Mosiah 16:7-8

"Happy Easter! Happy 1 Year Mark! I had myself a lovely little Easter. We had breakfast at the ward mission leader's house,our ward choir actually sounds like angels, and we had supper at the Bishop's house. Our Bishop is super funny and he's family is super funny so I was on cloud nine. To top the evening off we watched the church's newest Mormon Message at easter.mormon.org. Oh my goodness, that little ditty tugged on my heart strings and maybe I did get a little misty eyed on my Bishop's coach as I bore my testimony of the reality that we will all be resurrected because of Christ. 

I thought I would give everyone a run down of my week because I figured that would help everyone daydreaming about being my companion (missionary, and eternal, winky face) to have something more specific to daydream about. 

Monday: P-day, I got a massive kink in my neck. I cried about not having emails from my best friends and about my kink all the rest of the day. Just kidding but Monday isn't usually that thrilling. 

Tuesday: We went on exchanges. I was with a cool sister from Arizona. The last thing we did was teach a less active young family who wants the lessons. God is perfect because everything that we talked about all day was in preparation for this lesson. All the questions they asked, everything that we testified was just an extension of our conversations throughout the day.  

Wednesday: We had a long day of weekly planning and working on organizing our area. The thrills of both companions being new in an area. My companion made us butter chicken for supper. 

Thursday: My one year mark! To celebrate we did a training in District Meeting about committing people to do things and following up the Preach My Gospel way. Some reported "it was spiritual punch in the face." We taught a Muslim man from Africa who's never heard of Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon. He was cradling the Book of Mormon like a newborn baby and said "this is my first time touching this book." Before I entered the MTC my dearest friend SB wrote me a massive letter and in my genius I didn't read it but decided to save it for my one year mark. Let my say for the whole world to know that was the nicest letter I have ever, ever, ever received and I don't think it's far fetched to say I'll never receive a nicer letter in my years to come. My posterity will read it. 

Friday: Blessed day, we got to attend the temple. I'm stumped with how I ever lived my life without temple attendance. Revelation galore at the temple. One of my favorite members from my last year,( if not my favorite) met us there and that was just the cherry on top.

Saturday: I don't know what happened to Vegas on Saturday but I'm telling you everyone woke up, looked in the mirror, and committed to be nice. We biked around and everyone was so nice to us! We got so many bottles of water, so many words of encouragement, fresh veggies from a members garden, and to top the nicest day in Vegas history off a lady gave us Easter blankets. We thought we had accidentally gone to a members house when we went to the last house of the day and the lady quickly invites us in, has us take a seat, offers us dinner, gives us water, and then gives us Easter blankets that are fuzzy with chicks and bunnies on them but no she was just a really nice lady. Heavens I'd serve forever if everyone was like her; turns out she just works with a lot of members. 

Sunday: The blessed Sabbath and I already gave you the play by play on that.
As you can see it was a magical week in the land of ginger missionaries and slot machines."

3 Nephi 2:4

" I hit my one year mark this week! Yup, it's been one whole year since you've seen me in person, and heard my celestial laugh. I think being a missionary has given me a bigger ego. Just kidding. I don't know why but hitting my year mark seems like far less of a big deal than my past mission milestones. I was more freaked out about my 9 month mark than I am about this Thursday. Although for you I'm sure it feels like it's been 99 years like that nice scripture from the Book of Mormon. 

My companion's name is Sister Thomas and she is from a small town near Vancouver, British Colombia. She's so great! It's such a dream as a missionary to have a companion who's focused on being bringing others unto Christ and that's it. Of course, there are plenty of growing pains as a missionary especially getting trained but I just love her a lot. We laugh all day long with our weird shared sense of Canadian humor. 

Things that I have learned that really make me happy as a missionary are: reading Preach my Gospel, and the Book of Mormon everyday, focusing on bringing others to come unto Christ, and being myself. I know a lot of missionaries or even members think that we have to fit a certain model but one of the beauties of the gospel is that when we strengthen our testimony we strengthen our spiritual gifts making us more ourselves and more like Christ. Everything in the gospel is a perfect circle. 

This last week was great! We got to meet all the investigators that the Elders had and find a couple of our own. We are teaching a Canadian!! It's a Canadian trio at his lessons. Everything goes back to Christ or Canada. My two favorite words that start with C. 

I had a special chance to get a blessing from my new Bishop and one thing that the Bishop blessed me with is "that the Lord has prepared specific people in this area for me to find who are missing something in their lives but most of these people won't realize that the thing that they are missing is the gospel of Jesus Christ." Wow, how many people does that include. To me that is pretty much the whole world. I might be an optimist of a missionary because I believe that literally everyone we talk to is going to become as obsessed with the gospel as I am. There's always hope. 

Highlights of the week: 

-We are teaching a 9 year old little boy who is so funny. We asked him how he feels when he prays and he said "I feel like a bird flying through the air." When we committed him to be baptized he said "of course!"

- Telling everyone that my companion and I are both from Canada. It's a great way to start a conversation and it's so funny. 

- We taught 6 people about the Book of Mormon this week. I'm going through a massive Book of Mormon addiction. Any problem that anyone throws at us I say "BOOK OF MORMON!"

- We taught Gospel Essentials about Spiritual Gifts( which is another obsession of mine) and everyone likes us already. 

- My big toe nails are dying and my new cooking philosophy is "fry it in olive oil" and "put avocado on it." 

Life is great! I love being a missionary so much! I'm actually a little shocked with how in love with being a missionary I am. It's the real thing."

Joshua 3:5

This week was crazy and great and great and crazy. First thing, I got transferred into a completely new area. I am now serving in Southern Henderson. My companion and I are opening an area for sisters. That means we are both completely new and trying to fix a baby mess that Elders left. This is the third time in my mission that I've been bestowed this honor. My companion is fresh out of the MTC on Wednesday. I had to leave my area on Tuesday. So for a day and night I just stayed with this random Sister missionary who I had never met before. Turns out it was a great tender mercy. She was super kind, funny, and helped me get the apartment ready and helped me learn my area so I didn't look like a complete dog for my new companion. 

We are given this mission news letter that has pictures of all the new missionaries coming. I was praying later and I was praying for new companion and all of a sudden I said the name of one of the new missionaries so for days I was praying specifically for one of the new sisters. When we got assigned sure enough she was my companion. I later told my mission president how I prayed for her and he was so stunned. Miracle alert! My new companion is so pretty, positive, 19, and she's from CANADA. Oh my word! I couldn't be happier getting to be with a fellow Canadian all the time. It's so cute because I'm her very first companion and she just loves everything that I do. She compliments me all day long. I am getting a massive ego because of how nice she is. 

Our new area has tons of potential for greatness. The missionaries here in the past have been more of glorified home teachers than missionaries so there is lots of work to do and we are so excited to do it. 

General Conference was a spiritual feast and a much needed refresher of everything that I love about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Mostly this week consisted of General Conference and trying to organize this area. Life is great! I love the Lord and I love being a missionary and I love you. Lovefest 2014. 

Alma 5:27

"Alert, alert, ginger alert keep the Nevada Las Vegas Mission in your prayers. For the month of April every single prayer that a missionary says in the NLVM will be asking for humility. Things are going to be getting crazy in these part of Sin City. My president thought he'd start the humbling month of April off right for me by transferring me out of the area that I have been in for 7 and half months to take over an Elder's area, and to train a brand new missionary to top it all off. Humility just got slapped across my face. 

The following is a list of things that make me happy, but maybe shouldn't:

-My companion told me that it's good that I am getting transferred because the members here love me to much that they are helping us because they love me personally and not because they care about the work of salvation

- We are trying to teach a lady from South America who tells twenty minutes stories told me that she's going to give me a skirt because and I quote "Your big." 

- I met an old man from Canada here and all the missionaries started calling him my Canadian Grandpa. Well he came to supper at a member's house and she was saying "Oh, will you pass this to Sister Smith's Grandpa please?" and kept calling him my grandpa to he's face. 

- My recent converts roommate was SO sad that I am getting transferred that he kissed my hand. (he's an old man, so don't stress) 

- I was really upset about who know's what with my companion so I wrote her parents a thank you letter to remind me how much I love her. 

- An excommunicated member told me "You own this ward; you've had a real good run of things." 

- We have been teaching this less active lady we met on the street. We have pretty much taught her all the lessons and she's been coming back to church but here is the catch: they cannot find her records. So, she'll most likely have to get re-baptized. 

-I accidentally hugged a grown man, He went to reach for something over my shoulder and I didn't want him to feel awkward about hugging me so I just hugged him back. Yeah, he wasn't trying to hug me.  

- We went to the Air Force Base this morning, and saw a famous person. I saw hmm Falcon? The bad guy in the new Captain American movie. This is what made me so happy is because he was acting all "Ugh fans," and trying to avoid this group of missionaries but none of us even knew who he was. Now if he was an Apostle or a Seventy then yeah those body guards would have been put to work. 

And many, many, many more things. The mission is the life for me. I am happy everyday because although it can be really hard, it's all just temporary. Plus the world is in your head." 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I don't know if anyone is keeping track but today is my 11 month mark. I haven't been Shealeigh in 11 months. That is crazy. My companion and I were talking about our feelings this past week (because what else can you do with a person who you are with 24/7 and then some) and I realized that I am 100% a missionary.  I can't remember what I use to think about before the mission, I can't remember what I'd talk about with people, I can't remember really who I was before my mission. I know that I am not completely different but all I talk about is church related things, mostly all I think about is church related things, all I do are church related things, and we all know that what we do, see, think, and talk about is going to be what we are and who we become. It was a really weird realization to me. I know that some fundamental characteristics of me are still there but I'm full blown a missionary now. 

It was a great week! I'm pretty sure I had a nightmare last night and so I'm a little tired and can't remember much of the past week but I'm pretty sure it was a good time. We had a ward service project where we cleaned the streets and afterwards our Bishop announced to everyone that we need to refer all our nonmembers to these two sisters and I quote "I have never seen two missionaries with the same chemistry and personality as these two, and I know all all our nonmember friends would come closer to the Lord by meeting with these two sisters specifically." My jaw hit the floor when I heard that. 

My investigators are doing great. I thing that most all investigators struggle with is actually doing what they say. Okay, that sounds bad but they are all not progressing as well as they could be simply because they haven't prayed specifically about Joseph Smith being a prophet and about the Book of Mormon. No one in or out of the church is going to progress without a testimony of those two things. We are teaching two little girls a 7 and a 9 year old. They are so cute! Kids says some weird things though. The one asked me if she could have a memory. 

Life is great! I love being a missionary!" 

2 Nephi 33:3

It was a classic missionary week of highs and lows and lows and highs. Let me start out with some lows: our investigator got put in jail, our recent convert smoked and is in the hospital, I cried, an investigator asked me why I always ask he stupid questions (the question I asked "how are you doing?"), a member asked me a probing question and I cried at their house. Highs: our little ginger investigator gave us earrings, we went to the temple, a little part member family that has three daughter loves me and my companion, the 9 year old planned her birthday party for when she knew that we could come, I got to see my Canadian grandpa. and an old couple in the ward took us to Applebee's. Somewhere in the middle my zone leader said I'm not mediocre, so that was flattering. It was actually a great week!

Life is great as a missionary. I have been thinking a lot lately about how we can only control ourselves. We work so hard every single day for other people but when it comes down to it we can still only help ourselves. The world is in our heads. I've been thinking about that nonstop actually. I meet a lot of people who make their problems out to be the worlds fault, or their spouses fault, or the economies fault but really we control ourselves. It's just thoughts of my mind. Month 11 is great so far.