Im a lobster in the sun!

(Sister Slade)

This week sister jelderks said something about how in sun light my hair looks like a halo and my skin looks really white. Then she started humming "brightly beams our father's mercy" and on the second line I interchanged the lyrics for what today's email title is. We had a good laugh.

The most exciting thing that happened this week is that Johana got married! (Remind me to never plan another wedding. It's really stressful). It was a really cool experience though. Johana wasn't expecting much for it but some members in our ward had a ton of wedding supplies and helped us plan and set up. She cried when she saw everything. We made the cake and we were her bridesmaids. I also played pachelbel's canon in c for her to walk down the aisle. (Side note: the family that had all the decorations was the same family that said I should date their son and quite a few jokes about it were made as we were preparing for the wedding). I'm so happy for Johana. Marriage is definitely ordained of God. There was a special spirit at the ceremony.

God is good!

Sister Slade

Pictures:

1. A really creepy deer we found at service

2. We tested lightbulbs at service and it looks like my hand is on fire

3-4. I made a quilt for sister Jelderks without her knowing and I finished and gave it to her this week.

5-11.The adventure of making the cake for the wedding

12-13. the finished cake

14-18. The wedding!❤

19-20. Car selfies

Elder Renlund

(Hermana Ellsworth)

This week we had An Apostle of the Lord come to our mission. Elder Renlund is a special witness that Jesus Christ lives. It was one of the most spiritually powerful conferences I have ever been in. He talked about how our attitude and efforts must both be positive in order to work miracles. I loved that. I loved how he focuses on how our personal decisions such as our personal commitment to follow the Lord's commandments is what the Lord needs us to do. The Lord wants us to be people of our word. He wants us to do what we said we would do. God cannot lie and we should not even think about breaking the covenants that we have made with God. Decisions to keep Commandments such as keeping the Law of Chastity, living the Word of Wisdom and Keeping the Sabbath day Holy should have already been made. It makes keeping them in the Moments all that much easier.

               He also talked about the importance to be united with the church and then the baptism and conversion comes. There are too many people who go inactive because they are lacking uniting to the Church of Jesus Christ. In the story of Alma organizing the church he always states that those who united with the church where then baptized and converted. It is very important to know the history, doctrine, and have a divine witness that this is the Church of Jesus Christ.

               We are working hard in Trujillo Alto and I know that the Lord is blessing this island. I will not return until I have done what the Lord has commanded me to do :) and we are going to build a temple spiritually through the testimonies of the individuals here in Puerto Rico. I love this island so much and I know that Heavenly Father is aware of all that happens here and in every part of the world.

Yes Im fan-girling over addiction recovery programs

(Elder Slade)

So... It's been pretty wild the past week and a half.

So on Sunday, I got Elder Lavold back from "isolation." I was so glad to be his companion again! I love that man! It's also hard to be in a trio. On Monday afternoon, I played an accompaniment with a few sisters in my zone singing for a special music number for a devotional for incoming Senior missionaries. The song was If You Could Hie To Kolob mixed with Come Thou Font. It was a beautiful arrangement and so fun!!! I'm glad my piano playing was able to be of some use. The title for this week was from Elder Dansie in my district when we were talking about the church's addiction recovery program. I love elder Dansie! He is a crazy wonderful man.

I left the MTC on Wednesday morning on a van that took us to Idaho Falls. I was both sad and excited to go. I grew to become so close to my MTC district. I loved all of them! And my teachers in the MTC, Sister Grigg and Sister Bell, were the best teachers ever! They prepared me so much for the field, and grew my testimony so much as well. I loved learning from them. I was glad to be finally going out in the field and teaching people however. The thing about the MTC is that it builds desire in you to share the gospel and love the people you are called to serve.

We arrived at the mission office in late afternoon and we (the 8 or so that were in the van going to Idaho Falls) met our missionary president, President Hurley! So far, I am so impressed by him and his testimony and desire to build obedience and consecration in the missionaries he is called to take care of. Partly because of him, there is so much work in this area. In December alone, over 500 new people were found in the entire mission! We had dinner at his family's house. The next morning we got some training and we received our first companion and were told our first area. My trainer's name is Elder Leavitt and we are serving in the Sugar City area, near Rexburg!

I could not have asked for a better companion than Elder Leavitt! He has been out 13 months, and he is one of the most consecrated and obedient missionaries ever. His testimony and love for the people is so strong, and I am so grateful to have him as my first companion. I think we are going to do some wonderful work here in Sugar City! In fact, we are teaching and finding people like crazy, and we have already seen several small miracles. One miracle we had is that we stopped by a house of a person we received a referral for, but they weren't home. We decided to knock on the house on the other side of the street, who we thought were nonmembers. We were greeted with a big smile and a happy "Hello Elders!" Apparently they were return mission presidents from Mexico. They gave us some advice that I really needed, and overall just uplifted us with their kind spirit. It was a cool experience.

There's a lot I could still tell you (like how the members have given us so much food and candy) but I think the most important thing I could share is that you, every single one of you, are loved by God. You are his child, and he wants what's best for you. Never forget that when you are down, lonely, depressed, or discouraged you have a Savior that has gone through what you are going through. He loves you and wants to comfort and take care of you. You just have to turn to him.

Interesting Idaho Fact: Idaho exports more than 13 Billion pounds of potatoes per year. I guess you could say that's potato-tally crazy! (I know. I'm cringing over that horrible pun as well.)

Pictures:

1. Elder Leavitt and I

2. Two kids, Caden and Colton, that we are teaching (Caden plans on getting baptized on the 29th!)

3. Me preparing to go down a slide in the mansion of a devotional we went to Sunday

4. Yep. I'm in Idaho.

5. My mission president and his wife

6. One of the best meals in the MTC we received

7. My MTC district with our teacher Sister Bell

8. Me, elder Bailey, and Elder Lavold from our district who all went to Idaho Falls

9. Nicholas Cage on a piece of ham. What happens in the MTC, stays in the MTC. Nuf said.

10. My MTC district with our teacher Sister Grigg

Feb 18, 2020

(Elder Petersen)

So this week was an pretty interesting week. We had transfers on Wednesday so the few days before that were pretty much filled up with me packing and saying goodbye to the friends that I had made in my time spent in Providence. Then on Wednesday when I moved to my new area and got to meet my new companion, his name is Elder Cianciotto. The only problem though which is what makes this an interesting week is the fact that the day that I got here Elder Cianciotto got sick and so we have really not had a normal day since I got here so in reality the highlight of my past week was being transferred to a new area. Hopefully I will have more to tell y'all next week but until then see have a great week!

Here comes the cake

(Sister Slade)

Yesterday we started making the cake for Johana's wedding that is on Saturday. As we were putting it in the freezer so we can decorate it on Friday I said, "Here comes the cake." but was yawning and apparently I made a really funny face and Sister Jelderks couldn't actually tell what I was saying. Sorry this week's title isn't actually that funny, but nothing else funny happened this week.

We had exchanges on Thursday. I was with a missionary who had just barely gotten into the mission field, so she had been on a mission for a whole 7 days. It was really interesting to reflect on how much I've grown and changed in the last 17.5 months. I think some of you will be very surprised when I come home. If Sister Slade from 18 months ago walked in right now I wouldn't recognize her.

I had my last interview with President Strong on Friday. Weird. I really am going to miss President and Sister Strong. They've done so much for me and have helped me make it to the end of my mission.

I don't have much else to say, it was a pretty average week.

God is good

Sister Slade

pictures

1-6. We went to an arcade with some other sisters for Pday. it was a lot of fun and we won some DC character cards.

7. We cut up some old blankets for service at the animal shelter. The only problem was they gave us paper scissors to cut the fleece blankets.

8. A really hideous and uncomfortable chair at the restore

February 12, 2020

(Elder Petersen)

Hey Everyone so this week has been an amazing last week has been an amazing week with finding 8 new people to teach, 5 people that we are teaching who went to church and one person that we are teaching who is on date to be baptized! So this week started out with us going to the temple on Tuesday, then on Wednesday we had an appointment to meet a non-member named Clara who wants to know if there is a God and whether or not this church is true. Then we had an exchange with our District leader so that he could make sure that we are telling the truth and to keep us accountable. During that exchange however we found 5 new people to teach they are all from a family of 11 and from what I could tell they are interested in learning the gospel. The final two people that we found were these adopted Marshallese kids who were adopted into an active member family, this is awesome due to the fact that they are two almost guarantied baptisms for this area! The most exciting thing that happened for me though is that our transfer board came out yesterday (Sunday) and I am getting transferred! I will be leaving my birth area Providence and heading up to Malad which should be an exciting change of scenery. Love y'all and hope you have a Great week!

Missionary Arrival