Last P-Day I pulled a Jan and dyed a skirt from tan to...tan. Ok, really it was from oatmeal to safari hat.  So again, from tan to tan.

We all enjoyed washing our vehicle--surprisingly didn't get very wet.

My friends enjoying baked goods from the new bakery across the street.

The shining waters of the lake.

Rolling, foresty hills.

Sister Biolena and Torgerson enjoying a jaunt through the fields during lunch.

A field we picnicked in.

The pretty golden leaves.

Family Dearest!

This week has been SUPREME! Ok, so we went to Zone Conference this week and the theme of the conference was exact obedience. We've been doing pretty ok, but it had been hard for us to get up at 6:30, we'd accidentally sleep in until 6:35. Oh the guilt at seeing the clock! At the conference everyone covenanted to try their absolute best to be exactly obedient. Sisters Torgerson, Biolena, and I took that to heart, and we have seen SO MANY BLESSINGS! 

1. We met with a former investigator after a long time of not being able to get in touch with her, and she wants us to come back. 
2. A plan fell through, so we went to check on a less active, and their daughter answered the door, and happily accepted a Book of Mormon and said she'd read it. 
3. We met another less active who didn't show for our last appointment. She was happy to see us and when we started talking to her about the Book of Mormon (and our plan was to ask her to start reading so many chapters a day), she said, "You know what, I need to get back into reading that. I'm going to start reading two chapters every night!" Woof, ok!
4. Dawn's step-daughter Ashley went to young women's this week and really liked it and is now friends with the girls on Facebook. 
5. We saw a member and her son's friend was there and wanted to learn more about what we teach. So we taught about prophets and he said how that's something he likes about the Mormons, that they always seem to have more revelation. He said he didn't want to convert to anything, but sure, he'd read the Book of Mormon. And then he made a return appointment with us. 
6. Bible study was awesome, as per usual, I'm counting that as a miracle because I just love it so much.
7. We knocked a door and a young lady answered who was all for taking a Book of Mormon, not to convert, but just to broaden her knowledge. 
8. A less active, who works as a cop in Paterson, was happy to have us over. We watched some segments from Conference, and she enjoyed them. Then I got the opportunity to testify that President Monson and the Apostles are true prophets today and there's no doubt in my mind that they've seen God and Christ and get direct revelation from Them. Then, wonder of wonders, she came to Church, at which point I almost fell out of my chair. She stayed for two hours, her kids liked it, and she told me she was going to block out this month's Sundays so they could come to Church again. Usually stuff comes up, but she said she was definitely going to make this a priority. 
9. Also, we went to dinner at a member's house, and he invited his neighbor and her daughter. She was curious and asked about polygamy (as most people do) and then we got into the Restoration. I was privileged to tell her about Joseph Smith and the first vision. When I said that God and Christ appeared to Joseph, she said she got the chills. Then she confessed she'd been looking for a Church because she had qualms with her's. She also got a Book of Mormon, and is coming to Church in a few weeks!
10. Kevin got the Holy Ghost!
11. A member brought a friend to Church, and she loved all three meetings! Then after Church she asked us who Joseph Smith is, so we went to the Chapel and taught her the Restoration. Again, with the way the lesson went, I again got to recite the first vision and she said she felt something. She said that the whole day, from the moment she sat in the Chapel at ten o'clock she had felt something so good. She also accepted a Book of Mormon. She lives in New York, but said she'd be back again!
12. We visited a less active we've never met, she was happy to see that we were sisters and welcomed us in. She talked for about an hour (including a long political thing) and then agreed to have us over again. We told her about Conference and she said she'd watch it. We were getting up to leave, and she said, "I just want you to know, even though I don't come to Church, I still know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I know that God lives. And I know that Joseph Smith saw both of them and that the Church is true." All three of us were in tears. That was a simple testimony, but the most powerful one I've ever heard. The Spirit was sooo strong.

I know that all these miracles happened because of our being exactly obedient this week. Also, the reason we get up without a problem at 6 am now is because we got new phones and our alarm is this charming ringtone of someone whistling. We are all so happy to wake up because of that little jingle. It's like waking up in a musical!

Another crazy thing that happened this week is this:

Picture it, it's getting dark. We're driving through the woods. We see the mailbox we're looking for, and it's at the start of a LONG dirt road. Great. I start driving down it and get quite far, when we see two green dots in the distance. We get closer and there's a German Shepherd in the middle of the lane staring at us. I put on the brakes and we all just sit still. It walks up to the car and starts sniffing around it. It goes to every window and then back to the front of the car. Then up ahead a light turns on and we see a figure moving. Agh!!! So throwing caution to the winds, I tell Sister Torgerson she'll have to back me up by looking out the back window. I was not gonna let her get out to back me up with that hound of the Baskervilles out here. I backed up the entire long, narrow, woods-on-both-sides dirt road, all of us screaming and meanwhile we see a huge truck turn its lights on and start toward us from the house. I made it safely to the paved road, then gunned the gas through the woods. The truck came into view behind us, again, we're still screaming. Then we pull over because the truck flashes it's lights and I dunno, maybe it was a policeman. I unrolled the window a hair and the man in the truck asked if we were lost. We told him who we were looking for and he said we had had the right house and that his wife (who we were looking for) would be expecting us. He drove off, and we just sat there not knowing what to do. On the one hand, he said they were the right people. On the other hand, his house is in the middle of the woods. We said a prayer, and none of us felt like it would be unsafe. Then we decided to look in our phone for the lady's number. She answered and told us her husband had followed us to make sure we didn't get lost in the woods, which apparently happens to people. We visited them and she's not interested. But it made for an exciting evening!

Love you kids!

Sister Mistletoe

My three departing companions, Sisters Marley, Barrett, and Bell. I tried to straighten my hair for the occasion and it turned out sort of....meh.

My last picture with Sister Bell, who's probably going to get married in a month.

President and Sister Jeppson in matching hats Sister Barrett crocheted for them.

Kevin's Baptism!

Kevin and the Murray's before the plunge.

Dearest Family!

 

This week has been pretty neat. Yesterday was Kevin's baptism, and it went really well! The Murrays, the family who've just sort of adopted him, did the whole program. It was nice to just sit back and watch and not have to worry about a talk. We did have to clean out the font (I don't know where the bugs keep coming from, but they're there every time we go to clean it), and fill it. We're getting better at it though, because Kevin said it was warm! It was kinda cold when we filled it up for Dawn's and Judy's.

We also found a new investigator this week. We knocked on a less-active's door, they didn't answer, so we left a note. The next day someone called us and said they were returning a call because of the note we'd left. We asked if we could come visit, and she said yes, in a sort of hesitant tone. We came over, sat on her couch, and started talking with her and getting to know her. Sister Biolena (my newest companion, I'll explain more later) asked the lady if she had watched conference. She asked, "What's conference?" To which I presumed she just hadn't gone to Church in a really long time and she'd forgotten what it was. "So when were you baptized?" "Never. I'm not a member of your Church..." "Oh!" And then we taught the Restoration and told her about living Prophets and the Book of Mormon, both of which she seemed interested in. We asked her if we could come back a week from then and she replied, "No. come sooner, how about such and such day." Yay! I'm excited to go back there!

It was pretty tough last week seeing three of my previous companions depart for home. Sister Barrett flew to Alaska, Sister Bell flew to Texas, and Sister Marley flew to Utah. I admit I was tearing up quite a bit during transfer conference. But then we got assigned another companion! Sister Torgerson and I were in shock, as we thought it would just be the two of us. But lo and behold, Heavenly Father sent us Sister Biolena from the Philippines! She's been out here for four months now and loves it here! She also speaks amazing English, and is quite the addition to the companionship!

Oh, and Bill (Dawn's husband) and Ashley (his daughter) came to Church on Sunday for the first time! He had to leave after Sacrament because he's still recovering from his surgery, but Dawn said on the ride home he cried as he told her how much he loved being there! Ashley stayed, and the Young Women immediately whisked her off to Sunday School. Joy of joys!

We also raked leaves this week and stained someone's porch. And yes, that's about it.

I love you guys so much. I hope you're having fun doing whatever you're doing. Love you!

Sister Missy

The Luau! It was a superb missionary opportunity as many people invited friends and neighbors. We gave tours to the groups as they'd come in and go from "island to island" (from Primary, to Relief Society, to Seminary, etc.) and the members would explain what each program was and such.

Sisters Bell, Wright, this one, Biolena and Marley.

While helping that member bag stuff for fumigation, I found this winner of a Sturgis shirt and he let us keep it. So we washed it and gave it to Sister Marley who is quite the biking enthusiast.

Sister Torgerson resting on a couch in a bathroom at the mall.

The amazing Izquierdo family who love history and robots (the boy kept scaring me with his robot dinosaurs during dinner, and you know how jumpy I am!).

An outhouse in the woods.

Jordyn and her "new baby bwotha", the kids of a wonderful less-active lady.

Sister Goodbar and Sister Cerrano, who wanted to treat Sister Bell to a fancy lunch before she left (Sister Goodbar does a great Jar-Jar Binks impression.).

Bapi, Ernesto (the one with the bubble-wrapped couch), and Doris (who said she might want to be baptized!).

Herbie and Sister Adrian, the Italians we watched conference with.

Kevin and Karissa filling out his baptism papers. And, yes, that's a finch on his head.

The Wonderful Dean Family! The face paint was from a FHE activity.

Dearest Darling Family!

 

I'm so glad that conference was this weekend! What a joy it was! I cried during the missionary announcement, that was just the best thing ever. Granted, it doesn't currently affect me as a missionary, but it will affect generations to come as more and more sisters serve missions and gain burning testimonies of the Truth by the time they're 21. The whole confrence was superb. We watched two sessions at the Church with a small gaggle of members. 

Another session we watched with Sister Adrian, the Brooklyn/Italian lady who made up a rap about the word of wisdom. Afterwards we talked around the table. She told us she came through Ellis Island as a child and was adopted by a wonderful couple. She came over just as WWII ended. In her village though near Rome, the war wasn't over. People would just start shooting people and setting each other on fire and other horrific things. She was grateful to come here, and LOVES America. And she loves the Gospel so much. And despite all the hardship she's gone through, she is the most happy, positive, bouncy, upbeat person I've ever met. 

We watched the other session at the Dean's. They are a really special family. Eric joined the Church a couple months ago, and Brandi just started coming back after years of not going. They remind me of our family, just super fun no matter what you're doing. They've sort of adopted us and make sure we always have a sunday dinner. And their Bassett Hound just lumbers around everyone and wails when he needs a belly rub.

The rest of this week we did Sister Bell's departing stuff. On Monday she went on the Ellis Island trip, while Sister Torgerson and I went about Morristown and Dover to window shop. I got 3 skirts for $10 at a thrift store, which is quite a steal! On Wednesday Sister Bell went to the Temple and Sister Torgerson and I vacuumed our car in the rain, hiked up quite a steep slope to visit someone who at one time was interested and now no longer lives there, hiked or skipped down a foresty muddy slope past an outhouse to visit a member who wasn't home, and finally met Eisl. She's an Austrian woman who was walking her dog. She seemed interested in a living prophet, but said she was fine with her faith. She did take an invite to Conference however, and hopefully she ended up watching it. On Thursday we went back down to Morristown for Sister Bell's departing interview.

Kevin had his baptismal interview and he is very excited to be baptized this week! I'm so happy for him! Eek! 

Also, Sister Torgerson and I are staying in Sparta for at least another transfer! This will be the first time in four transfers that just the two of us will be companions, we two have always been in trios before now. I'm glad I get to stay here! It'll be sad to have Sister Bell leave, but she'll go home, get married, and begin rearing a righteous posterity, so that's positive.

 

I love you!

 

Sister Mister

Woad twip #1!

Woad Twip! #2

Agh! Out of mission boundaries! Don't worry though--we got permission

The amazing King family--half French, half Danish.

In the shed with all the spiders--Sister Torgerson was whacking at them though with that shovel, so we were safe.

The three of us, happy to be in the open (Sister Bell didn't actually step foot in the shed because it gave her the creeps).

Pretty mists and treeses.

Austrian foodz! Is this what you ate on your mission Sarah? Meat, potatoes, cabbages?

Allysa's baptism.

Family Dearest!
 
Agh! The leaves are changing, Fall smell is happening, people are putting blow-up skeletons and ghouls on their lawns! I love this time of year! 

This week we went to a member's house and ate tacos. At the end of our visit her son's friend came in, sat down, and said, "Do you have anything to share with me?" So we had a Q&A of sorts and basically taught the first three lessons. He said that his family moved to Tennessee, but he stayed behind because he felt like he needed to accomplish something here, he just didn't know what (we know what though!). So we're teaching him again next week! 

There were three baptisms of children in our ward this week. I love baptisms. The Spirit is super strong at them and I am so proud of the children and how much they know about the gospel. They know what choice they're making and they're so happy about it! 

When we were eating refreshments after one of them a kid came over  with a grape and said, "Look, I hallowed out this grape and I'm drinking my soda our of it!" He drank almost a whole cup of soda by painstakingly dipping his grape down in the cup and bringing it out again. Also the table was super messy afterwards, but that's a small price to pay for the joy he got out of it. 

We also had a crazy planning party this week with all the missionaries in our zone in the same room. Every week we plan for the people we're teaching, less actives we're going to visit, lesson plans, etc. It usually takes two or three hours plus lots of prayer and discussion. It was interesting going around to the different companionships to see what they do in planning and learning from them. Very nice indeed. 

We helped a member bubble wrap his bed bug infested couch this week. His landlord didn't want them to fall in the carpet when he moved it out of the building. That was an interesting day. I just hope no bed bugs latched onto us and came back to our apartment, because that is quite a todo getting rid of them. 

We ate some genuine Austrian foods at a members house, that was neat. The mother, still living, came through Ellis Island! We also helped a less-active member clean her home. She is struggling because it was her husband's birthday, and he passed away two years ago. So we did dishes, vacuumed, and dusted her Disney snow globe collection. We also helped a Michael Jackson pack his house to move to Florida, so yes, I can say I've met Michael Jackson! 

Let's see... Oh! Kevin bore his testimony in sacrament yesterday and he knows the Church is true! He's going to be baptized on October 14th!  I hope I'm still here for it! Agh! He's going to make covenants! Then go on a mission! Then get mawiaged in the Temple! Blerg! I'm just so excited!
 
And lastly, in Church announcements yesterday, the couselor said these words, "Someone is missing a pair of teeth. So if you find them, wrap them in a paper towel, and take them to a member of the Bishopbric." Yep.
 
Love you kidz! Give the dog a squeeze for me (yes Nate and Libby and Peter, you have to give Winnie a hug from this one), also give the gaggle of children a squeeze!
 
Sister Mistipher

One of Michael Jackson's super cute baby kitties!

The Austrian family who fed us this week and sat with us at the Sister's Conference, which was fantastic.

The Robertozzi family--very clean and healthy.

Note from mom: This is Missy's letter from last week. She thought she'd sent it but found this week that it hadn't happened.

Family Dearest

Things are happening! The clouds are marvelous, the trees are changing, it smells like fall, the yards are starting to house those horrific blow up creatures, etc. 

So, things that have happened this week include service. We finally finished clearing out that shed full of wood. There were spiders galore! but none of us were bitten, thank heavens! It was pretty gross though, because all the wood on the bottom was decomposing. When we'd go to throw it in the woods it would just fall apart everywhere. Ick! We also helped a member, Ernesto, bag up all his stuff because his apartment was being fumigated for bed bugs. Then we took everything out and hung it all back up. 

On videos.lds.org there's a cool video about "Patterns of Light" by David A. Bednar, you should all watch it. We shared it with an inactive member who had been offended previously, as people do. She said just hearing the word "Holy Ghost" creeped her out in her childhood, and I think this video helped. The Spirit was super strong in her house after we watched it, and I know without a doubt that she felt it. She acted like she didn't afterward, but she did.

Also, with another less active member, we watched Dieter F. Uchtdorf's conference talk "You Matter to Him." She also felt the Spirit and told us how much she liked him and the other apostles. She said she'd watch conference this year, so yay! She also told us a crazy amazing story from before she went less active. She had just had her first baby and he wasn't doing so well. Her husband (not anymore) said they needed to go to Church, and she said she wanted to stay at the hospital with the baby, but he insisted so she went. Elder Boyd K. Packer spoke at their sacrament meeting, and afterward shook everybody's hands. He came to her and she told him what was going on and why she didn't necessarily want to be there. Later that day as she was at the hospital, Elder Packer came in and gave her baby a blessing. The doctor's had said he shouldn't live, but the next day they said he was totally fine to go home. They named him Boyd.

Another member told us how, before she even knew about the Church she was at the World's Fair in Chicago. She and her mother came to the Mormon Church booth and they saw a picture of the apostles. Her mom said, "Hey, they have twelve apostles, just like in the Bible. That makes sense." They walked away and as they were going, a man tapped her on the shoulder. He said to them, "Hello, my name is Gordon Hinckley. I couldn't help but overhear what you said. I'm one of those apostles." She and her mother soon afterward joined the church.

One more story that's cool. We have a member from South Africa who taught the Gospel Principles class. There

was a man in her ward in Africa who saved up all he had, and when the priesthood was available to him, he used

his funds to go to the nearest Temple, which was in London, for his endowments. He came back and in stake conference had a couple minutes to bear his testimony of it. The meeting was running short, and he said, "If only I had enough faith to stop time so I could tell you all that I want to tell you from my experience." As soon as he finished that sentence the clock stopped. Everyone looked at it amazed. He turned to the Stake President, and he told the man to continue speaking for as long as he wanted.

Oh, sorry, one more. We have an AMAZING member here who loves to share the gospel, Brother Thompson. Backtrack: Another member invited her neighbor to Church. The neighbor is a Muslim, but decided to come anyway. She has been coming for the past month, even though she doesn't understand much. The member who invited her doesn't want us to teach her friend yet. So Brother Thompson took it upon himself to start teaching her, and then when her mother came, to teach her too. During Sunday School they meet in their own classroom, and he teaches them the gospel at a level they'll understand. He's reading the new book about Mormons and Muslims so he can better understand where Mina and her mother are coming from. We didn't know about it until Sunday, when he pulled us into the class after they'd left. The board was covered with names and arrows and all sorts of confusingness. But he said that after the lesson, Mina's mother said, "This all makes so much sense." And he said in the closing prayer he gave, he was guided by the Spirit to say things he wasn't planning on saying and Mina's mother was in tears by the end of it. He said the Spirit was super strong. He said once he sets a foundation for them, he wants us to start teaching them the lessons. They are soooo prepared! Agh!

We got to teach Kevin this week. He came to the Stake Luau with Karissa's family and we got to talk with him. He said his parents were very unhappy about everything, but he wanted to continue learning and wants to be baptized. He's praying for a date. He and Karissa got in a fight, and he told her that maybe they should wait to get married until after he served a two year mission. I sure hope he does!

Dawn and Judy are doing well, and Bill is still on the mend. They watched the "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" movie, and they LOVED it! Hard not too.

We drove to Pennsylvania this week to see the Kings, a family in the ward. And to get there we had to drive through New York. That's right, three states in one day.

Ok, I think that's it. Big week. But it went by super fast! Eek! Poor Sister Bell is going home in two weeks, it's gonna be sad going back to a two person companionship. Trios just have so much fun. Oh well. Love you all so much. Lots of hugz from Joysey!

Love,

sister myrtlesby