A new teaching pool....very shallow right now:(

Hello Everyone! Weekly report! 

It has been such a great week! Last Monday we spent most of our day cleaning our apt.! Very fun!!!!!! 

Well, I really don't have much to say- Here is what we have been doing for the past week really!!! We have been visiting every former and every less active in our area......!!!!!! We did that most of Saturday, and we were able to take off quite a few names from our potential list.!!!!! 

Our teaching pool is rather VERY SMALL: 

First on our list is Deloris- She was being taught by the elders, but we have only been able to see her once in the time we have been here......so, we need to see her soon :( 

Next- Winnell- She was also being taught by the elders. Her main concern right now is that it would be too weird to change religions, so we are teaching her about the ONE true gospel with everything in it! In the lesson she just stopped and asked us, "Why when y'all come over I just start to cry? Simple answer, "Your heart is recognizing this from the pre-existence. What are you willing to do to keep that feeling around?" I really hope she is pondering on the question and answer because it will change her life! 

Next one-- and most stressful- amazing one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

LORI THE MUSLIM-- So Lori is not the typical Muslim- She grew up catholic, but when she was 18 she hated the heaven and hell thing so she went to non-denominational. Then a few years later her and her husband (now ex) looked into Islam and they decided that they liked the "theology" of Islam, but she doesn't practice too much anymore. Like, they don't eat pork, but she doesn't pray the prayers, and I guess in 2011 she had a neighbor who was Mormon and had 4 kids. Lori has 4 kids so they hit it off and LORI LOVES MORMONS! LOVES, LOVES, LOVES, MORMONS!! SHE CONSIDERS HERSELF LIKE 1/2 MORMON… SHE TRIES TO RAISE HER KIDS LIKE MORMON KIDS AND SHE TRIES TO DO EVERYTHING MORMONS DO BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO HAVE THE SAME LIFE AS US BASICALLY.... HER ONLY HOLD UP and a HUGE hold up with that is............. She doesn't believe that Jesus is the Christ......So we are working with that.... She has been meeting with missionaries for almost 3 years. After we got out of her house sister Turner and I looked at each other and were like, “WOW....We have our work cut out for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Lori wants us to come over and teach her kids about the Book of Mormon stories and relate the stories to their lives and what not. So we are going to kind of do that, but we are going to figure out why she doesn't believe in Christ.... So if anyone has ideas we are going to be fasting and praying to know how to help her.!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SOOOOOO EXITED TO TEACH THIS FAMILY! We know ultimately she needs to have a spiritual experience with the Savior! So that is what we are going to try to do!!! Anyway ,that is about it! 

I have been fighting a cold, so I haven’t been feeling 100%-- but fighting though! Hopefully I am at the tail end of it!!!! 

I love you all!

Have such a great week!!! 

2nd Area: Lubbock, Texas

Hello Friends and Family!

Well, what a week it has been!!! We are working so hard here in Lubbock! I Love it!!

To just start off, I hope I have enough time to type everything I want to!

Starting with Monday night! The District leaders came to Brownwood to get all of our bags because, I mean, our little Toyota wasn't going to get it all over there! So, when they arrive we are asking them WHO  IS COMING TO TAKE OUR PLACE HERE! ALL THREE OF US ARE BEING TAKEN OUT, WHO IS COMING IN?

One of the ZL’s reply, “We don't know, we will know tomorrow.” (They had been saying this since last Saturday about “we will know tomorrow.” Kind of annoying because WE KNOW THEY KNOW THEY KNOW THE NEXT DAY!!) So they tell us we need to be in San Angelo tomorrow at 6:30… meaning, we have to leave Brownwood at 4:30-- waking up at 3:30.... Oh, did i mention this is in the AM?!?!?!?!? WELL -- IT IS!  We still have things to do Monday night (cleaning the apt, setting things up for the new sisters, all that kind of stuff... so we don't get to bed until 1:30! Therefore, we got about 2-ish hours of sleep. We get up and we leave. We arrive in San Angelo on time. When we get there the ZL’s tell us, “Oh you guys are going to drive to REALIZED we aren't being replaced :/ The Lord is slowly taking missionaries out of Brownwood. Although that needs to happen. In order for the ward to realize what they have by having missionaries it breaks my heart.

THEN I WANTED TO KILL ELDER BUCKNUM FOR NOT TELLING US THAT WE ARN'T BEING REPLACED. THE OTHER ZL WAS TRYING TO TELL US BUT ELDER BLACKBURN WOULDN'T LET HIM BECAUSE ELDER CRAWFORD WAS BEING RELEASED AND ELDER BLACKBURN THOUGHT WE SHOULDN'T KNOW...... Needless to say.... our apt is ready for new sister that AREN'T COMING...... I am still very peeved by this...... At the church Sister Fife had a break down because she was stressed and angry at Blackburn, then she was stressed because she was going to have to drive all the way to Hobbs and she doesn't like driving, so we got permission for me to drive all the way to Hobbs. So we did. When we got to Hobbs we got on the transfer bus and drove to Lubbock.

When we got there I was handed a pretty little area book and I was told that I was going to be driving A BRAND NEW 2014 CHEVY CRUZE WITH 25 MILES ON IT...... I WAS THE ONLY ONE IN THE WHOLE MISSION WHO GOT A NEW CAR THIS GO AROUND!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK HOW CAN THE LORD TRUST A BABY, 19 YEARS OLD TO HANDLE A BRAND NEW CAR?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I PRAY EVERY MORNING AND NIGHT AND THROUGHOUT THE DAY FOR SAFETY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So that is weird..

Sister Turner didn't get here until Thursday!!!! So I didn't get to see our apt or actually drive our car until Thursday. When she got here we went to our apt. It was an elder apt before us, but hadn't been occupied in a while, so it is filthy!! (Neeless to say-- we are going to be cleaning for most of today!) She is very sweet- we do have the little glitch that she doesn't understand why she is Jr. Companion again....... I DON'T KNOW EITHER! I WOULD MUCH RATHER HER BE SR. But, we are getting though that. We have been working so hard! I have never been more excited for P-Day in my life! I am ready for a rest .... And by rest, I mean not a rest, but whatever.

We were out on our morning finding on Thursday in the park and we met this lady named Denise! SHE TOLD US THAT SHE IS SOOOOOOOO UNHAPPY WITH HER CURRENT CHURCH AND THAT THIS IS HER SECOND SIGN FROM GOD THAT SHE NEEDS TO LISTEN TO US SO WE HAVE AN APT WITH HER FOR TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!

OKAY SKIPPING TO YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM IN SUCH A FANTASIC WARD!!! WE ARE BASICALLY THE NEWLEY WED/IN COLLEGE PEOPLE… SO THEY HAVE BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE HAVE ABOUT 40 BABIES IN OUR NURSERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO we can agree that Sister Dawes has a very hard time paying attention.............................. That is a problem! Next problem.......................... Remember how before my mission I felt that I would be doing something with ASL................. Welllllllllll.........................................THERE ARE ASL PEOPLE IN THE WARD! SOME THAT ONLY SPEEK ASL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO SISTER DAWES CAN’T PAY ATTENTION TO THE SPEAKERS BECAUSE SHE IS STARING AT THE INTERPRITERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT THIS WARD IS SO GREAT! THEY DO THIER CALLINGS AND THEY ARE JUST AWESOME! AND I JUST LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM VERY HAPPY!!!! THAT IS ABOUT ALL FOR THIS WEEK!

Sister Turner and I are doing well... It is extremely different with only one companion… there is A LOT MORE silence.... especially without Sister Clark, but SHE IS IN MY ZONE AND DISTRICT SO WE SEE EACH OTHER ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE THAT GIRL SO MUCH!!!!

Hope y’all have such a great week!!!!!!!!

Love Sister Dawes

Been out 4 Months!!

1.6.13

Hello Friends and Family,

    I haven't got much to share this week- transfer calls are Saturday! This is my 4th transfer! That is sooo strange… I have been out for about 4 months now!!!! That is so, so, so, so, so weird!!!!!!!! We haven't had many experiences this week, sadly.  Although we did have a funny story....

So, here is a long story! We were on lunch break the other day when Sister Clark asked us to look in her throat to see if something was swollen. So we were looking and Sister Clark HAS A HUGE MOUTH-- SHE IS GOING "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" THEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN—BOOOOOOMM!!! I SEE ANOTHER TONGUE-LOOKING THING. SO I SCREAM! I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS! THEN WE LOOK IN MY MOUTH…. I HAVE ONE TOO!! SO WE WERE LIKE… Crap! We are going to Aliycias right now (less active/ nurse), and we are going to figure out what the crap is in our mouth. So we walk over to her house--- spoiler alert-- the thing is called a uvula..... and it's useless!! So when I get home I am going to go get mine taken out!....... so that was awkward. Then she looked in Sister Fifes mouth and said, "You have blisters in your mouth! Welcome to strep!!!--- Let’s just say we escorted ourselves out of the house very quickly and started walking home. Well, we walked by her mom’s house. She was outside, so we started talking to her....(she talks for a very long time..... so we get to this awkward silence, then I was going to tell her about something funny that Sister Clark had done. However, this is what came out of my mouth..... "Well... Sister Clark here..... She's a Wicken"… then stopped for a second and realized what the crap I had just said!!!! TEN POINTS TO WHOEVER CAN NAME THE MOVIE THAT QUOTE IS FROM!!! ….GO!!!!

NEEDLESS TO SAY IT WAS SOOOOO FUNNY!!!!! AND WE LAUGHED AND STILL LAUGH!! SO IN SILENCE I WILL OFTEN SAY...."WELL... SISTER CLARK HERE.....SHE'S A WICKEN".. then go on with my conversation. So that is that story.

This week has been a week where missionary work is HARD :) It is hard worrying about other peoples salvation! We have been avoided a lot this week. That was very hard. But, I just want y’all to know I am so happy. Despite all the hard things missionaries go through, somehow we are still happy! I am trying to let Jesus Christ change me and make be better! The Church is so true, and I love being here!

I know this was very short but C'est la vie!.... "la vie... classic joke--------NAME THAT MOVIE! :)

HA HA HA HA HA HAVE SUCH AN AMAZING WEEK!!! LOVE YALL!!

#IAMSOPROUDOFMYBESTFRIEND#CONGRATSNESSALYNN#CAN'TWAITTOHEREWHEREYOU’REGOING#IHAVETHEBESTLITTLEBROTHERINTHEWORLD#HEDOESN'TNEEDHISLIMBSANYWAY!#PLAYHARDNUMBERFOUR#STUDYNEXTTIMENANNY!#THECHURCHISTRUETHEBOOKISBLUEANDJESUSISAMORMOM!!!#TRANSFERCALLSUNDAY#PRAYINGFORGRANDMAMA