Helaman 10:4-5

Dearest Family and Friends,

This will be the last email that I ever send as a missionary!! How crazy is that? I can hardly believe it! It seems like I was just in the MTC and then in Bella Vista. I am excited to come home but very sad at the same time. As a missionary I've had a purpose for the last 18 months and now all of a sudden that purpose won't be there as much. I still will have the responsibility of sharing the gospel but not so much as while I've been a missionary. You get what I'm saying? Anyway, it will be good to come home and see everyone's faces again! :)

We had a superbly fantastic week! I'll start with our Fall Festival. We had it Wednesday night and let's just say that there were so many people that there weren't any parking places left in the parking lot!!! They estimate about 200-220 people were there! It was so much fun! There were so many nonmembers and less actives there! We had a blast walking around and meeting lots of new people! I'll share one success story from it.....Sister Wells, an inactive lady was wanting to come to church and couldn't wait until Sunday to come. On Wednesday, she was driving around Greenwood for some reason and saw that there were people going into the church parking lot. She thought to herself, "It's Wednesday! I can go to church now and not wait until Sunday!!!" So she drove in and parked and met Sister Whatcott in the parking lot. Sis. Whatcott told her what was going on and walked into the church with her! Sis. Wells now wants to take the missionary discussions again, she came to the Relief Society Activity on Saturday and to church on Sunday!!! Wahoo!!! She is so great and so that was one of the success stories from the Festival. I could probably tell you a few more but I'm on a time limit!!! :)

On Friday I went up to Van Buren for my last exchange. I was with Sister Breaux and she is just amazing! She actually is coming to Charleston to take my place and be the Sister Training Leader over the zone. Sister Ficklin gets to stay in Charleston and be her companion! They are going to do great things!! :) I'm so excited for them!

We had a great day on Saturday! We came back from an exchange and then went to the church building to help set up for the Relief Society's Super Saturday!! It was a lot of fun and we made a lot of cute little crafts! It was great fun!!

After the Super Saturday, we had Bro. Crockett's baptism! There were like 10 missionaries there because he's been investigating for a while and he wanted as many missionaries to come as he could get. Sister Ficklin and I take great pride in the fact that out of all the missionaries who taught him, we were able to set a baptism date with him and he wasn't even our investigator! :):) Bro. Crockett also counts us in his 15 missionaries who helped him come to the gospel! We love him and his wife so much! It was a very good baptism and his wife even shed a few tears! We are hoping that God will continue to soften her heart! Sis. Ficklin and I are going to lunch with them on Wednesday so we'll see if we can talk to her about how she felt at the baptism. Hopefully she won't get offended. :)

Katie and Lexus are still on for their baptism this week! Hopefully we can get everything in order for it to happen! It will be a very stressful but happy event! Deja, one of the Elder's investigators is also getting baptized that day! It is so exciting! Since August, in the Greenwood Ward, as of this next Wednesday, there have been 7 baptisms! How exciting is that! We also had the highest number of people in yesterday's Sacrament Meeting than there has been in a while!! The work is moving forward rapidly out here in Arkansas! I just love it!

On Friday, we had to say goodbye to the Vendels. :( They are in Alabama this week because Bro. Vendel has to be in his class this week. He was really sad that he was not going to be here to see me leave. He said he was crying because he couldn't hug me! I'm going to miss them so much! In a text that Bro. Vendel sent, he said, "I pretty much quit crying by the time we got to Clarksville. I feel as if I'm losing one of my own. Even if only for a time, and we've only had you for a time, you will always be in our hearts." After we told him about transfer calls, he said, "Thanks for the news. Now we can sleep. For tonight. Next week we need info on Sis. Pahl's choice of companion." Bahahahah I thought that was super funny! I just love the Vendel's it has been sooooo great living under their roof for the last 4 months.

In Sacrament Meeting, Bishop Webster invited me to bear my testimony first since I am going home. I wasn't as emotional as I thought I would be, but I did tear up a little bit. I really am going to miss Greenwood. It has been so great! One of the best!

I just want to thank everybody for supporting me these last 18 months! I could not have done it without all the support, letters, and emails. I've found lots of strength as I've had communication with people from back home. I know that I was supposed to serve a mission. It has been the best thing I'll probably ever do besides being a mother. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's true church on the earth. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, as is the Bible. Jesus Christ suffered for our sins and all the feelings we will every have on this earth. Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and was and is a Prophet. Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet on the earth today. I know that with all my heart! We all need to read our scriptures every day, pray morning and night, go to church every week, go to the temple every week, and do all we can to become more like Jesus Christ. It is also very important for us to share the gospel with others! As we share our testimony, our testimonies grow in leaps and bounds. Again, thank you all for everything! It's been a great ride at Disneyland, as my mission president, President Shumway, would say! :)

See you VERY soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." -2 Timothy 4:7

Moroni 10:32

Family and Friends,

Another fantastically fantastic week!! It was such a miracle! We were able to reach both of the "Standards of Excellence" this week! The Standards of Excellence are to have 20 lessons with 60% or 12 of them being "member present" lessons. We were able to achieve that! We got 21 lessons and 14 member present lessons...making 67%! Wahoo! It was so great! Every time we have to start a new week we get a little nervous and stressed out because we just aren't sure if we are going to be able to do it again. But this week we were able to! Now we get to do it again!

Sister Hobbs baptism was the best baptism I've been to on my mission! I mean, all of them have been good, but this one was especially good! The Spirit was so strong and a lot of her family was there. Sister Ficklin and I sang a special musical number called "I'll Find You My Friend." Everyone said that we did really well and that our voices blend really good together. The song is about us knowing someone in the pre-existance and how we tell them that we will find them down here on earth so that we can share the gospel with them. It just fit perfectly well with the situation because we probably knew the Hobbs family up in the pre-existance and now we are here on earth sharing the gospel with them. It was such a good experience to see her get baptized. When she came out, we were standing in the bathroom with her and was asked her how she felt and she just jumped up and down and was so excited. She said she felt super good! We just love her so much and I'm excited to be a part of the Hobbs life for a very long time. She had her brother in law, Brandon, and sister in law, Tina give the talks. Brandon has been inactive and Tina is semi active. It was so good for them to be able to study and give the talks! They did such a good job! Brandon even came to church yesterday. The entire Hobbs family took up three rows in the chapel!!! It was so cool to look over and see all of them sitting there! We also had dinner with the whole family yesterday and they ALL said they were going to be at church. Even Bro. Hobbs and Brandon. So we are pretty excited!!! Sis. Hobbs bought her three boys suits from TJMaxx and said she got a pretty good price on them. They only wore them to the baptism but they all looked pretty spiffy in them! I just know that they will be sealed in the temple one day! It's only a matter of time! :)

We have also been trying to continue to work with Lexus and Katie. We hadn't been able to meet with Katie all week and had only seen Lexus once during the week so, during Sunday School yesterday, we divided and conquered!!! Sis. Ficklin went with Ariana Brandli and taught Lexus while I went with Unico Pitcock and taught Katie! I guess teaching Lexus was a little difficult because she hadn't had her medicine that day, but they did a lot of activities to teach the things they had to! The lesson with Katie went well. We went over quite a few things because we have to finish teaching her the lessons before she gets baptized in a week!!! Yay!!!

I went on an exchange to Muskogee this week! It was okay. Not the best exchange. It was good to go to Muskogee again though. It was the last time before I go home. I also went on an exchange to Mena. That was fun! :) Now we only have one exchange left! It's on Friday and I get to go to Van Buren with Sis. Breaux!!! I love her so much! She is such a great missionary! So I'll be ending my mission with a great exchange! They actually haven't been quite as bad as I though they were going to be. So I'm grateful for that!!!

We picked up a new investiagtor named Tommy. He is the Vendel's daughter's boyfriend. He is a pretty interesting guy! We've taught him twice and he actually came to Sacrament Meeting yesterday. He's been before and he's just not the biggest fan of it. We'll keep working with him. Pray for us! ;)

There was a Stake Relief Society Activity/Meeting on Saturday. It was so much fun! There were a few classes and we really enjoyed it!

I think I'll leave it at that this week. thanks so much for everything!!

Love you all!!

See you soon then!!

Love, Sister Pahl

Picture #1 - Us with Bishop and Bro. Lynch.
Picture #2 - Us with Sis. Hobbs and Bro. Eagar
Picture #3 - Us with the Hobbs family
Picture #4 - Us with Sis. Hobbs


(sorry ... The mom couldn't get the pictures on here ... Brianna ... help me!!!) :)

Alma 48:11-13, 17

Family and Friends!!!



HOLY COW!!!! SO much happened this week that it's insane!!! I hope I have time to cover it all in my email!!!



Tuesday I got to go to Mena on an exchange. It was so good! We met a lady named Charity and she is just so ready for the gospel! It was our first time meeting her. She is friends with a member of the branch in Mena and she has some praying to do but I think with time she will just be so open to being baptized! The work down there is going so well! They had a hard week this week but they are just being prepared for something better!



Wednesday was the best day in the world! At first we thought it wasn't going to be so good but it was fantastic! We had District Training Meeting in the morning and then Sis. Whatcott and Sis. Merkley had lunch prepared for all of us. Sis. Whatcott took us home and we did a little bit of planning. We were meeting with Katie that day......we've been trying to meet with her for a while. Her mom and brother are less active, her dad and her are not members. So we've been trying to teach her for a long time. Like since we got to the area. SO, she had agreed to meet with us at the church. We felt really prompted to give her a baptism date. We felt like November 6th was right. The Elders are having a baptism that day so we could just do a double baptism. So we prepared a MAP to baptism which is basically a calendar with events on it until their baptism, and prayed about the date. We felt pretty good about it. When we get to the lesson, we talked for a little bit and then we said a prayer. Katie didn't even say "Amen" before she threw her arms out and said, "Okay, now don't get all giddy, but I've decided I want to become a member!" We were sitting there all like not knowing what to do and I said, "How can we not get giddy with a comment like that????" So then, we got giddy. :) It was just so cool to see how the Spirit really was speaking to us as we were planning. Had we not been prepared with a baptism date and a MAP, we would have been scrambling in the lesson and trying to figure things out then. Instead, we were able to say, "Great! We already have a date picked out and a MAP for you!" IT WAS SO GREAT!!!!!!! So then we were supposed to meet with the Hobbs after so we went to go find them. We introduced Katie to Sis. Hobbs and Katie told her she was getting baptized. Sis. Hobbs started jumping up and down and screaming because she was so excited! Sis. Hobbs is the cutest little woman!!! I love her to death! She couldn't be more excited for her own baptism and now she's excited for Katie's as well!! Then Bishop walked into the church with Bro. Lynch and Lexus so we went to go tell him about Katie and then Lexus came up to me and said, "Remember Sister Pahl!".....I couldn't remember what I was supposed to remember....so I said, "What am I supposed to remember?" Lexus just stared at me in disappointment, then she whispered in my ear, "I'm getting baptized on the 6th, too, before you leave." I was just absolutely astonished! Lexus was TOTALLY not interested in getting baptized on Sunday when we had taught her last, now all of a sudden she's telling me that she's getting baptized that day too. SO we are going to have a TRIPLE baptism on the 6th! My last day in the mission field!!!!! How cool is that? The Elders have someone getting baptized and then Lexus and Katie are getting baptized!!! We are so excited!!! Now, we just have to work our little hearts out to make sure they get all the lessons taught to them! Lexus will be especially hard since she has a major ADHD issue going on. She doesn't really want to take the lessons but she does understand why we get baptized. We had a lesson with her Wednesday night about it and she doesn understand that. She might not understand all the things we teach her, but she will learn more as she gets older.



Friday we did another exchange. This time Sis. Huskey who is serving in Van Buren and waiting for a Visa to go to Brazil came to Charleston with me. She is a great missionary and it was so great to be with her for a day! I feel like we taught really well together! She's going to be a great asset in Brazil. But she's super lucky because she got to come to the BEST mission in the world first and serve here for a little bit. :) We went to Booneville and tried teaching Lexus again. She just is different everyday. We did the cup display with her so we could teach the Restoration and she liked the part where we knocked down the cups, but she wanted to keep knocking it down! Oh goodness. :) We also met with Katie again at the church. Her mom even joined us for the last part of the lesson. So that was good! :) They are just so great!



Saturday we went to Ft. Smith and played soccer with some other missionaries, investigators, and less active members. It was a lot of fun but I am so out of shape that it is unreal!!!! That will have to change when I come home... :) After we did some service at the Riley's. We're still working on getting their house up to shape. We painted the dining room. That was fun! It is so cool to see the progress that their house is making! It's great!



Sunday was a good day as well! We ended up teaching the Gospel Principles class because the teacher couldn't come. After church we had our weekly lunch with the Merkley family who recently moved here from Kaysville, Utah. They are so great! I love them so much! We are going over there to day to paint our toenails with the girls! Hahah It's Melanie's birthday as well so there will be cake involved! :)



On Sunday we also watched the Testaments with the Hobbs. It just reaffirmed to me that Bro. Hobbs will be baptized someday. He knows that the church is true. What was funny is that we asked Sis. Hobbs who she wants to speak at her baptism. She said that she wanted Bro. Hobbs two siblings to do it. One of them is an inactive member and the other is semi-active. So Bro. Hobbs called them up and TOLD them, not asked, told, them that they are giving the talks! They both agreed! One put up a little fight but she finally agreed! It's so cool! I think it will really help their family a lot!!!



Well, more happened, but I don't have enough time!!!



Thanks so much for all the support I receive!



Love you all!!



See you soon then!!



Love, Sister Pahl

Ether 12:27

Dear family and friends,



We had a pretty good week! It always seems to go by faster when I email on Wednesday since there's less time between emails. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing! :)



On Wednesday we spent most of the day in Booneville. We were able to see Sis. Williams, a less active member. She's great! We saw Bro. Henry. We're having a hard time getting a hold of him because his phone is turned off right now and so we've had to set things up through the members through facebook! :) We had dinner with Bro. Lynch and the Elders. We taught him more about the Priesthood. He got interviewed yesterday for the Aaronic Priesthood so hopefully soon he'll be ordained a Priest! :) It's so great to see people move forward in the gospel! :)



On Thursday we went to the Jacksons to get back in contact with them. Turns out that Bro. Jackson isn't going to police academy until January now. We weren't able to stay very long, but we have another appointment with them tonight. Hopefully we can start working with them more! It's just hard to get a hold of them!



On Friday, we had Zone Training Meeting and Sister Ficklin and I had to instruct on "ANTs" - Automatic Negative Thoughts. Sister Shumway instructed on it at MLC. Anyway, it was a really good discussion and it went much better than I thought or anticipated it would go! We went over our time a little bit...oops! Oh well. :) It was a really good meeting. Really spiritual. It was also really sad because it was my last Zone Training Meeting! I like can't even believe that. It doesn't feel like I'm going home, but I am. It's weird.




Also on Friday, I went on an exchange with Sis. Tait in Charleston. We had the Vendel's son come for dinner and the Van Buren sisters joined us as well and Sis. Tait and Sis. Huskey were able to practice their Portugese on him. He served in Brazil a while ago so they just taught him the Restoration. Their Portugese is pretty good for only being out for a few weeks. She's going to do great things in Brazil! They both are just waiting for their Visas! I hope they come soon so they can get to the mission they've been called to, but for now they are here in the OTM changing people's lives!



Saturday night we went to see a lady that the Zone Leaders told us to go see. They had met her at the hospital. Her brother is a member and he called them to give their dad a blessing. The dad ended up passing away. But when we went over there, the lady told us that she wasn't interested at that time because her brother who claimed to be a Mormon said some very choice words to her and she got really offended. So she said anybody who acts like that, she doesn't want anything to do with her religion. So we talked a little bit with her and she was really nice. We ended up giving her a card with our number on it and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. She said that maybe she'll get over what her brother said and she'll give us a call because she really does like learning about other religions. So we'll see what happens with that!


We had a fantastic lesson with the Hobbs yesterday. She could not be more excited for her baptism. She told her mother about her decision to get baptized and her mom was happy for her! Sis. Hobbs had a dream that her mom was going to disown her but she didn't! She's happy for her and is even planning on coming to the baptism! It's so great! She really sees God's hand in her life. Even when she's working. She's a mail carrier in Ft. Smith and so some days she'll be walking and on the verge of crying because she's stressed, then Elder Phelps, a missionary in Ft. Smith, will pull up and roll down his window and say, "Hi, Sis. Hobbs!" She'll say, "Hi, Elder Phelps..." He gave her a blessing a while ago when we were starting to teach her and so they've become friends because of it. I can't remember if I told you this but we know that their family will be sealed in the temple one day. Every time we're over there, Bro. Hobbs says things that make us believe that he believes what we're saying, he's just having a hard time mentally right now so he doesn't want to admit it. We don't know if that's actually the case yet, but that's what we think. They love us coming over and our visits get a little funny, but it's good for them! :)


I just love being here. I'm so glad that I was able to spend so much time in Charleston. When I go home, I'll have been in the Ft. Smith Zone/Stake for almost 10 months!!! That's more than half of my mission in one Zone. Crazy! But I'm so grateful for the time! I've loved Ft. Smith! It's so great!



Well, I think that's about it for this week! Thanks for all the support!



Love you all!!



See you soon then!!



Love, Sister Pahl

Alma 7:11-13

Dearest Family and Friends,

Aloooha! We have had quite the week. The best part is that it is cooling down!!!!! It is so grrrrrrrrrreat!!!! When we walk outside and it's not blazing hot or humid, I feel like I'm in Utah again because that's what the weather feels like! It makes me so happy!!! :) I have not been a huge fan of the blazing heat out here, or the humidity. But we made it through another summer without getting heat exhaustion or heat stroke or anything of that nature! :)

Last Monday we had quite the adventure. I don't think I talked about this in my email last week. We went on a long hike with Bro. Carter, the Elders, and Sis. Tina Hobbs. It was so crazy! We hiked out to one of Jesse James' hideouts. It was quite the adventure. Let's just say that we'll never let Bro. Carter take us hiking ever again. The end. Hahah

We've also been doing a lot of service for the Rileys. We're helping them to get their house cleaned up. It's turned into a Ward Service Project. They need a lot of help with fixing up the house and cleaning it up so we have been helping with that two or three days a week. We'll do the same this week. We are actually going over there after we get done emailing today. They are so great and I love them so much. I wish I could do more for them and their situation. They have 4 children ages 8 and under. They have a lot on their plate and can't seem to stay caught up on things. So we're helping them as much as we can.

We found a new investigator named Janet. We're not completely sure if she in 100%interested in the gospel. Every time we go over there she seems interested but doesn't say too much. So we're going to have a good talk with her this week and see if she's really interested.

On Wednesday I went on an exchange in Van Buren with Sis. Boll. It was so much fun! Sis. Boll is a great missionary and I am always inspired when I'm around her. We saw a lot of different people. They have so many investigators that I don't know how they keep track of them all! They seem to have a pretty good system so that's good! Van Buren is such a cute place. I always enjoy it when I go there.

On Thursday we had to go to Sallisaw so Sis. Ficklin could have a dentist look at her retainer that broke. So that was an adventure. We are so grateful for the Vendels and that they were able to take us.

On Friday we had a really good weekly planning session. We have a busy week planned out and we are excited for all the things we have going on! It should be a faaaaaaaaantastic week! We are ready to get to work and teach the world! :)

We had dinner with Jeremy & Jennifer Hobbs on Friday. Sis. Hobbs is still all set on getting baptized! Bro. Hobbs will probably not be ready for a while but we know that their family will one day go through the temple. Bro. Hobbs said that it will probably happen as well. He knows he's going to get baptized, it's only a matter of time. :)

Saturday we had the luxury of watching conference at home! It was so great. Conference was AWESOME!!! One of my favorite talks the whole weekend was Elder McConkie's talk. It was focused towards Sunday School teachers, but I took it completely as if he were talking to a missionary. Best talk ever. I also really liked Elder Scott's talk about weaknesses. As a missionary, the adversary likes to make us think we aren't good enough because of our weaknesses. Well, I guess it's not just missionaries but anyway. So I really enjoyed that talk. I just really think that this was the best conference ever. All of the talks were super great. It's hard for me to focus on just one and have one absolute favorite. Now it's just hard for me to remember everything that was said. I feel like as I've been on my mission for a longer time that my memory is getting worse! No bueno. But it will all be okay! :)

Sunday morning we watched conference at the church and then Sunday afternoon we watched it as Sis. Cheryl Hobbs house. Mother of Jeremy and Tina - two people I've mentioned in this email. :) Jennifer said she watched conference Sunday morning but she was working all Saturday so she couldn't watch it. What she did get to watch though she said she loved it! She felt like every single speaker was talking directly to her! She really could not be more excited to become a member of the church. She told us how they didn't have money to pay their cable bill but then on Saturday they got a check unexpectedly and were able to pay the bill so she could watch conference. She said she believes they got the check because they fed us the day before. I 100% believe that. What a cool experience! We told her to get a journal an write these things down!

Monday I got to go to Tulsa again. It was the last MLC that I will attend on my mission. I'm pretty sad about it and freaking out a little bit but I'm determined to work harder than I ever have for the next few weeks so that I can say I tried my best my entire mission. I'm near the end and I can't give up now. Anyway, MLC was so good! Like I said earlier, it's hard for me to remember everything that was said, so it's a good thing I took lots of notes! :)

On Tuesday after we were done with everything, Sis. Shumway took all the Sister Training Leaders and met with us just to talk about the sisters in the mission. At the end, Sis. Shumway said my name and I expected her just to ask me to say the prayer (that's what happened last time a Sister Training Leader was going home), but instead she asked me to bear my testimony. I cried like a little baby about how glad I was that I decided to serve a mission. It truly has been a huge blessing! I've learned so much and I've grown and I've changed. Hopefully I'll be able to continue to learn and grow as I move on to another chapter in life.

Thank you so much for everyone who continues to support me on my mission! I couldn't do it without all the prayers that are said in my behalf. I'm very grateful!!!

Well, that's about it! Talk to you next week!

Love you all so much!!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl :)

Monday's letter (9/30/13)

Family and friends,

We had a super hard week this week. A lot of the people that we had lessons scheduled ended up cancelling on us. It's just been one of those weeks. The plus side of that is that it can only go up from here, right? Hopefully that's what happens with the beginning of this new transfer!

Monday night we were supposed to have a lesson with the Jacksons but they weren't home so we went over to the Statons to see how they were doing. Sis. Staton was in the bath so we just talked with Bro. Staton for a little bit. They had someone come over with a scooter for Sis. Staton to use at work and so we left when he got there. We didn't want to interrupt.

On Tuesday night, Bro. Carter called us and asked if we wanted to go have ice cream with him and his friend Dolores and her daughter who was recently baptized down in Texas. It's pretty interesting that Dolores' daughter was baptized because Dolores is just not interested at all. She just wants to be our friend and feed us food hahah she's super nice though and we enjoy her. She's the one that took us painting two weeks ago. :) That was fun.

Wednesday was an alright day. We ended up going tracting for about 2 hours. We surprisingly found lots of potential investigators and were able to set up some return appointments. We almost got attacked by a dog though. We had just got done teaching this lady and we were walking down the street, I was writing her information in my planner, Sis. Ficklin was walking ahead of me, all of a sudden she said, "Sister Pahl, stop!" So I stopped and looked up to see what the problem was. This big brown pitbull was just staring us down. It was pretty scary! He like didn't even blink! Luckily we were able to get away and not get attacked. That's one of my biggest fears is getting attacked by a dog. Glad I don't have a story for that one.

Friday we had a really good lesson with the Hobbs. Sis. Hobbs is still super excited for her baptism. Bro. Hobbs is not going to be ready. He's not ready at this time to live the Word of Wisdom. They said tithing won't be a problem though, so that's good! :) We also talked to their oldest sons and they are going to start joining in the lessons. We are hoping they'll be able to get baptized on the same day as their mom. They were super surprised that she was getting baptized. But then they said that whenever they see her in the living room that she is reading her Book of Mormon. She's great! Last week (I can't remember if I said this last week) she was saying how she just wants to go tell all the Baptists to read the Book of Mormon because it's true! We were so happy to hear that she believed that! :)

On Saturday morning we went to the Pitcock's home and helped with a service project. They are building a house and they're trying to finish it before Winter. So, we went to help...but I'm not really knowledgeable about those things and as a missionary I can't handle the big power tools, so Sis. Ficklin and I "supervised." Hahah it was really fun! :) We were mainly supervising a group of three that were putting up a wall for a closet. We made sure that everything was level. It was fun, but I will not be going into construction for my career. That's for sure. I also helped make some food for the lunch we had there. Food: now that I can do. :)

We also got to watch the Relief Society General Broadcast! It was so great! My favorite line was by Sis. Stephens when she was telling a story and said, "Don't be offended, that's ridiculous!" I absolutely love that! :) Sunday we had a really good Testimony Sacrament Meeting. Probably one of the best I've had in a while. We also had a good 3rd hour discussion about missionary work led by the Bishop. One of the members was talking and answering a question and he said, "Are we limiting the power of heaven?" I thought that was like so good! He was talking about all the little miracles that we see in our every day lives. We need to ask for miracles and then expect them. We need to not limit the powers of heaven! :) Love it.

Well, another week has come and gone. Crazy how time goes. I miss you all and am excited to see you again. Love you all!!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl

3 Nephi 27:13-14

Dearest Family and Friends,

 

We had a GREAT week this last week! It wasn't fantastic numbers wise, but we had a grrrrreat baptism!! I was so happy! The guy that got baptized even had a few of his friends come but they aren't interested in learning more. They were just there to support him and we were grateful for that! The last week has been super rough on him. A lot of his friends have been trying to convince him not to get baptized. We were never really worried though. We knew that he knew it was what he was supposed to do, no matter what anybody said about it. We had a good lesson with him and the Bishop and we were able to answer a few of the questions that he had thanks to his friends. He had a good experience though. He was confirmed in our Sacrament Meeting yesterday. Then later that day, we found out that he had been asked to say the closing prayer at the end of Priesthood Meeting and that he did a great job! We were so excited to hear that! He really is great and all of the members keep telling us that him and Bro. Henry who was baptized a few weeks ago are just amazing and they're so happy to have them in the church. I'm so glad to hear that the members are welcoming them in!

We were also able to set up another baptism date for the 26th of October. It's for Sis. Hobbs. We are going to pray and try to get Bro. Hobbs ready for that date as well. She could be baptized next week if she wanted to but we wanted to set a date that we felt that Bro. Hobbs could be ready for as well. He's going through a hard time in his life right now. He's been in some pretty traumatic experiences and so he's dealing with anxiety from those things. He says he'll get baptized when he's ready though. We are also hoping some of the kids will join in the lessons and get baptized. They are so prepared for the Gospel it's not even funny!

 

We had the opportunity to have interviews with President Shumway this week. It was so good! I love that man! He will be a part of my life forever. He always says the right things and I guess that could be due to the Spirit, but still, he has to be in tune with the Spirit to know what to say. Luckily, in this interview, I didn't cry! It's like the first real interview that I haven't cried in! It's just amazing to see how I've changed and how much I've grown in the last little while. I really just cannot describe in words how much I love being a missionary and am grateful for my time to serve a mission. I am so glad that Heavenly Father put His trust in me to serve a mission and to do His work. I hope that I can continue to serve Him diligently so He can be proud of me when my time is through.

 

I was able to go to Muskogee this last week on an exchange. It was really good except for I got to see Christina. I was so sad because her health has just gotten really bad since I've left. It was hard for me to look at her and so I'm just trying to remember the Christina that I knew when I was back serving in Muskogee. I love her so much and if she doesn't get baptized in this life because of her health, I know she will accept the work when she goes to the other side.

 

We had a special Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. It was full of music. Something really funny happened. I was laughing all yesterday and am still laughing about it now. The Priesthood got up to sing. There were so many of them and they were singing "Ye Elders of Israel." When they got done, Bro. Crockett, the Elder's investigator, was sitting in the congregation a few rows behind us and he said, "Man, that sounded like the Tabernacle Choir!" Oh my goodness!!! It was so funny! Everybody started laughing! But it was so true! Sister Ficklin and I just wanted them to keep singing. It was so beautiful, but now every time I hear that song, I will think of Brother Crockett saying that. I love that man! He is so funny! He is getting baptized on November 2nd. It will probably be my last baptism. Sister Ficklin and I kind of accidentally set the date with him a few weeks ago without the Elders knowing. It was pretty funny! We are so clever! ;)

 

Not much else happened this week! So sorry this is a short letter! :)

 

The Vendels are taking us golfing today so we are pretty excited about that! We sometimes practice putting in their living room at night. I've never been golfing so we are going to go with them today! We're supa excited! :):)

 

This next week should be a good one! We've set some goals that we are going to work really hard to achieve! :)

 

Thank you so much for everything! I really appreciate all the letters! Keep them coming!!!!! :)

 

Love you all!!

 

See you soon then!!

 

Love, Sister Pahl

PS. I forgot to talk about transfers!!!! Sister Ficklin and I are staying together in Charleston this transfer!!!!!!!!!!!! We are soooooooooo excited!!!!!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are! :) Not a feeling I can explain in text. Just like the last sentence in Alma 26:16, "Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." That's how I feel about my mission and about this next transfer with Sister Ficklin! Yay! :):) Sorry I forgot to mention this in my email! :)

Mosiah 28:3

Holy moly! We had such a good week! It was kind of long, but it was good! The weeks seem to be going by slower and slower, but that can be good! That way my mission doesn't just fly by in the blink of an eye.

I had two exchanges this week. One was with Sister Daines. She came up to Charleston and we worked up here while Sister Ficklin went down to Mena to work with Sister Harris. It was a pretty good exchange. I really love Sister Daines. We have a lot of similarities and so it was good to be with her. She has 9 nieces and nephews and so it's always fun to hear her talk about them.

My other exchange was with Sister Breaux up in Van Buren. Her companion, Sister Boll, came to Charleston and worked with Sister Ficklin. I also love Sister Breaux! I just have been so blessed to serve over so many wonderful sisters! They are all hard workers and just want to do what the Lord wants them to do. They are not afraid to teach the gospel to everybody that they come in contact with! I love working with all of them! I learn so much when I go on exchanges. I feel like I grow more than my sisters grow. It's been a fantastic experience to get to work with them and go on exchanges all the time. Not sure how much Sister Ficklin enjoys it, but they are good and we get through them.

Brother Lynch is getting baptized this Saturday at 6 pm! We are so excited! We feel like we were just doing this with Brother Henry! But, that was only about 4 weeks ago. Bro. Lynch just continues to surprise us. He got this notebook and he writes down his thoughts about everything that we've taught him. He goes through the pamphlets we give him and he writes down what they mean to him. This last week we went over a lot of material. We had to teach him a lot of things before he was able to be interviewed. We are just working on getting him some clothes to come to church in. Hopefully we can scrounge something up for him in the next couple weeks. We've been super blessed while we've been working here! Bro. Lynch says he has a couple of friends that are planning on coming to the baptism. So, we're super excited! :) This week, Bro. Lynch's daughter joined us for a little bit of the lesson. I turned to her and asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said, "Yes!" So then I told her that she had to listen in the lessons. She was kind of bummed but she agreed. Then one of her friends was there and she turned to her and said, "Do you want to come to church tomorrow? I'm getting baptized!" We had to quickly tell her that it wasn't going to happen tomorrow hahah just something funny. :)

We also got to talk to Bro. Lynch's neighbor. A few lessons ago, she was sitting outside watching her kids while we were teaching Bro. Lynch. We didn't have time to talk to her that time so this last week she was outside again while we were teaching him and I decided that we needed to talk to her. I'm so glad that we did! She hasn't become a new investigator yet but we hope she will soon. She said that she didn't go to any church and she didn't consider herself any particular religion. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said that she would read it. So there's a good potential there. We are trying to find lots of more people to teach, especially in Booneville. There is hardly any members there so we're trying to build it up.

This week, sadly, the Statons told us that they didn't want to meet with us anymore. Sis. Staton broke her leg close to her ankle and so she needed to have surgery. Through Pres. Martin, we offered a priesthood blessing and they kindly declined it and said that they aren't planning on going to a different church at this time. It was really hard for me. It breaks my heart when you love someone so much and know that they need what you have but they won't take it. That's the bummer about being a missionary.

On a lighter side, we are working with the Hobbs. They are progressing very well!! They've always brought their boys to scouts and Bro. Hobbs' mother is a member. They've taken the lessons before and then Sis. Hobbs' mother stepped in and pretty much ended that. Now, about 7 years later, they are taking the lessons again and they've agreed to be baptized once they know that it is true. I think it will be very soon. :) Some of their children are also baptism age, so we're excited about that. Again, we are superbly blessed!

One last miracle that happened this week. After church on Sunday, we were waiting with Bro. Henry and his ride because the Bishop wanted to interview him. We were wondering what was taking so long for him to get to him. Turns out he was talking to this girl who just wandered into the church as the last meeting was about to end. She's having a hard time in her life right now so the Bishop came out and told us to talk to her. So we did. She's really sad and needs the gospel in her life. We are meeting with her again tomorrow so that should be grrrrrrrrrreat! :)

I love life and am so excited about the missionary work that is going on here. Transfer calls are this weekend and so we have no idea what's going to happen. Personally, I think Sis. Ficklin is leaving and I'll get a companion who I'll "train" to be a Sister Training Leader since it will be my last transfer. So sad!!! I've had a good mission though and I'll continue to work hard every single day until they make me leave.

Thanks for all the letters and support! I really appreciate it! :)

Love you all!!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl :):)

Helaman 5:12

Dearest family and friends,

I've decided to start putting some of my favorite scriptures as the subject line of my emails. Helaman 5:12 is like the ultimate scripture! It's probably quoted every conference and it is just the best ever! I love it because from it we learn that if we have our testimony centered and founded on our Savior, Jesus Christ, then no matter what happens to us, we will be able to get through it. I use it a lot with the less active members that I come across. A lot of them have been offended or just stopped coming to church. With this scripture, if we apply it to our lives, even if somebody offends us at church, we should be able to look past that because we don't go to church to make people like us, we go so that we can come closer to our Savior. That's the whole point. To remember Him by partaking of the sacrament. It's the best thing in the world! :)

There was a comment made at MLC last week that I was going to put in my email but I forgot. It was in our Tuesday morning meeting and we were talking about how God makes things happen. Someone made the comment about how cool and crazy it is that God prepares His people to accept the Gospel. President Shumway continued to say that that is cool but what is even cooler is.....then he counted the people in the room. He said something like, "What's even cooler is that there are 30 of us in this room, all from different places of the country, with different family situations, different personalities, and somehow God managed to get us all on missions, be the type of missionary that becomes a leader, and get us in the same room at the same time." We all were amazed but then even more amazed at the comment made by Elder Bartschi, one of the Assistants. He said, "Even with us all having our agency." I don't know if what I just typed out made any sense to you but it was such a cool experience to realize how much God is truly in our lives. If I only learn one thing on my mission, it's the power that God truly has in this world. It's amazing.

Well, the Statons are....well...being the Statons. Sort of. They usually cancel on us or aren't home at the appointment time. This time, Sis. Staton broke her leg! Crazy! She was teaching her 4 year old to roller blade and in the process fell and broke her leg close to her ankle. I don't think her daughter will be roller blading any time soon...she's probably scarred for life. Just kidding. Anyway, so we werent' able to see them this week. We talked to President Martin on Saturday night at the adult session of stake conference and he said he had sent Bro. Staton the link to where her could view Stake Conference(they broadcast it on the internet because the stake is so spread out). So we will see if they got a chance to view it! Apparantly Bro. Staton has been sick too.

The Jacksons! We had a really good, spiritual lesson with them on Wednesday night. Bro. Jackson started crying as I recounted Joseph Smith's experience. I really think he just needed a testimony booster/reminder. He also said the closing prayer. It was very emotional. After it, he said, "I'm a cop! Cops don't cry!" It was kind of funny. :) We are going to see them tonight so we are pretty excited for today.

I met Keira's future husband. He's the cutest little guy ever. We had dinner with the Berry's on Wednesday night. They're in the process of coming back to church. Little Mr. Berry (he's only 4, but that's okay. Him and Keira will be on a mission at the same time and then they can come home and get married. :) ) is super friendly. Anyway, they're a great family! Sis. Berry is a year younger than me which is crazy because she has two kids and one of them is 4! But we are hoping that they'll start coming. It'll be hard because Bro. Berry works two weeks on, two weeks off, so he isn't home every weekend. But we'll work with Sis. Berry! :)

This week I've had a nasty cold. I think I got it from Sister Magness at MLC, but that's okay. I still love her. Actually, of any week to get sick, this was the one because we didn't have any exchanges so I was able to recoup and today I feel much better! Except for my nose is still runny and so my ears are driving me crazy because they're all clogged up. But, I'll be much better in the next few days. It's funny the things we take for granted until we don't have them - like breathing!!! It's all good though.

Bro. Lynch is doing fantastic! We met with him on Friday! Sis. Vendel took us to Booneville to meet with him. He just accepts everything we teach him. The Philpots picked him up on Sunday to come to Stake Conference (they also pick up Bro. Henry :)
). There just isn't a lot of members out where they live and so the ward is going to have to buy the Philpots a bigger car if this continues! Not really but we keep joking about it with our Bishop and the Ward Council. Anywho, Bro. Lynch really liked Stake Conference. There was one talk in particular that he liked. I'll talk about it later if I remember. :)

Yesterday we had a really good lesson with the Hobbs. They are really wanting to make a change in their lives and I think they really want to come to church. We did the first half of the Restoration. We got stuck on the subject Jesus Christ. Which is not a bad thing at all! It was so good that the Spirit directed us to talk about Jesus Christ some more. They really need to apply the Atonement into their lives. I love the way that the Gospel changes people! :)

Stake Conference was so good! The Oklahoma City Temple President and Matron were there and they spoke to us. It made me miss the temple! At home, we are so blessed to have several temples so close to us! The closest temple out here is about 4 hours away. A whole days trip! I've recommitted myself to going to the temple every week when I get home! I miss it so much!

A lady from Mena, Ar., also spoke to us. She is a convert. Her husband was a less active member when she met him and he still is. She just went through the temple a few months ago. She wanted to wait until her husband became active again but then she got the impression that she should just go to the temple. Because of it, she's seen so many blessings and her husband has started asking her questions about the church and even coming and attending church. This is the talk that Bro. Lynch liked the best. She really focused on the blessings of being a member of the church. I actually met her a couple weeks ago while on an exchange and she is just the nicest person ever!

Anyway, it wasn't too bad of a week! Our numbers were a little lower because of being gone for 2 days for MLC and because of me being sick, but it was a good week and God is blessing us for our efforts!!!

I love you all!! Have a good week!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl :):)

Miracles!!

Dearest family and friends!

 

This week has been so pack full of miracles that it's not even funny!

 

First off, I thought I'd give you an update on the chiggers!! The bite I got, still there, still itches. No fun! :) But it's getting smaller and I think it will probably get better this week. I'm tired of the itching on my back!!! It's in the worst place too - one that I can't reach it. Oh well.

 

So like I said, this week was SOOO great!!!

 

I'll start with the Jackson family. They are great! We went to see them last Monday and we were able to just share a little thought. Sister Ficklin bore a great testimony about how we are supposed to be there teaching them. We truly think we are here partly for their family. Sister Jackson really wants to know if the church is true for herself. It is so amazing! We are excited to teach them more. We were supposed to have a lesson with them Wednesday night but it didn't work out. We are going to see them tonight!

 

Tuesday was Mission Tour with Elder Stanley G. Ellis and his wife. I honestly think it was better than last year's Mission Tour. The most fun thing was that I got to see all the companions that I've had that are still in the mission field! It was pretty sweet. The way that it worked out is that we were all in the same area of the mission. There were three different meetings for the Mission Tour. Each meeting had three different zones in it. So it was good! My favorite thing that was said was, "The way we grow our faith is to do things that require faith." I loved it because that's always been my question on my mission, "How can I grow my faith?" There's my answer! I'll be able to remember it for the rest of my life! The Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders got to have a special meeting with Elder Ellis. It was good. He talked about how we could double or even triple the number of baptisms we have a month. I'm excited to see how the mission grows from this meeting!

 

I went on an exchange after Mission Tour with Sister Stockhoff to Muskogee!!! I always love going back there. It was a good exchange. We had a dinner appointment with the Fergusons - we had dinner with them last time I was with Sister Stockhoff - and they also fed us like the Tuesday before I got transferred from Muskogee! So it's fun getting to see them a lot. We also met with a girl who got baptized later that week. She's really great! It is amazing how the Lord prepares people. When Sister Hatch and I were there, she obviously wasn't prepared because we didn't find her. Sisters Stockhoff and Wise were meant to teach her. It's amazing!!

 

On Wednesday night we dropped by the Statons. We hadn't been able to see them for a while and so it was good that we stopped by! We went in and just talked for a little while. Then we were able to talk with them about taking the lessons. We pretty much begged them to just listen to our message. We did "How to Begin Teaching" basically. Sister Ficklin and I have gained a strong testimony of How to Begin Teaching. It really opens us up to the investigator about what our purpose is. So, on Friday night, I was on and exchange with Sister Boll in Charleston. We went and had an AMAZING first lesson with the Statons! Sister Boll has only been out for 2 weeks but she did great! These younger missionaries are so prepared to teach the gospel!! I love working with them and learning from them. Anyway, the Statons really felt the Spirit! I'm not sure how serious they are, but they said that they would read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We go see them again tonight so it should be good!

 

Like I said before, on Friday, Sister Boll came to Charleston for an exchange. We did a little bit of tracting and we came upon this guy that gave us a pretty hard time and was telling us all these things that he didn't believe in. I just stayed calm and tried to resolve his concerns but it just wasn't worth it because he had already made up his mind. Later Sister Boll and I were talking about it and she quoted President Shumway and I really liked what he said and I thought it was kind of funny. He said, "Remember, they're wrong and one day they'll be dead...." dramatic pause, "....and they'll know the truth!" So I liked that and found comfort that one day that these people that reject us will know the truth, whether they accept it or not.

 

One super miracle we had this week was with Bro. Lynch!!! Let's just say that he has a date for September 21st! We are so excited!!! He came to church last week and really liked it. We had an appointment with him on Thursday night but he texted us and told us that his brother was in a bad accident and that he had to go to Mississippi to be with him in the ICU. So on Saturday, it was the last day of the month so we were getting a little worried about miles. We had just got out of an appointment with a less active member and our next appointment was with Bro. Lynch. We didn't know if we were going to have enough miles to go to the appointment so we sat there doing some calculations and we decided that prayer was needed. We decided to pray because the calculations said we had enough but we just wanted to feel comfortable with going. After we prayed, the Spirit said, "Go!" So we did. We got there and we sat outside at a table outside of his apartment. We went over the Restoration with him  and then we challenged him to be baptized. He said, "Yes!" So we gave him the date of September 21st. He accepted it. In our planning, we decided that if he accepted the date that we would need to teach the Word of Wisdom so that he COULD be baptized on that date (they have to be living the Word of Wisdom for a certain amount of time before they're baptized). He drinks tea so we were worried about how he would take it. Side note: he had a cup of tea with him that he was drinking. Okay so, once we said that we don't drink tea, he took his cup of tea and hid it behind him. He said that he gets mad without his tea. After thinking about it for a little bit, he told us that he actually has been getting sick of tea. We told him it was a great time to stop drinking it! He could replace it with lemonade or Kool-Aid. He said that was a good idea. He committed to live the Word of Wisdom and at the end of the lesson, he let me dump out his cup of tea!!! It was so great!!! :) Such a great experience! We're excited!

 

At Mission Tour, there was a story told about a missionary who just had a baptism that included a whole family. He went up to his mission president and said, "President, it's amazing! We prayed for a family to baptize and the Lord provided one!" The Mission President said, "Great, Elder! Why didn't you ask for two?" After that story, I committed to praying for families to teach every day! Well, every day, I see a different family that we've been given to teach!!! On Sunday, we were in a town called Lavaca. The Hobbs are a nonmember family but are on our records because they had all their children blessed. They've been taught the lessons before so we decided to go over there. We asked them about their experience and Sis. Hobbs said that she'd prayed about it already and decided it's not for her. I asked how long ago that was. She said it had been about 7 years. A little later we were talking more about it and I told them that we felt that we had been sent to teach them. Sis. Hobbs agreed! She said that they aren't doing very good and that they need something more in her life. We asked them to take the lessons again and they said they would like that! I told her that she should pray again because sometimes we aren't prepared for the gospel but later we could be. She said that she would pray again! Such a miracle!!!

 

There were so many more miracles this week but I don't have enough time to talk about all of them! I wish I had more time! :)

 

Thank you so much for everything you all do!

 

Love you all!!

 

See you soon then!

 

Love, Sister Pahl :):)

Chiggers!!!!!

Hello everyone!!

 

Have ya'll heard o' chiggers?? Well, let me just tell ya about 'em. They is itty bitty and they likes ta bite ya. It's kinda like a skeeter bite, but it hurts ya even worse. It's itchy itchy itchy and ya can't sleep when ya got 'em on yer back. That's been my experience at least. Wow! It is hard to type in Arkansasian! I really had to focus to do that! Anywho, chiggers are not very fun. They itch for daaaaays. We went and did some service for some members who have cattle so we were outside helping them with various things and we sprayed and sprayed ourselves with bug spray...I even messed up the name tag I was wearing... :( but they still got me!!! It's okay though. It's not as itch today, so that's good!!!

 

We had a super crazy week! It was so hard but so good at the same time!!! Tomorrow we are looking forward to a meeting with Elder Stanley G. Ellis of the Seventy. It should be a great meeting! I remember when we had it last year with Elder Choi. I won't try and spell his first name. :) What's cool is that the conference before we met both of these general authorities, they spoke! So it's cool to actually meet men that we hear from every 6 months! I will miss this part of being a missionary. There's a lot of things I will miss, but I will miss all the meetings where we meet important people. ;) At this meeting, I will give my "departing testimony." Do you know what that means? It means I come home super soon, like in the next 3 months.....it makes me kinda sick actually thinking about it. I cry just typing it out in an email. :( BUT it's not over yet. I still have a long time to be out here. I'm going to enjoy every last minute and work until there's nothing left in me. They're going to have to take me home in an ambulance because I've worked myself so hard. I feel like I'm at the end of a race and I'm so tired that I want to just give up but I can see the finish line and so I want to run faster and faster so I can give it my all at the end!! So that's what I'm going to do.

 

We picked up 3 new investigators this week! Like I said, it's been a super hard week but we taught more lessons than we ever have while we've been here. With that result, we are finding more amazing people who are prepared for the gospel! One of them is Sister Jackson. She is married to a less active member. She had never even heard of our church until she met him! Crazy! It is amazing to work with less active members. That's supposed to be our focus here in Charleston but with that, we are finding more investigators because the less actives have family members that are nonmembers. Anyway, Sister Jackson is so amazing! We were able to have a lesson without her husband there which was really good! We got to know her more than ever and we were able to find out that she really has a desire to believe it for herself. They read the Book of Mormon and she would love more than anything to be sealed to Bro. Jackson for eternity. But she wants to believe it for herself and not for him. We told her that that is excellent and that we can help her do just that. We are going over there later today. We are pretty excited! :)

 

Sister Shumway came out on an exchange with me and it was such a miracle of a day! We went and saw this lady named Sister Her. She was baptized about 4 or 5 years ago and moved to the ward a year ago. Her boyfriend is a nonmember and she has some kids who have not been baptized. It was halfway through the lesson before she realized that we were from the "Mormon" Church. Once she realized that, she was super excited! She didn't know where the church was at and so that's why she hasn't been coming! We also went and saw Sister Riley! Previously, she didn't want us coming over when Bro. Riley was home but now we can go over when he is home! Something has changed and so we are good to go now! :) Sister Shumway really followed the Spirit with her. It was amazing to see. I love Sister Shumway. She is so great!!!!!!!!!!

  

We had an amazing meeting this last Saturday! Elder Southward, our Area Seventy, was there and it just involved the stake that we are in. All of the members were invited. President and Sister Shumway came to do a presentation on "We Are One." They have been doing these meeting with the 9 different stakes in our mission and they've been going really well!! It is all about how the members and missionaries need to be one in purpose. It was such a good training for the members and how they can be better missionaries in their everyday lives! It even helped us missionaries to know how we can be member missionaries when we go home! I can't even begin to explain how good it was. I wish that this was happening all over the world! Every member of the church needs a meeting like that. We were sad that more people didn't come but it was an okay turnout. I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!!!

  

Brother Lynch is another guy that we found. About a week and a half ago, we were looking for a less active member in some apartments and we didn't know which apartment it was. Bro. Lynch was walking by us so we asked him if he knew the guy and he said that he did and he would show us which apartment he lived in. As we were walking to it, we talked to him a little bit. His daughter was also with him. They were so nice! He had just had a stroke earlier in the week so we gave them a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and told them we'd stop by again. Well, on Saturday, we went by and he let us in and we were able to talk to him more about the church. It was funny because at the beginning, he said that he didn't go to church because he didn't like big groups of people that he didn't know. By the end of the lesson, he was practically begging us to come to church. He didn't have a ride so we arranged one and him and his daughter came to church yesterday! They loved it and want to come back again! Hopefully his son will come this next time. We are so excited to work with them more. They are solid investigators!

 

On Sunday night, we were up in a town called Lavaca. We were waiting to go to our dinner appointment. We still had about an hour and so we took out the ward list and went to go find some people. There was a name that stood out to us. It had a little note by it informing us that the Elders had not gone and seen her. They asked the neighbors about it but hadn't seen her. So we went to go find out if it was her. IT WAS!!! She was so excited to see us and she wants to come back to church! She went less active years ago because she wasn't married and so she felt out of place in a church that really focuses on the family. Well, now she's married and has a family so we invited her to come back to church! She got emotional as we talked about Jesus Christ and everything He does for us. We love her already. Her husband is a non-member so we are going to meet him soon hopefully and see if he is interested at all. Ah! I really can't say it enough that I love being a missionary. It is so exciting to find someone - even a less active member - who wants to come back to church. It is so rewarding to get to know people spiritually and testify to them of the love that God has for them. I love it!!!

 

Bro. Henry is still doing amazing! This week we challenged him to give away a copy of the Book of Mormon. There's not much more to say except for that he's grrrrrrrreat! We are so blessed to know him! :)

 

We had dinner with the Moore's on Sunday. Sister Moore, less active, has her nieces living with her and one of them, Megan, is over 8 and wants to get baptized. We started teaching her and hope that she'll be able to get baptized at the end of next month. They come to church every so often and since we've started going over there, they've come to church almost every week!

 

Sorry if this is all out of order and confusing. That's what my brain is like today!

 

Love you all!!

 

See you soon then!

 

Love, Sister Pahl

Bro. Henry = Baptized and Confirmed! :):)

To everyone who may read this letter:

 

We had a fantastic week this week! It was full of spiritual bliss!! :)

 

We started it off with going to Mt. Magazing and the Catholic Monastery. On Monday we went there with the Elders and Bro. Carter and one of his friends. He calls her his mom but she's not really his mom. It's kind of funny. It was so much fun! We went on a little hike and almost got poured on! It rained pretty hard once we got back up to the building. It was super fun though. The Catholic Monastery was....interesting. :) We had a good time though!

 

On Tuesday night we went to this guys house. He is a less active member in a town called Branch. Him and his family go to some church in Lavaca. He says he's been less active since he moved out of his parents house. It makes me so sad!!!!!!!! We had a pretty good lesson about how God is our Loving Heavenly Father. That is one of my favorite things to talk about with people! Just because everyone wants to be wanted and wants to be loved! He said that we could come back again but that he probably won't come back to the church any time soon.

 

We had a really good lesson with Sis. Chu and her son, Christopher. They are less active. Chris doesn't really know where he is going in life. He is trying to work his way up at Walmart. He already has his Bachelor's Degree and he is just working in the meat department right now. He is so sad and disappointed with his life right now. When we went over, we were planning on teaching revelation through church attendance. As we were talking with them, I felt like we needed to read Alma 7:11-13 with them and talk about the Atonement. It turned out to be a great spiritual experience! We know that Chris was feeling the spirit as we testified of the Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His whole demeanor changed: his body language, and they way he talked. I know he has a testimony of the gospel, it's just helping him to realize it and bring it out again. The ward says that he used to be really strong and would bear his testimony every month. We just need to figure out how to get him back to that. It's going to be a difficult road, but we know with God's help, we can do anything.

 

We had a great day on Saturday!! Brother Henry got baptized!!! It was such a great experience! He said that he felt really good after he got baptized and confirmed. I just feel so blessed to have been able to be a part of his baptism. He was so prepared for the gospel it's crazy! He shared his testimony at the baptism. It was his story of what has happened in his life to bring him to this point. We contacted him only three days after he requested a visit from the missionaries!!! Then he was baptized just over a month later! The ward is welcoming him in and he just loves coming to church. The people that bring him to church say that he is what you call a "Golden Investigator." We told them that we completely agree with him! He is as golden as they come! It's amazing and we are so blessed! :)

We had 109 people in church yesterday! Bishop said that when he was put in about three months ago, the average was about 84. He is so pleased with the improvement! We are pleased as well!! We're excited to be a part of this work!

 

The new Elder in our ward is Elder Park. He came out the same time that I did and he is from South Jordan. The other Elder in our ward is Elder Bauer. He is from St. Anthony, ID. He is really cool! It's funny that he is serving here because there is a family that is in the ward that lived in St. Anthony years ago and so they know each other! One of the girls was talking to us one day and was like, "Sometimes I go up to him to shake his hand and I almost start saying his first name! Then I stop myself and have remind myself that I have to call him Elder Bauer." It was pretty funny! Anyway, they are a good pair. Elder Park is our District Leader and he says that we are going to get every area in our district teaching 20 lessons this transfer! So we are excited to get to work with him.

 

Sister Shumway called us this morning and asked if she could come out with us! :s So she will be coming down here tomorrow to go on splits with us. It is kind of intimidating to have the mission president's wife come out with you. I feel like I have to be perfect and I definitely am not even close to perfect. But, I do my best and try to become better everyday. That's what counts, right? I hope so. :)
 

Well, I can't believe another week has gone by already! I love you all so much! Thanks for everything you do!!!

 

See you soon then!

 

Love, Sister Pahl

 

Picture #1 - me, Brother Henry, Sister Ficklin

Picture #2 - a little blurry...Sis. Ficklin, me, Bro. Henry, Bro. Philpot, Elder Park, Elder Bauer

Picture #3 - at Mission Leadership Council - 6 August 2013. Not all of the Sister Training Leaders...we are missing 3..Sister Meredith. me. Sister Bullough(she went home last week :( ...), and Sister Magness.

 

 

Transfers again! :s

Hola!

 

Well, transfers are here again!!!! The news is................I'm not getting transferred! And for Sister Ficklin...........................she's not getting transferred either!!!! We are so excited!!! Woo hoo!!! I really am excited to stay here in Charleston for another transfer with Sister Ficklin. We will both get to see Brother Henry get baptized! We are hoping we can also find more people to teach! The Lord will provide if we are prayerful and if we work super hard! Pray like it all depends on God, work like it all depends on you! I've tried to make that the motto of my mission! :)

 

We had a pretty tough week. We were working harder than ever but yet we weren't able to reach our goal of 20 lessons. We didn't even really come close. Nobody wanted to listen this week and Aaron and Nancy dropped us. :( I was so sad!!!

 

I feel like this email is going to be shorter because I feel like I just emailed you... :) anyway, last Wednesday, we went and had lunch with Marsha Qualls. She is related to Melissa Anderson and knows Grandma Wilberg! It was great to talk with her and get to know her and her husband a little bit. They are a sweet couple! He isn't a member so we are going to try and teach him even though he's been taught by missionaries before. He has a huge collection of arrowheads! It's probably one of the coolest things even. He's just collected them throughout his life! It's pretty sweet!

 

We also had dinner with the Gaiche's and their daughter, Brandi, and her three children. It was so good to be with them. We visited the Gaiche's when we first came out here and they hadn't been to church in years because of some personal problems. BUT yesterday they came to church for the second week in a row!! Sis. Gaiche got called into the Young Women's Presidency and so now she said she's going to come every week from here on out. It was completely unexpected by us because our first visit I told her that we'd love to seem them in church on Sunday and she very abruptly told me not to push her, even though I wasn't being pushy. But then they came last week and I went to give her a hug and she said,"I bet you didn't expect to see me here, huh?" It was so great to see them come back to church! They are the definition of Southern. Brother Gaiche has quite the accent! :) We love them so much! Bro. Gaiche makes cabinets and boxes and other stuff out of wood and he let us pick out a box! Mine is pretty sweet. They are big enough to fit letters into them! So that's where I put my letters that I get for now. :)

 

Aaron and Nancy dropped us this week. They are the ones that we talked to at Sonic. We went over there for our appointment that we had confirmed and we even had a member with us. We got there, parked, prayed, and before I could even open it, Nancy was at my door to give us back the Book of Mormon and pamphlets we had given them. I was so sad! They didn't even give it a good enough chance. I really wanted to cry. But I composed myself and was able control myself. But it was sad nonetheless. She just said that they had decided that the Bible is what they want to stick with and they don't think that the Book of Mormon is true. It literally broke my heart. :(

 

We had a cool experience on Saturday though! We had been helping a less active member, Sister Moore, clean up this consignment shop that she needs to get rid of and then she took us to dinner. We were at this sit down pizza place and we were just waiting for our food to come when I see this family walk into the restaurant and sit at the table right next to us. As I was looking at the wife, I just got a huge impression that we needed to talk to them. I couldn't get it off my mind as much as I tried to do it....I really don't like talking to people in restaurants like that.....but I finally told Sister Ficklin about it and so a few minutes later, we got up and went and talked to them. They were super nice and were impressed that we would just come over and talk to them. They said they were in the process of moving to Van Buren but that we could call in a few weeks when they get settled and we could set up a time to come over(of course we will have to give them as a referral to the Van Buren Sisters). So we talked for a little bit about the Restoration and they gave us their number and then their food came and we left. It was such a good experience though because it helped me to realize how impressions come. I had a burning feeling in my chest that we needed to talk to them. I don't know why we needed to because they weren't SUPER receptive but they want to talk to us more. But then when we were eating, I was watching other people come into the restaurant and kind of expecting that feeling again, but it never came. Sometimes I feel like the burning in my chest is just me being nervous, which it can be sometimes, but this burning was an impression that I needed to talk to them. I felt like I was in Fast and Testimony Meeting and I needed to get up and bear my testimony. It was a good experience and I'm glad that I know when the Spirit is talking to me. That's something that I really wanted to master while on my mission. It will be a great thing to have when I am home again and as I have a family of my own.

 

I went to Muskogee for my exchange this week. It was really good. We had a pretty cool experience. We were going to these people's apartments to visit them but neither of them were home so we were walking down the stairs and there was a guy sitting in a camp chair outside the door of the apartment. We went over to talk to him and turns out he is a member! How crazy! Both of those people weren't home just so we could see this guy and find out that he is an inactive member! God truly knows His children and what they need! It is amazing!!! I absolutely love being a missionary so I can have these kinds of experiences! I will miss it when my time comes to an end. :(

 

On my exchange we were also able to go have a lesson with Sister Lee and Victoria and Shelby. We started teaching them while I was there. I miss those girls!!! Victoria was able to give a talk in church on Sunday on how God answers prayers. So we had a lesson on that and we were able to help her prepare her talk a little bit. Hopefully they'll get baptized before I go home so I can go to their baptism!

 

I also found out that Malachi, a kid we were teaching in Wagoner, was baptized a few weeks ago! I was kind of upset that they didn't tell me, but I got over it quickly. It is so amazing to see the people you have taught previously get baptized! It's the best!!!

 

Brother Henry's baptism is THIS SATURDAY!!! Woo hoo!!!  He had his interview yesterday and he did good so he will be getting baptized on Saturday at 3pm!!! We could not be more excited. We were talking to Sis. Philpot, her and her husband bring Bro. Henry to church, on the phone the other day and she told us that her and her husband feel like Bro. Henry is what you classify as a "Golden Investigator." We told her that we completely agree with her! He really is golden! We are so excited for Saturday! It can't come fast enough! :)

 

Well, I think that's it for this week! Talk to you next week!!!

 

Love you all!!

 

See you soon then!!

 

Love, Sister Pahl

Brianna is the best. :)

Hello again!

 

Another week has flown by! I literally do not know where July went. All of a sudden it was over! Now it's August 7th! How crazy is that???

 

Yes, Brianna is one of the best! Thanks for sending me a bunch of pictures of Keira. She's so beautiful and is getting so big!! It's so weird!

 

So much happened this week! We were so busy! Each week we teach more lessons than the last which is fantastic! We went from 3 to 10 to 11 to 15 and now this week we are shooting for 20 which is the mission's "Standard of Excellence." We can't wait to see the miracles that Heavenly Father provides. We've been up in Tulsa/Claremore for 2 days of the week for Mission Leadership Council and so we have two less days to get the 20 lessons but we are going to work our hardest and be fanatically obedient so that we can see miracles and have God's help in achieving what He wants us to do! I'm so grateful to have the companion that I do. I couldn't do this without her. She is truly amazing.

 

We had a scare with the Rileys this week. Sis. Riley texted us and told us that they don't want us to come over anymore and that Bro. Riley had decided that they weren't going to go back to church at this time. So, naturally, we went over that very day, a few hours after they texted us to see what was going on. Sister Riley is all on board but Brother Riley is just having some doubts and some concerns that he needs to overcome. We challenged them to fast and pray about it and they said that they would so we will see what happens. They didn't make it to church because Sister Riley had been throwing up all night. :( We pray for them all the time and so I know that God will help in this situation!

 

Brother Henry is super amazing!!! He practically teaches us the lesson that we have to teach him. He is so prepared and we are so glad that we get to be a part of his conversion process. His date is for the 17th but we are going to see if we can move it to Sunday the 18th so that more people can be there. We just have to talk to the Bishop about it and see what he wants us to do.

 

We picked up a new couple to teach. Aaron and Nancy. They have a 4 year old daughter named Caitlyn. They're super nice. We met them at Sonic. We had gone to get a slush because it was a super hot day and (I don't know if I've told this story yet) they were sitting at one of the outside tables. At first I didn't think anything of it but then I looked up one time and I felt like we needed to go talk to them. So we did. We had a really good first lesson with them. Aaron just wants to know why we read the Book of Mormon. He said that he probably won't "turn Mormon" but he just wants to know and to understand. We told him that he won't understand until he reads and prays about the Book of Mormon. So he said he would do that and we have another appointment with them today. It should be good!

 

On Wednesday, I went on another exchange up to Van Buren, AR. I was with Sister Breaux this time. She actually has a sister going up to BYUI at the same time as Nani so maybe they will meet and be friends. That would be cool! We had a really good day. Sister Breaux is SUCH a good missionary! She's only been out for almost 6 months and she's training. She went from being trained for 2 transfers to training a new missionary. She really is amazing. She is so happy all the time and has a great attitude about everything. If I could be more like anyone, it would be her. I am striving to have that happy attitude. I love it and it makes people want to be around you.

 

There was a Ward Activity on Wednesday night. I didn't get to go but Sister Ficklin said it was really good and it turns out that there were about 150 people there. We normally have between 90 and 100 in attendance at Sacrament Meeting. A lot of the people that were there were less active or non members. It was so cool! In turn, we had a good turn out for Sacrament Meeting this last Sunday! Last month, for Fast Sunday, the Ward did a fast for us to see less actives that we can bring back and new members that we can bring in. It is so amazing to see the results of that fast! I truly feel that the fast is the reason that we have been able to find less actives to teach and investigators to teach!

 

It is so rewarding to be a missionary! I really love it and wish I could do it for longer than my alotted time, but I can't, so I am trying to do everything that I can with the time I've been given. They say that the more we understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the more we will want to share the gospel. I really have learned A TON about the Atonement on my mission. I can't even begin to explain the things I've learned. But in turn, I have a greater desire to share my testimony with others. Mosiah 28:3 is a great scripture to explain my feelings regarding missionary work. We all should share it and feel the way that the Sons of Mosiah did. We truly are blessed to have what we have.

 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!

 

See you soon then!!

 

Love, Sister Pahl

Sister Ficklin is awesome.

Dear family and friends, Yes, Sister Ficklin is awesome. I didn't know what to put in the subject line so, naturally with every decision I make, I asked her what she thought and that's what she told me to put and so, I did. :) I really couldn't do it without her. She is a trooper! Especially for being out for a few weeks, she goes on as many exchanges as I do, and most of the time she stays in our area and has to work here with someone who doesn't know the area. I know that I couldn't do that when I was out for only 4 weeks. So I know that God sent her to me to be my companion for this transfer. She's amazing and I love her!!! Last Monday we went and had dinner and 'game night' with the Whatcotts and the Crocketts. Bro. Crockett is one of the Elders' investigators and his wife used to be an investigator but she got pushed a little bit and got turned off by it. So the goal of the night was to introduce us to her and hopefully get her a little more interested again, but I don't think that it worked very well. We had a good time trying to do it though. We played this game called "Heads Up." It's a game they had on their iPad and it was like charades (spelling?). It was pretty funny. One of the Elders, Elder Bauer, was with Mark Whatcott and they had to act out "belly flop" and it was so funny because he did it so perfectly! He went up in the air and then down on his belly he flopped! What was even funnier was he was the one that didn't want to play the game. He's the one that got most into it. Anyway, it was fun and I think Sis. Crockett had a good time but I'm not too sure what will happen with her. We want to introduce her to family history and see if that will spark an interest but we will have to see what happens! :) We've started volunteering at a Nursing Home and playing Bingo with them. It is so much fun! I work with this one lady where every day we play, I have to explain to her again how to play it. Then by the end, she doesn't need my help any more. But I just love elderly people. They are so much fun to work with! :) We are still trying to work with the Staton family. I told you that they know Pres. Martin, the Stake President, right? Well, they do. It is pretty crazy! Last time that we met with them, Bro. Staton was giving the girls a bath so we just talked with Sis. Staton. She said that she had read the pamphlet and that she didn't think it was crazy and that it could be possible that it happened. We then talked more about the Book of Mormon and what it is and challenged her to read it. She said that she would read and prayed about it! :) Earlier that day, Pres. Martin had texted us and asked how they were doing so we texted him back and told him that and he said, "Thank you thank you thank you thank you! This is totally in my prayers. Asking for the Lord's tender mercies here!" So Sister Ficklin and I are thinking, "He's the Stake President, God HAS to listen to his prayers, right?" hahah but we're just being funny. We know that the Lord will provide and then they will have to choose for themselves whether they want to accept the message or not. That's what agency does to ya. Sometimes it can be frustrating but we just have to remember that it is a part of the plan. Bro. Henry is still doing great!!! He came to church again yesterday and there's been some people asking us to change his baptism to sunday so that they can just stay after church and so everyone doesn't have to make a big trip on saturday as well as sunday - since we are such a spread out ward. So we are trying to see what we can do! :) He's as amazing as ever. He loves church and he is actually been able to talk to his family about it a little bit. His mom is still not on board with us coming to the house and teaching him but his dad and sister are. We're praying that his mom's heart will be softened! His dad is great though, he tied Bro. Henry's tie for church yesterday! And Bro. Henry said that the other day his dad hugged him and told him he was proud of him because he was going to church. Apparantly that was one of three times he has ever said that he was proud of him so that was a tender mercy right there! :) I went on an exchange this week to Mena, Arkansas. It is such a pretty place!!! They have pretty big hills! They're so big I ALMOST consider them to be mountains. They claim that they are, but I'm not sure if I agree. :) Anyway, I was with Sister Daines for the day. She is so great! She has 9 nieces and nephews!!! Her oldest sibling is 12 years older than her. So it kind of reminds me of Keira and I but we have 5 more years between us. :) I always ask people in that situation how their relationship is with that sibling because I want to have a good relationship with Keira even though we are 17 years apart! I just like to know how people do it. :) Her and her sister have a really good relationship though, so it's doable! :) The Rileys didn't come to church yesterday but they were dealing with a family situation. We were sad because Pres. and Sis. Shumway spoke in Sacrament Meeting and did a fireside after the linger longer we had after the block. :) It was so good!!! Sister Ficklin and I and the Elders did a special musical number for Sacrament Meeting called "How Great Shall Be Your Joy." It is kind of like "A Child's Prayer" where they boys have one part and the girls another. It was so funny because Elder Young was trying so hard not to disappoint us that he came in at the very beginning when he wasn't supposed to. The good thing, he was hitting the right note! So we had a rough start because then Sis. Ficklin was laughing and trying to compose herself. But it ended up being good. Elder Young said, "I was trying so hard not to disappoint you and then I completely messed up!" We felt bad but we had a good laugh over it. It is super interesting serving in the same ward as other missionaries but it's good! :) I love you all so much! Next week I have Mission Leadership Council on Monday again so I won't be emailing until Wednesday. I can't believe a month has already gone by and it's time for MLC again!!! Time goes by much too fast these days! :) I love you and I will talk to you next week!!!! Have a GRRRRREAT week!!! :) See you soon then! Love, Sister Pahl

Meeting, Meeting, Exchange, Exchange

Dearest family and friends,

 

The subject line of this email pretty much describes the week. It was quite an exhausting one.

 

On Tuesday, we had a meeting in Tulsa called "Train the Trainer." It is pretty much an instruction from President Shumway on how to better do the "12-week program" that we use when training new missionaries. It is always really good. This is the third one I've gone to. First when I was training with Sister Knutson, then with Sister Hatch, and now with Sister Ficklin. I really just love President Shumway and his passion for missionary work. He also has such a passion for the Book of Mormon and it is so cool to see that! It makes realize that I feel the same way! I love missionary work and I love the Book of Mormon so much I cannot even begin to describe it! We are so grateful to be living with the Vendels. They are so good with driving us to places that we need to go to. They drove us 3 hours to Tulsa for a 2 hour meeting and then 3 hours back and they also took us to Parley P. Pratt's gravesite on our way home. We love them so much! They are taking good care of us. They also feed us whenever we don't have a dinner appointment. They're great!

 

We also had a lesson on Tuesday with the Statons. We tracted into them last week. They are super nice and we are so glad that we have met them! They know the stake president of the stake that we are serving in - Ft. Smith. It was pretty funny to hear that. Bro. Staton could even name all of Pres. Martin's kids in order, so they must know each other pretty well! On Friday, I saw Pres. Martin while I was on an exchange and I told him how we met them and he was just so excited! They work together and it was just cool to see his reaction. He was so glad that we had tracted into them and was grateful that we are serving in Charleston. It was actually a tender mercy that he said that because I was really needing to hear that we are needed in Charleston. We've been having a hard time with finding effective and efficient things to do with our time and so I just needed to hear that I was doing a good job and that I was appreciated. Anyway, Sister Ficklin and Sister Breaux were supposed to meet with them again on Friday, but they went over there and Bro. Staton had the stomach flu so we are now going back on Tuesday to meet with them again. So hopefully I'll have more to report on with them! :)

 

On Wednesday we had District Training Meeting (new name...used to be District Meeting). Then we switched companions and I brought Sister Harris with me and Sister Ficklin went down to Mena, AR. We went and saw a few less actives that live pretty far away. We had Laura Whatcott drive us around. She just graduated from high school and wanted to come out with us as much as possible before she goes to BYU in a few weeks. So that was pretty fun!

 

Thursday we switched back - yay! Then on Friday we switched with the sisters that are serving in Van Buren, AR. I went up to Van Buren to be with Sister Wilson and Sister Breaux came to Charleston with Sister Ficklin. It is quite interesting all of these exchanges. I like it though because I get to know a lot of the sisters that are out here serving God! :) Friday was fun being in Van Buren. We were able to find a new investigator named Alexis! She is pretty great! We were just walking through some apartments walking back to our car and she had just come out of her apartment and was looking at the sky seeing if it was going to rain. I felt like we should go talk to her and we did. As we walked up to her, she had this kind of scared look on our face because she didn't know who we were. But we explained who we were and what we were doing and she said, "Yeah, you can share something with me right now." It was great! :) We went through the Restoration pamphlet and she thought it was the coolest thing every. She just soaked up everything we said. I just love the way that God works! Had she not stepped out of her apartment at that exact time while we were about to walk past, we might not have found her! I love being a missionary! I just love it! :)

 

Saturday we switched back. That night a member, Bro. Hinderliter, that lives in Charleston set up a cottage meeting for us and the Elders to come to. We went and nobody showed up! We were pretty bummed but oh well. Bro. Hinderliter's son was there and so we shared a message with him but the situation is difficult because his son has some mental issues. So he can't talk and he get up and left in the middle of it but we don't know if it was because he was mad or if he was having a hard time breathing. Anyway, we are going to try it again and invite more people to the meeting!

 

Sunday we went up to a town called Lavaca. We met with Sister Moore. She is a less active member but she is super awesome! She comes to church maybe once a month but we think it is because of her husband. He is a nonmember and we think that she doesn't want to always leave him at home on Sundays. He doesn't have anything against the church, but I imagine it would be hard being married to someone who was a member of the same church as you. We are hopefully going to start teaching her nieces that live with her. They love coming to church and the one that is older than 8 hasn't been baptized. Sister Moore is going to talk to their mom. Hopefully it works out! :)

 

We also had dinner with a lady named Dolores. She is the friend of one of our ward missionaries. So Bro. Carter, the ward missionary, the Elders, and us went over to her house for dinner. We didn't have a spiritual message, we just went over for fellowship. She is really nice and is a painter! Sister Ficklin was able to connect with her really well because she is an art major. So that was cool!

 

Both Bro. Henry and the Riley family came to church yesterday! We were super excited! Bro. Henry has a baptism date for August 17th and the Rileys are still wanting to change and get to the temple! They said that they are trying to read everyday together and pray together as well! We are going to have a lesson on patriarchal blessings because the lesson in Relief Society talked about those and Sis. Riley didn't know what it was. So we are excited to see them this week! We are hoping that Bro. Riley will be able to baptize their 8 year old son! :)

 

We hope that this week we will be able to continue to improve in our work here in Charleston! We love it and hope it continues go get better like it did last week! :)

 

The Church is true! God loves all of us, His children. He wants the best for us, that's why we have the gospel - so we can know how to get back to Him. We can't do it without the help of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for us because He loves us! How blessed we all are! :)

 

I love you all! Do great, be great, live great.

 

See you soon then!!

 

Love, Sister Pahl