Week #31 - 2015 Jun 22 - "It's the Latter-day Saint Bible!"

Hey y'all! 

This week has been pre great. It started like all the rest of them...you know, looking for new people to teach. And then BAM. We found 2 new potential investigators on the weekend. That's what I'm talking about! Miracles. I'm tellin ya.

So Wednesday was the Goodbye Zone Conference. President and Sister Bernhisel are leaving and the new mission president and his wife are coming next week. Sad day. There were so many tears from everyone. Once the Bernhisel's were leaving us with their testimonies everyone just kinda broke and bam water works. And then we sang our mission song "We'll Bring the World His Truth" with the extra verses added in and the spirit was so strong. I couldn't even sing because if I did I would have started bawling ha. So I just soaked it all in. It was the most incredible feeling though. I haven't felt the spirit that strong in a long time. After the song, we were all able to give the Bernhisel's hugs. We got to give BOTH President and Sister Bernhisel hugs!! It was awesome! While I was hugging President (which was super weird, but awesome!!), he was like you're my favourite Canadian! And there's quite a few of you now...so that's saying something! And I'm like awe, well you're my favourite American! And he laughed haha. And then I got a picture with them afterwards. It was great. I love the Bernhisel's a lot. Definitely super blessed that I had the chance to meet them and learn from them. It was an honor to have President Bernhisel as my first mission president. He is incredible. And Sister Bernhisel feels like a mom and I just love her to pieces. She has such a special spirit about her :) I'm gonna miss them like crazy. But I'm excited to meet the new mission president and his wife. They're coming in next Tuesday :) 

On Saturday, we met Carol. We were driving home to go finish Sis P's training and then on the way we see this woman and we wave and then she gives us this huge grin and waves back with her whole arm! So we're like we need to stop and talk to her. So I quickly stop and we run out of the car and catch up with her. She recognizes us and we ask her what she knows about us and she's like, well you  have that latter-day saint bible! And we're like yep, the Book of Mormon! What do you know about it? And she says, "Well, it's another testament of Jesus Christ!" And we're like whoa! YES! Yes it is!!! And long story short, she wants to stop smoking and drinking and change her life for the better! So we're gonna start teaching her! Well Sis P and her new comp will...I'm heading out of this area. But she is awesome!! An older southern woman!! She's great. I'm excited for her :) 

And then on Sunday, Jan came to church! She walked in and I felt impressed to talk to her. So we asked her how she was doing and turns out she's not a member! She just wanted to check out the church and see what we're all about! And we were like woohoo! That's great! And we invited her to sit with us and we explained the sacrament and all that. And she's interested in learning more! So that's super exciting. :D

It was interesting because we have been praying hard core to find those people that are looking for the fullness of the gospel. But we haven't been able to find anyone..and then one day we were like, let's pray that the elect (those who are ready and have been prepared and are seeking out for the truth) will find us. And so we did! And we had TWO wonderful ladies who were right in our path. We were there at the right place and the right time. If a second would have passed for both situations, we wouldn't have met them...or even seen them! 

I testify to y'all that the Lord TRULY does have a plan for His children! We just have to be prepared and ready to be instruments in His hands. And then we'll really see the miracles. 

Missionary work is the Lord's work. We are the Lord's hands and we need to do all we can to help those lost souls come unto Christ. Remember, He's got our backs. 

We need not fear for we have the Lord on our side.

Well that's all I have for y'all this week!  So keep on keepin on! I love you all and I wish you all the best for this upcoming week! You're always in my prayers :) Take care and be safe. 

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

Me with President and Sister Bernhisel -
at the goodbye zone conference for them.

Kenzie, Miah  (she's potentially an investigator we're just waiting on
her parents permission to start teaching her), me, and Sister Peterson 

The Montanez's!!! I just love them. Definitely some of the best friends I've made on the mission :)

Andddd this pic of me and sis p makes me laugh so hard every time.....

HER FACE THO!!!! HAHAHA.

Me and Sister Vickianna Clements --- I just love her. We got super close :) 

And Sister Mentzer (and her baby James) and I!

And the Borabora family. My biggest tender mercy of the area!! <3

Me and Sister Jennifer Thomas! 

And after our dinner appointment yesterday we found a TON of geese!!!! 

They are also my tender mercies :) They make me think of Grandpa 

Reeder and I just feel his love and support. It's a great feeling! :)

Sister Peterson and I!

And the Willis family!!!

And the Hoffman's! They're like our grandparents :) 

Picture is kinda blurry...but you get the jist of it. I love them!

Me and Elder & Sister Hill - The Military Relations missionary couple here.
I don't know what we would do without them. They're seriously the best. 

And just me with a whole bunch of American Flags...haha.

Sister Hill - "Go stand by your boyfriend and I'll take a picture of you! 

This is the only boyfriend you're allowed to have right now. And he's probably the

best one you'll ever have.....cause he's a statue! *laughs*" hahaha. She's so funny. 

We found train tracks ;)

Anddd I like posing....hahaha.

Us and Sister Hill!

Week #30 - 2015 Jun 15 - Onto New Adventures

HOWDY!

Okay. So first thing's first I'm the realest. Bahah just kidding. First thing's first, I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED. President called on Saturday with the news. And it's definitely bittersweet. I'm going to miss Fayetteville and Ft. Bragg like crazy. I have met so many amazing people here and it's going to be so hard to say goodbye. But at the same time, I am ready to move on and see more of North Carolina. I have been here for almost 7 months and that's a long time haha. So it'll be good to get out and see change. :) So that's my exciting news for the week!! :) Oh I'm also gonna be a sister leader again. And my next companion is gonna be someone who came out with Sister Peterson...so I'll still be the senior companion. It'll be good!

So this week! It was good!! Flew by...as per usual. And to be honest as I'm sitting here...I have no idea what even happened. Sooo. I gotta put my thinking cap on. I'm pretty sure my memory is just getting worse and worse the longer I'm out....haha NOT GOOD! Anywho!

I think the only other exciting thing that happened this week was we went on exchanges on Wednesday. So Sister Peterson was able to stay in our area with Sister Barney and I was able to go to Cameron with Sister Skokos. Turns out that there's a military base there too! I was able to meet the Nielson family. And oh my word they're hilarious. Bro Nielson is an MP on base (military police....I'm pretty sure that's what that means...but don't hold me to that one....they're policemen on base though...so yeah.) Anyway, when I told him where I was from and what area I serve in, he was like hmmm, a Canadian serving in a military base...yep definitely a spy. So he went on this tangent of how I'm not even a missionary at all, it's just my cover and that I'm totally a Canadian spy. He's like you're gonna be transferred to Jacksonville next because there's a military base there and then you're gonna come here to Cameron and you're just gonna hit up all the military bases in your mission. Hahahah it was pretty funny. It's a funny story to go by. BUT, people don't worry. I really am a missionary called of the Lord. Don't fret. It's all good. A Canadian spy just sounds awesome ;) 

But yeah! Exchanges went well! Sister Skokos is the bomb dot com. I love her a lot. It was good to be back in Fayetteville with Sister Peterson though. :) I feel blessed to have such a great companion and that we actually get along really well! It's great. I'm gonna miss Sis. Peterson to pieces. She's the best. 

Hmm. Not too much else happened this week. We did a lot of tracting...and got rejected a lot...Actually out of all the doors we knocked (which was a lot...I lost count), only one person wants us to come back...and she was super hesitant about it haha. Gotta LOVE the South!!! Hoorah. But, we still have faith that we'll find who we need to find!! Our district is also great because they have all agreed to help us out. This is how it's gonna go down: There's a Goodbye Zone Conference this Wednesday (it's the Bernhisel's last one...sad face...) and so they have to come to Fayetteville anyway. So! What we're gonna do is give each companionship an area to go tracting in and they're gonna go and see who they can find! There's gonna be 7 companionships (including us) tracting out Fayetteville that day. So we're BOUND to find someone :) Haha. It's gonna be a lot of fun, I think! I feel super blessed to have a district that is willing to do this with us! They're all awesome. 

Anddd that's all I have for y'all this week! I hope you all had a great week and I hope you have the best week ever until the next! I love you all so much! Remember the church is true and God is good. And do all the missionary work that you can! Share the gospel with everyone! We have such a great knowledge that the Lord's church has been restored and we need to share that with as many people as the Lord puts in our path. So...everyone ha ;) I promise you that it will be worth it! And as you share your testimony, your testimony grows exponentially. It's a win win situation ;) Just do it! 

Keep smiling. I love y'all.

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

Sister Blumel

Temple cookies that the Ft. Bragg ward
mission leader's wife made for us

Sisters Blumel & Peterson with the Horn Family

Sister Blumel in her room

We made cakes with one of the less actives in Fay 3.
And she helped us decorate them.....well there was like
 a 2inch thick layer of icing all around the cake it was sorta
disgusting hahaha. So I took all the icing and put it on top
 of the cake....andddd it looked like a cupcake bahaha.

Week #29 - 2015 Jun 08 - Opposition In ALL Things

Heyya! 

So this week was one of the more rougher weeks on the mission. (Is rougher even a word? Ha...I don't even know. Hopefully that makes sense....) It was slower than last week and no one seems like they want to hear from us. It's fantastic! Ha not!!! 

To follow up with my report last week. We were able to stop by Irma and Rachel again (the ones we gave cookies to last week). We had a good convo with Irma and I just straight up asked her if she would be interested in learning more about what we're all about and she very stubbornly said, no. I'm happy with my church. And I'm like I'm so glad that you are! We're just asking if you want to further your knowledge about God. Anddd then she started talking about men or something I can't even remember. But this woman, who is EIGHTY ONE years old talks about men ALL THE TIME. Oh my goodness. She's like, most of my neighbors are men, and they always talk to me. And all the ladies around here are jealous of me. And then she gives this smug smile hahaha what the...? Basically we tried our best to steer the conversation to gospel related things, but she would always turn it away to the most random things. So yeah. I don't see a whole lot of potential there.... But yeah. We bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and told her the promised blessings that it brings. So we did what we could and now the ball is in her court. She has our number and we made it very clear that if she wants to learn more she has to call us. 

And then! We stopped by Rachel's (the 82 year old woman) and we didn't get to talk to her at all. She ran away from us. And by running away I mean she slowly walked away because she can't walk very good...but we didn't think it would be a good activity if we chased after her.....we respected her agency. And plus. She was with her daughter or some other woman and that woman was like, "Rachel doesn't want to talk today." And we're like alright we'll come back another day! And they're like yeah, whatever. Hahaha so that was fun....I don't know if there's any potential there either. 

We did have a great lesson with one of the inactive sisters in Ft. Bragg though! We were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation and she was like, wow! I don't remember being taught this at all! (She was baptized a few years ago and she says that she doesn't think that she was in the right place to be baptized and she doesn't remember anything that she was taught.) And she kept saying over and over again how this plan brought so much peace to her mind. She's like it's so full of hope! How can you not believe this?! And then she's like, do you teach people this? The people you meet on the streets....do you go over this with them?! And we're like yeah we do! And she's like wow, how can you learn about this and not choose to believe it? This is the perfect plan! And it is so full of hope and love and everything. And she's so right! The Lord's plan of happiness is truly full of His love. The Plan of Salvation is definitely my favourite lesson that we get to teach people :) There's always a special spirit that comes with it. It's the best. 

That's about all that happened this week. OH WAIT. Yesterday in testimony meeting in the Fayetteville 3rd ward, Sister Hill (she's a military relations missionary with her husband here) called them all to repentance about not doing member missionary work. And then we got a couple referrals out of it. So thank you Sister Hill! Haha it was such a bold testimony, but it got the people listening! So maybe we'll actually have people to teach soon :) 

We have a great week ahead of us. Lots planned and lots of work to do. So hopefully we see a lot more success this week. I just gotta remember that without the tough weeks, we wouldn't appreciate the great weeks as fully! So all is well. Life goes on and the work is continuing to hasten! 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Take Care!!

Much Love,

Sister Amy Blumel

xoxoxo <3

HOLD UP!

I totally forgot to mention this!......

MERCEDES GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! 

Do y'all remember her? We were teaching her and she was the super golden investigator that we had and then we had to pass her on to the other sisters? She's always smiling and she recognized the spirit super early and all of that? Anywho...if you don't remember her, go back to like February/March-ish and you'll remember her haha I'm pretty sure I talked about her a lot. Cause she was just so great! Haha. But yes. I do remember saying that "I know she's getting baptized...it's just a matter of when" AND SATURDAY WAS THE WHEN! And her daughter, Marisol got baptized too! Yeah! And because she's still "technically" in our area (we're over the YSA which covers 2 stakes....so it's practically impossible to go out of our area) we were able to go! It was awesome!! :D 

So yeah. That was my exciting moment of the week! I love Mercedes so much and she was just shining so bright that day :) Ahh I love this gospel <3

Mercedes, Sister Blumel, Marisol (Mercedes daughter)

Andi, Mercedes, Sister Blumel, Marisol

Sister Peterson, Mercedes, Marisol, Sister Blumel

Week #28 - 2015 Jun 01 - Tough Cookie

Hey one! Hey all!

HOLD THE PHONE. IT'S MY 6 MONTH MARK TODAY! I'VE BEEN IN NORTH CAROLINA, OUT IN THE FIELD, FOR 6 MONTHS!!! Whattttt?! I have no idea where the time is going...but it's flying somewhere! Wowza. That's crazy. 

Anywho.

This week was pretty good. It was a slower week. But that's just because Sister Peterson was not feeling good AT ALL. Seriously...she was in the bathroom for majority of the week. Ahh not good. But we worked when we could! I also didn't want to push her too hard....but I probably did haha. Whoops. She's been sick for a week, has gotten 2 priesthood blessings and she still isn't feeling that great....so prayers would be wonderful for her :) 

A big thing that happened this week though was right after district meeting on Wednesday. We (Sister Peterson and I) both received some revelation for our area and after much pondering and prayer, we decided that we were going to wipe our investigator board. We thought about it and none of our investigators are progressing. And we need to be spending our time looking for the people that are ready to hear the gospel and WILL progress. So we decided that in order to make time for that we needed to stop focusing on the investigators that we were working with and start fresh. So that's exactly what we did! We took our whiteboard cloth and literally wiped our investigator board clean. This week is dedicated to finding the elect. We're excited to get to work and find those people that WANT to come closer to Christ :) So if y'all want to pray for the people in our area and that we'll be able to find those that are ready to hear the gospel as well that would be wonderful! Thank you!

We made cookies with Sister Horn to give to less active people in Ft. Bragg and Fayetteville 3. And right quick before I go on, these cookies are the best cookies in the world. The recipe is called "Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies" and it's not lying. They are literally perfect. Like too legit to quit. PERFECT. I'll send you the recipe one of these days and y'all will have to try it out! SO GOOD. Okay anyway, we delivered first to Fay 3 and let me tell you. We had 5 bags of cookies to give to 5 different families. Well, we only gave 2 bags of cookies to the families that they were intended for. The rest went to people we just met. No one answered their door and we would always find someone outside as we turned around and were walking to our car. So instead of going straight to the car and driving away, we went and talked to the ladies that we saw. We met an 82 year old lady, an 81 year old lady, and a 74 year old lady! (All at different times) It was so much fun getting to know them and talking to them! I just love old ladies aha they're just so sweet and funny and they have the best stories! I love it :) So we could potentially have 2 new investigators this week! The 74 year old is a strong baptist lady....so it'll take some time to soften her heart towards the church. But one day!! :) The other 2 ladies told us they would love for us to come back :) So that was awesome! 

Like I said, it's been a slower week so I don't have a whole lot to report on! I hope you all had a wonderful week and I hope this next one is even better :) Always remember that I love you to pieces, but God loves you even more!! 

Love and miss you all. Take care! And keep smiling!

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxox <3

Sisters Blumel & Peterson with Lyssa
She is waiting for her mission call! 

Sisters Blumel & Peterson with Lyssa She is just wonderful. She's in Utah for the summer working :) 

Sisters Blumel & Peterson with LyssaWe made the skirts that we're wearing in the picture with her! Fun stuff!

Sister Blumel - before haircut

Sister Blumel - after haircut

Week #27 - 2015 May 25 - Walk of Salvation - Saving SOULS and Ruining SOLES at the same time.

Hey y'all! 

This week was pretty good! I just love being a missionary!

On Tuesday was transfer day and 2 of the elders in our district went home. Turns out that the Fayetteville 3rd elders are being taken out and the Ft. Bragg elders are covering all 3 units just like us. So they combined the area for the elders as well. That being said, the Fayetteville 3 elders had to drive a car up to transfer meeting. They knew our car smelled like dead cats (a sister spilled milk in it like 8 months ago and never cleaned it up) and so they 're like hey, we were thinking and we are going to switch you cars. That way we can take the smelly car away and you can have the nice car. (They had a 2015 Toyota Corolla.. ours was a 2012) And we were like alright sounds good! So we spent last Monday vacuuming out the car. And then on Tuesday we made the switch! So they took the gross car and we got their car! And oh my goodness. It's the nicest thing ever. I have come to the realization that I probably won't drive a car this nice ever again hahaha. I find it kinda hilarious that the nicest car I've driven and probably will ever drive is on the mission. Haha! But I love it! I love driving it!! It's a nice ride. :D 

Also! On Tuesday we scheduled in a "Walk of Salvation: Saving Souls One Step at a Time". (Sister Peterson laughed when I called it that when I scheduled it in...ha). So what we did was, we parked the car in a parking lot and then we filled our bags with copies of the Book of Mormon, a couple copies of the Bible, some pamphlets, pass along cards, you know, just the works. And then we just started walking. And before we started we committed ourselves to talk to as many people and the Lord put in our path. And that's exactly what we did! So we went street contacting for a couple hours! We were walking for quite a while and no one seemed to be out that day. Mind you it was super hot and humid that day... not exactly a perfect walking day. Haha but we talked to a couple people and shared with them the Book of Mormon and invited them to church. And then we turned into a neighborhood and started tracting. The only one who answered their door that day was this old lady who hid behind her door. We knocked and then the door opened, but no one was there...so we're like hello? And then the top of her head pops out from behind the door and we can only see her eyes. And we tell her who we are and what we do and she's like no. no. no. I'm not interested. Least we think that's what she said. And then she proceeded to shut the door. So we're like alright....and then we put a Book of Mormon in her mailbox just in case she changed her mind ;) hahaha. Other than that, no one answered their door so we just put a lot of copies of the Book of Mormon in their mailboxes! We put our card in them, so they have our number if they want to learn more. After about an hour and a half of this walking deal, I'm like well we have dinner soon, we should probably start heading back. Well....it turns out we walked A LOT further than I thought we did and we were like a 45 minute walk away from the car. HA! Whoops. And it was on the walk back that I realized that I was getting some pretty intense blisters. So I look down and it like covers my entire back of my foot...So I'm like. Well this is convenient...NOT. Haha. So I'm walking like a gimp because it literally burns every time I take a step and it feels like there are knives attached to the back of my shoes just cutting across the back of my foot. Ahh not one of my proudest moments. They were my black flats and I thought I broke them in forever ago...but I guess not! So we finally made it back to the car and I turned it on and blasted the A/C took my shoes off, I was like tap out! I'm driving bare foot! Haha. And so I threw everything in the back of the car and then I look behind me and there's this man. He's like hey, do you have a quarter? (Haha he was probably like who are these crazy people in skirts and why is that one not wearing shoes?) Anywho, we said we did so Sister Peterson scavenged for one in the car. And while she was doing that I was making small talk with him. He asked if we knew where the church was in this parking lot and we were like hmm, we haven't seen a church here. Do you know what it's called? And he's like no, a lady just told me I would find it in this parking lot. And then I was like I'm not sure where that church is, but! The church we go to is just down the road! And  he's like really? I might have to come with you all one day. And I was like yes! Please do! And I was holding a Book of Mormon in my hand (I don't even remember why...) so I kinda look down at it and I'm like Hey! Have you heard of the Book of Mormon before? And he's like no I haven't! So Sister Peterson comes over and we explain what it is and we give it to him and he's like wow. This is such a blessing. My wife has been telling me for the past week to change and that I should go to a church to become better and then I meet you all in this parking lot and you give me another Bible. Wow. I can't thank you enough. And then he asked about our church services and what time they're at and all that. IT WAS SUPER AWESOME! 

Goes to show that even when you are having a hard time, even when no one will answer their door, even when you feel like you aren't accomplishing anything, the Lord will bless you. We spent the last 2 hours trying to talk to people but no one was interested and then the second we were ready to leave, this man comes up to talk to us. 

He may not have found the church in the parking lot, but he found us and I don't think that was a coincidence. When we were leaving, I said, well I hope you find the church you're looking for! And then I was just overwhelmed with the spirit and I was like, whoa. That's our church. Our church is the church that people are searching and searching for. And it's up to us as members to help them find it. So after that I made sure that he had our number and he told us he would call us so we could find him a ride to get to church. I wish we would have gotten his contact information, but it all happened so fast. I just really hope that he gets in contact with us. We're praying for him and that we'll get to see him again! 

Neat experience.

Oh yeah, sidenote when we got in the car the temp said it was 100 degrees out. And it's ONLY MAY. Ahh hahaha this summer is gonna be greeeeat. Ha ha ha *nervous laughter..* I'm gonna die....hahah. I'm excited though. I've loved the weather and I LOVE the humidity so far, so hopefully it stays that way! 

The rest of the week was pretty good. We had to go to Sanford (which is like 45 minutes away) on Thursday because we had interviews with President. That was good. I love the Bernhisel's and me and President had a really good chat about testimony and conversion. We agreed that testimony is what you know and what you believe and conversion is a change of heart and what you do because of what you know. It's that constant progression and desire to be better. It was good :) Oh also, we have to go to Sanford every week now because we're apart of the Sanford district now that the Fay 3 elders got taken out. So yay. We have to travel 45 minutes to Sanford and back every Wednesday! hoorah...haha. I miss our old district. But change is good :) 

On Saturday, our investigator Clara got baptized! I haven't really talked about her a whole lot. She turned 10 on Saturday as well. Her dad is a member and they've been on the less active side for a while (now they're completely active) but Clara said she wanted to be baptized so her dad got in contact with the elders and the elders got in contact with us about teaching her. So we started teaching her a couple months ago. She knows all about the gospel and we pretty much just had to teach her because she's older than 8. Ha but the lessons went well and she knows more about the gospel than we do...seriously haha she's a genius and she remembers everything. I love her so much :) she's a cutie. But yeah! She got baptized on Saturday and it was such a happy day!! Loved it! :D I just love baptisms. <3

Anywho, that's all I got for ya this week!! I hope you all had a great week and saw the hand of the Lord in your life :) I love you all!! The church is true and God is good!! 

Have an ah-mazing week. Take care!

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

 xoxoxo <3

Clara and her Dad

Sister Blumel and Clara

Sister Peterson, Clara and Sister Blumel

Week #26 - 2015 May 18 - Ready or not!

Hey!

So I think I'm gonna try and make up cool subject lines for my emails every week. The subject line "hey" or "heyyyyy" or "heya!" is getting kinda old. You can only say hey in so many ways before it gets obnoxious....hahaha. 

Quick story behind the subject line. Sister Peterson and I were having one of our ridiculous conversations that we have where it's not real life and we're just kinda making fun of a situation that either happened or something that we made up. So we were talking about knocking on doors and tracking down less active/inactive people on the ward rosters and after a bit Sister Peterson was like yeah it'll be all like "ready or not! Here we come! And then we'll just walk into their house." bahahah. It was pretty funny. As ridiculous as the conversation was, it's true! That's like the missionary motto! "Ready or not! Here we come!" Hahaha. It's always nice when they are ready....but you know...we'll work with what we get ;) Okayyy enough sillyness. (Is that even a word? Ah who knows.)

This week was great! Alright. So I'm not really sure where it went or what specifically happened because it like flew by. Seriously. I literally just emailed y'all yesterday. Am I wrong? Okay so it has been a week. I'm gonna try and rack my brain and pull out some memories of what happened. 

What comes to mind almost immediately is we went tracting!!!! It was mine AND Sister Peterson's first time knocking doors! It was SO MUCH FUN! AHH. Okay so we didn't have anything planned on Saturday except for like some stop bys. And so we were like hey, if she isn't home, we should totally tract the area. SO WE DID! Haha. So this lady was having a nap. Her daughter (who is not a member) was outside and we talked to her briefly and shared a message out of the Book of Mormon with her and then we left her with a prayer and dropped some stuff off in the car and started on our door-to-door adventure! The first like 7 houses nobody answered the door. Out of like the 15 houses that we knocked (which doesn't seem like a lot....but it felt like a ton....and it was super hot and humid and we were super sweaty and gross haha) only 2 people answered their door. The first one who answered the door was this black man who looked like he was around 50 years old. We told him who we are and what we do and he was starting to shut the door and we were like no. He is not slamming the door in our faces. This is our first door contact! haha so we just continued talking to him so he felt like he had to keep the door open. We asked if he believed in Jesus and he said yes. We asked if he read the bible and he said no. We asked if he believed the bible to be the word of God and he said yes. And then he went on to say that he stopped reading it when he was a teenager. We then asked if he would like a copy of the Book of Mormon (after explaining what it was) and he said it would be a waste if we gave it to him because it would just collect dust cause he would never read it. We told him that would be okay and he's totally welcome to take it. We also mentioned that it's free. He wasn't taking it. So we tried the whole, you can give it to someone else approach and we asked about his family. And he wasn't biting that one either. And then we simply asked if he would like a picture of Jesus Christ and he said no. And then he was like, I don't want to shut the door in your face, but I'm going to go back to sleep. (mind you it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday) And so we're like, oh alright! have a great day sir! And then he shut the door before we could say anything else....hahhah. We were so confused after this one because he was like yes I believe in Jesus Christ but I don't want to talk about him and I don't want to read his words or his teachings....or even look at his picture. Some people! Haha it's okay! Maybe he's just not ready yet. Another time :) 

And then! The second and last one to answer the door was this lady named Virginia Green. She was also black and also older and she scared the bajeebies out of me haha. I knocked on the door and there wasn't an answer for a little bit so I go to knock again and all I get in was 1 knock and then all of a sudden the door swings open and this face just appears. Hahaha. So I'm like ooh! Hi! And then Sister Peterson does her thing (I let her take the lead on this one haha) and she did wonderful!! This lady, Virginia, is a strong baptist lady. She was like now before y'all get ahead of yourselves, just remember this - we believe in the same God and we believe in the same things as you all do. And we were like yes! You're right! We just want to add upon the knowledge that you already have! And then we talked about the Book of Mormon. First she didn't want anything to do with it. She was like, I already have too much Bible! And it all says the same things anyway! But after we explained it more and talked about it a little more she was like oh alright, I'll take it. And we had a picture of the Savior in it (the classic one where he's in the red robe) and she was like, Oh! That's the same picture I have! I just love Christ. And we were like yes! We do too! And then she was like, well I have to be somewhere in like 5 minutes. So we were like, thanks for talking with us! And if you have any questions, our number is in there (pointing to the  Book of Mormon) and she's like alright. We tell her to have a good day as well and she shuts her door. AND THEN! We hear the door fly open again and she's bolts out of her house and she's like, YOU LADIES BETTER COME BACK! I want to see y'all again! And then she was telling us how she's leaving for vacation in June and we have to come back before then. And she was telling us about her friend who lives a couple doors down and she was like, she's my best friend! I'll have her over when you come back as well! And we're like yes! That sounds perfect! We'll definitely be back!!! :D It was awesome. She's a sweetheart. Oh yeah. Fun facts - she wasn't wearing a shirt. She had a like a towel that was only staying on because she had her arm across her chest. Hahaha sooo her back and everything were completely exposed hahah it was interesting....haha. BUT anywho. She was a very sweet lady and I can't wait to go back and talk to her some more. 

Oh! She was also saying how we have a very important job because we work under the power of a very important man - and that's God. And how we have to live up to that standard because of how important it is to be doing HIS work. It was a good reminder. It made my heart happy to hear that :) 

Let's see. We also had stake conference this weekend. And during the Saturday evening session for the adults, Ft. Bragg had to do a 15 minute demonstration of a ward council. It was interesting! Haha and the Ft. Bragg bishopric and the entire ward council wanted the full-time missionaries to be apart of it as well. So we had to participate! Which was totally fun. Anywho, we had to sit up in the stands the entire stake conference haha. It was good though. Everyone commented on how great that demonstration was. So  that's a good sign. Ft. Bragg is just amazing. That ward is super strong and such an inspiration. I love serving here. 

Stake conference was super uplifting and great and inspired! You know, as per usual!

Other than that, our week was good! We taught lots of lessons and felt the spirit and life is good! I honestly can't complain!! Everything is great :) 

I hope you all had a great week too!! I love you and miss you! Take care!!

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo

PS - Update on the squirrel prank. Okay. So the elders got us back. They stepped up their game and crossed the line.....Dad you totally saw it coming...haha. Anywho. So on Wednesdays we have District Meeting. And so on Wednesday we were getting ready to leave and I open the door and I look down and I don't know how to react. I feel like every emotion at once and then I just white girled it and was like "Sister Peterson, I can't even right now." And shut the door. And she's all confused and I'm like nope. I can't. And so she opens the door and she's like oh man. The elders put a dead kitten on our doorstep ALONG with the package we sent them with a note over it saying "return to sender". It was heartbreaking. GAHH. Seriously. I was like emotionally disturbed...I figured that was the best way to put that. But Sister Peterson being the great companion that she is, just kinda put the cat aside and we went on our way. 

So we get to district meeting and the elders see us and they have that look on their faces....(they aren't good at hiding anything)....and we decided we wouldn't give them that satisfaction. So we just walked right past them and we're like good morning! And looked at them weird for giving us weird looks. Haha. And long story short, they kept asking if there was anything on our doorstep and we were like what are you talking about? haha andddd we lasted all of district meeting and finally when we were outside getting in our vehicles we fessed up and I was like yes, we saw the dead cat. Thanks for that. Haha and they looked all smug. But then they told us that the landlord saw them do it and they called Sister Scott, who's in charge of mission housing and she got all mad at the elders and told them that they had to clean it up. So bam. Their prank didn't go as smoothly as ours did ;) so we still win ;) haahaha. but still. A kitten?! Really?! And they know I love cats....that's why they said they did it. Bah. They're dumb heads. Hahah. Jks. They're fun. It's all for fun. :) But yeah! Gotta love it.

So sorry....but I saw it and had to take a picture because not gonna lie...they got us
back pretty good. Andd I saw it, so y'all get to see it too. Ha. But yeah....poor thing.

Me and Sister Arave! She's going home this week....but
she was in my district for the past couple months :)

And me and Sister Skokos! Hahah I just love her.

I saw Sister Ibarra this week at stake conference!!!! :D
(She's getting transferred though...so we won't be in the same zone anymore...sad face.)

And we found a cat this morning...so obviously I had to take cat selfies..... duh.

I also preached to gospel to this cat...you know just fulfilling my
missionary duties of preaching the gospel to every creature ;)

Week #25 - 2015 May 11 - Hellooooo!

Family! Hey!

So this week was great. And it ended off PERFECTLY when I had the chance to SKYPE with you all!! Wowza. There is never enough time to talk with you all. And I wish I could have taken 40 minutes (AT LEAST) with all of you individually as opposed to just 40 minutes for all of you. HOWEVA! I am so super duper grateful for the time that I did have to talk to all of you. As always, I wanted to say so much more (and I'm sure this goes both ways), but my mind totally froze when I saw you all and I didn't have a clue where to even start! But I just hope that you felt of my love in that brief call :) There are just no words to express how much I love each and every one of you! And I miss you all like flippin crazy. BUT! I know we're all where we're supposed to be so all is well! :D

On Tuesday, we went up to Raleigh for the 1st Transfer Training meeting. It's a meeting where all the trainees and trainers go to during their first transfer. (I talked about it when I was a trainee haha. But now the tables are turned and this time I was the trainer ;)!!) It was a really inspired meeting. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and how it's flooding the earth. And how that's been prophesied in the Book of Mormon and now it's coming to pass. It's really neat to see how prophecies in the scriptures are being fulfilled in these days. It's a huge testimony builder in my books :) And then we also talked about the importance of 'pre-heating' our investigators for baptism. We're supposed to warm them up for the baptism invite from the time that we make the first initial contact. So we did a couple role plays that helped us mention baptism in all the points of the Restoration. It was great! Definitely something we can apply more in our actual teaching. It really fulfills our purpose as missionaries because our how point in being out here is to invite people to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel. And part of that is being baptized into the church. So if we don't mention baptism at all in the first few lessons, then when we do ask the people to be baptized, they will most likely be caught a little off guard. AND! If we don't have intentions to help get this person baptized, then what's the point of teaching them? Haha. It sounds harsh! But seriously. We're here serving the Lord to bring as many souls as we can back to Him. And like I said before, part of that is helping them unlock the gate through baptism. So! Through all of that rambling - which I hope made sense...- inviting the investigator to be baptized during the first lesson is super important! Even if they say no, at least you established expectations and they will know what your purpose is. 

But yeah, overall the meeting was fantastic. I loved it. I love missionary meetings, they are always so chalk full of amazing things that you always go out of those meetings with such determination and a spiritual high that you believe that you can do anything. And you can with the Lord's help! So it works out. 

I was also able to see Sister Hesen. I came out with her and she's training as well! So it was really fun to see her and catch up with her. She's doing great!!! :) It's fun to see people that were in the MTC with you...and see how much they've grown. The mission does wonders at changing people for the better!! :) It's so great!

On Wednesday, we had zone training and it was also super good. Lots of inspiration and revelation. Like I said, missionary meetings are so great. The Spirit is always super strong. We talked a lot about bearing your testimony frequently and helping people come closer to Christ with your love of the Savior. When they see how much you love Him and His gospel, they will begin to be curious and want to find out for themselves what you believe in. It was good. The Sister Leaders gave a teaching on Family History. And man oh man, I really wish I would have gotten into that before the mission because now I'm learning how great it really is! Ah well, I'll have to do that after the mission for sure. Family History is an amazing missionary tool! Use it!! :D 

We had exchanges on Wednesday (until Thursday morning). So that was good. Haha nothing really to report there. I was able to go with Sister Heninger and she's an inspiration to say the least. She says a lot of really profound things. So I felt honoured to be on exchange with her and hear her wisdom about life and the gospel. It was a good time! 

OH BEFORE I FORGET! 

UPDATE ON THE SQUIRREL SITUATION. 

So like I said last week (I believe...if not then I'm sorry for assuming things hahaha), the squirrel was residing in our freezer. Well! We decided it was there for far too long without paying rent or anything so we had to kick it out. So this is what we did. We got a small flat rate box from the post office a little while ago, so we used that. We made the box all nice and then we put the squirrel in it. And that's what the squirrel was in, in the freezer...so at least it was in a box. Haha. But on Saturday morning we got a new box and we decorated it a lot better. AND! Sister Peterson got a package, so we took the stickers (the ones saying that the package was paid for and the tracking bar code) and put it on this box. And then we also have a letter for another sister that came in the mail and she's from California. Sooo this letter was from Cali and Elder Wolf is from Cali. So we're like perfect. We'll just address it to Elder Wolf and use this California address as the return address. Hahaha. So that's exactly what we did. We also put a napkin that said "Bon Appetite" on it with a plastic fork in it also. AND SO! On Saturday around the time that the mail comes, we drive down to the Elders apartment and place this great package on their doorstep. And then we drove off. Later on we found out through a member (Sister Montanez...we're like BFFs with her) that the Elders got the package and they freaked out, but they don't want to give us the satisfaction of knowing that they got it. Hahaha so she told us that apparently, Elder Wolf was all excited about this package that he got and then he opened it and he was like "ahh." and threw it on the ground (it's not everyday that you get a dead squirrel in the mail...hehehe) and then he was freaked out. And said that they deserved it. Hahaha so we done good. Power of the skirt!!! Hahah we have all the best pranks. But! We should be done for a while. We had our fun for the next few months. Now we'll be nice to them I guess. Haha. But still! Super funny story! Hopefully that all made sense....I'm kinda just rambling and throwing words together. Haha. So! Yeah that was our fun for the week! Hahaha. 

And then it was Mother's Day! And that was like the best day ever! :D I hope you had a great mother's day mama bear! You deserve only the best of the best. <3 <3 <3 I LOVE YOU MOM! 

I hope you all had a wonderful week! Like always, remember that I love you all like mad :) <3

Keep on keepin on!

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo

PS. For Mother's Day, I wanted to give back to Sister Horn and Sister Borabora because they do so much for us. And I just love them to pieces. So we bought them flowers and put them in little mason jars and wrote them nice notes :) We delivered them on Saturday evening. And it made their day.
Sister Horn said she wasn't in the best mood and then we came over and surprised her with flowers and notes and totally made her night. 

Sister Borabora said this is a rough time of the year for her, just because of things that have happened in the past. And we knew about what happened but we didn't know when it happened. So we had no idea...I just had the thought to give her flowers too. And she said that our flowers, notes, and visit were exactly what she needed that night :) 

Ahhh I love the way the spirit works :) Especially in little moments like these. It just makes me so happy :)

Best Family Ever!!!

And yessss. . . . we are CRAZY!!!!

Flowers for  Sister Horn and Sister Borabora