Saw an Armadillo!!! Finally :)

I haven't recieved your letter yet, though this week I finally was able to send the letter that I wrote in response to the group of letters ya'll sent a bit ago. I did get the cards! And I love them! They are so beautiful, and so fun to use! My companion wants to get her own set, and several sets to give to the people we baptize! I think that's a bit expensive, but if she insists, she can do it with her own money. I do have a gospel art book, I don't use it much because the pictures are in a weird order, and the book is too big to fit in my purse, but I do have one, and we keep an extra in the car in case we ever come across  the need for it. .

Glad to hear things are going good for the most part!

I do have some exciting news though!!!! I SAW AN ARMADILLO!!! It was super cute! I saw it for approximately 3.6 seconds as we drove past and I demanded that the car be turned around so that we could get a picture. Sister Ackerman said no, because we were going down a one way road, and it would take about 25 minutes to get back to that spot if we were to try to go back, so next time I have to spot it quicker. Drats. It was alive though, and I DID see it!

I have a couple spiritual insights/challenges that I've been wanting to share with ya'll, but I'm struggling to find the right wordings for it... 

Alright- I'll just go for it, and if something sounds weird or doesn't make sense, you can just ask. So, conference talked a LOT about Members doing missionary work as well, and the following is a tool that has been tested and proven for members to use in helping missionaries find people to teach.

"Would you be willing to listen to a brief presentation about my religion?"

Ask that question to everyone. It may be a bit harder in Utah, since most people are already LDS, but really, there are a great deal of people who are not LDS, and have never been invited to hear about our church! One of the appostles said that ONE THIRD of the world's population is ready to join our church, they just don't know how.

So how do you help? Say you go to the store. I KNOW you talk to the cashier. Find out if they are mormon, if they're not, use the above question. If they say yes, you get their Name, Address, Phone Number and the time/day thatthey are usually most avaliable, then you send that information to the local missionaries! We've had a few baptisms in our mission that have happened because members ask this question with people they meet! Ya'll should give it a try, and let me know how things work out.

I had another insight to share, but my time is almost up, so I'll share it next week.

I love you a bunch and I hope to continue to hear good news from you.

God Bless!

~Sister Sanders

 

2 months (comes before happy tax day)

Two Months already? Wow... That's crazy. I was thinking while I watched conference that there was no possible way it had alredy been 6 months since I started my Mission Papers... Time is going by so quickly!

 

I am doing fantastic! The fleas are mostly gone. I did get sick though this week and had to stay in for a day. I just got really dehydrated, so I need to drink more...

 

My new companion is....Well, her name is Sister Ackerman, and she is very different from Sister Hansen. That's about all I can say right now. We are adjusting...

 

I don't know who does the Transfer pictures, I tried looking around for someone with a camera, but I didn't see anyone, that's exciting that you got to see me though! Tell Eliza thanks for me. :)

 

We did get to watch conference! It was super lonely though, because we went to the church to watch it, and found out that at the church they broadcast it in Spanish, so we had to go sit all alone in the Relief Society room and be the only english- watchers. xD It was great though. I loved how they had a repetative theme of building your foundation on Christ. In every session they used Helaman 5:12 at least once. I also really wished we had been able to get some of our investigators to watch conference with us, because it taught ALL of the missionary lessons.... Probably my all time favorite for this conference was Neil L. Anderson's talk. I think every member in the world should print that, frame it and read it daily! It talked about how not just the Missionaries are serving missions right now. EVERYONE is a missionary. That means you guys too! As a Missionary my all time favorite things is when members call us and ask how they can help. When they ask who they can visit, or who they could teach. It's just great. I also REALLY loved President Uchtdorf's talk, but that's not a surprise, because I just love President Uchtdorf.... And Elder Porter's talk about being positive was pretty inspiring too.

I don't know what my 25 words would be... I'd have to think about it more. :|

 

Oh! I looked up the Africa pictures in the New Era, just so you know... that back of a white person's head was pretty exciting ;)

 

Happy Birthday. Since you didn't mention my card, I'm going to assume that it didn't arrive on time, but don't think I forgot it was your birthday (because I totally didn't.)

 

Remember Billy- the guy who wouldn't let his son get baptised. Well guess what? Now, on top of agreeing to let Devin get baptized, he has also started reading to Book of Mormon! MIRACLES! It made me so happy to hear that the other day. :) Many of the rest of our investigators are struggling right now, but I'm trying to stay positive and just let them know how much they are loved...

 

I'm really not focusing very well today, so I think I'm gonna end my letter here. I just want you all to know how much I love you. Even if you don't write me, I think about you every day, and I often tell people how amazing you are. Stay strong, and keep making righteous choices.

 

Love always,

Sister Sanders

Happy Tax Day

Wow! So much news in just one week! I don't know how to respond to it all... Today has been a good day so far, we've washed our car and now we are at the library. Later today we will go shopping and then go out with the other Sisters in our District. It's going to be a great day. :)

This week was pretty tough though. The first letter I recieved was on Friday. I was feeling really unloved, but hearing for all ya'll help cheer me up quite a bit. :D Sister Ackerman really laughed at Jacob's letter.

Sister Ackerman and I are getting along pretty well. Not perfectly, but you can't expect to get along 100% with everyone. I'm glad to hear that Peter is doing well, and that he is doing such good work befriending Jacob. :) He is a good guy.

I know all the names for the new Bishopric, but I can't place the faces for them. I'm sure they will do an excelent job, and I doubt Bishop Olsen will be any less involved with the welfare of the ward.

That's exciting that Bryant is heading out on a mission! And yes, I knew about Morgan. She got her call a couple weeks after I did, so I knew about it  a while ago. :)

Super Jealous of Amanda's Puppy. Do you have Robyn's Address? Maybe a letter from a missionary will cheer her up! ;) What is Lydia expecting? And that's awesome for Kirsten! Glad to hear the frogs were ok. I was worried when no one mentioned them in the letters you sent. (seriously)

No, it's not technically allowed for Matt and Paula to stop and see me.

Slap Ryan for me. Keep up the good work Jacob.

Glad you got the card. :) Did you like the picture? (We have an offical ward photographer- you know how they make up callings to keep people active? He takes his job very seriously. I have a few more pics, I might send them when I get time. :P)

Can you send me some pics of Taylee and Taron? I tell everyone about them, but I didn't bring any pictures and people don't believe me about how adorable they are.

Another favor- remember a while ago when I really liked those Book of Mormon hero posters, (Real hero, or true hero, something like that) and I wanted some, but they were super expensive. Well, I was thinking about those again the other day. We are teaching a lot of families, and for the children I would love to use a few of those pictures for visual aide. I know they sell them in smaller sizes (5X7, 3X6?) But I don't know how much they cost, and I can't shop online anyways, so could you check that out for me? Thanks. UGHHGHSAJFNEAIFHOINF I have so much more to say, but I'm running out of time and I still have some other things I need to do on the computer. I'm gonna go do that sups quick and if I have time I will come write more, but if not I will write you this week. 

****Note from Sara's mom. The posters and pictures have been sent. The pictures on here are from a facebook group. It is transfer day. One of the members goes and takes the pictures, then posts them for us. Enjoy!

Happy Easter

I'm sorry I disturbed you with my Zombie Child story, it disturbed me too... In the future should I refrain from telling scary stories? If so I should probably leave out the story about Simba the cat...

...

You got my pictures already? Hurrah! I'm glad they made it home so quickly. :) I noticed after I printed them off that I am wearing glasses in all of those pictures, which is weird because I've been wearing contacts more... I guess the camera just likes me more when I wear glasses?? :P

Brother Jubera's Baptism went great, he bore such a cute testimony afterwards too... Unfortunately though, he missed the train Sunday morning and was late to church, so he was unable to get confirmed. He has to wait until the 14th! So long.... :<

More sad news is that we got "The Call." Sister Hansen is being transfered away from me. We've been crying for the past two days consistantly. Sister Hansen has been a great companion, and it feels like we've known each other our whole lives. Also, she's been in the Rowlett Area for 7 months, so she's having a hard time saying goodbye to all the ward members and investigators who have become like family to her. It breaks my heart to see the people I love crying.

And yet more sad news.... The cat who lives with us (Not our cat, because we cannot have cats.... probably specifically for this reason...) *awkard sentance transition* Her name is Lefty, and she is super adorable. She is really friendly, and when we go jogging in the morning, she runs along side us, and I love her a lot. Well, recently, she's been craving LOTS of attention. We found out a couple of days ago that she has fleas. Long story short, Sister Sanders probably has fleas. I've been very physically miserable, but we are working on getting rid of it, and as long as I wear long sleeves and tights, I don't look overly diseased...

Here is where I would probably share the story of Simba, but since you're not adventurous enough for zombies, well, let's just share the cool part of the story- I found out that bamboo grows wildly in Texas! That was fun. :)

What else happened this week? I can only remember so much....I ate possum, and it was super tastey... Kind of like melted marshmellows... I have yet to see an Armadillo......

 

Oh! The Easter Bunny was still able to find me in Texas. :) He actually found me a couple of times, so that was fun. :) For Easter we gave all of our investigators little plastic cupcakes filled with Jelly Beans and the CUPCAKES thing that you made up. They all loved it.

 

Billy- the guy we went fishing with, finally gave permission for his son to be Baptized, and we were super excited about that, but then we talked to the son... He had previously loved the church so much, because at home his life was hectic and not any fun, but since we've started talking with his Dad, Bily has become nicer and things at home have gotten better. He thinks he doesn't need the church anymore, he doesn't realize that the church is what has made things better in his life... It's super frustrating. We have a couple investigators who are right on the edge of... I don't even know what, but they are so confused....

 

Have any of you had contact with Landon Hills at all recently? I don't know why, but I've been thinking about him a lot. And something that I've realized since coming on my mission is that if you think about someone, you probably should talk to them as soon as you can. So, if you could get me his contact info or something, that would be great. I have no clue what I will say to him, but I need to say something.

 

Well, I have about 14 minutes left, but I can't think of what else I had to tell you, besides the Simba story.... Maybe I'll type it and if you're too scared to read it, you don't have to, but if you want to you can....

 

 

***Simba the Cat: Once upon a Time, there was a woman who was ignoring us, but who we HAD to talk to, so we were basically stalking her for several weeks. One day we were praying in the car that we would have an opportunity to teach her, and just as we finished praying, her family gathers outside of her house, so we book it over to her and ask if we can teach a lesson. She says no, because her cat Simba had run away. So we asked if we could serve her by helping her look for him. She agreed. Simba had recently had a surgery, so he was in a cone, and he needed his medicine or else he could die, so we go looking for him in the forrest by her house. Well, we are searching for him, and A WILD DOG comes running after us, so we are running away, but he catches us and tears his teeth into the woman whose cat we are looking for... It was a really bad bite... so, I grab a piece of bamboo, and guard the dog away from us, as she hobble home.... The end. We have not seen her since. We did find the cat, but we were unable to catch it, and I don't know what happened from there on.... It was just fun, climbing through a forest, fighting off wild dogs, bleeding to death, oh, and trying to get help from a man who knew only spanish.... "Gato.... Naranja? This big. Lost Gato... No can find... Es Sick. SIIICK. Gato hable 'cough cough' Understand?" haha.... -___- That's all... time is up now. ;)

 

I love you all! I should probably start sharing more spiritual thoughts with you, but I always forget until time is almost out... A scripture I plan on sharing with Gail today is Mosiah 23:10. It talks about how the lord hears our prayers, and it's really pretty. I have a lot of scriptures that I have grown to love,  remind me, and I'll share a few in the next letter. :) Have I talked to you at all about Gail? I think I told you about her son, who watched My Little Pony.... Oh! That reminds me- Grandma Heuer, the mother of the man who owns our house- watches My Little Pony. :) Only because her grandson likes it, but still. She's amazing. I'll tell you more about her next time too if I get the chance.

 

Love you very much! Stay strong, set good examples, Tell the seminary teachers hi! Bye!~