Mexican foods with S. Togerson and Wright (and Mexican foods are hard to come by here--they've got Columbian, Puerto Rican, and Dominican foods like crazy, but not much from Mexico).

The sisters of Parsippany--S. Coley, Wright, and Cox, plus me and S. Torgerson.

Enjoying a F'real at the QuikChek during the monster storm.

A really lovely cornfield we pass on our way to the library.

A sad cucumber that looked at me when I first opened my sandwidge--what are the odds it would have a face?!

And more of the dazzling scenery of Sparta.

Family Dearest!

I surely hope all is well! All is wet round this side of the states! We have had many storms and much rain. On Thursday, our walking day (we're not allowed to use cars that day), a massive storm came through. We sought shelter at a Quik Check (like a 711, without a gas station). The power went out a couple times, but we stayed there a little over an hour until a member came to pick us up for the Bible study class at the Church. It was a lot of fun!

Other fun news, we have some really neat people we're teaching! Dawn and her mother-in-law Judy came to Church for the first time last week and loved it! Judy said as soon as she sat in the bench she felt she was home. We visited them again this week and taught the Word of Wisdom. They both are avid smokers and need their morning, afternoon and evening coffee (I think coffee is the biggest thing for people to give up, and EVERYONE out here drinks coffee, it's like people in Russia drinking vodka, it's crazy). But they know that to be baptized they need to put God's commands first so they have quit smoking and coffee cold turkey. To replace the coffee, Dawn has been drinking cranberry juice and she says it's very energizing and helps her kidney situation. Smoking hasn't been easy, they've been struggling, but they have wanted to quit for the longest time and they know that they can do it with His help. They pray and turn to the scriptures every time they get a craving. This Sunday they both got blessings to help them overcome and to help Judy with an upcoming surgery. Dawn was bawling after hers, because the man who gave her a blessing, who'd only met her 5 minutes before, said things he couldn't have known about that she was also struggling with. They both needed to hear that God loves them and will be by their side throughout this. They love the Book of Mormon and the Gospel Principles book, which has cleared up a lot of stuff they were confused about when they attended other churches. They feel the spirit so much, and their family has noticed a good change in them. That's the thing about the gospel, it takes either really hurt, sad people or happy, already at ease with life people, and makes them even better and makes them feel the potential Heavenly Father sees in them. It's so amazing! I love it! Dawn is going to be baptized on August 12! And this week we asked Judy if she'd follow Christ's example by being baptized and she immediately said yes. I didn't know what to do. Usually they have a concern that we have to help them with, but she just said a very confident yes! I was just being my weird self by saying, "Eugh, ng, eh!" And then promising her the blessings of feeling the cleansing power of baptism and the Atonement. She's going to be baptized on August 26!

I also went on exchange with Sister Torgerson to Parsippany to be companions with Sister Wright. We had a blast, and there are 2 other sisters (Spanish speaking) living at their apartment. We had quite a fun comp study, it felt more like a Bible study since we had so many people there. But the neat thing is, Bible study sounds so boring, but it's not. We can so easily relate everything from the scriptures to our lives and the lives of people we teach. Thanks Heavenly Father for giving us scriptures that make sense! 

We did service helping a lady clean her basement, and taught a number of really neat people. It was a good exchange, and Sister Wright is amazing (very laid back, Californian, etc.).

 
Also, I reached my one year mark on Friday! That's insane! I can't believe I've been gone a whole year?! Goons! 

I love you kidz, be safe and happy and give each other big hugs and saucy winks!

sister mister

Goodbye to the Milkwick's and Sara (they gave me balloons and a giant cookie! I'm gonna miss them).

Sisters Herrera and Coley, and me. 

Goodbye to the Andersons, one of my favorite senior couples! They're such amazing parents to all of us--I'm gonna miss them too.

My first night here--our sleepover away from the bedbugs.

Goodbye to Elder Boyes--quite the kindred spirit, that one.

A member who works at Mars gave us all this candy for being missionaries. So to divide the spoils, we did a series of challenges including: wall sits, balancing on one leg, hanging from the pull up bar since we can't do pull ups, staring contest, ninja, and rock-paper-scissors.

A stormy day in the country.

A mild day in the country.

A sunny and joyous day in the country.

Hey Family Dearest!

So, I am now serving with Sisters Bell and Torgerson (round two with the latter) in ...... SPARTA!

Because I'm serving in Sparta, I'll have spent the entirety of my mission in the northernmost part of New Jersey. I've now covered Sussex, Bergen, and Passaic counties--look it up on a map. I have never been away from the New York border, and now I'll be alongside the Pennsylvania border too.  This area is still quite woodsy, but has a lot of farmland too.  Lots of cornfields and rolling hills. It's quite beautiful! Maybe at the end of my mission I'll serve in a city, but for now I'll take the country.

The first day here my companions were recovering from bed bugs, so we spent the night spraying down our mattresses and apartment, and moved our beds into the living room for a sleepover while our room dried.

The people here are quite interesting.  It's a lot slower moving, more laid back. Which is strange for the east coast. We visited a really great Italian member the other day who is quite exuberant. She just talked and talked. She taught us three or more recipes with actions.  "So then you put the tomatoes in the pot (insert whatever else is in the recipe). And then you get youwa meatbwalls and put em in the pot. Then you chop, chop, chop, chop, chop (with chopping actions) the pwarsley. Then ya lift the lid, ya smell it,  ya stir it, then badda bing! Ya eat it!" We learned about meatbwall heroes, meatbwall swauce, spaghetti and meatbwalls, and eggplant pwarmesan. It was fantastic. And then her neighbor stopped by to bring her a pie and she said, "Look at me. I've lwost fifteen pounds! Don't I look swaucy! Badda bing!" Also, she said "badda bing!" at the end of everything. At the end of our meeting she said the prayer and bore her testimony, and it was so sincere. So we ended on a spiritual note.

We had a Ward service project for Service Day this Saturday. We were at a sports field and had to spread mulch on both sides of the long driveway. There were mountains of mulch and it took us three hours. Much sweating ensured, but it was good honest labor. I felt quite proud at the end of the project. My back is a little less enthused, however.

A lady we've been teaching, Dawn, and her mother Judy, came to Church this Sunday! They loved it and really felt the Spirit and told random members they'd see that they'll be back next week! I'm so excited for that! There's a lot to do here. Most of the people we're teaching are part member families or less active families, which is just so great. 

Well, I love you guys, and I hope your week is good and that you enjoy your Pioneer Day. They, the pioneers, were amazing! They are one of the reasons I'm out here. They sacrificed everything they had for the Gospel and I can too.  I sure miss you kids, but I know I'll see you soon and I know the Gospel is true and that these people need to hear about it.

I love you,

Sister Yitter Fishy

The Fantau family--me and the littlest one talked Harry Potter.

Goodbye Babby and Company.

Coty and Shontel escorting us to our vehicle.

NOTE FROM MOM: CHECK THE PREVIOUS POST FOR ADDITIONAL PICTURES FROM THIS WEEK.

Dearest Family!

This week we drove around A LOT! On Monday we went to Hoboken to go to Carlos Bakery (where the Cake Boss is filmed). There was an hour long line, but it was fun to talk with the other sisters. The people in line didn't seem interested in learning about the Gospel. 

Then Tuesday we exchanged and I went to Jersey City! Which is across from New Ywork City! SO in the morning we got to run around and see the skyline, and breathe in nice polluted airs. Much different from the woodsy airs in Fardale. We had a grundle of studies, because I was with Spanish speaking sisters, and they have to do longer studies to practice the language. And we saw an elderly lady from Peru, who was quite the talker, but very sweet. Then two girls from Chile who got baptized this saturday. Then a lady who's in the Bayonne English branch, who isn't sure if she believes in God. She just moved here and thought she'd check out the Church after a decade of not coming. We talked about Faith and how to exercise it. 

Then we taught an Ecuadorian member family who are waiting for their daughter's mission call. This family, the Gracias, were so sweet. They made us ceviche (a cold seafood and tomato and pepper salad, quite tasty) and rice. It was lovely. The daughter Penelope, who should get her call in the next couple of weeks, said that when she was interviewed by her Stake President, he saw that she had written she can't ride a bike. He told her that she should probably learn how to before she leaves. So the next day she found a friend with a bike and spent the whole day learning until she could at least go in a straight line. She is continuing to practice. She said, "If the Stake President says I need to learn to ride a bike, I better do it!" And she has a goal to give out one pass-along card every day. I'll note that she's very shy, but she loves the Gospel and knows it's the most important thing in her life, so she goes out of her comfort zone and talks to people on the street, on the bus etc. She's gonna be an awesome missionary. Then we did a role play with her sister, who wants to share the Book of Mormon with someone. She gave the most sincere testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it has blessed her life, and how much she loves that Book, and gave one to me. I was so amazed at this family, so genuine! I loved being in the city. There were no end to the people we could stop and talk with. It was neat.

At Ellis Island this week I helped two Italian ladies, who were quite a gas! They had all the info they needed and were able to find their person, and were so excited! I love it when they get excited! And then I helped a Greek lady who found her family pretty quickly. She was also excited, and I think she was close to crying because her voice got choked up. I so wish we could teach the people there. There is just so much of the Spirit there when people do their family history and they're so tender hearted. Not everyone mind you. I've helped my fair share of disgruntled folks. But still, I love it. And the top ethnicity of the visitors of the day was Australian.

Finally, I found out I'm being transferred after nine months of Fardale. We had a good run, and the work here will continue as Sister Marley trains a new sister from California! I'm excited to meet her! So I said my goodbyes to the ward; Babby, Coty, Peanut, and Shontel (who's bathroom caught fire! Not their whole house thank goodness, but they have been evacuated to the La Quinta for the time being); Marianne and Bob (she was quite distraught, but hopefully she'll be ok); Banana; and Bernice (I love that lady so much, I know she doesn't remember anything we attempt to teach, but she's so great. We took her out for a stroll around her nursing home, and unfortunately the path ends at the dumpster. Stinky).

And lastly, guess who got comfirmed the last Sunday I'm in this ward? Sara! She visited her family again, and realized they would never support this decision she made. She  knows this makes her happy, and she wants to have her future family feel this happy too. So she decided to go ahead and receive the Holy Ghost!

I love you guys, and I'll tell you where I've ended up next week!

sister mistipher

Cake Boss!

Sister Swann and I after an hour in the hot Mexican sun, but excited to be in the air conditioned bakery.

Hoboken, like the sign says.

Sister Lowry enjoying our spoils--Canoli!

The only missionaries in our zone who admit to being in Hufflepuff.

Sister Coley and I--we've spent the last 6 months in this District, and we're both quite goonish.

Our District--we've had a good time, but we've also all worked very hard. This has probably been my favorite time of my mission so far, meaning these last few transfers with this group.

Me and Sister Sommerfeldt with the Gracias.

And lastly, on July 11 it was 7-11 Day, so we hit up all the 7-11s on our way home for free slurpies.

 These are memories of the fireworks last year--taking goonish pictures, also mom napping in a cute way.

A really kewl Scandinavian Chateau style house.

 Entertainment at our Zone Conference lunch by Sister Coley, who is very talented with the ukulele.

And lastly, a shrine thing on the side of the road.

Family Dearest!

I'm so glad to be writing you! This morning has been good. We're almost done with our laundry and then we're going to Jersey City to have fun with some of the other sisters. 

We have been continuing to go about trying to find people to teach. I feel my skills are getting rusty. Actually though, we are teaching people, just not anyone who wants to learn more. One lady we ran into was watering the flowers of someone we went to visit who was apparently on vacation.  We talked with the lady, Edie, for about an hour. It started as talking about the family and how wonderful they were, then into her old job as a police woman and the people she'd help. She said so many of them need help, not to just be thrown in prison, but need help learning to be better and to see the good in themselves and grow to be the person they wish they could be. And then that naturally led into talking about Jesus Christ and repentance and so forth. 

I was studying this week about repentance and how marvelous it is. Really, it's an invitation to become like Christ. I used to think when prophets in the scriptures would cry repentance to the people it seemed overzealous and kinda harsh. But repentance is how you shed those things that hold you back from seeing Heavenly Father again. It doesn't do any good to just say you've repented, but it needs to be a change of heart and of your actions. You may fail multiple times on your way, but as long as you continually strive to change and work on it, to become who He knows you can become, then it's okay. It's so amazing and such a wonderful gift! 

Anyway, back to Edie. She got disenchanted with her church growing up--a lot of it over how they dealt with repentance and how they interpreted scripture. So she chose to just stick o the Bible and quit going to Church. At the end of our hour, I felt prompted to give her a Book of Mormon and bear my testimony of it. I do love the Book of Mormon and I know it is true scripture and the word of God. She has a sincere heart and I know she could find out the truth of the Book for herself. We will be stopping by again soon to see how she is.

We also had Zone Conference this week. It was amazing! We had a presentation from the medical missionaries over the Northeast Area Missions. I think they cover 22 missions. Anyway, they told us how we could deal with stress, and the emotional toll of mission life. They passed around a sign up sheet if anyone wanted to talk with them one on one. I signed up and later in the day talked with Elder Christensen about Popsy. He said to help with trying to grieve out here, since I haven't really, I should set aside a little time each week to remember Pops, cry if I need to, pray about it, and so forth. And that would recharge me and help with the work I need to do out here. We also talked about what is important to have a testimony about as a member of the Church.

The rest of the Conference went well and we said goodbye to some of the many missionaries leaving this month. Apparently July and August we're losing a lot. 

And lastly, I want to say how much I love the Book of Mormon. This morning I was reading and something struck me as strange. I finished the chapter, still feeling unsettled. I thought, well, maybe I'll just go the the Bible now or Preach My Gospel. And then I felt like I should read into the next chapter. I found as I read, my concern was dissolving, and then it was answered. Heavenly Father knew I had a question, and He answered it through that Book. I know it is true and I love it.

Oh yes, the Fourth of July. Uneventful. Sister Marley and I didn't know until the day of that we could stay out late to go to fireworks. Apparently the rest of the missionaries knew because they all went to Jersey City, across the harbor from New York City, and watched the fireworks there. We couldn't make it in time to get good parking, so we decided to clean our car, and our vacuum broke. So we played a game, and went to bed early. All in all, a pretty relaxing evening.

I love you guys.  Here's a squeeze from this ol' gal!

Sister Miss

Our tie-dye hands!

Activity Days Cupcakes!

Sister Marley helping Camryn with her rose.

The senior missionary's skit--they are all so great.

A great group of gals.

Sister Barrett (who got me a dental kit for my birthday) and Sister Torgerson.

Elder Boyes, Sister Lowry, and me (er, I).

A super awesome family in our Ward who are always sharing the Gospel.

Another super awesome family in our Ward! The kids made us a fancy cake with roses on it yesterday as a thank you for teaching them how to decorate cakes--so sweet!

Hey Family!

Happy Birthday to the newest dimpled dumpling in the clan, little Arlo! I'm excited to meet that one!

This week has been...hot. And oh so humid (or umid, as I like to say). It's also been rainy. But hot and humid mid rain. I can't give you any updates on the people we're teaching because we have dropped everyone. I love them all so much, but none of them are willing to progress and we need to find the ones who are prepared now. This makes for lots of walking and talking. Which is good, because I feel like my communication skills are lacking and need sprucing up. We have met some very nice people. Some even gave us water bottles, which was kind. At one door the lady told us she wasn't interested but looked at Sister Marley, who had a "Be Nice to Me--I Donated Blood Today" sticker (tell you about that later, and Sister Marley wrote in "tried" because they wouldn't take her blood), and me who's face was shining with perspiration and actually dripping onto the lady's porch. What a sad pair--so she brought us water and gave me some paper towels to dab the sweat.

Last Monday, we had a tie-dye bonanza with our zone in preparation for our All Mission Activity. We dyed shirts so we'd all match. It was lots of fun. On Wednesday, we taught the Activity Days girls how to cake decorate. Their leaders asked us if we'd teach them that and we were happy to. Though, I found out I can kind of teach the Gospel, but I am terrible at teaching how to squeeze frosting out of a bag. "No, no. You hold it like this so it doesn't all come out the top." "Ok teacher!" And then, in the next 3 minutes, it's all out of the bag again. We had lots of fun though, and Sister Marley taught them how to do Wilton roses and they did very well, I must say!

One other neat thing that happened was we met with a sister in our Ward who is trying to go to the Temple, had obstacles, but overcame them, and is so happy she is living the Gospel. Before in her life she would've just done whatever, but she has this Gospel and now knows what she needs to do to be happy.  So great!

Also, We donated blood for one of the Young Woman's service projects. Sister Marley can't because she lived in Turkey at one point, but I was able to, and all the ladies helping were really nice. One member, who is about 6'5" came. He is deathly afraid of needles. He only came because he was promised truffles from Felicia, the young woman in charge of the project, and a fancy cake from his wife. He's in his thirties and he was close to tears in there and was kicking around throughout it. Normally he is the most calm and collected, easy going person, but this really did a number on him.

We also had the privilege of having an all mission conference/activity day! First, we gathered in our casual clothes (tie-dye for our zone) in the chapel and listened to Chester Elton. He's a member who has written a whole bunch of business books. I think 6 of them have been on the New York Times Bestseller list. He taught us about how we can best work as a team to accomplish our goals, whether it be in zones, districts, or companionships. Most of what I got out of it was to have open, honest communication all the time, and do things to increase motivation and love, like giving praise and compliments and doing nice things for each other. It was really great. Then we went to the gym and had lunch while watching skits that each zone put on. Our skit was amazing, and we had so much fun in our practices for it. It included news briefings like HARRY POTTER CLAIMS TO HAVE FOUND GOLDEN PLATES BY SAYING ACCIO, and A new Broadway play has just been announced: It's called the NEW WORLD TRANSLATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, etc.

Then we went "live" to the Spirit World for Michael Jackson's baptism and we all danced and ended with him doing a mormon.org video. It was lots of fun! Then we went to a park and played games (and we were all very, very sweaty--ewwww).

So, that was a nice break. Now it's back to work! Please pray that we find people this week. Our teaching skills need honing, and New Jersey really needs to know the Gospel, so yes. I love you kids and I miss you!

I love you,

sister mister