So funny story.

Kind of. So we lost our apartment key the other day and had to sleep outside! Preface: So we share the ward with elders, we have a car and they're on bikes. Once a week we let them borrow the car and we walk/get member rides. So Friday night we go to a fireside in Richmond for investigators and recent converts and we leave there after it's over, around 8:45ish. And it takes about an hour and a half to get from Richmond back to Fredericksburg. So we're on the road, with the Lanes, they're recent converts in our ward who we drove down there with. So we drive to the elders apartment to pick up the car and  Then we realized that we didn't have our apartment key.. When we give the elders our car, we take off our apartment key and mail key and for some reason we could not find our apartment key. We seriously looked EVERYWHERE. Long story short at like 11:00 at night we drove to our Sister Training Leaders house to spend the night there. Okay I lied. We didn't sleep outside.. Hehe. We slept at their apartment. Didn't get to bed until like 11:30 then had to get up at like 6:00 the next day for zone conference. Good times. Needless to say, I'm going to be sleeping alllllll p day. The end.

Also this week we had Elder Anderson, of the 70 come and speak to us at zone conference and it was the bomb. For some reason, when Elder Sitati of the 70 and Elder Bednar came, I was suuper duper excited but for Elder Anderson I was just like meh. I have no clue why. But holy cow it was so good! I received so much revelation! So he talked a little about patience and I was like k you're speaking to me #rude haha I was like no I don't wanna be patient, just give me my visa, problem solved. Haha but I got so much out of it. There was a scripture that he told us to read and I started crying and just kept reading it over and over and over again. It was so simple. Alma 34:41 "But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions." Not that this is the biggest issue in the whole world getting re assigned to Virginia, but it is for me. And when I read that I just felt like it was Christ speaking to me. I love when it says a firm hope. Like, I have such a testimony that although this trial I've been going through for a year now is all for a purpose. And I've totally known that, but this just magnified that I guess. If that makes sense. haha. I just know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us SO much. 

This gospel is real. The atonement is here for us, NOW. If we're readily using it our lives, along with reading our scriptures I know we can access so much power from our Father in Heaven. I'm so proud to be a representative of Jesus Christ. This morning as I couldn't find my English name tag, and as I looked in the mirror without my name tag on, I was like my outfit isn't complete. Being Christs servent is who I have become. It is who I am. I love my Savior Jesus Christ so much. 

Ta ta! (name that movie) hehe

Sister Hallmark

Line of the week!

So our district leader gave us a call last night and asked if I could lead the music and if sister fuhriman could bear her testimony. 

*after we hang up she starts freaking out* haha

Sister Fuhriman: K I DON'T WANT TO!!!!! I'm okay with bearing my testimony but I'm not okay with being the tallest person in the room!!!

Me: What? Hahahaha

 

All the spotsy ward sisters! Good times!

Laughing.. Hahahahaha sister Romney..

 

"Another Day Another Dollar"

K so this week we have had so many cool experiences it's insane! There's one that sticks out in particular!

So we're out tracting and what not, no actually I lied, I think we were seeing a less active or something I don't remember.. Anyway! We were in this trailer park and we were trying to figure out what we should do so we decided to tract a couple doors. We felt like we should. So I immediately think of a street name and I turned to Sister Fuhriman and was like "k I have a street name in my mind if you think of the same one it's inspiration" haha so she was like "Jessica." THAT WAS THE STREET I WAS THINKING OF. #revelation Seriously it was so random and so cool! So obviously we went to that street and tracted it. Well the first door we knocked on, we talked with this old guy named Johnny, we were in the middle of teaching the restoration then his phone rings and he comes back and was like I'm gonna be awhile, can y'all come back tomorrow night? And we were like yeah, I mean, I guess, we'll see what we have planned.. Haha jk of course of course. So we have an appointment for tonight. We're stoked because he was asking so many questions you could tell he had such a sincere desire. Then the next door we knocked on was this guy named Nelson. We seriously talked for like an hour on his door step about the gospel, while simultaneously being eaten alive by mosquitoes, literally no exaggeration. I probably got like 47 mosquito bites on my legs. good times ANYWAY. So Nelson. We were assuming he was a former investigator. He had a Book of Mormon with markings from the missionaries in it. He had SO many questions about our church. So he's Catholic and I guess his friends have been telling him all sorts of things about how crazy Mormons are. It was really good we went by and cleared up a TON of his concerns. You could tell the spirit was so strong. Sister Fuhriman bore such powerful testimony, I was like a proud little mom.  It was so random that we found him. He was open to us coming back, so we got a return appointment.

On our way home we were talking and it was just so cool how that happened. We received such clear direction from the Lord and look where it took us. I'm so happy I'm a missionary right now and have the wonderful opportunity of having the spirit with me always. It's such an amazing feeling. I never want it to stop. Sharing the gospel with everyone I see is who I have become now. I'm grateful for my calling.

I love you all!

Sister Hallmark

Line of the week:

Me: (on the phone) Hi Brother Kelly, this is the sister missionaries! Can we talk with your wife for a minute?

Brother Kelly: Which one?

There was a looooooong pause then we all busted up laughing. I was crying. Haha because at first I kind of believed him I was like wait what? Hahaha good times man good times.

Puppyyyyyyyy!!!!!!

Sister Fuhrimans leg literally got stuck and it took like 10 minutes to get out… Hahahaha 

This Week Was Pretty Much Amazing!

 Sooooo the beginning of this week had a bit of a rocky start but by the end of it we were seeing miracles left and right! Ah the Lord is just so mindful of us all! 

K so when we got to this area, we literally had no investigators. So this area has only been open for about 4 or 5 months and apparently the missionaries before us were reallllly struggling to find investigators as well. :( For some reason people here just don't want the gospel! RUDE. But don't worry it gets better! So we were tracting last week and met this super nice old guy named Ralph and he had a million dogs and I love dogs therefore he's my best friend. Anyway we talked with him for a little bit about the gospel and dogs of course.. and he told us to come back when his wife was home so we could all talk together. We were like oh definitely so we set up a return appointment for this last Friday. So we go over Friday, teach them the restoration and they understood and accepted everything, including a baptismal invite. They also said they would read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Which isn't a huge deal I mean we commit people do all of those things all the time, but these past few weeks we've taught like no one so we were absolutely thrilled that we even got inside let alone taught a suuuuper awesome lesson and they're golden. 2 new investigators. #missionarylife

THEN. Right after their lesson we went over to this girls house named Peaches. Literally that is her name. I told my mission president and he was like why aren't we all named peaches and I was like I don't know prez it's pretty sweet! haha. Anyway so the elders taught her the Restoration then passed her off to us. She's 14 and suuuper chill. So we went over after Ralph and Cindys lesson to teach Peaches the Plan of Salvation, well her friend Gabbie was there. So we ended up teaching both of them the Plan and the spirit was soo powerful. They had so many questions about what happens after we die and stuff, things that they had been taught or didn't really agree with or whatever. idk but it was super cool just to see the spirit completely take over and they learned so much! No we all learned so much! 2 new investigators! 

So by the end of the night we found 4 new people to teach! The Lord has entrusted us with 4 of his children to help on their journey back to Him! It's SUCH a miracle! 

OH then we went back to Peaches last night, (Gabbie wasn't there) and ready to hear what happen? Are you sure you wanna know? k I'll tell you. WE SET HER ON DATE FOR BAPTISM. September 6th yo. She's so ready! Ah I just love her! K I'll send a picture of her next week. 

I just can't get enough of Fredericksburg. I loveeeeee it! Also I don't know if my mom posted my new address on here but if not here it is: 9504 Moores Creek Drive Apt. #306 Fredericksburg, VA 22408 I SURE DO LOVE GETTING MAIL. :) hint hint! Oh speaking of hint I had the hint of lime chips yesterday at a members house and they were super good. you know, in case you were wondering? THE CHURCH IS TRUE.

Guys my year mark is coming up and I'm freaking out! I feel like I just got out the MTC! I still don't know what the heck I'm doing! haha. My testimony has grown so much though! I'm so happy I get to be a missionary and share my testimony with everyone everyday. It's the best thing in the universe. I never wanna leave! I've grown to love this gospel so much I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, who loves me so much! And who qualifies me for this work because I can't do it alone! :)

Ate mais! Amo voces!

Sister Hallmark

Kinda blurry but Sister Allen made is cupcakes. :) We love cuppycakes.. clearly.

BACK IN SPOTSY

Well like 2 seconds away from it. I'm back in Fredericksburg!!!!! I got transferred to the Massaponax ward and y'all will never guess what?! The Massaponax ward and the Spotsy ward share the same building! So I got to see everyone on Sunday!!!!!!!!! It was soooooo good to see everyone! It was like being back home! Everyday we drive around and I'm still in shock that I'm back in Fredericksburg. Never in a million years did I think I would come back here on my mission!! SO exciting! Anyway! So my new baby is Sister Fuhriman! She's so cute! She's from Washington! It's so weird not to have a companion not from Utah. People in church are like WOW no Utah! And we're like we know we know, we're the cool ones. Haha

So this area.. Haha. I loveeeeee Fredericksburg, it's my home but the work is definitely a lot different from YSA in Charlottesville. I'll miss it. Especially since we were teaching up the wazoo over there and we aren't really here.. YET. Haha. When we got here there was no investigators, so it was basically like we opened the area. Sister Fuhriman and I are getting really good at tracting. Haha. There's this one trailer park though called Glenwood and let me tell you, that is where the money is! Not literally. But for real so we've only knocked 4 doors and out of those 4 doors, 3 people let us in and we had lessons with them. They're so humble! I've forgotten what it's like to teach old people! They're so cute! It's so fun!

Oh yeah! Funny story, so our car got towed the other day.. RUDE. K so lemme explain. We parked in a parking spot at our apartment complex that said reserved parking and we just assumed it meant for the whole row, THAT'S WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE, nope though. Apparently it was just that one spot. So we went up to eat dinner, seriously like 45 minutes, came back and our car was gone! We were like what the?! Did someone steal our car!!! Our area book is in there! missionary probz how embarrassing, it got towed. :( So we were carless for 1 day. Moral of the story, I have a testimony of cars. I have a testimony that president wilson is an inspired man who put me in an area with a car becasue ain't nobody got time to walk around anywhere. Our area is huge and it takes like 20 minutes to get to civilization. Ohh also our apartment is super duper nice! I'll take some pics next week but we have like granite counter tops a huge living room 2 bathrooms, we're spoiled.. Haha

I'm so happy I'm back here I can't even explain. I know it we're gonna see many miracles here I'm so excited! I love it here soo much! My testimony is so strong and I know this is the true church of Christ. 

Line of the week:

Sister Fuhriman: Do you like bananas?

Me: Heck yeah, I love them! Do you?

Sister Fuhriman: Yeah.. Just like once a month or something.

Me: …. Who says that?! Hahaha

I love you all!

Sister Hallmark