Little bit of this.. Little bit of that..

Sister Owsley at EFY

So Update on Sister Bly... She is in SLC she had an appointment on Wednesday where they taught her how to redress her own wounds which is good she wont have to go back everyday. She has a follow up appointment this coming Wednesday where they will check some of the spots that were 3rd degree and see if she needs the skin grafts. There was some pink showing through (which is good) so keep praying that it heals and she wont need the grafts! 

So This week just flew by it keeps getting faster and faster. I cant believe I am almost half way done with my mission. Everyone keeps telling me that the 2nd half goes a whole lot quicker too. Yikes!! This week has been good and kept us busy. So on Monday President Curtis called the 4 of us sisters in our district to his house. We went over and he basically did an emergency transfer for the rest of transfer (2 weeks) and he combined our areas so now I have 2 companions! Sister Bigelow and Sister Pohahau. They are awesome and I already knew them because they are in our district and live right down the street. So I packed up some of my stuff and I am with them for the time being. We now cover 3 wards and a huge area. it's fun because there is never nothing to do which is like a missionaries dream! We did get a car because our area is so big now. #blessings! We have so much fun together. We laugh all the time and have a blast and they have really welcomed me in an made me feel at home. There was a lot of catching up this week. Trying to combine 2 areas is really hard to do especially when you know its not permanent. We have been making it work and the members here have been so understanding. This week has been so crazy. The weather has been insane. We got tornado warnings and the whole bit! It was scary there for a while and there has been thunder and lighting right out side our windows every night! Speaking of crazy weather.. heard there was a huge earthquake in CA?? Well other than that I can think of much else. We did set a date with Natasha to go to the temple( I promise I do have pictures from the baptism that one day i will get to you!) we are super excited for her and we have a lot of referrals to contact. Its been a huge blessing we are really seeing the work progress and Its been an interesting transfer but I know it all happens for a reason and I know I have been where I need to be to learn the lessons that I have learned! Love you all and Hope your week are amazing!

#itsnotgoobyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

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They say it's your Birthday shout HOORAY !

Happy 20th Birthday to our favorite missionary!

Burn Baby Burn! 8/18

So I feel like what I am writing is old news but to you all it wont be! haha It has been a LONG week. probably the longest on my mission! No joke! 

So the week started out pretty normal we had a great P-day it was one of the sisters birthdays so there was a lot of fun things going on. Tuesday we had district meeting and lunch and we had a great time! went around and ran a ton of errands and tried to get stuff settled for our baptism on Saturday. Wednesday we went and helped an widowed sister in our ward Sister Taylor and helped her deep clean her house she hasn't been able to since her husband passed a few months back and she was having a bunco party at her house the next day. We helped out there and had dinner with the Thompson's in the ward and then visited some of the families in the ward. Thursday! ENSUE ALL CRAZINESS! So we had weekly planning in the morning and what not and then we went back to Sister Taylor's because Sister Bly was going to teach her how to make gumbo for her bunco party so we went over and Natasha our investigator came with us so we were cooking and helping her out and sister Bly was making the Roux for the gumbo which is boiling flour and butter and so it was just about done so we put it in a bowl so it could cool. I had run upstairs to get something and her and sister Taylor were going to move it to the sink and put some cold water under it so it would cool faster so when I ran upstairs sister Bly grabbed the bowl and sister Taylor was clearing the sink and sister Bly felt the bowl start to drop and so she bent down and tried to catch it and it hit the ground and splattered all over her so the hot burning butter and flour got all over her face and arm and feet so she kind of started to say it was hurting then it started to burn her skin. I came running down stairs and I wet down a wash cloth and had sister Taylor start wiping it up then I told her to put her in the shower and I called 911 and they came. By that point her skin had started peeling off. So we got in the ambulance and they took her to the hospital. President and Sister Curtis showed up right away and President was ale to give her a blessing. So we were in the ER for 4 hours waiting to see if they had to life flight her to the Burn Center at U of U.  So they said they would right now and took her upstairs and got her in a room and they dressed and wrapped her up where she was burned. So we were there from 3 till 8 and then I went back and picked her up stuff at our apartment and some clothes for me and I stayed at the hospital with her that night because they wanted to make sure her air way didn't get burned and swell. the next day the Sister training Leaders came and sister Ramsey spent eh day with her she had a really hard time keeping food down so they kept her there another night so Sister Ramsey stayed with her and that day I went out with the other Sister Training Leader sister Wright and we were able to get stuff done for the baptism on Saturday. Saturday I was at the hospital till about noon and one of our members came and picked me up and helped us get ready for the baptism at 2 that day. Everything got crazy and the baptism before hand was crazy but it started and it was the most amazing baptism that i have ever been too! I was so sad that Sister Bly wasn't able to be there but everyone gave amazing talks and the Young Women int he ward sang "Come unto Christ" and it was beautiful and Natasha bore her testimony and it was so powerful. There wasn't a dry eye there! The Young women set up a beautiful reception thing after for her and so many people stepped in and helped out. I felt so blessed to be there! Natasha was so happy and she was glowing it was beautiful. (I will have to send pictures later) I went with the other sister in our district because they came to the baptism and I hung out with them. They discharged Sister Bly that night so we went back and hung out with her for a while at the Mission Home. Unfortunately the Dr. had written her pain meds wrong that night and so she was dealing with that until like 10:45 and we finally got them./ We crashed really hard that night! Sunday was good. The other sisters came and went to church with me so We could be there for Natasha's confirmation and then we went back. We went down tot he hospital because sister Bly has to go back everyday and get her wound redressed everyday there. So we did that then we hung out at the mission home all day (that's where we are staying for now) with the Curtis and there family that live in Twin. It was really nice and relaxing for sister Bly. So It has been a crazy week needless to say Sister Bly is doing good. She has a great attitude and keeps saying that things happen for a reason! She is such and example to me. It s amazing to see how well she is handling it and everyday gets better and better. She had 2nd degree burns on her face arms and feet. She has some 3rd degree burns and she is going to need a skin graft in a few places on her arm. But she is looking really good. She may still need to go to U of U but we wont know till later today! She really could use prayers right now so I all of you can pray for her that would be amazing! So nit has been crazy but The Lords had is in all things and he is watching out for each of us! Love you all and hope the 1st week of school will go well! Love you all! 

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

Here, There, Everywhere...again! 8/11

So this week has been interesting... in a good way though! We have 2 new investigators and we have a baptism this coming weekend! Ahhh We are so excited and I am so happy this ward though is amazing and we have so much fun. 

Monday: We went shopping at D.I. woohoo! haha found a few things but there was so many people there. we had dinner with our Ward Mission Leader brother Lynch and his wife they are so sweet and help us out so much!

Tuesday: We had exchanges and so I went with sister Wright and sister Bly stayed in our area with Sister Ramsey. I had a lot of fun it was rainy all day long. Luckily we were in a car that day. We saw so many miracles and we were able to talk to so many different people it was awesome! We went home that night to "The Villa" (that's what they call there house because they each have there own room and bathroom Luck right? and they both have huge queen sized beds!) so I got to stay there:) so fun and we had a blast! 

Wednesday: We headed back to switch back from exchanges and it was pouring rain! Apparently it had poured all night long because as we were driving back, the roads were completely flooded, car lots had flooded to up past the cars hoods and tons of houses had flooded! We got home and it was raining so hard. later that morning we got a text that there were 7 or so families in the ward whose basements flooded. So we did service all day and helped people out and then we help out sister Christensen with tons of stuff and we dug trenches in the pouring rain so it was a long day but so worth it!

Thursday: we had weekly planning. Sister Lynch invested us over for lunch so we went and had lunch with her. Luckily it started to warm up so peoples houses were doing better. We did more planning that day and it was worth it. We had dinner that night with Judy Taylor and Natasha came with us. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and she loved it! She is getting so excited for her baptism.

Friday: It was awesome. We got to go to EFY on Friday. they asked the missionaries here to come to and help out at EFY and we did. Most nerve racking thing was the Zone Leaders calling 20 minutes before we were leaving to ask me to speak in front of all the kids! Ahh freaked out a little but it went well and all they ended up wanting was me to bear my testimony. All the missionaries then sung  "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and "Called to Serve" it was awesome! We then got to help out some of the youth by answering there questions that they get asked regularly! We then finished planning and then went and visited some of the widows in the ward.

Saturday: We were really busy and had a lot to do. Natasha had her baptismal interview and it was amazing! You couldn't have asked for a better thing she was so happy when she came out she told us she just wanted to dance! It was so cute. Later that day we had dinner with the Clark's. Thee daughter leaves on her mission this week for the Chec Republic so we were giving her advice on everything it was so cool to talk to her! 

Sunday; Busy again as always we had choir and church that morning.... Then we had a lesson with Kay and Donna they are leaving for a month on a trip but they are still wanting to meet with us when they get back. They were so sweet and they are honestly seeking truth and so its really cool to see and watch they faith grow in small steps. We had dinner with the Grimshaws who I found out sister Grimshaw is April's ( Trisha's sister) Best friend and she Knows Matt and Trisha! They stayed with them I think a few times Crazy right! haha we were so excited! Later that night we visited a few families that have been participating in the 40-day fast and it had been so amazing to hear there experiences with it and feel of the spirit that comes with it! 

Its been amazing to see the hand of the Lord in this work. He it the one who is leading it and I am so grateful that He has allowed me to be here and used me to be the best tool for this work that I can be. I am so grateful for the Atonement that has allowed me to become better and had been such a huge part of my life. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

#itsnotgoobyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

Mountain woMEN! 8/4

So this week has been a blast! We did so much and it has all been so much fun! I have seen so many miracles this week and it has been such a blessing of the Lord. The work is amazing here and Sister Bly and I (aha that rhymes!) came to the conclusion that Idaho is the best kept mission secret! Seriously though we get fed amazing dinner every night, we live in a huge apartment, we always get food payed for when we go out, the members here are amazing you cant walk anywhere without people stopping you and asking about where you are from and about your family its so amazing. And we are so blessed to do so many things here! I just love it! Monday: We emailed... sorry I missed you sounds like the family reunion was really fun though! We all go together in our Zone and Played volleyball then all the sisters came over to our apartment and we ate pizza and had a blast together! We had FHE with a amazing family in our ward and there 10 year old daughter planned it all out for us! it was so cute and it was so amazing to see how simply kids teach. It defiantly helped me learn some things! Tuesday: We came down to the mission office to talk to sister Curtis, but on our way here sister Bly's chain fell off ( this is the 4th time!) so we fixed it and made it here and after we talked with here Elder Burton took us over to the bike shop and fixed it up for her! yay for working bikes! Then Natasha (our investigator) texted us and asked us if we could come by and talk with er grandma and get the permission for her to be baptized. So we were kind of nervous because in the past when Natasha has asked to be baptized her grandma didn't really support her and isnt like the missionaries so we were really worried. We prayed and both just felt like we needed to be open and honest with her and not be afraid. So we got there and talked to her for a while. We brought up baptism and she told us that if it was something Natasha wanted she would let her! It was an amazing moment and we were able to see her heart soften just a little bit! We walked out of there so grateful for the miracles of the Lord ! It was amazing! We also went over to the Christensen's house who live right down the road from them and we were able to help them out with there animals and everything! (I just love it here) Wednesday: Best day Ever!!!! So we were able to go up to girls camp!!!! WOOOHOOOO we just got to go up for the day. It was awesome though. Natasha came with us, she wasn't allowed to go for the full week so we were able to bring her up with us for the day. It was beautiful up there the place was up by Alturas & Redfish Lake so it was gorgeous. It did pour most of the day and there was tones of thunder and lightning but none of us cared. We were able to go up with the other sisters that serve in our stake (it was stake camp!) and we had a blast! We got to play volleyball and do Archery with all the girls in our ward and then the Relief Society came up that night and had devotionals with all the girls Thursday: Less entertaining but we had to plan for the coming week and everything so it was a lot of inside stuff. We had dinner though with the Billings in the ward and they are hilarious and so nice! Sister Billings always texts us funny pictures and she is so funny so we had a lot of fun over there! Friday; We had Zone meeting on Friday so it was lots of meetings in the morning. Then we had a lesson with Natasha at Judy Taylor's house in the ward. it was so neat to see. Judy is a convert to the church so she as able to offer a lot of advice and answer a lot of unasked questions. Natasha just loved her and they were setting up a time to watch church movies together. It was so great for Natasha to have someone who could be like a grandma to her and support her in this because some of her family really doesn't. Saturday: It was busy in the morning we had to get ot the computers to get some stuff done for Natasha baptism, the ward activity and our weekly reports all had to be done in the morning. We then met Natasha at the stake baptism because she knew one of the families whose daughter was being baptized! So we went with her. We came out of the baptism and I got on my bike and the front tire was completely flat and it had a fish hook stuck in it! So we started walking home and tender mercies the zone leaders were driving by they stopped and pumped up my bike tire enough to get home and then they came by and fixed it. We then had to go get some invitations printed for Natashas baptisms. After that we helped sister Mclaw in our ward paint her kitchen and she fed us dinner then we went to a baptism that night for the other sister s and Natasha came with us again! yAH 2 BAPTISM IN 1 DAY! So it was a really packed day! Sunday: We had church and ward council so it was an early morning. I love fast Sundays though because of the spirit that it brings into church. All of the lessons were so inspired and exactly what I needed to hear! In Re life society they talked about finding joy and how we do that in our lives! Later that day we had a lesson with Kay and & Donna they are baptist preachers so it always is fun but Judy Taylor came with us and she was amazing she was so inspired and we felt the spirit so strong. I had read a really great article in the ensign this week and it was talking about "act on this land" in the talk it said 2 things that had really stood out to me. The first was that we have to "act on this land for years " meaning we have to act as though we will be here forever, it hit me that whatever happens and whatever will happen I have to act for now as though nothing will ever change. The Second one was talking about the children of Israel and wandering though the wilderness and how they never knew what was going to happen sometimes they would be in an amazing place but only get to stay there for a short time or they would be in a horrible place for a long time. It struck me that no matter what circumstance I am in I need to be grateful for what the Lord has blessed me with and be thankful in all things. Its amazing the Lord knows what we need and I am so blessed for my mission and the beautiful gospel that I am a part of! #itsnotgoobyeitsc-yalater Love, Sister Owsley

Here, there.... everywhere 7/28

Big week of changes here! Its crazy to think how fast mission time goes and how little time I have left. Its always weird the week of transfers because you start off the week one way with one companion and end the week completely different and with another companion! Sister Martineau got off good she is back in Shelly now and Sister Bly made it safely back here from Minnesota. So this week... Monday: we had P day and we had a zone activity with about 20 missionaries. We all went down to CSI (the college down here in Twin) and we played sand volleyball which was really fun but it started to rain on us so we had to head home. Also sister Martineau hurt her ankle pretty bad and she was hurting bad the rest of the day. We had dinner with the Middletons who are Natasha'a fellow shippers. we had a lesson with her and she is getting really excited for her baptism next month. Tuesday: We had to come to the mission office for sister Martineaus interview with president and so we were there for a while and we got to talk to some of the outgoing missionaries. Afterwards we went home and sister Martineau had to sit for a while we found out that day too that she had hurt her ankle pretty bad and so we had to be really careful. We did end up going out to visit some families and so sister Martineau could say bye. Wednesday: We had to down at the mission office at 9:30 so we were up earlier. It was really cool because a lot of people were getting transferred and so I was able to see a lot of people and its always fun to see the other missionaries. So We went to the store right after because sister Bly needed somethings and grocery's. I don't know if I told you but she was on her mission for 6 moths and then she tore her ACL and had to go home for 6 months and she just came back out so she came straight to the mission field from Minnesota. She is really awesome though and we have tons of fun. We went and washed a sister car in our ward for her where we totally got soaking wet. which was good because it was so hot outside! Then we had dinner with the Clarks in our ward who daughter is going on a mission to the Chec Republic. We then went and visited some of our auxiliaries for the rest of the night. Thursday: We had a lesson that morning with our investigator Kay. Who is a preacher. We actually had a really great lesson with her and her heart is softening she is really listening to what we have to say and has a lot of questions. After that we were biking home and we saw one of our widowed sisters working on her yard so we stopped and helped her. She then fed us lunch and we talked to her for a while. Her husband passed away just a few months ago so we visit her a lot lately. We then went home and had to finish weekly planning and Sister Bly had to unpack. Friday: We had district meeting in the morning and then we went to Dickies for lunch. The funniest part was that on the way to district meeting Sister Bly's tire was flat we thought that we could just pump it up after we got there and it would be fine. So after the meeting the elders pumped it up and so we started riding over to lunch and the tire just kept getting more and more flat haha and so whenever she went over a bump the chain would fall off too Haha. we got to lunch and we thought that we might be able to fix it but after we came out the tire was completely flat and so we went over to a car repair place and they filled the tire up enough that we could get home, but the tire was so flat the chin fell of 3 time so needless tho say it took a long time and an even longer time because we were laughing so hard. so we got home and the sisters in our district came over and talked to us for a while about somethings. It was nice getting together with them especially after the transfer. then more unpacking for Sister Bly Saturday: We came down and cleaned the church building with the other missionaries then we had to do some paperwork. We then went over to Natasha's and had another lesson with her and she keeps getting more and more excited about baptism. and its amazing to see her progress. We then went to Delsa's she is our 92 year old less active that we love visiting! She is an amazing person and she always has some funny life lesson when we go over this time its how they need to make houses that don't look like paper boxes?... haha they are always funny! Sunday: Sunday was great we Sister Bly did an awesome job with getting to know everyone and remembering people we have been having a lot of success with the members helping us out with our missionary work. Funny thing after church we came out and sister Blys front tire was completely flat ( on Friday it was the back one). We were laughing so hard. we took it to a members house that was close and they are fixing it for her. We then had lunch with a member, then we had dinner with the Christensen's and I had biscuits and gravy for the first time! It wasn't that bad I actually kind of liked it. we then helped her feed there animals and sister Bly was in heaven. Its been really fun this week and I just love this work more! Its sometimes hard and the days and long and sweaty but they are so worth it and I love serving people and I get to do it all day here and I wouldn't trade my mission for the world! love you all! Hope you have an amazing week! #itsnotgoobyeitsc-yalater Love, Sister Owsley ________________________________________