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.

Dressing Up

Halloween brings the chance to dress up - even in my dance classes. No matter where you go around Halloween time, things look different - spookier and more edgy. But dressing up gives you the chance to change who you are for a short period of time - or at least what you look like. If you decide to get really into a character, your entire behavior can change as you will it. My dance teachers used our dress up day to help us practice characters and expression through movement. If we were dressed up like a lion, they would encourage us to dance like a lion - whatever that means :) But you learn a lot about yourself as you change things up.

So there was a good bit of change that went down this week.

Meet my new companion - Sister Bird

She's from Syracuse Utah and has been on her mission for almost a year. We're going to have a good time together. 

This week has been full of adventures. For sake of time, I want to describe just three of them.

1) Asp.

Now, before anyone starts to panic, I am not referring to the snake kind of asp. I'm meaning the little caterpillar thingy that looks fuzzy but pack a killer sting. For those of you with internet access, google a picture. For everyone else, sorry :) We were doing service with a member on Friday and one of these little suckers got me twice. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I ended up having to go home and take some Benadryl - which knocked me out. It left a nice little mark on my arm though. Fun huh?

2) Branch Halloween Party. This is why I was talking about dressing up before. The branch party was a lot of fun. It was a taco bar with  a dessert contest, costume contest and haunted room. The missionaries were in charge of the haunted room. It was fun. We used partitions to make a maze and then we made sure it would be pretty dark. Then the Elders hid in the corners to jump out and scare people. Everyone who went through could choose how scary they wanted it - everyone seemed to enjoy it :)

3) RAIN

For those of you who don't know, hurricane
Patricia hit Mexico just a couple of days ago. The Houston area was lucky enough to get some of the rain that came with it. It rained for almost 48 hours straight. I don't know about the rest of the mission, but we got some flooding down here in Texas City. As far as I know, no homes were affected, but all of the rivers, lakes and bayous were overflowing and the little bay area we have had white-capped waves. We got pretty wet, but all is well :)

Its been a great week and I'm looking forward to another. Missionary work, as always, is an adventure!

Blood and bruises

I have gotten more bruises from dance than I can count. Most of the time they are on my knees from my failed attempts at dance moves. To the best of my memory though, I've only bled once. This was a couple of years ago when I was performing my first solo for competition. It was a jazz piece that was supposed to be a little like a creepy doll. Something like that. Anyway, there was this one part where I was supposed to slide on the floor into my next movement. My costume had tan tights that went to my knees, and black fishnet tights on top of that. In this slide I ended up tearing through those tights and getting a bad scrape. I didn't realize it was bleeding until I came off-stage. And though later on it hurt, I also had a strange happiness from it - it signified how dedicated I had been to that dance.

This week's highlights have to represented by pictures :) 
First off, temple trip :)

As you can probably tell by this picture, we got to the temple super early in the morning - 5am. So I was able to get this awesome shot. I love going to the temple, especially as a mission. Not only do I learn a lot and come out feeling completely uplifted, but I get to make wonderful memories with other missionaries. Plus, both the temple President and Mission President are in the session - how cool is that??






And second...

​Yeah. I had a bike crash. Not the best picture or the best result. But it's healing nicely. My self esteem is taking a little longer.

It's been an interesting week though. We've seen a lot of little miracles. One bigger miracle was a less active we've been working with for three transfers came to Bible Study, and brought her whole family with her. It was a huge step for her and now she's that much closer to coming back to church!

However, I'm a bit sad today. Once again, transfers have rolled around. I'll be staying in Texas City, and probably until the end of my mission. However, Sister McElroy is being transferred. I'll be really sad to see her go. We've become really good friends over these past 4 1/2 months.

Somehow I didn't fall

I have some very vivid memories of falling during my dance classes - usually because they were either 1) caused by a really stupid reason 2) embarrassing or 3) really painful. Actually sometimes it's two or three of those reasons, but basically, I remember quite a few of the falls I've experienced. But there are also a couple of times I can remember being shocked by the fact that I didn't fall - somehow I recovered and was able to keep myself somewhat upright. Those are almost miraculous in nature and are a huge relief. I almost never understand them, but it's just nice to know that somehow I didn't fall.

So this week has been a miraculous one in nature. Know why?

Let me introduce Meaghan and Patricia, the two newest members of the Texas City Branch. It has been a long haul with them, coupled with months of ups and downs. But at last, Saturday evening, they entered the waters of baptism and stepped through the gate onto the path that leads to eternal life. Sunday morning they received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and already they are feeling his influence in their lives. It's the coolest thing ever!

And somehow it didn't explode and dissolve into smithereens.

Basically, leading up to their baptism, it was one of the most stressful weeks ever. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of bright moments. But there was also a lot more stress than I have experienced in a long, long time.

Let me touch on some of the bright points.

• Interviews with President Hall. It's a wonderful experience to have someone you trust, who cares a lot about you, able to give you the words of comfort and counsel that you need. Some of the things he discussed with me included the importance of daily Book of Mormon reading and prayers of gratitude.
• Sister McElroy's birthday. Technically this was last week, but last Monday Meg and Pat threw another party for her. The bright point was that we invited some less active members.. who actually came! They almost never come to anything we invite them too, so it was nice to see some progression.
• Family History hour. We get one hour each week to work on our family history. This week was incredible because I was able to find and reserve the ordinances for another three individuals in my family tree. It feels wonderful being able to take these steps to help more of Heavenly Father's children receive their ordinances for salvation.

Now I'll explain the stress. It boils down to two categories: Accident and baptism.

This week we've been trying to correct the after effects of the accident we had several weeks ago. So when we were up at interviews we had to talk to our Vehicle Coordinator. We've been approved to take the car in for repairs for a while now, but we had to help him understand that we needed our bikes fixed first, else we wouldn't have transportation for a week. The bikes are fixed now. The car goes in today.

The baptism was a stress because we weren't sure if it was going to happen. Wednesday when the baptism interviews were given, one passed and once wasn't given an answer - the individual interviewing needed to confirm his decision with the Lord. It wasn't until the next day that approval came for baptism. So we had three days to put the baptism together. We already had a program, but we had to finish all the logistics - we didn't do so hot. We ran late, Meg and Pat ran late, but somehow it didn't explode. By the grace of God it all worked out, and it was a wonderful experience.

The work moved forward. Oh, how I love it!

Turning Pointe

Mom's note: We have placed a sticker on a count-down sheet every day since Sarah left. This is how it looks now! She is almost home!



I have a love/hate relationship with television shows that are about ballet and dancers. Typically they're either a normal TV series, or they are a reality show. In most cases, there is too much drama, and not enough dancing for my taste. But in every episode, there is always some moment where the characters have a turning point - that's the only way the plot resolves. They are given information or an experience that builds and changes them, and refines their path slightly. It gives them the chance to evaluate where they are and where they want to be. 

Ok, so my blog title really came from the fact that the show Turning Pointe was on screen before General Conference on BYU-TV. M and P had it on and I caught bits and pieces. I really miss dancing.

But anyway, I loved conference this weekend - it was my metaphoric and very literal turning point. Conference is always such a wonderful opportunity to stop, evaluate, and change. I loved every talk I heard - each time it gets better and better. I particularly loved the talk about Ponderizing, Elder Cook's "ship-shape in Bristol fashion" and President Nelson's comments. I learned a lot and hope to continue reviewing and learning from the prophets and apostles.

M and P continue to progress towards their baptism. It's scheduled for this upcoming Saturday, and they are 100% on board and 99% on track - we have a few more things to teach and a baptism service to plan, but that'll be easily accomplished in the next few days :) I look forward to introducing them as the newest members of the church in my email this upcoming week.

It's been a good week overall. We were able to get our bikes appraised and begin the process of having them repaired - it will be about $100 per bike for repairs.

We also went on exchanges and I got to go to the Spanish speaking Galveston area again. I really enjoyed it - I like getting to see different parts of the mission. 

For sake of time, I'll end here this week. I'm loving the work, the people and the area. I love being part of the Lord's workforce to harvest souls before the winter comes. I'm so grateful I get the chance to be here.

Waiting on Results

Mom's note: She didn't tell about other "waiting" that frustrated her: Their bikes and car are still not repaired (estimates have been done), AND their rent hasn't been paid...the housing coordinator isn't answering his phone...planning to call Pres. Hall if they don't get him soon. Eviction proceedings start tomorrow! 

There are a couple of hours in a competition day that I absolutely dread - and that's the time between performing a solo, and the awards. Why is this such a difficult time for me? Let me tell you - the sense of anticipation while waiting on the results. This time gap is different for a group dance, because there were others on stage with you that would affect the scoring. But in a solo, it's just you, so every single movement made a difference on your score...So waiting on those results are killer. At least for me. I end up replaying in my head everything I did, good or bad. Usually that stresses me out even more. But the constant replay usually ends in relief when the results are finally announced and I am able to see how I did from the eyes of others. 

There has been a lot of waiting this past week - waiting on verdicts and decisions. 

M had a court date this week for a past indecent - she was given probation. So a lot of this week has been spent trying to figure out if she'll still be eligible for baptism in October. As far as we can tell, she still is. Now we have to help her and P be fully committed to living the gospel and becoming converted. It's been hard because most of our appointments this week have dropped - but it's just an obstacle that we can overcome :)

Quite a few other appointments have dropped this week for the various reasons, but there have also been a lot of miracles we've experienced :) One was an awesome new investigator named Miss T and her husband L. We contacted them a couple of weeks ago, and we were finally able to visit and teach. They are super interested - their niece was taught by missionaries a few years ago and they listened in sometimes - now it's their turn to be taught :)

The women's conference this past week was a wonderful experience - I greatly enjoyed it. I particularly loved President Uchtdorf's talk. Sister McElroy and I discussed it for a while Saturday night - he must have prayed long and hard about that one. But it taught us both so much - it was a beautiful message that can apply to so many situations. I'm even more excited now for this upcoming weekend to hear at greater length from the Prophet  and the Apostles. 

Feeling sick

There are two different kinds of feeling sick in the dance world. There is true nausea, and the nausea that comes from nerves. Dancing when really nauseous is not a fun experience - I was called in to substitute for a dancer once who had woken up sick that morning, but trooper that she was, she came and danced anyway. She came off-stage completely exhausted and shaky. Not fun.

But the nice thing about nervous nausea is that it goes away once on the stage and dancing. It's just the anticipation that causes the feeling, and it often helps me to perform better. It's the pressure to do well combine with the excitement that really gives me the thrill for competing.

So the bad kind of nausea was the culmination of our week this week - not for me or my companion, but for M+P. They ended up in the emergency room. During church. She's doing fine now, but we felt so bad - she was throwing up for a couple of days :( 

So we will be pushing their baptism date back until after General Conference. But in the end, it all works out - their road to baptism will be a lot less pressured and congested, and it will give M almost three full weeks of having quit smoking before her baptism. The Lord works in mysterious ways :)

We still had a good week. It's been a lot harder being in the car now instead of our bikes. It's so strange - when we started out, I hated my bike. I hated the heat and the sweat and the time that it took. But now I recognize that it allowed us to talk to so many more people! And I can actually say now that I'm excited to have my bike fixed :)

But there has still been tons of good happen. We have had a wonderful time getting to know the branch members better this week - especially having the opportunity to serve some of them. And one super awesome Sister in the branch had M+P over for dinner mid-week - they had a wonderful time :) This same Sister also introduced us to a friend of hers who will be coming with her to watch General Conference.

We're also seeing a lot of progress in our area, especially with ourselves. President Hall has a big emphasis on efficiency, so he's encouraging us to rethink a lot of the ways we do our missionary work - it's not the smoothest process, but we're seeing a lot of results :)

Looking forward to this week, we're excited to invite another investigator to prepare to be baptized. I've talked about T a little bit - we're going to be extending a date to him on Thursday for October 17th. He's come to church the past three weeks in a row and we feel like he's really ready. Please pray that he'll be comfortable accepting the date :)

The work is awesome, and I'm loving it. I'm very excited for General Conference to come. I love the chance that we have to listen to the prophet's voice and learn how we can better live the gospel.

Collision

I love turns. I think I've said that many times in the past. My favorite exercise during any given dance class is when we get to do turn combinations. They are so much fun, and they are something I feel that I am proficient in. I especially love turn combinations like  chaines or pique turns that carry me across the floor in a straight line. However the one thing you have to beware of when doing these exercise is that you don't collide in to other dancers or that they don't crash into you. Because, believe it or not, it's actually really hard to stay in a straight line sometimes. But it's all good. You just have to look around you and watch your speed and direction of travel. Collisions are not fun and are potential dangerous, so it is always good to avoid them.. 

Except when you can't. Yep, that's right, we had a collision experience this past week. Ready for the story? It's crazy.

So we were in church yesterday. Yes, church. We had just finished Sacrament Meeting and were introducing our investigators M and P to different members. Then one of the members comes up to me and says "somebody just smashed into your car." Wait, what??

Yep. We had pulled through a parking spot, and somebody came in to park behind us and ended up rear-ending us. Our bikes were on the bike rack, so they really hit our bikes, not the car. However, the bike rack was pushed inward, sending our bikes and the rack into the trunk. So it's all warped and dented. And our bikes are damaged. Not serious damage, but enough that we won't be able to ride them for a while. We were able to get all the information we needed, and the car is still drive-able, but it took us all of Gospel Principles to figure things out.

Isn't that an adventure? But even with that, yesterday was still a fantastic day. M and P came to church for the first time and they absolutely loved it. They're on track for their baptism date of Sept 26. The only thing standing in their way at this point is M's smoking and them coming to church one more time. But M got a blessing yesterday and we've started her on the stop smoking program. She's going to make it, I know it. Please pray for her though - it's not going to be easy.

Other than that, it's been a good week. It feels so busy, and I can't honestly remember what happened during half of it. But one thing I do remember is the Relief Society service project that we helped with on Tuesday - Operation gratitude. We made Paracord Bracelets and Cool-Ties to help them out. It was a lot of fun.

I also made an amazing discovery in the past few weeks, but now it's official. After spending my whole mission trying to find family names to take to the temple, I found and individual a few weeks ago who needed all of her work done. It was a golden discovery. However, through the help of Ancestry.com, I've been able to find her husband, his parents and grandparents. So I have six individuals know who all need their temple work. I'm so excited to be able to go perform this work - hopefully during M and P's first trip to the temple.

T is also doing well. He came to church again. We invited him to be baptized when we met with him this week and he accepted - not a date, but that won't take long. We're super excited for him as well - he's so ready!

I'm loving the work - as always it's work, so it's not easy. But I love it. It's the most worthwhile thing I could be doing :)

New Dance Studio

I can still remember the day that I went to get the mail and I saw an advertisement for a dance studio that had just rented new space in the area. It was the push I needed to finally get back into dance after a break of a couple of years. We visited the studio, I took a trial class, and off we went. It was a new beginning that brought me the chance to compete, do a couple of solo performances, take pointe classes, and make awesome friendships. All these amazing things happened, all because Dance Concepts moved into a new studio.

Moving can change a lot of things - location, people, neighbors, etc. Our week has been characterized by moving. We finally moved into a new apartment! We don't live on Galveston anymore, but now we're up in Texas City. I was both sad and happy to move. And the new place is awesome. It's bigger and is more roomy, but that may be in part that it's only us there. It was sad to leave the Hermanas. It was like a big sleepover - but now it's just quiet coming home.

But it was a crazy week- totally crazy. I wasn't even technically part of the move since I was in Sugarland for MLC. Sister McElroy and an exchange companion (with help from the Elders and the Mission) got to set up an entire apartment in the pouring rain - all the furniture, all our stuff. They were completely soaked. I felt so bad for them, but I was glad not to be in the middle of it.

Thursday we had zone meetings. And because I'm a Sister Training Leader for a zone other than my own, I actually had two zone meetings to attend. So we went to League City to start and stayed until after my training, then we booked it down to Galveston for our own zone meeting. But we had to leave early from that so our apartment could be inspected. We also had to weekly plan that day. Ugh. Insane.

Friday we ended up doing service all day. No joke - all day. We got to this member's house at 10:30 a.m. to help her pack up and move her trailer. But stuff kept happening and we were there a lot longer than expected. It was a very muddy experience.

So yeah. And that's just a taste of the week. But with all the crazy, there's always the good.

Good news :) Transfers have come once again, and I get to stay in Texas City for another transfer. So does Sister McElroy :D This will be our third transfer together. We're both super excited. We have a lot of good things planned.

Eating healthy

As in all areas of physical activity, it is absolutely essential for an individual to eat healthy. While it is true that physical activity is possible while not maintaining the best diet, but better eating habits you have, the better the outcome will be. For example, one of the best ballerinas I know is a girl named Katie. Not only is she a beautiful dancer, but she has the classic "ballerina physic" - long limbs, tall, and ultra-thin. But she doesn't starve herself to achieve this - she just is careful about what she eats. And it makes a difference.

This week has been characterized by food. We had a record number of meals provided by a member this past week - it has been so nice. Particularly because it has given us a greater opportunity to be in member's homes and bring the Spirit with us.
I, myself, have been food for mosquitoes this week... I have over 40 bites.

But this week has also been significant in a food related manner because we taught the long awaited lesson to M+P (twin investigators, women in their 30's): The Word of Wisdom. That has been long in coming, but we're glad that we finally taught it. It actually correlated perfectly with a priesthood blessing that P received at Bible Study on Wednesday - she has some health struggles for which she desired help.

The blessing was amazing. M cried all the way through it, and she wasn't even the one receiving the blessing. But P was counselled to eat healthy and exercise and care for her body, and those things with which she has been struggling would be resolved.

The next day we taught the word of wisdom. It actually turned into a two-part lesson, but they accepted the word of wisdom without too many difficulties. They have some things to work though, but they can absolutely do it! They didn't make it to church though - get this. They were on their way to church, running a little late and apparently speeding a little bit. They got pulled over by a cop, which normally wouldn't be a problem, but both their registration and inspection was out of date. The cop saw that they were going to church, and he said "I can tell you are going to church, but this vehicle cannot be on the roads. You are good people, so I won't give you a ticket, but you have to turn around right now and drive home or I will have your car towed." And he followed them all the way home!

We were flabbergasted when we heard that - Satan had to get a cop involved to stop them from going to church. We were still sad they didn't make it, but their commitment and desires are sure :)

We've had so many other miracles this week, I don't even know where to begin. But the Lord is definitely blessing us in our area.

We have a new investigator - T - who is engaged to a returning less active. He will be baptized very soon - he's so ready.

We have a less active family that are almost ready to come back to church. They love the gospel a lot - they just need the Lord's help to begin building new habits.

Thanks for all of the prayers for me, my companion and the area. Many good things are happening. We're moving to our new apartment tomorrow. I'll send the new address next week.

Slippery and slick

You know, it's really hard to dance when the floor is slippery. Strange huh? But seriously, sometimes in dance, the floor that we have to dance on is really slick to the type of shoes that we wear (ballet, jazz, pointe, etc.) It's really terrifying when I'm in my pointe shoes and the floor is slippery - I might slip, fall and die at any second. It's worse than ice skating (which is another thing I cannot do) or wet floors. Thank goodness for Rosin, a dancer's best friend. Basically it adds texture and friction to the bottom of our shoes so we don't slip as easily. It literally keeps our feet on the ground.

My "Rosin" this week has definitely been prayer. And the Jellybeans I've been getting left and right.

It's been an interesting week. We've had two exchanges, three vehicle problems, four food appointments (new record), and five "heavens torn open and attempting to drown us" rainstorms. Somehow, thankfully, we didn't end up biking through much more than light sprinkling. But it's felt so nice this week from the rain. Too bad it's hot again.

My exchanges this week were with the Armand Bayou Singles Branch Sister and the Galveston Sisters. So my first exchange was to an area that covered a third of the mission, but we ended up spending the day in Galveston, mostly on the Galveston A&M Campus and the UTMB campus. Then two days later I spent the entire day in Galveston again. It's like Heavenly Father wants me to get my fill of it before we move - which we have no idea if we are actually moving or not. We haven't heard back from the housing coordinator even though we've called him twice. We're calling again today.

But it's been an interesting week in other ways. The Elders got in more bike crashes and while I was on exchanges our District blitzed their area (a blitz is where we all go in, visit people, OYM like crazy, and they get everyone we find). We actually got in a minor crash this week too: we were trying to high five, but I ended up swerving and forming a right angle with our front tires. Miracle though - neither of us fell off our bikes :) I just got a few bruises.

I also found probably the only dish I've tried where I can willingly eat shrimp. Oddly, it was a spicier dish too. Our member called it Mexican style shrimp cocktail. She also taught us how to make it.

M+P are still doing well - they weren't able to come to church again though. Tonight we plan to teach them the Sabbath Day. We also have to move their date back - they have to come to church twice still.

We're seeing lots of other miracles and keeping busy. Each week is a wonderful new adventure!

Just go for it

Sometimes there are movements in dance that I am scared to do. Sometimes it's just because the move is new and I'm not sure how to do it. Sometimes I doubt that I am capable.  Whatever the reasoning behind my fear, it holds me back. And like other areas of life, it isn't comfortable to feel restricted. But my jazz teacher has a wonderful motto - Just go for it! If you fall, you fall - but at least you were trying! And whenever a dancer fell while trying, we would always applaud for her - she went for it! Even when I doubt I can do it, it feels a lot better to try anyway.

This week's motto has been "Just go for it." I'll explain how this became the motto farther down, but this week has been full of crazy, but cool adventures.

First off, biking adventures. Boy has it been fun. It's actually turning into enough of a routine that I only remember the harder stuff. We've had a couple more nights where we've had to book it back to the car. We also had another tire problem - still not on my bike! Sister McElroy has a loaner bike, so it's already been though at least one missionary's mission - now she's using it, but it's so old that it has a lot of problems. So another tire went flat. We were right near the library so we took the tube into the bathroom, plugged up the sink with paper towels, and stuck it in water to find the hole. It was itty bitty. We tried to fix it with duct tape - it's all we had. Fail. It kept going flat. We're buying a couple of new tubes today.

I also went on an exchange to a Spanish area and didn't end up speaking all that much Spanish. But the few appointments we had, I felt so incapacitated - there was so much I wanted to say - but couldn't. I went for it a couple of times - I was able to express some things - but I just can't speak enough yet to really teach the way I would want to. I did enjoy English class. They taught all about going to the doctor and so we role-played a doctors office. I wish normal role-playing was that fun.

Now, on to the background of the motto. We had zone conference this week. President Hall's theme for zone conference was "Fear Not". It was so cool - talked about so many different basics of missionary work - The Restoration, OYMS (Open Your Mouth s), teaching, finding (finding new investigators) - and how we have to be simple, powerful teachers, who do not fear man. So I came home and decided that I was going to have no fear. I still fear, but I'm going to give into it a whole lot less. 

That one decision has made a huge difference. Our work these past few days has changed dramatically - I'm excited to see the changes that continue to happen.

When stitching fails

Sewing my own pointe shoes has taught me something very important over the years - you have to make sure you have strong stitches. And to clarify, sewing your pointe shoes means that you sew on the elastic strap and ribbons. Those are necessary if you want the shoe to stay on your foot. So they have to be sewn on right. 

I learned the hard way that if they're not, dance doesn't work well. So when I sew a new pair of shoes, I go over my stitches multiple times and secure the thread. Because it sucks when the stitching fails and your shoe comes off.

We had a wonderful week. That's part sarcasm and part true. We had a lot of miracles happen. But it has also been less than wonderful in many ways that can all be summed up with two words: Bikes and hot. Seriously. 

We also have had many wonderful bike adventures - that one was pure sarcasm. Our bikes - Sister McElroy's in particular - have been on rebelling this week, but we've been forcing them to cooperate. Let me tell you about just 3 of our fun adventures:

1) Tuesday, we were running WAY late to our dinner appointment. Our whole day had gotten behind by our going up to Friendswood to pick up our new phone. Then the branch list wasn't updated, so we went to the old address of this family. Upon realizing that they no longer lived there, we got the new address and booked it over there. But on our way, one of the bike tires decided that it was done with the ride - it fell off. We had to backtrack to find the tire. We found it - but I had to go run out across the street to grab it. Not fun.

2) Time. We have been totally out of time a couple of evenings and had to book it back to our car to drive back to Galveston. We biked more than four miles in less that 20 minutes. New record. My legs weren't even this sore while I was dancing.

3) A picture is worth a thousand words. 

​That happened at about four in the afternoon, about four miles away from our car. But Heavenly Father is merciful and provides a way - the man who's home we were outside of just "happened" to be a biker and just "happened" to have the exact size of tube we needed and just "happened" to know exactly what he was doing. We only were there for about 20 minutes total.

But we've also had miracles with our teaching.

We talked to a lady on the street who happened to be the mother of a less active - they moved from their old home and apparently the membership records stayed there. We would have had no idea if we hadn't talked to the lady on the street.

We were also finally able to get back in contact with M+P. We had a wonderful Restoration lesson with them - they were asking spot on questions before we even started the lesson. We kept having to tell them to hang on because we would cover the question in a couple of minutes. In the end, even though there are still some minor doubts, they both accepted a date to be baptized!! They'll be preparing for September 5. Please pray for them - they both have to overcome some Word of Wisdom troubles.

I'm so excited for the work - I love being a missionary. Even biking here in Texas heat, there is nothing I would rather do more :)

P.S. Proof that I am actually drinking water :)

Missing

One of the worst things that can happen in dance is when a shoe goes missing. Many other things go missing - hair supplies, tights, costume pieces etc. For the most part, you can fudge through without them. It won't be fun, but you can make it. Most of the time, you can't fudge though a missing shoe. Especially not in pointe class, where the shoe makes the dance style. Thankfully most dance centers have a lost and found box, where you can sometimes find a shoe that fits and use it for the day. Still, it's better to just have your own.

It's been a bit of a harder week than most. There have still been more miracles than I can even begin to describe, but it's been harder. I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about it, but I will explain the reasoning behind the title Missing. We lost our phone this week. We're in the process of getting a new one.

But on to the miracles!

We have these amazing investigators M&P. They are twin sisters, and they are powerhouse! I love them so much! We've been teaching them for a few weeks, and we've been in the Plan of Salvation lately. Visit before last we left Elder Holland's talk from this last conference "Where Justice, Love and Mercy Meet" as their reading assignment. This last lesson was perhaps the most amazing one I've ever had - and I've had some really cool lessons with investigators. Not only did they read, they highlighted, and they had questions as well. But during our discussion on the Atonement, P not only answered her own questions, but taught us the rest of the lesson. It was sweet. We extended baptism to them at the end. P said yes right away, but expressed concerns that lead back to Priesthood authority, so we'll be reviewing that next. M took longer to say yes. But after that she kept repeating yes until she concluded with "I need it!" They also keep telling us how they feel warm inside while they do their readings, and M starts weeping literally every time we pray. My heart feels so full when I think about them. 

Satan is working hard on them though. We're praying hard for them.

I also got to go to Mission leadership Council again this week - I love MLC so much. We talked about OYMing (street contacting, "Open Your Mouth") and teaching in depth. I loved it - even though it's all basics, I learned so much. President Hall has already started making changes, and they're doing so much good. I'm so glad he's here!

Oh, look up the 14th article of faith. It's pretty funny :)

Resistance Stretching

I love resistance stretching. It hurts so much that I start laughing sometimes, but it does so much good. I see such a difference between normal stretching and resistance stretching. I'm not exactly sure what the principle is behind resistance stretching that makes it work so well - but I know God's perspective on opposition - that all things must have their opposites (2 Nephi 2:15). So I know that the force opposing the stretch helps me to stretch farther!

Transfers are here once again! I'm staying here in Texas City with Sister McElroy for another transfer! I'm super excited. It'll be an interesting transfer. We were called earlier this week with news that we'll be moving into our new apartment at the end of August. We have a lot to prepare before then though, so it'll be an adventure :)

This week has been another interesting one - every week brings its challenges and adventures - but I can't remember most of them. I left my planner from this last transfer at home...oops. I'll try to tell you about as much as I can.

We had district meeting on Tuesday. It's only our second one this transfer. It was really an interesting experience. I don't feel like our district knows each other that well yet, but we're on our way to getting there. However, we won't all be here come Wednesday the 29th because of transfers. Oh well.

Then we got a new tire for Sister McElroy's bike Wednesday night, so Thursday began our biking adventures once again. It has been HOT. Really hot. I know I have said this before, but I have never been more grateful for the wind in my life than I have being on bikes. But I definitely feel like we are getting to know our area better and we are definitely blessed for being on bikes.

Investigator wise, the week was a bit challenging. But as Elder Eldred G. Smith said more than 40 years ago:

So it is with us today, we must also have the bitter in order to know the sweet. Sometimes some of us think we have the bitter and not enough of the sweet. This is normal. We all have our trials of life to strengthen us. Each thinks he has the hardest or most severe trials. It may be that they are the most difficult only because they are the hardest or most difficult for you. The diamond is enhanced and made more valuable with polishing. Steel is made harder and more valuable through tempering. So also opposition builds the character of man.

Ok, so that formatting didn't work so well, but whatever. What he's saying is that sometimes missionaries have to have harder weeks, so that the incredible weeks will be all the more sweet - and don't get me wrong. There have been some beautifully sweet moments this week.

Let me share just one of them.

We have these two investigators M and P. They are twin sisters, and they have the most intense personalities I've ever met in my life. They also don't have very many friends because life experiences have made it hard for them to open up. But somehow we've become their friends. Every time we go over they give us stuff. And for the past few weeks, we go over with an awesome lesson planned, and then they literally ask so many questions about different parts of the gospel and church and the explanation gets them so off topic that we have to leave before we can teach our lesson. 

We went over on Saturday after texting them that we had a special message to give them about the pamphlets we left with them the time before - and the atmosphere was totally different. They were ready to learn. They had their pamphlets and study materials and everything. And this lesson was amazing. They made so many connections, and they were so excited for the Books of Mormon that we gave them! I have never seen anyone that excited to read the Book of Mormon. 

And then they expressed to us how much we have impacted their lives. It's only been about three weeks. But P started crying as she was telling us how we have opened her heart. She's a police officer - she doesn't cry. I love these girls so much! I can't wait to keep updating on them.

So see - opposition. Bitter and sweet. That's missionary work for you :)