Today its going to snow Tomorrow its going to blow...

(This is Mom.  Sorry, I missed the last two weeks, so grab some hot cocoa and some popcorn and enjoy this extra long post.  And if anyone is interested, she asked for another flash drive, and I just sent out a package and FORGOT IT!  She takes extra large photos so I think she'll need several to store her photos on.)

11/25/13

Hello Everybody!

So this week has gone by faster than you can spell SPEED! So Monday was a normal P-day. Not much Happening. We went shopping and went to the church after to play some sports. Pretty fun. :) 

Tuesday was an awesome district meeting. Our district leader was late so we got to just hang out and get to know each other a little bit. Cool story so Monday apparently one of the elders left his shoes at the Stake Center. So Tuesday morning we were way early for our district meeting because we had to get a ride and our ride couldn't take us later. So our Zone Leaders showed up about 15 minutes before we were supposed to start and unlocked the door for us so we could go in. Oh also it was freezing outside. So we were inside and missionaries started to show up two by two. Anyways later we found out that the elders didnt have the keys to the building. So it was a little bit of a miracle that we were able to meet inside. That Elder at the beginning left his shoes there for a reason. LOL i thought it was kind of neat how it all worked out.  Okay so we had a wonderful meeting one last time as our district. After we decided to go to lunch so out district leader that eventually showed up called a sister in one of his wards to come and pickus up. Long story short she came and gave us a ride and gave us $60 to pay for our whole districts lunch. AWESOME right? She was super sweet. So we went to this Thai restaurant and we all ordered and we finished and we asked for the bill and gave them the $60 and then the lady came back and gave us change. We decided to count it and good thing we did because it was $60 so we were a little confused. We asked and i guess somebody paid for our entire meal. Yup the people of Idaho are AWESOME! So A few of the elders left. We had learned earlier that day that one of the Elders in our District only has 3 shirts and those are from when he was 12. So we decided as a Christmas present we were going to buy him new shirts from our $60. The Elders went shopping for them and we got a ride home. But we are super excited to give him the new shirts as a secret Santa gift. 

Wednesday was transfer day and our District leader Elder Vigil left the area that day. We were a little sad but he is close enough he can come down on P-days. We had amazing lesson that night with a Less active named Lauvina. She is stellar. Yup i just wrote Stellar and I'm not going to change that.

Thursday was FANTASTIC!!!!! You know why? Because we got a whole weeks worth of mail. We hadnt gotten any mail in almost a week and a half so the mail man came up that day. He is a crack up. He waits for us to run out before he drives away. So the reason we got so much mail was because the mission office was holding everything for transfers. I also got a package from grandma sharon that day. YAY!!!!!

Friday we decided to rearrange the room so we had a little more space. It went pretty well. :) So that afternoon we had a follow up meeting for my training. It was the same old meeting but i got to see Sister Garza which is always fun. I love that girl and her Companion who is from Tonga is super awesome to. Anyways so we called Sister Jenkins to pick us up and after we went and got some ice cream at Reeds Dairy. It is the best ice cream i have ever had there!!!! So yet again someone paid for our ice cream and Sister Jenkins ice cream. It was so neat. Idaho is really catching this generous spirit. 

Saturday was pretty cool fun. We did service for a less active and a investigator. We thought we were going to be painting but we mainly just prepared a bathroom for painting. Then we had to go. That evening thought we had 2 dinners. 1 of them was thanksgiving. I was stuffed to the brim. Thank goodness the second was soup and a little easier to swallow. After dinner sister halbison was having really bad pains agian. It had actully been happening most of the week. Anyways so i made her cal Dr. and he had us come down and we are pretty positive it is her Gal Bladder that is the pain. So we are happy we have some answers. 

Sunday we were supposed to speak in 2 wards. I have heard you have already heard that. So i wont tell you to much besides the fact that the everybody thinks the chicken joke is hilarious. We spoke in the mill run ward and there wer 2 farwells that day so a ton of people were there. We actually met a girl that is from Sacramento who just got her call to Gilbert. It was kind of funny. Anways that night we met with Shawn and his wife (the people we did service for on Saturday.) They are awesome. we taught them a little about the Plan of Salvation and he was just eating it up. He has a ton of questions and we are more than willing to answer them. His wife who is inactive is getting pretty involved to. It was great. 

Okay so i want to tell you about today. It was crazy busy but so much fun. So Sister Halbison had a doctors appointment for her shoulder this morning which is why we are emailing so late. So Kelsey Jenkins (Who is seriously awesome) picked us up and took us to the doctors. The doctor said basically just live with it or you might have to go home. If it gets really bad then we can do surgery on it. So after that we went around for a it and Bishop Rocknak set us up with a Naturepath to look at sister Halbisons Gal bladder and Check out my back. I havent been having any more back problems than normal. It just always hurts. So Dr. Orchard did some stuff and basically fixed Sister Halbisons Gal Bladder. She has to take some meds the next few days and then he is good. So Then she made a joke about her shoulder. No problem at all!!!! He fixed that to. Then it was my turn so this lady came down and used this fancy little machine to massage my back. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! I could have laid there for hours. So The Dr. comes back in and im not sure exactly what he did but my back pain is gone. Even in the spot that has been hurting real bad for years. It feels so nice to have it fine. He did something to my neck to and i thought i was going to be paralyzed forever because it was so loud. It feels GOOD thought. Anyways i wll tell you more about today next week. It has been a Awesome day :) 

It hasnt been snowing yet which we hear that is a little unusual. It has been a little cold though. Thank goodness we don't go outside till 12 though :) This week has been awesome and it is only getting faster. I cant believe i have been gone for 2 months it feels like 2 weeks. Alright well i love you all and i hope you all have a fantastic Thanks giving. Im so grateful for all of you in my life. You have no idea. Im also so grateful to be on my mission. It has been a once in a life time experience so far and i know that i have been called here for a reason. Not sure yet what that reason is but i an feel that this is wear im supposed to be. Love and miss you :)

Sister Ariel Freaking Dearden

 Kelsey with the sisters.

 This is my old district.

 Snow!

Elder Vigil on the left and Elder Plunket (our new district leader) on the right.  

Companions!

I added last weeks letter under this set of pics I lifted from the missionary moms on Facebook since I missed the last 2 updates, sorry!

From her 11/11 Letter:

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!

So this week has been full of prayers being answered!!!!!!!! But you have to read the whole week! :)

So Monday was great. We just went and played some games with the other missionaries and then wrote letters. That night a inactive member came over to the R's and we has dinner with him and put a little spiritual message in there. It was awesome.

Tuesday was pretty great. We had interviews with President Brinkerhoff and it went great.   Fun fact, over 60% of this mission has been out less than 6 months. Kind of cool if you think about it. Anyways the interviews went fine and i totally love my mission president and his wife. That evening we went over to someone that we have been working with.  Brother G. has been a investigator for the last few years and his wife is inactive. 

 They are both super awesome though. Brother G is struggling with the Joseph smith being a prophet so we showed him the restoration movie and the spirit was so so so strong. The wife was wiping away tears. And the dog was glued to the TV. Once the movie was over Brother G said "either Joseph smith was nuts or this really did happen and i think it happened" so we challenged him to read the BOM and then we felt like we needed to ask him to be baptized so we asked and he said yes and was so excited. So forth date!!!!!!!!!! Winning i know!

Wednesday was AMAZING!!!! We had Zone training that morning and the zone leaders did such a fantastic job. One elder was extremely nervous about his training but he did so good. The spirit was so strong. So we had a fantastic morning. So a little bit of a back story now. Sister Halbison and i have been praying for more people to teach. Especially a family. We have also been having trouble with the whole waking up at 6:30 thing. So Wednesday morning we woke up at 6:30 and did our exercises. This was a huge step for us i this last week. That afternoon during zone training the zone leaders came and told us that a family was getting ready to move into our area. Super excited we called them up and found out they were moving in that night so we rounded everybody up and got men over there to help them move. So we showed up about 6:00 and helped set up the kitchen and stuff. The ward really stepped up and helped. So anyways we talked with them and they were like yeah so when can we get baptized. We have had all the lessons and we are worthy so we were thinking maybe next Saturday. Sister Halbison and i almost started to cry we were so happy but i think we were in to much shock. So Heavenly Father really does answer our prayers when we are obedient. Let me tell you we haven't had a problem getting up since. So yes that is now 7 baptismal dates :)  We also went home having 4 more new investigators that night. :)

Thursday was pretty boring in the morning. We had weekly planning and we are taking a new way of planning now and it has worked out great so far. I feel a lot more prepared. We also got lessons on how to drive safely even though we dont have a car.YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday was also the day that we found out that a Recent convert and one of our favorite people ever is engaged!!!!!!!!! Kat Dow is AMAZING and we couldn't be more excited for her. I will have to tell you her story another time.

Saturday was awesome!!!!!!!! We decided to go to the church and spend our 1 hour a week on lds.org hastening the work. So we were strolling through videos and we decided to watch one called Essa's Story. So we start watching it and i knew i knew something about what was going to be said. Anyways then pops up a picture of Essa and i start to cry. Sister Halbison didnt know what was going on. It was Kelsea's and Savvys and Essas story. It was so hard to watch yet im so grateful i was able to see it. Anyways so once i got over my little emotional hiccup we were able to watch more videos. Anyways the rest of that day was productive. We got some free time to prepare our talks for sunday.

Sunday I was nervous but it went fine. We went to 3  sacrament meetings and spoke in 1. The stake president was there to so that's why we were both so nervous but i think we got the wards pumped up for missionary work. We are speaking in one ward next week and then the week after 2 more wards. We are going to be POPULAR.

Alright well i better get off soon but i love you all and i want you to know that i am praying for you and that i know this Gospel is true and that it is the only true church on the earth today. I hope if anyone that doesn't know that asks heavenly father and they will receive a  answer and come to know that it is true :) Im so excited to be able to testify of this for the next 18 months.

LOVE AND MISS YOU!!!!!!!!

Love Sister Freaking Dearden