truckin along.... 1/19

This week has been good not to much to report on! Sorry these letter have been so lame lately but. Things are going good here our area has been picking up! We set a baptismal date with a Dakota Cann so he is getting ready for that and there family is doing awesome. Joe and Jeaninne and doing great still working on coming back to church but we had an awesome lesson with them this week! We have been working on Contacting a lot of people in the ward since were both still kind of new! but all is well or at least its getting there! :) sorry this is so incredibly short. not really feeling well today so my brain isn't working right! haha but really all is going well. things are looking up here and there is hope on the Horizon! ill let Elder Ridd do the rest of the talking here In the Words of Elder Ridd ( this is the BYU-I devotional form last week) another missionary Suggested I read it and It was just what I needed to hear. So i think this about sums up my week and where were at in the work here! Love you all !

#itsnotgoobyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

Service and Sacrifice #bookofmormonchallenge

So thought I should write a letter. but man does it get harder and harder to do that the longer and longer you have been out! Crazy! time is flying so fast and its getting closer and closer. But I will say I  am happy and sad! It will definitely be hard to leave! This week has been crazy. We had transfers on Wednesday and sister Ritchel was leaving. She had been here for 7 1/2 months so we went around so she could say bye to people. So Monday and Tuesday consisted of that. it ended up being a really good thing we got in to see a lot of people we hadn't in a while and people really opened up about things so we saw a lot of miracles happen. we had transfers on Wednesday and it was sad to see sister Ritchel leave but I know they will take good care of her in Mountain Home and she will love it. Sister Pohahau and I have doing great! Its so much fun to be back with an old companion. We did a lot of catching up and what not and so far we have been able to do a lot of great things. We have 4 new investigators this week! we are teaching the Gonzalez Family! Farren and Humberto and there 3 kids. Farren is awesome she is really searching for the truth and wanting to do what right for her family. We had a lesson with them this week and talked about the Book of Mormon and how it answers questions and will help her know whats true! She is amazing and I am so happy for her. We actually took them back from the Spanish elders so they have been taught for sometime now.Now there ours! haha also we had a young women come up to us after church on Sunday and say that her boyfriend (who has been coming to church) wants to take the lessons! Crazy I love it when that happens! His name in Ali and he is in High school but he is a good kid and has been coming for some time now. So we will start teaching him on Thursday! We have seen a lot of miracles this week as well as a lot of hard time! Mainly because there were so many good things to come that Satan wanted us to stop what we were doing! I think one of the biggest blessings has been to read the Book of Mormon lately. Our mission is reading the whole Book of Mormon from Jan 1 to Easter! and I have just loved it I finished the Book of Mormon last year but I love reading it and the opportunity to read it again in such short amount of time! Seriously my testimony of the Book of Mormon had grown so much on my mission and its something I love. One of the things I think that really stood out to me this week while reading is about Nephi and how much he love the Lord and wanted to do whatever he had to to serve him. Its one of the Great lessons of the Book of Mormon. Sacrifice. There was a great quote and I'm sure i will butcher it but its by Neal A Maxwell and it said, The only thing we can sacrifice in our life is our will, everything else He has already loaned or let us borrow. I think it mad e me appreciate more not only my agency and the power to CHOOSE to follow the Lord but also the many things the Lord has blessed me with. That's been a huge blessing of my mission. Seeing how much I have been give. 

I Love it here its hard. Everyday its hard but its so worth it and is such a small sacrifice compared to all I have been given. 

Love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

p.s. Just found out that the general authority coming in a week is Elder Ballard. Pretty exciting stuff around here! :)

This Week........12/29/14

So not sure if I want you to put this on the blog or not but. this week has been rough. Like probably the hardest week of my mission yet!

Note from Mom--I decided to publish this letter because we all have HARD weeks and that is OK. 

Plus to this week though and the biggest highlight of it was talking and seeing all of you guys really it meant so much to see and hear you it helped me a lot this week when everything felt like it was crumbling around me! 

so the kid I was telling you about (Stephen) he is severely autistic and we were asked by our bishop to teach him all 5 lesson and baptize him in less that a week because he was just in town for the week. so Sister Ritchel and I at first when we found out all the information really prayed about it and were struggling wither or not we should do it. After much prayer we decided and felt like it was the right thing to do. So we moved forward with it and all I can say is that I am grateful that we got to teach him and meet him! Wow is he special to Heavenly Father! It was amazing we would come back and teach him and he would remember thing and actually sit through lessons! It was truly a miracle teaching him!  he had a interview and he passed and I was so proud of him for how much he remembered! So It looked like we were good to go and he was so excited. The day of though all was going so good and he was still excited. they got in the water and everything and said the prayer and he went under... but his had was to high and when he came up he was freaked out! They tried then for 30 min in the font to try to get him to go. but he wouldn't have it. Sister Ritchel and I knew from the beginning that he didn't need it but we decided it was the right thing and maybe this would help his grandma and brother start coming back to church... ya well grandma tried so hard to get him to do it again..nothing.  It felt like everyone thought we were just doing it for the number which so wasn't the case. we were just doing what we were asked too! so ya it was emotionally exhausting! and sister Ritchel got the 24 hour flu on Christmas day and we were snowed in so we didn't go anywhere! I promise with wasn't an all bad week but it was probably the hardest more emotionally and physically and mentally and spiritually exhausting week of my mission! No doubt about that! so Ya I don't really know what else to tell you since we just talked !! haha but ya there was good I got to meet Stephen and that was awesome in its self he is AMAZING!also Christmas dinner we had a Cajun Feast at the Farfans. Like the kind were they dumb crab legs and seafood on the table it was AWESOME (yes i know more food:)) anyways I hope your week was better. I know ill get better but dang its hard and Burley has way too much high school drama sometimes!! haha here are some pictures so my week doesn't look so bad! anyways not really wanting to send this to anyone... ya..not a great uplifting letter... sorry!!! 

Love you all though and it can only go up from here!! :)

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley

Christmas Morning Burley, Idaho
SNOWED IN!

Short and Sweet (for all the sweets I've eaten this week!) 12/22/14

Well what can I say.. the month of December is either really really slow or really really busy. And unfortunately and fortunately we have had the later and been extremely busy and its been crazy this week! 

We have had so many things happen. We committed a baptismal date with like 3 people granted they all said they would think about it and we tried and have like 4 almost investigators but alas this is Christmas break and everyone is either out of town or doesn't want to be bothered because its christmas.. so ya. We had a difficult week but we also had a lot of good we are working with a lot of less actives and a lot of part member families that we have seen a progress with this last week. The Giles are in the 8th ward and she is a returned missionary and her husband is working on getting the melchizedek priesthood and being able to go to the temple next year and Joe and Jennine Maybe are another couple in the 9th ward who are the sweetest people. Joe isn't a member and has known missionaries for a while and Jennine has polio so it hard for her to come to church but they are amazing people and joe is so sarcastic so we got along really well!! (thanks dad!!) haha but we have been helping the ward a lot and we have seen so much progress with the ward and they are getting excited for missionary work and helping us out a lot! So really things are going well and we have been keeping really busy! Sorry this letter is so short! But not a lot to report on i guess. Haven't seen the sun for 3 day kind of a bummer and no snow just lots of rain. Seriously so nice having a car. I really feel so blessed right now to be here. There is so much good going on in the area its difficult at times and very stressful but it helps me know that i'm doing good here and I have been blessed by my Heavenly Father! Love you all and hope everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 

#itsnotgoodbyeitsc-yalater 

#heisthegift

Love,

Sister Owsley

Oh the weather outside is......actually really nice!! 12/15/14

So this week has been so long but at the same time so much fun!! Seriously I don't think I have ever been to so many Christmas parties before! But I really cant complain its been so much fun and I am finally starting to get into the habit here now and adjusting to life here in Burley. Its a really great place... small... but so fun. Like really though this place looks like it came out of a Hallmark Christmas movie! With main street all decorated in lights (Ill have to send Pictures) and where everyone knows everyone! haha But there is so much work to be done here and we have been seeing so many blessings come! 

Monday: So on Monday we had breakfast that morning with all the missionaries here at the Gibbons house (he is in our mission presidency) they do this every month and sister Gibbons makes the best homemade biscuits ever!  we had a district activity and so we had a bonfire at a members house and roasted marshmallows and played games haha you would have thought it was summer! The weather here has been so nice and basically like home I'm talking like 60s everyday! haha that night we had FHE again with the Dowdels and we helped her get some secret Santa stuff ready for Christmas! 

Tuesday: Sister Ritchel still hasn't been doing good and we are still trying to get answers as to her foot and if she really broke it or sprained it. so that morning we went and did service for the relief society in the 8th ward. Which I have to say was so funny!! they are a hoot and have been so welcoming and fun, its like home! haha so we helped wrap potatoes (SHOCKER! I know) and cut lettuce for the ward Christmas party on Wednesday. Then we had lunch as a district at the Farfans and ordered pizza and what not since we didn't have district meeting this past week. The we went and had a lesson with Taylor and we talked to her, She is really amazing and I am so in awe with how strong of a person she is! Later that afternoon we went and delivered invites to the ward party to some of our less-active and investigators to try to get the to come and we were able to meet with he Hoskins who are less active. It was awesome because sister Hoskins came to the party and when we went over to visit them they were so nice, and showed us all around there house and they are collectors... not like the scary kind... like the really cool kind. I told brother Hoskins that him and Dad would get along because his collections consist of jet skis and boats and RV's hahah! We had dinner then we went and helped out at the church to set up the tables for the Christmas party that night. 

Wednesday: So The next three days were the busiest days ever i think I went home Exhausted everyday! So we went to the Church building at 10 that morning and spent most the day at the Church helping with the Christmas party for the night. We also later that afternoon went over and finished helping sister Dowdel with her Secret Santa things. Then went back to the church to help finish up then spent that night at the party and cleaning up. haha But seriously these wards have crazy parties I love it. The ward party that night was themed a Christmas Carol so they had the whole Christmas carol acted out! Crazy but it was really fun and I got meet a whole lot more people that way so it was a success. 

Thursday: We had the mission wide Christmas party! haha I had been looking forward to that  for like the past 3 weeks! haha Its was fun because we  got to see ALL the missionaries from the mission. Got to see sister Bly :) ahah but it was so much fun. We had a whole zone conference before and then they had a talent show and then a devotional with Elder Allen of the 70. It was a packed day from 1-8 pm and we had to get up there early so it was a LONG day but so much fun! 

Friday: Was the day of the 9th wards Christmas party so we again headed over to the Church at 10 and spent the whole day there helping set up. We also had a lesson, well was going to have a lesson, with Dakota. He is 10 and his whole family are members except for him so the sisters were teaching him because he wanted to be baptize... when we went over though he told us that he was to busy to meet. so kind of disappointing but we are going to try to meet again with him this coming week. Well that night we had the party and it was great we got a lot of people to the party and a lot of good came out of it. They had a funny little talent show and they had Santa come and everything.. even a hot chocolate bar!! we got to run it too and I'm talking Stephens hot chocolate! it was awesome! 

Saturday: We were busy we had a lesson Saturday morning with Karen and Dorthy Norton. Karen is about 50 and Dorthy I think is 90 something but they are amazing women who are really seeking after the gospel and want to be baptized. Karen has been through a lot this last year and so she is working really hard to become better and the person Heavenly Father wants her to be. I love teaching them because they are so ready and Karen has the biggest heart in the world and is really seeking after it! We had lunch and then we had to weekly plan to get all caught up for the coming week. We had dinner with the Kays who own Papa Kelsey's here in Burley ( its a sandwich shop here) and so they took us to dinner there. The  we had to correlate with our ward mission leader then we went home. Sunday: Sunday we saw so many miracles happen. We got Greg to stay for gospel Principals, we had Sonya a less-active who has never been to church ( because of health issues) come! Her daughter came to town do she asked her to bring her! also we heard about a YM who is not a member who asked the leaders if he could be baptized! and there were so many more we also had a stake Christmas concert last night and a non-member couple the Zimmermans came to the concert. They are amazing and they are so prepared for the gospel. I would have thought they were already members! So it was a great end top the week. We also went over tot he Farfans that night and she mad home-made chocolate chip cookies and we played board games and what not ( it was so much fun and like home!) haha 

This week was really great and a lot of really great things are coming and I am really excited for them and to be here at this time! I love you all and home that you have an amazing week

#itsnotgoodbyeitc-yalater

Love,

Sister Owsley