It's The Final Countdown

LAST EMAIL!!!!!!

crazy how time flies this week felt like both the longest and the shortest week of my mission (not exactly sure how that happens?)

This week was full of a lot of lasts and a lot of normal things actually haha:

Monday: We went hiking up ceder creek TWICE! ahah we went once in the morning with the Jones and the Ippolitos and Hank, and again with our district. It was super cool because It this massive waterfall that you can hike to the top of! 

Tuesday: We had our last district meeting which was pretty uneventful, we made tacos at the church as a district. We had to correlate with the Arco elders who are taking over our wards after we leave. The we went and did service with Carley at Jenns and almost finished the last room!! We had a lesson with Arlene and saw Fay that night as well

Wednesday: More service! We finished the last bedroom at Jenns house!! yay! Had a lesson that night with DJ and also had a really good Book of Mormon class with a good turnout! 

Thurday: Cleaning and packing and cleaning and packing..... I hate the dang rule about only have 50lbs in yoursuitcase! How am I supposed to fit 18 months of my life in 100 lbs???? Anyways...We got to see Macy hanks finally! We haven't seen her in FOREVER!! has the Leslie ward Relief Society activity which was helping to put together Fathers day treats then we went to the Freemans to drop off some things of her that we had, and sister Rabaut fixed her pool. It was kind of hilarious because all she really did was turn off the switch... haha

Friday:Visited and said by to Lula:( going to miss her so much! cleaned a little more. While we were home for lunch though a Jehovah's Witness stopped and knocked on our door and at first she didn't realize we were sister missionaries it was funny when it finally dawned on her! haha but she was super nice and we had a good conversation with her about missionary work and the things that we have learned on our missions. But it was a good talk! We had dinner with Sister Nelson at Sammy's and then met up with the Arco elders to go over more things they needed to know and then we had them meet some people in Leslie (so they weren't completely lost! haha ) 

Saturday: TENDER MERCIES!! So Saturday was the big Mackay Rodeo (which we couldn't go to) But we went to the Parade that morning and got to stop and talk to a ton of people and see a ton of people there too!! We sat with Jenn and Rose and we got to meet some new people who were in town. I also got to get in contact with the Pahris (from Mountain Home) they had come up for the weekend and knew I was there and got a hold of us. They came to church the next day and I got to see them!! Got to see and say by to Donna Vaughan and have smores with and say bye to the Sayers! It was awesome there were so many Tender Mercies that day and we had a blast! 

Sunday: Fathers Day! We got to speak in Leslie on Sunday... about father so of course there were a lot of tears and what not! It was really awesome DJ came to church as well as JEN!!!! :) and the Pharis were there it was really cool to have all these people there that I knew and have come to love. Dad will be proud we went to The Quinn's for dinner/lunch with the Quinns and Hennessys and the summers and we smoked a pork!!! :) made me so happy :) we got to hang out with them and have a good last Sunday! We went around that night and said by to the Goldthorps and the Hintzis. It weird I still don't feel like I am leaving yet! 

so that was our week in a nutshell. It been good and I really just cant believe that its done! What the?!?! I have come to love it here so much and love the people I cannot put into words the things that I have learned! I hope that I have grown and changed into the person Heavenly Father wants me to be. I am by no means done I have a long way to go and a lot to learn still but I will forever be grateful for the things I have learned here and the testimony that I have gained! 

Here is a short part of my email to president today:

President Curtis,

Well its the end. I have so much going through my head right now! Its been an interesting week, full of ups and downs and lots of lasts. We were asked this week to speak in sacrament meeting and it was about Fathers but it was interesting that I came upon a few scriptures that have helped me the last few days to remember the things that I have learned. In 2 Nephi 22:2 it says "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation."  The last part, BECOME my salvation in what I hope I have done on my mission, allowed the Lord to become a part of me and that he can trust in me to do what he wants. I know I have fallen so short of that, but I also know that just because my mission ends doesn't mean my progression should ever end. I hope that I have changed, more than I anything I hope I have changed into a disciple of Jesus Christ and that people can see Him through me.

Sister Owsley

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

One week More 6/15

Happy P-Day Everyone!! 

This week hasnt been that eventful but Ill fill ya in nevertheless! 

Monday: We had yet again another P-day where we just started at each other! Yup livin the dream. Well sister Rabaut and I decided to demand that we have a district activity at least once! so today we hare going hiking twice. Once with the Ippotios and Jones and once with the District! so stoked! Well we saw the Hennesays that and thet about wrapped up that day! 

Tuesday: We had district meeting! and dinner with the Williams that night. W e had a lesson with Lily and Dj Fullmer. They are doing really well and are warming up to us teaching them. I think its harder in the summer to teach because everyone just wants to be outside! that night we helped out at YW and helped them learn how to tie knots and find clouds haha Putting all those years of girls camp to use!! 

Wednesday:We did service with Jenn and Carley Staining doors and painting trim! Sister Rabaut even did some pluming. We have decided with our combined knowledge we could build a house! haha Had Book of Mormon class that night and saw Arlene.

Thursday: We cleaned out house ALL day! So we are moving out and the church is no longer going to have missionaries living in our house so we got the lovely job of cleaning a year and a half of stuff out of an apartment! and we keep getting phone calls about how the landlords are really picky so we have been cleaning like mad! We did have dinner with the Ippolitios that night which was fantastic!

Friday: We did service in the morning at the senior center with Arlene and then went and did more service with Jen and it involved a 100 degree weather and moving really heavy cabinets! YAY! haha I will say i am so happy that it is FINALLY warming up here! haha So happy!  *knock on wood!* Saw Fay and The Rosencrantz that night too! :)

Saturday: Cleaning again!!! GAHH I was so done with it at that point!

We had dinner with the Hintzis and a lesson with the Gentrys that night!!! yaay!! we haven't been able to meet with them in forever! so we were able to talk with them and they are still planning on getting married which is good! I just wish they would come to church because I know it would help them so much! Oh well all you can do is encourage them!

Sunday: We got to teach singing time in Primary!! Which involved popping a lot of balloons! It was so much fun and was a blast for our last week here in the Mackay ward! We Went over to the Kaplans that night and were able to have a really good conversation with sister Kaplan. We also went and saw Arlene that night and the Rosencrantz! to top off the night though we went to the Hintzis house and they showed us all of there baby animals currently they have baby lambs, goats, chicks, geese, and a new puppy... ya it was heaven! Sister Heintzi thanked us for the service we do here and shared her conversion story with us! It was cool to see how much she has opened up to us since the 1st time we came over!! 

I love this gospel and how much it has changed me! I cant believe i have just 9 days left its crazy! Its been filled with a lot of good times and bad. I can honestly say though that I have learned and have grown so much! I have learned more about my Savior and his atonement and how its not only for sinner but for saints! I have come to the the people here and I will always have a place in my heart for them! Hope you all have an amazing week! Love you all!!

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

Adam fell that man might be and men are that they might have P-days 6/8

(So the reasoning behind my title is the fact that we have been trying to plan a P-day activity with the other missionaries forever because we are sick of just staying in all the time so we are in process of planning a great P-day activity)

So this week was a busy one! We have been doing a lot of service and seeing a lot of people and getting back in the groove of things after our crazy last few weeks! haha Time seems to just be flying by and going slow all at the same time! (only 2 more letter after this!) Crazy! Its been good though, Its amazing! Its never to late to change or continue to improve I am still beyond perfect and have a long way to go and I am glad I still have time to change and become better! 

Last Monday... shocker it rained!!! gahhh ahaha we did have a break in it in which we washed our car and was able to finally do that!! haha then we were able to go over to the Hennesy's.

Tuesday: We did service with Jennifer Quinn and helped her stain a ton of cabinets and also helped sister VanLewven sort through clothes... so lots of service! We had dinner at the Fullemers and we able to have a mini lesson on the Holy ghost with there Grand kids who we are teaching. Read the Book of Mormon with Arlene, and had a lesson with sister Kaplan.

Wednesday: MORE SERVICE!!! haha We cleaned sister kaplans front room.....ya....and washed her dog... well sister Rabaut did that! haha then we did service with Carley and helped her get pictures of this so she can sell them online... (sound familar mom?) haha we had dinner at the Goldthorps and then went to the T-ball game with them haha. Then we had a really good Book of Mormon class where we talked a lot about agency and using it wisely. We also contacted a referral that night (the hoovers) and she is from Michigan just like sister Rabaut and so they had a lot to relate about that! She was so sweet to us and asked us a lot about our missions which was funny because she knew all the "Lingo" haha She has a lot of LDS friends and so she knew a lot about missionaries!! 

Thursday: Weekly planning......One more left now thats what I keep telling myself to get through them....We had dinner with the Haroldsens and we had steak...I know its that exciting but it all I got.... hahah then we had a lesson that night with Liliy and DJ Fulmer and they are getting BAPTIZED !! on June 20th right before we leave!! YAY!!! 

Friday: Zone meeting..... so long>... last one though so it was kind of sad! we did have dinner with the summer and got to go to a BBQ in Mackay #stillrainingthoguh haha and we had another Lesson with Arlene she is doing amazing and is working really hard at coming back to church!!

Saturday:We Had our Baptism!!!! it was awesome and the girls were so excite! there whole family came even there dad and grandparents who aren't members!! YAY!! love it!! haha the rest of the day we basically spent the day at the Ives helping them with a birthday party! and we had dinner with them as well! 

Sunday: It was good! Fast Sundays are always good! We got to go over and see Donna Vauhgn a Non-member. She was so sweet and told us that we better stay in contact after we leave! It was awesome so see how much her heart has been softened. We had dinner with the Ippolitos who we haven't seen in a while! it was good to get caught back up with them! Jimmy told em I should be a stand up comedian... I told him probably not since I rarely have a filter... haha Yup! 

good week! keeping busy and doing good! :)

Love you all have an awesome week!! 

#itsnotgoodbyeitc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

#onlyinmackay

1) Idahoism..." dont like our weather wait 5 minutes"  

2)We were in the car and Rose (the hennesys daughter) and I was talking and she turned to me and said "you need to be quiet" and then I said " oh Im sorry. will you forgive me?" and she said " um... no" haha we were laughing so hard!

3) we were inside at lunch and we look out and a kid has his sheep on a leash and ins walking it....yup totally normal right?

4) yup we weekly planned on the coffee table with whiteboard markers haha #werecool!

5) So the piano at the Zone meeting is an ancient electric piano that got stuck on the organ setting....ya it turned "Love One Another" Into a funeral march! haha

6) So sister Rabaut and I have decided to make vidoes counting down the 25 days till we go home...yup.... were cool 

Just Call Me Nurse Owsley 6/1

Well this week has been Hectic!!! I feel like have spent more time in Twin Falls then here in Mackay, which makes for a crazy week.

 Monday... it rained...again... so done with it! haha We spent the day inside because sister Rabaut way in a ton of pain and couldn't leave .
 Tuesday we had to drive to Twin and sister Rabaut woke up feeling worse and in a whole lot more pain than the day before. She had an infection in her lower back ( I have no clue how that happens..) but she had to ride in the back of the car all the way to Twin on her stomach and me and the couple that was taking us all rode in the front of there car.... not the first way I could suggest to gain member trust...hahah Well we got to the mission home and the mission doctor hooked her up to some antibiotics and what not, I ate and then I went to the temple with the Fullmers ( the couple that brought us down) I seriously love the temple though and It was so good to go! Well we came back after the temple and the mission doctor and sister Curtis were just about to leave to take sister Rabaut to the Other doctor at 9:30 at night. Well ends up she had something way worse and had to have a minor out-patient surgery.... ya... haha sister Curtis and I were laughing that her and I have spent way to much time in Doctors offices and Hospitals together. She told me I was the missions best nurse haha... I dont know it that was a compliment but ill take it as one! haha Well we finally got to bed at like 1 am.
We had Zone conference the Next day. Luckily Sister Rabaut was in MUCH better shape ad we were able to go. It was a really good conference and It helped me to remember a lot of the things I had forgotten and be able to brush up on skills. They had a lady come in and talk about managing our thoughts and how we have to talk back to negative thinking. I loved what she said! She talked about how we need to stop and think before we react and allow agency in to decide whether or not we should believe what we are thinking. Well After Zone Confrence we came back and they wanted us to stay and extra day so sister Rabaut could get more Antibiotics So we ended up going out to dinner with the Curtis and the Assistants and Dr. Lilijenquist. We were laughing so hard!  Well we came back and Sister Rabaut slept and I got about 3 hours of studying in so.... Might have fallen asleep! 
Thursday morning the Sister Training Leaders picked us up and drove us back up to Mackay. We had service with Carley Henessy and we had a lesson with our 2 new investigators Lily and DJ. They are 13 and 9 and they were so excited to learn! They already knew so much ( they are part of a Part-member family) the lesson went so well and they even came to church this week!!! YAY!!

Friday it was finally warm! We did some service and Jennifer Quinns house. We sat out side and we are refinishing some furniture for her and so needless to say I got SUNBURNED!!!! bad too haha Feel like summer! Had dinner with the Andersen's and saw Velma that night too!

Saturday nothing to exciting happened... weekly planning....

Sunday; We had 4 people at Sacrament Meeting!!! both the Wasylow girls and Lily and DJ!!! YAY so happy for them.

Well this upcoming week we have the Wasylows baptism and we are so excited and so are the girls!! Cant WAIT!!

I love you all and hope you had a less crazy week than we did!!

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

#onlyinMackay

1) So yesterday in church one of the ward members was assigned to speak on being a missionary with technology.. this is what followed:

         " I dont get hashtags... hash is something ya put in a Kettle and eat and a tag is something on a cows ear.... so a Hashtag is throwing a cow into a kettle tag and all??"

 haha he was serious....

2) This is sister Rabaut's take on Sarcastic people.... " its like sarcastic arrow aimed at the heart... and the other is like deflect sarcastic comment back.." haha she hasn't been around our family..

3) So we were helping Carley with her raspberry garden on the side of her house and I ran in to the window AC unit 3 times with my head.. ya I have a huge bump on my head!

4) Oh and this California girl enjoyed the sun way to much because now I have a Horrid sunburn and I love it!! haha

5) So our new investigator DJ is 9 and he had the best questions this week it was: what does God do with the Orphans? and why is Jesus always holding a lamb? hahah always fun teaching kids :)

T-BONE 5/25

So, the weeks are moving along and time is getting shorter which is bittersweet. It was good to hear that Troy got back ok and that he is doing well, We seem to be dropping like flies right now. haha 

This week has been good, the weather has been rather depressing. It has rained everyday for the last 2 weeks, but you cant complain about it because its very much needed here! We are calling it blessings pouring down from Heaven because of missionary work! 

We got 2 new investigators this week! The Fullmers Grandchildren are here for the Summer and want to be baptized! YAY!! So we are going to start teaching them this Thursday :)

 Aspen and Austin Wasylow are doing well. We had our final lessons this week and they have there baptismal interview this next week. They had to push the baptism back to June 6th in order for some of there family to be here, but other than that it has been smooth sailing *Knock on wood* :) the girls have truly changed and are so excited! 

We also had exchanges this week! Sister Rabaut stayed here with sister Pili and I got to go to Jerome with Sister Bly. I think it goes without saying that we had so much fun! haha We had a great time and we couldn't stop talking about how much fun school is going to be this fall! haha So we were real productive! :) 

 We made dinner again this week for Fay and had dinner and a movie with her! She is going to start taking her temple prep classes and she is so excited to go to the temple! haha She always tells us " I need to get my work done so Im not hanging out there by myself!" haha 

We did a ton of service this week for the Rosencrantzes, they are a part-member family here in Mackay. We spent all Wednesday with them splitting wood and clearing trees. I went home that night TIRED!!! It was good though we got to have lunch with them , We had a weenie roast and then we roasted marshmallows! haha They are awesome!

We had dinner with Julie and Steve Tiechert on Saturday, HAha I love them and they totally sat us down and gave us parent advice on going home from a mission! It was the best! Brother Tiechert is the most sarcastic man and so it was entertaining! He told us the only things we need in this life is Common sense and the Holy Ghost! haha Great advice! He reminds em of dad and Julie reminds me so much of mom! they told me that I ave to bring the family back so they can meet you guys! :)

Sunday sister Rabaut was in a lot of pain she did something to her lower back and it makes it really painful to sit...or stand..or lay down... or really anything. So we are at a loss and still in pain. Trying to figure out what is wrong. 

Other that that we had a pretty good week! We have been enjoying it and having a lot of fun while doing the work. We have a really busy week coming up but its exciting! I love you all and cant believe ill see you one month from today!!!!!! LOVE YOU!! 

#itsnotgoodbyeitc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

#Onlyinmackay

1) Brother Tiechertism; on a mission you go through the meat grinder, you dont want to come out hamburger... you are a t-bone

2)  we workout with the RS ladies on mondays and they have had us doing the Brazillian Butt lift work out haha and man do sister rabaut and I look so out of place

3) District meeting... enough said.. were all crazy...

4) #smalltown EVERYONE goes to the High school graduation that ment like no one at Book of Mormon class

 

SILLY SISTERS

If You Find My Brain That Would Be GREAT! 5/18

So this week has been full of unexpected changes and laughs and tears. Holy Cow! haha We had transfers this week and Sister Coats left and went to Twin! She is an STL (sister Training leader) there and she is going to do amazing things for the people there. Sad to see her go though. well we visited a lot of people on Monday and Tuesday so sister coats could say bye. Wednesday we went down to transfer meeting. Well we were supposed to get 3 sisters in Mackay but apparently one of the new sisters from the MTC had a stroke on Tuesday in Twin so they had an even amount of sisters. So its just Sister Rabaut and I here. We have been doing well though. I feel like my brain ran off and I am the biggest space cadet in the world right now. I am struggling to remember peoples names and where everyone lives and what not!( I think in might be in the warm sunshine of CA) Ya so if anyone finds my brain I would really appreciate it if you could return it! haha we haven't really done much. Right now we are working with the Ward Mission Leaders and Bishops to get some plans in action for the next 6 weeks to help them transition and go back to 2 elders for the whole stake so really our purpose right now is to help make the transition smooth and help the members get more involved. We are excited and really just want to work so it will be a blast! This week though there really wasn't much we had district meeting on Friday and discovers the we have the most ADHD district known to mankind haha (not that i help with that) we had fun though. We were able to meet up with Gloria Dunn this week (she is a former investigator) and set up and appt with her! we also had dinner at the Ippolitos on Sunday and Eveyln had a ton of great questions. Also we met up with the Moores in Darrlington and we were able to go inside this time and he gave us some of his artwork! True american cowboy art! haha I love it! Overall it was a pretty good week here. Really busy with a lot of stuff but we hare getting along! :) Rained for about 5 days straight though ( don't tell sister coats though because she would be mad... cause she loves the rain!) haha We are doing well though, sorry there isn't much more this week.

Love you all!! 

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

#onlyinmackay

1) the Laundry mat here has a sign above the sink that states "Please don't clean your fish in the sink" hahah

2) When you fall asleep in church and you almost fall off the pew... Sneeky haha 

3) won 3 rounds of Uno @ the Ippolitos WOOP WOOP!!

4) The last day sister Coats was here we didn't get to the post office till late, while we were walking out I thought it would be a great idea to do a heal click. well.... It ended up my shoe came off and hit the light and i fell down.. Grace is my middle name! :)

5) sister Coats didn't get to say bye to the summers.. so as we are driving out of town we decide to stop anyways.. yep banged on their door at 6 in the morning #Champions!

7) District meeting can be described as this #trunkyelderswhotalkabouttheir"future ".....ya wierd

8) read Roman 7: 14-25  haha sounds like Dr. Seuss

Ya Gotta Keep ya Head Up!

It was so good to see you guys yesterday!! Gahh I miss you all and am so grateful for all you kind words and love. I could ever thank you enough!!

This week has been yet again busy but its been good! I got to go to my 1st Rodeo this week. The Wasylows that we are teaching right now, invited us to pray at the rodeo so we got to go down and help out there... I swear you would think it was a foreign country here. haha but it was super fun and man did I look out of place! haha But we enjoyed it so much! In other news this week... Transfers.... ya so we found out this morning. Sister Coats is leaving and going to Twin Falls to be an STL! Im so sad she is leaving, we have had so much fun here and she has helped me through a lot! She is going to do great things there and she is going to help so many sisters! I am getting 2 new companions... ya they'll be fun..haha Sister Ritchel (We were actually companions in Burley together) and sister Rabut (We were companions in the MTC!) so it'll be fun! They both go home next transfer too so they will close the area when we leave :( which I am so sad about because sisters do so well here and they love it. So its a little bitter sweet! Its been good here though we are on track for baptism with the Wasylow girls and Scott their dad, his heart is softening! So much it was so cool to see him at the rodeo and he was so happy we came! :) And John Gentry is our other investigator with a baptismal date right now, and he and his... girlfriend ( I guess) are getting married!! yay!!! We are really excited about that! :) Everything is going good here for the most part, we have quite a few people that we are teaching right now and we have a lot of referrals to contact so the prospects are looking up! :) Its weird going into my last transfer there is hardly any time left but I am going to put my all into it and go out with as much fire as I came in! I am determined in that! I love you all and I am sorry this letter is so short, I don't really know what else to say since I just saw you! haha But know that everything is good and I am Keeping my head up! Love you all!

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

Doctrine and Covenants: section 31

#onlyinmackay

1. I almost hit a deer last night... good thing sister coats and I have night vision now!

2.super awkward door contact... ya the lady just yelled through the door to ask who it was but then NEVER answered... even after 3 times! haha

3. When 2 California girls show up to a rodeo and look SO incredibly out of place.. so everyone stares... ya we just rocked it haha

4.ya we got a thunder storm the other day and I thought sister coats was going to die of pure happiness.. she LOVES the rain!

5. you know your going to be transferred when...:

    - you and your companion get along to well to the point in which you both start dancing in the kitchen

     - you feel " prompted" to take a picture with EVERYONE! haha

     - you feel a dire need to see everyone RIGHT NOW! even to the point of walking right into there house ( Promise there was no trespassing this week)

Sumertime Service 5/4

Waffles with Fay

This week was pretty good nothing too exciting happened, pretty much the norm. 

We did a lot of service this week! Man we do a lot a service! Im pretty sure I am in pants here more often than I am in a skirt...NOT that I am complaining! haha I love it! 

Monday: We spent P-day with the Ivies. Who I adore and love, We watched Meet the Mormons and boy it was Hilarious to watch with Maleah! It weird her and I are too much alike! haha had dinner with the Ippolitos and shared the Book of Mormon into with them and they actually listened it was awesome! 

Tuesday: We went over to Fay's in the morning, She is going to start taking temple prep! WHOOOHOOO!! so excited for her! then we went and did service for sister Fullmer and weeded her flower bed and barely made a dent! haha Went over to Lulas :) she always makes me laugh! did service at the Vanlewvens. Had dinner withe Rabans in Leslie, ended up being awesome and they sent us over with a TON of leftovers! had a lesson with the Hanks, and the Kapyln and then the Gentrys that night we watched the restoration with them and it really touched John and he had a lot of questions which were answered with the movie! It was perfect!

Wednesday: MORE SERVICE!! :) Did service with Holly bridges, her water heater broke so they had to take everything out and we were helping her put it all bac. Did service for Carley and helped her clean since her In-laws, or as she would say " out-laws" were coming this week from England. We had dinner with them that night too. Book of Mormon class was great we had 17 people show up! #Ibeliveinmiracles haha 

Thursday....WEEKLY PLANNING..... :( Got to go over to the Ippolitos for an early dinner/ late lunch since we had an appt at 5. Seriously love them! Had a FANTASTIC Appt with the Wasylows the girls are really progressing and I think it was the best lesson to date that we have had with them. #PlanofSalvation! haha Then we met with Arlene that night, She told us that her heart appt went well. We asked her about it and she told us that her prayers were answered and how she was given comfort even though she  was really nervous, it was awesome to hear her bare her testimony of prayer. SHE IS AMAZING!! 

Friday:We had zone meeting which is always fun! got to see everyone and talk to other missionaries which is always good! :) haha We came back and went to the gas station in Mackay and Carley and Kevin were on there way to pick up his parents. She needed somethings so we told her we would take them over to her house. We went over and her Mom, jenn ( that would be the Qinns) was there then her husband charlie came over and we were bale to share with them the restoration pamphlet! It was super great! We visited some other people that night like the Rosencrantz and Fay :)

Saturday: MORE SERVICE! haha We helped out Fay and made her waffles for lunch! haha Did service for the Goldthorps and raked so many leaves... well sister coats did! haha Went by the Ivies and she took us out to the Dam, We were creeping on all teh snowbirds and camper that are out there. Let em tell you this town the last week has been packed with people comign in. everyone is getting off of school and what not and it starting to be summer time!!  haah so we went out there and threw rocks into the river. and they invited us to come back and hike mount Bora with them! haha YAY!! had dinner with sister Benner and went to Arlenes later that night!

Sunday: Fast Sunday.. or slow (depending on if you are fasting or not) haha Church was great! Cody McDougal bore his testimony and said that seeing us do missionary work inspired him to actually put in his papers. Crazy!! SO excited for him though! He will be an amazing missionary!  We had dinner at the Monsons and she is an amazing cook and has found so many gluten free things for me so I love her so much! an she is Hilarious! We came home after that and sister Coats got really sick... so she slept the rest of the day while I played arts and crafts with my new planner haha but it was a great day! haha

over all good week though! Love the work here! it crunch time! I don't think it has actually hit that I am going home soon! But I am totally ok with that! I love it here and I love being a missionary.I think one of my favorite parts of a mission is getting to know different people and hear their stories and their background! I just love that blessing of a mission! 

Love you all and hope you have an amazing week! 

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-ayalater

Love, 

Sister Owsley

" The World is the one who tells us we cant be Batman"

Exchanges

Elder and Sister Alder

Wow so where to begin... I feel like so much happened this week so forgive me it its a rather summarized version of each thing. Hopefully I can remember it all.

Monday: we went down and got our hair done in Arco which was awesome. that night we went over to the Betzers a part member family here in Mackay sister Betzer was the only one home so we talked to her and then we went to Fays house and watched The Testaments with her. We are starting to read the Book of Mormon with her so we thought we would start off with that to help her understand.

Tuesday: We had disrtict meeting that morning. Well after that normally we go get lunch and bring it back tot he church and we all eat there. Well apparently no one came back because sister coats and I just sat there by ourselves I thought it was pretty funny. :) We went over to Lula Shaffer that afternoon and as we were talking to her we invited her to come to stake conference on Saturday night because we were singing. Well she then insisted that we sing the song for her in her living room so after much resistance we did. but in order to avoid having to sing I just started dancing in her living room then sister Coats joined in and it was pretty hilarious. lula started busting up laughing. Love old ladies :)We had dinner with the Michelsons that night. Tender Mercy, They have a non-memeber neighbor who has a gluten allergy and so they were talking to her about how they were having me over for dinner. Well this non-member and very anti lady told them to give me her number so I could talk to her and she could help me! What?!? it was great because now we at least have a foot in the door! :) and the Michelsons were so happy :) Well later that day sister Coats discovered that she had lost her wallet. Well being the saint she is she didn't want to drive without it. so we called up Elder McQueen to ask him if I could drive and he laughed and told us yes. So I got to drive, and for the first 5 min sister coats kind of freaked out then she decided she like sitting as a passenger way more. Later that night we met with Arlene, I love her so much and its been amazing to see her grow as she reads the Book of Mormon and to see her start to get it and enjoy reading it. Well we finally figured out after making phone calls that sister coats left her wallet at Lula's that day. Well when we first called her the very first thing she said was " How much you got in this thing" Apparently she couldn't find our number so she had been waiting for us to call her all day! haha

Wednesday: SERVICE!! and lots of it! We went out with one of our ward missionaries here in Mackay to a widow in our ward and did some yard work for her, and man was it a nice day outside (well till later) she fed us lunch and them we cam back into town and helped another widow, sister Fullmer, with her garden. lets just say raspberry bushed: 1, sister Owsley: 0. we then went and helped Carley Hennessy with her house and getting it ready for her in-laws to come. Well get got inside just at the right time because a huge storm rolled in and it was raining cats and dogs! It was neat because Carley asked us a ton of questions about the church. She asked if our church was perfect and we were able to tell her YES! thst the church and its orginization is perfect (sometime not the people thoguh) we basically taught lesson 1 and she accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon! IT WAS AWESOME!! We had dinner with the Teicherts who are hilarious, and we had Book of Mormon class that went well and there were a lot of really good comments. and then we finished out the night at the kaplyns, and reading the Book of Momron with her.

Thursday: Weekly planning......uhgggg! Don't think i will ever enjoy that much planning. haha had dinner at the Ippolitos. Hank was there too :) for our message we shared the Book of Mormon intro and it went over really well. Jimmy is still a bum haha but Evelyn and Hank had great questions and both promised to read it!! YAY!!! The Wasylows cancelled on us because they forgot about a meeting they had to be at so we stopped by the Fullmers and talked with them. Then met with Arlene again that night.

Friday: We had exchanges. So sister Bly got to come here with me!!!! yay! We had so much fun and it was like old kick butt times! :) haha we Saw a lot of people and made lots of visits. It was so good to catch up with her and talk though...Tender mercies of the Lord :)

Saturday: We had to drive down to Jerome to exchange back. And funny thing as we are driving I hit a little bird...opps... and almost hit two nasty ugly turkey vulture...I HATE BIRDS!!!! Well another funny thing was as we were getting closer to Jerome I started to get nervous with how many cars were on the road...#MACKAYPROBS haha we switched back and sister coats and I were allowed to go shopping at Walmart. HAPPY DAY! :) and then we made the trip back home. We came back and went right over to Carleys and helped her put in her banister for her stairs... Dad would be proud of my mad woodworking skills that i have picked up from him, and have used! Carley then drove us to Moore for the Saturday night session of Stake Conference. Well the miracles followed let me tell you!!! we get there and Brother Gammet pulls me aside and tell me that we need to save seats for the Gentrys ( a part-member family John the dad is the only un-baptized member) What?!?! Well at this particular stake conference we had a visiting General authority Elder Alder, and earlier that day him and the stake president stopped by the Gentry's house and I have no clue what was said but man did it touch that family! John has taken the lesson so many times and we have been trying to tech him but something just clicked this weekend.. they came to the Saturday night session and to Sunday as well!

Sunday: THE GENTRYS CAME AGAIN!!!! gahhh I also learned so much form conference. one of the bight hings that the Church as a whole is going to focus on is increasing the depth and meaning of the Sacrament and the Sabbath day. The messages that were shared were powerful and the Gentry's felt the spirit there! Well after conference we lean over to the Gentrys and ask if we can come by tonight and they invited us over for dinner. well right at that minute Elder Alder comes over and pulls us John and his wife Sheral over and invites them to take the lessons again and he says yes and then he asked them to have us over in their home 3 times a week and they say yes!! WELL IT WAS AWESOME. we finished up in their and went to go hunt elder alder down to tell him thanks and asked if we could get a picture well after the picture they invited us in to there special luncheon. yay were cool! hahah well later that night we had  dinner and a lesson over at the Gentrys house and it was awesome. John told us that the spirit touched him and he knows that him and sheral need to be married! and he wants to move is life forward. we talked about the Book of Mormon and then we invited him to be baptized he said YES!!!!! YAY!!! it was amazing well we went to set up another appointment and they set up 2 more this week they told us they made a promise to have us over 3 times a week and they were going to do just that!!! MIRACLES HAPPEN!!!! GAHHH!??!?!

it was such a great week we got 3 new investigators! I cant even put into words how amazing this week was!!! Thank you all for your prayers and love they are so much felt and they are being put to good use. Love you all!!

#itsnotgoodbyeitc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

#onlyinmackay

1. 1 bird was harmed this week.. my fault... let me just say I hate birds though they are little suicide bombers in the middle of the road

2. 2 of my favorite quotes this week.... " The world is the one who tells you you cant be batman and have a cool suit"-nora wainright , and 2: " Sometime you just have to put your hair in a ponytail and sat BRING IT ON!" - Hank Smith

3. Elder Mcqueen called me a DD " Dangerous driver" EXCUSE ME! I only hit 1 bird

4.Brother Gammet last night was talking about how he hates Harry Potter ( I know its horrible) his description was ..." Gag me with a spoon" hahah

5. dancing in Lula's living room...CLASSIC!

I am sure there is so much more I could put in this letter but its long enough haha :)

***I believe in Miracles***

This week was great! We had a ton of work and got a lot of things done and we have been finding success even in hard times. which I think by definition is a mission. We have been busy which is my favorite thing and makes me a much happier person!! Yay for happiness :) So this week....

Monday: Monday night we went over to the Rosencrantz a part-member family here in Mackay. Howard is a living breathing singin cowboy with a "party barn" to prove it. So obviously we went out and he sung us some songs and his wife made us goodies. They are so sweet and totally invited us to a party at their barn. We also stopped by and saw Fay Hansen, we started reading the Book of Mormon with her. Its been a blessing to be reading the Book of Mormon with so many people and see it both physically and spiritually influence there lives.

Tuesday: We had district meeting on Tuesday. Later that afternoon though we saw Lula Shaffer another less-active lady that we have been reading the Book of Mormon with. She just crack me up. She is about the most quick-witted 80 year old I have ever met. Reminds me a lot of Nana :)We had dinner with the Rothwells in Lesile. (Let me say that it has been really neat to see the food that people make) She made Chinese food which was so good! The best part was while we were there one of the potentials we have been trying to see showed up at her door. Her daughter was getting her prom dress altered... CRAZY!! so we were able to talk to her with was a great blessing.

Wednesday: We went out contacting that morning with sister Rogers who is one of our ward missionaries here in Mackay. We were able to contact a referral with her. Marlene and Dean. They are a sweet older couple who has only been here for 2 years. They live in San Diego!!!! haha we talked a lot and they invited us in. Told us we could come back and visit with them. They also lived in Orem, UT and said they had a ton on LDS friend (obviously!) they knew quite a bit though and were very kind to us. We went over to the Hennesys later that day and helped Carley paint her guest bedroom for when her in-laws are coming.. well it ended up being more because we finished so fast and had so much paint left she decided to let us paint her bathroom too.. and let me tell you it looks so good! Sister Coats ad I are thinking about opening a painting company! We had dinner with the stake president and also had Book of Mormon class that night. The coolest thing ever happened though Wednesday night. We only had like 15 minutes left till 9 so we were trying to figure out what to do. We both had no Idea so I just started naming names of people who we could visit well the first one was the Marcrofts who are a part-member/ less-active family. So we decide to stop there. Well we knock on the door and the husband (non-member) answers the door and invites us in. Well he was nice but didn't want to be there with us so he left and we ended up talking to sister Marcroft. well she is the sweetest person ever. She is a convert to the church and she has the strongest testimony. She told us how its hard to decide between family and church on Sundays but man she was a great example of prayer. She had prayed that morning for guidance and we showed up that night! I cant even imagine if we didn't stop by! "I believe in Miracles"

Thursday: We did service at the Kaplyns and cleaned her whole kitchen... wish I had before and after pictures....Had dinner with the Coles in Lesile. Sister Cole had the exact same thing as me.. so she made some amazing food which included salmon! YMMM! :) Then we went by and read the Book of Mormon with Macy. It amazing she keeps improving in her reading every time we go over! and she 9 and takes notes on what we read!!! I think the biggest thing I wanted to do at 9 was play....haha

Friday: We had a lesson with the Wasylow's Friday Morning. Well guess what...Scott was there again! Miracles! We ended up reading from the Book of Mormon with them and the 2 girls committed to be baptized!! MAY 30th! super excited for them. Scott is coming around he always sits in with the girls and is super supportive of them.We met with Lula again on Friday and had dinner with the Freemans in Lesile. They just took us in and were so kind to us. I ended up getting a blessing from Brother Freeman and it brought me a lot of comfort and guidance. (She reminded me a lot of Grandma) We stopped by and saw Holly Bridges after that and her sister Maggie was there. Maggie had a daughter on a mission in Texas so she was excited to see us. A "Missionary Mom Moment" :)

Saturday: We kept pretty busy and we stayed in pants most the day. We helped Fay get some more of her yard done, then we also went back to the Hennesys to finish up the bathroom. We went to the kaplyns to start reading the Book of Mormon with them. Well it wasn't what we were expecting..... Sister Kaplyn went on about how she struggles with the Book of Mormon. She promised to read it again searching for an answer. We just continued to testify to her that we know it is true. that's all we could do. But her son Jason was there, he is mentally handicapped but he bore great testimony that he knows God is there. I was one of the sweetest moments to here him say that! :) Had dinner at the Goldthorps. Wen out to the Ippilitos, We had this book we had gotten and we wanted to give it to Evelyn and so we signed it and gave it to her it was about Women in the New Testament. She loved it and we were able to talk about a lot with her. There hearts are softening and we can see it! :) makes me so happy to see them growing closer to the spirit.

Sunday: We went to church in Mackay. Had a good meeting sister Sayer gave a fantastic talk on a Hymn, it was powerful and I defiantly learned a lot form her! We had a missionary meeting in Arco and we had to practice singing because guess what... we got roped into singing at stake conference this coming weekend...yay? I DON'T SING!!!!!! We had dinner over at the Ippilitos, then later that night we went to Arlene Lamberts and read the Book of Mormon with her.She has opened up so much with us and it was the neatest thing to hear her bear her testimony of the Book of Mormon last night! I just love the people here we have been able to find so much success here! I love it and cant believe how fast this week went by. I love you all and hope ya have a fantastic week!

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

This weeks list of funnies (kinda short this week)....

1. As we are siting in Book of Mormon class the keebler cookies are getting passed around and I hand them to sister coats and she doesn't take them... (she always takes chocolate!) Well I asked her why and she said she was waiting to eat one of moms cookies...to best explain we said " Why have Telestial cookies when you have Celestial cookies at home" (she really likes moms cookies :))

2. So We were talking about being honest and embellishing truths..."ya like adding rhinestone and glitter to it..."

3. SO MANY DEER!!!!! GAHHHH!!!!!

4. So when we were over at Lulas she was reading and started coughing so she get up to get some water. Come back sits down and says.. "well I got my holy water now.... *whispers* now the Catholics wont want it" haha busted up laughing

5. #onlyinmackay quote of the week... " its terrible when you mistake a tractor for an ambulance..." -Sister Jones 

"Little things make big things happen"

So basically  I was sick...(Again I know) haha but the greatest part was they finally figured out why!! No more gluten or dairy...:( sad day but hey at least I feel better! 

Tuesday: We actually had a good day! the highlight though was dinner with Deanna Hensley. She invited her friend LouAnn who isn't a member and we were able to have dinner and it was great we were able to meet her friend and hare a message. It was such a better way to contact someone. and at the end LouAnn came up to me and said, " I really hope you don't leave" I was so touched she was so sweet! so we are hoping that we can go back and meet with them again!

So Basically we had to go to Idaho Falls this week on Wednesday for a Dr. appointment. Well We had to find a ride last minute. All due to Heavenly Father and divine inspiration the Ippilitos and Hank were already going down so they took us! It was great we had the appointment then they took us out to lunch at a Habachi grill, and It was delicious "last meal" as we called it! haha the best part was the who;e time the cook was hitting on sister Coats.. ya we totally just let it happen too cause man was she embarrassed! Well once we got all that situated we were able to move on with the week and have a normal week actually! 

Thursday: It snowed... ya.... well it was good thing because man do they need it here! We weekly planned on Thursday and then had dinner with the Tiecherts who are the greatest family! we had such a good time and they are so funny and sarcastic. reminds me a lot of home :). We stopped by Arlene Lambert's after that and read the Book of Mormon with her and then we went to Fay Hansen's and talked a lot about her family. :) She is the sweetest lady and I just love her! 

Friday: We had an appointment at 10:30 and we had to meet with the Fullmers who were coming with us. We met at the Fullmers and went over the lesson and the points that we asked them to teach. well we went to the Wasylows who we were teaching and to our surprise there non-member dad answered the door ( we were there to teach his daughters) and we came in and  sat down well brother Fullmer asked if Scott (the dad) wanted to join well he did!!!!!! and he even accepted a Book of Mormon! He even shared an experience he had when he went to Carthage Jail where the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed and told us that he felt something there! WHAT?!?!? It was the best lesson ever! It all ended up perfect and they all committed to read the Book of Mormon together! It was just perfect!! After that we had lunch at the Fullmers and we just talked all about how that was a miracle!!! Later that day we had a lesson with Lula Shaffer on of the less actives in Mackay, and we have started reading the Book of Mormon with her, well she told us that she wants to go to the temple!! yay!!!!! had dinner with the Phersons! About the Kindest family you will ever meet! 

Saturday: Went and helped out at the Library and put away some books. Never thought I would become so proficient in categorizing book! haha after that we went home and I had to write my talk for Sunday and we had some paperwork stuff we had to catch up on so we took care of that. We went over and met a family that just came back form Arizona (snowbirds) the Dyes. It was so good to meet them, We instantly clicked and they welcomes us in as family! That night we had dinner at the Vadens. Well brother Vaden is also gluten-free and so they made us an amazing dinner and they even gave us food to take with us as well as other stuff! I couldnt even say thank you enough! they were so kind and they really helped us out! 

Sunday: I had to speak in Mackay ward on a confrere talk form last week. So I picked " The Music of the Gospel" since they also wanted me to tell about myself. Figured I could relate dance to it haha.. It was a good thing though because it gave me the chance to re-read the talks! it went well and we were able to get Arlene to church too! It was great to see her there! We had dinner with the VanEttens who made a really good gluten free chili. We had our big missionary fireside. There was such a good turn out! holy cow! President Curits and Sister Curtis came to speak and it was great all the speaker were spot on and were so inspiring! We had interviews with president after that. And then we met with Bishop Summer after that and he said that we are the best missionaries that the stake has ever had! it was so sweet of him. We are just trying really hard but I am so glad that I have had the chance to stay here! its growing on me! I do love it here! I am so glad that I have had the chance to serve! Its coming to a close fast but it has been the best experience EVER!

love you all!!

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

#onlyinmackay....

1. we visited sister Moss (she is from Brazil) ya she is so outspoken we were talking about the guy she was first engaged to she told us " he didn't even ask if I wanted to get married and if he did the answer would have been NO" haha it was hysterical

2. On our way home from Idaho Falls I asked Jimmy Ippilito if he ever thought he would be driving around 2 Mormon missionaries his response... "HELL NO!" haha

3. NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WORK OF THE LORD (this week)

4.While talking to everyone this week, we came to the conclusion that there isnt much diversity here because everyone here commented on " the mysterious black man walking down the street"

4. We got rid of all of the cereal in the house (which was a lot!) and on our way to give it to someone, I'm pretty sure sister coats shed a tear! haha ya she is addicted to cereal!

5.when we called Lula (less-active) to ask if she was going to make it to church she responded " no i partied to much yesterday that womens club meeting wiped me out!" haha mind you she is like 89

6. Bo Summers spoke at the missionary fireside this week, Well he made a comment on how he asked this girl to read the book of Mormon, and how she said yes but only if he 1. wrote her a letter, 2. drew her a picture of whales and 3. gave her a pack of spearmint gum.... ya he didn't pick it up AT ALL that this girl liked him... ya so we all started busting up.

Uhh. I can explain!.... we didnt mean to run the Easter Bunny over.... 4/6

So my funnies for the week since I really have no desire to write.. (hoping this will give me the motivation)

1. We totally related revelations to Harry Potter... which let me say was pretty hard considering sister Coats has NEVER SEEN HARRY POTTER!!! haha (ya gave her a really hard time about that)

2. We went to the Ippolitos for dinner this week again and there neighbor Hank was over and let me just say we laughed a lot.... "10-4... that's cop terms" . haha ya we know haha 

3. We went to Sammy's and got some freal shakes and on the inside of mine it said.. "Chocolate brings excitement... your welcome" Kind of made my day

4. sister Coats killed the Easter bunny... yup you heard right . BLAME HER!!! haha on our way home form the Ticherts, she hit a huge jack rabbit. Pretty sure it exploded 

5. So a saying they have here is " I smell bacon, I smell grease, I smell Idaho State Police" hahah  enough said

6.so for the record we can not figure out why our house smelled. So We came in one day and it stunk bad. So I grabbed the febreeze and started spraying it well I tripped so I turned it into a dance...yup Im cool! 

7. Macy, one of our Recent Converts she is 10 and so basically her jokes are hilarious! She turned to us randomly and was like "imagine Jesus entering at a baseball game.. and NEXT UP JESUS... * the crowd* AHHHHHHHHHH!" haha kids say the darn-est things

8. So We had some new faces in Book of Mormon Class which was awesome. One of them consisted of Velma Metcalf from Leslie (mind you she is like 90) So we are discussing agency and how its a gift and no one can take it from us and she shouts out "ya except for mothers!" bahahah 

9. after branding I totally got rebuked for calling them CHAPS.. they are really pronounced  SHAPS  haha ya still don't get the difference..

so I guess on to this week. It was a pretty good week we have been having a lot of success and are finding more people who seem to be ready. Tuesday we went branding out at the Ticherts! Oh man did I feel out of place hahah It was great they were teaching us what we needed to do to catch the calf that were coming through well lets just say I let a few of them go by which consisted of them having to run down the cows.. opps... haha... good learning though and they totally said we could come back next year! YA!! man it was hard work and they make it look so easy! dang it ya now I know, these are legit cowboys out here they do not mess around! haha Later that day we had a lesson with Michelle it been hard with her. We had a good discussion with her but she is pretty determined she doesn't want to learn so I think we are going to give it some time nd space.. Its sad no one ever want to feel like they failed but we also know that there will be a time when she is ready. She is till great and we love her and she is a great person and mom regardless. We went out to lesile after that and we felt impressed to stop at a house and it ended up being a member. Her name is Holly Bridges she is super sweet she lives here alone and is just kind of lonely she has some physical restrictions so she has a hard time getting around well. She told us that she helps clean some houses for some ladies in the ward on Wednesday so we ended up going with her Wednesday and helped her clean it was awesome and she is so sweet. It was a miracle we knocked on her door, because she helped us with service opportunists and we were able to help her! Tuesday night we went to contact a lady with sister Smyer her next door neighbor. Well let me tell you the power of member missionary work because man the lady was so closed off but because we were with sister Smyer she let us in! and actually warmed up to us a little! it was seriously such a blessing. Wednesday we helped clean in the morning then we had Book of Mormon class which was a small group but we had some new faces there. It was the best class we have ever had! We had such a good discussion with EVERYONE! I learned a lot and everyone seemed to walk away being spiritually fed!(which I guess is the point :)) Thursday.......Weekly planning..... Ya I HATE BEING INSIDE AL DAY!!! ya enough said. Well sister Coats could tell I was getting stir crazy so we took a break and walked down to get a snack. On our way back we saw Amy a Less-Active, Bob Moore and Lisa Warner, but the best part was The guy at the park. We were walking through the park to get back home and there was a man there with some kids so we just said Hi and kept walking. Well Sister Coats felt like we should go back.. Me being stubborn was like "that's awkward if we walk back now". To her gain she said no and we walked back. Well It ended up being great! Oh course hahah... We talked to him, his name is Jeremiah and he lives here and he is Christian. He didn't really understand a lot about our church so we asked if we could talk to him and he said yes! We also shared the new Easter video. It was great opportunity and Heavenly Father blesses us. We had dinner with the Ippolitos and Hank., all I have to say is they make me laugh! There hearts are all being softened and the Lord is working in their lives! Also read the Book of Mormon with Arlene, She is like one of my favorite people. I guess you could say it was a little tender mercy after all that weekly planning! haha Friday we had Zone meeting ..... ya again I didn't want to be inside. the good part, got so see a lot of other missionaries and some good friends! so that was huge blessing because I have been needing that! We had dinner that night with the Huffakers who live way out! but oh my goodness the best dinner appointment ever! They had some of us to teach! Brother Huffaker has a fried in Mackay who he invited, and asked if she wanted to take the lessons and she said yes!!! well we called her that night ans she was busy this weekend but she said she does want to meet with us!! YAY!!!!! 

Saturday and Sunday consisted of Conference and Easter festivities. the Mackay Easter egg hunt and Easter egg dying. We saw a lot of people out and were able to talk to a lot of people that way! Conference was amazing! I just love it and I love it even more when in lads on Easter! It amazing that everyone can get something out of General Conference and it speaks right to there heart and clams there fears or heals them. I am so grateful for living Prophets and Apostles and inspired people who listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. I love you all and than you so much for all the Easter stuff! I am so grateful for this time of year and the healing and re-birth that take place! 

Here are some of my favorite quotes form conference:

" Heavenly Father wants to bless us physically and spiritually"   -Eyring

" Fear hinders our future"  - Oaks

" We have to embrace spiritual invitations, we don't accidentally believe in Christ" 

 -L. Whitney Clayton

" I can teach you how to dance but you have to hear the music"  - Wilford W. Anderson

" Twas I, But Tis not I"  - Dale G. Renlund

" The service that counts the most is normally recognized by God only" 

 -Michael T. Ringwood

" Your not as much in the dark as you think"  -Rosmary M. Wixom

"Life is not confined in a 4-inch screen"  Jose A. Teixeria

"Are we destined to fail? NO! " - Holland

" We need more than just an unlocked gate, we must enter" -Uchdorf

" Everyday, Everyday, Everyday" - Kevin W. Pearson

to missionaries: 

" When you return home you cannot swan dive back into Babylon"  -Kevin W. Pearson

" There is no room for average or complacent disciples"  -Kevin W. Pearson

Love you all!!!

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love, 

Sister Owsley

Holy Cow 3/30

 haha So to start off. This morning we got up at 4am to get everything we needed done. then we headed down to Lesile to help out at a members ranch. today They were artificially inseminating there cows.... yup! #onlyinmackayidaho haha Mackay is not for the weak hearted! sent are some of the picture from this morning. They were doing 270 cows today! and guess what tomorrow we brand! yahoo! Lots of new learning experiences here that for sure. Not like San Diego at all! Totally worth it and fun :) Now onto the rest of the week.... We have been keeping pretty busy here we got 3 new investigators this week! things are really picking up here and Its exciting because we are seeing grow not only from the work with non-members but with the members too. this week has put me through the fire, but looking back I don't want to take it back Sometime Heavenly Father puts us through something we don't understand so that we can see what is actually important to us. we had transfer calls last night and we are both staying. I am actually really excited to stay the work is picking up and we are really busy which we know is great for me. I love it! We had some great experiences with the people we are working with. Margie VanOrden is an investigator here in Mackay. She is so sweet and we stopped by her house on Monday, we felt prompted too and we ended up being there for a while and she fed us, she also was able to take us to an appointment in Moore. it gave us time to talk to her and she is slowly opening up to us. Another is a Less-Active Arlene Lambert. We go and read the Book of Mormon with her 2-3 times a week and she has progressed so much the last week and she is starting to understand Heaven;y fathers plan for her. It awesome when it finally clicked this week. We had Lunch with Michelle Rightler (one of our investigators) and She is great! Its been hard getting her to feel the spirit and not just understand it in her head. She is incredibly smart and has so much knowledge, and i know the gospel could only bless her life. But her daughter Anna asked if we could talk to her a little more and so we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she was going to read it! She thanked us for it!! crazy she was so excited to just lean! We continue to do a lot of service which I love. We helped Carley Hennesy ( A non-member here) with her hay. She is getting ready to build an garden kitchen so she asked us to help and we had a really good discussion with her. He mom is Jennifer Quinn Who fed us on Sunday The Smoked pork..,. Unfortunately there smoker didn't light so it wasn't done. I felt so bad but I told her that I could just bring my family up and then we would have a grill out! haha I did feel bad though but they all just laughed it off! Had Dinner with Fay Hansen a Less-active who is now active! Woohoo! She is like 89 and she made us dinner and we went over and had ice cream and dinner with her. She showed us all her Family history and scrapbooks! they were amazing, she had old poems and recipes and pictures it was so cool to go through. She even sung to us! it was so sweet. We were over at the Ippiltios (our Italian family:)) We played a game of uno and I creamed them the first round haha. We shared the new Easter video. There hearts have truly softened and Jimmy is coming around. he is so sweet. this week I got really sick on Thursday and we were supposed to have dinner with them but instead he drove all the way out to bring us dinner, then offered to bring soup the next day if I wasn't better! We are well taken care of! The women's conference was amazing and all Im going to say is I love the leaders of the Church they are so inspired! Ya got sick again this week! and what not maybe I need Vitiman C haha or sunshine! Mackay is growing on me and I am learning more and more while I am here. Both Physically and spiritually. I have had to rely on my Heavenly Father more that I have ever had to, I have had to understand Jesus Christ More while being here. I am so grateful for my testimony in the Gospel and especially in my Savior. I cant imagine not knowing these things, and being able to feel pure Joy. That's the greatest message that no matter where you are are or where you have been or the mistakes you will make you can have joy and happiness and it will last much longer that just this life. Its ETERNAL! I love you all ad hope you have a beautiful week!! #itsnotgoobyeitsc-yalater Love, Sister Owsley ...so here's my list of the week.... 1. Ya no deer this week surprisingly!! but there was a moose... ya.... 2. so we had dinner with some non-member... ya they were totally drunk during dinner When we shared a message they were just all sorts of confusing...haha PURE ENTERTAINMENT! :) it was funny! 3. The awkward moment as a missionary when in the Book of Mormon class people start speculating on different things and you and your companion just look at each other like "you want to take this?" 4. I have learned more about the anatomy of a cow here than I think I ever wanted to... 5. our dinner with Fay this week wasn't actually scheduled we totally had another dinner planned but she called us at like 3 and asked when we were coming over and that the food was almost ready... ya we busted up laughing! 6. Fay Hansen is also one of my favorite people because as we are going through her Family History a picture of her ex-daughter-in-law to which she pointed out that " None of us even like her butt anyways!" haha Old ladies get away with so much! that's all folks.... :)

"Make all the boy Moose go. WHAAAAAA!!"

Downtown Mackay, Idaho

Sister Coats- half the Summer Clan- Sister Owsley

(sorry for all the typos hope this all makes sense)

So to explain my title. Sister Coats and I went up to mine hill to go hiking this morning. well first off we totally did not follow the trail, but my awesome mountain women skills came in handy (dad would be proud) and we made it back safe and sounds. The coolest part... WE SAW A MOOSE!!! ya like a legit real moose it was huge and it ran..like fast! haha We were busting up and screaming it was so funny! 

so rewind.....

Monday last week: We had dinner with an investigator couple, Jim and Evelyn Ippiloto. They are from new Jersey and have the accents to prove it! (It hilarious how people end up here) but they are awesome! . Jimmy though makes the best food ever and they understand why people live in big cities ... so it was good to talk with them! Evelyn is so sweet and Jim is a crazy goof ball who loves to make fun of us! :) But he did school us in Uno! haha

Tuesday: ST. PATRICKS DAY!!! (No corned beef and Cabbage) We did however have district meeting. We also went over to the Bells (btw she totally reminds me of mom:))We visited a lot of people and had dinner with our ward mission leader in Lesile, Brother Jones is awesome and him and his wife are so sweet!

Wednesday: we went and painted a Potential Investigators house. Her name is Jennifer Quinn and she is the mom of another Potential here in Mackay. But we painted and talked to her for a while. she is so funny and just sweet! She took us out to lunch in Moore afterwards. We did get talking and she said they just bought a new BBQ with a smoker on it so I told her dad did that so she went out and bought all the meat and want us to come over and teach them! (so going to need you recipe dad!) anyways she was so nice and offered to come let us work and her bed and breakfast during the summer! had Book of Mormon class that night and had a good turn out. read over Mosiah 18 i think and talked about sharing the gospel which was great for the people we had there! 

Thursday: We had weekly planning, Did service for an elderly Less-active lady, and had the Relief Society Activity in Mackay that night. Nothing too exciting.

Friday:I think I lost my brain that day. We were everywhere doing everything and it was CRAZY! We had to leave early to go to Arco which is 30 minutes away to go pick up a new car from Elder McQueen So that occupied our morning. Yes got a brand new 2015 Subaru legacy. it white therefore we named her Blanco! haha  Then we went over to the Ivies and made cookies and Bread to give out to people. Weird I know but people will let you in here if you have food! :) Sister Ivie is awesome and while the cookies were cooking she took us up mine hill here and took us to gravity hill! Craziest thing you drive down the hill and then put you car in Neutral and it pulls your car back up the hill. Totally tripped me out! they were all laughing at me!haha after that we went to Fay Hansens, We were going to cook her dinner so we bought a stoffers Lasagna thinking that would be easy to do. We go over to her house and realize its not thawed so its going to take a 1 hr 45 min to cook. ya so we go and put it in now freaked out at how long its going to take. So we go out and start racking her leaves for her. Sister Coasts goes in and turns the heat up, and I go in and pull the timer back a little so she doesn't notice. Well we finished the yard work but the food was not done at all. So we sit down to watch " A priceless possession" (Which BTW is a great church movie!) and we keep pushing the timer she set back. in which she says " I could have sworn that it said 35 min 10 min ago" Sister Coats and I just laughed and nodded out heads. Ya no worries though it all finished and was actually pretty good! haha Stopped by some more people that night and really was everywhere!

Saturday: SERVICE! We went out Lesile in the morning and helped Bishop Summers put in a fence. We had to pound in the posts. ya. WAY harder than it looks. He made it look so easy! Dang it then I get up to do it and look so dang weak! haha But it was good to get out and help them. After that we went to the rogers in Mackay and helped them with there horses. So tempting to just get on and ride them. they kept offering and it looked so fun. So I told them we would be back up to ride them after my mission! We had Dinner with one of our investigators that night. Michelle, she is so funny and cooked the best mashed potatoes ever! she even taught us Japanese which just made me laugh! Ohai yo (good morning) has been my new catch phrase the last few days. had an ice cream party with the Henney's that night. in which I vicariously live my dreams of going to the UK through her. Her Husband is from England and they lived there until this year! Ya dream life! 

Sunday: we had to give talks in the Lesile ward this Sunday. Our topic was on Christ (ya really broad!) haha but they went well. I focused a lot o grace which has been my theme I guess for the last week. And how His grace really is sufficient for us all! We had lunch with the Fullmers and dinner with the Wainwrights (who there daughter just got back from a mission in Australia) Pretty good Sunday though. the most amazing part was we got out of church and had a text from Kevin Hennesy. He said he had found my name tag in the park. Which the weird part is I have never been to the park there. I had lost my name tag on Friday and was really sad since it was my first name tag. Well i know its silly but I prayed that i would find it. Well rewind... A few days prior we heard that Kevin doesn't really want us to pray at there house anymore so we had kind of gotten discouraged from that. So when we found out hew found my name tag in a random spot we knew it was a way to tell Kevin he was an answer to prayers. Funny how Heavenly Father works that way! 

I know Heavenly Father is truly looking out for me He has carried me so far and I and so grateful for his love and the grace that he has given me. It been rough but I have learned so much here already and its been a worth it! 

Here are my Funnies for the week...

1. Evelyn Ippilito found out I have never dated a boy and here was her quote to me... " You have been hanging out with turkeys, what you need to do is be with the eagles" made me smile!

2. Totally almost hit another deer this week I think Im just going to start a running total. Barely misses: 3 Hits:0 

4. We were getting a new car this week since our cd player in it didnt work. well we get in the car and get on our way and guess what... yup. cd player doesnt work. Sister Coats was fuming haha it was slightly funny.

5. dinner with Fay... enough said! 

6. So we were driving down the Highway and we see this black thing in the road. yup a bay cow got out of a broken fence. Well in an attempt to help it we go to Brother Ticherts whose cow it is. We tell him and he then askes if we put it back and fixed the fence.... we tell him no then he asked well did ya just hit it then.... we said no.. to which he replied why not? Ya 2 city girls here!

7. Sister Coats caught some serious air in our new car this week.... ya you heard right new car. we were laughing pretty hard

8. This Sunday because we had to speak we were sitting on the stand where everyone could see us.. not a good place to catch the giggles which is what happened. here the reasoning behind it though. you know when they choose a song that no one knows. ya it way more evident when you can hear everyone and no one is singing the same tune... ya busted up laughing!

love you all!

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love, 

Sister Owsley 

The Lost River Valley and the Very Lost Sister 3/16

Last night in Burley

So Needless to say one of the craziest weeks of my mission ever! Started out pretty normal and in Burley, Idaho and ended in Mackay, Idaho about 300 miles from where it started! haha ya I'm just glad I'm back to laughing now. So in order to get the full spectrum of what happened, I will start from the beginning.

Monday: We had P-day it was awesome we all played a really intense game of volleyball which was a blast, and during the game we got a call from President Curtis that one of our investigators got approval to be baptized! he has been waiting for a while and so we were super excited. We had dinner at the Dowdles where we had pufferigists (totally don't think I spelled that right) I'm glad we did though so I could have them one more time! We went over to our investigators next and told him the good news so it was a happy day. 

Tuesday: I was getting ready that morning in my room and for some reason the thought came to me that I really didn't want to be transferred again because I have so much stuff! haha but then quickly following that thought was the impression that I was leaving soon. Well I finished getting ready and we were driving to district meeting and I started to hink about Mackay, Idaho. I had no clue why until now but I just felt weird I guess is the best way to explain that. Well we had an awesome District Meeting and went to lunch at Taco Bandido (ya... not my choice haha) but then we went on with our day well we got as call from president Curtis (who was at our district meeting) saying that he needed to help a sister and so I was being Emergency Transferred. It kinda of stunk but honestly at the time it didn't hit me and i was really ok. I got to say bye t some people and we were able to see some people that night that we had appointment with so it all worked out. But packing took FOREVER!! haha

Wednesday: we finished up something and I finished packing we went out and visited some people and it was good. President and Sister Curtis came with the other sister and SISTER BLY!!!!! to come and pick me up! Gah tender mercies of the Lord that I was actually going on exchanges with sister bly before i went to Mackay! Seriously best thing ever!  drove back to Twin. Which was weird because we both felt like should go right back to 11th ward haha. Well we didn't and we headed back to Jerome for the rest of the day. Heavenly father Knows just what we need in our lives ad he knew i would need that transition period to help me get through all of this. Well we had a good time in Jerome needless to say. I got a blessing that night from Elder Fleck and it really helped comfort me in knowing that all was going to be okay even though it was going to be hard. 

Thursday: Well since I hadn't gone to the temple that transfer President said we could go with sister bly and Sister Drapers District to the temple. So that morning we headed to Twin to lunch then to the temple. Which I can honestly say was another huge tender mercies that before all of this I got to go to the temple and collect my thoughts and be closer to the Lord. After that we went shopping because well there is nothing here in Mackay and so we needed to "stock up" and sister coats put it. So we did and then we made the journey (and I mean that) to Mackay and we made it back bu 8:30 so LONG day! haha Sister Sayer was the one who drove us up and she is amazing and bought us dinner too. it was so sweet of her! 

Friday: Well we had some appointments and service so we were out most the day and visiting people we got a new investigator and I was able to meet so many people which was awesome. We had dinner with the Haroldsens. They are an older couple and they were so sweet. Well we went home in an attempt to do weekly planning but I had to unpack because my brain was going crazy!! so I did that. Ya long day but a productive 1st day here! haha 

Satuday: then the BOMB hit! ya all my emotions caught up with me on Saturday Well I got hit hard with a cold so I was really sick on Saturday then I started missing Burley. So I was a mess. Sister Coats was awesome though and she really helped I slept most the day and was able to finally pull myself together enough to get up. Well we also have great members here that dropped off dinner and brought us ice cream so i was feeling better haha but still not feeling well and still sick. 

Sunday: I swear was a 180 for me spiritually and emotionally. I was still having a hard time physically being sick and all but it was good to get out. We had ward council in Mackay and then we went to the Lesile ward for a missionary homecoming. Oh my gosh the church building here are so small!!!! like a 1/4 the size of our chapel. haha CRAZY! Well i met a lot of people and it was good to just get names down. Were getting there. We correlated with our Ward Mission Leaders and went over to Bishop Summers who is over the Lesile ward. He is awesome and really funny. We were standing at the door and sister coats looks up and tells me to say right there and i look at her like ok your weird but then bishop summers opens the door and scares me so bad and they all just busted up laughing. it totally made me feel at home! haha 

over all this week was crazy but ive learned a lot in the last few days, and I have a felling I will continue to learn a lot here. It kind of is like a foreign country up here but I am excited to be here and to learn whatever it is that the Lord needs me to. I kind of feel like its my final testing point on my mission. I hat change and I REALLY hate spontaneous change so its kind of like my final here on mission and I am ready to do this. Dont get me wrong it still stinks but the Lord has truly carried me the last few days when I have felt like I couldn't do it anymore. I know that he loves me and is looking out for me! 

Congrats you made it to the end of this probably slightly boring sad letter... Well here are the funny thing and fun facts of this week:

1. Mackay, Idaho Population 517 ya........

     ya they have like 7 graduating seniors this year..........

2. The Largest mountain in Idaho mount Bora resides in here in this "valley"

3. Yes everyone here refers to this as the " blessed valley" in every prayer, testimony, or comment its was pretty funny

4. We were driving from this members house yesterday and sister Coats was driving haha and there dog kept running in front of the car so she would accelerate in fear of hitting the dog. ya that went on for about a mile down the road until she finally did and while doing so screamed " PLEASE I CANT KILL A DOG" ahah

5. There are deer her EVERYWHERE. so on our way home last night in the dark. we saw a deer in the middle of the road. so Sister Coats slammed the breaks on and honked her horn so the deer would move.. well im pretty sure the deer was under the influence because it couldn't decided which way it wanted to go for a good 30 seconds. Ya we busted up laughing.

6. there is one grocery store here and its the size of a gas station....... oddly no Target haha

7. sister Coats and I started a new hashtag #onlyinmackayidaho 

 this week it consisted of the ice cream the member brought us was call cow tracks not moose tracks, but the funniest part was that it had miniature chocolate cows in the ice cream... ya only in Mackay...

hahah well hope everyone has a good week! Love you all

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley