Hello family and friends. :)

I hope that you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!!  We did a brunch with a bunch of missionaries, played volleyball and then decided to be smart with our stomach and only go to one thanksgiving dinner.  It was with our branch president and his HUGE family so it was a ton of fun.  I have gained a love for basketball since we've been playing it a lot here.  Still pretty bad at it and id probably rather be dancing but I love it a lot and I won 2nd place playing arcade basketball with the family we ate with for thanksgiving.  woot woot, moving up in the world of sports!

I love Elko. :)

Our recent converts are doing so good- better even!!   I'm so grateful for the eternal perspective that we have as members of the church- its cool to see that as we bring up future families to these YSA members, their sense of urgency for keeping the commandments and doing what they're supposed to increases.  I'm so excited for them to get married in the temple and have cute little eternal families :)
It is snowing here.......................  I've been privileged to be the designated driver both winters on my mission when it has started to snow.  Pray for me :')

Sheldon- one of our newer investigators is doing so awesome!!  He got a job this last week and so he's been super busy, but he has noticed a difference in his life when he hasn't made time for things like reading the Book of Mormon.  We had an AWESOME lesson yesterday and I have to just tell you about the following up that occurred.  I am just going to type out how the conversation went and then you can picture it in your head and be happy.

Sisters: "Sheldon, what is your belief on if Joseph Smith is a prophet of God?"
Sheldon: "Well if he was a prophet, then God is still leading the same church today that was here when Christ was on the earth."
Sisters:  "Do you believe he was a prophet?"
Sheldon: "Yes."
Sisters: "Then what does that mean about the Book of Mormon?"
Sheldon: "That it is the word of God."

CRISP- yes.  The spirit was so strong and our member presents (recently returned missionaries) got super excited and we did a little dance or two after the lesson.  IM SO GRATEFUL FOR THE SPIRIT AND THE WITNESS IT BRINGS OF THE TRUTHFULNESS OF THESE THINGS.

I hope all of you have heard about the new Christmas initiative for this year- if not, go to lds.org right now and watch the video.  We are so excited to invite everyone to participate in the 25 days of service and to #lighttheworld with Jesus Christ this holiday season.  He lives. :)

I hope you have a wonderful week, let me know if theres anything I can do for any of you!!

Sister Paul xoxo

P.S.  Send me your address if you would like to receive Sister Light and I's christmas card. Haha!  Also send me your christmas cards pleeaassee. :)

3356 Bell Ave
Elko, NV 89801

1. Weekly Sunday Picture..... featuring a sticky note on my dress

2. Coming Soon to Elko- rolled ice cream :))

3. Our phone freezes often and it's awesome

4. My companion really loves to take pictures always

Hello family and friends. :)

     Happy thanksgiving this week!!  I am so thankful to have been born into a family that was active in Christ's gospel.  I am thankful to have had the experiences that I have that have brought me to know that the the Book of Mormon is true, that we are being led by a prophet today and that Jesus Christ's church has been restored to the earth today.  I am thankful for the opportunity to wear Christ's name on my chest at this time and I love Him very much.

     This week was way fun.  Our mission president and his wife were here last Monday so we convinced President Chesnut to take a p-day and the picked us up to go on a hike!!  Nevada and my mission president and his wife and hiking are my favorite things so it was the best ever.  Also super grateful for that because later on in the week it started snowing..... sos.  It's okay though-  I am adjusting and really learning to layer and have been praying a lot for understanding on the cold weather. :)  life is good.

     Quote of the week by Tevin to a member of the branch:  "I just want to compliment you on your outfit- you have the comb over of a cowboy, the tie of a jamba juice worker and the hiking boots of a single mom,".

     Funny story... we crashed a date this week.  We cover a lot of little places with a lof of dirt roads and unseen addresses, so we had planned this week to go with one of the branch members around Ryndon to visit all the YSA aged people that lived there.  He's a guy so we needed another girl to come and as we started driving around we found out that this guy and the girl that came were actually on their first date and coming around with the missionaries was the first part of it! Never thought that would happen on a mission, but hey!  We got to meet some cool new people and had an awesome lesson with them and a recent convert we haven't seen in a while. :) #ysaprobs

     We had zone conference this week and we talked a lot about the sacrament.  This is something I have been thinking about a ton lately and that we have really been trying to help our recent converts understand.  I'm so grateful for that time that we have to really remember our Savior Jesus Christ as we partake of the bread and water and renew the covenants that we made at baptism.  I have been trying to apply the counsel given at general conference by preparing for the sacrament, paying attention to the words in the hymns, and focusing on the words of the prayers.  It really does make a difference in the experience.  Isn't it amazing that given all Savior went through when He suffered in the garden of gethsemane and died in calvary, He doesn't ask us to do the same?  He simply asks us to live worthily to partake of the sacrament and to remember Him each week as we do so.  I invite all of you to evaluate your sacrament experience this last week and ponder how you can better it for the next.

     I hope that you all have a wonderful thanksgiving this week!! We have been invited to 4 dinners, so...... yikes.  It will be great!! I love you all and hope you are doing well.  Let me know if there's anything I can do for you!

Love,

Sister Paul xoxo

1. how i feel about the snow

2. high school reunion with elder miner and elder judd

3. weekly sunday pic with our cute room

Hello family and friends :)

     I have been studying a lot about hope this week and it has been great- I have came to realize that the natural man has no hope, but we who know Jesus Christ and know about his plan have every reason to be hopeful in all situations- good or bad.  Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us and no matter what we have to go through in our life here on earth, if we are remaining faithful and doing as He asks their is SO much happiness ahead.  So grateful for that perspective :)  "Hope is an emotion which brings richness in our everyday lives," yes. Have hope. :)
     We have a new investigator named Irma- she is so cool!!!  Her friend whos family we had met with texted her and asked if shed meet with us and she said yes, so we set up a lesson on Monday and we taught her the restoration.  She is from a strong catholic family but has recently been questioning her faith and some of the things shes been taught.  While we were teaching the restoration, we recited the first vision experience and afterwards asked us how she felt.  All she could come up with to explain her feelings was that she wanted to cry! hahah we explained to her about the spirit and she eventually did start crying and it was cool to help her recognize the spirit as it testified to her of the truthfulness of what we shared.  We have met with her a couple times this week and she is progressing so well!  She committed to baptism on December 17th and is super nervous about family opposition but she is going forward with full faith!  She loves the Book of Mormon and she gets emotional every time she reads it- she's sooo cute. :)  

     One of our recent converts came to church wearing eyeliner this week- he is a boy. 

     We had a crazy week of exchanges!  On Wednesday we had exchanges with the Ely sisters, then exchanges with the Spring Creek sisters on Friday and then we did a blitz with the Elko sisters on Saturday!  There were so many I couldn't keep track of life and I ended up realizing once I had gotten to Spring Creek with Sister Moses that I didn't actually pack pajamas or exercise clothes- luckily her companion was my same size so I just borrowed clothes- ha.  Life.  I've also discovered that I love talking on the phone.. yes. 

     Everyone should go do family history!!!  They are doing a huge convention here in February and so they had us go do some during our zone training this week- the spirit of Elijah is real, my friends.  It was so fun and exhilarating! 

     Ok this is all over the place which I apologize for- but to close I wanted to share something from my studies this morning.  So the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednago... way cool.  They are told to pray to an idol but they refuse.  They are then told that they will be thrown into a fiery furnace.  Instead of giving in with fear they state that they will keep the Lord's commandments and that the Lord will save them.  They have faith that they will be saved BUT if not, they say that they will still serve Him and keep His commandments.  SO MUCH FAITH. Life is good.  I love Jesus Christ and I love this work.  Have a good week!

Love,

Sister Paul

I love YSSAAAAA!  Seriously- so fun and so many miracles!  Lately I have been really having to focus on what I say because I have been almost ending my phone calls the same way I end a prayer and my companion told me the other day that I accidentally said "what are your plans for after the mission" instead of "after high school".. yikes.  Okay 5 million cool things happened this week so I am going to try and condense this the best I can.

So we have been feeling very strongly that with all the recent converts we have we should be focusing on finding through them.  So we were praying a couple weeks ago about who specifically has a friend and Clarissa's name came to mind.  So we had a lesson with her and told her that we prayed and felt like she knows someone who is prepared to receive the gospel and we invited her to pray to recognize who it is.  At church on Sunday in gospel principles she shared a very personal story about an addiction she used to have and when we met with her this week she told us that she felt prompted to share that because she feels like the person who is prepared has struggled with the same addiction and that someone in that class at church needed to hear about.  SO on Thursday Sister Light and I had a couple hours before we had to leave for Reno for MLC so we went out finding, we had a couple names and we decided to say a prayer about who the Lord needed us to go see and the name Devin came to mind.  We don't know him but have his name and address and so we went by- it turns out he moved BUT his YSA aged sister was there because she had just moved home 2 days ago to get away from influences because she was trying to quit the same addiction Clarissa had shared about!!!  Ok.. is Heavenly Father cool or what?  He totally answered all our prayers and now Clarissa is a fellowshipper for this sweet daughter of God who is trying to overcome the adversary. So cool.

Another one of the recent converts, Gabe, brought his friend Sheldon to church yesterday!  We met him before it started and set up an appointment to start teaching him.  He ended up bearing his testimony in sacrament meeting (?!?) and we had a solid lesson on the restoration later in the day where he committed to being baptized on December 10.  !! 

My testimony this week that the Lord is guiding every aspect of this work was strengthened this week.  His hand was everywhere and it is so cool to be an instrument for him!  We texted all the missionaries and asked who in they knew in their wards that were YSA that may be struggling and we could go visit.  We got a name for a boy who is not active but has a twin sister who is leaving on her mission this month.  We decided to go try and meet him and just ended up finding the sister and mom home so we started talking to them for a little bit about the brother.  We eventually got on the topic of Katie's mission and her mom shared that we had came at exactly the right time because just the day before Katie had broke down and was doubting if she should be going on a mission.  We were able to testify and share personal experiences from before our missions when the opposition was on blast mode.  She was so grateful and said it was exactly what she needed and she is thrilled to go on her mission!  It was a really cool experience because 2 sister missionaries helped me out a ton when I was doubting my decision to serve and I am SO grateful because I have not regretted one second.  The sweetest joy I have ever felt has been here in Nevada and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me this opportunity.  I know our Savior Jesus Christ lives and loves each one of us so personally and infinitely.  I love Him.  Let me know if there'a anything I can do for any of you and I hope you have a wonderful week!

xoxo Sister Paul

1. grandmas heater broke and it is very cold here so she made us all wear her bathrobes for warmth... hahaha she is the best

2.  cute companions? after 5 hour car ride