Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!! Just 6 more days...weird. So soon. Anyways, this last week...oh, the exciting part of this last week. We had 2 lessons with our golden investigators. The first lesson was about the word of wisdom. It was actually kind of funny. Sister golden investigator said she would live it... all she has to give up is coffee...tea...and a little alcohol. Really it will be no big deal for her, but she doesn't like to waste things. She only drinks like 1 cup of coffee a day and the rest not very often, but we committed her to stop by the new year. Her husband said he could do it, no big deal. He only drinks 1 cup of coffee a day. Saturday we took them to a baptism of a girl from the singles ward. It was great! During the Holy Ghost talk, the girl who was baptized was asked how she felt the Holy Ghost. She said, peaceful and calm. For a long time our sister golden investigator has been hesitant to say whether or not she knew the church was true, mainly because everyone around her had said how they have had this powerful feeling in their hearts which they knew it was the Holy Ghost. When the baptism girl said peaceful and calm, it clicked for sister golden investigator. It was very moving, emotionally for her that baptism. Later she admitted that she believes that its true. Now they both believe it's true and they both want to be baptized. But they want to make their baptism date convenient for their daughter and family that lives in Utah. We are going to talk to them more fully in our next lesson. We have also been visiting with a lot of the less actives, one lady in particular, almost every day we see her. She's lonely. Every time we see her we tell her that we will be excited to see her at church on Sunday. We spent Saturday morning helping a lady in our ward move. She has a lot of stuff... Yeah. That's pretty much our lives. My life. Anyways, oh, we got a new ward mission leader yesterday. We actually didn't have one for about a month. But thing is, this new one travels a lot! So we'll see how that goes. Well, I love you all bunches and bunches. Hope you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

December 19, 2011

Merry Christmas!!! Just 6 more days...weird. So soon. Anyways, this last week...oh, the exciting part of this last week. We had 2 lessons with our golden investigators. The first lesson was about the word of wisdom. It was actually kind of funny. Sister golden investigator said she would live it... all she has to give up is coffee...tea...and a little alcohol. Really it will be no big deal for her, but she doesn't like to waste things. She only drinks like 1 cup of coffee a day and the rest not very often, but we committed her to stop by the new year. Her husband said he could do it, no big deal. He only drinks 1 cup of coffee a day. Saturday we took them to a baptism of a girl from the singles ward. It was great! During the Holy Ghost talk, the girl who was baptized was asked how she felt the Holy Ghost. She said, peaceful and calm. For a long time our sister golden investigator has been hesitant to say whether or not she knew the church was true, mainly because everyone around her had said how they have had this powerful feeling in their hearts which they knew it was the Holy Ghost. When the baptism girl said peaceful and calm, it clicked for sister golden investigator. It was very moving, emotionally for her that baptism. Later she admitted that she believes that its true. Now they both believe it's true and they both want to be baptized. But they want to make their baptism date convenient for their daughter and family that lives in Utah. We are going to talk to them more fully in our next lesson. We have also been visiting with a lot of the less actives, one lady in particular, almost every day we see her. She's lonely. Every time we see her we tell her that we will be excited to see her at church on Sunday. We spent Saturday morning helping a lady in our ward move. She has a lot of stuff... Yeah. That's pretty much our lives. My life. Anyways, oh, we got a new ward mission leader yesterday. We actually didn't have one for about a month. But thing is, this new one travels a lot! So we'll see how that goes. Well, I love you all bunches and bunches. Hope you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

December 12, 2011

Life goes really quick sometimes. I can't believe it's almost half way through December! I still feel like it should be May or June. Haha, but it's not... Last week we had a really good potential investigator lesson fall through. He got sick. So sad! Everyone has been getting sick here. A few members in our ward, some of the elders, and our potential investigator. He seems like a really good genuine person. I'm excited for him. Hopefully he's getting better and will call us this week. We also have been visiting a less active lady almost every other day. We are getting her pumped for coming back to church. She has a little bit of dementia possible, but she's a sweet good lady and has warmed up to us. We were able to get her to come to our Christmas parties. We also were able to meet with our golden investigators again. We had a lesson with them about the Holy Ghost. They were really intently listening to that lesson! They are doing pretty well. Still doing their reading, their progress slowed a little due to them being sick, but they came to church on Sunday and enjoyed it. Some of the members are really great. A family invited them over for dinner yesterday! And invited to go view some Christmas lights/music with their family. They are an awesome family. We are also working with our other investigator. She's really hard to work with because she doesn't keep any of the commitments we have given her. She used to do everything about a year ago when she was taking the lessons before, but now we just don't know what to do with her... I guess we'll see what happens. Saturday we did exchanges. It was a nice change. I was with Sister Crossely from Pittsburg. She's a great missionary. Very energetic and very spiritual. It was nice spending the day with her. We were able to visit some potential investigators and boy do they have potential! We were able to set up an possible appointment with one of the people. It was a great day. She is very inspiring. Umm... besides that...oh last p-day I got to play ping-pong! That was fun. Reminded me of the old days in Zionsville when Trevor and I use to play together. Anyways. I love you all bunches and bunches. I can't believe Trevor is getting so old! Wait...are you leaving the day after Christmas to take him to Utah? Craziness. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures! Love you all tons! Have a wonderful Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that fun jazz!
Your loving daughter,
sister,
friend,
missionary,
me,
Sister Kristi Walston

December 5, 2011

Hello!!! How are all of you fine people doing? I am doing fine. This last week was kind of slow. Our 2 golden investigators...well, the husband has been sick for over a week. Yikes! So, we haven't been able to meet with them. But the bishop called him the other day and they are still doing their reading. And the Relief Society president was going to take them something. The ward members are great, many of them are asking about our investigators. Yesterday, we went in High Priest and talked about the missionary work in the ward. I think we are slowly getting the members excited and that they are actually starting to trust us for real... I don't know if they did before... We had both our relief society and ward parties this last week. We had a less active lady come to both of them! We've been working with her quite a bit and the member that drove her said that she mentioned how she enjoyed the parties...maybe she'll come to church this next week! I got to sit next to Santa's lap this week! At the ward party, Santa did show up! Not a whole lot really happened this week. Just visiting the less active older ladies...and making plans to have a ward chapel tour/fireside in January and we are also planning to do a scriptures study class of The Book of Mormon for recent converts and less actives and who wants to attend. That will happen in January too. But we are making plans to do something different to helping gain more success. Well, I love you all so much! You all are very wonderful. Thank you for your letters and support!

November 29, 2011

So...yesterday was a weird p-day...and hence I am writing today during our lunch break. Anyways, how was your thanksgiving? Dad said it was good, so hopefully every else had a good one. Ours was....rather boring. It was suppose to be a p-day spent with members...but we only had one dinner appointment, so we were rather bored in our apartment since we didn't want to crash anyone else's. And the ward didn't do anything fun, probably because they are all old... Anyways, we did heart attack our ward mission leader’s door. That was fun. Um... so last week we had a really good lesson with our 2 golden investigators. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were able to both teach the lesson well together. At the end of the lesson I actually was able to extend them the baptismal commitment. It was kind of funny though. I was really nervous, so usually you're suppose to say: "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by the proper priesthood authority of God?" Instead I said, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by the proper priesthood authority of God...and be baptized?" Haha, Sister McKellar said she got really scared that I forgotten to say the word "baptism." But at least I remember and got it out! :D That was fun...but they still don't have baptism dates. The husband said yes, but first he would like to read all of The Book of Mormon. The wife said probably, but she's still not sure; mainly she just wants to make sure it's right for her; she doesn't want to be one of those members who fall away later, she wants to be completely converted. We also talked about how they would like to be baptized together, so I think for now during the lessons we are going to try to focus more on her since we're not really worried about him. We were able to meet their children during the thanksgiving week, the children that converted a few years back. They mentioned how they hoped to see us again at their parent’s baptism:) Besides that, we've been struggling to meet with our other 2 investigators. But we've been visiting lots of the older less active women in the ward and inviting people to our Christmas activities which happen to be happening all this weekend. Thursday is our relief society party, and Saturday is the ward party and there are other random activities among that. Anyways, I love you all so much! I am so thankful to have all of you part of my life. :D Thanks for being so awesome and amazing and for love and support.

November 21, 2011

I can't believe this week is thanksgiving...my days are no more normal. Time just flies. No day seems like a regular day, they are all missionary days. But Happy Thanksgiving!!! It is a full p-day for us. All we have planned is going over to a member's home in the afternoon for dinner. So... this last week...was some kind of a week. Um... we did tracking, visiting..., we had a couple lessons with our golden investigators. They came to church and loved it. They know they are getting baptized. Just "when" is the question. Yeppers. One of my zone leaders is going home tomorrow. It's transfers again. And my companion and I are staying put. I'm the first companion she will have had for more than one transfer and she's been out for 10 months. It will be good. Actually my entire district is the same. And the other sisters are staying the same too, so I get to keep Sister Withers in my zone! So, this morning I read President Monson's talk about "Standing in Holy Places." I loved the part where he said, "communication with our Father in Heaven - including our prayers to Him and His inspiration to us - is necessary in order for us to weather the storms and trials of life." That is so true! I really feel as though my prayers have strengthened my relationship with Heavenly Father. I pray almost constantly. I know that without Him I am nothing. Through my prayers I am strengthened and able to do anything He has set before me to do. I know and trust in Him. I've been reading a lot of articles from the Conference ensign. I love our leaders. They truly are inspired! I also read something that President Uchtdorf said which I just love. "Love should be our walk and our talk." It all comes down to our choice. We can choose to be loving to others and be happy. Or we can choose to be irritated and annoyed at others and be unhappy. Life is about choice. It's an important element to our becoming better. Anyways, that's my spill for the week. But I love you all so much!!! And I am thankful for all of you!!!! You all are so wonderful and I am so grateful to have all of you in my life!

November 14, 2011

So... where to start. Last week on Tuesday we had zone conference. It was really good! I was really sad to leave it. President Weston is amazing. So in preparation for zone conference we were to study the Christ-like attributes in PMG. And then prepare a short talk on one of them. Funny thing, when I was told that I knew I was going to have to speak, so I prepared well. Tuesday came and time for the talks came. I was not called on at that time. Phew...a relief. I could enjoy the talks. Then we had a break. During the break President came up to me and said that all morning he felt impressed that I should share my talk on the Christ-like attributes and asked me if I would after we started again. So, I did get to give my talk about being humble after all. It was scary! But I'm glad I got it over with. Sometimes I wonder what I look like when I give talks... I always feel so scared and scattered-brained during them...oh well. But when I sat down Sister McKellar and Sister Withers told me I did a good job. I really enjoyed zone conference because President Weston focused on the importance of The Book of Mormon. And how we should read it daily and make sure that our investigators understand it's importance. We also broke into our separate zones and our zone leaders talked a lot about having faith that things can happen. I really think faith is an amazing power. Faith can do anything. It can move mountains. I know that if I have enough faith, things that I desire in righteousness can happen. I have so much faith in the Lord that he can help me through anything. Lately I have been realizing how much I depend on the Lord, but that's because I know that I can't do anything without Him. He truly is a great source of strength. This week we were able to pick up 2 golden investigators. Their daughter and her husband converted to the church about 4 years ago and have been a great example to her parents. The parents - our 2 new investigators - have already been reading from The Book of Mormon, Gospel Principles, Our Search to Happiness, and different Ensigns. They truly are prepared and are searching to find out whether this is the true church. It is amazing. Also, they had just come back from their 8 year-old granddaughter's baptism, which they said was a special experience. We first spoke to them on Thursday, setting up an appointment for them on Friday. Saturday we gave them a tour of the church. And Sunday they came to church. And they really enjoyed it. And we have an appointment with them tomorrow. They are great people. Also, yesterday we visited a less active, older lady. We weren't quite sure what she wanted until she said the closing prayer...after I said the first closing prayer. In her prayer she thanked God for sending us to her and for instilling a desire in her again to come closer to Him. That was another special moment. Also we found another less active, young lady to work with. She has a testimony, but struggles coming to church. She doesn't really know why, but could be do to that fact that her husband is not a member. Anyway, it was mostly a very good week. One more week of the transfer left! And next week we'll see what happens.
Love you all so much!

November 6, 2011

So this last week... I had fun playing soccer last week. For Halloween we had to be in by 6, so I wrote letters. That was nice. Wednesday I spoke during district meeting, that was kind of scary, but at least it's over now! Also that day as we were tracting, we ran into this young man that was really hoping to learning about the gospel! It was really cool! But he didn't live there (it was his parents house) and he was singles ward age, so we referred him on to the Zone leaders who are in charge of the singles ward. Lucky them! It was really cool to be able to refer him over to them. Thursday night we were able to pick up an investigator. She is a former investigator and wants to continue learning, but our lesson with her wasn't much of a lesson... her son (he's in his 40s) is a less active member and pretty much an atheist now. He had to let out all his reasoning... we kind of tried answering his questions, but he really didn't care to hear them even though he acted like he did. He was nice, just very atheist. The new investigator though, his mother, does believe in God. So hopefully next time he's not there and we can really teach her and find out more what she needs. Saturday we had exchanges! I was with Sister Withers for the day back in the Woodside ward! It was fun to be there again with her. I love Sister Withers. She is such a good friend to me. I was able to have breakfast with the Clarks again and say a real goodbye to them. And also, the night before Sister Withers told me we were going to pick up 2 new investigators. I believed her. And guess what... it happened!!! That was so cool!!! It was such an awesome day. We picked up 2 former investigators that I had briefly met with before. Apparently Saturday was the day and this is the time that they are finally ready to learn more. One of the ladies actually had prayed that someone would come and read from The Book of Mormon with her. It was such a wonderful experience. I was glad to be there that day. While I was gone Sister McKellar and Sister Crossely were able to pick up an investigator here as well. It's a young man who is 17 years old. Yep. Last night we were able to go to a performance that the youth from our stake put on: Savior of the World. It was a beautiful performance/play/musical. The main actress, Mary (the mother of Jesus Christ) was a young lady from my ward...except for the fact she's actually not a member. Her dad is Catholic and won't let her join until she is 18, which is in February. It was so powerful to me. This young girl has a strong testimony and it showed in the play. It would have been hard to believe that she's not a member if I had not known before. Anyways. That was awesome. We were also able to sit by a 12 year non-member. She is so sweet! And her member friend is awesome! The member friend had just given her a Book of Mormon! Anyways, that was my week. I am constantly being reminded of things I need to improve on. It really kind of humbling. This transfer I've really been learning that. Today I started taking the attributes quiz and.... I'm a terrible person...haha, lots to improve on. But I know that if I pray to work on the certain attribute I need work on that I can learn to be more Christ-like. Anyways, that's my life. Continually trying to improve. Tomorrow we have zone conference! That'll be exciting. Well, I love you a lots and lots, bunches and bunches. Have a great week! Until next time.

October 31, 2011

Hello, hello. How are things going for everyone there? And there must mean where I am not. :-) I love getting all of your letters. They do make me happy. This last week has been a long one. I am constantly learning and trying to figure out what the Lord wants me to learn from all my experiences. Yep. There's always a learning moment from everything we experience. By the way, Happy Halloween!!! I'm sure the nephews are having fun with this holiday. I'll probably be playing soccer today. And then by 6 o'clock we must be inside our apartments. They want to keep us safe. We still have no new investigators. Still lots of potentials. A couple of our lessons got canceled, but we rescheduel for this week. So hopefully if all works out. So last night my district leader asked if I would speak 5-10 minutes during district meeting on Wednesday about recognizing the prompting of the Holy Ghost. At first I wasn't too excited, but I now I am grateful for the chance I have to study more about the Holy Ghost. It's making me think back to the times I was greatly influenced by the spirit to say things to investigators. It also is reminding of how I need to be constantly aware of the Holy Ghost and always striving to have it's countenance with me. I really do wish to be worthy of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. It is a grand gift that God has given us. And I am very grateful for the gift. Well, I am also learning other things from my experience here. Some of the lessons I am learning are very humbling... It's good to be humbled. It also makes you more teachable. Anyways, not a whole lot has happened this last week. We are struggling to find people to teach. It's kind of hard because everyone in the ward is saying how the work is dead. But I know this area has LOTS of potential. Plus it doesn't help that 70% of the ward is 60 or older... haha, yeah. Our primary and young mens and young womens is really small. It's different. But I we can overcome these challenges and the others that face me. Well, I love you family lots and lots. Have a happy halloween!!! :D And a happy Dio De Los Muertos!

October 24, 2011

So, things here in Folsom are interesting. Our ward is full of old people. The youth has about 15 and the primary about 15 as well. There are lots of old people that we can visit, but they all like to talk a lot. But we are trying to focus on the young families to invite their friends to learn more about the gospel. We have a few potentials and we were able to pick up a new investigator... but I'm still a little hesitant. We found him through tracting and he took a Book of Mormon, but I'm a little skeptical because he mentioned he would have to hide the book from his wife. And he was an older gentleman. Anyways. Yep. Saturday I went on exchanges, so I was able to see some old faces :) It was weird being back in my old area. I love that area, but at the same time I knew that wasn't my post anymore. Missionaries have talked about how they feel that their power as a missionary is only in the area where they are assigned to. I almost had that vision, but I kind of disagree with it. Even though I'm not assigned to the Woodside ward, I still want to care and help in any way possible to those that are in that area. Yep. So we just got a phone call and we are too go help someone move today. So that will be good, I suppose. Don't know who they are, but we'll find out. Life is interesting with everything that the Lord gives us. Everything happens for a reason. That I do know, but often I do not know the reason behind it. So, my mission president, President Weston, knows the mission president in the Oklahoma City Mission! He said they are good friends. That was cool to find out. We had interviews this last week. I love President Weston, he is such a sweet, good man and he truly cares for all of us missionaries here. Well, I can't think of anything else exciting. But I love you all bunches and I'm glad that things are sounding good. I enjoyed all the letters I got from you all this past week :D It's fun to hear about all the adventures! I LOVE EVERYONE!!!! Have a great week!

October 17, 2011

So...you can always send mail to the address I got before I left on my mission, it's the mission office home and so they will always forward it onward to me, otherwise my new address is 7550 Folsom-Auburn Road #1504, Folsom CA 95630. (I live in Lake Pointe apartments....)

Anyways, it's interesting shot gunning the area. Really kind of funny...neither my companion nor I know what's going on in the area, but the previous elders left us some information and the ward mission leader is very helpful. We have tried visiting formers and potential investigators...there was this one kid in high school who we gave a Book of Mormon too. He said, "Why not" to learning. Kind of cool. I think he's about Trevor's age. Also, there's this 17 year old girl in the ward. There was a super Saturday relief society activity that we went to and met her there. She's awesome! Wants to go on a mission and everything! And then I was shocked! She's not a member yet! Her dad's catholic and won't let her get baptized until she's 18. Which isn't until February, but we are going to start teaching her soon. Yeah... really we have been trying to learn the area. It's kind of exciting, but kind of hard and kind of hard learning how to get along with someone new. My companion name is Sister McKellar from Idaho Falls. We figured that we both lived there at the same time. Except she grew up there. And we moved away... But yeah. Anyways, Oh! So before I left Woodside, a less active's husband betted me via through his wife that I could not find a cow in Folsom - in my ward boundaries. 4 days later, I found one! Ha Ha, that was way funny. I called her and told her. Now she's insisting that I allow her husband to pay up the 5 dollars he bet me. Ha. Anyways, that's life here in Folsom. I love you all so much!!!!

Love you always and forever! Please continue to pray for me!
Your favorite missionary,
Sister Kristi Walston

October 10, 2011

So today we finally got transfer calls after agonizing over the thought of them for days!!! Haha, so lately had the feeling I was leaving the Woodside ward :(... But that's okay! And guess what I get to do now!?! I get to shotgun Folsom 1st ward! Wowsers! I get to shotgun an area... the elders haven't been having much luck lately. But the cool part of it, besides that I get to shotgun...with who knows who - they haven't told me who my companion is going to be - is that I will still be in the Citrus Heights stake/zone! So really I'm not going too far. Yep! That's the excitement of the day. Sister Withers is going to train. And our wonderful temple square sister is going to Dry creek in Antelope. We're going to miss her. She's way awesome! It's been fun the last week being in a 3some with Sister Withers and Sister Alejandro. We've had a good week of fun all together. We even tracked in the light rain. And a mail man yelled at us, "You're crazy!" Haha, that was kind of funny. The rain really wasn't that bad. Just a light rain. And it's raining today! Something I never knew about California: during the winter it rains a lot. Kind of cool! Good thing I have a rain jacket :D So last week we had an investigator drop us. I figured it would happen. I didn't even think we should pick him up as investigator. But such is life. We almost attended a baptism. A girl we started teaching and then handed over to the singles ward. But the morning of her baptism... at the baptism before it started, she decided that she would not get baptized that day. It was a really hard decision for her. She wants to get baptized, but....her family is the problem. They are against it. And they didn't know that she was planning on getting baptized that day! Yeah... but soon she'll get baptized. And I was supposed to give a talk at her baptism. We'll see what happens now. So what else.... we did a lot of weeding this week! First time on my mission! Someone told me I was very efficient at it. I told them it was because my dad taught me how to weed. You should be proud. They even joked that I was never going to stop. That lady REALLY needed it too! There was a HUGE difference after we were done. Everything was over grown before, but she's had a hard keeping up with that since she owns horse stables and gives riding lessons and is the only one running the program with her daughters help. She is a less active we happened to visit. We also helped a non-member (married to a less active) weed his flower beds. It was good to be able to help him and get to know him better. And then they feed us dinner. :D It was great. Also we had some intense lessons with investigators. Talked about a lot of important things. Yeah. One lesson we covered the atonement, priesthood, baptism, and tithing. That was a lot. And we picked up a new investigator! Yep. Life is good. Going to miss my companions, but Sister Withers won't be far. Haha. Yep. Anyways, I love you all so much!!!! Hope all is well. And that's cool that Trevor was voted "Most likely to change the world." I agree. He has a lot of inspiring ideas. Congratulations kiddo!!! I love you!!! Thanks for the letters last week!!! I got 5 in one day!!! (Sometimes the owner’s don’t' pick up the mail...so I got all 5 letters in one day, it was exciting.) Love you all!!!! :D
With lots of love,
Your missionary,
Sister Kristi Walston

October 3, 2011

Hey dear family!!! How are you all? So, first things first. Conference was great!!! We were able to watch all 4 sessions. The first one we made breakfast for our ward mission leader's family (my cousins - the Clarks) and then watched the first one with them. And the other 3 we just went to the stake center. Some of my favorite talks were ... I forget the one guy, but he talked about President Monson once told him, "It's better to look up." That was really cool. And then I loved the stories President Monson told about having faith. I love the prophet. He knows exactly what we need and he's so sweet and funny as well. And I'm so excited for the temple they are going to build in Provo! I once sang in that spot! Cool! I am also excited for the other temples as well. :D It was a good 2 days full of spiritual wisdom and guidance. So funny thing. We email at our ward mission leaders business. Usually he's not here, but this morning he was. So just as I was about to step into the building he jumps out in front of the open door and scares me with pig noises! Scared me to death! He loved it... my face was priceless apparently. Haha. Makes me think of the times Scott and I would try to scare each other. Oh! Do you know where Sulffer, Oklahoma is? One of my investigator's daughters lives there. Just curious... This last week or so we have been weeding out our investigators. So we still have 10... probably more like 9 investigators. The new mission president is making so changes. The old mission president had made changes to what our planners and pmg said about how to count numbers, but the new one is now changing it back to how the presidency have asked us to do it. It'll be good. I'm excited for the new changes even though it's kind of confusing...but starting to make more sense. Also! Today we (Sister Withers' and I) get a new sister. 2 Temple Square Sisters are coming out today, a week earlier than our transfers. So for this week they are going to hang out with a companionship until next week when transfers will happen. Next week will have 2 more new sisters! We'll see what happens. Who knows. Yep. That's about all the exciting stuff that I can think of. Oh! We did exchanges last week again. I was with Sister Polidario. I've been with her a few other times. It was fun. I got to lead out our area. Man, a lot of weight, but a really good experience for me. It was good. And we had an intense lesson with an investigator that day. He said he was going to pray about what we told him. We'll see next week what he says. Yep. Oh! And yesterday before general conference our zone had a breakfast burrito feast. I was trying to do the eggs...the kitchen didn't have much in the supplies of spatula's, so I grabbed a spoon and then asked, "Is it okay if I use a spoon?" Then an investigator said, "You really don't cook much do you?" Haha...yeah...I'm not that great it the kitchen, but I can do some things...also when we fed the Clarks I cut a cantaloupe for the first time! Haha, Sister Clark could tell I had never done it before, so she showed me. I think I'm not that use to being in a kitchen, so when I get in there for the first few minutes I am uncomfortable until I get my groove going. Yep. Life is good. I love my companion... sometimes we have our moments, but it's like any other sibling relationship. She tells me that I am like her sister, Rachel, in a way. But we enjoy being together a lot. It's fun. Life is good. I can't think of anything else way exciting, unless you want to hear something I said. At first it may sound rude, but the way my head was thinking it wasn't rude. I was talking to one of the zone leaders on the phone. We were talking about the fruit juice he was bringing for the breakfast and then I said, "Talking about fruit, what about that less active?" He and Sister Withers were cracking up laughing. I didn't mean it in the bad sense. I was thinking of the fruit of the vineyard from Jacob 5. Seriously! Yeah...but it kind of came out bad...opps. Haha. Yep. That's me for you. Anyways, I love you all bunches and bunches!!!!!!!!!!
Love you a million times a million!!!!
Have a great week!!!
Oh! I read in the bible this week about Jesus Christ raising the girl from the dead. He told the father when they found out she had died, "Be not afraid, only believe." We just need to have faith that things will work out, even when all seems lost. Now I love that story and the meaning it has behind it. "Only believe." Sometimes it's hard, but I know that it will be worth it like it was for Jarius, for his daughter was raised from the dead. So remember, "Be not afraid, only believe."
Love you lots and lots!!!
Your missionary,
Sister Kristi Walston

September 26, 2011

It's interesting how life works... this morning I'm just a-pondering different things and how little things or how people can affect the way you work yourself. Anyways... enough of that. Funny thing that happened this morning. I got in the car and looked out the window... but I was not allowed to because this HUGE moth was sitting there. Yuck! Apparently I made a weird sound because I made Sister Withers jump. haha... yeah. But I was able to get rid of the moth pretty quickly. So this week has been an interesting week. We were able to pick up a 95 year-old investigator and an 8 year-old investigator.... yep. I know the 8 year-old is old enough to be baptized. But he comes from a less active family and his mom wants to make sure he knows why he is getting baptized and he wants us to teach him the lessons. He is an 8 year-old who knows what he wants. He's a smart, funny kid. Yesterday we went over there and Sister Withers said to him, "You sure talk a lot." He said, "That's just how I roll." Funny kid. And he constantly is laughing at himself or something. He's just a cute, red-headed kid. We also went on exchanges last week. Sister Withers had a meeting and so Sister Barker, who is a greenie, came up here to be with me. So I got to lead my area. That was nice. I actually know what I'm doing... that was nice to find out. Umm.... I LOVE President Utchdorf's talk at the Relief Society Broadcast! It was really good. I really loved how he said that we are not perfect - that he, God, and you know that you are not perfect. He also mentioned how we should not stress out over the fact that we are not perfect, but that over time we can improve our weakness. Over time... I also loved that he said to remember to notice the small forget-me-not moments in life, to look at the little things in life and to find happiness in them. I think sometimes I forget that... and sometimes I like to think of the future or dwell on things that are stressful. Sometimes it's hard to concentrate on the little beauties of life. How can one do that? Is there a trick to do it? Or does that just take time to be able to do that too? Sorry, this is kind of a pile-ation of my thoughts right now. But the last thing President Utchdorf said was to remember that God loves you! It was a beautiful/awesome talk! Something cool that happened yesterday? 8 less actives came to church! That was way cool! Especially since one of them is the lady that I have been working with ever since I got here. She hasn't been to church in about 15 years...or so. She's an awesome person... really funny. She's the one that gave me red plates! And she finally, finally came to church! And I think she really enjoyed it too! But she only came to sacrament... she wants to slowly work into it. (And she has MS.) Yep. That was an exciting Sunday. People were talking about it. We also had an investigator drop us... he has been feeling peer pressure from friends. So...yep. But it happens. At least we planted a seed for him. Yeah... oh! I got some letters from the primary! And a box from the YW! With Mom's homemade bread in it :D The ward is awesome. Tell them thank you, in the mean time, I will work on writing them back. Yep. That's all the exciting stuff... Thanks so much for your love and support! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

Love always,
Sister Kristi Walston

September 26, 2011

It's interesting how life works... this morning I'm just a-pondering different things and how little things or how people can affect the way you work yourself. Anyways... enough of that. Funny thing that happened this morning. I got in the car and looked out the window... but I was not allowed to because this HUGE moth was sitting there. Yuck! Apparently I made a weird sound because I made Sister Withers jump. haha... yeah. But I was able to get rid of the moth pretty quickly. So this week has been an interesting week. We were able to pick up a 95 year-old investigator and an 8 year-old investigator.... yep. I know the 8 year-old is old enough to be baptized. But he comes from a less active family and his mom wants to make sure he knows why he is getting baptized and he wants us to teach him the lessons. He is an 8 year-old who knows what he wants. He's a smart, funny kid. Yesterday we went over there and Sister Withers said to him, "You sure talk a lot." He said, "That's just how I roll." Funny kid. And he constantly is laughing at himself or something. He's just a cute, red-headed kid. We also went on exchanges last week. Sister Withers had a meeting and so Sister Barker, who is a greenie, came up here to be with me. So I got to lead my area. That was nice. I actually know what I'm doing... that was nice to find out. Umm.... I LOVE President Utchdorf's talk at the Relief Society Broadcast! It was really good. I really loved how he said that we are not perfect - that he, God, and you know that you are not perfect. He also mentioned how we should not stress out over the fact that we are not perfect, but that over time we can improve our weakness. Over time... I also loved that he said to remember to notice the small forget-me-not moments in life, to look at the little things in life and to find happiness in them. I think sometimes I forget that... and sometimes I like to think of the future or dwell on things that are stressful. Sometimes it's hard to concentrate on the little beauties of life. How can one do that? Is there a trick to do it? Or does that just take time to be able to do that too? Sorry, this is kind of a pile-ation of my thoughts right now. But the last thing President Utchdorf said was to remember that God loves you! It was a beautiful/awesome talk! Something cool that happened yesterday? 8 less actives came to church! That was way cool! Especially since one of them is the lady that I have been working with ever since I got here. She hasn't been to church in about 15 years...or so. She's an awesome person... really funny. She's the one that gave me red plates! And she finally, finally came to church! And I think she really enjoyed it too! But she only came to sacrament... she wants to slowly work into it. (And she has MS.) Yep. That was an exciting Sunday. People were talking about it. We also had an investigator drop us... he has been feeling peer pressure from friends. So...yep. But it happens. At least we planted a seed for him. Yeah... oh! I got some letters from the primary! And a box from the YW! With Mom's homemade bread in it :D The ward is awesome. Tell them thank you, in the mean time, I will work on writing them back. Yep. That's all the exciting stuff...
Love always,
Sister Kristi Walston

September 20, 2011

Hi! Sorry I didn't write yesterday. We came and the internet was down, so here we are today writing our emails. Last week was a slower weeks... interesting week. Oh! And yes I did get your package Mom. Thanks for sending it and for everything in it. It made my day along with the letters I got! Thanks everyone who sent me letters :D Last week... we had 21 lessons and were were suppose to have more but they got canceled... because people weren't home when they said they would be. Oh well, it happens. Tuesday Elder Kearon of the seventy came and spoke to us at half mission conference. It was really cool. He's from England! But he talked about a lot of good things and so did the President and both of their wives. It was about faith, finding, using members, how life/mission life can be hard but it's all for our learning and benefit, and other really good stuff. My favorite thing said was, "Being yourself is absolutely good enough." Makes me feel better about myself... yet I know there are still things I can improve with myself, compared to things I know that are within my own potential. So that was a good day! Also... funny fact. We had driven up to Rocklin with the Sisters who are serving in Roseville. We were dropping them off at the Roseville stake center, but they couldn't get the key to work, so they were all locked out. All 3 (the 2 Roseville sisters and my companion) tried to open it, but no luck. Then I came up (I had been waiting in the car) and tried. Opened it on my first try! They were impressed. I guess I'm just good with keys...haha, yeah... something like that. Oh some reason that reminds me. Yes, my glasses are doing just fine. I think I fixed them up pretty well, but I found out afterwards that one of the elders worked at an eye place and can fix glasses, so if I need any adjustment I sure he could help out. My actual eyes, eh, they're just messed up.... they've been hurting more the last week than they've hurt for a long time. I've been trying to use my eye drops, but they aren't really helping. Oh wells. I guess I'll just suffer-and-suck-a-tash until I come home... ha, yep. What else exciting happened? Hm.... Oh! So our investigator that we've been working with for the last month and a half, she scared us the other day. She said, "I can't become a member." Turns out that she's scared to death of paying tithing because if she does then she'll have no money for food. She's having a hard time with having faith that things can work out. Yeah. So Sunday she met with the bishop. I'm not sure really what to do. We met with her today. She's suppose to be getting baptized this Saturday, but who knows. We'll see what happens. Saturday we were on exchanges again. I went to the Dry Creek ward in Rio Linda/Elverta. Yeah... not the bestest day.... I've really disliked going there this transfer...maybe because those missionaries don't work as hard as my companion and I do...maybe because they've allowed themselves to be distracted by other missionaries...elders...yeah... but you don't want to hear about that, now do you? Sunday was a really good day! Very spiritual and enlightning Sabbath. I loved church and the talks that were given. And we had some lessons and visits that made me feel good. Yep. Yesterday, p-day we played football and volleyball. Playing football actually wasn't that bad. Maybe because of the people I was playing? The elders are fun guys... and then we had a lesson with our recent convert. Yep. And today was district meeting. It was really good. Talked about finding people through various ways. Sister Wither's and I are trying to do better through getting referrals through members... do you have any referrals? Haha, jk... you're a little far to be giving me referrals. Oh! I actually remembered say this part. So do you remember the Wouden's in Zionsville, their daughter, Karen?, was a year or so older than me? But they are related to some people in my ward! Cool, huh? Anyways, that's all I can think to say at this moment. I love you all soooooo much!!!!! Thanks for all your support and love!!! And no worries I am being taken care of here: my companion, the ward members (when we were on exchanges we had a ward activity...many members told me how I was missed :), the elders, and president and his family. Well, LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

September 12, 2011

Hello dear family. This last week.... well it started off with Monday: P-Day. It was fun... so during scatterball an elder threw a ball at me, missed, it hit the wall, bounced off and hit me in the head, right on the corner of my glasses, bending them. Opps! Well, so I left the room and started fixing them. The elder who had thrown the ball came out. He felt soooo bad. I told him not to worry. That it had happen many a times to me. But he felt bad nevertheless. Anyways, I was able to fix them so they look decent. I think. That night he and his companion brought me blueberry muffins and a card that said he was sorry. I was surprised at his kindness and how sorry he REALLY was. It was sweet of him. We had also taught one of the new member lessons to our recent convert that night. He is doing really well. He and his wife have been called as ward missionaries. Tuesday was a good lesson day. We taught a less active lady (the one who gave me plates). Lately we had been feeling that there was no progress with her. We asked and she said that we were helping her. That she is constantly thinking of coming back to church. She said she would come, but it would have to be in 2 weeks since the next few sundays she will be gone. And then at the end of the lesson she actually said the prayer! Every time before she would refuse to say it. She was uncomfortable saying it out loud. I was so excited and loved that lesson. I really love her, and I really have been wanting to help her. I am glad to know that progress is being made, even with how slowly it is going. We also visited another less active lady that night. She claims she's active, but she doesn't come to church. We talked a lot about church attendance and how it can bless our lives. She said she would come and she did! We also had another less active man come to church. We had tried getting him to come to our ward the week before and he said that it was kind of useless trying to get him to come - he likes to attend another ward because of the time. Our church starts at 9. We had exchanges twice this week. Umm.... made me really grateful to have Sister Withers as a companion and that she has a desire to work and be obedient. We picked up a new investigator last night from tracking. He almost reminds me of Scott in a way... Oh also my district leader wanted to go out to lunch with us on Friday. And we did, with the zone leaders. The reason he wanted to have lunch with us is because when we play scatterball he just throws the ball at me - hard or whatever happens - treats me like my brothers treat me - but after monday he felt bad because I kind of stated out loud that he was mean to me.... yeah, not that I minded it, I was really kind of joking myself. He reminds me of my brothers, truth. But yeah, he felt bad and wanted to have lunch with us so he could apologize and tell me the reason why he treats me so. I remind him of his little sister. So he treats me like how he would treat her. Yep. That's why. So, him doing that reminds him of his sister and reminds me of my brothers. Kind of nice. It's really like a family out here to me. Actually all the elders are like my brothers. It's nice having them around. They are good guys... elders.... brothers... yep. It's fun. They keep me on my toes and keep me feeling like I still have a family away from my real family. Well, I can't think of anything else exciting. So, I love you all dearly. I'm glad you all had a fun labor day weekend from the sounds of it from what Dad said. I'm glad the little ones have fun doing stuff outside and have fun with their grandparents and Scotty-boy. Love you all much!!!! Miss you!!!

September 5, 2011

Dear family,
What a week. First I'll start with the crazy stuff. Last week as we were doing our personal study we got a text message saying, "Sisters, thank you for everything you've done for me. About to kill myself. Sorry." AGUH!!! I kind of threw the phone over to Sister Withers told her to read it and leaned my face into my hands. Sister Withers right away called the lady that sent us that text. It was our recent convert lady that had just moved away. She really wasn't going to kill herself, but she did think about it. She was very stressed because her money balance was negative 200 something. Opps. She doesn't earn any money. She gets social security. She's old and has a walking problem... or something something. Yeah... and she apparently isn't that good with budgeting her money. We met with her after the text. We had the zone leaders that have worked with her meet us as well. And we were able to help her through. She felt very low that day. But we gave her encouragement and she left with a plan to budget her money better. That was crazy. Kind threw me off. But yeah, that happened.
More real exciting news. We picked up a new investigator! She is such a sweet girl! 19, her friends who are members got her interested through just their happy countenance. She said originally she was unsure about our religion, but then she decided to give it a try by reading The Book of Mormon. By the time she finished it she knew it was true. So (since her friend lives in a different stake/mission) she (the investigator) went on mormon.org and referred herself to be taught. So about a week before we met her we had gotten a text message about this referral. And she is golden. The only thing that is in way in a matter of speaking is that her family is against the church. Her brothers said they would disown her. Sad... We've had 2 lessons with her and on Sunday she went to church with us. She loved it. But since she singles ward age, she also tried out the singles ward, so she went to 4 hours of church. All 3 hours of the family ward and 1 of the singles ward, which is the ward she has decided to go to, which is fine with us. She will be better fellowshipped this way. But it was so cool! During the family ward fast and testimony meeting, she loved it. Afterwards she said that one day she wanted to be able to go up there and do it. During the singles ward fast and testimony meeting, Sister Withers jokingly encouraged her to go up there. And then as people were bearing their testimony she was getting all shaking as if she really wanted to go up there. Sister Withers encouraged her to do it. And she did! She went up there and beared her testimony like she was already a member! Except for the fact that right away she said, "I'm not a member." I think everyone was shocked! But very touched! She said that she knew The Book of Mormon was true. And she knew prayers could be answered. Earlier in the week we had told her to pray that her family's hearts would be softened. Her prayers are being heard. She didn't tell her parents until right before church that she was going. And their response was totally different than she excepted. They said, "Okay," with no fuss. She was surprised and realized that her prayers are being answered. She ended her testimony that she knew that the church is true. It was so powerful so sweet. Everyone came up to her afterwards and greeted her whole heartily and told her that they loved her testimony. I know that she will be well taken care of in the singles ward. Plus, many of the people there are converts themselves so they know what she is going through. Yep. That was cool.
Well, that was the most exciting thing that has happened. I love and miss all of you. A lot. I am learning lots here. Struggling to find out what I am to learn. Slowly but surely I am learning those things.
Love you!
Sister Kristi Walston

August 29, 2011

Wow. What a week for you all. I haven't yet received your letter Mom explaining it further, but I'm sure I'll get it one of these days. Anyway, craziness. Well, last week was good. Haha, yep. Once again I am continually learning multiple things I can improve on. Darn, I'm not perfect yet. Haha, yeah... lots to improve on. But that's life. Learning and growing and learning how to become better. Maybe this means I'll be even better when I come home. Anyway. Last week we had zone conference. It was really nice and very enlightening. I love our president. He is great. He started crying as he was telling us that he loved us. Also, our cars were checked to see if we cleaned them. They called out a number... we had no idea what our number was, so we didn't say anything... and Elder Barney (he's from this area; he has a speaking and walking disability) said, "I'll take it." And he was given it. It was so cute/funny. He really did deserve it and it turned out that it was our number that was called. Haha, there was a reason why we didn't know it. So Elder Barney could get it. That was fun. We also had exchanges on Thursday. So I served in Antelope 4th for a day and served with Sister Grant again. And yeah! I did have dinner with Sister Wilcox's niece the other day. She and her husband are in my ward. I was really surprised when she said that she knew them and was related to them! Cool though! By the way... when did the Wilcox's move...? I had no idea... or memory of knowing that... oh well. I probably just forgot. But it was cool having another connection to a ward member. We are continually working with our investigators and less actives. Some show real potential... others are questionable... but such is life. And it keeps going. One of our investigators is probably getting baptized now at the end of the month (rather than this weekend), which is totally fine. And we have a potential investigator that is a referral from the media... I'm way excited for this one. Sounds like she's still in high school. A youngin'... I'm excited. yep. We also went to Antelope for a baptism on Saturday... it was good. Sister Wither's had taught her and I had taught her 2 on exchanges. It was good. And the water accidently lowered as the beginning of the program started... opps. But it still went well. Yep. Oh and we got transfer calls Saturday... that was cool to get them early. Yep...... staying the same. Good stuff. It's really kind of nice not having to worry about it. But 2 of my elders from my zone that have been here all the time with me are leaving for home... weird... but good for them. Yep. that's life here. I love you so much!!!! Have a good day!!! I love you!!!! Lots!!!!
Sister Kristi Walston

August 22, 2011

How are things in the Walston clan? This last week was busy as could be. Monday was filled with P-day activities... playing scatterball with the elders. Being late to dinner... we texted them that we were going to be late and when we got there they said that they got our text when they were just finishing dinner... ha, they had forgotten that they were going to fed us, but maybe that's because we forgot to call them that morning/ the night before... opps. At least they are the kind of couple we could do that too. Their kids are all grown up and gone. She's the Relief Society president and he's the executive secretary. When my companion first met them she said to them, "You're so fun. You're so chill." Yep. That pretty much describes them. They are awesome. I'll even mention them later in my email. So that was pretty much Monday.
Tuesday we had lots of appointments. It was good. 2 less actives... an investigator... and some members. It was a good day of lessons. And in the morning we had district meeting which we got to teach at for about 7 minutes or so. It was good. We talked about finding investigators through part member families. It's golden. We've had about 4 of our investigators come from part member families. We also related it to Lamoni and his father when Ammon and his brethren taught the Lamanites. Because Lamoni was converted, the whole household was converted. Because of Lamoni, his father and his father's whole household was converted. It's so cool!
Wednesday... Scott's Birthday!... We tracked some. While we were tracking we ran into a member... who's not in our ward records. He's less active too because of fishing. He does it competitively... hence not going to church on Sundays. He was a neat kid... well he's older than I so I guess he's not really a kid... Sam's or Scott's age or somewheres. It was a good day of visits and tracking. We also taught a lesson to one of our investigators. And then that night we had exchanges!
Thursday I was in Antelope with Sister Polidario from the Philippines. I served with her once my first week here actually.
Friday we had exchanges and I was in Roseville that morning and I was there Saturday morning also... we had exchanges 3 times this week.
Friday was a crazy fun day... exchanges, elders pranking our car by taking off 2 of our wheels and toilet pappering it with poo... which was really chocolate syrup. And then we taught a lesson with the zone leaders to the lady that was baptized a few weeks ago that moved away a few weeks ago... she came back to have a lesson with the 4 of us.
Saturday we went to the temple!!! The members from Monday night took us. 4 elders from our zone were there as well. 2 of them are leaving next week for home. Crazy! It was so nice to be at the temple. It's a beautiful temple. It was a good experience. After the endowment session, one of the elders told me I looked like a nun... haha. Yeah.
Sunday we made lots of visits to members. This transfer we have this challenge and each week there are different ways we can earn points. Last week was having 12 arcs (lesson with members or recent converts)... Sunday we had 5 to make it to the goal of 12. The reward for anyone who wins will be taken out to dinner... Red Lobster, but could be changed. Last week we were tied with other elders. But if we sisters win... other elders will have to come with us. The zone leaders can't just take the sisters to dinner. That would be just weird... wrong.
Anyways, it's been a great week. Learning lots of things of how to be a better missionary... learning lots of stuff about how I can become a better person. Lots of learning and teaching coming along.
Yep.
Well, I love you all bunches!!!
Sister Kristi Walston

August 15, 2011

Whoasers, what a week. So last week after I emailed you was an adventure. After emailing we went to the stake center which is about 15 minutes away. When we got there I realized I forgot my P-day clothes so we had to drive back to get them... opps. But yep, my companion is really nice to me. So for p-day we played capture the flag! It was... interesting. We had balloons for one of the rounds. It was a way you could tag people and put them into jail. But people started using them as distractions instead. A kid (literally - he's a kid in my ward, 17... Trevor's age... weird, I just realized that) he practically threw one in my face... lame! Whatever.... anyways. Also there was this moment where I was trying to chase this elder down and... BAM! Out of nowhere another elder came and rammed into my side. He hadn't seen me, I hadn't seen him. He really took my breath away... and hurt my side. So now every so often as I move.... depending on how I move my ribs hurt. Quite an unusual experience... kind of funny to experience. But nothing broken, it's not bad at all. Just kind of funny... yep. :) So that was fun. We had dinner a little later that evening because the member had her ipad stolen that day, but then was able to recover it right before dinner. Miracle. After dinner, we got a phone call from the recent convert lady who we just found out was in our ward. She was crying. "I'm scared," she said. "Can we meet somewhere?" I asked. We met at the church... except we first went to the wrong church and got at the right church shortly after her. Her living environment was less than pleasant. She lived with crazy people! One of them was making her scared. She truly has embraced having a Christ-like life. And anything contrary scares her. But no, seriously the people she happened to live with were weirdoes that were crazy, bipolar and insane. Anyways, we called the zone leaders who had been teaching her. They came, gave her a blessing of comfort, took her out to eat, helped move her out into a member’s home for the night. That all took about 2 hours. We got home shortly after 10:30pm. We were all grateful that we were able to help her. She said as she was driving and crying, her first thought was to call the sister missionaries. We were glad she did.
Tuesday was exciting too. District meeting. Lunch. Worrying about the recent convert lady because she needed to find somewhere else to live. Well, she did! That day! We had lessons back to back. 2 investigators lessons with members! Interesting lessons they were too... and a lesson with the recent convert lady, which was interesting in itself. The zone leaders showed up and we all taught her lesson 5... yeah that was hard... weird, 2 different lesson plans. Oh well. The lesson went well nevertheless. It was good. And we, the sister missionaries, prepared to move her. Called some members and they moved her away into the Sacramento Mission boundaries. Now we are trying to keep in contact with her and making sure the missionaries and ward fellowship her. But yeah. I think she is liking where she is living now. She only had to deal with one major problem the day after she moved there, which ended in 2 of her roommates being evicted. They were doing something VERY wrong. Life is so interesting. Fun and interesting and good. Every moment is a teaching moment. And each teaching moment I am actually grateful to have as oddly as it may sound sometimes. But yeah. Those first 2 days of last week were fun, stressful, and eventful, but very good days in being of service to that lady.
Wednesday was a more normal day. Thursday we had exchanges so I was in Dry Creek (Rio Linda) all day. It was good. I enjoyed getting to know Sister Barfuss. Which I recently found out that I actually met her on my first day in the mission field. I had remembered meeting 3 sister missionaries, but I had never figured out who or where the 3rd sister had gone. It was her! Fun times.
So exciting news of this week if it hasn't been exciting already. We committed 2 people to baptism!!! One for September 3rd, she is willing. And one for September 10, he's kind of squirrely as Sister Wither's likes to say. I really just don't understand why he is taking the lessons. My thought is he likes having company. He's a talker. His wife just died in January. And he has MS and other health problems. We'll see what happens with him. But the lady seems to be doing well. We taught her Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday of this last week. It was good. She truly has a desire to have Christ in her life, to have more peace. We also picked up 2 new investigators!!!! One just moved from Antelope area and had been taught there. She's from Russia and doesn't speak or understand English all that well, so we had an interrupter for her. But she's come to church since January. Her husband is a less active... he works on Sundays, and her 11 year old daughter got baptized in May. And our other new investigator comes from a part member family. His wife and all of his children are members. They are kind of semi-active... the kids at least are more active... the mom more less active I think. But the dad is finally willing to learn more from us. I have been told that previous missionaries had tried and he told them he was a heathen. But a member of our bishopric has been working with him and he is finally ready. He admitted yesterday that as a family they want to come to church together. Actually the way we picked him up: we had dinner with a member, the semi-active family had dinner with us, and then we taught them a lesson and asked them if they (he) would be willing to take the lessons. One the daughters was excited for it. He was totally fine with it. Exciting!!! Yep. That's my life as a missionary. :D
Yep. That's what's been going up in my life. How's everyone doing back home?
I love you all!!!!!
Yours truly,
Sister Kristi Walston

August 8, 2011

Life is continually surprising and exciting. Last Tuesday we got a phone call from our Zone Leader who sounded pretty sad and humble. He first asked how good our ward is at fellowshipping. "Pretty good" was our answer. Then he continued to tell us that their investigator who was preparing to get baptized Saturday (Aug. 6), who went through the no-smoking workshop, and all the lessons with the zone leaders... well it turns out when she moved a couple of weeks ago, she barely moved into the Woodside boundaries, the sister missionaries ward boundaries. Earlier that day the same zone leader had flippantly told us to go find an investigator who wasn't a referral from the zone leaders... well it happened again. He was so sad about it. But it meant that we had 2 baptisms on Saturday! And we did! It was a way cool experience. The lady and our other golden investigator were both way excited to make the commitment to get baptized. Both were ready. It was a great day. Miracles surround the mission field. Another way cool miracle was... we got another missionary referral. A family just moved into our ward boundaries. The husband is a less active who is beginning to activate, the 11 year old daughter an active member/convert since May, and the mother who is Russian is an investigator. That is really neat! And another miracle... a member gave us a referral about a week or so ago. We finally were able to come visit her. She is willing to take the lessons. And she came to both baptisms (half of one and all of the last one - they were back to back) with her member friend. And she came to church yesterday. And she mentioned how she might be wearing her one nice dress a lot. :D Something's a happening here in Woodside ward!!! Horray!!!! :D I come with no investigators and for a moment we had 8, but we're back to 6 with 2 new converts. Life is great. Also we had a good lesson with an investigator this week. I feeling the spirit and all of a sudden I asked him a question. "What do you ask when you pray?" Relating towards finding out whether the gospel is the true gospel. Then out of the top of my head I pulled out a scripture. Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-8. I mentioned maybe he should try coming up with an answer for himself and then to pray and ask if that decision is right. He admitted that maybe he should change his praying methods, but no promise. We'll see. Also he really wants to read the Doctrine and Covenants, but Farsi is his main language and sometimes its hard to completely comprehend things in English. We'll see what happens with him. We had exchanges the other day. Sister Wither's is the new exchange sister. So I got to visit Dry Creek in Rio Linda this last week. I get to go there again this week and Antelope. Last Monday we got to play soccer for p-day. Today we are going to play capture the flag with water balloons... we'll see how it goes. Sister Wither's and I are in charge of it today. We were filling up the water balloons this morning. My shoe got soak... well both of them did. I was standing in a puddle of water in my shoe! Fun stuff. Well I love you all bunches. Have a wonderful day, week! Until next time.
Love,
Sister Kristi Walston

August 1, 2011

How was Ryan's wedding? Was he married off well and now on a honeymoon? Where did they go? How was it? I remembered him and Katie on their special day this past Saturday.
This week has been good. Last Monday we (Sister Wither's and I) played scatterball with all the elders. Scatterball is a game of dodge ball, but there are no teams. Everyone is against everyone. It was actually fun. I had considered playing it before, but didn't. But Sister Wither's and I were sore for days after. Haha, it was good for us. We also ran a few times last week. And stuff, stuff like that. Yep. Tuesday we tracked and picked up a new investigator! Except (well first off, he has MS) we set up an appointment with him for Saturday, he wasn't there. We stopped by last night and talked to him for about 2 hours on the doorstep since we couldn't go in. And in those 2 hours we managed to teach the first lesson about the restoration... but... through it we would ask him questions and he would say a few words about it, agreeing or what not and then randomly start talking about something else for a while until there was a pause and we started teaching the next principle. We're wondering if he has short term memory loss... which I don't think so... or some other kind of random disease or mental problem? I don't know. He's nice. We'll try teaching him a few more times and see how it goes. One of our zone leaders told us that if he's still like this after a few more lessons then have the bishop come with us to evaluate his accountability. Very interesting... yep. We've also talked to a few less actives this last week. One family moved in April and they haven't seen anyone from the church. Crazy! We only talked to them briefly. They are really nice though. So we are excited to be able to get to know them better. Near the end of the week we had a lot of cancelations... as in the teachee not being home. Oh wells, such is life. But our numbers have drastically improved! Normally our numbers are around 11 or 12. This week we had a total of ..... 21 lessons!!!! Whoa!!!! Awesomeness!!! I was talking to another sister on the phone the other day about something and I told her that Sister Wither's has magic fingers. She's great! Perfect hard working missionary. The 2 of us are working magic... of course with the Lord's help. I strongly believe that any missionary work done here is not done by my own doing, but through the Lord's help and tender mercies. Yesterday at church we talked in sacrament meeting for 2 minutes or less. Yeah... I almost started crying. I kept back the tears, but my voice was real shaky. A member told me that I almost brought her to tears. Sweet, huh? Yep. I continually see the Lord's hand in my life. It way amazing to look at the many gifts and blessing he has given me. I remember once thinking about how I couldn't tell if I was feeling the Holy Ghost. Then I heard a few talks which said, "If it is good, then it is of the Holy Ghost." Recently I have been able to see how quietly the Holy Ghost really works. Sometimes I get things small, light impressions... I first I didn't know where they came from, but I am now realizing how much the Holy Ghost is really been part of my life. It is amazing to feel it's promptings and to listen and obey them. Great things are happening. And they can always happen as long as we choose to follow Jesus Christ. Life really is beautiful when you look at the little things. So this week we have our baptism with our golden/miracle/blessing investigator!!!! Exciting! He's ready. We can tell. He and his wife are seeing Satan's influence to prevent him. Example: the other day he accidentally chopped of the very tip of his finger. It looks nasty! But it's healing well. Yep. That's my life in the missionary workings. I love you all so much!!!! You are wonderful!!!!
Love,
Sister Kristi Walston

July 25, 2011

Hi!!! How are you all doing? Our investigator, Jacob, is doing wonderfully!!! He is golden! As we teach him we can tell that he has a testimony. And it really helps that he has his wife to answer any questions and nudge him in the right direction. But whether with or without her I think he would be golden nevertheless. We also have picked up a few other investigators. Actually 3 of them were former investigators. One of those 3, her husband is an inactive member, but it seems that he really does want to come back; he just seems slightly hesitant, but relieved at the same time. So we have a total of 5 investigators now! Except one of the 5 we have met with since before I got here... so I don't know if that really counts. And we have at least 3 potentials that might become real investigators this week, hopefully!!! The work is going great! Things were starting to build, but my new companion is great! She really knows how to work it. I love it. She's great. She is persistent and personable and outgoing and she knows why she is here. She's wonderful! And great teacher! She actually has only been out for 5 months. But she's a great follow-up trainer. She's from Snake River (Blackfoot), Idaho. She's already taught me a lot. I'm really grateful to have her as a companion right now. She knows how to work. She's a good role model. Yep. And the work in this area is moving. It's going good. Very good indeed. We told the zone leaders about our 2 new investigators of this week and he called telling us congratulations and that he told us so. He's always said this place had potential. He was right. I think it just depends on how you work. Yep. Life is going good.
About my eyes... they still hurt. I've taken restasis... pataday (the stuff I use to get), and I'm trying some of the random other dry eye drops that Dr. Houge gave me. But nothing works. My eyes are a lost cause... Or something like that. Nothing of late helps. And I have lots of restasis drops, so I really don't need any for a while. I barely have dented into the first box that I opened. So you don't worry about getting it. But yep. That's my eyes.
Crazy, crazy! Sounds like it's still crazy in the Walston household, getting ready for Ryan's wedding. What a crazy thing. That's good that Trevor got home to be able to help out. And that Sister Wade and Sister Dangle have offered to help. That's sweet of them. Good luck. I bet you all will be glad when it's done with. That will be fun.
Well, oh... so you might be wanting to take money out of my account for all this shipment I've been asking of you... but my companion and I have started running in the mornings (are you proud Dad?)... I only have 1 pair of shorts... do you mind sending me a pair of mine... the black ones with some grey and white on them that use to be Trevor's? I think I left them in one of Trevor's drawers with some random clothes of mine. And my Isla Rotan purse? I keep thinking how it might be nice to have it... or something like that. Yeah? Possible? I would appreciate it.
I love you all bunches and bunches!!!! Good luck with Ryan's and Katie's wedding!
Love you!
Sister Kristi Walston

July 11, 2011

Hello dear family! So you are in Moab now. I hope everything goes well for Grandma's funeral and such. I wish I could be there to help support. It's actually weird not being there. I've been there for everyone's funeral, but know that I love you all and that my heart is with you.
So... you are the assistant scoutmaster, Dad. That's cool! I bet that will be fun! At your age! Fun stuff. Oh and I would help edit your book... but it probably won't work since I'm here serving a mission until November of 2012. Good luck on it though.
How is everyone else in the family? I received a letter from Trevor about 2 weeks ago now from the Hill Cumorah. That was fun. And I received the big letter and Granddaddy's history. Thanks :D
How is everybody? I know I just asked that, but I love you all and miss you. I was thinking the other day how I wish I could be home this month to experience all the happenings with all of you. But it struck me once again; this is where I am supposed to be. There are things here that I will learn here that I won't be able to learn anywhere else. Life is a continual learning process. My new favorite conference talk is "More Than Conquerors Through Him That Loved Us." Everyone should read that talk. It is amazing. It talks about how life will be hard, but that's the purpose of this life is to experience things and become better people. It's awesome. Life is so fascinating; there are so many things we can learn from it. And one thing I am learning is to be more patient and loving - just like you said Dad.
Anyways, what else have I done this week? Good question. I have to look at my planner. The days are passing by me. I often forget what happened the day before because it feels like it happened eons ago. Crazy, huh? So, one thing... last week the zone leaders caught me playing the piano. They asked, "Why don't you play for district meeting?" "No one asked me..." For my defensive the one time they asked President Chapman (a counselor to my mission president) volunteered and since then the district leader said that we would just do it acapelo... or however you spell that word. Hopefully you get my meeting. Anyways, they told me I was the newly called "zone pianist." And I played for district meeting this past Friday. I was nervous and told them that I didn't know the song but could play the right hand. I didn't do too badly on the songs... I guess I underestimate my abilities... actually I think I do that a lot. Oh wells. At least I'm not puffed up in pride. That's what I try to stay away from.
We picked up an investigator!!! She's actually a former and she really just wants a nice gospel discussion. So we'll give her gospel discussion and hopefully through it she will feel the truthfulness of our words. We visited another former investigator. He's a sweet man who's from Iran, I think. He believes in the church, but it seems as though he wants a huge lightning bolt revelation telling him that he should join the church. I think it's because he doesn't understand that often the spirit comes in a quite form that often that will be our answer. I hope we can help him understand that he doesn't need the lightning bolt revelation.
The elder's in our zone came and blitz our area, since we were struggling. We received a few potentials and an appointment. We already visited a couple of the potentials... and they told us they weren't interested. Hopefully the others won't be like that. When the elder gave us those addresses, he didn't even know the people's names... oh wells. Talking about tracking, it's something that I struggle with. I feel like the method my trainer has taught me isn't effective, but she doesn't know how else to do it. I'm trying to figure out how to make it more beneficial and I've asked some of the elders, but still I'm not sure... hopefully one day I'll be able to master it. The problem is I don't want to come off like a salesman. I want to come off as a real person to them and something... I don't know how to describe it.
Well, that's all of the real excitement I think of now... oh! guess what??? I just got a letter from Randi Mosher (my old dear roommate)! And!!!! She's about to turn in her mission papers!!! I'm way excited for her. She finally realized that this is the thing she is supposed to do right now. Sometimes it's hard to make decisions, but all we have to do is trust in the Lord and everything will work out to our benefit and we will learn the lessons that are necessary for us to become better and more awesome.
Love you all so much!!!! Have a good week in Moab. I love you and love you!!!!
Yours truly,
Sister Kristi Walston
(Oh and I almost goofed again yesterday... I almost said my name is "Kristi", but I caught myself. Good thing.) Love you!!!

July 18, 2011

July 18, 2011
First - the EXCITING news of the day!!!! WE HAVE A NEW INVESTIGATOR WITH A BAPTISM DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Miracles and blessing are happening left and right. He is a miracle and a blessing wrapped up in one. He has been searching for truth for most of his life. He never liked any of the churches he went to. But he loves ours!!! Well, he loves the gospel!!! He is golden. So he found the church through his girlfriend... now wife. She told him right away that she wouldn't date him because he isn't a member. But then she ended up dating him, but broke up with him many times because she struggled knowing whether it was right to date him or not since he isn't a member. But she came to the realization that she was supposed to be with him and they eloped and got married 3 weeks ago. Because they married they moved into our ward! And we get to teach him! But really he's teaching us! We can tell that his interest is solely for himself, not for his wife. He knows the gospel is true. He studies it in depth. He is AMAZING!!! He is getting baptized on August 6... originally we asked if he wanted to be baptized on the 13th, but they have a wedding to go to... so he asked to move it up! Exciting, huh? Doesn't happen that often. But WAY exciting. So August 6th I get to witness my first baptism in the mission field. Really, I'm doing nothing to help him. He (with his wife’s help of introducing the gospel to him) is doing it himself. He is a miracle and a blessing.
Other exciting news! We've been visiting a less active member. She's really fun/funny. Great lady who is legally blind and has MS. But! She admitted to us that she actually started thinking about coming to church. And we didn't even ask her! She on her own decided that. And it's been 15 years since she's thought about it! So cool!!! Another miracle.
More! We visited with a former investigator twice with the last couple of weeks. He told us he would come to church and then he didn't. But the 2nd time we visited with him he said he would try to come, but wasn't making any promises... but HE CAME!!! We were real surprised when we saw him. It was after the meeting had started and our ward mission leader was trying to signal us and then finally I realized and saw him! So cool. He came with his youngest daughter. We have a meeting with him on Wednesday. Hopefully we will be able to clear up some confusion we feel that he is experiencing... yep. We have a member coming with us, maybe two. It'll be good.
Also, we had dinner with a less active family! She signed up on her own will! It was so fun! The husband was boycotting us though... oh wells. But they 3 girls, they are so cute. Ages 2, 3, & 7. It was fun.
So for the other news.... today was transfer calls..... dunt dunt da dunt...! I AM STAYING!!!! I'm really glad. I love the people in this area. My companion.... is leaving.... she's not excited, mainly for the companion she is about to have. I've met the sister and she was nice to me, but Sister Grant told me of something this one sister said to her once. So I can see why she's not excited. But it will be a good learning experience for them both. I am getting a new companion named Sister Withers. I don't know anything about her because my companion is lost in her own world of crying... but some other sisters texted me to find out who I was getting and they told me that Sister Wither's is awesome and that I will love her. So, it should be good. I won't get her until tomorrow. It will be different. New people everywhere. We have one new zone leader. A new district leader. Yeah... one of the elder's thought he was leaving and started packing, but he's staying and going on 7 1/2 months being here. It's the only place he has served. Kind of funny. I think everyone expected him to go. Oh, life of transfers. Fun stuff. Different stuff. It will be a good change I'm sure.
Friday we had interviews with the Mission President. President Weston. It was good. Um... yep... I can't think of anything else exciting or new. But I love you all so much!!!!!! Very much!!!!! And hope you have a wonderful, fantablous day. LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
Yours truly to infinity,
Love always,
Your favorite girl,
Sister Kristi Walston

July 5, 2011

Well, sounds like things have been busy there at home. Crazy. How was Aidan's baptism? That's awesome that he bore his testimony during sacrament meeting. Tell him congratulations from me. I'm sorry about Grandma. I got the package with Mom's letter a few days ago. But I know Grandma's much happier since she's not suffering any more and that she is happy to be with Granddaddy and Pam again.
Well, life is interesting. In Dad's email, you said something about a mission being about learning to control yourself... or something like that... rather than doing lots of teaching. That's how it has been for me so far. No teaching really, a lot of learning how to deal and interact with people. Sometimes it can be hard, but I have realized that if we have patience and the pure love of Christ we will just be fine. The only teaching we've done since I've been here is to a less active teenage boy who actually doesn't live in our ward boundaries. His best friend does and he likes coming to our ward better. But we haven't been able to teach him for a week or so. It's hard to set up a time when 3 people are involved and not including us missionaries. Oh well. Besides that we have been tracking, where we get a lot of rejection, we've visited potentials and former investigators, and less actives. Last week we visited a less active who is legally blind and has ms. She's really funny. The 3 of us got along real well at the very beginning. So much so that I asked a really silly question in a moment of blondness. And now she likes to tease me every time I see her. :) I asked my companion, "Do they have cows in Utah?" I don't think I've ever seen any. But I've only been in southern Utah, but now that I think about it... across from Grandma's house were there some cows? Silly question, I know. Opps. But it slipped out of my mouth before I thought of it. That's okay though. Our less active friend enjoyed it a lot. And I am able to laugh at myself about it.
We got a new mission president last week. We met him and his family today at a zone conference. President and Sister Weston are from Murray, Utah. And they have 4 children ranging from 9-15. 3 girls (the 2 oldest are twins), and one boy who is is the middle. They all seem really great and awesome. My favorite one is the youngest girl. She is so cute and always smiling.
This past Saturday we went on exchanges. Sister Totau came to me. She is from Tonga, so I got to drive for the day. I was a little scared because I still don't know my way around - are area consists of houses, streets, grass, and more houses, streets, and grass. But it was fine! Didn't get lost once. I studied the map, wrote directions down and we were good. One person we visited that day was a less active. She was really nice. She showed us a little white wagon she had been painting earlier that day. I really want to activate her. I know she knows the church is true. I just think it's because she feels uncomfortable about coming back. She stopped going after her divorce 10 years ago. Maybe she was embarrassed by that?
A lot of the inactives I come across are inactive because their testimony was never built. I have come to realize that in order to know the gospel is true one must have the desire to know whether it is true or not. To study it and to pray about it. And to have faith that you will find an answer. The gospel is so important. It truly has brought peace to my life. I am so grateful for it. To know that we can live together with our families for eternity. To know that God loves us that he has given us this chance to come to Earth to learn greater things about life. I love you all so dearly. I miss you. I love your letters. Thank you for being so supportive and always there for me. I know that I am doing the Lord's work. I know that I am here for a purpose.
Love you all!!! Good luck with the busy next 3 weeks. I wish I could be there will you all, to help support, but this is where I am suppose to be. Know that you are always in my heart, no matter where I am. I love you.
Love you so much!
Yours truly,
Sister Kristi Walston

June 27, 2011

My ward mission leader's name is Steven Clark. And I gave him the phone numbers. And showed him my family tree and he told me the story of our relative you died by being shot while gambling in a bar. I think I remember you telling me that Dad. :)
And those dresses might work... really they just have to cover my knees... maybe your right, I might want them... I was also thinking of shirts that I left there that might work, the two that are made of the silky material? that you thought would work? that I wasn't sure about? And maybe the purple shirt that I bought before I came home... I struggling to not to wear the same shirts every day. Haha, yeah... so any help would be nice. And THANK YOU!!! I got the package of clothes, cookies, jam, the pencil bag, and butterfly clips. Thank you SO much! Also I got the big family letter! :D You should tell Ashton that if he was happy to draw me all those pictures :) that he should draw more. I loved his balloons and the picture of the garden and the hands and Aidan's drawing and all the messages. It took me a while to realize the connection of the doughnut Scott drew with his message in it. :D Thank you for all the love and letters you all have sent me Mom and Dad. And I FINALLY got one from Ryan! And Katie! Thanks :D I am assuming you got the pictures I sent of the MTC. Tell Scotty... and I think Sam mentioned it too that I will try to take lots of pictures of California here so they can see what it looks like. I don't think I ever told you, but when I first got here it was like I was in a foreign country. The trees and the plants were beautiful but different. They have beautiful redwood trees (I think that's what they are called) that are like pine trees. And they have these tall tall skinny skinny pine-like trees. Wow. Yeah. It's beautiful here. And hot like Oklahoma, but not quite as humid... more dry? I really don't know what the difference is. Everyone always asks me if it's really humid in Oklahoma... I say not really and they look at me like I don't know what I'm talking about... maybe because I don't know exactly what I'm talking about. I know Oklahoma isn't as bad as Pennsylvania.
So this last week... we tracked some, got rejected a lot. One lady who rejected us: she shut her door and as we were walking down her walkway, she opened the door again and asked, "Are you girls thirsty?" So cool! So we went in, had water, and talked about our mission to her. She wasn't interested, but another seed was planted - since her secretary at work is a member. We visited a potential that was in our area book. He is a 18 year old who's step-mom (he doesn't live with her right now) is a member and went to church with her a few times and also attended seminary for a bit. Cool! We thought. We asked if he wanted to know more. We were getting use to being rejected so when he said yeah, we were shocked! YEA!! so we set up an appointment for Sunday, yesterday and he flaked on us. :( Oh wells, we will hunt him down. Just kidding, but we will find him and find out what happened. I really hope he will let us teach him. But we might have to give him to the Zone Leaders who are in charge of the singles ward, which he could go to. That be fine with me if that's what he wants to do. We have a few other potentials that we might have. It's really hard getting a hold of people and then it's summer so people are going on vacation. But that's okay. We'll keep striving and try to share the word and keep planting seeds. Last Tuesday we had district meeting. It was really good. My district leader talked about how we need to love our investigators, love those we come in contact with, and be our self around them. Something I struggle with is being myself around new people. But I'm myself around my companion. It's something I am constantly working on. Even Elder Taylor Larsen mentioned to me in his letter on how we need to be ourselves to everyone. It's true. I've been thinking a lot this week on how to show my love to others. Sister Heidel in my ward, she mentioned that through her brief time with Sister Grant and I that she can tell we are caring sisters. That's good. Yesterday Sister Grant and I made "Get well" cards for two of our potential investigators. I knew there had to be something we could do for those people we want to share the gospel with, yet they weren't feeling well and finally it dawned on me yesterday that a card could do it. I hope they liked the cards. Because really I'm here to teach people, to be an example to them what a Christ-like life is. To have a Christ-like love you have compassion, patience, and charity towards all men. We need to show people that we do love them. And be patient with them. Sometimes when I get impatient with people... my companion... I have to remind myself that she's human, I'm human, but I can only change myself, not her. So I tell myself to "get over" myself and then things are fine. That's the way life is and it makes me happier knowing that to make things better that I have the power to change it, by changing myself to be better, more patient, more loving.
Well, I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! Miss you!!!! Have a great week!!! Until next time!
Love,
Sister Kristi Walston
P.S. One day we meet with an investigator who's really not an investigator who's full of questions and struggles... I almost introduced myself as "Kristi" to her - opps. Good thing I caught it. Oh! And I had a lady in my ward - first time I talked to her in person - first question she asked me, "What's your first name?" I told her. Then she said, "Kristi Walston." That was kind of funny, weird, nice, different? Haha, Yep. "Good times" as Eric says.
Love you!!!
Sister Kristi Walston

June 20, 2011

So you'll never guess what!!!! You'll love this story Dad.
So yesterday are dinner appointment canceled on us again, so for the second week in a row we ate with our ward mission leader (Steve Clark) and his family. Brother Clark was asking what I did before my mission. I said BYU and was majoring in Elementary Education. He said cool, my dad taught in the Education department - the Mckay building for about 27 years. So I asked then if he grew up there. Yes, in Spanish Fork... Fark he said. I laughed saying that my dad liked saying it that way too. Spanish Fark. He asked why that was. I said that my dad had lived there when he was younger and that my great-grandparents lived there for a long time. Brother Clark asked what their names were. First I said, "Clark... wait that's your name." Weird coincidence... I couldn't remember Grandma Clark's or Grandpa Clark's first names. I mentioned a Barbara and Douglas... but those didn't ring a bell. I said that my dad actually grew up in Moab. Then Brother Clark said he had relatives in Moab. Seriously, I asked. His wife said he was joking... at least we thought he was... he's joker. But he got really thoughtful and then asked, "Barbara Walston." "Yeah, that's my grandma." "I've got to call my dad," he said. He called his dad and yep. His dad is cousins with Grandma Walston. CRAZY!!!!! His dad remembered Grandaddy's name, Milton and remembered that Grandma had a child die a while ago... Pam. Yeah, really weird. I'm related to my Ward Mission Leader! Weird, but really kind of cool! Isn't that awesome! Brother Clark's dad's name is Clifford Clark. I was looking at the family tree I have and his dad must have been named after his mother or grandmother's maiden name. Anyways, our relative Clifford Clark has been trying to call his cousin... Grandma, but since no one's living there he hasn't been able to get a hold of her. I told him that she was living in Fillmore with Cathy. But in case he hasn't found a number, can I get Cathy's number, or Grandma's cell phone number so I can give it to him? He'd really love being able to get a hold of Grandma.
Crazy, crazy story, huh?
That was really cool. Another funny story about my life is my companion's embrassing moment of the week.
We had some questions for the zone leaders, Elder Clancy and Elder Bodily. Sister Grant called them. Elder Clancy answered saying, "Hello. This is Elder Clancy." Sister Grant said, "Hello. This is Sister Bodily." I bursted out laughing! She looked horrified! Hahaha... oh manigins. Yes. She stumbled on her words for a moment, "I meant... This is Sister Grant." "I had no idea," said Clancy. "Why didn't you invite me to the sealing?" Nevertheless to say, he is not going to let this one down... and neither am I apparently. I LOVED it. But she doesn't mind. During companionship inventory she told me a strength I had that she liked of me was teasing her... and that she didn't mind it. So now she can't complain. Haha. No she's good nature liked that. A lot of people here like to tease her and she takes it well. Oh, and no Dad, she's not the asain one. In the group picture, she was the one standing right behind me... I think you can only see half of her head because I'm so tall. She's a white girl from Utah... somewhere west of Salt Lake. The "asian" girl you saw was actually another new sister. I didn't know until I was about to board the plane that there was actually another new sister with our group. She's from Peru and had been in the MTC for about 2 months and was with the international group... that's why I never learned of her until that point.
Other fun things... didn't I mention before that on my 4th day of being here I was with another sister that had been here for only a transfer longer than me and that I got to permissionto drive all that day in Antelope? That was fun :D. Oh, funny. So my first Sunday here, are dinner appointment canceled on us. Sister Clark (the ward mission leader's wife) said she would feed us and that they were having fish. Another lady in the ward told a story of how her husband didn't like fish and thought missionaries wouldn't like it. Well, he was wrong and those missionaries did like it. After Relief Society Sister Clark asked if we liked fish. Our answer, no. So I believe she is the secretary in the Relief Society and when making the news letter of this month, she mentioned how we have a new sister missionary and something something and then at the very end she said, and just so you know, the sister missionaries don't like fish. Everyone likes to mention that. Haha... I'm glad though. I've come to realize as I've been here this 2 weeks... I'm kind of a picky eater. Opps. :/ Oh wells. I still try to eat some foods that aren't my favorite and just inwardly groan.
The other day I was talking and my companion stops me and said, "You sure like to ramble sometimes, don't you." Haha, funny! I have been rambling a lot. But she does it too, so it's only fair. Oh! And I got all the letters you sent me the first week I was here - Taylor's included! And I got the package!!!! Thank you so much!!! I had been really wanting my charger! And thank you for the sweets. You are so sweet for sending them to me :) .
Friday we had a trainer/trainee meeting. It was good! And I got to see my elder's from the MTC and Elder Borrowman was there! He finally made if from the MTC. (He was held back for an eye problem, but it only a week to fix thank goodness!) But it was really good. The one thing that really stood out to me was this. I am here fully dedicating 18 months of my life to the Lord's service. Jesus Christ, though, gave His entire life for us. Why should we worry that we are gone for this short time? The Lord did so much for us. We can give this time back to Him. Missionary work is soooo important. It's to the bringing souls unto Christ - where all happiness and goodness comes from. I am so etnerally grateful for the Savior. Without Him, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I know it's true because I find my true happiness when I looked unto Him. When I am need of comfort, I turn to His word, His love. In 2 Nephi 31 it speaks of the doctrine of Christ. I never knew about this chapter before. It is amazing. The doctrine of Christ lies under 5 things that are discussed in the chapter: faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I plan on enduring to the end and receiving the promise that is in 2 Nephi 31, which is receiving eternal life.
I love you family oh so much!!! Remember the Savior and His promise in 2 Nephi 31: 20-21. His words are true.
I love you, I love you!!!!!
Oh, and you should tell Ryan that he should write me... I want to know he misses me!!!
And one other thing. The other day I was at a older ladies house and she asked if I had a picture of my family... I don't have any... do you want to be kind and send me some. A picture of our family from Christmas time? And any other cute pictures of our family you think I might like so I can show everyone off? That would be great!!!
LOVE YOU!!!!
Sister Kristi Walston