Week #58 - 2015 Dec 28 - Merry Christ-MOOSE! (Love, your FAVE Canadian!)

HEY! 

It boggles my mind to know that the next time I email y'all, it will be 2016. I remember when I was in Grade 1, we were doing this thing where we were putting dates on this paper about the future. And I remember writing down 2013 as the year I would be graduating high school and at the time, that seemed so far away! And now, it was practically 3 years ago. Oh man. That's crazy. Time seriously does fly..and I know I say that a lot, but it's the truth. I'm tellin ya! 

This week was super good. LIKE REAL GOOD. I love Christmas so much. And I love it on the mission even more. It makes my heart sad that this was my last one on the mission....at least this time around. I am totally planning on going on a couple's mission one day....that will be fun. But anyway, it's definitely a bittersweet thing. Bitter because on the mission, Christmas has a whole new meaning it feels like. Everything is taken away from the commercialized aspect of Christmas that we are all too used to, and everything is directed towards the true meaning of Christmas - which is on our Savior, Jesus Christ. But Sweet because next year I'll be able to actually spend Christmas with all of you beautiful people that I love so so much <3 But anywho, putting that aside, here are some highlights of my week!! 

We got to see our investigator, Will twice this week!! Both times in the Juncker's (the senior missionary couple) home. Oh my goodness, he is such an amazing guy. He's so open minded and he has such a soft heart towards God and the whole idea of religion. He is always so happy and his laugh is contagious. Basically, we love teaching him because we always know we're going to smile, laugh, and feel the spirit super strong. And that combination is AMAZING. That's always what you want. :) He's doing really well and progressing at a good, steady pace. He's leaving for some sort of training for a month or two. So I'm hoping we get to see him one more time before he leaves because I'll most likely be out of Jacksonville by the time he gets back. He has a goal of reading the whole Book of Mormon by the time he comes back though! It'll be super good. I know he can do it :) 

For Christmas Eve, we had dinner with the Relief Society President's family. They invited both us and the elders over and we got special permission to be there at the same time. (Usually, elders and sisters cannot be at a member's house at the same time.) And not gonna lie, it was a lot of fun! Mostly awkward because they put us and the elders across from each other and it was totally double date status....yeahh...but it was fun :) You know if I didn't think about it too much hahahaha. Now we see why we shouldn't be eating at the same house...rules are in place for a reason! I've learned that a lot of the rules that we have are to help us stay away from super awkward situations...so that's always good. BUT ANYWHO. Christmas Eve, overall, was awesome! :)  

The BEST part of the week, was definitely Christmas day. It was SO AWESOME TO SEE YOU ALL! I just love you all so so much. It was fun talking to y'all and getting a tour of the new house. And seeing the snow. Which, by the way, it's been 80 degrees since last week...and I'm loving it. I don't miss the snow like at all....haha. Apparently the weather is supposed to drop big time though by the end of this week...like down to the 40s. Which is still a lot better than snow..ha! It was also nice seeing my kitties. Dang I miss Kovu and Penny haha. I can't wait to give them snuggles when I get back. Haha. It's crazy to think that the next time I skype home, I'll only have like 2 weeks left. WEIRD. But I still got lots of time till then...thank goodness! 

Y'all looked really good though! I'm so grateful for the technology we have these days and the ability we have to not only talk to each other, but to see each other too through a screen! Supa neat! :) 

We got to spend Christmas with the Wilson family (a newer family in the ward...they have 6 girls between the ages of 6-13 and they're all biological! It's a busy house..but a fun one!!), we went over to the Murphy's and had a great time there as per usual, and then we went to the Juncker's. Needless to say, we had a very successful Christmas this year!! I loved every second of it! 

I think that's about it! Sister Scribner wasn't feeling too well for a couple days, so we took it easy so that she could get better instead of worse. But she's mostly healthy again, thank goodness :) being sick on the mission is the worst. Ah. This upcoming week should be good though, I can just feel it :) 

I hope you all had a great Christmas and I hope you all took a minute or two to ponder about the true reason for the season. Everything we have is because of our Savior, without Him we would literally have nothing. His love is so full for each and every one of us. So full it's, in fact, perfect. And because of that, we have the potential to love others just like that. And that is the true meaning of Christmas - to love and to give all that we have. Now, just because it's past December 25th doesn't mean that Christmas is over! We should be celebrating Christmas every day of the year! :) Remember the Savior always because He always remembers you. 

Take care and have a great week. I love and miss y'all a ton. Keep smiling, God is good.

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

Christmas Eve Selfies

Christmas Eve Selfies

Christmas Day! I found a cat to go with my cat shirt heheh. <3

These are SOME of the Wilson girls :)

We forgot one of the girls....so she had to be added in of course!

Week #57 - 2015 Dec 21 - The Spirit of Christmas

HOWDY. 

So this week was good. To be honest, it felt like it lasted 3 months. Haha I'm amazed that it is finally Monday and the start to a new week. It felt like it was never going to be over haha. But it's all good because now it is and we're on to bigger and better things!!! And it's not like it was a bad week, it was actually a really good week, it just dragged on FOREVER. Haha. 

Onto the report! 

Monday we had a Christmas zone activity in Wilmington. So some more travelling. It was great haha. It was fun though. We played some games in the gym and then we did a white elephant gift exchange. The only rule was that we couldn't go out and buy anything, it had to be something from our apartment. And let me tell you, people had some pretty weird stuff at that exchange....but that doesn't surprise me or anyone else that's served a mission....there's just some straight up weird stuff stashed in missionary apartments hahaha it's hilarious really. Like Sister Scribner ended up with a mini bowling game, and I got a used razor...but an elder ended up needing it and so I had to part with it..dang...how am I ever going to keep this beard under control now?! And this one elder ended up with a thing of pads. Now that was just awkward. Haha someone got a boogie board...basically everything and anything under the sun was there. It was funny. 

On Wednesday we got to experience a miracle! :) We were finishing up our list of people to see and we were on the last name. We needed to see if they still lived at the address and if so, do they want home teachers or not. So we get to this house after we missed the turn like 3 times and we find the door wide open with a man just sitting on the couch right by the door. And so we go up and say hi and we caught him off guard I guess because we scared him bahaha. It was funny. He was super nice to us though! He let us know that the people we were looking for didn't live at that address anymore. So instead of just leaving, we took advantage of the situation and started asking him all of our missionary questions haha. AND THEN we actually had a really good 25 minute conversation with him and his wife! It was awesome!! We taught them a mini restoration lesson and went over the Book of Mormon with them AND set up a return appointment. It was great. We had a good time with them and I hope we get to keep working with them and that they won't lose interest haha. They're a great family. They have 6 kids (3 are his and 3 are hers) and they're SUPER fun. :) I'll definitely keep you posted on them. Their names are Mike and Alex. :) 

We met with Jessica on Thursday and taught her about tithing and fasting and it went very well. She was very open to it as with all the lessons and she said that it made perfect sense. We asked her about baptism again and she doesn't know yet if this is something the Lord wants for her. She's just not sure if she's gotten an answer yet. So because we just had a lesson on fasting, Sis Scribner told her that if she fasted for an answer she would receive one. And Jessica was all for that. And to put the icing on the cake, I told her that we would fast with her, just so that she would get that much more of a powerful answer. :) And she was all for that as well. We haven't been able to talk to her since the lesson, but we're hoping the fast went well for her and that she has been able to receive the answers that she's looking for in a way that she will understand them. But she is progressing very well! :) 

On Saturday we met with another one of our new investigators, Will. We had dinner and a lesson at the Juncker's home. (The senior missionary couple here.) And it went very well! It was us, the Juncker's, Will, Phineas, Josh, and Jr. So we got to teach 4 marines! Will is the only non member though. Before dinner we shared our conversion stories and wow, those were all super powerful. And then after dinner we had a 2 hour long spiritual discussion about basically everything. The spirit was SO strong and it was so amazing. Will is definitely open to learning more and afterwards HE told us that we should do this again sometime. So that was super awesome. 

I just love being a missionary. It's honestly the best thing ever and it's so fulfilling! Especially around this time of year because everyone's hearts are a little softer and the spirit is just so much stronger everywhere you go! It's amazing. And there's nothing like remembering Christ in Christmas like serving a mission :) I just love it. <3 

And and ANDDDDD! I'm super excited to see y'all in 5 days! Wowza. I can't believe it's been a year already. That's crazy. Yesterday in church, I can't remember what I was doing but I came to the realization that the amount of months I have left are just one hand and I kinda freaked out inside. Ladies and gents, I have 5 months left.....WHERE DID THE TIME GO?! Awe man I can't believe that. It's definitely bittersweet. But putting that aside! Haha I'm excited to see all your beautiful faces on Christmas!!! I hope you're all doing well. I miss you tons. But I know we're all where we need to be right now. :) 

Have a great week! And I'll see you on Friday!!!! :D Remember to look at the bright side of everything! Keep smiling and remember God is good!!!

Love you tons and tons and tons. Y'all are always in my prayers. 

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

PS - the story behind the title....well there's not really one. It's just Christmas time and the spirit was so strong this week. So bam. There ya go :) 

PPS - And I didn't get the chance to pick a ponderize scripture this morning....so you'll just have to stay tuned for it next week! :)

Week #56 - 2015 Dec 14 - Finding the Lost Sheep

HEY!

This past week was CRAZY. SO MUCH TRAVELLING OH MY GOODNESS. Haha I didn't realize how many roadies we would be taking as missionaries. But it's a lot of fun. So I'm okay with it! And I've always really liked road trips so it don't phase me much. :) 

We went to Wilmington on Wednesday for our zone training, so that was about a little over an hour drive...which really isn't that bad. And then on Friday, we went to Garner for our Christmas Zone Conference! And that's like a 2.5 hour drive. So that one was a little bit longer. But it was a lot of fun. But before all this happened, let me tell you what went down on Tuesday!! It was AWESOME. 

We were finishing up our contacting of all the unknowns on the roster with the Juncker's (the senior missionary couple here) and we were looking for this one address, but it didn't seem to exist. The closest thing was the Middle School across the street. So Sister Juncker was like, let's look in these townhouses and see if it's in there. Now, this was a complete act of faith because we knew that it was going to be a completely different address in there, but we went anyway. We had to find house 101 and the first house we saw was 1. Knowing it was going to be a somewhat lengthy search, we started to pray that we would find something. And then we found house 87 and we realized we were close. And finally, we found 101! We were super excited! All the lights were off, but we were determined. Before going out, Elder Juncker told us that if nobody answered the door, to go down to 99 and see if they knew anything about the person we were looking for because their lights were on. Well, we knocked and nobody answered, so we decided why not, let's go knock on 99. And they ended up answering the door! The man who answered the door knew nothing about who lived at 101 or anything, and a woman behind him told him to get our number if we were Catholic of Presbyterian after we stated the fact that we were missionaries for our church. So we proudly said, we're missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And then another man came out and said "I'll talk to them!" And when he came outside, he shut the door behind him and was like, "there's a church around here?" So we told him where it was and invited him to the ward Christmas party. Turns out, he's a member and he got to the area in January, but he never realized there was a church nearby, so his records never got transferred. 

We needed to be in that townhouse complex because we needed to find Joshua. He was so amazed at the fact that we found him and he shook our hand like 3 times and he kept saying "thank you" over and over again. It was such an amazing experience and it never ceases to amaze me how wonderful the Spirit is. We prayed that we would be led to someone today and we were! Seriously this man was so happy to see us that if he could he probably would have given us huge hugs. And a couple times that's what it looked like he was going to do! Haha he's this super buff, 6'5 marine. But he's seriously like a giant teddy bear. A gentle giant :) It was amazing to see this man and see the gratitude in his eyes. It honestly felt like we had lifted burdens off of his back by just showing up at his door. AHHH. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! God is so good! :D He didn't end up making it to the Christmas party or church...but we'll stop by again and help him back! And he lives at 99. The light from the moon hit the number just right so that the number on the door caught my eye. And I immediately thought of the story of the ninety and nine. And the sheep. And it gave me goosebumps. We came out here to find the one lost sheep and we found him. And now we get to lead him back to the fold. :) It was so amazing that I literally couldn't find the words to say anything after that. When we got back in the car we told the Juncker's what happened and we were like, see this is why we come out with y'all!! 4 heads are better than 2 sometimes! And then Elder Juncker said, "And the Spirit is better than all of us." And it was perfect <3 Super neat experience. 

And then we had zone training on Wednesday and learned a lot. It was really good. I loved it. 

Our Christmas Zone Conference was on Friday and it was AH-MAZING! :D The first half was a few guest speakers and then we had a testimony meeting and then we had lunch and then after lunch we had a music program. Basically, anyone who wanted to share their musical talents got to have a part in it. So our district did an a capella song and it actually turned out a lot better than we thought it would. It was to the tune of "This Christmas" by pentatonix. But we had to change the words because the original words are romantic haha. So Elder Davis rewrote it so it was more centered on Jesus Christ. We got a video of it, so I'll send it home on the flash drive because it's too big of a file to send through email. (#LAME.) But it was pretty awesome. Everyone LOVED it. You'll love it too I'm sure :) 

And then Wade got baptized on Saturday!! It was super great. Being able to see all the miracles happening in that family is such an honor and a blessing. They're doing so good. Wade's brother, Shane got the Priesthood yesterday during church and then their mom got called into the YW's Presidency. AHHH it's so exciting. I love watching the Atonement work in people's lives. It's a miracle! I love miracles! 

Our ward Christmas party was also on Saturday and we may have a new investigator from it! His name is Will and his friend, Phineas brought him. Phineas is a convert too. So this is going to be super good. We're super excited to start teaching him. 

Basically, all in all, it was a good week. Crazy! But super good. I'm so grateful to be a missionary! Even when things get tough, I know the Lord's got something planned and it will be better than we can even dream of. So we just have to trust Him and be submissive to His will because it's a lot greater and more perfect than ours. :) 

On that note, have an excellent week and I hope you're all doing well. I miss you all like crazy and I love you even more. :) 

Take care, be safe, and always remember to smile!!! 

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

PS - My ponderize scripture for the week is Ephesians 4:29, 31-32

WADE! At his baptism!

And this is what I wanted to post for my facebook picture 

hahaha but I figured it wasn't "dignified" enough.....dang. 

Week #55 - 2015 Dec 07 - All Aboard the Mission Roller Coaster!

Hey hey hey!

This week was great! Not too much happened, but enough to make it count!! Haha :) 

We got the opportunity to see President and Sister James at a missionary meeting for all the greenies. We got to drive all the way to Fayetteville and we met at the Scotty Hill building..which isn't the building we went to when I was serving there - it's the other stake center...but nonetheless I was still in Fayetteville! Man, that place is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS gonna hold a special place in my heart. I just love it there so much. Anywho! The meeting was really good. Like REAL good. We learned a ton and it was wonderful. I love missionary meetings, they're honestly my favourite. <3 and seeing the James' is always the best. They are the definition of Christlike love. 

We got to see our investigator Jessica this past week! We were planning on teaching her the word of wisdom this week. We already knew she's struggling with a smoking addiction and she can't go on without her cup of coffee in the morning! So we were kinda nervous about it and had been praying for it to go well for like a week. Anywho, so we go to her house and we have the lessons at her dining room table and so we walk over to that..and the FIRST THING I SEE IS............an ash try with some freshly smoked cigarettes.....and a cup of coffee.....yep. No joke. I was like "awwwwe crap......" But then I was like, whatever! She needs to know this and we've been praying for a few days now, it'll be okay! And as soon as I thought that, she moves all of that to the counter and then it's gone. And we give the lesson. AND it actually went really really reallllyyyy well! She said that everything made sense and we got her to commit to lessen her use of cigarettes and coffee. She said she won't be able to quit cold turkey, but she did say that we would do it less and kinda wean herself off of them. And we were totally fine with that! So we'll see how that's going this week! It was super exciting :) I love seeing the gospel change lives. It's amazing. 

The rest of the week was super good. We stayed busy. And we were able to go on exchanges with the other sisters this past weekend. So that was good. It was very much needed and it went well. Sister Macrum and I had a couple really good lessons with a couple less actives. There were tears...but good tears..so we did something right! haha I just love the spirit :) I wasn't too completely sure what we were going to end up doing because we had nothing planned, but then I prayed about it and a couple names immediately came to mind and so I went with it. And it turns out that they were both struggling with something that happened that day or a couple days beforehand and so our visit was perfectly timed. It was amazing. The Lord's hand is definitely over all of this work. I love being a missionary! 

That's about it! I hope you all had a wonderful week, and that this upcoming week is even better! I miss you all a ton. And I love you all. You all have such a special place in my heart and I pray for you on the daily! :) 

Remember who you are and return with honor, as Mama Blumel always says :) Take care, be safe, and don't forget that God loves you more than you know, no matter what!!! 

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel 

xoxoxo <3

PS - Story behind the subject line...this week was so up and down and all over the place haha. We had our highs and lows....but it ended up being a good week :) Just like a roller coaster. You go up and then you go down and then you go UPSIDE down and then your like "what the junk did I get myself into" *during* the ride but then once it's over you're like THAT WAS AWESOME.....LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!!!! Hahaha. That's just like life. I love it :) 

PPS - Ponderize scripture for the week -- 2 Corinthians 13:11 <3

Week #54 - 2015 Nov 30 - So. Much. Turkey.

Heyyyylo!

I think I may be dreaming about eating turkey in my sleep...we've had so much if it this past week. Hahaha being a missionary around Thanksgiving (or any holiday for that matter) is the best. Only because people feel like you need extra loving cause you're away from family...so EVERYONE wants to feed you! Least that's how it is for me hahaha. But anyway, I love Jacksonville and I love the members and I'm just so grateful for being a missionary serving here! 

Anywho. My week was good. I don't have A TON to report on because everyone decided that they didn't want to see us this week (people wanted to spend time with their families during the holidays? .....weird. Haha) and a lot of people cancelled on us last minute. So basically this week was full of..well...turkey...but also a LOT of contacting the unknowns on the roster. There's a huge push for home and visiting teachers in the ward right now and our job was to contact all of the people out in the Hubert/Swansboro area and see if they still live where they say they do and if they want home teachers. So after putting off for long enough, we decided to finally put on our big girl pants and go do it. Even though contacting Hubert in the dark is terrifying and super sketchy. We knew this was what we needed to do and we knew the Lord would bless us. And He did!! There were so many tender mercies the days we went out contacting these people :) 

A lot of the people said no to home teachers and they're not interested in coming back...which breaks my heart every time I hear that, just because I know this gospel will bless their lives. But alas, at least they know we still care about them and are making an effort to see them. The lost sheep are always in my prayers and I know that one day, they'll all come back. It'll just take time and that's alright! We just gotta love all of them. Even the ones that scream in your face when you knock on their door :) 

Thanksgiving was wonderful!!! Man, I thought Thanksgiving was big in Canada...and then I had Thanksgiving in murica. Wowza....they take it to the next level hahaha. We, of course, had Thanksgiving dinner with the Murphy's...they're like the closest thing we have to a family out here :) and I LOVE IT! I love the Murphy's so much. Anywho, we had a family dinner with them and we had a blast as per usual. And then the next day we had Thanksgiving at the Lyman's house (Wesley's family) and that was also delicious. AND! Both times we got sent home with a TON of leftovers! I'm gonna need to take a solid break from turkey dinners for a while haha. But all in all, Thanksgiving was great and I'm so grateful I got to spend this years Thanksgiving as a missionary serving my Savior, Jesus Christ and I'm also grateful that I got to spend it with the people that I love so much out here in Jacksonville. The Murphy's take such good care of us, I am eternally grateful for them. 

Our investigators are doing well. We weren't able to see Jessica or Cassandra or even the 2 new investigators that we found last week (they cancelled...sad day). But we were able to see Wade! And he's doing great. We finished the lessons with him last night and he has his interview tonight. Pray for him! We had to teach everything super fast because of the time crunch we had...but he's got it. Just pray that he'll remember everything and he'll pass :) he's getting baptized on December 12th and it's going to be a great day. Seeing the progress this family has made is so amazing. Definitely the Lord's work. It's too perfect to be anyone else's. <3

But yeah, that was basically our week! I hope y'all had a wonderful week as well. I pray for y'all all the time and I think about you all often. Remember the church is true, God is good, He loves you, and I love you too! 

Take care! Be safe, make good choices and always remember to SMILE! Life is always good :) 

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

PS - We went to the beach as a district last Monday and it was a lot of fun :)

Oh! Also, my ponderize scripture for the week is Alma 5:49 :) Found that this morning in my personal studies and I LOVED it! <3

We took Family District Pictures with ugly Christmas sweaters on Thanksgiving! It was awesome!!

I love all these elders and sisters :) 

Andddd we're so super awkward...and derpy...I love that too hahah. 

The moose antlers are because I'm Canadian hahah. Every time
we see each other in the hallway or in the parking lot we go
MOOSES and throw up some antlers. It's the best haha. 

Week #53 - 2015 Nov 23 - #lesbihonest being a missionary is the bomb.

Hey hey! 

This week was so good. We were able to teach so many nonmember lessons. It was fantastic. I'll give you the details :)

On Monday we were able to set a baptismal date for our investigator, Wade. He's 9 and his family are members (his dad is a convert of only a few years!) but they were less active for a while. But they're making their way back and Wade didn't get the chance to be baptized when he was 8 so now we're teaching him the lessons because that's the way it goes haha. But his date is set for December 12th! So we have to speed through the lessons. It'll be good though. It's possible :) We had a really good lesson with him and his family. His older brother, Shane, is a huge reason of why the family started to go back to church. His testimony is SOLID. Wow. He's almost 15 and he's on fire. The comments he made in the lesson were on point. It was amazing :) I love that family so much!! They're so much fun! And they totally got the southern drawl. I LOVE IT. Ha. 

Tuesday was our highlight! We were able to find TWO new investigators and set a baptismal date with our investigator Cassandra!!!!

We had a church HQ referral from way back when. Sister Park and I contacted it and they people who the referral was for, didn't live at the address anymore. And a kid named Trey answered the door and said that he wasn't interested, but his mom, Amy, might be and to stop by later. And so when we were on exchanges, Sister Alldredge and I contacted Amy. We found out that her son passed away in February and her other son (Trey) has cancer. And she doesn't know what to do with herself because it hurts so much. So she told us that now isn't a good time. But we were able to make a good first impression and told her that we would continue to check up on her and make sure that she was doing alright. We also told her that we have a message that would bring that peace and comfort and light back into her life. But we left it at that. So with Sister Scribner, it had been a couple weeks, so we went and stopped by. And she was so happy to see us! And we made a return appointment to meet with her. So hopefully we can start sharing the gospel with her. We're teaching her the Plan of Salvation first because we know that's what she needs most right now. We're excited to start working with her :) 

Our second investigator that we found, we were tracting a neighborhood close to Amy's (it's still weird that she has my first name ahaha it's good though, i like it!) and no one was home. But then we got to one house and the front door was just open....and on the way up the driveway, I was walking real slow and was like "uhh, Sister Scribner...I don't know how to approach this door...the door is open....and that would be awkward.." hahaha but in the middle of my sentence, this lady comes outside. So I was like BAM. ON IT. So I speed up my pace as we go up this drive way and we go and talk to her. Turns out she doesn't have a church that she goes to and she wants to learn more about God! WOO! And then we read her a verse out of the Book of Mormon and asked her what she was grateful for. And she said her family. So I asked her if she lived here with her family. And she said that her family is back in California...but she lives with her wife here. (WHOOP THERE IT IS! .....sorry I had to....hahaha) But! Her wife is at sea (deployed) for the next 6-7 months. And we were like "oh! okay!" and we just rolled with it and set up a return appointment with her. And she seemed genuinely interested! So hopefully everything works out! We're not quite sure how to go about this, but we know the Lord will help us out. He's the one that led us to her...all we gotta do now is trust that He will give us the words we need to say :)  She's a super sweet woman though. Her name is Eunique :) 

AND oh my goodness, Cassandra. Ladies and gents, she's just on fire. She is so amazing and I feel so BLESSED and HONORED to be one of the ones working with her. We met with her on Tuesday and invited her to be baptized. After we asked her, she went deep into thought and said "that's a serious question...and commitment....." and then we let her think it out and all that, and then all of a sudden she looks up and says "yeah....yes!" And we almost cried tears of joy! It was so amazing!! And then she told us that she wanted to come to mutual Wednesday night and we invited her to church but she said she would think about it. 

Well, come Wednesday night, we get one of the members to pick her up for YW's, and Cassandra has a GREAT time with all the girls. And the whole time she was telling us that she felt fantastic inside. She said that our church feels different than all the other churches that she's been to and the people are so much nicer. Basically, she just kept saying that she felt so happy to be there. It was incredible!!! And then after the activity she said, "Yes." and we're like, "what?" And then she goes "Yes, I want to come to church on Sunday. No, I'm GOING to come to church." And we were like whatttt? FOR REAL?! And she said yes. Haha. 

AND THEN. Come Sunday! She actually comes to church! It was amazing!!!! And SHE LOVED IT! She had a really good time. It was so incredible! She kept saying she was excited to come back :) Her baptismal date is set for January 9th and she keeps saying things about it and how excited she is about it. Like this one time, we were being ridiculous together and I was like "Oh Cassandra, what am I gonna do with you?" And she's like "uhh, get me baptized?" Hahahaha it was cute. I love her so much. 

Man, it amazes me at how much I can love someone. I thought I knew how to love...and then I came out on the mission and my mind has been sufficiently blown. My heart has grown so much and I just love the people here more than I can even comprehend. I love being a missionary and I love this opportunity I have to learn and grow and experience everything that I have experienced and all that I will experience in the future. 

The rest of the week was great. It's getting chilly here in North Carolina...but I'm sure it's nothing compared to back home! How much snow do y'all have now? Ha it's been 40 degrees the last couple days and I've been FREEZING. Man I'm turning into more of a wimp than I was to begin with back home. Haha I'm scared of next winter back home....I'm gonna freeze to death. Dang it. Hahaha. I'll just have to migrate south...or hibernate...either one works. Haha! 

I hope you all had a wonderful week :) I love you all so much. It's crazy to think that I've been here for a year...and I only have 6 months left. That's absurd. You don't realize how fast the time flies until it's gone. So use your time wisely and I'll do the same!! We'll hold each other accountable :) 

Anywho, remember to choose the right. Read your scriptures and say your prayers everyday. And God loves you more than you even know :) 

Have a great week. Love and miss y'all :) 

Much Love,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

OH! The story behind the subject line!

It's a pitch perfect quote...because we found a lesbian that we're teaching now! AND! The artillery has been crazy here in J-ville! So we've been hearing bombs a lot. And it reminds me of my home back in Fayetteville. It's weird how emotionally attached I got to the bombs....hahaha. But it was a tender mercy hearing all those bombs going off this past week!

So basically, my subject line is just a bunch of play on words. Hahaha (is that what it's called? Idk. Puns? My brain isn't very good at "brain"ing right now....hahaha) I'm so clever though! Hahaha. 

<3

(Also, I forgot to pick a ponderize scripture this morning....so we'll just keep doing the one I had last week! It's a gooder!)

Here's Sis Scrib and I with our jello mould of
spaghetti hahaha. BEST SPAGHETTI EVER THOUGH!
It was just shoved into a little container.
So once it warmed up it was fine :) 

AND I caught a little frog. #crazyeyes

FUN STUFF. 

Week #52 - 2015 Nov 16 - Attitude is Everything

Oh heyyloo all you beautiful people I love so much! 

This past week was great. Lots of memories and good times. We also didn't have the car, but we have wonderful members that were willing to give us rides :) So that was nice. 

We met with our investigator, Jessica this week and taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And she was like, yeah, this is basically what I was raised up on, it's all just worded differently! So that was really neat. It's awesome teaching people things and seeing the lights turn on and they recognize what we're teaching. It's a sweet experience. The spirit is real! She is seriously so golden. She wrote notes on her reading assignment again....oh my gosh. That still blows my mind!! I just love her so so much. We're working on getting her to come to church, since that seems to be the only thing that's holding her back right now. So we're trying to work out a church tour for her one of these days so she feels more comfortable about coming to the church on Sundays. Coming to church is sooo important in people's progression and so that's our focus with her right now. But other than that, she's doing wonderful!!!

We also met with Cassandra and reviewed the Plan of Salvation with her because we didn't have a lot of time the day we saw her. She answered all of our questions perfectly...she has such a solid understanding of everything in the plan..it's incredible. She LOVES it. When we first taught her the Plan of Salvation we taught it using a diagram that I drew out. She loved it so much she asked for a little copy that she could have. So I drew her a mini version and I gave it to her and she was looking at it in awe the entire lesson. It warmed my heart at how much she loves this plan that God has for her and for everyone. She's the best. I love her. Being on a mission has made me realize how much I love the youth and how much they hold a special place in my heart. It's made my career choosing a lot easier and I'm excited for school after the mission now that I know what path I want to go down. It'll be good! I love the Lord and His plan! 

The rest of the week was good. We met this inactive older lady named Betty. She was an unknown on the roster so we called her asking if we could stop by and she said that should wouldn't mind that. So we went and visited her and it was a TON of fun! She's so great! I can't wait to continue to get to know her better. I love visiting with older people. They have the best stories and experiences and I learn so much from them. She fell away from the church a long long time ago, but she always makes sure that she defends the church! We're going to see what we can do to help her testimony grow stronger because it seems like she fell away at a very young age due to misunderstandings and all that jazz. So we'll see what we can do to help her out :) She's a fun lady!

On a less spiritual note. We got a call from this man named Sunny. He had a heavy Asian accent and he was looking for the elders. So we texted him their number and then he told us that he wasn't looking for those elders. So we asked him what elders he was looking for and he told us he was looking for the ones in Spring Lake. So we got ahold of the assistants and told them about the situation and they were like "Oh we know Sunny..." and then they proceeded to tell us to block his number and ignore his phone calls. Apparently Sunny has been causing problems in this mission and in other missions...so President has just asked us to ignore him. Haha and then throughout the next couple days, we got a bunch of calls and texts from him that we obviously didn't answer. We added him to our contacts as "!Sunny #thatsnotwhatyouwant" That way we know never to answer his calls or texts. Hahaha. But we haven't heard from him in a few days. So we're good. It was just funny hahah. We earned ourselves a little stalker this week! Buttt we're good. And we've got really good elders that have said they will keep him away from us if he ever finds himself in Jacksonville, so you don't have to worry Pops hahaha. :) 

That's about all I got for y'all this week! I hope you had a good one! :) 

The church is true! I love being a missionary! Look for the Lord's hand in your life and write what you notice every day :) I promise that if you do so, you'll develop a stronger relationship with God and you will be able to notice His hand in your life more. #clichemissionarypromises #itstruethough #goodthingimamissionary. 

I love you all so so sooo much. Choose the right and God be with you till we meet again! (BTW...fun facts - I hit my year mark this Thursday and that's terrifying.....YIKES! Haha)

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Amy Blumel 

xoxoxo <3

PS Explanation of subject line: We didn't have the car but we still had an amazing week because we had a good attitude about it :)

My ponderize scripture is 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 :) 

This is all of us sisters here in Jacksonville!! It's Sister Scribner, Me, 

Sister Macrum, and Sister Alldredge! The 2 sisters on the right serve

 in the Jacksonville 2nd ward :) 

I love them all so much!

Week #51 - 2015 Nov 09 - The Spirit of God, Like a Fire is Burning

Hey y'all! 

This past week was super good. SUPER busy. But awesome. 

On Tuesday, it was transfer day. So we had to be up in Raleigh at 8:00am. So we left Jville at 5:30pm. And let's just say that I did my hair all nice and stuff and then while we were loading the car with S. Park's stuff, my hair got all wet and my bangs got all flat and weird and I was like "wut the. Not cool..." hahaha so gotta love North Carolina and it's rain storms. That was a random side note that really means nothing haha. ANYWHO. Transfers was good! My new companion, my greenie, my baby, is GREAT. Her name is Sister Scribner and she's from Fresno, California :) She came out SO prepared! She's already a wonderful teacher and I feel like I've known her for sooo long. We're already pretty close so that's awesome. It's fun training again! I love it! :) 

ALSO. At transfers, my entire posterity was there! Sister Peterson and her trainee, my grandbaby, Sister Rich and Sister Scribner! Ahh it's fun watching my little family grow! Seeing my fam jam on the mission made me realize how much I miss my mom...Miss Tori Olson. I can't wait to see her again haha. But anyway! We totally got a picture of all of us and it's great. I'll send that over :) But it was so good seeing Sis Peterson again. Holy cow I love that girl to pieces. 

It was awesome seeing President and Sister James as well. I love them so much. They feel like my parents over here. It's wonderful. Mama and pops, I can't wait for y'all to meet them. You would LOVE them. :) 

The rest of the week was great! We were able to teach our investigators Jessica and Cassandra the Plan of Salvation. And the really neat thing was the fact that both of them had their friends over! So we were not only able to teach them, but also their friends! And they were all really intrigued at our church's views on God's plan. And and andddd! They want to learn more about our church!!! Ahhhh I love how the Lord works. We've been praying to recognize those that want to learn more and He literally just placed them right in our way! It's awesome. Being a missionary is the best. Teaching the Plan of Salvation is my favourite lesson because it's just so full of hope, love, and comfort. It's the best. Jessica is on fire. She's doing sooo good. And I am so so so grateful that we get to be with her on her journey of coming closer to Christ. We asked her to read 2 Nephi 2 and when we asked her about it, she pulled out a notebook and we realized that SHE TOOK NOTES! That's what I call a dedicated study!!!! YESSSS. That made my heart SOOO happy. It was awesome. She also mentioned the fact that reading that chapter in the Book of Mormon filled in some gaps that the Bible had. So she totally recognizes the fact that the Bible and the Book of Mormon work together as one. Oh my goodness. She's just so amazing. And! She understands that the Priesthood power is essential for baptism. Her friend asked if she would need to be rebaptized even though she has been baptized in other churches and Jessica didn't even hesitate and told her that she would need to because she wasn't baptized with the Priesthood power. WHOA. Crazy right? It was seriously so incredible. Cassandra is doing great too. I love seeing the progression in investigators AND members! It's the best! 

We went to the Murphy's house for dinner a few times this past week (no surprise there, right? Hahaha) and we were actually able to teach Mama Murphy's son, Jake, the Restoration. It went very well. He had a lot of good questions and really good insights. The spirit was super strong and he wants to keep learning more. And he's keeping his commitments! We asked him to read and he read.....and that's a huge deal because usually people just don't do it haha. So he's on the right track! It's fun teaching at their house because it feels like I'm home there just teaching my broski or something. It's great. :) 

I think that's about all the highlights from last week! I met a cat yesterday that looked exactly like Penny....just with an actual tail hahah. It made me miss my kitties. Haha. 

I want you all to remember that the church is true! And God is good. If you look ever so carefully, you will see His hand in your life. He's leading and guiding you to paths much greater than you can ever imagine. It may be hard at times and you may not understand completely...but in the end, everything will come together and make sense. You just have to bear everything with patience and endurance. You got this. We all got this. We can do this together :) ESPECIALLY with the Lord on our side!

I hope you all had a wonderful week! And I hope this one is even better. Y'all are always in my prayers and I love you all so soo soooo much. 

Take care, be safe, and choose the right always! 

MUCH LOVE, 

Sister Blumel 

xoxoxo <3

PS - The story behind the subject line. Jville 3 is still on fire and the spirit has been with us so strong this past week! So I thought it was fitting :) Also, we sang this hymn for the closing song at transfers. And it's my favourite. So bam! 

Family pictures :) 

You can tell who the leader of the pack is.....she's the craziest.
Dang. Oh wait that's me. Ha. 

Week #50 - 2015 Nov 02 - The Fire Is Spreading!

Heyyyya!

This past week was great. It was a slower missionary work week...but it went by super fast because it was actually a crazy everything else week. 

We had deep clean on Tuesday. I was out for a bit...I guess my headache problem decided it wanted to show up again. So that's awesome. NOT. Oh well. It's just a tender mercy that it was deep clean day and we weren't actually supposed to go out and proselyte. We did go to our dinner appointment which was our NOW recent convert, Wesley! And his family. It was great. The food was good, the visit was good. And the Lord blessed my head and the headache subsided while we were at their house. And then came right back when we left hahaha. But it was good, it went away by the next morning. 

On Wednesday, we had District Meeting as per usual and then Sister Park and I had to travel to Wilmington. She had an appointment there. So that was fun. It was awesome just getting that travel time in. It gave us an opportunity just to talk and have a good time together. We tried to make the most of this past week because we had a feeling that Sister Park was getting transferred. So that's what we did Wednesday. 

Thursday was good. We had an appointment with the Elders investigator, Cassandra. They wanted to transition her over to us. She's a 13 year old girl and they thought that it would be best if we started teaching her. Which I mean it makes sense...haha. But it went really well! And she said that she liked us better anyway ;) hahaha. So the transition was super simple. We're going to start teaching her this week sometime. She's a great girl! I love her so much already! 

On Friday, we were able to do a service project for the Elders' recent convert, Brother Proulx (pronounced "Pru"). His dog needed to be washed and he asked us to do it and we of course said yes. We didn't think that bathing a dog was going to be THAT bad...until we saw the dog..... YIKES. So. Many. Mats. Everywhere. Oh. My. Goodness. Wow. We were thinking this would take like 1-1.5 hours....NOPE. False. It took almost THREE. Hahaha it was intense. But it was a lot of fun. Although while we were washing this dog, it confirmed the fact that I do not EVER want to own a dog. Ain't nobody got time fo dat. Seriously though. And if I EVER get convinced that my family "needs" a dog...that dog is gonna be the cleanest thing anyone's ever laid eyes on. I'm talking like brushing it daily, bathing it weekly. Like this dog has to be CLEAN. All the dogs I've seen here are stinky and gross haha. Mama I totally got you now....Defs not going into the animal career anymore hahaha...if nothing else the mission has taught me that much! Hahaha. I'm just saying, it's a good thing Brother Proulx's dog was super cute. Other wise....nah. There would have been no way hahah. But it was worthwhile. He was super appreciative of us taking the time to do that. So it felt good. And the dog feels a lot better now that most of her mats are gone. :) Yay for service! 

Saturday was Halloween! We were told not to do anything. No proselyting at all that day. UNLESS we had set appointments. But we didn't have any. No one wanted to see us on Halloween....? Weird... ;) Haha. Anywho. So we just hung out at the church all day with the other missionaries. I got to put my crepe skills to good use and fed all the missionaries in the district. I successfully fed 4 elders! Bahaha. So. Much. Food. Dang. But it was good. And they all said they were good...so I'm gonna assume that everything went well. It was a lot of fun though :) After crepes we just played some games in the gym. We played Mormon Mafia...it was fun. So this is how you do it.

Mafia Members = Gadianton Robbers. 

Police = Prophet. 

Doctor = The Good Samaritan. 

Haha the Jacksonville 3rd elders (our ward's missonaries) came up with it. Super clever. It was a lot of fun. And then Sister Park made a special "appropriate"  deck of cards so we could play ULTIMATE spoons. That was a ton of fun. Apparently I almost tore my ACL....that wouldn't have been a good activity. I scared one of the elders really bad hahah. I was diving for a spoon and then this one elder from the Jacksonville 2nd ward came out of nowhere and I fell on him (SUPER AWKWARD BY THE WAY!!!! Hahahaha #missionaryprobs) and then I got up and his companion was like not even phased by the fact that I fell ON him..he was freaking out going "Please tell me your knee is okay......PLEASE!" And I was like what..? Tis good? And then I walk around and dance a little. And he's like "Okay good. Because you were about 10 degrees from tearing your ACL and going home!!!" And then he's like "your life flashed through MY eyes when I saw that happen!!!" Hahaha so apparently it was pretty intense. But I'm all good! Thank goodness! Someone's watching out for me :) 

And then we played this pictionary game. It was awesome. It was a SUPER fun Halloween. I loved it! 

AND THEN. We went to a member's home for dinner and our phone rang. And you see, we've both been on the edge of our seat waiting to hear SOMETHING about transfers. Cause we were pretty darn sure that Sister Park was going. So when that phone rang, S. Park and I looked at each other and we were like "PRESIDENT." And sure enough it was! So we told the members that we had to take that. And so we did. And then all of a sudden...instead of asking for Sister Park, he asks for me and I'm like "wuuutttt?" So I'm talking to him and he's like "I would like to call you as a trainer. Are you willing to do that?" And I was like "Wait. What." Hahaha I kinda laughed and was like, yeah I can do that. Are you sure you trust me with that? And then he told me that when this is the calling/assignment that he spends the most time and effort on and he has gotten countless confirmations that I have what it takes to train a new missionary and that's where the Lord wants me. So! Ladies and gents.....I'm training again!!! Baby #2! Dang. It's crazy. I hope I'll be good enough. Ahhh. You'd think because I've trained before..I'd be ready. But NOOPE. I'm just as nervous. I'm just as scared. I'm just as excited. And I'm relying on the Lord probably more so! Haha. It's good though. I'm mostly excited. I love training :) It's just crazy that I get to do it again :) 

Sunday was good. A LOT of our less actives that we're working with CAME to church. That was a HUGE miracle. Dang. And the ward is actually reaching out. WHICH IS HUGE. This is the reason for the subject line. Things are changing here in J-ville and I'm LOVING it. The sparks have ignited and a fire has started here and it's great. I'm so grateful I get to be a part of it!! I love being a missionary!! 

Well, it looks like this is all I have time for...but thanks again for all that you do for me! All the love and support and prayers are felt. Y'all are the best. Keep being awesome and keep sharing your light!!! :D 

I love you all so much. Have a wonderful week :) Miss y'all!

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

PS - I forgot to say my ponderize scripture last week! Sorry about that! It was 2 Nephi 9:18. I'll do that again this week since I didn't get a lot of time to look over it. :) 

PPS - This is our district. :) Best one yet! And yes. It's sufficiently awkward hahaha that's our life. But yeah it's better than no picture!

Week #49 - 2015 Oct 26 - MIRACLES IN THE NCRM

Hey y'all!

This past week has been really good! One of the better weeks. We have seen so many miracles. Hence the super original subject line. ;)

On Tuesday, we were accounting with our District Leader. (Accounting = once a week we give a report to our district leader about how the work is going....it keeps us accountable for what we do on a weekly basis.) And he chastised us pretty good because we haven't found any new investigators since he's come. (So like 5 weeks.) It's not that we haven't been putting the effort in...we have. But we obviously could have put MORE effort in finding. So we didn't really have a good reason as to why we haven't found anybody in the last few weeks. To make a long story short, that call to repentance was a blessing in disguise because it gave us the motivation we so desperately needed. AND. AND. ANDDDD! WE ENDED UP FINDING THREE NEW INVESTIGATORS THIS WEEK!!! WUT?! Yeah. That's a huge deal. Family! As we put our faith in our finding efforts and relied upon the Lord, we were blessed with not only 1 investigator, but 3. One was a referral from the elders, one we tracted into, and then the other one is a part member family. Their 9 year old son hasn't been baptized yet. It's so amazing what comes from working hard. I love it. Trust in the Lord and you won't EVER be disappointed! I can promise y'all this! :) 

First miracle! We taught our investigator that the elders referred us to this past week and it went very well! We first met her on Tuesday, we went to go contact her and as we were walking up to her house, she came right outside! We didn't even have to knock! And I can testify that as long as you have the faith that the Lord will fill your mouth, the words will come. We had no idea what we were going to say. But before we left the car we made sure to say a prayer and ask for the spirit to be with us to lead and guide our words. And then out of nowhere we gave a full on explanation of the Book of Mormon using the pictures in the front and everything! It went so well! And the words just kept on coming! She said she wanted us to come back a couple days later so we did!  We taught her the Restoration and she soaked it all in like a sponge. And she understands it all! We were talking about the great apostasy and she was like, 'Yeah, they were missing something" and we were like yes! Yes they were! So that was awesome. And she is totally cool with the Priesthood only being for the men. Which is a huge deal down here in the south haha. But she is absolutely amazing! And I love her so much already! Her name is Jessica and she's in her mid to late 30's we're pretty sure...haha. 

Our other miracle story was when we were on exchange with the other sisters. I was with Sister Alldredge who serves in the Jacksonville 2nd ward. We were contacted a referral, but to our dismay, the lady we were trying to contact wasn't living there anymore. So we decided to tract around her house. We knock on the first door, we see someone look through the window and then they don't answer the door. Awkward. So we move on to the next door. We knock. This cute lady comes out with her kids (they're 3 and 5, I'm pretty sure.) and we told her we have a unique message that we share with the world and we asked if there was a time she would be willing to listen to it and she said she had time then! So we taught her a 4 minute Restoration and she was totally intrigued. I've never felt the spirit so much on a door approach. It was amazing! And then she told us we could come back and talk to her more! And we're actually going over there tonight! She seems like she'll be good. She's very friendly and nice :) 

And then the part member family is also a miracle! They have been inactive for the last little bit. But for the past few weeks they have been coming back to church. They've come to church and they came to the Halloween party that the ward had this past weekend. They're on the road to becoming totally active again. They want their son to be baptized and so because he's 9 he has to get the lessons. So that will be fun. The mom says that the whole family will benefit from hearing the lessons again. I'm excited to start teaching them. They're a great family. The mom has a super thick southern drawl hahaha it's the best. 

God is SO good! I love being a missionary. I love serving the Lord full time. It's crazy to think that in a little less than a month, I'll be coming up to my year mark. That's insane. It definitely doesn't feel like it's been that long. But at the same time it feels like I've been here forever. It's a weird concept. But I LOVE being here! I wouldn't dream of being anywhere else. Even when the going gets tough...I've learned that you just gotta keep going :) Put one foot in front of the other and take it one step at a time. Keep smiling and keep trusting in the Lord. He's got your back always. 

I hope you all have a fan-freakin-tastic week!!! I love you all a ton. And miss you like crazy! Take care. Be safe. And know that God is with you always. 

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

Week #48 - 2015 Oct 19 - "Hey, My Name Is Nicholas. And This Is Ridiculous."

Hey family!

This week was good. Like always. :) Due to some gimps ("I have a bad back." or "I have a bad knee"....) in the district, our district leader has asked that we share our car. So our FULL time car isn't so full time anymore haha. There are 4 sets of missionaries and 3 cars. Us and the other sisters had a full time car and then the 2 sets of elders just shared a car. But not anymore! Basically, he (the DL) worked it out so each of us only have one "no car" week a month. So it's not TOO bad. I bring this up because our "no car" week was this past week haha. And it was rough stuff hahaha. We did get a lot of exchanges and stuff though! So we didn't have to ride our bikes (sorry mom....hahaha). But it was still rough. And when we got the car back, I was so grateful for it! Man, when you don't have something, you REALLY appreciate it once it's back! haha I'm just saying!

So this week!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING last Monday! One of the members (The Murphy's) fed us a really good thanksgiving dinner last Sunday. It was delicious. I'm pretty sure I forgot to mention it last week haha. BUT! Anywho. The Murphy's are literally the best and they have done so much for us and I don't know what we would do without that family haha. 

And the beach activity was a lot of fun! The zone played football. But Sister Park, Elder Tellez (he's in our district), and I threw a frisbee around. It was funny haha. And then we got bored of that...so Elder Tellez went and played with the zone...I think at this point they were playing Ultimate Frisbee. And Sister Park and I just walked along the beach. It was relaxing. And nice. And apparently there's a picture posted somewhere....so if I find it...I'll have to send it over :) 

Tuesday was our Zone Conference. It was SO good. It felt like we were in a heaven on earth. That whole meeting it felt like we were in our own little world and the scary, dark outside world didn't exist. It was a wonderful meeting. :) Very spiritual and uplifting. 

And then! After the meeting, our lives changed.....

They installed...

Black boxes...........

In all of our cars.........

Yeah. 

Now to explain what a little black box is...it's a box that tracks your speed, if you're wearing a seatbelt, your GPS location, and if you take corners too fast or slam on your brakes too hard. Uh yeah. So that's awesome. AND best part is? It talks to us. And it's voice is terrifying haha. To put it in the words of another sister, "It sounds like satan is in the vehicle..." hahaha. #YIKES! So driving back to Jacksonville (it was a 2.5 hour drive) was a trip. Hahaha. Apparently I have more of a speeding problem than I thought... It said "Check your speed." Like 6 times or something. And when it says that you have to slow down within 10 seconds or you get dinged. And there's a monthly report that goes out saying how good of a driver you are. LUCKILY, I slowed down in time and the box didn't actually get me. But dang. That box is something else. Hahaha. It's good though...it keeps us accountable. 

We named our box Nicholas. Because he is ridiculous. (That vine.....hahaha. Hey my name is Nicholas, and this is ridiculous. Got mah gummi money and it is deliciousness. Hahahaha Sarraaaaa you got me ;) haha) 

So yeah. That's an update on mission vehicles! 

On Wednesday, Wesley got interviewed and he passed! Hoorah!!! And then a miracle happened that night as well. We were outside with Wesley's little siblings waiting for our ride to show up and we were just drawing with chalk and stuff. And then a car pulled up and we realized it was Sister Parker (our ride) so we go inside to get our bags. Well Bentley (Wesley's family's dog) got out of the house and then it got out of the yard and made a bolt for it. He was gone. And then we were like awe crap. Andddd to make matters even better! It was getting dark. So we were like oh man.. Well correction. That's what I was like. Sister Park took off after the dog and I was like ha.....I'll be close behind you...but I ain't runnin after a dog. Soooo yeah. Long story short and after MUCH, MUCH prayer. Sister Parker was able to catch the dog and everything was good. Sister Parker was a HUGE tender mercy because she has 6 dogs at home...so she's like a dog whisperer. And if we didn't call her to give us a ride...that dog would have been gone. And that would not have been a good activity. Ha. So crisis averted...we managed to call the right person and she came at the right time. God is good!!!! 

AND THEN. ON SATURDAY! WESLEY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! HALLELUJAH! It was wonderful!!!!! It was such a good day. The Spirit was so strong. And I have never seen a 10 year old so happy. Wesley is the best. I just love him so much. He was so excited the entire day :) The baptismal service was great and the talks were perfect. Everything was just perfect :) I love baptisms. They are so great! Ahhh being a missionary is the best :) 

That was about it for the week! Thank you all for the love and support you show me. I say this all the time...but I really do mean it. Y'all are the greatest. 

Remember what's most important this week! Good, better, best right?! Always remember to pray and read your scriptures. Praying is how we talk to God and reading our scriptures is how God talks to us. They work together :) Do them both and you'll be so so so much stronger. 

I love you all so much!! And I hope you're doing well :) Take care!!! 

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

OH! PS! 

My #ponderize scripture for the week is Alma 53:20-21. And I'm substituting the word "men" to "missionary". :) 

I love this challenge!! 

Our little friend, Nick!

Our little friend, Nick!

A pretty sky! I love North Carolina!!!!

And this is what a successful personal study looks like in the world of Sister Blumel.....bahaha. But! I had a super great study this morning!! so yay!

Wesley Ritchie baptism

Wesley Ritchie baptism

Wesley Ritchie baptism

Week #47 - 2015 Oct 12 - {Untitled}

Heyaaaa!

This week was great!! It was kind of a blur...so I'm not really too sure what even happened. (You know...I think I start out like this in like 95% of these weekly reports...I need a new line hahaha)

Anywho. I don't have a lot of time today because apparently we're doing a zone preparation day activity at the beach haha. So this one will be shorter than the rest of them...sorry haha. 

On Tuesday we met with Wesley and went over the baptismal interview questions with him. AND HE NAILED IT. He's so ready for his actual interview AND baptism. I love this kid so much. <3 He's a genius. We asked him what repentance was and he kinda had to give him a hint..all we said was "it's a change..." and then he's like, "Oh yeah! It's a series of steps that we have to take to ask for forgiveness and then be forgiven!" It was perfect. And then he answered a lot of the other questions like that. And then after all the questions were asked, Sister Park and I were like, "what else can we ask you?" And then he proceeded to ask us to ask him a bunch more questions. Like who's Jesus and Heavenly Father, what's the Book of Mormon, who's Moroni, what's the sacrament. And all of those kinda questions. Needless to say our minds were blown. *insert my hands showing that fact that our minds were blown* He's seriously the best. I am so grateful I get to be a part of his conversion! AND his baptism is this Saturday at 1pm!!! I'm so excited!! :D 

On Wednesday, we had a zone training and it was really good. Super spiritual. We usual have these meetings in the gym..but they were doing some sort of renos or something in there...so we had it in the chapel. And it was amazing. It was neat to see all of the trainings that we planned in our Zone Council come to life. It was awesome. I love missionary meetings. They're always super uplifting. 

And then the rest of the week we just worked as hard as we could!! It was great. I'm doing well. I love being a missionary here in the NCRM. We get to witness miracles everyday and I wouldn't have it any other way. I know this is where I need to be and I'm so grateful I have this opportunity to be a representative of Jesus Christ full time :) I know my Savior lives and He's always there for us. When we fall, He's right there to pick us up. When we're not feeling the best, He's there to share His light with us and make everything feel better. When we testify of Him, hearts are changed. 

I hope you all have a great week and I can't wait to hear from y'all next week. You are loved and missed. Andddd! Love is being sent to you from North Carolina. Thank you all for being the best ever. <3

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

PS - My #ponderize scripture for the week is Mosiah 5:15 :) 

PPS - I couldn't think of any clever subject lines.......#fail. Oh well! C'est le vie!

Week #46 - 2015 Oct 05 - Let the Storm Rage Onnnn, the Rain Never Bothered Me Anywayyy.

Hey you beautiful people!

This past week was good. It was slower. But hey, that's not the worst thing. A lot of awesome things happened though! I'll fill ya in! (That's the purpose of these emails right? hahaha. anywho!)

On Tuesday we had a Zone Council. This was the first one in the NCRM history! It's practically a ward council....but stake level....but on the mission. Ha pretty much all the leadership in the zone got together and we discussed some important stuff that had to do with the mission. Like what were were doing on our zone preparation day. #priorities. Hahah just kidding. That's not ALL we talked about! Although the plan is to go to the beach together and do fun games and stuff...so that'll be good. We're doing that next week :) We were supposed to do it today...but weather and stuff. (I'll talk about that later....) BUT! It'll be good :) And then we talked about zone training and our missionaries and all that fun stuff. It was such a good meeting! It definitely helped us feel more united as leadership in the Wilmington Zone. I LOVE all this unity stuff that's going on! It's bringing a lot more happiness, success stories, and FUN to the mission. And the work is definitely moving forward because we actually feel like a TEAM now. It's amazing!!! So that was good. 

Oh also side note. With all the rule changes and the fact that we can do more with the elders now...we totally car pooled with our District Leader, Elder Davis and the District Leader from Wallace, Elder Kapu. So we drove with elders. It was sooooo different and we thought it would be super awkward. But it was actually a lot of fun! :) {Yes, we got permission from the Zone Leaders haha they're actually the ones who set it up haha}

We taught Wesley this week, of course! We did the Spiritual CPR lesson with him. That's the one where there's 3 cups and 3 knives and you're supposed to position the knives in such a way that the Book of Mormon can balance on top...without moving the cups! (The missionaries did this for us a couple times, familia.) And then we said that each cup represented something that would keep us spiritually alive. Hence the CPR. We have Church, Prayer, and Reading your scriptures. I've totally explained this before....but oh well. Repetition is always good right? Ha. Anywho...if you're doing all those things, you'll be strong and good to go!!! Anywayyy, it was fun. This lesson is always a hit. ESPECIALLY with kids. Wesley's brother and sister spent the rest of the lesson piling books on this foundation and seeing how many it would hold before it fell. And man! It holds a lot more than I thought!!! It was awesome!!! I got a picture of it...so I'll try to remember to send it haha. But Wesley's doing wonderful as usual. We do have to push his date back. He was supposed to get baptized this Saturday...but we missed a couple lessons and we really want to make sure that he is ready. So we're taking a couple more weeks to make sure that he understands everything :) It'll be good. He's such an amazing kid...I'm not worried about him at all. :) 

Hmm, what else happened this week. Well Conference! I LOVE General Conference. Especially on the mission. It's like the superbowl for missionaries. Not even kidding haha. We had a count down going from like August to when Conference was gonna be here...we were STOKED. And we definitely were not disappointed at all! It was one of the best conferences that I've been able to listen to :) It was GREAT. I loved it!!! ALL of it!! I can't pin point my favourite talk...but I really liked Sister Niell F. Marriott's talk and President Russell M. Nelson's talk. I think those were the ones that stood out to me the most. Also. Elder Holland's and President Uchtdorf's were REALLY good as well. It was a good weekend :) 

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

Also. On a completely random side note. I've been super bored with my hair since like July/August. And I've been contemplating bangs this whole time. Sooooo, on Friday night, we got home a bit early, I decided to give myself a hair cut. Ha! So I found some scissors and cut my bangs. Sister Park looked terrified...but my mind was pretty set. And once my mind is set...nothing can really change my mind haha. So I just went for it! And bam it worked out pretty good! Can't complain :) Andddd I got the district's stamp of approval. They all say it looks good and they're impressed with my hair cutting skills hahaha. I'm just the best. No big deal or anything ;) Hahaha just kidding. Sister Park helped me cut a little chunk off my right side...cause it was an awkward angle. But she did a good job too :) So yep! Change is good! :) 

Hmm, real quick. We were supposed to have a hurricane....Hurricane Joaquin. So Sister Park and I were all prepared. And not gonna lie, we were pretty excited because it was going to be our first hurricane for the both of us. We made sure we had our 72 hour kits ready to go. We had a suitcase packed with 3 days worth of clothes and stuff. We had water. Man, we were SO prepared!!! Buttttt.....then it decided to shift paths and NC wasn't in the path anymore. DANG IT. So we aren't actually getting a hurricane....just a lot of rain and wind. Because we're like on the VERY VERY VERY outskirts of it. Lame sauce. Maybe next time ;) hahaha. We were all excited to say that we survived Hurricane Joaquin...but now we can't say that. We can only say, we almost got the chance to survive Hurricane Joaquin...but that's not nearly as exciting....Oh well! 

I'll just say #HurricaneJoaquinFAIL. 

Hahaha. Anyway. I hope you all had a great week! I miss you all so so so much. But I know we're all where we're supposed to be :) Just continue to say your prayers, read your scriptures, keep the Sabbath day holy, and choose the right! Oh and smile too. Because smiles are contagious and everyone love smiling :) 

I love y'all a ton! Take care. Make good choices!!!

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

PS - Also! Almost forgot. My #ponderize scripture for the week is Mosiah 2:41! :D What's yours?!

The tower!!!!! Don't mind the blurry half naked kids in the back....baahahah
 Wesley's siblings are hardly ever dressed completely....

the Before picture! #awkwardselfiesbeawkward

The AFTER pictures! Bam bangs are back!!

After a year of growing them out....I cut them again. Bahaha. Oh well!

Week #45 - 2015 Sep 28 - All You Need Is Love

Hey y'all! 

This week was pretty good. Like real good. We went to the temple on Wednesday, had district meeting on Wednesday with our new district, Leadership Training on Friday, General Women's Broadcast  on Saturday evening, and church on Sunday!! It was a super uplifting week that's for sure. :) 

The temple was, of course, WONDERFUL!! I LOVE the temple so, so, so much. I've said this before, but I'll say it again - I'm literally gonna hang out at the temple ALL the time when I get home. And it's gonna be fantastic. I just love how peaceful it is. The second I step into the temple, all my worries, concerns, daily stresses are taken off my back for a time. That never ceases to amaze me. We went to the temple as a zone. So that was neat! It was kinda weird going with the elders since the previous mission president would NEVER allow that. He was very strict on elder/sister relationships to the point where we couldn't really even talk to the elders. But at the MLC meeting I talked about a couple weeks ago, our Mission President said that he didn't like the fact that we didn't know how to work with each other. So we are now allowed to do things together on Preparation Days and talk to each other and actually communicate like normal human beings. So that's fun. Haha it creates a new dynamic. We actually feel unified now as missionaries. Instead of the "elder vs sisters" competition thing that was going on. It's good. But anyway! We went to the temple as the Wilmington Zone and it was so great. It was great to go to the temple with all of the people that we work with :) And! The Mission President and his wife surprised us - at least Sister Park and I - by being there with us. It was a special experience going to the temple with my Mission President and his wife. :) I seriously love them so much. 

Our district is awesome. All of the companionship's got changed except for ours. So we have 2 new elders and a new sister. One of the elders - Elder Eyere - came out with me! So it's fun having him in the district! :) He's serving in the Jacksonville 2nd ward. And the other one is Elder Davis and he's serving in our ward and he's the district leader. We're like the same...sass level anyway so we'll see how this works. We've had a couple "dominance/power" things already....our pride levels are pretty equal...ha we're both too stubborn to accept defeat...that's all. Hahaha. It'll be a fun time though! :) And the new sisters name is Sister Alldredge and she is wonderful!! I love her already. This district might end up being one of my favourites on the mission so far! :) 

Leadership Training was good. Like really good. All the trainings taught were all about becoming a better leader. So it was wonderful. We constantly need help in that department haha! And then a bunch of other little rules changed. Like the passenger in the car can use the phone now (before that wasn't allowed), we don't have suit/cardigan season anymore. Suit season used to go from Oct 1 to April 1 and we all had to wear suit jackets/cardigans everyday. So that's out. THANK GOODNESS. Cause it's still super hot here in October...ha. And then I can't remember what the other ones were...but it was great. We're pretty much just going by what the White Handbook says. So that's nice. I didn't realize how many rules the previous mission president put in place until now..ha. But it's okay! :) We're still striving to be exactly obedient and listening to the Mission President to a tee! 

After the meeting we stayed back and chatted with the James. President James wanted to talk to Sister Park so I stayed and talked with Sister James. Oh man she's just the cutest, sweetest lady ever. I love her so much. She knows how to make you feel important and loved and it's wonderful. It was fun getting to know her better! And then when President came out, we talked with him for a little bit too. So it was great! 

The Women's Broadcast was AMAZING! Definitely needed to hear all that was said. I loved every second of it. Especially President Uchtdorf's message. It was EXACTLY what I needed. Love. 

Sunday was great. We had a good lesson with one of our members. We had an appointment and she had her friends over. Apparently she tried cancelling, but our phone never got the message. So we went and afterwards she said that we needed to be there for her friends. Her friends asked a lot of really good questions and they're really curious about the church! We witnessed our member giving her friend, Rhonda, a Book of Mormon and it was amazing!! They don't live in our ward boundaries, but I really hope the missionaries will find them. They're golden :) 

And then afterwards we had a lesson with our member and it was such a spiritual experience. It was pretty much us all expressing our love to one another. And she stated the fact that she is amazed by us because we always come with something she needs to hear. And then she told us that she would LOVE to be our investigator because we're so understanding and she doesn't feel judged around us and we are so full of the spirit. She said we would be able to convert her ;) hahaha. She's such a sweetheart. I love when people tell us that...it makes me feel like I'm doing SOMETHING right ha. It's a good refresher.

So that was great. 

The title of the email is All You Need Is Love. And  I just want to say that the last few weeks a huge emphasis has been put on LOVE. It is such a simple concept, but a hard one to master. But I would just like to invite all of you to love a little more and be a little kinder and understand that everyone is fighting their own battles and it isn't our place to judge them. But it is a commandment to love them. So just spread the love and do something each day this next week that shows your love for someone. It's those little acts of kindness that mean the most :) 

Thank you for all the love and support that y'all constantly show me. I can't express my gratitude enough. It means everything to me. I love you all so much. 

I hope you have a great week! And I can't wait to hear from y'all next week! Take care! And Be safe. Always remember to smile :) 

ALSO HUGE SHOUT OUT TO SARA!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHICKA! YOU'RE THE BEST AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND I HOPE YOUR DAY IS AMAZING JUST LIKE YOU!!!! 

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel 

xoxoxo <3