No bras. No teeth. No problem

received from Sister Hart 7/29/13 -- privacy edits by her mom


Okay so wow. It has been a great first 6 weeks! And I get to stay here in St. Cloud with my trainer because President Berry believes in the full 12 week training. CRAY! Yes I am SO excited because I love it out here. It is soo sublime. So like I've said-literally no one has teeth. but better yet no one wears a bra. Like no one. Every week we get flashed ALL the time. Poor Elders. JAJAJAHA! (yes I laugh in Spanish because now I am trying to speak Spanglish because my comp cant speak Spanish but I have to practice somehow. AYAYAY! It is definitely a challenge but Ive already seen growth...sorta)

so This week went a little something like this:
 We met LOADS of people from trying to achieve the goal that Pres Berry set for us. Although many of them are rude or uninterested it is still a great time to get to talk with people and find those few (4/45) who are ready to receive our message. I love it. Tracting is easily my favorite thing because going from house to house is HILARIOUS! We count how many shirtless people we see, how many people are drunk, high, or just intoxicated, and of course how many were actually wearing a bra... it is seriously ridiculous that THAT is a trend down here. Not like 90/2000s trend either- like its not an episode of friends-its an episode of like some elderly show where 60ys on up acts like the people from Friends. PS one of my ward families LOVE friends! The couple are hilarious and they call each other their lobsters! hahah! I love it! Then one rad thing we had was that when we were walking down the street (depending on the street....Flight of the Concords always pops in my head while we tract....give it time im sure it will go away.) We waved to some cars (as usual) and then one came and pulled up next to us - it was a guy that we had just waved to and he had Mormon friends and wanted to know more! SO RAD! I always wanted a missionary experience like that and I totally got it.

Oh check this out: so yesterday we had our first official apt with our new PI(our gator who chased down the missionaries in McDs and asked to know more) he said we couldn't teach him at his house because everyone is catholic and they wont appreciate us - so he told us to go to his friends house-saying that they need God and the missionaries are the professionals who plant seeds of faith in people (HOW IS HE NOT MORMON?!?) He said that the sons of this family is who he is friends with and the parents are Cuban Americans... cool. So we got our stuff and headed out. As we pulled up to the house our PI called and said his friends weren't home but the mom was (actually gma) but she only speaks SPANISH...just our luck.. I felt SOOOO nervous but Sister Baagas was with us and just told us how we would be led by the spirit and that it truly was in the Lords hands...she was right. I prayed I would be able to understand her and be able to talk to her as best I could. AND I DID...well sorta I felt horrible because I didn't have a Spanish book of Mormon and I didn't have anything ready in Spanish so I just said the prayer in Spanish and set up another appointment with her...Thank you BYU Spanish class. But it was such a cool experience to talk to her and our PI because our investigator is Vietnamese and has a super thick accent but he loves this other family that he just met because he JUST moved here from Maryland! Crazy guy but he just wants everyone to have a good influence in their life and be friends and know God. WOW. Cool.

This week I also got to have interviews with our President. WHOALLLLLE.. IT went great! He is so great and told me that I need to keep doing what I am doing so I can be even more ready to train next transfer....GULP! gah! but secretly so stoked because lets get real who ever I would have to train is going to have a good time. haha! Anyway that was great! Also we planned a temple tour with our first PI. We hadn't heard from her all day and were super worried she wouldn't meet us at the member's house. But sure enough at 6 on the dot she pulled up. Then we started the drive to the temple and it started pouring! Like we couldn't see cars or the raod! AH! Sister scheckman had us pull over and told the missionaries to pray. So Sis Parker did and after it slowly started clearing up so we started driving.Then it STOPPED ALL TOGETHER and the RAYS of sun BEAMED through the clouds and the temple was beautiful. The tour was amazing! I love the temple! Then the guide was bearing his testimony and right as he said Amen It started pouiring again! AHHH I loved it! The little girls had to use the bathroom and so we got to go inside the waiting room of the temple! I love it there - Our PI felt amazing she said it was like heaven in the movies. AH, Take advantage fo the temple. For me the moral of the story: Prayer Works. Elder Kopische comes this next month to speak to the mission...I'm so stoked because his talk in GC was UNREAL and great just like all the others. I love GC! I miss going to firesides EVERY Sunday night at the Grove. It was some of the best times. But I am learning a lot out here so obvi NO REGRETS! ;) jaja!

Lets see Oh yeah soo the great thing about our gospel is that we are always learning - and relearning even. What a great thing. I love learning - people we meet always ask what we want to do once we are done here and when Sis. Parker says teacher they say that's great and teachers are amazing. Then I tell them I want to be a doctor and its always followed by - well you'll be in school for the rest of your life, or wow.... or well that's nice.. Good luck with that. I don't let it get me down EVER because I just think about how much I have learned and the JOY I find in learning! The Gospel helps you accomplish whatever you want - even in school - It blesses our lives in so many ways that I didn't even recognize before! I love it! I read the GC talks by Ann Dibbs called Stand in Holy Places and another one I can't recall the title of but it talks about the same thing. She said how our holy places can be actual places or just moments in time. She then shares Joseph Smiths Holy PLaces. WOW Nature, his bedroom, and liberty jail. All of those places brought huge experience of personal revelation to him and can do the same for us. We can have similar experiences in our own holy places by doing what is right and living our gospel principles and keeping our commandments. It is a commandment to pray. Our Heavenly Father wants to hear from us. In order to hear answers from him we not only need to ponder but also look to the scriptures for those answers. It is there that He will speak to us. I love that. I love that we can have such powerful personal spiritual experiences in our own holy places. It reminds me of the end of winter semester at BYU and I had just finished the BOM and decided to take Moroni's Promise. I prayed there in my little empty dorm room and asked my Father if the things I had read were true. Like a bucket of water pouring over my head (just like when coaches are drenched in Gatorade) I felt the spirit surround me and reassure me of my previous knowledge and testify of the truthfulness of the words in that book. It basically came over me and said YOU KNOW THIS IS TRUE...YA GOON...basically. I love that I can experience a holy place as I testify of this Restored gospel on someones doorstep - I receive reassuring feelings everytime someone opens their door and I Open MY MOUTH! I would invite all of you to OYM. To open your mouth - Open Your Mouth and pray, OYM and testify of this gospel, OYM and stand in Holy places as a witness of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel-OYM because when you do GOOD things happen. I know this to be true! I promise you that you will feel of the goodness that comes from Opening Your Mouth. Challenge for the week: OYM. and Read Ann Dibbs talk from YWGC and We are One from Priesthood sesh. I LOVE YOU ALLL SOOO STINKING MUCH! Xanxan thanks for the letter-I laughed. and when it was a huge envelope I thought it may be a wedding announcement and almost had a hart attack. ha. oops. ha. . anyway. I love you all seriously to pieces and although I may not be homesick I do miss you and think of you and pray for you often. (mostly at night because that's the only time I really have time think of you) GPahart I totally did what you told scotty to do on his mish with my MTC comp... it truly does help to look for those good things everyday. Well hasta luego!