D&C 51:20

Hello family!

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was just grand! We had a pretty good one here in Miami. We went to two different houses. One for lunch and one for dinner, so it was pretty good.

We had a fairly good week with Thanksgiving. We taught a lady named Gail. The lesson was kind of crazy because of her daughter and nephew that were there but other than that it went well. We watched the Restoration DVD. The spirit was there and she liked the movie. She says she still has some things to overcome and then she'll be able to be baptized. She keeps telling us that she's just used to "hearing the word" in church instead of how we do things. She likes it, but says that it's different.

We were able to meet with Cheyenne yesterday and we talked about tithing and fasting. Her brother, who got baptized recently, seems to be a big help in her conversion. When we were talking about fasting she told us of an experience that her brother had shared with her about how he fasted once. It was pretty cool to see that he is being a help to his sister. She also texted us last night and asked us about something that her brother had talked about. It had to do with keeping the sabbath day holy, so we are going to talk about that this week with her!

Then there's James. We aren't quite sure what to think about him just yet. When we met with him this week, he told us about how he gave a Book of Mormon to his neighbor. Last week he just barely finished the Book of Mormon and didn't really say if he believed in it and then this week he tells us that he gave a copy to his neighbor and told him to read the last chapter and ask if it's true. He told us that he's not even quite sure why he told his neighbor that but that he felt good about it so he did. We think he subconsciously knows that it's true but he doesn't recognize that quite yet.

I wanted to share a little bit from what I've learned in my studies this week. It has to do with being happy. I was reading Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from this last conference titled, "Of Regrets and Resolutions." It is a fantastic talk!!! One of my favorite sections is where it talks about letting ourselves be happier. He says, "The older we get, the more we look back and realize that external circumstances don't really matter or determine our happiness. We do matter. We determine our happiness. You and I are ultimately in charge of our own happiness....We shouldn't wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available - all the time! Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect....there is something in each day to embrace and cherish. There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it. Perhaps we should be looking less with our eyes and more with our hearts. Let us resolve to be happy, regardless of our circumstances." We can determine to be happy no matter what we are going through. I testify of this truth. Being on a mission is not an easy thing to do, but I have to be happy doing what I'm doing no matter what trial I'm going through on my mission. I urge all of us to be happy now. No matter what. Let's not live with any regrets. Pres. Uchtdorf also said, "many of the deepest regrets of tomorrow can be prevented by following the Savior today." I second his words. Let's all more closely follow the Savior so we can be happy today and not have any regrets tomorrow.

I love you all and I love this gospel! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl

D&C 50:45-46

Dearest family,

We had a pretty good week this week! We were able to pick up two new investigators. One of them is Gail. She's been coming to church every so often. She is the sister to a member of the ward. She's a single mom which is why we think the elders didn't get a very good chance to teach her. So we met with her this week and she seems pretty promising. She's already given up her coffee. Somebody also told us that her sister said that she is trying to do better because there are sisters here so she can get baptized if she wants. Of course she could do that with the elders here, but it will be easier with us here.

We also picked up a girl named Brandy. Her parents are inactive members and she used to come when she was a young woman. She would go to the Wednesday night activities and participate there but we have a record that says she hasn't been baptized yet. She seems really nice. She said she's been having a hard time right now. She got in a car accident and so she's pretty beat up from that. She loves reading the Bible and already has a copy of the Book of Mormon so we asked her to start reading it again. She seemed pretty excited!

We had dinner with a recent convert and her mother. The mother has never been really receptive. She's really supportive of her two daughters that joined at the beginning of the year, but she's not interested for herself. Some members believe that we were sent here to help her get baptized. As of right now, that doesn't look too promising, but you never know, Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways and everything happens on His time.

We are also still looking forward to Cheyenne's baptism in January. She was able to come to church yesterday for the first time! She usually works on Sundays and it's really hard for her to get it off, but she had yesterday off and so she came and brought her 11 month old son to church. She seemed to enjoy it! She's still excited for her baptism. We are just hoping that her husband will also be interested in the near future. He's really supportive of her but doesn't want to be involved in the lessons. He's pretty shy so whenever we go over to their house for a lesson, if he's there, he will go back in their room and stay there until we leave. So we'll see how that goes.

As I'm out here on my mission it is crazy how much I am blessed, even when I don't feel worthy of the blessings! As a missionary, you have to love everyone you come in contact with, no matter their situation. This past week, as we come out of lessons and dinner appointments, I feel so blessed because I have only been in Miami for almost 3 weeks and I already love the people here! The people in the ward are so great and they truly care about and love us missionaries. It is a super small ward but we still have dinner appointments every night. Some members feed us multiple times a month and some feed us once a week. It's a huge blessing to be here in Miami and I'm excited to continue to be here and to see more people come unto Christ and change their lives! I love this gospel and I love this church and I love being a missionary! I still can't believe that I'm actually on a mission!! It's great!

Well, I think that's about it for the week! We are hoping to get some more new investigators this next week so the work can continue to progress here in Miami!

I love you all. Thanks for all the support you give me!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl

D&C 45:37

Dearest family!

How are you all doing?? I'm doing pretty good out here in Oklahoma. It has definitely been an interesting but fantastic week!!

Last Wednesday we had a Zone Meeting combined with interviews with President Shumway. Those are always fantastic! You get to talk with him about anything and everything you want and he will just help you with whatever you need. I got a blessing from him and it has helped me a lot and will probably continue to help me as I continue to try to work hard and be the best missionary I can be! Our Zone Meeting was pretty funny. So our Zone Leaders were instructing and we were talking about appearance as missionaries and one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Nordine, had just gotten a really bad haircut and so the other Zone Leader, Elder Atkin, started to use him as an example and Elder Nordine punched him in the jaw! I think he was just trying to be funny and not hurt him but he punched him pretty hard. He went bright red. It was pretty funny. Then yesterday, we had a zone outing in Joplin. We played flour ball again! It was so much fun!! Afterwards we went to a place called Steak&Shake...so good!!....and as we were all in line to pay, Elder Nordine asked Sister Reeves if she'd ever punched someone. She was like, yeah. Then he asked if she'd every punched someone on her mission, then I said, "In front of the whole zone?" It was so funny! He went bright red and everyone started laughing. So now it's like the zone joke. But Elder Nordine is cool with it and just laughs right along with us! :)

Anyway, back to missionary work. I feel like things are starting to pick up here in Miami. Last week we were able to see one of the investigators that the Elders had been working with. Her name is Cheyenne and she is really amazing! Her brother just recently got baptized in the Grove Ward and her mom is also investigating somewhere...not sure where exactly. But she is progressing pretty well. She hasn't been able to come to church yet because she works and can't come but she said that she has the next couple Sundays off so she'll be able to come to church. It will be so great to see her there! We are also having a lesson with her today. She has a baptism date for January 5 and so we will be giving her a "map to baptism" and probably talking about the Word of Wisdom.

We also have an investigator named James. He's read the Book of Mormon a lot but never read the book of Moroni. So when we met with him on Saturday, we challenged him to read it. On Sunday we asked him if he had read it and he said he did. We asked him if he prayed about it and he said he hadn't but that he would. So that's promising! The Elders said that he just needs to be asked to be baptized but we don't feel like he is ready for that quite yet. So we'll see how he progresses. He comes to church every week. The people he lives with are members so it's easy for him to come. He has the second cutest 4 year old ever - Eden. She is second just after Keira! :) She is so funny and reminds me a lot of Keira.

Last Wednesday, our District Leader and his companion, Elders Beard and Gurney, asked us to come to their ward's Young Womens and talk to them about personal progress and preparing for a mission. It was really great to stand there in front of a group of girls and help them know how to prepare for their missions. It was a cool experience!

Well, I love you all and hope you are doing great!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl

D&C 49:28

Dearest family,

I am in Miami, Oklahoma!! My time in Miami has been interesting so far. It is definitely not going to be easy to be in an area where sisters have never been before. However, we are getting a lot of good feedback from the members and they seem to be excited to have sisters in the area. They are ready for a change and I just hope that we can live up to their expectations. Some of them say they've had a hard time with the elders that have been here and that they're excited to see the work pick up with sisters here now. So I hope that we can work hard and make the work progress here in Miami. Not a whole lot happened this past week. We are still trying to get our feet on the ground. Let's just say that I feel like Heavenly Father is preparing me to open a brand new area that hasn't ever had missionaries. It started with Sister Boone and I covering the Ft. Scott Branch and now with whitewashing an area. We are about to get a lot more missionaries and so areas that have never had missionaries are going to get missionaries! It will be super exciting but hard at the same time. Missionary work is work, that's for sure! But I'm trying to love every minute of it!

We have interviews with President Shumway this week, it should be good! I always enjoy having interviews with him. I cry every time but it is still good to be able to have 1 on 1 time with him so you can ask him anything you want and nobody else will know. Mission presidents are such a blessing, I feel, because he is like my dad out here. I can't just call my dad up and talk to him and tell him everything, but I get to email my Mission President every week and tell him anything I want. If I'm feeling bad enough I can even call him up. And we get to have interviews! They are so great!

I'm really sorry this is so short but there isn't a whole lot to report on. Hopefully this next week will be more exciting and more things will happen so I can have stuff to tell you next week! :)

The work keeps on going and I try every day to strive to do my best. I can improve every day and so I try to do just that - improve. It's not the easiest thing, but it is important and necessary for us to grow in this world.

I love you all!!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl