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

Week #44 - 2015 Sep 21 - The Things That Matter Most Last Forever.

Hey y'all, 

This week my report will be a little different. I just want to take a minute and share my testimony with you all. I'm going to very simply share what means the most to me and I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide my words in such a way that you too will feel the spirit and I will be able touch at least someone's heart. 

Throughout this last week, I've had a lot of time to ponder. Due to some unforeseen circumstances and some very tragic news - this past week has been rough physically, but mostly emotionally. But with all that mentioned, it's been a very spiritually moving week. I've never felt Heavenly Father's love so strong before. I know that Heavenly Father loves me. He loves you. He knows my circumstances, as well as He knows yours. He is a mighty God. He is a God of miracles. He is a loving God. He loves us all more than we can even comprehend. His love is perfect. Unconditional. Eternal. 

He has a plan for all of us. Sometimes it's hard to accept His plan, but that's where faith comes in. Faith in God includes faith in His timing. This past week, my companion had to receive some very hard news about her family. The way she handled it has been inspiring for me. Sister Park is one of the strongest people that I have ever met. Her testimony and her love of God and of Jesus Christ is unwavering. 

In Mosiah 18 it talks about what we promise when we are baptized. Verses 8 and 9 say:

 8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his  people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

 9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn;yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things,and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of  the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

Those words have been on repeat in my mind this entire week. I never fully understood what it meant to "mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort" until coming on the mission. As a missionary you have the opportunity to be other people's support. Other people rely on you to help them through their trials. And never before have I wanted to take burdens off people's backs and put them on my own to relieve them from their challenges. During a visit, if they confide in us with what they are struggling with and when they shed tears, I find myself hurting because I wish there was more that I could do for them. But all we can do is weep with them and assure them of God's love for them. 

This week I have gained an even deeper understanding of this scripture and what exactly I promised when I was baptized at eight years old. As my companion is going through this trial I have wanted nothing more than to take it off her back and put it on my own. I know this isn't possible but I wish it was. You know, on the mission they always talk about being united with your companion. Being one with each other. You don't realize how united you are until the other one is hurting and you're feeling what they are. I can't say that I know what Sister Park has been going through and I can't say that I even understand. But I do know that my heart has been aching for her and her family. I'm on the outside looking in and even though I don't know exactly how bad this hurts, I hurt really bad for them. I am literally mourning with those that mourn. I'm not sure why this had to happen. And why this had to happen at this time. But I do know that it happened and the Lord has a plan. He's looking out for us. Sister Park and I were meant to be companions. The Lord chose me to be the one to be by her side as she is going through this. And I feel so inadequate. I feel almost unworthy to be the one to comfort His beloved daughter. Although, I can promise you that as I have knelt down to the Lord and pleaded for His help and guidance, He has given it to me. I have said things that I would not have even imagined coming out of my own mouth. And I know they aren't from me. Those words have come to me from the Spirit, from the Lord. I am the Lord's mouthpiece. I am the Lord's instrument. And I am striving to fulfill the promises I made at baptism and "comfort those that stand in need of comfort." 

I want you all to know that I have a STRONG testimony that families are forever. When sealed in the Holy Temple of God, families are for eternity. That binding is eternal. And how amazing is it, that we have this knowledge. How great is it that the fullness of the gospel has been restored and the sealing power is back on the earth today. How incredible is that we have temples and we can do the work for those who have passed on. How wonderful it is that those that didn't have the chance to hear the gospel on the earth, have that opportunity in the spirit world. This is why temple work is so important. This is why temples are on the earth. Temples are here to bind families for time and for all eternity. This is our ultimate goal. The temple should always be our goal. It is my promise to you, that as long as your eyes are on the the temple, you are never lost. I hope that we can all make the temple a priority in our lives and not only seal our own families for time and all eternity but those that didn't get the chance to here on earth. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's church on the earth today. It contains the fullness of the gospel and the fullness of the truth. I know with all my heart, mind, and soul that this IS the true church. I have received witness of this time and time again. I know that Joseph Smith restored the church and I know he saw what he saw. I know he was the first prophet called of God in this dispensation. I know that it's through him that God was able to bring back His church. I know that the Priesthood power is real. I am so grateful that the Priesthood is on the earth again. I was able to receive a blessing from the Mission President this past week and things were mentioned that I hadn't told anyone else but God. Those were things that I had only talked about with my Father in Heaven and yet, those concerns were addressed in this blessing. My Heavenly Father was talking to me through a worthy Priesthood holder. I cannot deny what I have felt in this church. I know without a shadow of a doubt that it is through the Plan of Salvation that we will feel peace and true joy. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. And I know that He died for each and every one of us. He went through everything so that we would understand perfectly. He wants to be there for us and He knows exactly what we're going through because He's been there. We can always turn to Him and He won't ever let us down. All we have to do is let Him in. And once we do, we will realize that He will take the weight right off our backs. Just like how it says in Mosiah 24:14-15. So even though I cannot take the weight off of Sister Park's back or her families' backs, I know that the only one who can, is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And that gives me comfort. I know that our Savior Jesus Christ, will help them and comfort them and help them feel at peace. I know this because He went through everything. Unlike me, He KNOWS exactly what they are feeling. We all just have to trust Him. And I know that this is the case with EVERYONE. No matter what you are going through, Jesus Christ is there for you. Let Him in. 

Mom, Dad, Jon, Sara, Matthew, and Ben. I want you ALL to know that I love you more than anything else in this world. You all mean everything to me and I hope you all know that and never forget it. I am so grateful that mama and pops lived worthy lives and were able to be married for time and all eternity in the Holy Temple of God. It is because of them, that we are an eternal family. I hope that one day I, too, can enter into the temple and marry a worthy priesthood holder for time and all eternity and raise a family on the strong foundation of Jesus Christ and the gospel, just like the one I grew up in. I love you all so much and I am sending HUGE loves and hugs to you all from North Carolina. Give each other vicarious hugs for me. :) I can't express enough how much y'all mean to me. So just know that there aren't even enough words for me to adequately describe my love to all of you. <3 <3 <3

I have so much more to say...but unfortunately I don't have the time to say it all. I hope that all made sense...I don't have to time to double check it.

I hope you all had a great week and know that my prayers are with all of you always. 

You are Loved. 

Take care. Be safe and choose the right. 

Much Love,

Sister Amy Blumel 

xoxoxo <3

Week #43 - 2015 Sep 14 - The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways.

Heyaaa!

So this past week was really good. It was kinda a slower week. But it was good. :) 

We saw Wesley a couple times this week and he is doing WONDERFUL. He's just the best and I love him to pieces. We taught him the 10 Commandments and Following the Prophet and he loved our hand signs for all 10 commandments. AND! Best part? He still remembers them. So. Our 10 year old investigator knows all 10 Commandments.. IN ORDER! Can you say that about yourself? Hahaha. I know I couldn't before I was taught the hand signs. They're pretty fun :) (shout out to Sister Webb for teaching me that!) And we were also able to watch a little bit of Meet the Mormons with him as well. Ever since the first time we went and visited him, he's been DYING to watch a movie with us. Ranging from the Lego Movie, to other disney movies, and you know all that sorta stuff. And then we explain that we're missionaries so we can't watch those movies. So we told him that we would watch Meet the Mormons with him and he was super excited. So we did that! We'll watch the other half sometime this upcoming week I think. If not this week, we'll be doing it at some point. :) But other than that, he's doing great! 

We contacted a referral yesterday (Sunday...after church) and it was a miracle story. Wowza. Okay so we got this referral on Saturday and we were told to just "tract into" this lady because the person who referred her didn't want to be known. So we go to the address and we realize that there's a huge "No Soliciting" sign in the apartment complex and we were a little hesitant. But the spirit told us to keep going, so we did. We found her apartment and there was another "no soliciting" sign right on her door. There was also a huge cross on her door. We didn't exactly know how to approach this lady once she answered the door - because of the signs up and everything - so both Sister Park and I were praying for help. And then all of a sudden this dog comes around the corner...with no owner or anything with it. So we're like perfect! We'll just use the dog and ask if it's hers! We tried knocking and ringing the doorbell multiple times but there wasn't an answer and we weren't walking away either. Something told me that we needed to stay. (The Spirit obviously..haha) And we also realized that we had been holding onto this dog and Sister Park being the huge animal lover that she is, didn't want to leave it there (I guess I'm heartless now because I was just ready to go and let it fend for itself hahaha whoops) and so she looked at its tag and wanted to deliver it to whoever's address it belonged to. And it turned out to be the same address as the referral. It WAS her dog! Crazy right?! There was also a phone number so we called it and she answered and we told her we had her dog. Long story short, she came to the front door, turns out she was gardening in the back. And we gave her, her dog back and we were able to transition the conversation from the dog to the cross on the door to asking if she was religious to inviting AND committing her to come to church AND getting a return appointment! It was too good to be true!!! It was such an amazing experience! :) The Lord has perfect timing. And He does have a plan for each of His children. That dog was a HUGE tendery mercy. It's the little things. Just before coming to her house, we stopped by a couple people and they didn't answer their door. And I think that's because if they would have answered, we would have missed this opportunity. So it all worked out! It was one of those moments that timing was huge. If we would have waited a second longer or even got there a second earlier, we would have missed the dog and missed our chance to start up a conversation with her. I mean, it would have worked out another time....but this was it. This was the time we were supposed to see her and I LOVE seeing the Lord's hand in this work. It's just a testimony builder that this IS the Lord's work and He's mindful of all of us. :) 

OH YEAH! And on Friday, we had an MLC (Mission Leadership Council) meeting up in Raleigh area (Knightdale). And then, you wouldn't have guessed what happened. SISTER PETERSON WAS THERE!!! WHATTT?! Okay so MLC meetings are only for the zone leaders and sister training leaders (and the assistants and the Mission President of course) and Sister Peterson is training right now! So that was a COMPLETE surprise! But turns out she was personally invited to come to the meeting and present something to all of us :) It was awesome!!! IT WAS SO GOOD TO SEE HER! I just love her so much. I can't wait to see her off the mission so I can spend as much time as I want with her! Ah maybe we'll be companions again haha. Who knows! All I know is I saw her on Friday and it was amazing. MLC was a super good meeting though. It was great. Lots of good things were discussed and I can say I am SUPER excited to be in the NCRM :D Lots of things are changing, but it's for the best! And I'm stoked to see the outcome :) (I'll talk more about that later hahaha.) 

AHHHHHHHHHHHH! WE WENT TO THE BEACH THIS MORNING! YEAHHH! Okay so back story. When I got my call here I was like I want to serve in Wilmington because it's super close to the coast and then one morning I'm gonna force my companion to wake up super early so that we could watch the sunrise on the coast over the ocean. And then my first area was Fayetteville..no where near the ocean hahaha. But then I got sent to Jacksonville! And it's not Wilmington, but it's still right on the coast! So bam!! And so us sisters decided that we were going to do just that. And that's what we did this morning! It was the best!! Granted we had to wake up at 4am to get there on time....BUT OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS SO WORTH IT!!! I looooooovveee the ocean. It's beautiful. We got there just before 6am and we stayed until after 9am. It was so much fun! We took a ton of pictures and enjoyed putting our toesies into the water. Actually we were able to go about ankle deep and the water was SO WARM! It was like bath water. And it's September! Yeah...needless to say that I'm pretty excited about this...still....hahaha. It was the best thing ever. Definitely gonna have to go back soon. I love being right on the coast! <3

That's about it for this week! I hope you all have a great week with lots of fun memories. Remember to say your prayers and read your scriptures and that God loves you! Y'all are the best. 

I love being a missionary. It's the best. I'm so grateful I have this opportunity to serve. 

I love and miss y'all a ton! Take care :)

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Amy Blumel 

xoxoxo <3

Sister Rich, Sister Peterson and I

Me and Sister Peterson!

Week #42 - 2015 Sep 07 - Say Yes to the Baptism!

Hey all you beautiful people that I love so much!

This week was good! I honestly can't complain. I love being on the mission. It's the best. We have an investigator that's on date! I don't think I've had the chance to tell you about him. So I'll do that now!!!

So there was an inactive sister in the ward and she reached out to us letting us know that she is trying to come back and she wants her son baptized. We learn that her son, Wesley, is 10 and so he'd have to take the lessons. We set up a time with her to establish expectations - like what she expects from us and what we expect from them - and that went well. We figured out a baptismal date that day but it was more of a tentative date because we didn't ask Wesley if he even wanted to be baptized yet. BUT! We've met with Wesley a few times now (we meet with him twice a week) and this week we were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation. To do this, we drew pictures of each stage in the Plan and we did it kind of like an "adventure." Meaning that we would explain the Pre Earth life as we put the picture down and he would stand by it and then we would put the next thing down and explain that and so on and so forth. And he would just walk with the pictures so it was like he was literally "walking through the Plan of Salvation" when we went over this lesson! It was fun! He loved it and had a lot of really good questions. You know, he's only 10 but he has SUCH a bright mind! He's like a little genius. I love how he takes everything in. When we teach him something you can almost see the gears turning in his head and then he thinks about if for a second and then he either has a really good question next or he's like "yeah! That makes sense." It's great. When he said the closing prayer he asked for things that he could pray for and Sister Park was like, what are you grateful for? And he listed some things off. And then she asked him what he needs help with. And he thought about it for a little bit and said, "Can I pray for help to get to the celestial kingdom?" And we were like Yes!!! So he did and the spirit was so strong. In the car on the way home we were talking about the lesson and the fact that we've never personally prayed for help to get to the Celestial Kingdom...but that's something that we could definitely be doing more of! We need all the help we can get :) Ah the things that you learn from children. I love kids.

And then for the second lesson we had with him this week, we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he really enjoyed that lesson as well. When we were going over baptism, S. Park extended the invitation to be baptized. And he thought about it for a good couple seconds (he put on his thinker face that I love so much! Haha) and then he looked us both in the eye and said boldly, "Yes." It was amazing! The spirit like whooosh-ed right in the room stronger than it was before. It was incredible. Such a neat experience. I love being a missionary and being able to experience moments like this! It's so great. The rest of the lesson went well and he understood everything we said. Thank you to the Spirit!! :) Wesley is honestly such a huge tender mercy. I feel honoured and privileged to be able to be the missionary involved in his conversion story. 

A few fun facts from the week:

-We saw an alligator on Saturday night! It was so neat. A family had us over for dinner and then afterwards they took us to their dock and let us fish for a little bit and while we did that a gator totally came swimming on by! It was so neat! They move soooo slow....it's kinda creepy. But it was really awesome. 

-Speaking of that. I went fishing for the first time! It was kinda spontaneous haha....so I was in a skirt. But it was still fun! I didn't catch anything...but that's okay! I still had a good time :) 

-I forgot to mention this last week, but I gave a talk last Sunday (Aug 31st) and it went well! It was on reverence and revelation. It was one of my favourite topics that I've ever been given for a talk so it was fun writing it. I whipped it out in like an hour the night before...and it turned out pretty good!! I'll try and figure out a way to send it to y'all :) 

That was pretty much our week in a nutshell! :) HUGE SHOUT OUT to my beautiful mama who had a birthday yesterday!!! Hope it was great!

Also, shout out to my baby, Sister Peterson, for having a birthday last Tuesday (the 1st!). I hope that was wonderful too! 

I love being a missionary in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission. It's honestly the biggest blessing of my life. Now, tomorrow, and always. The church is true. Keep choosing the right and remember that I pray for each and everyone of you everyday. 

I love y'all. And I hope y'all have a good week. Take care!

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

Just a couple selfies from your fave missionary. ;)

These are funny. S. Park taught me how to do the W thing....and ....I still got it wrong.

#toocoolfortheW.... I'll stick to my rock on sign....LOL.

Week #41 - 2015 Aug 31 - I'm Walking On Sunshine, Whoaaa-ooa

HEY! 

THIS WAS THE BEST WEEK EVEEEERRRR. Well one of them anyway. It's just been the most amazing week that I've had in A LOOONNNGGGG time. And it felt so good. Oh my goodness. I don't even know where to start. 

Basically, it all started on Wednesday. We had zone training so we had to be in Wilmington at 8:15am. And it's an hour and a half drive (approx.) so we had to leave at like 7 in the morning. We woke up at 5am that day. The meeting was alright. Ha Sister Park and I had to teach and we were humbled hard core. We were asked to do the same training we did for CMLC a couple weeks ago and so we're like oh we got this. We prepared for it..but I guess we didn't prepare enough. And then pride got in the way and we were like...ain't nobody got nothin on us. And then we got up there and everything just kinda exploded....yeah it was awkward. But! We decided that we were just going to testify after the roleplays and that brought the spirit. So hopefully we cleaned up the mess with our testimonies. But we learned our lesson! Next time, whether we've taught it once or not, we're going to prepare FULLY for all the trainings that we're asked to do! It's funny how the Lord teaches you things sometimes. Ha. Anyway, we had leave the meeting like 15-20 minutes early because Sister Park had a dentist appointment in Jacksonville at 2:00. But we made it in time and all was well! She had to get a ROOT CANAL. Ahhhh poor thing. Crazy. It all went well though, no complications or anything. And then after she came out, the whole left side of her face was frozen. It was HILARIOUS. Haha so we just took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. And we took so many funny selfies and stuff because when you're companion is half frozen...what do you do? You document it. Muahahaha. But we had a good time. It was great. And then the Young Women fed us dinner for their activity that night and we had soup. It was good. I love the YW :) 

On Thursday, we had a spontaneous MLC meeting because Elder Dube came to the mission! (I think I talked about that in my last email...so I won't go into huge detail.) So we had to be in Raleigh at 8:15am. So we had to leave at 5:00am. And thus we had to be up at like 3:30am. So that makes it for the second day in a row of early early morning wake up calls. Anyway, the meeting was SO GOOD. Oh my goodness. Elder Dube is the best!!! He has so many good things to say. I hope he speaks during General Conference next month :) After the meeting we had a lunch and all of the Northern Zones were there and so I got to see 4 of the 5 sisters I came out with!! I saw Sister Ibarra, Sister Muder, Sister Hesen, and Sister Galloway!!! It was great! Sister West is in the Southern Kingdom. She's actually in my zone! Haha. But anyway, we got a picture. My camera was being a butt, so my pictures didn't work. BUT, the mission photographer lady got some, so I'm waiting for them to show up on the Raleigh Mission Share page :) But it was so neat to see them all again!!! It's crazy that we've all been out for 9 months now. What the heck. Haha I don't know exactly where the time is going....but it's going somewhere! Ha! Anywho. That was Thursday. 

Friday = the best of the bestest days ever. We had a Zone Conference with Elder Dube and all the zones in the Southern Kingdom were there. The meeting started at 8:15am. So we had to leave at 5am this morning as well! And the meeting was in, like I told y'all last week, FAYETTEVILLE!!! Oh my goodness! For a few hours on Friday, I felt HOME. It's crazy how that terrifying city, also known as Fayettenam would ever feel like home to me, but it totally does. It will always hold a special place in my heart. Fayetteville, Always and Forever <3. Anywho. The whole week I was like freaking out because A) The meeting was in Fayetteville. And B) SISTER PETERSON. And oh my goodness. We got to the church and I was like ahhh I'm home! And it feels so good! And then I was like....Sister Peterson. Where is she? So we were like on a mission to find her. And during this mission we were able to find the Hills. AHHH! I literally couldn't hold myself back...I HAD to run to them and hug Sister Hill and give a handshake to Elder Hill. It was so amazing seeing them!! And then a few minutes later after going inside, we went back to the parking lot and I saw my baby!!! With her baby! Hahaha (Sis P's training!). AND I couldn't hold myself back from her either hahaha I ran and squeezed her as hard as I could haha. OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER!!!!! It was amazing seeing her again. Wow. Ha didn't realize just how much I missed her until I saw her. Awe man. I just love her to pieces. Anywho. The meeting was really good. Super spiritual. And exactly what I needed to hear. It gave me the peace, motivation, and excitement that I've so desperately needed these past few weeks. Elder Dube is an inspired man called of God, I can tell you that much! I forgot my notes....otherwise I'd give you a little bit of what he said. But it was great. And his wife is a sweetheart and also had so many good things to say. And of course, President and Sister James also had inspiring messages that touched my heart. This meeting was perfect and I really needed it. 

One of the things that Elder Dube said that hit me pretty good was this. He was talking about not giving up and then some advice from his mission president. And that was:

"It's not over, until it's over." 

And I was like whoa. It was definitely a head to heart experience. It was amazing. I'm telling ya. There was so many good things said in that meeting that just made my heart super happy. 

Basically, there are not enough words to adequately describe what Friday was. But it's a day that I will hold super close to my heart and I will NEVER forget it. Ever. It was literally the best day ever. At least one of the BEST, bestest days ever. 

Even though we had to wake up super early like everyday this week...it was well worth it. Exhaustion was a small price to pay for the experiences that we were able to have. 

The church is true, y'all! I just love it so so so much! Just know that if it feels like you're getting hit with a ton of trials at once, it just means that something amazing is coming your way and the Lord is preparing you for it. Trust in the Lord, keep pushing forward, and bear it with patience. All will be well in due time. :)

I love and miss y'all and hope you're doing well. HAVE A GOOD FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL (and work for you pops!) And know that my prayers will be with y'all. :) It's gonna be different, but it'll be good. This is where you all need to be right now. 

Take care!

Much Love,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

 

My baby and I!!!

Oh yeah. Sis P and I totally matched....even though  we're

like 2.5 hours away from each other we still got it! Haha

 #compunity4eva!

I was so happy to see Sister Peterson that happiness may have leaked out my eyes or something.
I dunno. Emotions and stuff. Hahaha but it was so good to see her!

A 3 generation picture. Haha that's Sister Rich. Sister Peterson's trainee. She's so cute. I love her.

And then that's Sister Hill!