Retired Pointe Shoes

It's a sad day when I have to retire a pair of pointe shoes. When I do, it's clearly time to do so - they hurt to dance in and are very squishy. But I've spent so much time in them, made so many memories in them, that it's hard to set them aside. Plus, I usually don't want to have to break in a whole new pair of pointe shoes. At the same time, retiring an old pair of pointe shoes makes room for a new pair - which includes new memories and more chances for learning.

So it's my last email as a missionary. I can honestly say that when I went into the MTC 17 months and 12 days ago, that I could barely fathom making it all the way through my MTC experience, let alone my entire mission. But time passed - I became involved in my classes, and suddenly my time in the MTC was finished. Then I entered the mission field. I got lost in teaching, finding, and helping others come unto Christ. There were some slow days, some really hard days and some days that felt impossible. But I barely even remember those days now. There have been so very many good, wonderful and amazing days. I can't even begin to relate all of the miracles that I have seen during my time here in Texas. I can't even start to cover all of the people I've met and loved, the things that I've seen and experienced, and the ways that I've changed.

I am beyond grateful for this experience that I've had.

I know that I'll be taking these memories with me and that they'll last the rest of my life. My mission has definitely changed who I am and it's impacted who I'm going to become. I'm grateful that I had the chance to impact others as well.

 Texas Christmas ornament

I could talk about the things that have happened this week, the people that we've seen, etc. But I would rather take this chance to bear a final testimony.

I know that my Savior lives. I know that he loves us. He was chosen before we even came to earth to save us. He came and fulfilled his mission - he suffered all that he might succor us. He knows, not only our sins, but he knows our pains, our struggles, our temptations and weaknesses. And he has all power to help. His grace is sufficient for anything that we may be going through. He has the power to change us.

I've seen my heart change over this last year and a half. I've come to know the gospel and the plan of Salvation in ways I've never understood before. I've felt Heavenly Father's love in ways that I never expected. I know that this gospel brings great happiness, because I've felt it. I've never felt so much joy as I have on my mission.This is the Lord's work. He is in it. He wants his children to come unto him. I've had the chance to play a small part in that work - and I know that there will be many more ways to contribute. 

I'm grateful for all of the prayers and support I've received during this time. I'm grateful for your love and concern. I'm grateful for the experiences I'll get to share in the upcoming future.

I'm grateful to have been a missionary.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Double in Size

It's been interesting looking at my dance shoes over the years. I still have my first pair of ballet shoes from when I was 5. I also have all of my old costumes. Not only are their fun memories attached to each costume, but it's also a clear measurement of how I've grown. From my very first costume to my last, there is quite the size difference - more than double in size, thankfully. But it creates a wonderful timeline of my dance career - it represents all of the growth, not just physically, but as a dancer as well.

So we've had some big changes this last week. I'm just going to have to go through them in order to make sense of it all.

1) Though neither Sister Bird or I were transferred, we did end up getting a third companion. We were told about it the morning of - giving us about two hours before we needed to leave to be up there on time. Our third companion is Sister Endicott. It's been interesting being in a trio again. I started my mission in a trio, and I'll be finishing my mission in a trio.

2) One of the areas in the branch was closed, and both of the missionaries were transferred out. All of their area though, was given to us. So our area has now more than doubled in size - we gained a good number of less actives to work with, and a lot of potential area. We went out on our bikes to explore it the other day - it's a big, diverse area.

3) Sister Endicott is gluten free and dairy free - so all the food in our lives is changing. The members have to be more careful with our meals, and our kitchen is divided into different sides to avoid cross contamination. 

4) We also have three people's worth of stuff in an apartment that is built really for two. We have a mattress on the floor and a pile of stuff in the living room. Thankfully it's only a temporary thing. I'll start packing the majority of my stuff next Monday to make room for her.

 But it has also been a super fun week. We've been working hard and getting a lot done. One fun event I particularly want to talk about was the Texas City Christmas Parade. Our branch has a float in this parade and they recruited the missionaries to march behind it to hand out pass-along cards for the Christmas initiative. We ran out of cards less than halfway though the parade, and we started out with 500. It was a ton of fun, and a very spiritual experience - referring to both the gospel and Christmas spirit.

Looking forward to another good, busy week!

Change of Pace

Tempo changes during a dance are a lot of fun because it changes the mood and intensity of the dance. A song that moves from slow to fast has a building intensity and can be used to depict an argument, tragedy or other dramatic something. Songs that slow down can show sadness of some kind, or exhaustion/death. My personal favorites are the songs that change tempo multiple times - a conflict or struggle. It is the most dynamic and entertaining in my opinion - the constant change keeps you on your toes (literally) and helps maintain focus. They're also the most fun to practice as well. 

With this last week being Thanksgiving week, we definitely had a change of pace. A lot of different things happened this week, and I'll talk about a few of them.  
But to start off, there is one change that passed us by - transfer calls came in this morning. Sister Bird and I are staying together  and  it is almost certain that I"ll be ending my mission here in Texas City. I was a little surprised - two area missionaries are very rare. Though I am glad that I get to be one of them. I love it here in Texas City and I'm glad its where I will end. 
Anyway, back to our week.
So this week was fairly different because most of the area had a lot of time off work this last week - the kids were all out of school, and since it was decently warm for most of the week, they were all outside. Meaning we had a lot of opportunities to talk to the parents. We've OYMed quite a bit this last week.

And of course, we had Thanksgiving itself. That was a wonderful day. We ate dinner with a less active family we've been focusing on - the Holland/Butler/Root family. It's a husband, wife and daughter, but they all have different names. So we call them the MKT family - Mary, Keith and Tina. They are some of the most amazing people I have ever met, and I've been determined for a long time that they would start coming back to church by the time I went home. Well, they're well on their way. They've been coming to activities and Bible Study pretty regularly, but yesterday they finally came to church!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah!!!!!!!! But anyway, back to the food. It was super good and it was fun to spend that time with them.
Right after Thanksgiving dinner though, I had to meet up with the other missionaries and drive to Sugar land. Sister Bird and another Sister stayed back in the area. I was going up to Sugar land for the departing temple trip - all the missionaries about to go home attend a session and then President talks to us for a while. It was a wonderful experience. There were actually two departing groups there - those that go home tomorrow, and those that leave sometime else in December/January. There were a good 30 of us. So that took basically all of Friday.
Then Saturday we went fishing with a less active family in the ward - the Greers. He received the Aaronic priesthood about two weeks ago - he's been a member for about two years now. Some of you many not be aware of the fact that I have never fished before in my life. But considering that fact, I am fairly happy with the outcome. No, I didn't catch any fish - just rocks and weeds. But we had a great time and tried hot to freeze (a cold front was coming in).

And yesterday I had the chance to teach gospel principles-that was fun. I made time at the end of class to share the new Christmas initiative - #ASaviorIsBorn. It's a pretty cool video. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. Then share it.    https://www.mormon.org/christmas
The work is moving forward, slowly but surely.We're seeing people progress and start to change. Others struggle at times. But the gospel touches lives and makes a difference.

Numb toes

The dance analogy for this week will be simple because I am out of time. I wore my pointe shoes today for the first time in weeks - and subsequently I have numb toes. I need to wear them more. But once the numbness fades away, I know I'll be happy, because I'll have finally practiced.

It's been a good week. I honestly can barely remember it - thank goodness for planners. Time is racing faster and faster. I keep trying to ignore the fact that November is almost over - but little reminders keep showing up: trunky papers (mom's note: I believe that this is a letter from the Mission President which reminds her to keep going until the end, and possibly some instructions for preparing to leave the mission), departing temple trip, college class selection. I wish it would all disappear sometimes.

Just a couple of fun events from this past week to share:

Last Monday we had the chance to go and help our Relief Society President at her bakery. We got a little taste of what it would be like to be Cake Boss - not really. Her bakery was a lot smaller than that. But it was fun to help make cupcakes and mix batter.

We also met a new family this week - the husband R requested a bible. When we visited to drop it off, we also gave him a Book of Mormon. We visited later in the week and met his wife - J. She's had a long search for Christ and the gospel. She loves the Bible because she didn't know it at all before. She also has super strong morality and isn't afraid of what other people think. They have a lot of potential and we're excited to teach them some more.

We also have another investigator we're excited about - L. We met her months ago, but not a lot was happening up until this week. When we visited a few days ago, she randomly mentioned that she had read the Book of Mormon - happy dance! It is so cool to see her start to progress :) The church and the gospel will bless her life a lot. 

There are good things happening in the work. I'm so grateful to be part of it and to have this time to be a missionary :)

Costume sorting

One opportunity I enjoyed while dancing at Dance Concepts was the chance to help sort costumes. It was most enjoyable for the Christmas performance because it was more of a puzzle. Costumes for Spring recital and competitions come individually packaged and all that needs doing is attaching a pair of tights and identifying the dancer they belong to. Christmas is more complicated. Dance Concepts has a storage room of all the costumes we use for Christmas - bins and racks and garment bags - there is so much fabric. So the sorting is done by costume, size, color, etc. In the end, there is fabric everywhere and you end up a little overwhelmed. But when things finally come together, it's no problem at all.

So my use in this dance analogy was just to express how crazy this week has been- and each different thing was a single type of costume that needs sorting. But as always, it has all been  a wonderful adventure, especially watching things come together. To begin:

Meet Ro Thomas, newest member of the Texas City Branch

​What a wonderful step this has been for her - and Satan fought it every step of the way with work, school and family troubles. Even sleeping late. But good triumphs and Ro was able to be confirmed yesterday. It's been a unusual experience working with Ro. The love I feel for her is different from others who have been baptized, but still just as strong. I think it's in part because we didn't have the normal struggles with her of overcoming bad habits and learning to keep the commandments. She came to us totally prepared, so we didn't have to fight the same battles. But I'm sure there will be plenty in the future - we all have them :)

We also had a wonderful zone conference this week. I always feel so spiritually uplifted coming out of zone conferences and ready to take on the world. I feel especially privileged because President Hall likes to show us clips from the Seminar for New Mission Presidents. This time he showed us some of Elder Holland's training about suffering the will of the Father. One of my favorite thoughts that he expressed was that the use of the word "suffer" was a deliberate choice. In suffering the will of the Father, Christ literally suffered. He said that it is only logical for doing the will of the Father to include some suffering - because Salvation isn't cheap. He also expressed that agency would be an utter disaster without obedience. We are seeing that more and more in these days. Obedience is so critical. Following the zone conference I've been making an even greater effort to make sure that I'm as obedient as possible.

One different opportunity we had this week was a swap and shop put on by the relief society - called My Sister's Closet. Basically we accept donations of clothes and other household items for a month before, and on the day of the donations are laid out in the main room of the branch building. The community and other members can come and take what they need/want. We had a good crowd, some that literally took piles of clothes, and afterwards still had clothes leftover. The missionaries were told to browse and take what we wanted. I have some cute new shirts as a result :) It was a cool experience though, not for the clothes, but seeing the gratitude of those that came. Some really needed these clothes and it made such a big impact on them. It was a wonderful experience.

So all in all, the work is going well. We're seeing a lot of good things happen, and the Lord is behind it all. 

At the Last Minute

One thing that drives me nuts in when dances are changed at the last minute. Either the choreographer will have a new idea to implement, or the stage won't be adequate for the needs to the dance so it will need some last minute alteration. It takes a lot of work to be able to remember the new choreography and to get in enough practice before the performance. However, these last minute changes can sometimes make or break the dance. But when they make the dance, it always feels more than worth it.

There has been a lot of last minute stuff going on this past week - the biggest last minute event - we're having a baptism tonight. Her name is Ro, and she fell into our laps. No joke. She was taught by missionaries is Louisiana for the week up until her baptism, but then stuff happened and she had to move here to Texas. But she is so prepared! It is going to be wonderful for her to take this step and enter the waters of baptism.

I've also been starting to work on returning to college, and that's also felt rather last minute.But that's a story for another day.

But the work is going well here. This email is going to be a bit shorter than most because we have to set up for the baptism in just a couple of hours and there is still a lot to do in between. 

It has been a very good week though. We've gotten to do some service and we've done a lot of good for individuals who were otherwise struggling. We also (strangely) had the chance to watch Meet the Mormons twice this week with investigators. That was cool.

And apart from the baptism, probably the biggest miracle that happened this week is with a less active family I've been working with literally since I got here. They have such strong testimonies of the gospel, but they just won't come to church. But they've made a lot of progress - they now come to Bible Studies and branch activities - still working on church though. But this last week the husband Keith told us that he's going to be getting Sundays off work soon and that he wants to start coming back to church! Best news ever!

Anyway, so the work is going well and life is too - I'm feeling much better from being sick. The work is great :)

Series of Unfortunate Events

To start off, no I am not referring to the book series. But the point I want to make is best explained by that title, and the books contribute to that point. In most media, the ultimate tragedy of a situation is only accomplished through a series of very unlikely unfortunate events that lead them there. Let me use the ballet Giselle as my example. 
Giselle is a young woman with a heart defect and has led a sheltered life - how sad! Then the prince decides he wants to go chill down in the village in disguise - nobody would talk to him otherwise because he is 1) engaged and 2) royal. That right here was just a bad decision. Then he meets Giselle and she learns to easy it is to fall in love at first sight. Then it comes out that he is the prince, and engaged, as such things always do. Well that news breaks this already fragile heart. And then she dies - how tragic! 
And that's just act 1. I won't go into the rest. But most of the tragedies that occur in ballet are possible only because of this series of unfortunate events.

So I've had my own series of unfortunate events this week. Sorry that my past couple emails have had rather depressing tones to them. This one with hopefully be the capstone and then the emails will be full of good :)
But anyway, for this week, I got an email on Monday that talked about getting the flu shot.  Sister Bird and I decided that we would get them this week. However, Heavenly Father has a strange sense of humor. I discovered that in full this week. By Tuesday I had a sore throat. Wednesday I had full blown flu - temperature, aches and all. But I woke up better Thursday, only to lose my voice on Friday.  Totally gone - I could barely even whisper. My voice is recovering now, but I sound like a teenage boy in the midst of puberty - I squeak and crack all over the place. I also cough a lot and have not been able to sleep well for congestion. It's been a fun week.
But I do know the source of the sickness. I've been helping out in nursery for the past month or so. There is almost always at least one sick kid. I guess it finally caught up  with me. The other nursery worker is also sick, so I don't feel as attacked as I did before.
But despite the fact that it's been a harder week, it's still been a good one. We had some wonderful teaching experiences this week, and one major miracle. We met and taught R for the first time - she's so cool. She's been taught by missionaries for a while in another state. She actually moved here to Texas a week before her baptism! But the move didn't stop her and she actually sent in a referral for herself that literally said "I want to  join your church". Heck yes! She's made some major changes to her life recently and is ready to start a new chapter of her life. She's preparing to be baptized next week!
The work rolls forward, regardless of the challenges that come. It's even better than a mailman - rain, snow, sleet, flu and storm can't stop it. The Lord is more powerful than they all.