Friends and family,

     Hello!  I don't have much time today but I just wanted to tell you all that I was driving the other day and almost hit a deer.. luckily I was not driving very fast and was paying attention so I was able to stop just a couple feet before it.  That was the first of about 5 that we saw on that car ride so that was very thrilling!  My companion is wonderful and I am learning so much from her!  She asks so many questions and I love it because it makes me think more and question things which has helped my testimony grow so much.  I want you all to know that I love this gospel so incredibly much.  I have taken advantage of so many aspects of it and have not realized how blessed I have been to have it be a part of my life.  It can literally help any pain or sorrow that we have in our life and is the only way for us to experience true happiness and a fullness of joy.  Never hesitate to share the sweet goodness that comes from it to anyone! I love you alllll, have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Paul xoxo

Friends and family;

     So if you're wondering we did go hiking last week. The elders just started driving up this mountain and so I followed and I could not figure out how they were going so fast and not getting stuck in all the dips because we got stuck like 5 times.. Turns out there's a cool thing called four wheel drive that helps with those situations. Hahaha.  So now whenever we go jeep life off roading I am pro, I just need to figure out how to drive when it starts snowing because there are all kinds of steep hills.  So yes that will be interesting lol.

     This week my testimony was strengthened of the Plan of Salvation- it has always been one of my favorite aspects of the gospel, but I have gained such a strong appreciation of it after introducing it to investigators for the first time.  We taught it to one of our investigators a couple days ago- she's from New Zealand and is progressing so well, we hope to set a baptismal date with her today!  Anyways. when we taught her the Plan of Salvation she was in such awe, she kept saying how it made so much sense and she even got emotional when we talked about the Atonement.  

     We have another investigator that we've been working a lot with who I love with my whole heart.  She just came from an abusive relationship and has close to nothing, but her boyfriend is in jail and so she's taking this opportunity to turn her life around and start fresh.  It has been so amazing to see her transformation- she has been caught up in a lot of bad things and addictions and this last week we've been trying to help her through and we introduced repentance.  The next time we saw her she was like a completely different person!  She told us that the night before she had broken down to Heavenly Father and asked for forgiveness, and the next day she felt so much better- she got up and got ready and wasn't tempted to go straight to drugs.  She took the day to clean her house and focus on her little boy.  Simple things that have been so hard for her to do and that we take for granted I think. 

     The Plan of Salvation and the Atonement are so real.  They make perfect sense and are the key to us feeling pure joy here on earth, I am so grateful for the knowledge that I can be forgiven and progress forward everyday if I put the effort in and trust in the Lord.  I love this gospel and I love all of you!  Thanks for the support- let me know if there's anything I can do for any of you!!

Love,

Sister Paul

this is my cute friend from the MTC Sis Anderson and a pic from our hiking adventure

Friends and family,

     General Conference was so gooooddd! I have like 5 billion things to talk about and so little time but I still love being a missionary!  I picked up my new companion fresh out of the MTC and she is wonderfull!  Her name is Sister Landgrave and she is from Colorado- I was pretty nervous to see who I would be training but she is so awesome.  She's here for the right reasons and she has such a strong desire to work, I've been learning so much from her it's like she's already been a missionary for a while!  

     All week we have been preparing for and talking to people about General Conference.  It was a miracle because one of our investigators who we haven't been able to meet with in a while contacted us and we were able to meet, we promised her that if she watched General Conference and went in with a question, that she would receive an answer from the words of feelings that she had while watching.  Last night we got a text from here that said: "Wow. Today was intense! Listened to five brief speeches in about an hour and that was enough.  Russell Nelson (if I remember his name right) seemed to be speaking directly to me.  See you Saturday, have a great week!"  Isn't that so cool??  The power of the prophet and his apostles is so strong, I wrote down like 10 questions and names and received answers to every single one of them. There's too much that I loved but I wanted to share a few things that stood out to me the most:

1.  The importance of keeping the sabbath day holy and delighting in it

2.  The Lord needs disciples of Christ now more than ever as we are constantly being attacked by the adversary.  We must always hold on to the iron rod and never allow ourselves to let go!

3.  Ponderizing a scripture each week.. do it!

4.  We must always be growing in the gospel, so it is so important for us to be asking our Heavenly Father what we need to change in order to progress- "What lack I yet?"

     I am so grateful for a modern day prophet and his teachings, I felt the spirit testify to me so strongly of his power and authority as he was speaking.  I hope that you all were able to watch and feel that for yourself- if not, please go back and read/watch each session!  Thank you for all that you do and let me know if there's anything I can do for any of you!  Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Paul xoxoxo

P.S. I finally got my zone to go hiking with me so even though its been raining we are going hiking in a little bit YAY and then after we are going to get ice cream cones and flu shots WOOOOO