Oh my Lucky Stars! February is Ka-Put!!

Sister Hirata from Japan and Sister Moore from Colorado

So... First of all....Some celebrations....

LAUREN! CONGRATS!! Mom tells me that you are having the par-lay this weekend. My mom is excited to party with you. You are her third daughter. I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you. I usually burn you a CD or frame a picture of myself, or not write on your yearbook. Ugh. I am obsessed with you. LOVE YOU!!! CELEBRATE!!! (Maybe The Spot? DTC?) Loves!

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS~~~~!!!
--MANDY!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!! Oh my gosh... can we virtually pretend for a moment. (AKA Sowerby visualization exercise....) Let's go to Sift. We'll eat cupcakes. Or at least we'll order tons. Maybe eat a little. Save some for later. Then, you'll grab the long board, me my scoot. We'll head off to Lombard!!! YAY!! Then jump in the Bay with our clothes on!! CRAZY!! Happy birthday Mandy!! I miss your guts. LOVE YOU!! Have fun this week!
---KELEN!! Happy birthday amigo! I hope your day is filled with butterflies and sunshine...the opposite of your Jack Nicholson (sp?) shirt. I adore you! Enjoy a smoothie, with your own wolfbucks and pretend it was from me. :)

Welp. Wednesday brings with it changes. I swear-David Bowie-Ccchhangeessss!! So, who knows what could happen with this week. Wednesday will begin Transfer #6. That's 6/12. AKA the beginning of the halfway point. Crazy. Mucha loca (Sister Hirata's fav. term). I will be e-mailing again sometime between now and next Wednesday for sure with some updates.

Other than that....here's some of this week's highlights:
Sister Hirata has this new thing where she thinks I am Jim Carey. "You are Jim Carey! I love Jim Carey...by the way". Hilarious. She continues to remind me of a Japanese, female, missionary version of Mr. Bean. Everyday. She is a JOY to serve with. Seriously though...she's got one of the strongest heart's I know.
A guy at one of my favorite sandwich places had a tattoo of the Salt Lake temple on most of his forearm. Welcome to Salt Lake City.
I am studying a lot about repentance this week. I think repentance is one of the most beautiful things ever. Repentance is really, "It is a change of mind and heart that gives us a fresh view about God, about ourselves, and about the world" (Topic: repentance). I've been doing a lot of self-evaluation this week. How can I keep having a better, more fresh view of things. I love it. Repentance is the most liberating process. I found this video and LOVED it. Pretty raw. Pretty real. It shows the beauty of repentance...for everyone. Forgiveness Made My Burden Light. I am a HUGE fan of repentance. Improvement.
Hey! I thought I'd send a link to give you all a chance to see Temple Square. Here are some good links to explore the pictures of where I am:
Temple Square--in general
North Visitor's Center--highlights Jesus Christ
South Visitor's Center--highlights the Temple construction (model of the temple too)
Tabernacle
Assembly Hall
Greg in Georgia loves the Book of Mormon. He doesn't have a job right now, but he sure has a lot of faith. It's really interesting to step back and see how Heavenly Father humbles us, teaches us, then helps us out.
Sister Kemsley has a mormon.org profile! I am obsessed with her. She's so down to earth. So real. Click HERE to see it.
LOVE YOU all so much!! Thanks for everything!!!

Cheers!!
Sister Amy Face

Like Chocolate Cake

Hey-o World!!

FIRST OF ALL....CONGRATS LAUREN &DAVID!!!! Oh my gosh! Got your e-mail!! Hooray!!!! CONGRATS CONGRATS!! The days of the bachelor are long gone. Let me know when the wedding is so I can send off your wedding day lawn chair & violin. :) I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH!!! YAY!!!

AND CONGRATS ELYSE!!!!! (Forgive me if I spelled it wrong...) WAHOO!!! We're going to have to block of Lage Drive to throw you the best wedding shin-dig ever!!! Bounce house + Will's beans. YAY!! CONGRATS you sassy Driscoll!!!

So.....some love.....
--Thank you Knudsen Family for your SWEET box of sweets and thoughtfulness!! You are family to me. I feel like you are talking whenever I read your letters. Thank you so much for your love and support!! You have NO idea how much your love helps me! It sounds like you are doing so well Paige! I bet London is SO fun! I hope you find clovers in Scotland. Or at least man-skirts.

Hey---so this week was Valentine's Day. Sister Hirata and I were serving at one of the Visitor's Center desks for a good chunck of the day. We decided to hold a couples count. TRUE STORY: by the end of the day--75 couples. Yep. Temple Square. It's hip to be Square. Romantic. Rawr. I can't begin to tell you how many interesting couple interactions I've seen here. Quite the sociological study. Anthropologist I'm sure are just begging to serve 18 month missions at Temple Square.

We met this guy who @ a display of the temple construction. He was clearly over-welcomed (sleepy February afternoon @ Temple Square) and a little on the defense. So I tried to relate to him. Find out his passions. Whatever. He kept marveling @ the stone. For the life of me, I couldn't remember the term "stone mason" the other day . So what do I ask?..... "Oh, so are you yourself a stoner?" Oh my gosh...I was mortified.

Carol, my homeless friend, gave me an apple this morning.
Me: Carol! No way. This is yours!
Carol: Nope. You have it.
Me: Well, thank you.
Carol: I can't bit it besides. I don't have my toofers.
Me: Well, if I brought you a butter knife from home, could you eat it?
Carol: I prefer applesauce anyways. Mmmm. I love applesauce.

Love her.

Another one for the books. Or at least heavenly records.

And hey! They have a European featured on mormon.org! Yay! Nadja from France!! CLICK HERE to see it.

One of my favorite experiences that happened this week was with Wei. Wei is from Mainland China originally, but he's living in the States. He is amazing. He came into the North Visitor's Center the other night while Sister Hirata and I were serving at the desk. He marched up to the desk and told us that he was planning on meeting with his local missionaries the next day. He shared with us how he thought that people were missing a connection with their spiritual side. He thought that for himself at least. We asked Wei what he thought about God.

Wei: Well, I'm not too sure. I think there is something out there, but I don't know what it is.
Sister Hirata: God is our Father in Heaven. He loves all of us.
Me: What do you think about that Wei?

We went on to talk about the nature of God, who He was, and how we could learn more about who He is through scripture study and prayer. When we told Wei that He could communicate with God through prayer, he asked, "Well how do I do that?"

Sister Hirata and I then decided to show him how to pray. I mean who are we kidding? We can talk about chocolate cake all day long. That doesn't help anyone learn about what chocolate cake tastes like, more or less help make anyone happy.

So, Sister Hirata, Wei, another missionary and I went into a room and kneeled down. We prayed. Simple. Pure. Sincere. I love prayer. Wei felt something special. He felt the spirit of God do the teaching.

Well....Love you all so much!! It's been fun. I'm learning so much from her. Only one more week with Sister Hirata. I love her. She's a gift.

Thanks for everything!!
Sister Harmer

LOVE!!!

Sisters Forever


Hello World!!

This week...brevity.

Spare you the computer glare-stare-sore-eyes.

First of all----Week one Mckenzie!!! (my apologies for the misspell last week). HOORAY! Isn't February awesome??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIFFANY CALL!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH!! SO OBSESSED WITH YOU!! There is a Reason we are friends!!! I LOVE YOU!! THANK YOU for the sweet little package of love!

Happy birthday to Scott Morgan too! Go get the boat!! We're going.

Yep--Sister Hirata and I met 6 Southern Baptist women from Alabama this week. Loved them. Sister Hirata couldn't understand a word. Their accents were pretty strong. Good old southern bells. Hilarious too.

Best moment of the week--I called a woman named Hattie from Wyoming. She's amazing. She works at McD's. She has 3 children. A 7 y/o, a 3 y/o. Her third child died a few years ago. He was only 3 y/o. He had cancer. We talked for a little bit and she shared with me how her 7 y/o had been asking a lot of questions about God lately. One of the best things as a missionary, is we get to promise stellar blessings, with confidence. I promised her that she would be able to see her little one again. That this life isn't it. There is an awesome scripture int the Book of Mormon:

Alma 40:11: "Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life."

Good stuff. I love the Book of Mormon. It's a book filled with beautiful promises from God. I'm grateful for that.

This video reminded me of Hattie: HERE.

Take care everyone!! I love you all! Do lots of kissing this week. It's Valentine's day for goodness sake.

Love love love!!
Sister Aunt

BIG MAC's in town!!! YAY!!!

WELCOME BIG MAC!!!! MACKENZIE JANE ROBERTSON was born this morning @ 6:05am!!!! YAY!!! CONGRATS!!!!

Oh my gosh....what a beautiful start to today. Hooray!!!!!

Well, let me shout out a few hellos too. Thank you to all the letters and treats from you all!!

o Lauren--I love you!!

o T-Call--I just printed out your e-mail. I will respond accordingly at another time. :) I love you!! Thanks for all the updates!

o Grandma and Grandpa--THANK You for all the love and support you send. I'm sure that the past few weeks have been really tough for you. But it's really reassuring to hear about all of the learning that you both have experienced. And all the blessings. I love you both so much. Thank you for being such good examples.

o BRETT SIMS- I miss your guts. Mom said that you were in town for Sundance. I figured you might be. Those are our type of people. They were REFRESHING to be around. Seriously. Everyone that came here reminded me of you. I hope you're doing well!! Sorry I don't write more!

o Miss Margaret--I love you to BITS! You have no idea how much I ADORE all of your letters. I treasure them!! You are still sounding SO sassy! I can't wait to tell you all about these different experiences when I get home.

o JOHN NEYLAN!! What the heck man???? You're fabulous!!! I was GIDDY when I saw a recyclable-material envelope in my box. Oh man. John Neylan. I will be writing you back soon. I LOVE the typewriter situation. And the tampon bowl! Ha! I was dying when I read that!! You know me well. Best of luck to Josafat @ his interview!!!!

o Bishop McAdam--THANK you for all the updates and the positive encouragement!! I
relish the letters you send!!! Seriously! And I laugh about half the time too. Thank you!

o AUNT DEBBIE!! Thanks for the e-mail!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! All the best to Kyle!!! I think about him all the time!!

o Paige---I hope England is MARVELOUS!! I think about you pretty much ALL THE TIME!!! Thank you for your letters and love!! I hope you're doing SO GREAT!! We should get traveling pants and mail them all over. Yes? Ok. Sounds good.

o MANDY MENDEZ!!! I woke up this morning and thought of you!! I am such a terrible friend! I need to write you more often. Or ever. Ugh. you know me and communication. I Pi'ikea!!!!!! THANK YOU for the pictures!!!! Oh my gosh. I am SO happy!! Definitely printed those out. AND thank you for the letter!! I was CRACKING UP about the protein shake situation. Watch out world....gas is real.LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! I hope you're doing well!!! LOVE YOU!! (Are you playing a lot of Monopoly with your brother? And riding your longboard?)

o MAIRE!!!!!!!! I MISS YOU!! There is a sister here from Denmark. And everytime I look at her, I think of you. Which is every day. (35 acres on Temple Square...what can you do?) But seriously! And the story #1 below...thought of you. Celebs. No big deal. (sorry I don't write more!!!) So, updates on the week....just 2 methinks. Breif and simple

I think Sister Hirata and I took some Sundance Celebs on a tour. We couldn't tell though. They were acting so celeb-ish. Divas. One of the guys had on a fancy fur coat. Fancy. And rings on every finger. Ugh. I'll figure it out. They were SO nice!!! Seriously.

This morning I was studying the writings of the Book of Mormon prophet named Moroni (see giant gold man statues w/trumpet on many temples for visual). WELL, I was reading Mormon chapter 8 (just when Moroni takes over the responsibility for writing, after his dad, Mormon, is killed. Here's the thing, when Moroni started writing in Mormon 8, his dad, and all of the people he knew, had just been killed at war. He was alone. Last one standing. Talk about integrity.
It's like when you're in Middle America at a stop sign. At 3:30am. No other cars. No police officers in sight. Just you and a choice.

Well, Moroni took advantage of his opportunity. He maintained the account of his experiences and that of his people. He stated clearly the importance of the Book of Mormon and the reality of Jesus Christ. Moroni could have done SO many other thing with his time. He could have wallowed a lot. (Hey...I probably would have). Or even just move on with life in accepted contentment.

Nope. Not Moroni. Even though he was 100% alone, he continued to serve as a living prophet of God. Issuing warnings, inviting us all to repent and standing as a witness of Jesus Christ.

I can only imagine a lunch date with Moroni. I'm sure he's one of those "motivational speaker" types. Like a retired football coach or marine.

His testimony didn't weaken. It only got stronger as he aged. Sometimes I wonder if I can have that type of strong faith throughout my entire life. To the dregs.

I hope so. Moroni hoped so. He had hope in us.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! HAPPY HAPPY WEEK!! YAY Big Mac!!

Got to go!
Loves,
Sister Ameriskierialla