Week 16: #Spiritdoppelganger

A nice woman gave Sister Gardner and I Aloe
plants for free!!! Lol, Sister Gardner the gardener....

Hello Friends!

It's been a crazy week!! But it's been really good! As you all know I have been transferred to a new area with a new companion, and while it's been hard to leave people that I know and I love behind, (again) I have had a crazy wonderful week. My new companion, Sister Gardner, is the best thing since sliced bread. I was really worried to leave Sister Foulke, I guess no one wants to leave their mother lol, but sister gardener has been amazing! This far in the field I have been SUPER blessed with my companions. Transfer day was ridiculously ridiculous *heavy sigh* so there's this phrase that members of the church use called Mormon standard timewhich means that Mormons always run 10 to 15 minutes late. Well… Missionaries have this thing called missionary standard time where missionaries run 15 to 45 minutes late. That's OK. I'm definitely not bitter. Not dwelling on it either. LOL it doesn't bug me even a little bit.

Last night we had dinner at a member's house and
they had a house-pig... not a house-dog. A house-pig.
Sister Gardner was in heaven! XD She is SO cute.
But I prefer not to make friends with my bacon.

So this week… Let me rewind a little. Sister Gardner is a Nauvoo missionary which means that she serves in Nauvoo for the summer. And in the winter she serves in another mission in the US. I am the lucky duck who gets to have her as a companion!! *fist bump!!! She and I have decided that we are spirit doppelgängers. Yes. We have realized that we are the same person. We both love to work hard but still have fun at the same time which is a hard balance for most people but not for us two!!! We have the same sense of humor and the same laugh and by that I mean that we're both obnoxious laughers! XD I have only been companions with her for less than a week, but I have decided that we will always have to live near each other. We are both super OCD, we both love the same type of music, and for those of you who know me, you know that I take great pride in my burping abilities... and she also takes pride in my burping abilities!!! I have found my match and she agrees!

OK so this week has been Cray Cray to the max!! But there is a lot of work that can be done in this area and that is super exciting! I love missionary work and in this area we don't have a lot of progressing investigators which means that Sister Gardener and I do a lot of walking and a lot of tracting and tracting just means that we go door to door and introduce ourselves and ask if there's anything that we can do to help. Most of the time people won't accept our help or our message about Jesus Christ, which makes my heart hurt because I know how much joy it can give them if they would just accept it. But everyone has their agency and I just need to learn to love them enough that even though they don't use their agency the best they could I still love them. One of the things that's been a little hard for me is when people are rude and by rude I mean really weird because I love people so easily and so it's hard not to take people's rudeness personally. But the enabling power of the Atonement is a real thing. Because of the Atonement I have been given strength and ability and love to spread the message of Christ's love for us. Because we have a loving Heavenly Father who gives us families and prophets to help us and guide us, because he has given us his only begotten son we, all of us, have the opportunity and ability to return to live with Heavenly Father in Eternal joy. How crazy wonderful is that!?!?! It is such a blessing to know the truth. That is why I am serving a mission, because I know it can bless so many people's lives. That's why it makes my heart hurt every time someone rejects the message that we bring. It's not my message. It's not the church's message. It's Christ's message. It is a message from God himself telling us that we can find joy that it's available to all of us!!! How blessed am I to be a messenger of this great work!!!

LOL, LOL, on a less intense missionary note: this week I was missing some of the people in the last area I was in. I was talking to my companion about it while we were tracting and we walked past this maintenance van and I walked a few steps in front of it before I did a double take. So I walked back and lo and behold it was a van for a company that one of the families in the last area, the Barlow's, and on the van is a picture of Sister Barlow and one of the boys, his name is Seth who is the cutest thing ever!! I was so happy to see them even if it was just on the side of the van! LOL, I love being able to see some of the people that I grew to love! I was also able to see another member from the YSA Ward, she is super awesome I love her! This week was incredibly hard, incredibly awesome, incredibly blessed, I saw so many miracles this week! I wish I had more time to tell you all about them but it will have to wait for next week. :)

I love you all so so so so so much! You are all in my prayers! Stay safe! Love one another! And write me back!!!

Sister Longo

Crazy cool, HOMEMADE Halloween decorations!

More great decorations. 

There IS life and beauty in this place!
Not a whole lot, but I'll take what I can get!

#relationship goals ☺

Week 15

Hello My Lovelies!

I hope you all have had a great week. We had a great week this week, a lot of things occurred. We had ZTC, which is Zone Training Council. They basically just regurgitated what President Snow talked about in Zone Conference the week before. It was good though.... found a really good Mormon message! xD

 We got our flu shots this week! I absolutely didn't want to, but our mission president's wife, Sister Snow, was quite adamant about it, so my mommy (Sister Foulke) rewarded us with delicious ice cream because I was such a brave girl when I got my shot! 😇

We had to get the flu shot (if you want my rant about flu shots
email me) and so my mommy (trainer) got ice cream because
 I was such a brave girl! 😇

Kelly got baptized!!!

WE HAD A BAPTISM ON SATURDAY. We weren't going to have one, but when we told Kelly that we were probably leaving, she bumped it up to this week. It was an amazing baptism, it went perfectly, and Kelly cried while she was being baptized. She deserves this, she is SUCH an amazing person and it was a beautiful experience. She was so happy the whole time.

There was a Why I Believe on Sunday, and Sister Foulke, two other sisters and I sang "A Child's Prayer". It was an amazing fireside, the testimonies of the converts were very compelling and inspiring.

Ah yes. I'm being transferred! I've been in the Royal Mesa YSA ward for 2 transfers, or 3 months. So...*DRUM ROLL* I'm being transferred to the Warm Springs stake, Sunset and Silverado wards! My new companion is going to be Sister Gardner who is from the Nauvoo mission (they send their missionaries to other missions during the winter when they don't need them) and she actually is a signing missionary!!!! So I get to learn ASL from her and I am SOOO PUMPED!

I think that's everything that happened this week, it seems way shorter than usual, I don't know why. I'm having a lot of mixed emotions about being transferred. I'm glad to leave, I want to have new adventures, but I'm sad to leave the people that I've grown to love so much! I love this area! But I'm excited for what awaits! :D

I love you all, thanks so much for all your prayers! I can't believe I've

been out for almost four months! The time has flown by!

Sister Longo

MY NAME! (on the license plate cover)

Week 14 #MissionaryMeetingsTake5EVER

Hello darlings! :D

I. Am. SO VERY SORRY! Please don't kill me for the radio silence! The last few weeks have been the definition of "cray-cray". But it has been the good kind of manic so no worries, my lovelies! I'm gonna do my best to get you all caught up on the last few weeks, so we'll see how this goes! xP

So, since before my mission I have been searching for a CTR ring *whispers to mom to put a picture of what it looks like* CTR stands for Choose The Right and it is a very popular saying within the church and everyone in the church has had a CTR ring at some point in their lives. I have been on a quest to find a ring that was unique enough and "me" enough in order to justify buying it (because I'm cheap). A couple weeks ago we went to Seagull Books (a LDS bookstore) and we went over to look at the jewelry section to look at their rings. And then I saw it. Instead of a CTR ring like everyone ads person and their dog has, I got a "Tree of Life" ring. In some of my previous letters I've talked about the vision of

Tree of Life Ring

the Tree of Life that the prophet Lehi had (See: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8?lang=eng). Any who, I was super, super excited! My companion simply laughed at me and called me a hipster. Which deeply affronted me because I am NOT a hipster, hipsters are "in" right now so I cannot be a hipster. When I told her as much she just started laughing harder for some reason.

The reason for the # for this week's letter is because missionary meeting take 5ever, not 4ever, but 5-freaking-ever. They will say when they're going to end the meeting so we plan accordingly and then, without fail, it runs at least an hour late if not longer. And then we have to reschedule lessons with investigators and re-plan the day and... I'm going to stop now, because I could go on forever about this but I won't do that to anyone else. Sister Foulke still hasn't recovered from my last rant about punctuality and timeliness. The reason for this frustration is that we have had a meetings every week these past few weeks. Zone Training Council, Zone Conference, etc...

On a much different and much happier note, I ADORE personal study! Something that I have been doing recently is that I read a chapter from the New Testament and The Book of Mormon each along with the Institute manuals (Institute is a religious education program organized by the church). Holy. Cow. There are SO many nuggets of golden wisdom and pieces of understanding in those inspired books! They quote from the prophets and apostles as well as from other religious authorities. It has been a joy to study the words of the scriptures, both ancient and latter-day! In addition to that I have also been reading one General Conference talk everyday (usually pulled from a quote that was in the institute manual). One of them was so amazing that you all HAVE to read it! :D It is by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the current 12 Apostles and it is titled "The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent" (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/the-only-true-god-and-jesus-christ-whom-he-hath-sent?lang=eng). It is an incredible piece of scripture!

The past few weeks have been gorgeous as far as the weather is concerned. Honestly anything under 95 degrees is beautiful, but for the last couple weeks have been in the 80s! Heavenly Father loves me so very much! x)

On a hysterical note, I love teasing my poor companion! XD So a little background to this situation is that Sister Foulke... doesn't enjoy the company of our District Leader in the slightest. But he has to call us every week in order to get the information he needs for his report. But he take foreverly long and he calls us at 10 at night and we are exhausted and our daily allotment of patience it nearing the end. He asked us last week what the colors of our toothbrushes are. Yes. He did. No, I am not lying. Believe me, Sister Foulke and I wish that I was lying to you right now. Anywho... We were talking about how we had district council and how she had to give a training (which was inspired btw! My companion is so awesome!) and I teased her and told her that the reason that our DL takes so long on the phone and why he asks Sister Foulke to train so often is because he is desperately in love with her... The look on her face was priceless perfection!!!!! Oh my goodness!!! I doubled over in laughter and from the pain that the laser beams emanating from her eyes were inflicting upon me! XD Her face was a look of shock, indescribable horror, and an expression that conveyed her deep desire to shoot something. I was dying!!! The next day was District Council and whenever our DL looked at her or said something to her or interacted with her in ANY way I would send her a note telling her that he just couldn't contain his love for her... I am very grateful that there were witnesses otherwise I would be writing this email from the other side.

Amazing news! One of our investigators, Kelly is getting baptized this Saturday the 15th! This is the first investigator that I have been with from start to baptism! I'm so pumped! :D *fireworks and canons go boom!*

That's all I've got for the last few weeks, please read the links and tell me what your thoughts and impressions are! :)


I love you all!
Sister Longo

Week 11

Week 11

Monday, 12 September 2016

Monday was actually a lot of fun! Ephraim and Ellen invited us over to make candles! So we made blue candles that smell like "fresh linen" which is one of my favorite scents! It was super fun! I love doing things like making candles... Not very many other people do though so it's fun to have found people like me. :)

The Barlows just purchased a new mop
so I had to try it out as a wig. :D

They then took us to "The Habit"! I LOVE THAT PLACE!!! It's the best burger place I have ever been to! I always get the BBQ Bacon Charburger with added avocado... My mouth is watering just typing this! xD

Anywho... Sister Foulke and I decided to try something different for P-day, instead of emailing at the
church where we are super distracted by the other missionaries (and where I'm scared for my life because the Elders are throwing basketballs around and my head is a magnet for any type of sporting equipment) we decided to email at the Barlow's house. They have this beautiful music room that is so quiet and so peaceful the two of us were able to write a whole lot easier. It was wonderful, the two of us were just ensconced in this room and talking with our families. :)

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Tuesday, 13 September 2016

Tuesday was ZTC (Zone Training Council) so that took up the entirety of our morning and early afternoon since it went an hour late. After ZTC we went to "Great Harvest". LOVE!

Zone Training Council

Then we went to the Barlow's house for service, Sister Barlow was making pear sauce (which is like applesauce only with pears) so we peeled pears and just talked and had fun.

After that we went to visit Bodai but she was too busy to actually have a lesson, but we were able to talk to her a little bit about some gospel principles and set up an appointment for when she would be less busy. :)

We then went to visit Reggie... Oh my goodness. So this is how part of our conversation went:
Reggie: I need a woman like you Sister Foulke....
Sister Foulke: *stares awkwardly*
Sister Longo: You know, if you came to church you could find someone like Sister Foulke...
Reggie: How old are you Sister? Twenty-four?
Sister Foulke: *panicked look* I'm twenty-one.
Reggie: *blanches a little* That's a tad bit young...
*conversation continues about church*
Sister Longo: So how old are you Reggie, if you don't mind us asking? There's a Ward for mid-single Adults that you might like attending.
Reggie: *procedes to tell a very long story that seemingly has no connection to the question I posed before saying* So yes... I am fifty-five.
Sister Foulke: *face goes paler than an albino's*
Sister Longo: *Tries not to bust out laughing*
Sister Foulke: *manages to compose self and somehow excuses us from the conversation*
Sister Longo: *gets into the car and starts crying with laughter*
Sister Foulke: *Glares and rolls her eyes. But then tries not to smile at my laughter*

We then had a lesson with Kristin and we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love Kristin. Honestly, if I wasn't a member I would be a lot like her. The two of us really connect.

After our lesson we went to the Martinique Bay apartments and we went to go find a potential investigator named Damon. We knocked on the door and we saw the light turn on and someone looked in the peephole. But then they walked away and turned the light off without even saying anything... Hmm...

Since that wasn't successful we went to go find another potential investigator but she had moved and we met Keone instead. At first he wasn't interested in what we were saying. But then Ephraim (he was with us that evening) asked Keone, "Do you like war?" And Sister Foulke and I stared at him, but then he rephrased his question, "Do you like reading about war and the different tactics?" And Keone looked super interested and nodded and so Ephraim proceeded to tell him about the war chapters in the book of Alma, where it talks about this war that happened between two ancient civilizations, the Nephites and the Lamanites. And how it was through their faith in God and their inspired leaders that the Nephites managed to succeed. Keone took a Book of Mormon and set a return appointment! :D

Ephraim was then able to give us the candles we had made on Monday because they had finished setting. I LOVE CANDLES! I have been burning my candle everyday since we got it!

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Wednesday, 14 September 2016

So on Wednesday we had a pass off lesson with the district leader for Victor Lopez, he showed that he was more comfortable with the Elders so we decided (everybody involved) that it would be best for Victor to meet with the Elders instead of us. :)

PINEAPPLE!!!  *fist bump to all you Psyche fans!

We then went to the Villas apartments and while we were walking to a potential investigator's apartment we ran into this really nice man. His name is Augustine and he set up an appointment with us! We gave him a Restoration pamphlet for him to read and talked a little bit. He is about my dad's age and physically reminds me of my dad a lot. :)
We then had BBQ with the Grimmetts! I HAVE MISSED BBQ! It was good, but no BBQ can live up to Kansas City BBQ (world's BBQ Capitol!).  It was wonderful to eat something that reminded me of home. :)

We then had Institute and all I'm going to say is that I am a spazzy person. On the drive there I was... Spazzy.... See Sister Foulke for more details. I can't even remember half of it. XD

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Thursday, 15 September 2016

We had another lesson with Kristin. And as we walked out of that lesson Sister Foulke turned to me with a soft smile and said, "You were sent to her, Sister..." And I was struck. The Holy Ghost witnessed to me that it was true. That she is one of the people that I was sent here to meet and to minister to. That was a powerful moment for me. And I know now that this is the mission where I need to be. And I love it deeply. :)

After that we went and visited McKenna who is doing well! She has got another, better job and is excited for that to start. Still don't know if she will be able to come to church but honestly, as long as we are showing her love, that's all that matters. :)

That evening we had a lesson with Victor Ranga about the importance of Teaching/Learning and Service. And Victor told us that our lesson was wonderful!!! Holy Cow! We were all flabbergasted! Usually at the end of the lesson he has a concern or something else negative but he said, "This lesson was wonderful, Sisters." Our jaws almost had to be scraped off the floor and be reattached to our faces. We were floating to the car. Yes, it was totally and completely the Holy Ghost who made that happen. Sister Foulke and I are just grateful that we were able to be good instruments in His hands. :)

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Friday, 16 September 2016

Weekly Planning!!! YAY! :D

That afternoon we had a lesson with Jerry and we brought Ellen along. It was actually really adorable! We were teaching the Ten Commandments and Ellen was acting them out for Jerry and he was absolutely delighted with her! xD

We then had a lesson with Marcus- and we focused entirely on CPR (Church, Prayer, Reading the scriptures) and it went really well! He actually set a baptismal date for this next Saturday! We are praying a ton! :D

Escaping under the table. XD

After meeting with Marcus it was time for dinner and Ellen was actually the one who signed up to feed us and we had a riot! XD It was just the three of us and I wouldn't stop tickling Sister Foulke so she went to the opposite end of the table to eat and then I squirted water at her out of my straw and she went and HID UNDER THE TABLE!!! I WAS DYING WITH LAUGHTER!!! XD She is so much fun!


We then went to the lesson we had set up with Augustine, who is super cool!!! He ACTUALLY READ THE PAMPHLET!!! DO YOU KNOW HOW RARE THAT IS??? It was wonderful and he was awesome! *happy sigh*

We then had our lesson with our favorite person ever, Kelly. She really trusts us now and we all (Sister Foulke, Ephraim, Kelly, and I) have become good friends and have really good gospel discussions together! :)

On the way home from this lesson, we got a text from Ephraim saying, "I just read this and had to share. 'An onion forces you to cry over it's dead body.'" I started laughing so hard that I was crying as I was driving us home! Sister Foulke then sent a text back that said, "Sister Longo said bitterly, 'I was apparently mourning the death of the onion for several days...'" to which he replied, "Lol, you have no idea how hard I'm laughing" Sister Foulke and I laughed all the way home! (See Week 8 Letter for Onion-Contact Story)

Sorry I have to cut this short. It was a busy day and I have to run!

The gospel is SO true!  I love you all!

Sister Longo

Week 10

Monday, 5 September 2016

Monday was a little rough. Sister Foulke and I were in the middle of personal study when there was a knock at our door. We looked at each other in bewilderment wondering who it could've been. We opened the door to see President and one of the MSTLs. They came in and talked with us for a bit before President asked if he could talk to me alone. As you could imagine thousands of scenarios were running through my mind and I was trying to remember if I could've possibly done something to get into trouble. We sat down in a room by ourselves and I just outright asked him if I was in trouble. President just smiled sadly and shook his head and said that I wasn't in trouble. He then gently told me that my Grandma Rose, my dad' mom, had died that last night. I burst into tears and he just scooped me up and held me just like my dad would and I just sobbed. I knew that Grandma was in a much better state and place, I was mostly upset that I couldn't be there to help support my family through all of this, especially my daddy. When I had calmed down enough President asked if I wanted to call my family and I said that I would. So he gave me his phone and left the room to fill Sister Foulke in on what was happening. It was so wonderful to hear my parents' voices! The rest of the day was a little rough considering.

After they left I decided that I needed to do something with my hands to get my mind off everything so I dyed my hair. I chose an almost-black brown color. One bright spot of my day was that when we went to the church to go email Elder Aitchison told me I look like Snow White (I was wearing red lipstick as well as my freshly dyed black hair). The elders in our district are all pretty tall except for one. Elder L is 6' 2" but Elder Aitchison takes the prize at a height of 6'4". Honestly, I can't imagine what it would feel like to be that tall. To never have the struggles of cabinets that are too high. Or being unable to reach the fan chain. Life must be charmed when you're that tall.

The other bright spot was that we learned that, as a district, we found 42 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!! Which was four more than the bargain for the nose hair required (See Week 9 Letter).... Mwahahaha... So we gathered all around and watched as Elder Shepherd to the massive pliers and pulled one of Elder Hayes' nose hairs out. I needed that laugh SO much! It was glorious. 

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Tuesday, 6 September

Tuesday was my two month mark being on a mission. That was crazy to realize! I only had 16 months to go instead of 18. I literally have NO idea where that time went! My mind is seriously blown.

Sister Foulke was feeling under the weather that day so we stayed in for a bit in order to let her rest. So in order to help her feel better I told her the story of the musical Camelot, I even sang most of the songs for her! :D I love that musical so much! Even though I can't watch the end because it depresses me. :'(

Something that I wanted to do was to record myself singing a song that could be played at my Grandmother's funeral so that I could participate in it some way. So I went over to the mission office and Sister Snow accompanied me while I sang a song (Anthem of Praise by Sally Deford). She then asked if I could sing that song in a half hour for a devotional that was happening for the missionaries that we're going home the next day. So I did. :)

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Wednesday, 7 September 2016

District Council arrived once again. And Elder Burrup (one of the zone leaders) should be a comedian! I Honestly want emojis of all of his faces.

After District council we had an appointment with Rachel and we taught her how to do family history work a little bit. I was able to get on the FamilySearch app and do a teensy bit of family history work!!! I LOVE FAMILY HISTORY WORK SO MUCH I HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH WITHDRAWAL!

Later that day we saw Carli which was sad because her mom was in the hospital again. :( Then we had a lesson with Marcus which was a little frustrating because he knows what he should be doing to be happier, he just simply isn't doing them!

We went to dinner and as missionaries we are supposed to leave a spiritual thought with the individual/family that is feeding us. We had forgotten to prepare one and the time came to give it and Sister Foulke simply stared at me. So I pulled out a scripture that popped into my mind out of thin air, Mosiah 28:41 (please read! :) and it turned out to be exactly what the family needed! There are no coincidences in life. And there is modern day revelation from God. Large and seemingly small.

We then had Ward correlation with Ephraim, again none of the Ward missionaries showed up. We feel so bad for Ephraim having to deal with irritating Ward missionaries.

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Thursday, 8 September 2016
So last week during exchanges there was an apartment that I felt strongly impressed to knock on and we finally went to that complex on Thursday (Bay breeze 522) and we knocked on the door and a really nice lady named Kristi opened the door and she talked about how she felt like we had something really special to share... But that we should have come over a week ago because she was moving that day. I cannot tell you how quickly and how low my heart dropped. To think, if I had just followed my prompting and knocked on her door last week she could have come closer to Jesus Christ. I felt so ashamed. I had received a prompting from God and I had put it off. And the consequence was that one of his children would have to wait longer to learn about the truth. 

On a lighter note we went and we visited Reggie (see earlier emails) and he basically said that he wants Sister Foulke to marry him! XD What he actually said was, " I need a woman like you Sister Foulke... How old are you, 24?" I could only drink from my water bottle and cry with suppressed laughter as she just stared at him!!! XD Oh heavens above.... Life is still good when someone basically asks your companion to marry him.

We went home for lunch and we got a call from our STLs saying that one of the sisters was sick and her companion needed to go out with us. We said sure, why not! Another sister is always fun to have! So we had Sister Batulga with us for the day and that was super cool, she's from Mongolia and has an adorable accent!

We met with Victor Lopez who was going to have his baptismal interview the upcoming Saturday (patience, young ones, we'll get there :P). And then we met with Marcus, which is so discouraging because, yet again, he told us that he hadn't prayed, he hadn't read the scriptures, and he had smoked. It breaks our hearts to hear this because we can see how unhappy it makes him!

We then took Sister Baltuga back to her companion before we went to dinner with Khira, a member of the YSA Ward. She was SO much fun to talk to! :D

After dinner we went to a lesson with Luis... And he and his friend Dylan were so instructed the entire time. They would not stop "dipping". If you on't know what that is... Count your MANY blessings.

We then met with Victor Ranga.... WHY DOES HE HAVE SUCH A DIFFICULT TIME WITH PRIESTHOOD????? The one thing he has beef with is the priesthood and the need to make covenants with God by someone holding that priesthood authority. I don't understand.

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Friday, 9 September 2016

Friday was good because we had weekly planning! I love weekly planning! :D

So... Sister Foulke asked me to make up a regency romance story with her as the heroine #Emma&Jason4ever So I made up this huge and involved story about her and the title will be The Baron of Bedlam. I told her the story and she loved it... So who knows... I might be writing a bestseller when I get back :P

We had received a referral a few days before whose name is Jerry so we went to our first lesson with him and it went really well. He's a very sweet man, he was in a car accident a year or two ago which left him with permanent disabilities. But he is so kind and wants to truly come to know what Christ would have him do with his life.

After the lesson with him we had a lesson with Kristin. This time it was just Sister Foulke and I with her and she opened up so much more, it was amazing! She is so sweet, I wanted to just higher until I squeezed all the problems out of her life!

Later than night we had another lesson with Kelly (ship Ephraim and her so much!) (Mom Note: for those of the older generation: "to ship" two people means you think they would make a cute couple.) We were going through the Plan of Salvation and it was incredible! She knew a LOT and she had so many wonderful insights! She is honestly such a blessing!

After our lesson with her we had a lesson with Marcus that just was absolutely sad. He said that he didn't want to use the Atonement to help him quit smoking because he thought it would be so much more impressive if he quit by himself.  I know that a person can NOT escape addiction by themselves. Because it is not just a thing we are fighting. We are fighting the thing we are addicted to, ourselves, the adversary, and all of his followers. We cannot fully and completely overcome an addiction without the help of our loving Brother Jesus Christ. We need His strength.

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Saturday, 10 September 2016

Saturday was a little bit of a rough day. That morning was my Grandma Rose's funeral. President gave me permission to Skype in so I was able to have that little bit of closure and to see the beautiful faces of the people I love. :)

Twenty minutes before Victor Lopez's baptismal interview was supposed to take place he texted us to say that he couldn't go through with it. We spent the next twenty minutes calling and texting him, trying to get him to respond to us. He finally answered our texts and we simply testified to him by saying "whatever you're going through, the gospel of Jesus Christ can help you if you choose Him." He then said that he would come. We and the district leaders waited an HOUR before he finally showed up. Sister Foulke was ready to strangle him for all of the stress that he had put us all through. I was none too pleased myself. He and Elder Shepherd went into a room to do the interview and another hour later they came out saying that Victor had some struggles that he needed to overcome with the mission president before he could become baptized. So that was super disheartening for us. But it is MUCH better that it happened this way instead of all of this surfacing after the baptism. :) So it all worked out for the good! :)

We had another lesson with Kelly who literally brightened up our day! :D Love her!

After Kelly we had an emergency meeting with Ephraim. We basically just barfed emotions all over him. We just told him what was going on with our investigators and he helped us sort things out and settle down. And then he gave us blessings. 

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Sunday, 11 September 2016

After church this Sunday Ephraim and we went to Patrick's once again to play chess and talk about the gospel. I was watching so intently to figure out how on earth one plays chess. It was a little bit frustrating to me because it was not coming easily to me. But I slowly understood more and more as their game went on so there is hope for me yet! :D

There was a Young Adult Broadcast afterwards where Elder Cook (one of the 12 Apostles) spoke and here are two quotes that I loved!
"Enthusiasm is common, endurance is rare."
"Being sincerely Christlike is an even more important goal than being "authentic"."

After that we had another lesson with Kelly and it was wonderful, of course. Sister Foulke and I seriously ship Ephraim and Kelly! XD

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Lol, that is pretty much my roller coaster of a week. I love you all! You are all constantly in my prayers! *spiritual hugs and kisses

Sister Longo

Week 9

Monday, 29 August 2016

While we were at the church emailing, Elder Aitchison said that he will be Benedict Cumberbatch's best friend when he gets back xD I died. He said that his favorite band was 21 Pilots and that he loved Star Wars!

After emailing we went to the Villas to proselyte and as we were walking to different potential investigator's apartments and we found Jevon who set up an appointment with us. And as we were walking away from him, a woman came up to US and complemented our dresses! We struck up a conversation and she had moved here a week ago.Her name is Diana and she also made an appointment to talk with us this week! Miracles are real and so awesome! :D

The next thing we had scheduled was FHE (family home evening) with the YSA Ward. The activity was to walk around this pond, eating ice cream and talking to one another. Sister Foulke and I had a conversation with Ephraim about the priesthood because recently I have realized how very little I know about the priesthood so I've really been studying it and trying to find everything I can on the subject. Especially as to women's role in the priesthood. So that was a cool conversation. :)

After FHE we went to find a new investigator who we hadn't been able to get in contact with again. We weren't able to get a hold of him unfortunately :/ and after we tried to catch him at his apartment we had twenty minutes left and I was really tempted to just go home. It was dark and I was tired but Sister Foulke took us to another apartment complex and the entire time I just kept saying in my head "Heavenly Father will bless us for our obedience. Heavenly Father will bless us for our exact obedience." And.... Nothing happened. We didn't find anyone and those we came across were a teensy bit rude. It was 8:55pm so we went home so we would be home by 9. As we were doing daily planning, the phone rang with a number we didn't recognize. We answered and it was a Brother in another Ward in a different area giving us a referral!!! Heavenly Father blesses us when we are as exactly obedient as we can be because that shows that we can be trusted with his work. Obedience brings blessings!!! :D

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Tuesday, 30 August 2016

That morning Sister Foulke and I had to take the car in to get an oil change and have the tire pressure fixed. We thought we would only be there for an hour... It's just an oil change after all. TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER.... I was a tad irritated. I have never liked wasting time, and on the mission that hatred towards time-wasting has only been multiplied.

So there is a recent convert in our YSA Ward named, Alena Kiki, she is super cool! We went with Ephraim to the new convert lesson with her and she was super sweet and her conversion story was so tender. :)

Later that day we a member family took us to dinner and while on the way there we were talking about having spiritual experiences. So here is a question that I want to pose to you all... do deep spiritual things happen more often than we think? I wonder because I know that I rarely share the deep spiritual experiences I have had. Food for thought and discussion!

While we were trying to find a potential investigator we met.... A Scottish man!!!! Not gonna lie. Sister Foulke and I talked to him for as long as he would let us because we loved his accent so much! xD

We then had a lesson with Victor Ranga and it went really well! We started teaching him about the commandments and a lot of the ones we talked about on Tuesday he was ready keeping because it was in the scriptures. so awesome! And he said that he would keep the rest.

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Wednesday, 31 August 2016

We had District Council and it went really good! On Monday we started a zone challenge called "Labor to Find" in honor of Labor Day. The challenge was for each companionship in the zone to find 10 new investigators (means that when we talk to a person for the first time [street contact or otherwise] we have to teach a principle, extend one invitation, and set up a return appointment). Sister Foulke (10 months old now) was like "how are we ever going to find 10 new investigators this week when the average is 3 a week?" And little greenie me said "The Lord will provide!" XD I'm such a greenie, but it is good! (Note: A greenie is someone who is still "green" or new to being a missionary.)

But what is even better is that one of the Zone leaders, Elder Hayes, made a deal with our district leader that if we, as a district, found at least 38 new investigators that Elder Shepherd (district leader) could pluck one of his nose hairs with a pair of pliers. We have video proof that this bargain was struck and agreed to For "Labor to Find" we, as a district, only had to find 30 new people to teach. So this was above and beyond the goal.

After district council we met with Diana and it was WONDERFUL! She was raised Catholic but when we give her a Book of Mormon she Sid that she hoped it would fail the void she's been feeling in her life! And I know that it can!

We then had a recent convert lesson with Rachel! She makes us so happy! :D We then met with McKenna, she's the one who was bullied when she was a teen. And I love talking with her. She's thinking of moving though so we don't know how long we'll be able to meet with her. :/

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Thursday, 1 September 2016

So Thursday I had been in the mission field for six weeks so we had to go to a meeting with all the other people that arrived here the same time I did and it was actually really cool! The thing that I loved the most about it... Was that it ENDED THE TIME IT SAID IT WAS GOING TO END! Very happy camper over here. :)

We then went on exchanges. This time I stayed in our area and worked with Sister Souba, the other STL (Sister Training Leader). We got SO many street contacts while we worked together, it was crazy!

So we were in an apartment complex and we walked by a building and I got an impression to knock on the apartment 522. But we were running late to an appointment so I wrote a note so we could go back later to knock on that door.

Then something a little rough happened. While we were pulling out of a parking spot I clipped the car next to us. I was so scared as to what I was going to see when I got out of the car. But the other car just had a tiny, almost imperceptible scratch and some of our paint on it. Our car on the other hand had one long scratch and the headlights were pushed into the car. I was kicking myself the rest of the day and the next.

While out street contacting in the Crossings we met Andree who was a young father and was taking his 10 month old baby out for a walk in the stroller. We talked to him a little bit about the Restoration and how he and his daughter can be father and daughter for all eternity. :) As we were talking I thought of my own dad: young, tan, full of questions about life,  full head of dark black hair :P And with a little baby girl who he loved dearly. And I couldn't help but long for him to know the truth like my daddy did at that age!

While we were out later that night we ran across this older man who was, no joke, a modern-day Pharisee. He was saying terrible things about his upstairs neighbors and how they needed Christ because they were the basest sinners. Sister Souba and I were horrified at the self-righteousness that could be contained in such a petty man. We tried to keep talking to him about him and he just kept talking about what terrible sinners the people were and then he asked us, "Who do you think needs to learn more about Jesus Christ? Me or them?" And Sister Souba just looked at him calmly with a hint of sadness and said, "Both of you." He was not happy about that. But "the guilty taketh the truth to be hard" (1 Nephi 16:2). And those "abominations" were some of the nicest people I have met. Jdjrhejwksnhcufkenfjcjwbsjksnfjdoemsncidn!!!!

We had taken Ephraim out with us so we could have a member present (super important!) And so after all of this we had a "Tribes of Israel" discussion with him. We just talked about the blessings of the different tribes and their responsibilities. It was super fun!

So after being companions with Sister Souba, I realized that I had a lot of things I needed to repent of (making goals, street contacting). XD

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Friday, 2 September 2016

Friday morning we took the car to a body shop where they took pictures of the car so they could send the mission office an estimate for how much it will cost.

That morning we spent two whole hours in the Crossing apartment complex. It was really good! So we were wrapping up to go home for lunch when I got the prompting to go knock on a potential investigator's door. So we went to the apartment and knocked a couple times... But nothing. We shrugged and I was (I'll admit) a teensy bit irritated for wasting our time. But as we walked up to our car, we just barely caught Amanda coming home from work!!! :D We hadn't see her in weeks and were so worried about her! She told us that she was now working two jobs and life had been upper crazy but that she had missed us! I missed her SO much! And we set up an appointment for a couple weeks later when the craziness died down.

So after lunch was the much anticipated meeting with Kristin (the former investigator who texted us to ask us to come over). Sister Souba and I went and talked to her and she is super awesome! She started investigating the church a year ago because her boyfriend is actually a member in the YSA Ward Sister Foulke and I are over. She stopped investigating for a little bit because she hadn't had good experiences with the other sets of missionaries that she had worked with before. That kinda made me a little anxious. My whole life right now is devoted to helping others to come unto Christ in whatever capacity they need. I don't want to leave here and have any of our investigators feel like I hindered their progression towards Christ instead of helping. Kristin was really amazing though! Her questions are deep and important and I spend the entire time we are in the lesson praying that my companion and I can receive the guidance to help Kristin come to the true answers to her questions.

After we met with Kristin we went and tried to contact some potential investigators. We knocked on this one door looking for a Daniel and instead met Nancy. It. Was. So. COOL!!! Nancy is Christian (halfway there, right?) and she writes clean, fun, mystery novels! Her name is Nancy Baldock and she has written the "McKenzie Sparks Mystery Series". She described her series to us and it is now on my list for when I get home, it sounds like a riot! XD Anywho, after talking about her books for a little bit we talked about Jesus Christ, and sadly she refused to take a Book of Mormon but I have hope for her future. Sister Souba and I were just exposing her to the gospel. Heavenly Father will make sure that she will receive more exposure until she is receptive enough to accept it. And when she does, she will be a valiant member of Christ's church. :)

We then went back to our apartment to exchange back. I hugged the stuffing out of Sister Foulke. I love Sister Souba and she is an awesome exchange companion... But I needed my companion back. :D

So Sister Foulke and I went to the Villas and we were singing hymns to ourselves as we were walking from one apartment building to another and we hear a soft shout of, "Sisters!" We turn around and peaking around the corner of an apartment building was Cynthia! She had been outside sweeping her porch and she had heard us singing and had recognized our voices! xD Isn't that sweet?
Singing and Cynthia heard us!

We went on our way and while walking towards a potential investigator's apartment we came across a man and he was wearing these light teal headphones (#myfavoritecolorever!) so I called out to him and told him that I liked his headphones. He grinned and we struck up a conversation and talked about the gospel and set up a return appointment!

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Saturday, 3 September 2016

So Saturday was the day when we got the news about transfers. Transfers are where you can get moved to a different area (different wards) and/or get a different companion. The entire week I had been stressing over this because I didn't want to leave this area and I especially didn't want to leave Sister Foulke!!! They gave us our papers that told us our assignments for this transfer (a transfer is six weeks long). AND I GET TO STAY IN THIS AREA WITH SISTER FOULKE!!! When we got into the car I started crying with relief and happiness. I cannot convey to you as to the amount of anxiety this had given me.

Saturday was simply miraculous and an amazing day! We were able to find 4 new investigators!!! :D

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Sunday, 4 September 2016

Sunday was kind of stressful because we had Ward council in both wards that day. So we were in church from 7 am to 4 pm. But what made it a little stressful was that it was my turn to go to the Ward council at the YSA Ward. So because the Ward Council for the YSA Ward is at 11 am and the Family Ward doesn't end until 12, one of us has to stay at the Family Ward while the other goes to the YSA Ward Council. So we went on splits (where the missionary companionship splits in half and pairs up with a member of the Ward who is 16 years or older and in our case, female) and I went with Ellen (my temp companion) to the Ward council. It went well! :)

So that day was Fast Sunday (where we go without food or drink for twenty -four hours on the first Sunday of the month so that, by so doing we deny ourselves physical wants in order to more fully focus on our spiritual needs) which means that for the first meeting of church anyone can get up and simply bear their testimony. One of the members in the YSA Ward, Shannon, got up and said something beautifully profound, "I have been guilty of sacrificing my greater self for my lesser self." Far too many times I have been guilty of this. Where I have sacrificed the better part of myself to please and satisfy the lesser part of my being. Please, remember that there is nothing that pleases the lesser that is worth sacrificing the greater!

Shoutout to Mom and Dad!!! Ephraim came into Relief Society to ask to use the consecrated oil you gave me because someone needed a blessing and none of the priesthood holders had theirs! See everyone who questions me, I am always prepared!!!! Mwahaha.

After church we went with Ephraim to go see Patrick (recent convert) and he and Ephraim started playing chess (I have never played before and it confuses me so very much) and we were able to relate it to the gospel and it was super cool! (P.S. Chess always reminds me of one of my favorite movies. Guess which one :P)

We then had dinner at the Barlow's house. It was an interesting experience to eat with a family of 16. But super fun at the same time! :D

That evening we had an appointment with Victor Ranga and Sister Foulke and I were really worried about it because the Bishop was out of town which meant we had to do it at Ashlynn's house. And the last time we did that, it was not so great. But we went over to talk about the Ten Commandments (which is now my favorite lesson because here are hand signs that we use in order to remember them and they make me so happy!!! #sixyearoldinnineteenyearoldbody
It actually went really well! It was one of the most lighthearted and loving lessons we have ever had with Victor! Hand signs for the win! *fist pump*

Our last appointment for the day was with a referral named Kelly. SHE IS SO AWESOME! She has been going to church with her friend for about a year but has never taken the missionary discussions before. One of the first things she said was, "So I decided that I'm going to get baptized on November fourteenth. Does that work for you guys?" I almost fell out of my chair. We hadn't said a word about baptism yet. And as we discussed her background the more and more awestruck I became. Holy cow, she is literally a miracle! A literal miracle from a loving Heavenly Father that Sister Foulke and I really needed. Her story is a LOT like Ephraim's, and he was there at the lesson with us. And I ship the two of them SO MUCH! SHE AND EPHRAIM ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!!! XD

So, in total.... We found 15 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!!! Which was five more than the goal! :D God is wonderful!

Sister Longo