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.