Another week full of "best days"

(From Sister Spring's Mom:  She sent this one today and I love this picture.  That really is her blanket her grandmother made her when she was born!)

Baby bottle pop, Baby blanket, Bow

Hola Familia.
I hear congratulations are in order....Stephen...Lauren....Congrats on the twins!!! Good luck with them, too. You sure will be busy ones with the crazy pups. They are mighty cute! How is it going so far?

The "twins" referred to are these puppies, Bella and Hefe.  Her brother had to put down their other dog January 19, due to cancer.  He was just one year old


   Well, I have the best news ever. Yesterday we received a text from Brother Jones reading, "Hey there. Next time you make your way over here, be sure to bring the baptism calender. (: (: (:" In three-ish weeks the Jones family four will be baptized!! I am ecstatic. It has been amazing to see how the coming to know their Heavenly Father really does change people. By no means am I saying that the Jones family was "bad" because they are not even close, nor were they. But their desires are changing. They are more confident and happy and I just love them. Coming unto Christ is for everyone. The Jones family is a testimony of that to me.



Elder Steele, Sister Manwaring, Sister Steele, and me. 



Today we had a "Zone P-Day Activity." A Zone is made up of different "areas" in a mission. Each companionship is assigned to an area. (for example, I am serving in the Kirtland area in the Kirtland zone...got it? goooood) Well today we all got together. Our Zone Leaders designated this activity to be a costume and cooking extravaganza. So we, as companionships, dressed up in costume and brought a goodie to share. We made "Special K Candy." A yummy delicacy that we adopted from Sister Steele. We spent much of our Pday at the Steele's home making our costumes and cooking. It was wonderful to be in their home. Elder Steele made us sandwiches for lunch. You see, Sister Steele and Elder Steele are very precious. Poor Sister Steele took a pretty harsh fall two or three weeks ago which resulted in a bruised face and a couple bruised or broken ribs...I can not remember which...neither one sounds appealing to me. Our "costume" was pretty ridiculous. As missions, we talk with everyone about Christ and invite them to learn more about His church. The majority of the time we get a kind "no, thanks." We give them a card which has faces of different people in boxes with a line in the middle that says "mormon.org." So...we made these "pass along" cards. No worries...I have included a picture. It was a fun time. We played "Knock Out" and Volleyball.     





Sister McAlister, me, and Sister Manwaring as "Pass Along Cards"

Speaking of mormon.org...go look at it...right now. In fact, here is a specific video I would like y'all to look at. I love it so much. It is about the new year and looking forward. Some of the video relays the story of Lot and his family found in the book of Genesis in the Bible. To get to the video go to mormon.org. Then there is a link on the top "mormon TV". Then the videos are in alphabetical order...go to the "L's" and find "Look Not Behind Thee." Will you do that? It really is a great movie. Every time I see it I feel so motivated to, simply put, be better.

I feel so flustered for time with only one hour left of PDay and a million things to do.

The most important things for you to know are that God loves you, I love you, and I am happy.

XOXOXO

Sister Spring

Sister Mayer, me, and Sister Webb.  The three Texans at our Zone P-Day Activity. (:

Sister McAlister, Sister Manwaring, and me at the N. K. Whitney Store.  The other night we went on a "mock tour" together.  This is the first room of the tour...and one of my favorite rooms, too.  (Okay, let's be honest, they are all my favorite.)

Dropping Like Flies.....

Hihihihi!!


Winter is (still) here! Saturday morning we get in the car at about eight in the morning to head to a meeting, glance at the temperature, and just about die of disgust. (Is that possible?) 3 degrees!!!!! 3 degrees! Oh my lanta...that is COLD. In all honesty, it all feels the same to me. Three is just a daunting number. And it sure makes 15 look a whole lot better...which is the number now found on the thermometer. Another cold story, when we got in the car this morning at six, we not only had to scrape ice off the outside of the windshield but the inside, too...How does that even happen?!?



My first snow shoveling experience!  My weak arms needed help getting started but by the end of the week I was a pro!


This week was a little strange. Time slowly crawled forward as I was homebound for two full days and part of another day. A plague of sorts has hit the Visitors Center and, you guessed it, the Sisters are dropping like flies. Don't worry...nothing serious. Nasty cough, chills, aches, fever peaking at 101.8. You know, the usual. Last Tueseday I started feeling a little punky but tried to power through the slight discomfort. There were a couple lessons that I sincerely was looking forward to attending. I was probably more of a hurt there as my thoughts were jumbled and my sentences made zero sense. Oops. So Wenesday morning my companions forced me to call our mission president's wife. I was left helpless...forced to stay in for the next two days. SAD! BUT, probably a good thing because I think those two days I spent a total of maybe three hours out of my bed...oops. Friday morning we found service we could do from home and then went to sites in the evening. I am pretty much fully capacitated once again.

Okay, now I will actually tell you something of value instead of complaining to you all.

Remember the couple from last weeks bits of awkwardness? Well we have been meeting with them weekly for nearly two months now. I love them. I really do. I want to be friends with her post-mission. She is such a sweet, cute, little lady! But it has been hard meeting with them because they do not really know what they are looking for in meeting with us. Does that make sense?  has said a couple of times, "If I did not want you here, you wouldn't be here. Believe me."...but they were not searching. They would not pray to find out that there is a God. They would not read the scriptures to learn of God. They would not come to church. It was/is a little discouraging. THEN we stopped by two Sundays ago and she told of an experience she had earlier that week. While she was driving home one evening, she passed the chapel and had an overwhelming desire to go inside of the church building and just sit. She said the feeling kind of scared her because she had never felt anything like it before that moment. Well, Tuesday we went to the church and talked about prayer and God and all of the things we normally talk about together. Then, they sat in the chapel for maybe 10 minutes (it felt like an eternity though!!). We parted our ways and now they are out of town so we can not see them until FRIDAY. This is torture. I miss them. ):



Taking the best presents to the Jones family.  Their very own copies of the Book of Mormon for the keeping, the Plan of Salvation pamphlet, AND the Family Proclamation


Well, not much more to report on this end. New directors at the Visitors Center arrived this week. The Butterfield's were released after serving for three years here. We miss them already but are happy to have the Edmun's, too. It is one of those bittersweet occassions. There will probably be changes to ways around sites so I am hoping to be flexible. The family investigating are (still) amazing. The teenage boy texted us the other night and said "So if I want to pray can I pray in my head or do I have to pray out loud?" Okay..cutest thing ever! I love that family....

Sister Spring

Our "thank you" to the Facilities Management Team that takes such great care of sites and us sisters!



Sister McAlister and I.  I played dress-up in her clothes AND I forgot my name tag.  Luckily, she had a spare.  Two Sister McAlister's for the day!




Three is company!

Lake Erie freezing over



Trio Companionship - Sister McAlister, Sister Manwaring, and me outside of the Boynton

 Hello family!! I love you!


Dad...Mom...seriously you have to quit spoiling me one of these days. I got the SD card and the primary song the very next day! I DO know how to wait. ;) Thank you!!! I love it. There has not been time yet to watch my Christmas greetings, but I love seeing everyones faces! Thank you for thinking of me.

Sister (Tiffany) Manwaring (like a man wearing a tie) is our new companion! I absolutely adore her. We all get along well. There is so much that each of us adds to our little companionship. A little about the third companion...Sister Manwaring is from Murray, Utah. She has a twin named, Rachel. Before her mission, she was doing music studies at the University at Utah. Bubbly. Spiritual. Honest. Happy. Bold. Simply put, I love her!

What a week. It was hard. There were a lot of people that cancelled which broke my little heart. I want so badly to see these people every day because this is what brings happiness. There was a lot of freezing cold weather. We accidentally slept in until seven one day because the alarm was set for PM. Basically, there was a lot that could have slowed us down. We pushed through the disappointments. I love the optomistic outlooks of both of my companions. They surely do encourage me! We had an amazing week.

The family we are teaching were at church on Sunday...just as they said they would be. I love them I love them I love them!!! They are a busy family with sports and jobs and school and everything that life entails so it is hard to meet with them frequently. We were able to watch "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" at sites with them this week. Oh how I love that movie. If you ever get the chance to watch it...do it! Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God. Through him, the Lord was able to restore His church on the earth. Thank goodness for that knowledge. The family has been able to receive that knowledge and, in their Dad's words, they are "taking baby steps." Have I said lately that I love them?!

Another busy P-Day ahead of us (go figure)...so I had better wrap this up.

Love you familia. Miss you!

Sending lots of hugs, of course!

Sister Spring

One down, Eleven to go



Opened Christmas gifts early12-22-2010





Christmas Eve 2010



Where has the time gone? The six weeks here in Ohio have seriously FLOWN by. And that brings me here:  My very first transfers week in the mission. This week a lot is changing at the Kirtland Visitors' Center and in the Ohio Cleveland Mission. There are quite a few sites sisters that are going out full-time proselyting, including my dear Sister Golightly who has been living with me. I think four or five all together are going out. Something like that. In addition, a lot of companionships are being re-done. It came to 9:40 last night and no call for the Assistant's. Phew. No change for the us. We made that judgement a little too soon. Elder Jensen one of the Assistant's calls!!!!! My heart stopped. We were nervous. We thought all of the transfer calls had already been made. And his call could only mean one thing...Sister McAlister or I were leaving. Wrong again. Sister McAlister and I are staying together but we are moving downstairs in the Boynton Home (where we live now). At first we were really confused as to why we would be moving within the same home, BUT we used our detective skills to figure it out. The room downstairs has two sets of bunk beds. So we will be getting a new companion! Yay triple up. I am really excited. We will not know until Wednesday who our new addition will be..although we do have our guess (Sister Law). I will let you know next week. Nothing like a little cliff hanger. There will be a lot of cleaning and moving and organizing in the Boynton Home today and our P-DAY is cut short because we have a dinner at 430...what I am trying to say is I am sorry that letters are so delayed. I do love y'all and really appreciate y'all and WILL write back. Just give me a little time. (:




My cute little district!!  Back row: Elder Judd, Sister Kingston(she has an amazing singing voice), Sister Stewart(she has thirteen siblings), Elder Warner.  Front row: Sister Carver (recognize her from the MTC?), Sister Devenport (she's from Alaska), Sister McAlister (my lovely companion!!!), and me!  fun fact: This picture is actually from this morning 1-3-2011 

 
So we found a new family to teach!!!!! And I am so excited. I love them. Sister McAlister has been serving in Kirtland her whole mission. (She got here in June). Well, she has been wanting to stop by this certain house on Kirtland Road for the majority of that time. Friday evening on our way back to sites for our New Year's Eve dinner, we stopped by. We talked to the 17-year-old son for a few minutes and he said we could come back the next day to talk with him and his family. Naturally, we went back. We talked with the mom for a good while, and she told us that they have been looking for a church to go to. She also said that because of recent events she has been questioning her faith in God. We talked with her for nearly an hour, gave her a Book of Mormon, invited her to church. She said she would read from the Book of Mormon and that they would talk as a family about coming to church. This was on Saturday. Come sacrament meeting and no sign of the family. Honestly, that broke my heart. No fear. My companion is amazing. She suggested we stop by their house Sunday evening...so we did. Mom told us she was going to call us to apologize for not being at church but did not want to bother us on a Sunday...come on....we love to be bothered. (: So we stayed and talked with them for a little over an hour. This time it was dad, mom and 15-year-old daughter. Oh my goodness...it was the best hour of my mission. I love them! They have questions. They want answers. And that's how it works. As we search, Heavenly Father helps us find. That is what He is doing with this family. Perhaps it is a little too soon to be as excited as I am. But I can not help it. When the dad was praying before we left it was so tender. He said something along. "Thank you for bringing these ladies to us. Maybe this is the avenue we need to take." Yes, family. This is the avenue. Side note: They used to live in Frisco and have family in Flower Mound...SMALL WORLD.

There is this woman in our ward named Ann. Well Ann is married to Dave. And Dave has been meeting with missionaries for over two years. Well guess what! Dave has a baptismal date. June 17th. Yes, I realize that is six months away. But he has a vision. There is so much more to Dave's story that I am omitting. I could never do him justice. We just had a really good conversation with him yesterday. Tonight we will have dinner over at the Koshars. They take realllllly good care of us. Usually they feed us Peppino's pizza and make us eat until it is gone. Dave said he feels like cooking for us tonight...yay, surprises.

Lastly, please look up a video on youtube. I am not sure the name of it but our Sites director showed us the cutest little thing ever!! There is a little girl telling the story of Jonah and the whale. She is SO animated. So look up..."little girl Jonah and the whale" or something. I am sure you will find it. She has curly hair, glasses, standing at a pulpit, probably 7 or 8. CUTE CUTE CUTE.

Life is good. REALLY GOOD.  As always, please ignore my poor grammar.  I love my life.
Sister Spring