May 12, 2014 -- Little Girl of Y'alls in Tennesseeee!

Recent convert Bonnie's son, Caleb -- the most lovable baby in the world. 

Hola!  

AH talking to you all yesterday was absolutely fabulous!!  I LOVED IT! Y'all are the greatest, funniest, folks around!  And I missed Jon and Bri but it felt like I got to see them with all the pics and videos and everything, so wonderful.  What a great wedding, it seemed like!

Bonnie's front yard -- a beautiful estate.
She was baptized last fall and we sisters help her out a lot!  

Well, I already told you a little but here are some details. My companion, trainer, first mother, Sister Malloy is with me again!  It is absolutely crazy how long we've been able to serve near/together, but it's the greatest! She is super awesome and I learn a lot from her!  We live in Seymour, TN, just outside of Sevierville/Pigeon Forge, in a big white house in the upstairs of a members home. We have nice spacious rooms and a big wooden staircase.  Every morning we cross the highway the house is on, to go running in a really expensive neighborhood with Pride-and-Prejudice-like houses, and the sun is just peaking above the Great Smokey Mountains . . . It is surreal!

  

The drives to church are long, (which is the struggle with this area: our mile limit is low) curvy, super green and lush with fields, rolling mist, and trees. The people here are a mix of  Southerners of all kinds, including some Hispanic families.  

Little Matthew.  We're best friends basically.

A week from yesterday Sunday, right before I got here, the sister's investigator Raisa, (pronounced Rye-Sa) was baptized!  So I got to meet her, and get to know her.  She's hilarious, originally from Cuba, but speaks more English than Spanish.  She is super intelligent and comprehends a lot, (when the sisters asked if they could come to her house to practice Spanish, she had their intentions figured out by the 2nd lesson, but continued to learn), and so loving.  I already love her so much.  There's also this investigator, Lisbeth, who is HILARIOUS!  She calls Sister Malloy and me "Alicia" and "Madeleine" because she says, "I'm sorry, I just don't believe in callin' you 'Sister.' "

The ward is fabulous, I've had the chance to meet and serve less active members, all of which call on us to help them and know we're willing, and all of which want to feed us.  We've stacked picture frames, rearranged furniture, deep-cleaned rooms, gardened for 3+ hours already!  So they know how to put us to good use at least :) And then they always give us food in return - it works out really well, I believe. 

The Sevierville ward has been trying to get SLC to permit an extension onto their building for  years, and it was finally passed this spring, so construction's already begun.  After many prayers they found a place to meet on Sundays, until October:  An unoccupied theater, right across from the Hatfield and McCoy and the Titanic, among other attractions on the strip of Pigeon Forge. Haha! Yesterday was the first day of church there, and although it was really chaotic, the Bishop mentioned how blessed they are to have a place to meet, and to encourage everyone to think of the pioneers that didn't have places to gather and worship.  It was pretty cool to see all the faithful saints come and worship together! Raisa was confirmed and she just turned to me right before and said, "This is really, really different." Bless her heart.  But the spirit was really strong during her confirmation still!  

There are a bunch of Hispanic families in the ward, most really young, from Honduras, and most are related in some way.  They're super awesome and I'm excited to get to know them better!  

Our ward mission leader had us over to Skype. His name is Pat Sheets, and he is awesome, the most involved ward mission leader I've heard of on the mission.  He and his wife have 7 kids and 20+ grandkids, and a lot were over at their home yesterday so it was just great to be in that kind of environment.  I really love that family already!

Las hermanas rubias de Rocky Face. 

As far as Sister Training Leader stuff goes, we have Mission Leadership Conference tomorrow, and going to play violin in that meeting so I'm excited for that.  Then we'll begin to exchange this week too which will be a blast!  I know that the Lord will give us the strength we need to fulfill this calling, I know I'll learn from it more than anything!

I have goals this transfer to speak in Spanish more around the house, be more obedient (because it's the only way Heavenly Father's obliged to bless us) and work more with the ward.

So I am really enjoying Sevierville, my companion, and the work here.  I'm praying that we'll be able to work hard and see the fruits of our labors!

Love,

Hermana Collier

​At transfers -- All the spanish hermanas, except good ol' Hermana Button. Left to right is Hermana Malloy, Hermana Norman, Hermana Horrocks, Hermana Bateson, Hermana Winters, Hermana Collier, Herman Lindhardt, Hermana Edlund, and Hermana O'Very.  I LOVE THEM!   It was my first time seeing Hermanita Lindhardt since October!  She's now comps with Hna Winters.  Hermana Bateson is who I replaced here in Sevierville - she is a really good missionary, all the people here miss her a lot.  By the way, ALL the elders I'm serving with here in Sevierville, I've already served with in Dalton -- haha, the life of a Spanish missionary!  

May 5, 2014 -- Goodbye Georgia!

Mary Ortiz and Marcia Martinez - southern girls that both have Mexican husbands. They are so wonderful and have helped me so much while here! They just love so easily!

DEAR FAMILY!!!!! 

HOLA! 

I miss you all! I loved the pix of Sarah/Brandon's Boda, and the court of honor for Ollie, and Jon and Bri's experience at the temple, sounds like it's all going great!!

Familia Fraire.  The other family that really took us in! they are amazing.

This week has been fabulous!! I have loved every minute, and it has made knowing that I'm leaving soooo hard. Why Georgia Why!?

We had a regular week (except a lot more meals from the members) and it was great!  There was one really sad part - one of the Elders in our district, went home - honorably, but we still miss him!  He was replaced by Elder Morales who is originally from Mexico - it has been awesome to practice Spanish with him.  So that was sad but there is a reason for everything.

On Friday Sister Ortiz had the missionaries over for one last bonfire at their house in the countryside, and we got to play soccer and talk about the gospel under the stars! That night we got the text to be on leadership transfer calls. That night I told Heavenly Father that I trust He knows where I'm needed and I will go faithfully. The next morning we studied, and then transfer calls.  I got the very unexpected news that I'm going to be a Sister Training Leader in Sevierville Tennessee!  I don't know what my mission president's thinking but I will do what he and Heavenly Father ask!

On Saturday Luis Gonzalez took us to teach two lessons. The first was Manuela, a 40-yr old women who has 7 children, and no spouse.  We've really struggled in the past with her wanting to talk more about her problems than the gospel, but on Saturday we were able to both LISTEN and TALK.  It was great! THEN we taught Jose! He is fairly golden, and we had a really good Restoration lesson with him.  Luis bore his testimony on how he's changed since he's been baptized and on Joseph Smith.  Those two lessons were AWESOME.

Alexa, who's baby's birthday it was

That night the Fraire's had a party for their one year old grandson - the Mexicans go hard core for baby's parties which I think is hilarious because it's not like they'll remember :)  But hey it was a blast!! We got to practice our Spanish, eat, take pictures with people, and then they had this big bounce house.  Most of the people had left, and Laura, a returned missionary, runs up to me and Sister Winters and was like "C'mon Hermanas, let's go!" And so us sisters went crazy in the bounce house in our skirts!  Shhh...

The next day church was fabulous!  Luis' kids came for the first time ever, which was great. Also, Jose came and sat right next to us, and Manuela as well!  During Fast and Testimony meeting, I just sat there and thought of all the weeks I'd spent, sitting on that bench-sometimes very hard weeks, and I was overcome by the feelings I have attached to that Dalton chapel.  I have been there in the roughest times and the best.  I have changed so much while I've been here.  I felt such an overwhelming love from Heavenly father for me and for the people of this area.  I got up and bore my testimony and felt the Spirit so strong, and it really helped me say the words of my heart in Spanish.  Wow.  Our investigators loved church - all 3 hours, and Jose sent the sweetest text to us after, thanking me for all my hard work and telling me that he'll always remember me, and that we've changed his life! Unforgettable.  

Lisa, the sweet girl who is
going toget baptized!
So excited for her!

After church we contacted a referral that the Elders taught once, named Laura Sanchez. She's 16, and her parents are from Guatemala so she speaks good English and Spanish. She actually was looking  at instagram and discovered mission calls, and wanted to know more about what a missionary is and how to get a mission call. She found out about the book of Mormon and referred herself on Momon.org.  We got there and just taught her the whole Restoration and she was totally attentive, and extended her a date of June 7th to be baptized! She was SO EXCITED, probably would've consented to sooner! I'm so happy for Hermana Winters and Hermana Lindhardt, my CCM comp, to continue teaching her! Yes, Hna Lindhardt is coming to take my place in Rocky Face.  I am SO excited for them! 

So I learned yesterday, HARD WORK PAYS OFF!!  It is the best feeling to look around on Sunday and see that I have made a difference here.  When we serve others and work hard, it changes us. Thank goodness for the Atonement that makes all of this possible!

After our lesson with Lisa we had a goodbye dinner at our wonderful Bishop Torres' home.  We bore our testimonies and cried and took pictures.  The people here have become my family, and I love them so much. I have changed here so much!

But I still have 2 more days thank goodness :)

Love you all,

Hermana Madeleine Collier

With Bishop Torres' familia, I love them so much!!

April 28, 2014 -- Refiner's Fire

Fresh guacamole! . . .

Querida Familia,

. . . when we went out to dinner with Jared and Hermana Mora.

Hola! Jon and Brianna I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!  It's getting sooo close!

Well this week was not the easiest of my mission!  But that's ok -- I am learning to love tough things, I am being humbled, and learning so much.   

It started out with some great lessons, and a lot of calling upon members, trying to get them more involved.  We got to go out with the Young Women visiting less actives and with another member who took us out to visit people.  We had some great experiences with those people.  We just want this ward to be strengthened, I'm just praying and working for it constantly! 

Satan really came out for us on Saturday. We taught a lesson to a guy named Jesus - the Spirit was super strong as we answered his questions about Joseph Smith, asked inspired questions, listened carefully, and followed the guide of the Holy Ghost.  I was super pleased with how it was going.  He was responding really well and telling us that these were answers to his prayers and he believed that Joseph Smith was truly a prophet of God. Then he told us he CANT change his religion- it's the tradition of his fathers.  I have never felt so discouraged -- I've never seen someone who so clearly believed and understood and yet blatantly denied it!

The same day, a family member of Rafael, our recent convert, stood and said such hurtful things to my companion and me as we stood in her driveway.  We wished her a good day, walked away and sat in the beating sun on the curb and cried for a minute. Wow, I have never felt so dragged down!  But this day and these experiences led to study, to prayer, and to meditation, and my testimony has been strengthened SO MUCH over these last few days!

But Rafael is experiencing some crazy pressure from his family.  Please pray for him!  We will be working with him so hard this next week.

Luis our other recent convert is doing awesome - he went to El Salvador this week, and he visited the church there.  He loved it and was amazed at the size! Of course the missionaries there all tracked him down and were super shocked when he talked to them in perfect English. He also brought us back souvenirs, woot woot!

A ward baby shower

After a semi hard week, thank goodness for members -- last night we had dinner with the Fraire family, renowned in the mission for their food, but more importantly than the authentic Mexican food, they had the spirit so strong in their home.  It was something I needed, to sit and talk about the gospel and the ups and downs of missions, and the joy of living these truths.  This next week is my last here in Rocky Face and I am super sad but excited to live up these last few days.

I KNOW that this restored gospel is true, and it is wonderful! I know that I've been called of God to be out here and for that I am so grateful.  I know that Jesus Christ is the reason for everything, and I will strive every day to help others feel of His love and His sacrifice for them.

Thanks for everything you guys do! I love y'all to death!!

Love,
Hermana Collier

With the young women we saw a wild rabbit! Emily reincarnated?  

   The Fraires had baby chicks 

April 21, 2014 -- Happy Easter!

With Amanda Torres at the egg smashing

Hola familia! 

Hope your Easter was fabulous, mine sure was.  Y'all sound busy and like you're busy and having fun.

Well, this week was great!  On P-day I bowled a 117, holla! Haha, I was pretty excited. Also that day at Wal-Mart, I talked to a guy, Agapito, and he said we could come over and teach him the next day!  So we went to Agapito's and had a lesson with him and his daughter Elizabeth.  The Spirit was super strong as we taught about Jesus Christ, and what He's done for all of us.  Then the Spirit prompted us to go on and teach the Restoration, and as we taught about Joseph Smith and related the first vision, we saw  Elizabeth, the 12 year old daughter shed a few tears.  It was one of the coolest lessons and I know the Spirit was so strong there. 

After conquering a very dirty house with Sister Hatch

On Wednesday I went to Harrison Bay Tennessee, near Chattanooga for an exchange.  I was companions with the lovely Sister Hatch, which was great, we had a great time and taught some powerful lessons.  She taught me a lot about the importance of striving to have the Spirit with us as missionaries -- and I've made some goals of what I want to change.  We also did some service and cleaned a really dirty house . . .  The silent vows you make on your mission - "My house will nevverrrr ever be this dirty!"  It's great!  But we had fun while doing it.

We're also teaching a man named Jose right now.  Although we've only had two semi-short lessons and both were on his porch and without members, he's already read a good part of 1 Nephi and wants to come to church, although he works every other weekend.  We're super excited about him though!

Taught Rafael about temples :) love him! 

Remember how Rafael's grandson Jesus was interested for a while then sort of stopped?  Well he almost came to church on Sunday! Turns out Rafael got a headache so none of them came, but we're going to try and get him back on the road to taking the discussions. I hope.

We had some other good lessons this week.  Right now we're struggling with members getting involved in teaching our people, but as we grow closer to the ward members I think they'll volunteer their help more.  It's coming along!

Crazy to think I only have 2 more weeks here in Dalton.  President and Hermana Irion came down to District Meeting on Friday and we had a great interview, I love President! He just gave me a lot of encouragement and also told me he still hasn't decided where he's sending me...It made me so anxious!

Busch smashing the egg on the bishop.  Ha ha!

Pascua was great!  We had a splendid day, full of church, sunshine, a delicious Carne Asada at the Garcia's with some families from our ward, and Easter egg hunts.  I led out the kid's easter egg hunt- they went out and got as many eggs as they could and then when they came back, they were all empty.  I explained to them that was how the women who went to find Jesus at the tomb felt when they found no one there, but that He still lives and gives us gifts -- and so they still got candy.  :)  It was great.

Then the bishop and his wife had organized a second hunt, with egg shells filled with confetti.  I thought it was kind of random, but when I got to the front yard everyone was cracking them on each others heads and such.  Haha, Mexican Easter!!!  Never to be forgotten!

All fun aside, I am super grateful for our Savior and His sacrifice for us.  Even though I didn't get to be with ya'll this Easter, I think it was one of my favorite ones ever because I have come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ and His Atonement and Resurrection for me and what it means.  It makes me more happy than any Easter celebration could! 

Happy Easter! 

Love and miss y'all to death!

Love

Hermana Collier

April 14, 2014 -- A Week of Walking and Talking

Dalton Georgia, I'll never forget ya!

HOLA!

Que pasa Calabasas!  What's new!?

Okay, funny story before I forget:  I think I told you a while ago about Efrain. He's the guy we saw while walking home one day, and invited him to come to church, and then he came!  The Elders finally got to teach him and he's accepted a baptismal date.  After doing so, he basically told them, "It's so crazy because when the Sisters first came up to me, I thought they were the police! But then I saw Jesus Christ on their tags."  And he loves to tell that story over and over.  On Sunday he pointed at me and said "Theres the police!" :)

We've had some pretty good investigators, but for some reason have struggled maintaining investigators that are females.  So as weird as it is, I've really been praying that we'd be able to find some this week, and Heavenly Father answered my prayers!  We had a lesson with a woman named Lupe who is raising three teenage daughters.  The middle one has major special needs.  She was super open to learning more and we are really excited to start teaching them.  We also had a lesson with a woman named Manuela, who will need a lot of help, but is open to the gospel! 

Best ice cream...EVER...seriously!

On Saturday we had a cool experience, we talked to a family out on their porch, and we've talked with them in the past, so I was surprised when after chatting for a minute (and almost convincing them that I'm Puerto Rican, haha) they invited us to come in and share our message.  The Spirit was very strong in the room, especially when the dad asked, "If you were both born in the religion of your fathers, how did you come to know your Savior Jesus Christ?"  And we both just bore personal testimony in our broken Spanish that we KNEW that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God and the Book of Mormon is true, because we've experienced it for ourselves and it's changed our lives.  The Spirit helped us so much during that lesson, and I think they were very affected by it.

It really is amazing to look back and see how much my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration has really grown in these last 7 months.  I encourage you to study the talk from President Uchtdorf, "Are you sleeping through the Restoration?"  It is super duper true!

     thought we'd pick up some lunch on the road :)

A family in the Dalton ward just had their son get back from his mission in LA so we got to go to their home and talk to him about his mission a bit.  He has great story because he was 24 when he decided to go, after years of wandering, but served a very honorable mission.  He gave his testimony in church on Sunday and told us how important missionary work is to him and to our Savior.  I realized it is not a sacrifice I'm making to be out here at all, the Lord is giving me this chance to spread His love and serve others!

I love this gospel!  I love you all.

Hermana Collier

Hispanics give us Coke for the road...all the time!

We had a carne with la familia Mesta..pollo, carne, todo!  It was very fun!

April 7, 2014 -- General Conf Week!

We got some game meat at a Baptist dinner we were invited to!  Oh the south!

HOLA FAMILIA!

This week was great.  For Hermana Winters birthday on P-day, the car was in the shop (the other hermanas got in a li'l accident) and so we walked to do email and to lunch and to the bowling alley! Haha, interesting but fun.  Then afterwards our car was ready to go! That night a sweet member made us dinner and had a little birthday cake for Sister Winters, so it was fun.

We had some good times contacting more people, and found some people to teach.  We had a lesson with a man named Fidal who seems promising, and a young family, and one named Juan.  The rest of the people we visit are REALLY Catholic -- so sweet, yet very stubborn in their belief.  But one of these families, after praying for us that we'd see the light, offered us FRESH-made tortillas with Mexican cheese, it was heavenly!  Tender mercies. haha.

On Thursday we had Zone Meeting, and I was SO nervous about the training, but it went all right!  I am so grateful the Spirit was there to help lead me.  I shared about repentance and faith, and based a lot of it on an article out of the Ensign about the Atonement by Elder Bednar.  Turns out a large portion of his talk in the last session of conference was taken from that, which was one of my favorite talks.  I also shared an experience that I don't know if I have even shared with y'all.  Last transfer I was studying repentance and learned that  "bringing our lives in line with God's will through repentance is a central purpose of our lives" and thought back to an experience.  In third grade I had taken part in drawing on the bathroom stalls.  Afterwards the teacher asked every student if they'd done it and I said I didn't.  I've since repented to Heavenly Father for what I'd done wrong, but I realized I'd never apologized to Mrs. Barnes and knew that I needed to if I wanted to continue preaching repentance to the people here.  She wrote me back on Monday, and told me the sweetest things -- that my writing a letter was enough and that I shouldn't worry about what I'd done and she was glad I learned from it! It was super humbling to share that in front of 30 missionaries, but I think it helped get across my point that repenting with a broken heart and contrite spirit, no matter what it is that we did wrong, can CHANGE us as missionaries.

The other cool even of this week was Migdalia.  Months ago, we received a referral that we never found, but whilst looking, tracted into a woman named Migdalia.  She wanted to visit with us and gave us her address. Since then, we've tried 4 or 5 times without her being home, and normally we would've given up at this point, but for some reason we were inspired to go back this week.  She answered the door and greeted us warmly but said she was "Tortillando" and invited us to come back the next night.  So the next night finally we went in and started talking to her! We talked a bit about her life--she's from Guatemala--and she seemed to sort of know about us but we didn't really know why.  We asked her if she had a church.  She said, "Well the truth is I went to your church." We thought she meant a time or two, but no! She's a member! The second one we've found recently in the streets. She was baptized into the Rocky Face Branch seven years ago!  Hermana Winters and I were just like SHOCKED as she told us about the people she remembered, and the doctrines she loved.  She even told us how much she liked listening to President Hinckley.  She remembered a ton for not being back for that long! Turns out she got offended by someone, and left.  Even though she didn't accept our invitation come to conference, we're excited to keep working with her and help her overcome her fears and dive into activity again. 

GENERAL CONFERENCE was so good!  After looking over my notes, there were a lot of words I wrote down for different talks that seemed to be themes repeated, some of them were: stand and defend, serve, find joy, obey, increase faith, keep covenants, and importance of family. I also learned about the power of simplicity - The talks at the end centered on the Atonement by Elders Corbridge, Bednar, and Christofferson were so powerful to me.  I just have so much to learn and apply from what we heard, so much growing to do!

Family I love you and miss you so much!  Hope you have a wonderful April week filled with rain showers and sunshine and blossoms and love and stuff!  Thanks for everything you do

Love, Hermana Collier

March 31, 2014 -- Miraculous Week!

Hola Familia!!  QUE TAL!

This week's been very different, but great.  A really hard thing happened this week -- well actually last week -- but anyway, do you remember the less-active member Bruno who we went with his sister to help fix his car then invited him to church and he came?  He ended up coming again, a couple of weeks ago thanks to a lot of prayer!  Then we didn't see him for a week or two.  So last Thursday Hermana Winters got the impression to call him, but we didn't have his number, so she asked Luisa for it.  Luisa said that she'd call him to make sure it's ok to give it to us - little did she know that was the last time she'd talk to him.   On Friday their was a shooting at the bar that he worked at as a security guard.  The boy with the gun went for the other guard, but Bruno jumped out to tackle him and hence got shot. 

We were devastated, especially with the prompting we needed to talk with him that week.  We found out he was getting ready to quit that job, too.  It was one of the most real experiences I've ever faced with death -- he was just there one day and the next not.  Luisa and her family are crushed.  The viewing was beautiful, and the line wrapped outside of the funeral home around the next parking lot - half of Dalton came!  The funeral was equally inspiring, the family asked if the missionaries would provide the music for the funeral.  We were able to do Teach Me to Walk in the Light and I Am A Child of God, and I was able to use the violin!  The Rodriguez's very tearfully thanked us for it, and so did many members of the congregation.  It was a very special experience. It's interesting that funerals are such a sad thing, but they also bring people together in a beautiful way!

The Lord is watching over us as missionaries. The other day on bikes, we were feeling a little discouraged and down. We started heading down the street walking our bikes, when a van pulls up to us and the man says, "Que Pasa!" I said, "Hola! Como Esta! Somos misioneras!"  They went on to say, "Yes, we know!"  And the young man in the front seat said, "We're members, my brother and I, we just moved here from Guatemala but didn't know where to find the church!"  Their names are Margarito, 23, and Hector, 27, and Margarito has been working here for about a year, and Hector got here 3 WEEKS ago!!  Margarito was has been looking for the church here but couldn't find it, so was happy to see the missionaries that day!  Sadly, he works every day but Thursdays and Fridays so he can't come to church :(.  But Hector is legit as well -- he actually has a wife and four children in Guatemala.  He told us it's very hard for him to be here and he misses them a lot.  He baptized his oldest son a month ago before he left.  When he came here to the US, all he brought were some pairs of clothes, so he came to church on Sunday in a t-shirt and jeans, and everyone thought he was an investigator! Which was kind of funny to me because he's been to the temple more times than most of the members in our ward. But he liked church, or at least said he did, which might have taken a lot for him because I could tell by the way he talked that he really missed church in Guatemala. It was a huge blessing that the Lord gave us to meet these two young enthusiastic members!  Praying that Hector doesn't find a job that makes him work Sundays as well.

Two weeks ago we walked home, thinking we hardly did anything that day, but by the train tracks we talked to a man who didn't even look Hispanic to me, turns out he was, and invited him to church.  On Sunday, the Bishop called us over, "Hermanas, this is your friend Efrian who you invited to church?"  Haha, I had NO CLUE who he was, and then I finally remembered, and acted like I knew who he was all along!  Ha! so he came to church.  He lives in the Elders area so they'll begin teaching him. I am excited to see him progress!

We visited the Catholic church.  I didn't like it very much, but it was good for Oliver and Elizabeth to see that we cared enough to come see them.  They were thrilled to see us there, so maybe they'll come to ours one day! 

Okay, so picture this...The women of the Dalton and Rocky Face wards sit down to watch the General Women's Meeting after enjoying cookies and lemonade.  The lights fade, and a sweet voice welcomes the women to the Broadcast.  A missionary in the back row starts flipping out when it begins and in a whisper-shout, says, "THATS MY MOM!!! MY MOM'S VOICE!!" Haha!  All of the sisters of the ward were like, "Really!?" Mostly it was just great to hear your voice, Mom.  During Mormon.org hour I played the invitation 5 times, because I just like listening to your voice!

My favorite parts of the meeting were Sister Burton's bold call to serve where there is Help Wanted -- she is amazing! And Elder Eyring's comment on "nurturing leaders." I really loved it and I think we can all get something different out of the messages that inspires us to do better, to stand taller and have a higher vision.

The Zone Leaders called me and I have to give a fifteen minute training at Zone Conference this Thursday on faith and repentance.  I am SUPER nervous.  Please pray for me and send me any brilliant ideas or thoughts that you may have on those subjects!

I know that the Savior's Atonement is real. It is all-encompassing.  He is our Rock and our Salvation.  We are all indebted to him!

Love you all! 

P.S. Today is Hermana Winters' birthday!  We're going bowling so she can beat us all again... :)