly planning... then we met with the bishop... and after that us and the Elders were frustrated cause we don't know how to help this ward the best so we went over to the Senior Couples apt and we talked the rest of the night on how we can help this ward. Good things came out of it... and we hope that we can help this ward pick up! :) It's hard because there is only like 14 active adults... there is a lot of youth... so they are really struggling. So more than anything please pray for this ward!!

Well that is our week! As you can see it was a great week! :) We have 4 people who are set to be baptized this next month and soo we hope and pray that the Lord will help us in preparing them for this important step! :)

All is well... I hope all is well back at home! :) Know that I love you all very much and I pray for you all the time! Keep being a good example to all those around you because that is the easiest/best way to share the gospel! LOVE YOU! HAVE A GREAT WEEK! :)