Allyse on a Mission

A Pet Cat, Transfers, and Gurnee!!!

2014-10-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

Buenos Dias a todos!!! It has been a crazy good week! A lot of changes and adventures but so wonderful! I love my new area and companion. We had a lot of fun and it is going to be an awesome transfer!

Gatito the Cat with Hermana Allyse

Monday was my last day in Griffith! It was definitely an exciting one so that is great! We did our studies then headed out for our P-Day. After emailing for a while we started our day of shopping and browsing. We had a yummy lunch at Portillo's. As were coming out of Old Navy is when our day got real interesting. This couple approached us and at first we were scared they were going to rob us or something. The lady was holding a cat and she explained that they had found it on the side of the highway, about to get run over. They had saved it and called the animal shelter which told them they would take the kitten. They asked us to take the kitten to the animal shelter because they didn't have a car to get there and it was clear up in Crown Point by where we live. The whole thing seemed a little bit suspicious to us and I wasn't sure if us transporting an animal in the mission car was allowed but Hna Pearson really wanted to help the kitten, so that is how I ended up with a baby kitten on my lap, both of us scared out of our minds (me because I didn't want it peeing all over me) heading to animal shelter in Crown Point. We got to the animal shelter and immediately found out that we had probably been scammed into taking a little baby kitten. The animal shelter didn't have any room and hadn't had room for a long time. So now we were two sister missionaries stuck with a baby kitten and our p-day hours quickly running out. The lady at the animal shelter gave us the number of the police department to call and get the address of the Merrillville animal shelter but nobody would pick up so we had no idea where to go. We called Elder Bringhurst and Elder Angeletti as if expecting that they would have a solution for us. They mostly just laughed but didn't have anything real good for us. We were completely at a loss when the English sisters texted to see if we could meet up because they had a surprise for Hna Pearson. Figuring we had a pretty big surprise for them too we met them at the library. While waiting we named our furry little kitten "Gatito" and took pictures. The Sisters showed up and were very surprised but wanted nothing to do with it. Then I had the perfect solution pop into my head (it really was revelation, proving to me that Heavenly Father really does love and care for His missionaries even when they think they are doing a good deed but then it doesn't turn out at all as planned). A girl we knew from the English ward was the perfect solution! We called her and she said her parents wouldn't let her have it, but because she is such an animal lover, she told us to bring the kitty over and she would find it the perfect home. We quickly did so and that is our end of our pet for an hour story! We went back to our regular P-day activities and finished p-day with a little bit of emailing and then headed to Chicago Heights. On the way there we got a call from the girl we left the kitten with who was super excited to tell us the end of Gatito's story. She told us she had walked up and down the streets for an hour and a half trying to find her a good home. She finally found one girl, about her same age and just like her who was willing to take the cat in. So, Gatito now has a loving home and the ward member girl has a new best friend and a missionary opportunity. It just really goes to show that the Lord really is in control and even when people try to cause problems, the Lord has a way of making things better than ever before! We stopped to get a car wash and were really confused when Hna Pearson tried to pay for the $3 usual wash we get and instead the machine went crazy, punched in a wash code, and then told us to pull forward. Not knowing what else to do, we followed the instructions. Afterwards, as we were vacuuming our car, we found out why the car wash had wigged out. One of the car wash attendants, a younger guy, came out and asked how we had liked our car wash. It had been a really nice car wash and was probably worth around $15-$20. We told him it was great and asked how it had happened. He said he had seen us coming in and decided to give us a free car wash. :-) #SisterMissionaryProbs. We then went to a wonderful branch member's home for dinner. She made some really good food, including these like mashed bananas that were from the Dominican Republic and were super good. I also got to help her on the computer a little bit which was a lot of fun. We really enjoyed being with her and when it came time to say goodbye, it was SO hard! I am going to miss her so much. We got home, our traditional Domino's pizza, courtesy of my family, was delivered and I finished packing.#TypicalTransferNight #LostSleepICanNeverGetBack :)

Tuesday was the dreaded transfer day. :-( I am definitely going to miss Griffith, it has been a great 6 months! We woke up and got ready and I got all of my stuff out to the car, I had a lot more than I was planning but it wasn't as bad as I feared :) We were on the road by 7:30. Things moved pretty fast until we got north of Chicago. I really enjoyed driving that familiar drive, especially because it is probably the last time I make it! Then we hit a lot of traffic and we bounced back and forth between surface streets and the interstate, trying to get there on time. We ended up getting there like 5 minutes late, which was really like right on time. I enjoyed seeing and talking with everyone while Hna Pearson went to her trainer's meeting. It was a good transfer meeting. We found out that we get to see Meet The Mormons next Wednesday, before the rest of the world which is super exciting! I had been hoping there would be some way we could see it. Then it was time for me to say goodbye to Hna Pearson and her baby (trainee). Although we found out she really isn't a baby at all. She has been out a total of 9 months, serving in Mexico and Salt Lake. This is her third time being trained so that will be interesting for Hna Pearson! I will definitely miss Hna Pearson. She has been so great to serve with these past 6 weeks. I also said goodbye to my mom (trainer), Hna Toney. She goes home tomorrow and it is so weird to think that my trainer is going home! I spent the next little while moving things from car to car so that eventually I was able too get my stuff in my new car and then Hna Conover (my new companion) and I headed north. I was immediately designated the driver because Hna Conover doesn't have her driver's license. I had way to much fun driving our cool Chevy Cruze up to where we live. We stopped at the Sprint store to get our new cell phone activated and the contacts moved over. We then did a little bit of grocery shopping at Walmart and then went to the mall to get Panda Express for lunch and so that I could meet our investigator that works there. We went home and took some of my stuff in and ate lunch before heading back out. Our apartment is pretty nice. We stopped at our apartment complex clubhouse, yes we have a clubhouse, to use the internet to sync our area books and check our Facebook messages (we commonly use Facebook to message members of the ward that we are working with or help us, and we also message the investigators that we teach to confirm appointments and remind them of studying assignments). After that we tried a stop-by before going to a member family's home for dinner. They are some awesome members and are actually the parents of investigator that I met in the mall, and the grandparents of the daughter of our investigator who turns 8 in October :) I really enjoyed talking with them and getting to know them. We had a really good dinner with them and then talked about teaching the Restoration of the Gospel. We gave them an example and had them role play a little too. With Hermana Conover being new in the mission, it was a very different dynamic for me to be in an appointment and lesson where I am very obviously the senior companion and it all kind of rests on me to understand and speak Spanish. It went a lot smoother than I was thinking and I definitely felt the confidence and direction of the Spirit. After seeing them we did some stop-by's without much luck. We then went to Dunkin Donuts to finish out the night. One of our golden investigators works there. We also actually ran into a English member family leaving as we came in and it was fun to talk with them and introduce them to our investigator. Our investigator is super awesome and insisted that we take 6 donuts and a juice each, there is a reason sisters in these areas are called "Gurnee Gorditas"!!!

Hermana Meanea with her new
companion Hermana Conover

Wednesday we had District Meeting and it was really good except for getting chastised in front of everyone. We were about 4 minutes late because I am new to the area and didn't know how long it would take to get to the Church. So the first thing that Elder Escobar (our DL) talked about was how we need to be on time. Oops! But the rest was really good we mostly talked about how we can use activities to strengthen the members and find people to teach and planned for the activity we are going to have Friday night. After District Meeting I was able to help both Hna Kohlase and Hna French with different problems their iPads were having. I really enjoyed being able to figure out the problems and fix them for them. We then went to Avocado Express for District Lunch.The food was super good and we had fun all getting to know each other. Hna Conover and I then returned home, did language study and Facebook contacting. After that we had some stop-by's and then went and taught a new investigator. It was a rough lesson because of the fact that her granddaughters were running and screaming all over the place. We taught her the Restoration but I am not sure how interested she is. She just really wanted to talk and to actually have someone listen to her. She has a lot of problems right now and just really needs peace in her life. I promised her that she could find peace through our message and she agreed that we could come back and teacher her more. It was really interesting being in a lesson where the person really focuses on me because they know that I am the one that understands and will talk back to them! We tried a couple other stop-by's and then went home for dinner.

Thursday we worked a lot on weekly planning. The first weekly planning of a new transfer with a new companion always takes a long time but it sure is helping me to get to know the area and the people. It also took a while because I am trying to help Hna Conover see different ways of doing things, something I am supposed to do as a greenie buster, and especially with planning. We then drove to the Church for our MCM meeting with the ward mission leader. It was a good meeting and we mostly talked about the activity tomorrow and getting all ready for that. Afterwards us and the other Hermanas put on mutual for the Young Women about sharing the Gospel. It went really good and gave me a huge appreciation for Hna Kohlhase (one of the other Hermanas in the ward) and how good with people she is. We taught them things like how to give a friend a pass along card and how to share a brief message about the Restoration. It was a good activity and we finished it up with some minute to win it games so everyone was happy.

Friday, I am still getting used to waking up in Gurnee and not Griffith :) We had a few good hours of weekly planning and I am finally starting to remember the people and their stories a bit better even though I haven't even met them yet! We then headed to the Church to set up for our activity tonight. We popped a ton of popcorn and showed the Joseph Smith movie. It all went pretty good considering they had only advertised last Sunday. We spent a good bit of the time out in the hall talking with Elder Escobar about some things about our area but we still found time for jamica (pronounced huh-mike-uh and is a super good drink made from jamica flowers) and palomitas (popcorn).

Saturday started "Missionary Christmas" AKA General Conference! We had personal and comp study and then drove to the Church in Gurnee. As predicted, there were 20 missionaries watching and maybe 5 other members watching conference there at the Church :) But that was just fine. The first session was incredible! I really felt like President Uchtdorf's talk was just for me, personal and just what I was praying for. Isn't our Heavenly Father just absolutely incredible? He can answer all of the prayers of all of His children in 1 weekend of General Conference. We always can find messages meant directly for us from our loving Heavenly Father. After the first session we went and had lunch at Noodles and Company with the other Hermanas. We really enjoyed talking and getting to know each other better. We got back to the Church and watched the afternoon session. The coolest and most powerful part for me was when Elder Gavarrett spoke in Spanish. My companion was so sweet to let me go into the Relief Society room to watch that one in Spanish (there was one person that showed up to watch it in Spanish). I cannot describe the power, the Spirit, the joy that I felt listening to a member of the 70 deliver his address in General a Conference in his native tongue, and being able to understand that from his mouth. I couldn't have asked for a sweeter tender mercy from the Lord for my last General Conference as a Spanish speaking missionary! After Conference we drove home, making a quick store run for orange juice and a few other things to help Hna Conover combat her cold. We got home, did miles, and we're getting settled in when we got a text from our WML telling us that branch Presidente needed his keys back that we had borrowed from him for the activity yesterday. So we drove back to the Church, because all of the brethren were there for the Priesthood session, to return his keys, got about 15 loaves of bread from a brother that brought a ton of bread, and Hna Conover was also able to get a blessing from the Elders. We then came home and Hna Conover was able to rest.

1st P-day in Gurnee "Selfie"

Sunday was another amazing Conference day! Unfortunately my companion woke up still feeling just as bad, but at least we were still able to go to Conference. After Personal Study we headed out, getting to the building a little bit early. But I was able to meet and talk with our Branch President and he seems like a great man. He gave me and Hna Conover each a painting of Jesus so that was great! We started to watch Music and the Spoken Word on my iPad because no one had come with the projector yet. We ended up watching the entire thing, along with a couple of elderly sisters, on my iPad. Finally, a couple of minutes after it started, the projector was found and the Elders were able to set it up. It was a super great session and then we had fun eating our soup we brought from home with the other Hermanas. We also ate the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I baked this morning. The second session was also really good and my companion was so sweet again to let us go sit in the Spanish room to watch the Elder who spoke in Spanish. It was also fun to hear bits and pieces of the Portuguese and to understand most of it. After Conference was over we came home because Hna Conover still was not feeling good at all. She spent the evening resting while I got caught up on my journal and went through our kitchen to see what was there.

So, yeah!!!! It was an awesome week!!!! I love you all like crazy and hope and pray that everything is going well! Fall is starting here in Illinois and it is beautiful! Every time I look around me it reminds me of the unimaginable love that our Heavenly Father has for all of us, His children. That love was definitely reconfirmed to all of us in Conference. I love you all so much! Have an amazing week!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

~Illinois Chicago Mission~

I HAVE to talk to everyone! Ordinace Invitations & Transfer News

2014-09-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hermana's Pearson & Meanea, P-day at the Beach!

The Valpo Zone at the Beach for P-Day

Hola! Buenos Dias! Como estan? Happy Birthday to my amazing brother, Tayson! He can officially do magic now, although the whole official thing has never stopped him before! :) This has been a super amazing week. Busy and crazy and wonderful! We received transfer news on Saturday, but you will have to read through my novel to get to that! :-)

Last Monday we had a great P-Day. Sister Kershaw and I got up at 6:00 and went for a run together. It was so nice and I especially liked not having to run in circle after circle! We had a good pace and it felt great. We then came back home and got ready. We did our studies and then finished getting ready before heading out to the library to email and then bought a few groceries. We ran our food home and then made the hour drive to the beach in Michigan City for our Zone Activity. We all had so much fun just enjoying the beach, playing ultimate Frisbee, soccer, and volleyball. I especially loved playing soccer and had a lot of fun and wasn't too bad at it :) Some of the Elders brought a little grill and everyone cooked the meat that they had bought. We took chipotle Swiss burgers and they were AMAZING! It was so amazing to just enjoy being on the beach with everyone. It was a pretty cool day so it just felt great. Sadly we had to leave after a few hours and head home. The Rensalear Sisters headed towards home and we changed real fast before heading to our dinner appointment. The Hermana made us some super good enchiladas and then we had an awesome Noche de Hogar with her family and another family about agency and freedom. We started playing a really fun cat and mouse game with the two families but then we had to leave so that we could get home on time. It was a super fun evening.

Hermana Meanea with a wonderful doctor that has
helped numerous missionaries in the Indiana area

Tuesday we went and did a little bit of Facebook contacting and proselyting and then headed for the doctor's visit in Griffith. After that we headed to work in Chicago Heights. We made a lot of stop-by's but no one was available for us to teach. We went and saw a family that we have been teaching and were able to have a quick little lesson with them reading Moroni 10:3-5 and explaining how they can know that this is true for themselves. We went to the family who's daughter we are teaching. We played the Plan of Salvation game, it went really well and she seemed to like it and feel more comfortable with us. We went to the library to update our iPads to iOS8.

Wednesday in District Meeting we talked a lot about how to begin teaching and the Restoration because President has asked that our District Meetings go in conjunction with our companionship studies. Hermana Pearson and I also gave a little class on cutting people off, in a completely loving and respectful manner. Sometimes it just has to be done because people talk, and talk, and talk. It was funny and useful so it was great! We took a district picture - the Zone Leaders, and then Hermana Pearson had a serious craving for Red Robin so her and I went there for lunch. It was really good, I had a guacamole bacon burger and enjoyed it. Back at home we did studies and then planning. To finish the evening we went and helped a branch member in her store. She fed us rice, beans, tamales, and guacamole and then put us to work chopping peppers and onions. I had a lot of fun serving and helping her, and getting to wear jeans made it even better. Towards the end of the night a really nice lady came in and was buying some things. She was talking with the branch member and asked her if we were Mexican or guerritas. Our branch member told her we were guerritas and she came over to talk with us. She was super nice and told us all about her family. She is half Mexican and half Spanish (as in from Spain). She married a Tai/Chinese, one sister married and Irish guy, another sister an Italian guy, and another sister a Mexican. What a crazy cool family! As she was finishing up talking with us, I felt like I should contact her. But we were holding and cutting peppers behind the counter and it just felt awkward so I didn't. Then she was talking with the branch member at the register for a while, but I didn't go contact her then either and she left the store. I thought I had missed my chance but then she came back into the store for something else and I realized that I was supposed to contact her and the Lord was giving me second chance after second chance. As she was waiting for the branch member I started talking with her and she started asking us about what we do. I explained and then asked her if she would be interested in having some missionaries like us come over to her house and explain more. She said yes and then also told us she would love for someone like us to visit her sister up in Chicago who is going through a really rough time right now. So we got her number and now have 2 really legit referrals. It was such a testimony to me that I HAVE to talk to everyone and that I should never postpone a prompting. But also that the Lord provides second chances for us!

On Thursday we started by cleaning the apartment for 2 hours. It took a while but we were able to get the entire apartment spotless and now it feels so good! We had apartment inspections really fast, 100% as usual, and then had our studies. For lunch Hermana Pearson made us cube steak and I "made" mashed potatoes. We went and did some Facebook contacting and then returned home for some weekly planning. For dinner we went to a branch member hermana's house and she fed us chicken tostadas and we shared a message about how covenants protect us. We invited her to prepare to go to the Temple and receive her endowments and she told us she had been thinking about it and that she would prepare. We then drove to Chicago Heights for our Noche de Hogar with a couple of branch member families. We prayed and sang together and then the host hermana gave a short little lesson about the importance of family and of family home evening. We testified and spoke a little more and then we closed with a prayer. After that we played the cat/mouse game we learned with a couple of other branch member families. Everyone had a lot of fun with that! We then had some arroz con leche that the hermana had made. It was a good night and everyone seemed to enjoy talking and getting to know each other better and I was so happy it worked out and I pray that maybe it can touched some hearts.

Friday we were able to have a really good lesson with the potential investigator we contacted at the Popcorn Festival. We taught her the Restoration and she seemed to really understand and to think about what it all meant. I definitely felt the Spirit strongly as we were teaching her, testifying to both me and her. We invited her to be baptized and she said she would when she had learned and understood everything. We invited her to put October 25th as a goal and that we would help her work towards it. After seeing her we went and did some proselyting on Facebook and then went back home to do a little bit of weekly planning. We had a couple hours of that and then headed to Chicago Heights for our appointment with a family we have been meeting with, but unfortunately the hermana was sleeping so we weren't able to teach them. We tried a lot of other stop-by's but no one was home, that is what happens on a Friday evening. At home we finished up weekly planning and Hermana Pearson made us a super good dinner of baked chicken and amazing mashed potatoes.

Hermana Meanea with her La Familia misión

Saturday started with personal study and it was super good. Yesterday I finished 3 Nephi and today I finished 4 Nephi so that made me excited. We made the Tres Leches cake for the Hermanas, it turned out really good! We then drove to Chicago Heights to meet with the hermano we have been teaching, but as we arrived he called and told us he wasn't able to meet until later. So we went to our backup plans and went through our entire list of stop-by's. We were then able to meet with the hermano and had a good little lesson with him. He was really happy to meet with us again and to talk. We shared Omni 1:26 and talked about the Sacrament and invited him to come to Church. After the lesson we drove home and had leftovers for dinner with the Rensalear Sisters. They then rode with us to the General Women's Meeting Broadcast in Valpo. The Stake Relief Society had set up the gym so cute with refreshments and decorated so pretty and nice. It was super fun. Rather than sitting with the other missionaries, I went and sat with a couple of the hermans from our branch and talked with them for like a 1/2 hour, all in Spanish, and it wasn't awkward, it just felt natural and nice to converse with them in Spanish. We all then went into the chapel to watch the broadcast. But, people had forgotten the translation headphones so there was no way to get it in Spanish to the branch member hermanas in the chapel. A couple of the hermanas went and watched it in Spanish in another room on a tv that the branch Presidente had set up. But one hermana from our branch really wanted to stay with all of the other women of the Stake and asked us to sit beside her and help her understand. We started doing that but it wasn't going to work out. Then I was able to get the broadcast in Spanish on my iPad and we went and found some earbuds in the library and the hermana was able to sit there and listen in Spanish with all of the other women listening in English. The meeting was super good, I just felt so loved and connected! Unfortunately partway through the meeting, the broadcast on my iPad kept cutting in and out because the internet was really slow. So the hermana eventually had to go into the other room to finish watching it in Spanish. After the meeting we talked with other people a little bit and then started the drive back home. That is when we got our transfer call, even before a transfer text, from President Woodbury himself! Ahhhhh! He told me that I am being transferred to Gurnee 3rd to be companions with Hermana Conover who just finished her training! Ahhhhh! I am greenie busting in Buffalo Grove! I definitely wasn't expecting that. Then he talked with Hermana Pearsoon, she is going to be a mama! She is getting a greenie!!! The rest of the drive home was spent in excitement for her, she is way happy! We gave the Hermanas the cake and then they headed home. The rest of my night was spent in tears, laughter, talking, and a little bit of packing. I am so heartbroken to leave this area, these people, this companion. As much as I loved Midway and it was really hard to leave, leaving Griffth is a million times harder for me! But the Lord must want me in Gurnee, so here I go!

Hermana Meanea with her La Familia misión

Hermana Meanea with a
wonderful hermana from the branch

Sunday was a hard day filled with a lot of goodbyes :-( We got up and went to the Church for MCM and then had Church. One of the families we have been working with didn't come :-( But another hermana was there and she received a calling as second counselor in the Young Women's! I was so excited because I have see her come so far! When I first got here, her and her brother were completely inactive. As we have worked with them over the past 6 months we have really seen them change and come back, she even told us she is thinking about a mission!!!!!!! It is so amazing to see people change through the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I said a lot of goodbyes and took a lot of pictures. The Branch Presidente had called us last night asking us to prepare talks for Sacrament Meeting but we ended up not having to give them because the other speakers took long enough :-) We went home and had lunch an personal study then we went and had dinner with a branch member family at the home of another family, who are members of the English ward but are Chilean. It was a lot of fun, they grilled brats and chicken and we loved just talking with them and enjoying the evening. Especially when they would tease us. The rest of the evening was filled with studies and packing!

So yeah, super good week. I am way excited for this new and exciting adventure! I hope that you all have an amazing week and I can't wait to tell you all about this upcoming week. I love and miss you all!!!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

P-Day with a GA, Amazing Birthday and Year Mark Week!!!!

2014-09-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

My first visit to the famous "Bean"
in Downtown Chicago

Good Morning Amazing Family and Friends! Well, it happened, I have officially been out on my mission for a year now! It is sooooo strange to think about :-) But it was a super amazing week and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Last Monday really was one or the most incredible days! We woke up a half hour early so we could get out the door an hour earlier after studies. We went and emailed for a little bit. We then left to drive to East Chicago to catch our train. But there was an accident and traffic was at a standstill and we definitely wouldn't make it by staying on the interstate. By taking a different route, we got to the station right as the train was pulling in. We found a parking spot real close and ran in the station, up the stairs, and onto the platform just in time. We definitely shouldn't have made it on that train but Heavenly Father was watching out for us! We had a great ride to Downtown Chicago and then a beautiful walk from the station to the Shedd Aquarium. We were standing in line, a pretty long line, and I happened to look back and saw a face that I recognized. It took me a second to realize who it was. Elder Hamula, the member of the First Quorum of the 70 that toured our mission last week, and his wife! We went back to stand in line with them and talk with them. They really enjoyed talking with us and it was so cool to just stand in line with a member of the 70 and hear about their life! They talked about their different experiences as a general authority and about their 3 kids who are all on missions and were emailing them right then. They loved showing us pictures too. Eventually we made it to the front of the line and Hna Pearson and I decided to go ahead and pay the $40 so that we could see the aquatic show and all of the exhibits (because the Illinois free day only got you into the gallery). But when the Hamulas heard about it, they insisted on buying our tickets!!!

With Elder and Sister Hamula
of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy
at the Shedd Aquarium in
Downtown Chicago

Then Elder Hamula gave us permission to see the movie that came included with the ticket! We spent the next hour touring exhibits with them, I just couldn't get over the fact that we were chilling with a member of the Seventy at the aquarium on our P-Day! We went and saw the aquatic show which was really neat with dolphins, sea lions, and beluga whales. After that we separated from the Hamulas and went to touch Sting Rays, see the Wild Reef, and the Jellies exhibit. We then went up to watch the 4D movie about sea monsters with the Hamulas and that was fun, especially because Elder Hamula really enjoyed it and it was fun to watch a member of the 70 have so much enjoyment in a movie, as a missionary! Sorry, I keep talking about that but it really was just so mind blowing to me that the Lord blessed us with such a tender mercy! It was definitely an awesome birthday present! :) After the movie we said goodbye to them and then went and ate in the cafe overlooking the lake, went and saw the penguins and the beluga whales, and looked at a Caribbean Reef exhibit. We then left the aquarium and walked downtown to meet up with some other Hermanas. We were with them for a little bit then Hna Pearson and I went and emailed in front of the Bean to finish up P-Day before we had to catch our train back to Indiana. Barely catching that train as well, we finally made it back to East Chicago. Because our appointment for dinner canceled we went and saw some less actives in the area that the Elders are working with and then we drove home. It was definitely one of the best P-Days ever!

Tuesday was a good work day. We did a lot of stop-by's and were also able to teach the daughter of the returning members who is going to get baptized soon. When I first got here, we thought she was 9 already, meaning she would be a convert baptism. But she actually doesn't turn 9 until November so she won't technically be a convert baptism but it still incredible because this entire family has had a change of heart and is just doing amazing! We also saw a family that we are teaching and took their daughter a little present because it was her birthday. That evening we were able to see a less active hermana, and talk with her and share a message. It was a great day!

My Birthday Ice Cream Cake from DQ
that we enjoyed at our District Meeting

District Lunch at Noodles & Co for my Birthday

Wednesday, September 17, 2014: To think back to a year ago is crazy! Being set apart by President Orton, a final breakfast at BK with my family, flying out of Cedar, several flights later landing in Mexico, and arriving at the MTC. It is so hard to believe that all happened in one day. And now I am here, a year later, looking back. At that point a year ago, I honestly didn't know if I would make it this far. I couldn't see myself this far. But now I can't imagine not finishing this out. All in one instant, a year ago seems so long ago and so close! But today was a super good day! We got up and got ready then drove to Valpo. We went to the chiropractor's and he helped Hermana Pearson feel a lot better and adjusted me too. We then went to Dairy Queen and picked up the ice cream cake that my incredible family ordered for me for my birthday. District Meeting was good, we talked all about the things that we had learned from Mission Conference. At the end of our District Meeting we ate the DQ Birthday Cake and then played pinata baseball because we didn't have a bat to hit the pinata in the traditional way :) After that we had District Lunch at Noodles and Company which was SUPER good. Hna Pearson and I then drove home, making a quick stop at the cupcake shop to get some cupcakes :) We did some teaching and contacting on Facebook, did our studies, and went to find the potential investigator we met at the Popcorn festival. We followed our GPS to her address and were astounded to find it was inside a gated, private community. As a Spanish missionary, I cannot tell you how strange that was for us. It wasn't too hard to get into the community and we found her outside watering her garden. She was happy to see us and we set up an appointment for us to come by and teach her. We then drove to branch member's store and helped her for a while.

Hermana Pearson made a special
Birthday Breakfast for me!

Saying Goodbye to my sweet former
companion Hermana Escobar

Thursday, September 18, 2014: WOW! So this is what it feels like to turn 20 and join the "2 done club" all in one day! It was an AWESOME birthday! My sweet companion was so amazing, she woke up, decorated the apartment, and made me breakfast, bacon and chocolate chip pancakes! We had studies and I got a call from a branch member. Her and her girls wanted to sing happy birthday to me before the girls went to school. It was the sweetest thing ever! Another branch member also texted me wishing me a happy birthday. After studies we went and ate at Olive Garden. It was super good and fun to be there with Hna Pearson. We went and got her Plan of Salvation laminated, proselyted on Facebook, and did some weekly planning. We then headed to our birthday dinner with a wonderful family of the branch. On our way there the hermanas serving in Rensalear texted us asking for the address of the family we were heading to. Both of us wondered why and thought maybe they were trying to surprise me for my birthday. We showed up and there was Hermana Escobar opening the door! I was so excited to see her. But then we found out the real reason they were there. They were on their way home from a doctor's visit in Chicago when Hna Escobar got the call that she is going home tomorrow because of her health :-( I wasn't surprised but I am so sad. She just hasn't been getting better since we were companions. She is disappointed about going home but knows it is the Lord's will. So as soon as she got that news she knew that she wanted her last supper to be with this very special family. We were able to eat tacos and talk with her a bit and then they had to leave. Everyone was so heartbroken, she is going to be so missed! The rest of the time with the family was awesome. Hermana had made tacos at my request, they sang and we ate cupcakes, their daughter made me a cute card and gave us tons of scriptures! I just love them so much, they are definitely my mission family! After having a great time with them we went and had MCM at the Church. It was good and our new ward mission leader ended up having to kick those same boys out again so that was fun. We then went home and I opened all of the wonderful presents from my amazing family and friends. I so appreciate all of the love and birthday wishes that I received, they mean the world to me! Thank you soooooo much! It is so crazy to think that I am not a teenager anymore and that I have been on my mission for a year now! It was an amazing day and these next 6 months are going to be incredible!

From Crown Point, IN to Napa Valley, CA!!!
Ragnar Running with my Ragnar Family!

On Friday in honor of my mom and brother starting to run the Napa Valley Ragnar this morning, I got up, got Hna Pearson in front of the glass doors, and went for a little run out in our parking lot. There was a beautiful sunrise and it just made me feel so connected to my mom, it was great! We drove to Chicago Heights and tried to see a few people, with no luck, before heading to eat with a branch member hermana. She had some really good food and had even gotten me a balloon and a birthday gift. We enjoyed talking with her and just enjoying being with her. After being with her we went to see a lady and her family that we are teaching. It ended up being just a stop by because she was super tired, having not slept for more than three hours in the last 36 hours. But she was happy to see us and asked us to pray for the husband of her sister in law who had an accident and was in bad shape in the hospital. Our appointment with another lady we are teaching cancelled so we looked for some more PNI's before going to see another family that we have been working with and they have now been coming to church over the past couple of months. We shared our lesson about prayer and the Spirit was very strong so I hope it was something that touched their hearts and helped them. We had fun talking with them about different things and their son giving us a bunch of random food because he found out it was my birthday yesterday :-)

My wonderful companion Hermana Pearson
and I in our mission car

On Saturday we had a nice busy day working in Chicago Heights. We were able to see a lady we have been teaching and we just talk with her which is nice for her because she just doesn't live in a good situation and we are really the only ones that care about her :-( It rained a lot too and so it was fun to stop by houses in the rain and see everyone thinking about how crazy we were! We stopped at home to have dinner really fast before driving to Valpo for the adult session of Stake Conference. It was a really good session, really motivating and inspiring for both us and the members. Afterwards was the best part though because President Woodbury gave Hermana Pearson a blessing. She has not been able to sleep at all these past 5 weeks and it is really wearing on her. He gave her an amazing blessing that helped so much. We had left for home when we got a call from the Rensalear Hermanas telling us that they got permission to stay with us so that they didn't have to drive home and then right back up in the morning. We went back and saw President Woodbury once again at the Stake Center. After Hermana Pearson had gotten a blessing I had been kicking myself for not asking for one too because I had been wanting one for quite a while. Just wanting some comfort and counsel. So I got a second chance and asked him. He gladly gave me one and it was so incredible. It was just what I need to hear and really strengthened me! The Priesthood is the best! We then drove home and had the Rensalear Hermanas sleepover at our apartment which was a lot of fun.

Sunday was Stake Conference and it was really good. The Renssalear Hermanas just came to our local church building with us where it was broadcast so that we could ride together. Hna Pearson and Hna Ramirez translated to Spanish for our branch members and did a great job. Afterwards we had a really good Branch Council meeting and talked a lot about how we can all continue to strengthen a family, who as of today, is officially re-activated. But it doesn't end there. They have the goal of the temple and we do to and we are going to help them get there! We went home and all ate spaghetti. The sisters then drove home to work in their area a little and get clothes before coming back up to spend another night with us because we have zone activity tomorrow. In the afternoon we studied and did our weekly planning.

It was another super good, amazing, busy, fabulous week! I love being a missionary, it really is the best! There is nothing else on earth like it and I would not trade these experiences that I am having for anything!!!! I love you all so much and really cannot thank you all enough for all of the love and support that you give me! Have an amazing week!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Hola! Buenos Dias a todos!

2014-09-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hermana Meanea with her red hair highlights

Hola! Buenos Dias a todos!

We had a good, busy, crazy week here. Just like normal!

Last Monday we had a good busy P-Day! We emailed for a while and then went to the mall. We did our grocery shopping and then I went and got my hair done. It took forever but I really like it! I asked for red highlights and a trim with layers and bangs. They stylist put in so many highlights that I look like a redhead now! It is different but I really like it! :-) We then hurried to our appt with the a member family and our recent convert. We had a really good time eating and sharing a message with them.

Tuesday started out amazing because I was able to go for a run and it was raining just a little bit (it reminded me of my favorite run at the Ragnar in Washington state) and it was perfect! I woke Hna Pearson up and got her to lay down in front of our sliding glass door so that she could see me and then I just ran circles in front of our apartment and it was so wonderful! Before my mission I couldn't stand just going out and running, but now I love it and even crave it sometimes. It just started my morning out really good and reminded me how good life is and that the tender mercies of The Lord are all over! We had to go to Sears Auto Center to get the light on our car fixed, again. Frank, the guy who helped us last time, was there and he told us he would have the mechanics look at it to try and see what was going on. After an hour Frank told us that it was some kind of electrical short and we would have to take it to the dealer, but that the car was under warranty so it should cost us nothing. Yeah! After that fun time we went to Hammond for our appointment with a branch member hermana. She asked us to go and pickup Popeye's for lunch, which we happily did. I think it was my first time really eating Popeye's and it was really good. We enjoyed doing service for her, we got to spend about an hour weeding in her garden which was awesome because it was different. My hands got SO dirty and it was fun to have dirt all over again! We then drove to Chicago Heights for our appointment with a less active family we are working with. We were able to go sit and talk with her for quite a while. Her husband got home and we were able to share a message about the Book of Mormon. The hermana told us about how she had realized how blessed she was because her daughters wanted to go to Church and her and her husband were hurting their family by not taking them. They told us about how they want to become and eternal family and the husband told us he wants to get the Priesthood! I was amazed at the complete change that has happened with them. Just a few weeks ago they didn't seem to have any interest or desire. It just shows me that I can never judge anyone. Then the best thing happened. We talked to the hermana about how we would love to help them prepare their daughter to be baptized. She said that would be good and that she would talk with the daughter. Then the daughter walked over and her mom told us we could ask her. Hna Pearson explained what baptism was and asked her if she would like to do that. She said yes! We didn't set a date right then, although both of us were thinking about it. As we were leaving the mother asked when we were going to start with the lessons with her daughter. I suggested that we could put a date as a goal for her to be baptized and work towards that date. They agreed to work towards September 26. That evening we took our car to the dealership and after looking at it for 20 minutes, they had fixed it. Turns out that Sears used the wrong bulb and had jammed it into the socket, breaking part of the bulb in the process. Yes, that would cause a problem! So now our tail light should be fixed! :-)

Wednesday we drove back to Sears and thankfully Frank was working so we were able to have a heart to heart with him. We showed him what had actually been the problem, he was disgusted, and gave us a whopping $5 back. But at least the problem is fixed now. We drove to Griffith to pick up a branch member hermana to take her to our lesson with a lady we had scheduled to teach. After a lot of confusion of where the branch member lived and having to drive from Griffith to Hammond, we finally picked her up and got to Chicago Heights. The lesson went really well and the lady we were teaching was sooooooo excited to see the branch member hermana again. They used to work together but haven't seen each other in forever. The lesson was good and I think really helped the lady we are teaching feel more comfortable. We took our branch member home and then drove back to Chicago Heights for our appointment with a less active family. We talked about scripture study and prayer to help their son with his Duty to God.

Thursday was mostly our weekly planning day. In the afternoon we went and taught the young girl who is preparing for baptism about the Restoration of the Gospel with her uncle. It went good and she is excited to get baptized. We had MCM that night for the first time with our new Ward Mission Leader. It went good and it is going to be really great working with him. We then headed home as the Elders and nearly everyone else in the Valpo Zone headed north to stay the night in Chicago to make the next day easier on travel for the mission conference. But we were to stay in our apartment and do our travel to Chicago early the next morning. As the Elders were leaving us from out MCM, they told us that our taillight was out, AGAIN!!! What?!?!?! So now we get to take it back to the dealer, again, yea!

Elder & Sister Hamula with Hermanas Pearson & Meanea

Friday was the most amazing day! And funny enough, we woke up at 4am and left the house at 5am to beat the Chicago rush hour traffic, and I still consider it one of the most amazing days ever! :-) Waking up at 4am was tough! But we got ready. Hermana Pearson was so sweet and amazing to curl my hair and then the Hebron Sisters picked us up and we headed to Wilmette for a mission conference. We hit some bad traffic but managed to make it there just in time to sit down and quietly read our scripture with everyone else so that we could impress Elder Hamula (a member of the First Quorum of Seventy https://www.lds.org/church/leader/james-j-hamula?lang=eng) when he came in with President Woodbury. After he got there we all got to go up shake his and his wife's hands which was a really neat experience. Mission Conference was absolutely incredible. So many questions and prayers answered, ones I didn't even know that I had. The big theme was "Recommitment". Overall our mission is doing pretty good, but we have the potential to be so much better. We have the faith to serve, but we don't have enough faith to succeed...yet. We need to use Preach My Gospel more. We need to be more obedient, and we need to open our mouths and talk to everyone. It was a chastisement, but so loving that it didn't feel like it. I loved the entire meeting. We then got to eat lunch as a mission, take a mission picture, and I even got sung to with all of the other September birthdays from the whole mission. It was so fun to be with everyone and get to talk and see missionaries that I hadn't seen forever. For the time in between the conference and the fireside we went to help some English Sisters in their area. They gave us some potential investigators and former investigators to follow up with. Hermana Pearson and I ended up knocking a white polish street in the cold sleet while the Hebron Sisters were inside seeing a former investigator that Sister Ripely had known. I much prefer working with the Spanish people, they are a lot nicer then the Polish people yelling at us :-) We then drove to the fireside in Hyde Park which was amazing as well! Unfortunately none of our members from down in Indiana were able to make it but it was such a good fireside for everyone. After a late dinner from McDonald's, we drove home, finally getting there about midnight. We quickly fell asleep, exhausted after a long, 20 hour day!!!

Hermana Meanea at Griffith Branch

International Noche de Hogar

with her Tater Tots and Fry Sauce

Saturday started with studies and then we headed out to stop at Costco for cups for our branch activity tonight and then to the Church to help decorate. In the afternoon we took our car back to the dealership and Aaron (it can't be good with how familiar we are with these people we are talking with to fix our car!) snuck us right in to have the car looked at even though there was a ton of other people already there. After about 40 minutes, they fixed the problem for good this time (or so we pray!). Apparently, when the Sears people had shoved the light bulb in, they had bent the metal tabs and so the bulb was loose. But the dealership fixed it, along with a brake light we hadn't known was out, and we were out of there! We went back to the Church, finished blowing up balloons, and made our food for our Branch International Night activity. I was pretty proud of the tater tots and fry sauce that I made to represent Utah! :-) It was a really successful activity, we had a lot of people there. The majority of them weren't members so that was really awesome. We all had a lot of fun!

We had another Super Sunday at Church today! The less active family that we have been working so hard with came again and so did another less active hermana and her husband. She is never really ever able to come because it is too difficult with her two year old daughter that has a lot of health problems. All of those people made for a very good Sunday for us! We had studies and then had dinner with the branch Presidente and his family. We were able to discuss with him some of the struggles that we have noticed among members of the branch and to talk about different people we are working with and how they are progressing.

Griffith Branch International Noche de Hogar

So this was a pretty amazing week! We had some incredible miracles and some fun times. This next week is going to be super amazing as well! I cannot believe that on Thursday I turn 20 years old and that I also hit my year make of my mission, that is completely surreal to me!!! This past year has been incredible, incredibly hard and incredibly amazing! In honor of my 20th Birthday, here are 20 things that I have learned on my mission:

1. The JOY of sharing the Gospel is real
2. The Atonement is not just for sins but is for everything!!!
3. The Plan of Salvation is real and brings real joy and peace
4. The Restoration of the Gospel happened, and is continuing to happen
5. Obedience brings blessing, exact obedience brings miracles
6. Life is good, eternal life is better
7. The Book of Mormon can answer any question!
8. Spanish, yes, I have learned Spanish!
9. I love the city!
10. Missionaries and members MUST work together
11. Independence, self-sufficient
12. Hard work
13. Love for all, despite race, place, or circumstance
14. Miracles and tender mercies from The Lord happen all the time and we need only look for them
15. Heavenly Father loves us, his children, and answers our prayers
16. This is the Lord's work and we must do it His way
17. When we yield ourselves to The Lord, we get so much more back in return
18. The fundamentals of the Gospel are the keys to Salvation
19. All things are possible with the help of The Lord
20. We cannot forget to LOOK UP!

My sweet, amazing, kind, loving, friends and family! I really cannot thank you all for your overwhelming love and support of me for the past 20 years and especially for this last year. I love you all so much and I really am so grateful for you. I pray that all is well with you. Please know that I know this is where I am supposed to be and this is what I am supposed to be doing! I know that I am sharing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ with others because I have so much joy and peace from it, and I want to share that with everyone else. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It answers our great questions of the soul and beings peace and happiness. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and through him, they restored the Gospel to the earth. I know this because every time we teach the Restoration and testify of the First Vision, I can feel the power of the Spirit, it is unmistakable. I love you all so much. I miss you like crazy but am so grateful for this adventure, this opportunity! I love you! Have a wonderful week!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Popcorn Festival and Guarding the Church :-)

2014-09-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hello from Indiana...

Buenos Dias! It is really hard for me to believe that it has already been an entire week! The closer that I get to my year mark, the faster time really does seem to be going! We had a really good week and things are just going super well!

Last Monday we had a really great Labor Day. We emailed at the Church for a little bit and then one of the English ward members took us and the English Sisters to lunch at a little family restaurant called Maximum's (he had invited us to his Labor Day BBQ, but the thunderstorms changed those plans). It was a lot of fun to be with him and his wife, the English Sisters, and their investigator. We enjoyed talking, laughing, and telling some crazy stories. Hermana Pearson and I finished off our P-Day by doing the shopping that we needed and then went to Chicago Heights to visit with a less active branch member family that we have been working with for months. It was fun to talk with them and they also fed us. We talked a lot with their son about preparing for his mission. He is a miracle. A few months ago he wasn't doing very good things. He is 25 and everyone figured he probably wouldn't be going on a mission. Then his niece got sick and he did a complete 180 and is now finishing up his mission papers and talking to us about missions. We are so excited for him and his family!

Balloons always make people happy,
just like the Gospel does!!!

On Tuesday we had a nice long workday. We were able to teach one of our investigators. She still seems really interested so we are happy about that. We read 3 Nefi 17 for her because she hadn't been able to read. She really like it and understood well and told us she will try to come to Church, especially if we find her a ride. We did some other PNI stop by's and were able to set an appointment with another investigator family. We drove to Park Forest to look for a couple of people but no one was home. We tried to go see another family we have been working with, but they had a lot of people over and we didn't want to risk another run in with the JW's. Another family we stopped by to teach were home but busy and told us we could come back another day. A less active we stopped by was there but his wife wasn't so we set an appointment for another day. We then drove to East Chicago for our appointment with a branch member couple. They made us some really good food and the hermano really enjoyed talking to us about his mission and showing us pictures and telling stories. We had a lot of fun with them and shared the Hastening the Work of Salvation video and explained how we need the members in this work.

Missionaries armed with price guns!

Wednesday was a really good and busy day! We went to the chiropractor and he adjusted me then I had the fun part of watching Hermana Pearson get adjusted. She was terrified and had never been to a chiropractor before. Watching me get adjusted made her even more scared. Since she didn't know of any problems she had, the chiropractor had her stand there and just by looking at her he could name of several of her problems: rotated forward shoulders showing a lot of knuckles (from swimming), crooked head (this one makes me laugh and her really upset), and loss of curvature in her neck. Then once she was on the table: entire pelvis rotated forward plus one side of pelvis twisted forward and the other back, over-pronating with right foot = tenderness and pain in calf and knee, several back joints stuck together, headaches and a muscle in her shoulder that had been ridiculously tight for over a year, plus a lot of other things too! She was mortified but so happy to have someone that could help her with all of that :-) We had District Meeting and learned about improving our teaching skills. After that Hna Pearson and I had to spend about an hour at the mall because we had to take our car into the shop to get a brake light fixed. As we were heading home we were able to help someone who had run out of gas by going and getting them a can of gas and they were super grateful. We then did our studies before driving to Chicago Heights for our member present lesson with the a couple of families that we are teaching. It went super well! We taught about keeping the Sabbath Day holy and the mom, talked about how she had just started working and had asked her husband what day she should request off and he told her Sunday because it was the Sabbath. So when we then taught that subject it was really neat and meaningful to her. Having the branch members there was really good and they really helped to bring the Spirit and to testify. We then went and helped a less active at her store. We got to use price guns to price and stock things so we had a lot of fun!

Thursday I thought was going to be a pretty boring day to write about because it was a planning day, but a lot of crazy stuff happened that makes this a very interesting day! After studies and lunch we started weekly planning. It went really good. We are going to have a super busy and crazy but wonderful next 8 days! After planning for several hours, and making chocolate chip cookies (okay, putting premixed ones in the oven!) we went to the library and did some Facebook contacting, proselyting and teaching. We drove to Hammond and had dinner with a branch member family. It was really great. The hermana made us Enchiladas Verdes and we loved talking with their girls. We shared the Hastening the Work of Salvation video and then went to our MCM meeting with the branch mission leader at the Church. As we were leaving the Church we noticed there were a bunch of teenage boys in the gym playing basketball. But there were no adults, the English Elders had left, and then the branch mission leader came back in and told us that his van, that had been sitting next to those boy's truck, smelled like Marijuana. After a discussion between us missionaries (the Elders who serve in our branch, and us sisters) of who should go talk to them, my companion marched right in to talk to them. We went and asked the boys when they were leaving and they told us around 9:30 (it was 9:00). We told them that we were in charge of the building and had to lock up and leave so they would have to leave also. They told us that the English Ward Mission Leader, was going to come and lock up later. Because it was kind of suspicious, and none of them were members except one kid (and he was SUPER rude to Hermana Pearson) we called the English Ward's Ward Mission Leader just to make sure that was true. He didn't answer his cell phone but when we called his home phone, his wife told us he was traveling home from New York City right then, so he definitely wouldn't be in town to lock up the building like the boys had told us he would. So because there were no adults (and especially no priesthood), and our WML was claiming the boys had been smoking marijuana, and they were there in the building really late, we told them they had to leave. After taking their sweet time and several of them disappearing for a few minutes in the Church, they finally left. As we were leaving and locking the building, we discovered that they had gone around and left several doors and windows open so that they could sneak back into the church building after we had left. We then had to go and secure the entire building, also finding out that they had stolen one of the allen wrench keys used to lock and unlock the doors. We could see the boys circling the block every few minutes in their truck waiting for us to leave. Eventually we were able to get everything closed and locked again and we headed back to our apartment.

On Friday I had a lot of fun putting my graphic design skills to use designing an invitation for our branch's Noche de Hogar next Saturday. We did some different stop-by's and also got to teach one of our less actives. He loves to visit with us and to learn more about the Gospel. I truly have seen his testimony and desire to change grow so much since I have been here, it is really exciting! That evening we had a good dinner appointment with a branch member family. We talked about how much we need them in the work of Salvation and Hermana told us about how she is wanting to visit her son's girlfriend with us so that maybe we can share the Gospel with her. That is exactly the kind of thing a missionary loves to hear and it made us really excited.

Always remember to Look UP!!!

Hermana Pearson and I with all
of the balloons we helped to blow up.

Saturday we had a really fun day at the Popcorn Festival in Valparaiso! We left our apartment a little after 6:30 in the morning so that we could get to a member's office by 7:00. We helped him and his family blow up and tie balloons. After blowing up and tying between 300-400 balloons, we watched their 17 year old son tie the balloons to the roof of their office. It looked just like the house from Up, which is exactly what they were aiming for. It was so fun to see, it was a lot of balloons! We helped them set up their little tents because the office also happens to be right on the beginning of the parade route. We were able to hand out balloons to kids as they walked past, and watch the parade, so it was a super fun morning! We had to leave the parade about 1/2 through (we had already been watching for 1.5 hrs so it is a looooong parade!) to walk downtown with a member to meet up with the rest of the missionaries and to man the water booth and contact people. Unfortunately there was some kind of mix up and other people were already manning the water booth, so us missionaries decided to take the next 2 hours and contact people who had gathered at this Popcorn Festival. We all split off and Hermana Pearson and I started our mission to find and talk the Hispanics to talk with. We wandered around for a long time not finding any. We passed by one guy who asked if we were from the Mormon church. Surprised we answered yes and asked him how he knew about the Church. He was from Saudi Arabia but had lived in Utah for 2 years. We talked with him for a bit and he told us the Book of Mormon in Arabic has a lot of grammatical mistakes and that he was done with everything from the Mormon church and then walked away. It was sad to see someone so against it, but it was a contact we made and someday all of these little contacts with the Church will add up and he will want to learn more. It was so fun to be in the fair atmosphere though and to see all of the food and booths. Hermana Pearson had me try an elephant ear. Don't worry, it isn't actually from an elephant. It is deep fried dough with cinnamon sugar on it, so you can't go wrong there! Then as we were walking down the streets, we heard a woman speaking Spanish! We both immediately turned and locked on target :-) We contacted her and her family and they seemed nice and interested. She gave us their address and phone number, and guess what, they live in Crown Point! That is where we live and we have always wanted to try and find people that live around here so that we can branch out and it is closer to home. So now we have a PNI family and well as a place to start looking for other Hispanics!!! That made the entire day worth it to find them! We continued walking and looking, but couldn't find anyone else. Hermana Pearson did buy some popcorn and I got a bag of cookies and cream kettle corn to try as well. We headed back to the member's office and ate pizza with them and the other missionaries.

Driving through our old area in Midway

Sunday, September 9, 2014: Church we really good today. We had a less active family come and we hadn't even been expecting them so that it was really amazing. We also had the Stake Relief Society Presidency visiting in Relief Society, and they don't speak any Spanish, so we helped translate English -> Spanish and Spanish -> English. After Church we had studies and then got to drive up to Midway to see the baptism of some of Hermana Pearson's investigators. It was super awesome because we got to drive through our old area on the way there and it was so fun to see! It was great to be at the baptism and be able to see a lot of the ward members that I loved and served with, especially a less active that I had worked with a lot and love. The baptism was very powerful. After that we drove back to Indiana for our dinner with the a branch member family and the Elders. We had a good time there with them.

My former apartment back in Midway

I love you all so much and, like always, truly cannot thank you enough for all of the love and support that I receive. It means so much to me! I want you all to know that I know that this Gospel is true! We have the truth and the happiness. Because we have this, we have a responsibility and desire to share it! You don't have to be a full-time missionary to do that though! Just always remember how much joy you have because of the Gospel and then you will realize how much you want to share that with other! I love you all so much! Have the most amazing week!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse

Surprise Visitors, Exchanges with my trainer, Successful Branch Noche

2014-09-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Surprise Visitors from Utah

My home ward Bishop and Sister Sardoni

AMAZING Family + Friends! Hermana Pearson and I have had a wonderful week here in Indiana! We are getting a long really well, working hard, and serving The Lord. It doesn't get any better than this! :-)

Last Monday for P-Day we emailed our families and did our grocery shopping. We splurged for lunch and at at Chick-Fil-A. I really enjoy the Mexican food that the wonderful people here feed us, but sometimes it is good to have something else. We had to stop by the mall and do a little shopping. I needed to get a new pair of winter boots for this coming winter, as the ones that I had last winter I totally wore out! That evening as we were back at work we headed out to a branch member's home. The hermana made us some really good, spicy, enchiladas and we enjoyed being with her and her family. Her husband shared a little Noche de Hogar with us and the family.

A new pair of winter boots I purchased because I wore
the soles off of my other pair last winter in Midway

Tuesday we had some good studies and made up our little game for teaching a couple of our investigator families about the Word of Wisdom. We stopped by one of our investigator's and just talked with her for a couple minutes. She still isn't feeling really well so we told her we were praying for her. After talking with her, we went to our appointment with the one of the families that we had made the game for. But before we could even knock, one of the girls came out and told us that her mom said she didn't have time right now because their grandpa was over and he was drunk and they didn't want to make him upset. She told us we could come back tomorrow. So since we couldn't see them we decided to go see another investigator to give her an invitation to the Noche de Hogar on Friday. This is were we have a super awkward story. We get to her house, pray as a companionship, and are walking up to her doorstep when we see some JW's also getting out of their car. Nothing too unusual because there are a lot of them around. We knock on her door and waited when the JW's come up to her house and wait on the doorstep with us! Her son opened the door and we asked if his mom was home and he said yes and that we could talk to her. He told us we could come in so we walked inside but the JW's just moved up on the doorstep. I didn't want to be rude and shut the door in their face so I just left the door partway open and they just continued standing there! The lady JW asked me if the lady of the house was there and I told her I thought so. As we were waiting for her, her son asked me to close the door. So I went to the door, told the the JW's I was going to close it because they asked me to, and then shut the door in the JW's face! I felt kind of bad. After I shut the door, the house phone started ringing and we looked outside and they were calling our investigator from the front porch! At that point, she came out and talked to us for a minute before explaining that she had other people coming over that she had an appointment with. Yep, our investigator is meeting with us and the JW's! #exasperatedface She went and opened the door again and tried to call the JW's in, but they had retreated to their car and told her they would wait. So we shared our little invitation to the Noche de Hogar with her and then got out of there. I was so bummed because she has so much potential. Hopefully she will feel and experience the Spirit when we are in her home. We went and picked up a member hermana for our appointment with the other investigator family we had lined up to teach today. It went really well. They had Little Caesar's pizza for us, along with some really good Italian bread sticks. We were able to teach them about the Word of Wisdom and play the little game that we had made. After our lesson with them, we took the member hermana home and then headed home ourselves to make a Tres Leches for our District Lunch tomorrow.

Wednesday we drove to the District Meeting. But this time, for the first time in nearly 5 months, I was not the one to drive the car! Hermana Pearson felt ready to drive and so she drove all of today. It was the weirdest feeling to me because I have been doing all of the driving straight for 5 months! We had car inspections which went well. We had a good District Meeting where we learned about good finding ideas and also got to use our coloring skills to color a page as we talked about the blueprint of Christ's original Church. After that we had our District Lunch which was really awesome because we had a barbecue. A less active member had given our Elders a barbecue grill so they brought it in their car and grilled us some really good hot dogs and some of the most amazing burgers I have ever had, so good! Everyone really loved the tres leches, so I was happy. We then headed back to our area, stopping to do some Facebook contacting. We were able to go and teach the family about the Word of Wisdom that we had re-scheduled from yesterday. It went pretty well. They told us that they do drink a little bit of coffee and tea but that they will do their best to give those up and follow the Word of Wisdom. We played our little game of where we have pictures of what we can and can't eat and they have to be the first one to hit yes or no, with them and they really liked it. After that lesson we met up with a branch couple so that they could come with us to some appointments. We stopped at one investigator's home for our first appointment but she had a ton of family over wasn't able to meet with her. We went to our next two appointments and neither was home. We tried some backup plans without much luck. We even tried calling another hermana investigator that we didn't have plans with to see if we could meet with him but he wasn't going to get home until 8:30. After striking out there, we decided it would be really good to try and see this certain family and invite them to the Noche, especially because we had the members with us and they get along really well. We drove to their house and saw the hermano just getting home. We knocked on their open door 15 seconds after we saw him walk inside. We knocked 4 times and called inside several times, but no one would come. I was absolutely heartbroken because that absolutely sealed the deal that they don't want anything to do with us anymore :-( I think that the member couple that we had with us felt bad for us after that so they offered to take us to Burger King for dinner.

Thursday I really enjoyed personal study because it was a really nice day outside and so we sat out on our little piece of concrete in the sun and air, studying. We had lunch with a less active hermana. We had some really good food with her and also talked a lot with her. At MCM that night we were able to plan with the branch mission leader for the Noche de Hogar tomorrow and discuss all of the people that we are working with. They also fed us dinner and then the STL's got there for us to go on exchanges. Hermana Pearson was able to go back up to Midway with Hermana Kinghorn and Hermana Toney came with me! It was really fun and kind of crazy to be with Hermana Toney again (she was my trainer, my first companion in Chicago)! We drove home and just talked and talked, getting all caught up with each other.

Hermana Toney and I back together again (for a few hours)

Hermana's Pearson, Kinghorn, Meanea & Toney on exchanges

Friday after personal study we actually drove to Valpo for the chiropractor because Hermana Toney told me how much she had been needing one and how messed up her back and shoulders were. The member chiropractor was able to fix her right up. We did some proselyting on Facebook and then went and taught a hermana that we have been teaching for a few weeks now. We read in 3 Nephi 11 with her and she seemed to understand it pretty well. The only problem is that there were wasps all over the place so Hermana Toney worked on keeping them away from us while I read to the hermana. After that we went to the Church to get set up for the Noche de Hogar. Our activity went really well, we had food and watched 17 Miracles. There were quite a few people there and through a lot of phone calls and arrangements, a hermano that we have been teaching came and even brought his nephew who is visiting from Mexico! I think everyone enjoyed it. At the end I got up and spoke for a couple of minutes tying in what we had seen in the movie to our lives, all in Spanish without anything written down or any preparation! It was really neat to just hear the Spanish come out of my mouth through the Spirit. Hermana Pearson and Hermana Kinghorn got there just as the activity was ending. We had to push back the exchange time because the Hermanas had been able to get an appointment with the family back in Midway that Hermana Pearson had been teaching with her recent convert so that she could see them all again. It was so fun to be with Hermana Toney again, one last time before she goes home at the end of this transfer.

Saturday ended up being mostly our weekly planning day. It went pretty smoothly. The big prayer that I said took about 20 minutes and then we were able to plan pretty well for everyone. We drove to Chicago Heights for our lesson with the hermana who had come to the Noche last night but he called and asked if we could come by an hour later, unfortunately we were already halfway to Chicago Heights so we just continued on and sat at McDonald's and worked on weekly planning some more. We then went to the hermano's house but he wasn't home and called to let us know he was going to be a little late. There wasn't going to be any women at home plus we needed enough time for our next appointment so we just had to reschedule with him. We went to see a less active hermana at her store. She fed us some super good food. We were able to help the hermana with some service, being of service is always wonderful.

Hermana Pearson and I with Spencer Sardoni
(he is a legend around these parts as a former missionary)

The formerly famous (not infamous) Elder Sardoni
sharing great council for the final 6 months of my mission.

Sunday we had a meeting at 9:00 with our branch president and President Cabrera of the mission presidency. It was a really good meeting where we talked about working better with the members and getting them excited about missionary work. A less active family that we have been working with came to Church but no one else that we are working with came :-( A hermana from the English ward that meets in the same building came and pulled us out of our combined Relief Society and Priesthood lesson. We walked out the door and standing there, beaming at me, were two people. I was so stunned that it took me a second to realize it was Bishop and Sister Sardoni (my home ward Bishop and his wife)! I couldn't believe it! It was completely surreal to see them there in Indiana. I feel like I have two lives, my mission life and my former normal person life. To see someone from my "former life" was super crazy but really neat. Sister Sardoni and I hugged a lot, Bishop tried to hug me to but I told him I couldn't. Spencer (Bishop's son who served his mission in the same mission as I am in, and has been home for just over a year now) was also there. It was really good to see him and meet his new wife, she is really nice and was taking pictures of us the whole time. They texted pictures to my Mom and Dad of me with the Sardoni's that they had taken with their cell phone. We were able to talk for a few minutes and then it was time for them to leave and me to continue my work. It was so crazy to hear that after Ronnie Passey gets home next month, I am the next missionary to come home! It was so weird to say, "See you in 6 months!" to them as they left. It was so nice to hear them tell me that they loved me, that I was doing an amazing job, and that they are proud of me. Spencer told me to just tear it up and that is what I intend on doing! After Church we drove to Chicago Heights and spent the rest of the day trying to contact and meet with people.

P-Day Selfie

Wow! I love you all so much! Time really is starting to fly and it is pretty crazy! I cannot thank you all enough for everything that you do for me! I hope that you all have a great week! Remember that I love you and more importantly that God loves you!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Long Dreaded Farewell to a Wonderful Hermana Companion, Exciting Welcome to New Companion...

2014-08-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

My new companion, Hermana Pearson and I

Buenos Dias Queridos Familia y Amigos! It has been a really good week. I can already tell that Hermana Pearson and I are going to work really well together. She is super bold and fun and exciting and I am excited to learn a lot from her and I think we will balance each other well. We had a really good week with some good teaching and finding!

Last Monday: We had a SUPER busy P-Day today! I can't believe that today marked 11 months that I have been out on my mission, although I honestly didn't have time to think much about it because we were so busy. We did our studies and emailed for a bit and then went to a branch member's house so the hermana could cut and straighten Hermana Whitney's hair. I was happy because I got to play blocks with their adorable two girls the entire time! That evening we had white tamales, basically Mexican hamburgers, with a branch member family. We visited another hermana who also had food for us and we had a great visit with her. Her and Hermana Whitney saying goodbye was one of the hardest things! We then went home, packed and cleaned and enjoyed pizza from Domino's delivered to us thanks to my family who ordered it from Utah!

Newly Arrived from the Mexico City MTC,

Hermana Shipp with me.

We went to high school together,

it is great to have another missionary

serving in Chicago from Cedar City!

Tuesday: Today was the dreaded day :) We got up and got ready and I helped Hermana Whitney with her few last minute details. We then loaded up the car, it was a lot less full this time then when I took Hermana Escobar up! We left the apartment by 8:00 and drove north. We drove through the city and once again there was hardly any traffic at all. We got to transfers. It was so bittersweet. It was so fun to see so many people and be able to talk to them and catch up. But it was also so sad to be saying goodbye to the departing missionaries. I got to see Hermana Tara Shipp, from Cedar City, which was super exciting. She has Hermana Boushka as her trainer so I know that is going to be super good. After the transfer meeting there was the usual mess of trying to talk to everyone and move luggage around and find new companions. In the mess of it all, Hermana Whitney and the other departing missionaries left for the temple before her and I even got to say goodbye to each other! :-( I was so heartbroken but I guess that just means that it wasn't goodbye and that we will definitely see each other again! :-) We got all of Hermana Pearson's stuff loaded up and then headed south to Indiana. We enjoyed driving and talking, getting to know each other better. We went to Chicago Heights and saw a family that we are teaching. They were getting ready to leave but we were able to make an appointment for the next day so that was good. Then we went to the trailer park and taught a couple who are investigators. We taught part of the Restoration but it was kind of rough because they believe that all churches are good as long as you worship God and that you can't know that there is one true Church. We testified and invited them to read the Book of Mormon and pray. That is all that we can do right now but also that is what is going to help them the most. We stopped to get some groceries and then went home and had dinner and got to know each other some more as Hermana Pearson started unpacking.

Holding a SUPER tiny turtle named Steve

Wednesday: We had some good personal and comp studies this morning. We then headed to District Meeting and Hermana Pearson was squealing with delight the whole time because she saw the mall, Chick-Fil-A, Chili's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Target, and so many other places that she is so happy about having in her area. We had our lesson with the family we had scheduled to teach yesterday. It was so good even though it was a little crazy with the kids running all over the place and wanting palletas and throwing temper tantrums and such. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the girls really seemed to understand and like it. They had been reading in the the Book of Mormon again and asked what they should read next. We talked to the hermana again about baptism, all of her girls want to be baptized (one of them was like, "Mom, I want to be baptized!") but the hermana would like some time to discuss it with her husband before we set a date. This family has so much potential and I love them so much and pray that we can help them accept the Gospel as a family. Before we left we got to see and hold their cute little puppy and the tiniest turtle I have ever seen!

Thursday: Today was a good day of weekly planning. That is what we did for most of the day but it was so good to get it done because it is always so nice to know what you are doing the next week and to not have to spend forever the night before planning. We did studies in the morning. I had a REALLY good personal study reading at talk from Elder Holland called, "The Miracle of a Mission" and I also read Alma 26 which was super good and just what I needed to hear! Weekly planning was super long but really good. I just took time telling Hna Pearson about all of the people and just really trying to plan for them and their needs. We also made some really good cake mix cookies, you have to have treats for weekly planning! It was also kind of awesome because any time I had to call someone or talk on the phone to set up appointments I could definitely see how The Lord is helping us. In the evening we went to MCM at the branch mission leader's house. Hna Pearson really liked driving through Gary. It is just so fascinating but also really sad. MCM was really good, we were able to discuss some of the people we are working with and to have help and suggestions with them. After MCM meeting they fed us tamales which were really good. I was able to talk with the branch mission leader's wife for a while and it is kind of neat to see how members really do become so comfortable with the missionaries and really like them. We then drove home, driving past the building where the Jackson 5 had their first ever performance. It is really sad to see because in any other place in the US that would be like a historic landmark, people would flock to see it. But because it is in Gary it is forgotten, run down, and barely has a little sign to say what took place there.

Friday: We started today with studies of course. I enjoyed reading in the the Book of Mormon and highlighting the references to the Doctrine of Christ. I am also working on being better about writing in my study journal. My goal is to have it full by the time I go home, I got a long ways to go!!! :-) For comp study we planned out our lesson for a hermano we are teaching from the "Your Four Minutes" General Conference talk. We were able to go and teach a hermana we have been seeing for quite a few weeks now. We had a little lesson with her about prayer, really simple, and then taught her to pray so that she can pray on her own. She isn't doing very well with her health and her family doesn't help her at all. It is so sad, they leave their kids with her all day long and still make her pay rent to live in their house. It breaks my heart to see things like that. But hopefully having the Gospel in her life will bring some peace and comfort. We went and saw a lady we found and taught last week. She was happy to see us and immediately invited us to sit down to teach her. We read in the Book of Mormon and talked about how we can know for ourselves. We invited her to read and pray and she said that she would. We then drove to the 20's and walked around a little bit trying to find different potential investigators. We got a few people telling us they were no longer interested or had moved away. We saw this hermano sitting on his steps and we started talking to him. He wanted to know why we believed in Jesus Christ if there are so many bad things happening in the world. We explained a little bit and then told him we could share more. He said that we could but that he didn't believe in God. Hermana Pearson then got all bold and was like, "Pues, tengo que regresar y ensenarle entonces!" (Well then I have to come back and teach you then!) It was awesome how bold she was and it was so perfect for him. Sometimes you really do just have to be bold and personal with people, let them know that you are a person, what you believe and why they need to hear your message.

Saturday: I had a really good personal study today about the principle of accountability. It made me think about how I need to live my mission now based on what I want to have done and who I want to have become at the end of my mission. It is process that won't just happen all at once on the last day of my mission. After studies we went and did Facebook contacting at the library and were able to message back and forth with one of our investigators for a little bit. We drove to Chicago Heights and tried to see a couple of PNI's before visiting a less active hermana. She made us some really good food and we really enjoyed talking with her. Her and Hermana Pearson immediately loved each other so that is really good! We shared the Mormon Message, "Mountains to Climb" and she liked it a lot. We then had our lesson with a family that has recently become active. It went really well, we shared the "Dare to Stand Alone" Mormon Message. They liked it and their son really liked the idea of Heavenly Father being with him always, especially at school (he is the one who was just ordained a Deacon a few weeks ago). They also told us that they are all coming to Church tomorrow so we were super excited.

Sunday: We had personal study today and I had a really good time studying some more about agency and asking myself how I want to look back at my mission on the last day of my mission. It is a question that really makes me think and ponder! We then headed to Church. Hermana Pearson couldn't believe that it was possible for our branch to be that small. Today was a pretty normal size Sunday which is really sad because there were so many there last week, because of the food after church. Everyone was so excited to meet Hermana Pearson. I think that she is going to be so good for the branch, a breath of fresh air, bold and loving. The family that we met with yesterday came to Church which made us super happy! Sacrament Meeting was of course good. We were also given a TON of food!!! When we walked out of the Church building, it looked like we had been grocery shopping :-) That afternoon we were able to teach an investigator about the Book of Mormon and it went really well. She had family over and everything but told us we could still teach her because she wanted to make time for God. We read in the introduction and explained and testified about the Book of Mormon and she said she would read and pray and would try to come to Church. We went to meet with the PNI we found this past week while street contacting. He was outside and we stood there for a little while and were able to answer some of his questions like "Why are bad things happening in the world?" and use the Book of Mormon to explain this. He seemed to like talking with us. He has some awesome questions and told us that he would read and pray. He doesn't believe in God as of right now because of everything he sees in the world, but I think that will change. He has so much potential and we are so excited to teach him! After that we went to dinner with a branch member family. We enjoyed talking with them and eating dinner. We shared a message about how the Book of Mormon answers questions of the soul and invited them to share a couple of Book of Mormons. We were also able to talk about how we want to have regular Noche de Hogars and about how we want to serve the members.

It was a really good week. Like I said I am really enjoying studying the principle of accountability and understand how it applies to each of us in our lives. We all are accountable to the Lord for the blessings, challenges, and experiences that He gives us. A question that we all need to ask ourselves is, "How will I feel when I look back over my life and see what I have and what I haven't become?". No one likes to live with regrets, especially for eternity, and I think keeping this question in our minds is the best way to live life to the fullest and to be please when we are able to account to the Lord about our lives. I love you all soooo much and hope that you have an awesome week!

Hermana Allyse

with awesome members and other missionaries from the Midway Ward
at the Chicago Temple for Baptisms for the Dead,
a real payday for Hermana Whitney
right before she completed her mission!

Happy 11 Months!!! + Transfer News + Busy Week!

2014-08-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hermana Whitney and I together at the Chicago
Temple for the last time before she goes home.

Whew! What a busy week! I can't believe that today marks 11 months since we started this adventure and 7 months until I am back home! It is so crazy!

Last Monday: Today was another super busy P-Day! We did our studies and then went and emailed. We grabbed our "sack lunch" from Buffalo Wild Wings and then went to the Zone Activity Talent Show. We practiced with the other Hermanas that we were going to do our "talent" with. We did pregnancy yoga. It was interesting! I wasn't the biggest fan of it but it was planned while I was in the shower last night so I didn't have much say :) The talent show was so fun to watch, there were some really awesome things. Rapping, the Cup Song missionary style, bag pipes from the throat, roping, hula, and singing. Ours was okay but definitely really weird! Afterwards we hung out, talked, and emailed. Hermana Whitney and I next headed to a branch member's family for dinner. Of course it was fish! But it had a lot of lemon and pepper which helped me get it down. I ate super slow but was eventually able to eat it all.

M&M's (Marvelous Missionaries) at Zone Training Meeting

Tuesday: We had Zone Training Meeting today and it was so good! We talked about a lot of different things: unity in the companionship, courage as a missionary, questions of the soul, building unity with the members, opening our mouths and contacting, and urgency. Herman Whitney also gave her departing testimony. I was so sad but also so grateful for the time that I have had with her as my companion. There was so many things that I learned and made a goal to do better with. Zone Training was made complete with the amazing package that my family sent. Everyone absolutely LOVED the M&M's (for Marvelous Missionaries)! They were a huge hit! Everyone talked about how my family is the best, to which I wholeheartedly agreed, and said to thank them soooo much! President Woodbury also says thank you, especially because I was able to send an entire bag of peanut M&M's home with him to keep him company on the drive :) After Zone Training we stayed there for quite a long time because President Woodbury was going to do Hermana Whitney's exit interview because he has so many to do this transfer he wanted to get a head start. After Hermana Whitney had her interview we went to the Chiropractor for one last time. It is so sad to me to think that I don't have an excuse to go there anymore! It was fun while it lasted :) We did some Facebook contacting and finished off the night with dinner at a hermana's home. We shared a message about the Plan of Salvation and she liked having us in her home.

Our District with Hermana Whitney for the last time...

Wednesday: Today was a really good work day. After our morning of preparation, we headed to Chicago Heights to work. We spent the next several hours looking for different people. We weren't able to get in with anyone but we were able to make some return appointments which is really nice. We stopped by an investigator we haven't been able to see for quite a while. She was home but was super busy but still wanted to talk with us for just a bit. She confided in us about how tough her life is right now. We just sat there and listened and just let her talk which I think helped her a lot. We showed we loved her and we cared about her and she really felt it. It is just such an amazing thing how people come to trust you and confide in you when you wear and uphold the name of Jesus Christ and show them you really care. I never want to do anything to ruin that trust! After being with her we were able to go and teach a little lesson to one of our investigators. We read in the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 2, and she was able to read with us this time because she had her large print Book of Mormon we had given her. It went okay but her head was hurting and kids were running and screaming all over so it wasn't the best. Next we went to see a hermano that we teach. He was home but they were just getting ready to leave but he was way happy to have us share a quick scripture with him. We read Alma 26:12 about glorying and giving thanks to God and knowing that it is through Him that we can do all things. He told us that he should be coming to Church this week with his family so that is really great! We then headed to Gary for our missionary correlation meeting and dinner with our branch mission leader and his wife. We had a good MCM and talked about all of the people we are working with. Dinner was amazing! Hermana made us mole and rice and it was super good. We then headed towards home. We stopped at the library because we still had some time and so I was able to get started on designing the invitation for the Noche de Hogar our branch is having. It was fun to start and be able to do some graphic design again.

Thursday: Hermana Whitney's last full day of work was today in Chicago Heights. That is so strange to think about! We had our regular studies and then headed to Chicago Heights. We went to visit a friend of a Chicago Heights member that asked us to visit him in a nursing home. I was SUPER nervous about this because last time I was in a nursing home, it didn't go so well, I almost passed out. I really didn't want that to happen again. But we went in and I was able to sit down, which helped a lot, and we just talked with him and I was fine. He was happy to have some visitors and to just talk. He seemed like normal but everyone else in that place was crazy! After that we went to an appointment with a Hermana. She made us some good food, fish again, of course! I was able to get down one piece and then just continued eating rice the entire time so that it looked like I was eating and so she wouldn't offer me more fish :-) She loved having us there and she just talked, and talked. We shared Moroni 7 and discussed charity. She talked some more, and some more! We then tried another potential new investigator that ended up not being home. As we were heading back to our car, we contacted a man in his yard. He was cordial enough but didn't seem super interested. Then we saw his wife up on the porch and so we walked up to introduce ourselves. She was happy to meet us and when we asked if there was a time that they would be interested in having us come by and share our message, she invited us to sit down with her right then and teach her! We taught her the Restoration very simply and she understood it quite well and seemed to have a lot of interest. The lesson went good and I felt like we were able to teach pretty powerfully. At the end of the lesson we invited her to be baptized when she knew these things were true. She said she would be because she knew she would have to act and follow Jesus Christ. We tried to set a date as a goal for her and she said to give her the week to read in the Book of Mormon and to think and pray. Even though she didn't accept the date I felt really good about it because she truly has a desire to know for herself because she knows what a big step this is. It was so great to find and meet her. Then as we were leaving her house, we talked to a woman pushing her baby in a stroller. She only spoke English and she told us it was funny we had stopped to talk to her because she had actually just been thinking about how she hadn't been raised with a religion but wanted one for her son. We talked to her a little about the Restoration and she was super interested and wanted to know why we were different from everyone else. She was happy to take a card and to go online and visit Mormon.org. We were able to tell her where the Church was and she seems super legit. But she didn't want to give us her contact info, she said she would check it out. Even though we didn't get all of her info then, as we walked away we just got the feeling that The Lord and the missionaries weren't done with her yet! We could see she had a bright future ahead and that someday the missionaries would find her. It was just so amazing to be able to see that in a person we just met randomly on the street, even though we know it wasn't random at all! The Lord truly does place people in our path all of the time. Even though often times it doesn't lead to much right then. It is a contact with the Gospel of Jesus Christ that people will remember. It is a seed planted and someday it is going to grow!

Friday: Today was our weekly planning day. After our morning of studies and lunch, we started weekly planning. It is such a weird feeling to be planning for next week and to KNOW that Hermana Whitney and I won't be together, that I will have a new companion, that Hermana Whitney will be home. Super strange! We got a lot of good planning done and made some super good brownies too :) After that we drove to Chicago Heights for our appointment with a family we are teaching. It went really well. We talked about faith and read Alma 32:21 and Mosiah 3:17. We had a dinner appointment with a Hermana and her family. They made us this really good pasta that I liked a lot, except for the whole shrimp part! Luckily I only had one small piece that I was able to choke down. Seriously though, the only good part about Hermana Whitney leaving is that hopefully I won't get fed as much fish! People seem to know that she loves fish because I haven't had fish at any other time on my mission (except for one time as I was leaving Midway) until I have been with her. The things I do as a missionary because I love people! We shared a message about charity and read in Moroni 7 and they really enjoyed it.

Great members at the temple
from the Midway Ward

Visiting branch members at the hospital

Saturday: Wow! What an AMAZING day we had today! We left our apartment at 8:00 to drive into Chicago to pick up Hermanas Felt and Clanton to then go to the temple with some recent converts of Hermana Whitney's to watch them do baptisms for the dead. It was SO awesome because a lot of people from Midway were their and so I got to see a lot of people that I love from my 6 months serving there. It was also super special because Hermana Whitney got to see so many people from so many of her old areas who also happened to be at the Temple. It was such a tender mercy from The Lord. The biggest tender mercy was watching her recent converts be baptized for the dead, to see them make it to that point was just incredible!!! I just loved being in the Temple and watching the baptisms and confirmations (as missionaries we aren't allowed to do baptisms). It was a HUGE group, with a lot of Spanish speakers, so all of the temple workers were pretty stressed out, but it all worked out. After taking a bunch of photos outside, the members wanted to take us all out to lunch. The STL's had gotten it cleared with President so we went and had a fun lunch at Subway. After that we took the other Hermanas back to their apartment and then headed to a Children's Hospital in the South Side, in Oak Lawn, to see some members from our branch. They were so happy that we were able to visit. Their daughter was doing a lot better and was looking good. We just talked with them for a long time and she told us a lot about her life. We then drove home, finally making it back an hour later and 13 hours after our adventure had started. We did nightly planning and got the dreaded text, "You WILL be receiving a transfer call!" Shocker there, right? ;) Finally the call came from Elder Johnson. Can you guess? I will be getting Hermana Pearson!!!!! I was not expecting that at all, but am super excited!!! Hermana Whitney is being transferred to New York and her new companion is YTBD :-( So yeah, that is our big transfer news. But we had an absolutely AMAZING day today. It was a TON of driving, but I loved it soooo much!!!

Luncheon after Branch Conference to say good bye
to Hermana Whitney

Hermana Whitney and I with awesome branch members

Sunday: Today was such a good, busy, full day! We went to branch council. It was really good and we were able to have a good discussion on the families we have been talking about. It was such an interesting dynamic though because it is Branch Conference and so all of the stake leaders were there. But a lot, if not most, of the stake leaders do not speak Spanish. So we had whispered translation conversations all over the room and others just having no clue what was going on (not including me, most of the time!). :) Next we were able to have a Gospel Principles class about faith because the Elders had an investigator there. He was blind, Native American, and didn't speak Spanish, so that was fun! But our lesson went super well, especially for the fact that Hermana Whitney and I were teaching and hadn't even looked at the lesson or talked about it beforehand (we kept forgetting). Juan, the investigator, really liked the class and had a lot of good questions. After that we had a combined relief society and priesthood class. The Branch President taught a wonderful lesson on the importance of being self-sufficient and how we can get there (pay our offerings, balance needs and wants, serve in our callings). Sacrament Meeting was so great because there were SO many people there, the most I have ever seen! The branch really did take the challenge seriously to invite people to Branch Conference and it worked. We had another interesting dynamic in Sacrament Meeting. Because there were so many English only speakers from the Stake there, Elder Bringhurst translated the meeting from Spanish to English through the headsets for them. Then President Cameron, the Stake President, got up to talk and so I ran around the chapel switching the headsets to the Spanish only speakers because President Cameron doesn't speak Spanish. We then had our luncheon afterwards. There was so much food and so many people. This branch loves Hermana Whitney so much and they are so sad to see her leave, they gave her the most amazing send off. In the evening we went to visit a hermana, a less active in the Elders' area that has a little Mexican Tienda and she wanted to see Hermana Whitney before she left. We drove to her store and it was so neat! I loved it! She gave us food, a lot of it, and fruit, and had us pick out sodas, and everything. Between taking care of customers and such we were able to talk with her and get to know her a little bit. She is so awesome, I already love her so much. She speaks both English and Spanish and we really enjoyed talking with her. We helped her stock sodas and then she gave us tamales and guacamole to take home. She also told me to make sure that we come by more often, which I will gladly do!

A wonderful branch member and I in her Tienda

Sorry, I was really long winded again! But it was a super good week and we were so busy! I hope that you all are doing good and have an amazing week! I love you so much and I love this Gospel! I love sharing it and really seeing it change people's lives! Talk to you soon!

Hermana Meanea

Downtown Chicago for P-day, and I have a "gripa"!

2014-08-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hermana Whitney and I along the famous Chicago Riverwalk

Hermana Allyse Selfie on The Ledge at the Skydeck
in the Willis Tower Building in Downtown Chicago

Hermana Whitney and I at the Skydeck
in the Willis Building in Downtown Chicago

So now that I have your attention, wondering what in the world a grip is, I will tell you :) It is Spanish for a cold, I just think it sounds a lot more impressive in Spanish than English! Yeah, that was basically my week unfortunately was a super bad cold. But we still got to do a lot of work and teaching so it was great!

Last Monday: MOST AMAZING P-DAY EVER!!! Wow, today was so good! I can't even believe it! We got to see and do so many amazing things and still had time for everything, In my personal study I started doing the new Book of Mormon challenge from President Woodbury about reading the Book of Mormon and highlighting all references to the Doctrine of Christ. It was so good to read the Book of Mormon that way, I saw things differently and really enjoyed highlighting like that. To start our P-day we quickly stopped by a McDonald's really fast to get breakfast and download our email so we could have it on our train ride to Chicago. We hurried to the train station in East Chicago, got there just in time, found a SUPER close parking spot that really shouldn't have been there after rush hour traffic, bought our tickets, and got onto the platform just in time. We then took the South Shore Line all the way into downtown. We had tickets and there was even a conductor with a little hat that came through and punched them, it was so fun!!! About an hour later we got off on Van Buren Street in the city. It felt SO good to be back!!! Hermana Whitney and I then walked to Willis Tower, we were smiling the whole time because it just felt so good to the both of us to be walking in the city. There is an energy that I cannot describe there, I just love it! Once at WIllis Tower we found the entrance for the Skydeck and waited in a line for quite a while, but it wasn't too bad. Right before they put you in the elevator to the top they show you a movie about the history of the Willis Tower. Both Hermana Whitney and I were super excited about this because it was her first movie in 18 months and my first in 11 months, what a mission will do to you! :) Then we took the elevator 103 floors up, my ears were popping like crazy because they haven't had elevation changes like that in 11 months! The view from the top was breathtaking! I cannot describe it. Hermana Whitney and I so enjoyed just staring out the windows, taking pictures, and making a short video to send home to our families. We also went out on "The Ledge" which is this glass platform you can stand on 103 stories above the city streets. It was kind of freaky to walk out on that, but we definitely got some neat pictures!!!

Hermana Missionaries out on The Ledge
at the Skydeck in the Willis Tower Building
in Downtown Chicago

Back down at street level we had a quick lunch and went to the Harold Washington Library, the largest library in the world. We were able to use our Chicago library cards to email our families on the computers there. It was an amazing library! I wish I could have spent forever in there. It is definitely a place I will want to go back to after my mission and explore! We then just walked down the streets of Chicago because it was so relaxing to us. We ended up by the river and just stood there and enjoyed it. We walked down the Riverside Walk and it was so much fun, especially for Hermana Whitney as it was her last time in Downtown Chicago as a missionary. We walked back down Michigan Ave to our train station and caught our train back to Indiana. This train was super cool because it was a two story train. That evening we had a dinner appointment with a Hermana and her family from the branch. It was a good appointment and she really enjoyed the scripture we shared in Ether 12:4 about hope. We had a very AMAZING day.

Tuesday: We spent this morning planning for the rest of the week and then headed to Chicago Heights. We went and taught one of our newest investigators. We read in 1 Nefi 1 with her because she can't see to read. She understood really well which made us super happy. We were able to make an appointment with a potential investigator and after that we actually found another potential investiagor at home that we had never been able to contact previously. We set up an appointment for Sunday with her and she seemed pretty legit. We then headed to Hammond for our dinner appointment with a family from the branch but they had just gotten home from an all day trip to Indianapolis and back. They had tried to text us to cancel earlier in the day but had texted the Elders instead. So we talked with them for a little bit and then shared 2 Nefi 25: 16-17. She really enjoyed having us there and bringing the Spirit into her home.

Hermana Whitney and I on the South Shore Train to Chicago

Wednesday: Today didn't turn out exactly as planned, but it was alright. I woke up feeling even worse than I had the day before (I had a sore throat yesterday), sore throat, runny nose, and congested head. We head to Valpo. We stopped at the Chiropractor's and he adjusted both Hermana Whitney and me. We then went to District Meeting where we learned about some of the new things President Woodbury wants us to implement: we don't make goals as a district or zone anymore, he wants District Meetings to be more focused on helping each other with investigators and less actives, etc. It was a good District Meeting. We also talked about the importance of baptism and helping people come into the waters of baptism. To finish, Elder Bringhurst had Hermana Whitney bear her testimony and offer words of wisdom to us. She did really great and it is just so crazy for me to think that was her last District Meeting because next week is Zone Training. After District Meeting, at the urging of both my District Leader and Hermana Whitney, we went home so that I could rest and try to get better. I slept for an hour as Hermana Whitney made us spaghetti and then we ate and went back to bed. I woke up again around 5:00pm for just a little bit and we read in el Libro de Mormón and then I went back to sleep and slept until the alarm went off at 6:30 the next morning!!!

Downtown Chicago View from the
SkyDeck in the Willis Tower

Thursday: Today was another day that didn't happen as I had hoped. Although I was feeling a little bit better this morning, both a fever and coughs had set in and both Hermana Whitney and I didn't feel good about me being out around people, especially because neither one of us thought I should be driving anyways and she can't drive. So all of today was spent inside the apartment. We had to cancel our appointments. Everyone was so understanding but I still felt so bad. This has given me just a sample of how Hermana Escobar felt for all of those weeks that she was sick. I hate being a missionary that has to stay inside because you are sick, it just feels wrong! But Hermana Whitney has been so great about it and has really enjoyed getting in a lot of Book of Mormon reading. And I feel blessed that this has been the first time on my mission that I have gotten too sick to work. Kind of ironic that through the coldest and snowiest winter on record in Chicago and I was healthy all winter, and now it is the middle of summer and I have this bad case of "gripa"!

Dunkin Donuts in Downtown Chicago

Friday: I woke up today and Hermana Whitney immediately told me that I didn't sound any better than yesterday :-( So, both she and I (mostly her) decided it would be better for everyone if we spent one more day inside, just so I didn't scare people off with how awful I sound! We had studies and then spent part of the day doing weekly planning. We have a very busy, full week coming up! It was a long process but it always pays off in the long run when we know what we are doing, plus it shows The Lord our faith and allows Him to put people in our path who are prepared.

Saturday: So we actually got to go out and work today! So that was awesome! It still wasn't the greatest day because of some of the stuff that happened while we were working, but we were so happy to be able to be out there again. Our less active branch member who has been in the hospital called us this morning to let us know he had gotten home last night and he wanted to see if we could come visit him. So we headed straight there. Unfortunately there weren't any other women in the house like he had thought there were going to be so we couldn't stay and teach him. But we helped him translate his medicine instructions and told him to call us later in the day so we could come back and talk. Next we went to try and see a member of the English Ward to see if she needed some service because she had mentioned it before. She didn't need us right then because she had some doctor appointments but we did get to meet her sons so that was cool. As we were driving away one of them asked us to stop. He came up to Hermana Whitney's window and the first thing he said was, "You ladies are very pretty." Of course we were like, "oh no! not again!" (this happens quite frequently with Hermana Whitney as my companion! :) Thankfully he went on to tell us that he wasn't hitting on us but really giving us a compliment and also letting us know he might be interested in learning more about the Mormon Church. Oh the things you deal with as a Sister Missionary! #SisterMissionaryProbs :) After that we went and taught one of our newer investigators about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went really well. We taught short and powerful and she seemed to grasp it really well. The only problem is that she also told us that she no longer wants to be baptized :( She told us that she had prayed about it and no longer felt a desire. So that is super sad but she was way excited to get a large print Book of Mormon so that she can actually read it. We told her that her desire could change if she read the book and she said she would so we are praying that the Spirit will touch her. We went to the library to teach another investigator over the internet. He was really slow in responding so we weren't able to get in a lesson but we were able to talk with him and ask him to come to Church tomorrow. We promised him it would help him a lot in his life. He replied by saying, "Yes it will, especially being with you guys." #ExasperatedFace! Not again! He tried to backtrack it by saying that he was excited to be there with us so he wouldn't be alone, but we all know what he really meant. It is sad because I was worried about that happening with him, but all we can do is pray that he will have real intention to learn about the Gospel. We are hoping and praying he comes to Church tomorrow too so that he can feel the Spirit. After that we went looking for a couple of people before we went to our appt with a branch member Hermana. She made us some super good food and we shared a message from Preach My Gospel about the Plan of Salvation. She also gave me a nickname (she does it to all the hermanas) and I am now Hermana Meanie, which I like a lot because no hispanic can ever say or remember my name, which actually makes me feel like I am at home too! But this one seemed to stick for her so I am happy. While looking for some other people we called our super legit investigator, to confirm our appointment in a little while and he told us he wasn't home and wouldn't be back until tomorrow afternoon. We were so sad because we were way excited to teach him and we had lined up a Hermana branch member to come with us too. So that was a big bummer. We drove to Park Forest and Richton Park to try and find some potential investigators, with no luck, and then went back to Chicago Heights. After going through all of our plans and backup plans, We thought of calling the less active Hermano who had been in the hospital to see if we could come over now. He said yes so we were able to go and have a lesson with him. He is doing really good and was way happy to meet with us. We shared 3 Nephi 11:3 and talked about the Holy Ghost. He really does know so much and has a strong testimony. He let us know that he can't go to Church tomorrow because he can't really ride in a car with his stomach still healing, but he is planning on being there next week. It was a pretty rough day because in one day, all of our investigators that we had on date for baptism, fell off date. It hurts, but what really matters is that we are trying to find the people who are really prepared and ready for the Gospel.

Sunday: We had a really good day today. We got ready and then drove to the Church for Branch Council Meeting. This was really good because we were actually able to talk about some less active families in the branch and plan how the branch council is going to help those families, so it was really productive. Unfortunately no investigators for us or the Elders came today, so we didn't have Gospel Principles. BUT one of our recent convert that had totally told us he wasn't coming anymore, CAME!!! When we had tried talking to him over Facebook yesterday to set up at time to come see him, he told us he was good but he promised he would come to Church. I have to admit, given the past couple of weeks with him, I was doubtful if he would actually be there. But he came!!! So that is amazing! It was a good Sunday with a lot of people there. Following church we had our study time. I had an amazing time studying Alma 4 and found a lot of things that really helped me personally. We also had a short little companionship study to plan our lessons that we are scheduled to teach. We drove to Chicago Heights and went to a potential investigator's home. We found her at home and she had actually been expecting us. We were able to sit down and teach her about the Restoration and it went really well. She is catholic by name but doesn't go so she is very open. She seemed to be really interested in our message and willing to accept it as well. She was happy to get a Book of Mormon and to start reading it because she hasn't really read scripture before. She commited to read and pray. We invited her to be baptized on Sept. 14 and she said yes, why not, she would like that. She also asked us where and when our Church was before we could even invite her to come and she asked when we could come back and invited us every Sunday. She seems super legit so we are way excited. We went looking for a few more people and were finally able to find an a family that had previously been investigators. They were really happy to see us and us them. We set up an appointment with them for Thursday and they are excited to learn some more. We then drove to Presidente's house and had fun with Hermana and their two daughters. Their baby really is the cutest baby ever! She loves me and loves to smile at me. Twice she got into my bag and immediately pulled out the iPad and our phone, she is so smart. She also brought me a toy camera to take pictures of her and when I would point it at her she would pose and smile as big as she could. It is the hardest thing in the world for me to not take her in my arms and hold and love her! Presidente came home as we were eating arroz con pollo and we were able to talk with him too. After that we shared a message from Preach My Gospel about how we need to relate to people personally, especially using families, to share the Gospel with them.

It was a great week, not exactly how we had planned but I definitely was appreciative for the Zone Training we had a few weeks ago where President taught us that sometimes the Lord gives us sickness so that we can be humble and know how to help others. So I am just going to look at it that way and use what I learned last week to make this next week amazing! We have a lot planned and a lot to do for Hna Whitney's last week as a missionary and I know it will be great! Thank you so much for all of your love! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Hermana Meanea

Panoramic Photo of Chicago from the Sky Deck in the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower)

"Mini" Missionary? (not a joke about my height!) and Sisters Conference

2014-08-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

P-Day Selfie from Downtown Chicago!

Hola! How are you all doing? Today for P-Day I get to tell you all hello from Chicago because I am sending this to you from Downtown! I hope everything is going good. We had an amazing week so I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Last Monday: Today was a pretty typical p-day. We emailed family and friends, spent a little time at the mall, did our grocery shopping and then finished the P-day time with other preparations for the week.

Tuesday: We were able to teach one of our investigators on date, over Facebook today. We helped answer some of his questions and helped him to know what he can do to have peace and happiness in his life. We then went and saw an investigator. She was doing good but hadn't read in the Book of Mormon because she didn't have time. So we read with her in 1st Nephi Chapter 1 and talked about how the Book of Mormon is true and we can have a testimony of it. After teaching her we drove all over Chicago Heights trying to find different people that we wanted to contact. No one was home that we were looking for. We parked in the 20's and walked around the neighborhoods contacting and were able to find a few people that were interested so that was awesome. We had an appointment with a former investigator of Hermana Whitney's from when she served in this area a year ago. We talked with her for a bit and taught about the Restoration. It was a SUPER good lesson. She is really smart and had great insights and questions and remembered a lot. I couldn't understand why she wasn't baptized yet! At the end we invited her to be baptized and she explained she was catholic and that she never saw herself changing religions. We were very bold, but not overbearing, with her and explained about proper authority and the need for baptism. I really felt the Spirit working through me, giving me the questions I should ask her and the things I should say. It was a good thing too that we had the Spirit, because I wouldn't have known what to do in that situation otherwise! At the end she just told us she didn't think she would ever be baptized, but we invited her to read and pray and receive an answer. It really breaks my heart because she is so golden, just won't let go of her family's religion. But we will pray and maybe the Book of Mormon will change her heart because I know it has the power to do that! We drove to our MCM meeting with our branch mission leader in Gary, Indiana. It was really good even though it was just us, him, and his wife. The Elders weren't able to make it. We were able to tell him about all of the people we are working with and get some help for some of our investigator's needs. We talked about and planned for a branch Noche de Hogar that we want to have as a missionary activity. We are thinking of showing 17 Miracles and having treats.

Wednesday: This morning we went to the chiropractors and then to District Meeting. We talked about planning a little bit and then Hermana Whitney and I taught about extending commitment invitations, specifically baptism in the first lesson. It is just so important because they can't repent or change unless we invite them to. It went well. After District Meeting we went to El Amigo for District Lunch. It was so fun to talk with everyone and hear how everything was going while eating a good steak burrito! Hermana Whitney and I then got cookies and cream palletas and headed towards home. We ended up being home the rest of the afternoon because Hermana Whitney got some kind of allergic reaction and had to take Benadryl which knocked her out.

Hermana Whitney and I with our Mini Missionary
(who ironically is taller then both of us?)

Links of Companions at Sister's Conference

Thursday: Today was a SUPER long but SUPER good day! We got up at 5:30, picked up some girls from the English ward that are going on mini missions and then drove to Wilmette for Sister's Conference. It was neat because once we got there we got to have a special little transfer meeting for all of us Valpo Sisters because we all got mini missionaries. A mini missionary is a laurel aged young women for the stake that goes with the missionaries for 4 days to experience what being a missionary is like. Our Mini Missionary was so great, just one small catch, she doesn't speak Spanish! So that led to a lot of fun adventures. But the Sister's Conference was amazing! The theme was becoming perfect in Christ, which is awesome because that is something that I really have been working on. After Sister's Conference we were able to got to a hospital in South Side where our less active member that we have been working with a lot was waiting to have surgery. He was so happy that we were able to visit him. We talked, shared a scripture, and most importantly, I stayed upright with no problems the entire time, a huge accomplishment for me! We finally got home at 9:00 at night, 14.5 hours after we left this morning!

Visiting our branch member in the hospital

Friday: Today was rough. There was some really good stuff but there was also some pretty tough things that definitely made the good sweeter! We went to try and see this family that we have been working with a lot, this ended up being one of the most heartbreaking moments of my mission. You see, one of our investigator's church friends was there. :-( As soon as we showed up, the recent convert that is a part of the same family but has quit coming to church, left the room and wouldn't come back, so that started everything going downhill. Our investigator was cordial and invited us to sit down and gave us water bottles. We shared a message about the Book of Mormon but it was a very difficult lesson because her church friend literally made it where the Spirit could not be there. She was fighting every word we said, arguing everything, interrupting, and ignoring us and the Spirit. It was rough. But we stayed calm and just stuck to bearing powerful, simple testimony. In the midst of it all our investigator told us that she wasn't really sure why we were still coming over, she believed in the Bible and her church and didn't believe in ours. Ouch! So she basically dropped us and that hurt a lot because us and so many other missionaries prior to my arrival have worked with them so much. :( We trying to leave the lesson on a slightly okay note, so we invited our mini missionary to bear her testimony. She had written it down in Spanish on her own that morning and so she read it. Like we were hoping, the Spirit rushed in, it was very powerful and we could definitely feel it. That evening we had a relief society activity where we learned how to make tres leches cake and decorate cupcakes. It was a really good activity that I think helped many of the Hermanas in our branch a lot.

Sunflower Cupcake made at branch
Relief Society Meeting

Saturday: Today was a really good day. After some of the bitterness of yesterday, today truly was sweet. We did a lot of stop-by's and got a lot of teaching in. One of the lessons we had was with a potential investigator that we just hadn't been able to get in with. But we stopped by and he was home and super willing to listen. We had an amazing lesson on the Restoration, the Spirit was so strong and it just felt good! He even asked us where our church was before we could invite him to come to church. He truly believes this is true and had such a sincere desire to know, so that was awesome! That evening we had dinner with a hermana from our branch who also speaks English. Our mini missionary really liked being able to speak in English with our branch member and enjoyed being about to understand the hermana. Our poor mini missionary's head was spinning all day with all of the Spanish!

Banana Splits with our Mini Missionary

Sunday: We had another good day today. None of our investigators were able to make it to Church unfortunately but all of the meetings went smoothly so it was a good day! In the afternoon all of the Sister Missionaries in the stake met up and we had a little testimony meeting with us, our mini missionaries, and their parents. It was really good and so wonderful to see all of the excitement that these girls have for missionary work. We really enjoyed being with Sister Reyes. We all learned a lot from each other and had a super good time together!

Sorry my email is a little shorter this week, it had been a crazy busy week and with us being in the city today, I didn't have time to write much. I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Investigator found a year later, exchanges back to the City, parking skills!

2014-07-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hola! Buenos Dias Queridas Familia y Amigas! This week went by so fast! I can't even believe it! We worked a lot and had some great experiences!

Indiana shirt T-shirt just like the ones
that I sent to my family to wear at the
family reunion this weekend.

Monday: We had a REALLY good P-Day today! As we were finishing up our preparation day activities this morning, the Rensalear Sisters, who were going to carpool with us to Chesterton for the Zone Activity, showed up. We drove to a park in Chesterton. I enjoyed being able to drive with Hna Escobar and tell her about everything that was going on in the area. It was an awesome Zone Activity. We started by all playing Ultimate Frisbee, and that was a lot of fun. Half of us then played volleyball while the other half played soccer. I really loved playing volleyball, I had so much fun. I hadn't realized how much I like it and how I am not completely awful at it! We then played kickball for a while to finish off Zone Activity. It was so fun to be there with everyone, even though it was pretty hot! When P-Day ended at 6:00 I started working on our population map and Hna Whitney worked in our area book. At 7:00 we started teaching one of our investigators who is out of town, over Facebook. He asked some amazing questions about how the Book of Mormon can help him with a certain situation he is dealing with in his life right now. We were able to teach and testify and really help him understand. During this lesson, which dragged on for a long time because he took a while to respond, one of our recent converts that we talk to and teach a lot over Facebook came online and messaged me saying hello. He then proceeded to tell me that's was afraid he had some thing bad to tell me. He told me that he was going to have to leave the Church for while. Astounded, because he had been SO solid, I asked why. He told us that he couldn't explain it to us. I couldn't believe it and of course just did the best I could by bearing testimony of prayer and reading scriptures and how the Father could help him through his struggles. Then it got crazier. As soon as he was done messaging me, he deleted his Facebook!!! Now, Hermana Whitney and I are so afraid for him, but all we can do at this point is pray.

Latino Express buses. I just think they are so fun!

Tuesday: Busy, long, hot day today! But we did a lot of teaching and finding, so it was good! We started with studies. I had a really good time studying in Enos and then in comp study time we planned our lesson for one of our investigator families. We headed to Chicago Heights where we tried looking for a few people with no luck. We parked in some shade at the library by the park and had our lunch hour and ate the sandwiches we had made at our apartment and brought with us. After lunch we continued down our list of people to try to contact. For the most part, no one was home, which was really sad because we just wanted to teach. Even one of our part member families that we visit often were not home. It was a pretty warm day today, about 97 degrees with a fair amount of humidity, just a tad different from the negative 50 degrees that we experienced this past winter! :-) After trying to find a lot of people, we went to the library and worked on contacting and proselyting Facebook. I posted about prayer and the story of Enos that I studied in personal study this morning. After we finished our time working on Facebook we went looking for more people to contact and teach, with no luck until we found this lady that Hermana Whitney had met and taught when she served here previously. We knocked on the house twice with no answer and were leaving with a young girl came out. We asked if this specific lady was home and the girl told us that the lady we were looking for had moved. Saddened, we headed back to our car. Right before we got in the car, we noticed an older woman walk out of the same house. So we go back and find out that this lady is the one we were looking for, the one that Hermana Whitney had taught a little bit a year ago. She let us sit down and we talked about the Restoration. She is quite an older lady so she doesn't stay on topic super well but we tried teaching her. In the beginning, both Hermana Whitney and I didn't think that she was too into it. But as we continued teaching and testifying, she agreed with us and seemed to understand. Then we gave her a Book or Mormon, and her eyes lit up so much and she hugged it tightly to her chest. It was so amazing to me to see such a reaction to the Book of Mormon and it really made me think, is that how I feel about the book? It is how I should feel because he Book of Mormon really does bring us that peace! It is the key to our religion, it is a gift from our loving Heavenly Father. To see this lady so overjoyed at receiving a Book or Mormon made me want to make sure that I always act the same towards this precious book. After giving her the Book of Mormon, we put her on date for baptism for August 30th and she readily accepted! It really showed both of us that we can never judge who is or isn't ready for the Gospel. She is very prepared to learn and we are so excited to work with her more. After that we went to visit another part member family. They fed us pizza and we enjoyed talking with them, and sharing a lesson with them about love at home. We started with two questions for them that I love and I think can be applied to everyone everywhere: How would you feel if Jesus came to visit us in our home (or mission, our life)? And: Would we want to change the way we act toward each other with Jesus present (or how we act in general)? These questions really make you think right?!?! They are definitely questions that I want to remember throughout my life to make sure that I am on the right path and am focused on what really matters. The rest of the lesson went good and then we left and tried to find a couple of people before our next appointment with an investigator. We found one man who is a former investigator that Hermana Whitney knew. He invited us back next week to teach him so that is great. Unfortunately our next appointment wasn't home so we went to our backup plans and tried to find a few other people to contact. That evening one of our less active branch members that we have been working with called us and let us know how his doctor appointment went today (after being in the hospital last week). He is going to have surgery at the end of this month to remove the tumors in his stomach. He was so amazing about it on the phone through. Just how he was putting it all in God's hands, and if it was his time to go he accepted it. He also asked if we could possibly come over and visit with him before his surgery to give him strength. Yep, he is just amazing!!!

Wednesday: I had a really good personal study this morning reading in the Book of Mormon, PMG about humility, and a talk about the Prophet Joseph Smith. We then had just a little bit of companionship study before we had to get ready and head out for the District Meeting. We had to be there just a little early so that Elder Bringhurst, our DL, could inspect our car. We then had a really good District Meeting where we learned about Elder Warner's conversion story (which was very powerful), ordinance invitations and role plays with that, and then the Fourth Missionary. It all was so good. Hermana Whitney and I then went to the chiropractors. He helped Hermana Whitney a lot and adjusted me too, although I really don't think there is too much wrong with me! We drove home for lunch and language study and then headed to Chicago Heights. We started by contacting people via Facebook in the library. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a lot of people that have been former contacts over the years. Unfortunately most of them didn't answer their doors or don't live at the address we have for them any longer. We did get hit on several times by several guys today, it was great. #SisterMissionaryProblems Today was also a complete flip flop, from yesterday. Yesterday it was 95 and really humid. Today it was 70 and cool and breezy. Because we weren't able to get in with anyone, we went through our plans really quickly. After trying all the names we had planned, we decided to try and contact some people in the trailer parks. Again, no one was available. We had just a little more time so we had the thought (really an inspiration now that I look back) to go and try and see our investigator who had missed her appointment with us last night. We found out that her phone wasn't working last night so we had no other way of contacting her. We stopped by and she was outside with her kids! We were able to talk to her and she explained she had needed to go to the doctor with her mother and felt so bad she had missed our appointment yesterday. We were able to set up another appointment for next week to teach her.

I love getting to go back to the city, which I was
able to do this week while on exchanges with
the Sister Training Leaders

Thursday: We cleaned the apartment a little bit this morning for apartment inspections and then we started personal study. I read Omni in the Book of Mormon today and then kind of continued my study based off of vs. 26 about offering our whole soul unto God. This is definitely something that I have been trying to do my entire mission. I feel like it is getting better, but I am not quite there yet. Knowing me and life, I will probably get there on the plane ride home! :-) But it was a super good personal study. It was interrupted part way through because the Kings showed up to do the apartment inspection. She just took a quick glance around, because she knows that everything is already clean, gave us 100% and left us brownies, so it was a success!!! :) We then had companionship study, We read a really good Ensign article about living in this land, or trial, or situation, as though we will be there for years and just making the best of it. We also read in Doctrine & Covenants to try and help Hermana Whitney get as far in her D&C challenge as possible. For language study I read in el Libro de Mormón. All of my studies were so amazing today because in each one I felt like I read and learned things that I really needed to hear and that I feel like apply directly to what I am working on right now! We had lunch and then started baking treats for one of our investigator's birthday tomorrow. The Sister Training Leader Hermanas showed up really early to do exchanges so we talked for a little bit and then I left with Hermana Kinghorn to go back to Midway. The drive up was pretty long because traffic was really bad, but that was okay because Hermana Kinghorn and I had a good time talking. We got to know each other because we had never served around each other and didn't know each other at all. I absolutely loved the drive because I got to see the city and my old area, it was so awesome! Once we were in Midway, we stopped by their house to drop off my stuff then we walked to our appointment with an investigator family. A Hermana ward member that I knew well from my prior service in this ward came to the lesson with us and it was so great to see her again. She was super excited to see me too! Unfortunately, the investigator family wasn't able to listen to us then but said we could come back the next day. We walked around the Sister Training Leaders proselyting area contacting people to find someone to teach. It was great to walk around the city again, I sure do miss the vibe of the city! We went back to their house to get the car and stop by one more person, who wasn't home. We went and picked up another hermana from the ward to go with us to a teaching appointment. It was fun because I knew the area and where she lived so I was able to help Hna Kinghorn get there. The member hermana was so happy I was there and it was so neat to actually understand and be able to talk to her a little better than I ever could when I was serving here. We then went to our appointment with a less active member. I had never actually met her when I was serving here because she goes to the Blue Island ward instead of Midway, but I had heard so many stories and good things. We had a good lesson (it really was just us talking because she loves to talk and had a lot to talk about) where we read the talk "Your Wonderful Journey Home" by President Uchtdorf. She really liked it a lot. She also made us huge sandwiches, which was awesome because we both were so hungry. After finally getting out of there, we took our member hermana home. She insisted on getting a picture of me and her together because I didn't get one with her when I was transferred, I wasn't complaining! :) We then drove home and had nightly planning.

One of the great hermanas from the ward I previously
served in who I was able to see again while on
transfers with the Sister Training Leaders.

Friday: Waking up and realizing I was in Midway was so neat. It is just so fun to go back to one of your old areas (basically) and see familiar things and people and places. We had our studies, comp was really good and then we had language and then got ready to go. We then had lunch at a super good taqueria that I had eaten at with the Hermanas before. We had tacos and it was so good to be able to eat in a real taqueria and have real tacos again. We drove to Chicago Heights to meet back up and exchange back. We arrived at the library in Chicago Heights with enough time for us to go in and do some Facebook contacting, and so the STL could check my iPad. We exchanged back and Hermana Whitney and I went to one of our investigator's homes for his birthday. Once again him and his wife were kind of surprised that we actually came as we told them that we would and that we brought cookies and cinnamon rolls. He was very glad to see his "daughters" as he calls us and Hermana Whitney even called him Papi :) They were getting ready to go eat out for his birthday so we just dropped the goodies off and talked for a couple of minutes.

A Tres Leches Cupcake that we made for one of our
investigators who had a birthday this week.

Saturday: Another long but really good day! It seems like we have a lot of those! :) We had studies and then went to the library to teach one of our investigators over Facebook. Unfortunately he never came online as we had schedule with him, so we just had to drive to Chicago Heights. We parked our car and then started walking around trying to find people. No one was available to listen but we set up with a lot of people to come back tomorrow so that is good. It was a really warm day and walking around felt so good. We went to our appointment with a branch member who just got back from being in Puerto Rico for 7 months. She is such a fun person. She made us lunch, fish. Yep, I had been waiting for the day on my mission when someone was going to make me fish because I don't like fish. I have been surprised that it didn't happen sooner honestly, I count that as a tender mercy from Heavenly Father! :-) But just before eating I prayed REALLY hard that Heavenly Father would help me eat and enjoy the fish. When I took my first bite, it wasn't too bad. I was able to eat two whole pieces of fish. It definitely was not my favorite but I am so grateful I was able to do it. We shared with her a short message with the Because of Him video. We went to our lesson with one of the less actives that we have been working with. He is really good and is super calm and ready for his big surgery to remove a tumor in his stomach next week. He truly has the faith and had put himself in God's hands and is ready for whatever happens. We talked about enduring to the end (we thought that might be an appropriate topic) and he was very glad that we were able to visit him before he left for the hospital. After that Hna Whitney and I went to see our newest investigator to see how she was doing and if she was still good to attend Church tomorrow. She was really sad and said that the letters in the Book of Mormon were too small and she couldn't read them. We read from the introduction to her and talked about it. She really like talking with us and enjoyed telling us stories of her life. She said that she will come to Church tomorrow and we arranged with a branch member family to take her. Before we left we felt that we should sing her a song so Hna Whitney and I sang "I Am a Child of God" for her and she loved it. We headed to Whiting for our dinner apt with branch member hermana. Apparently Whiting is having a Pirogi (Polish food) Festival right now and so there is nowhere to park, unless you are willing to pay $15. So when we got there the hermana came out and moved her van forward about 6 inches which gave me a spot to parallel park in a spot that was just the size of our car, which means getting our car into that spot was a lot of fun! I have never really needed to parallel park before but we got it in there, after 10 times of "move forward 1 inch, cranking it, and backing up 1 inch"! I was pretty proud of myself afterwards though! We had a great spaghetti dinner with her and shared a little message about conversion.

My parallel parking job in Whiting, my Uncle Joe
who is a Driver's Ed teacher would be so proud of me!

Sunday: By all accounts, I should record today as a HORRIBLE day. If you look at it straight on, then yeah, it was a pretty bad day. But it never actually occurred to me to look at it as a bad day, instead I feel like it was a good day. We started with personal study which was really good. I read in Mosiah 2 and then studied about what a successful missionary is in preparation for our upcoming mission Sister's Conference. We then finished getting ready and headed to Church. The first sad thing about Church is that our new investigator wasn't able to make it. The branch member family that we had arranged to have her ride with had gone by and had talked with her but she told them she couldn't come because her children had left her to babysit her grandchildren. She did tell them that she really liked what we talked about with her and that she hoped to come next week. Then, Presidente pulled us into his office and told us that the new member who has been less active lately who had messaged us over Facebook this past Monday, was not doing good at all. Presidente then explained that he had actually talked to him that morning and that he had told him he wasn't going to come to church. He is having some pretty bad problems right now and so we are going to do the best we can to help him out. We then were able to have a mini MCM with the Elders and Presidente. It was great because Presidente is so willing to help and support us in any way he can. Another recently activated family was at church and their 12 year old son that we had taught and he recently received the Priesthood did a great job passing the Sacrament. After Church we went to Chicago Heights to contact people. One thing that made today very stressful and overwhelming is that we were under a 1/4 tank of gas and had less than 70 miles of range. Between going to Griffith for Church, and then to and from Chicago Heights, it was a little iffy it we would make it without running out of fuel. But we prayed a lot and we ended up making it everywhere we needed to go today! But yeah, today looks like it was a very overwhelming and bad day. But really, I haven't even been looking at it like that and so it has been fine! That is definitely I have learned to apply a lot as a missionary is to always look for and see the positive in everything and everyone.

Wow! I am pretty long winded this week, sorry about that! But it was a really good week, the downs just made the ups so much better! I love being out here and being a missionary! I love sharing the Gospel and seeing the joy that it brings. It is hard, but it is so worth it! I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week! I love you!

Hermana Allyse

Baptismal Date Set, Zone Training Meeting, Vines & Fruit...

2014-07-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hola Queridas Familia y Amigos!!! I hope that you all are having a wonderful day! I have had another really great week here in Indiana!

My mom will be happy to know that I found a Fazoli's!

Monday: I have yet to figure out how P-Days can possibly go SO fast. Yep, I have no idea! But they do, and here I am at the end of another very quick P-Day. After studies, emailing family, shopping and spending the rest of the day preparing for our week, we then went to our appointment with a branch member hermana and her family. It was so good. She made us some really good spicy meatballs and rice, she is an amazing cook. We enjoyed talking with her and her daughter that is our age who has a little boy. We shared the "Your Potential, Your Privilege" video and Hermana really liked it because she has seen the potential and blessings she has in her life because of the Gospel because she can see the difference of before she had the Gospel.

Zone Conference Snack Kit
Red "Vines" and "Fruit" Snacks

Tuesday: Today was a very long but super good day! We got up earlier then our normal missionary time so that we could get ready to go to Zone Training Meeting. We got to the Valpo Stake Center about 8:00 and practiced the choir number with the rest of the Zone. We sang "I See Our Zion". It is such a beautiful and powerful song. President Woodbury actually wrote it. After practicing, we had our Zone Training Meeting. It was so good. We started by listening to a dynamic sister who is the perfect example of a member missionary. She taught us about how we can build trust and better work with the members. She is such a funny and amazing person. I definitely want to be a member missionary like her after my mission. We then performed our song, it went really well. President Woodbury then spoke to us. He talked about building Zion, gathering Israel as missionaries. We learned about being the pure in heart and about D&C 27:30 and the qualifications of baptism. The way that we become the pure in heart is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We then listened to the Sister Training Leaders. This was really neat because my trainer, Hermana Toney, was called as a STL and she is the one that came to our Zone Conference. So I got to see her and talk with her a bit which was awesome. Her and her companion, Sister Hone, taught us about the recent adjustments to missionary work and specifically about teaching PMG Lesson 5 to investigators. Our Zone Leaders taught us about the power of the Book of Mormon by having us role play and have the faith to just open the Book of Mormon and start reading and be able to have the answer to our "investigator's" question of the soul. It was really neat and really helped reinforce to us how vital the Book of Mormon is in our work. We then had final closing comments from President Woodbury: The Atonement of Jesus Christ heals ALL pain. Definitely a very personal message for me and everyone else in the Zone! My family sent another Zone Meeting Treat Box with red "Vines" and

Zone Meeting Snack Kit Package

"Fruit" snacks. They referenced John 15:4-8, where Christ explains that he is the "Vine" and we are branches and if we abide in him we will bring forth great "Fruit". Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the message and treats. In the afternoon we had President's Interviews. Hermana Whitney and I ended up being last on the schedule. So we went and had a super yummy lunch at Fazoli's and then went to the chiropractor. Back at the Church we finally got in for interviews. President thanked me for the love and care that I gave Hermana Escobar and that he knows I am going to have a great transfer with Hermana Whitney. We then headed home and then had studies for the rest of the evening. I had a really good personal study reading 2 Nephi 9.

Wednesday: Our first appointment was with a young man that missionaries have been looking for since February 19. Hermana Whitney had contacted him when she was hear on exchanges one time. He had been looking so sad and depressed but lit up when she contacted him and told him a little about the Gospel. But since then missionaries had never been able to meet with him. He would text us random questions but would never want to get together to talk about it. He always continued to ask if Hermana Whitney was there, but she wasn't because she had been here on exchanges. Then, the night of transfer calls a couple of weeks ago, he texted asking if Hermana Whitney was there. This was about an hour before we got the call saying she was being transferred in. We said she wasn't right then but would he like to meet sometime this next week. He said sure and then we got the call that Hermana Whitney was coming back. Coincidence? I think not! It ended up not working out to meet with him last week but we were able to make an appointment for today. He walked/ran for 30 minutes to a park to be able to meet us! It was so amazing because he has such a desire to learn and know. He is searching for truth, he truly is hungry for it and it is so amazing to see. The lesson on the Restoration went really well. He had so many questions and we were able to help explain some of them to him and it was just so good! He told us that if he could ask God one question, it would be to know what he will be doing from now (he is 18) until he is 25. We promised him that if he read the Book of Mormon, he would find his answer. Then, he accepted a baptismal date for August 16. Oh! It was SO good! Both Hermana Whitney and I came out of that lesson grinning from ear to ear.

After that incredible lesson we stopped by some investigators we had been teaching when I first got here but then they just disappeared for a while and we hadn't been able to get a hold of them. We found them at home and were able to talk to them a bit and make an appointment for next week! We were also able to see another family that we are working with and was able to talk with them for a little while as well. We did some Facebook contacting and also stopped by some other contacts looking for opportunities to teach. We baked a tres leches cake for one of our investigators who is having a birthday tomorrow. I was kind of nervous to do it on my own because I had always had Hermana Escobar to help me, but it all turned out just fine!

An example of what my mission journal looks like

Thursday: We had some good studies this morning and then had lunch. After that we did weekly planning. It is so long sometimes but definitely pays off! We are working on planning really effectively and really going by the needs of the people we are working with. I finished up our tres leches cake and then we headed to Chicago Heights for the afternoon. We first went to an investigator's house for his wife's birthday. We took our cake and they both couldn't believe that we actually came and that we brought cake! They were super excited and immediately invited us in and to eat pazole with them. We had cake afterwards and they absolutely loved it so that made me happy. His son was there too. We had such a good time talking with them. The hermano is SO funny and entertaining. He told us how he felt like even though he only had 3 kids, he felt like God had finally sent him 2 more daughters, us! He nicknamed us "Whitney Houston" and "Miniatura". Like I said he is super awesome. We read a little bit from 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon with them.

After that awesome lesson we went to our lesson with a less active family. It went pretty good. We taught the Restoration with emphasis on Priesthood Authority because we wanted to help their son understand the Priesthood a little more since he just received it a few weeks ago. The son has so many questions and sometimes it is hard to keep everyone on topic, but it was a good lesson and I think they learned a lot. After that teaching appointment we tried stopping by a potential investigator who told us yesterday that she would be home all afternoon today, but sadly enough she wasn't. On our way home we stopped by a former investigator's house who once had a baptismal date. But they told us they weren't interested right now because they are going to another church.

10 Months of filling my Mission Journal

Friday: 10 Months!!! I actually didn't even think about it being my 10 month mark until the evening. Isn't that so crazy? Didn't I just barely have my 9 month mark?!?! Today was a good day though. We went to our lesson with one of our investigators and her kids. But they weren't home :( We were so sad because we had been planning on talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and planting some flower and cucumber seeds with them to explain faith. So instead we went to visit one of our investigators with a baptismal date set that we hadn't been able to contact for a little while. She was home and so we were able to go in and share a little message with her. She hadn't had a chance to read in the Book of Mormon so we read part of 2 Nephi 31 with her and discussed baptism. She thinks baptism is very important and is something she wants to do. She did tell us that the closer church building with an English speaking unit would be better for her though so we will have to hand her off to the English Sisters now. We tried to find some other people after that but no one was home. We drove to Dyer, Indiana for our lunch appointment with a less active. It was really good because she figured we didn't often get to have fun casual American food and so she grilled us some hot dogs. They were way good and we had a good time talking with her and her daughter. We shared the video "Because of Him" and talked about the Atonement. After that lesson we went to our next lesson with one of our other investigators on a baptismal date. Unfortunately she wasn't home so we tried catching some other potential investigators. We went to the library and did some proselyting and contacting on Facebook.

Saturday: Today was a good day, a long and busy day, but a really good day. We had studies in the morning. Then we drove to Chicago Heights to see if we could meet with one of the families we are teaching with some little girls. The mom wasn't home so we weren't able to teach them them so then we headed to another investigator and her family. They were home but we weren't able to teach them because they are getting ready to move. We helped them pack a little bit and then went driving around Chicago Heights to try and find them some cardboard boxes to pack things in. We found a few at Jewel Osco and then were able to stop by a branch member's house who had a lot of boxes. When we took the boxes to to this family they were so happy and surprised because the husband hadn't been able to find any boxes. We had an appointment with a member who isn't able to come to Church too often because her daughter has special needs. She was so sweet and made us some AMAZING spaghetti, and lots of it! We were soooo full after that appointment. We were able to teach a less active hermano and his niece. The niece really took a liking to us. We talked about the Liahona with hermano because he wants to get his patriarchal blessing and then we talked a little about the Book of Mormon with the niece. They said that they would come to Church tomorrow if we could find someone to give them a ride, we are so excited!!! After searching for a few more contacts with no luck, we headed towards home. We had a sad conversation via text with our new investigator who has a baptismal date set and learned that he is leaving in the morning and will be gone for at least 2 weeks. That is sad because he has so much potential, but we will do what we can.

Sunday: After getting up and getting ready, we headed to Church for our MCM meeting with our branch mission leader. But, literally 2 minutes away from the Church (it takes us 30 minutes to get there) he called and canceled :( So instead we worked on reporting on lessons and planning for this next week. All of the craziness of trying to arrange rides to get our less active hermano to and from Church paid off when he actually came! For the first time in more than 4 years he was in Church and was able to take the Sacrament and renew his covenants. Watching the less actives that I am helping take the Sacrament are some of the best moments or my mission because I understand the meaning and the importance of the Sacrament so much better now. It makes me so happy to see that I am able to help these people in some small way to come closer to Christ and to progress once again on the pathway back to our Heavenly Father. We also had a really awesome surprise when a hermana come to Church who has been in Puerto Rico for 7 months, I hadn't ever met her before! She finally got back this week and she is so great, plus she lives in Chicago Heights so that is gong to really help us with having member present lessons. Sacrament Meeting was interesting. The first speaker talked for about 40 minutes, until about only 5 minutes of the meeting was left. Then, the counselor conducting had us sing the intermediate hymn (ALL of the verses), had his grandson speak (who had to talk in English and then have the counselor translate to Spanish every word), and then the other counselor stood up and talked too!!! Needless to say, that meeting ran very late! But our less active hermano felt very happy and welcome in the Church, so that is all I was worried about! After Church we drove to Chicago Heights to look for a couple of contacts and we went to help a member with some paperwork. We read in Alma 32 with him and then helped him know what the papers were asking him for.

As you can see it was a super good and busy week! We did a lot of teaching and finding. This week is looking even fuller than last week so we are excited and happy about that! The work in this area is definitely hastening and there is so much to do! Thank you all so much for your love and support! I love you all so much!

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Transfers... it is hard to say goodbye, it is exciting to welcome back a Hermana!

2014-07-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Me and my awesome new companion, Hermana Whitney

Hello SUPER Family and Friends! I have had another really good week, a week of changes, but a week of goodness! I hope all is going well for you and I am excited for you to read about my great week!

Monday: Last day with Hermana Escobar. I was so sad, it was a hard day. But it was also a VERY busy day. We started studies at 7:00 so we would have a bit more time to do everything. We then went and emailed for a bit. After That we went to the mall and I got my ears pierced. Yep, I am nearly 20 years old and I just got my ears pierced for the first time, Hermana Escobar talked me into it. It didn't hurt at all and I think I am going to like these a little bit. We then did a little shopping at the mall because we found some cute stuff on a super good sale. I got some fun earrings that will be great to have. After that we drove to Valparaiso and ate at the pretzel shop and got cupcakes while waiting for the chiropractor to open. He adjusted both me and Hermana Escobar and we both left there feeling really good. We then drove to the Church building to use the computers there to finish up emailing and some other things we needed to do before Hermana Escobar left. When P-Day ended, we went to our first appointment with a branch member family. They fed us and we had a really good time talking with them. They were so, so sad to see Hermana Escobar leaving. There were a lot of tears and pictures. We then hurried over to another branch member family. That was absolutely heart breaking. They all were so sad to see Hermana Escobar leaving.

A wonderful branch member family saying goodbye...

They love the missionaries and they have basically adopted Hermana Escobar because they are that awesome. She spent some time showing the girls her journal and writing them little notes on Chicago post cards she had made for them. When the time came to say goodbye, it was one of the hardest things I have ever watched. As we were leaving, Hermano gave her an envelope. On the way home she opened it and found a very heart felt note and a very generous surprise. We were both very emotional the entire way home because of that special family. It was a very sacred night to share with her because she felt such love from these families that she has served so well. That evening we spent getting Hna Escobar all finished up packing, I cleaned the apartment a bit, and set up Hna Whitney's new desk with a few little fun surprises. We got a Dominos pizza delivery courtesy of my amazing family and that made a fun end to a crazy evening and the most amazing companionship.

Saying Goodbye to Dear Hermana Escobar on Transfer Day

Tuesday: Tuesday was our crazy and sad day. We got everything loaded up finally, our poor car was soooo packed. I don't think I could have gotten anything else in there, and I know how to pack a car, my Daddy taught me well :-) We ran by the English Sister's apartment to get someone's transfer journal and then made our way north through Chicago to transfers. The transfer meeting was really good. It was so crazy for me to see only 4 new missionaries come in because I came in such a large group. Poor Hermana Escobar was having a really hard time during the meeting because her muscles kept spasming and hurting so much. We had to walk out a couple times. I was able to massage some of the knots in her arms a little bit and it made me so happy and so sad to be able to help her out one last time. Then it came time to move things all over the place and say goodbye. Saying goodbye to Hermana Escobar was one of the hardest things I have had to do on my mission since saying goodbye to my family. We have become so close and I am going to miss her so much. But I am so excited to have Hermana Whitney as my new companion! We stopped by the mission office for some supplies, things for Hermana Escobar, and to drop off her cousins' birthday present (Hermana Escobar has a cousin in the same mission!). We then started on our long drive back to Indiana. We did just a little bit of shopping at Walmart and then took Hermana Whitney and her stuff home. We unloaded the car, got her a little situated, and then went a did some Facebook contacting and then headed to our appointment with a hermana from the branch. She has been out of the country so I didn't really know her at all so it was a good evening getting to know her. She made us some really good Mole (pronounced mole-A and is made from chocolate, chiles, peanuts, and bananas, it is a spicy and sometimes sweet sauce that is normally served over chicken.) We shared a message with her and her less active grandson about missionary work and shared Mosiah 28:3. It was a really awesome first day with Hermana Whitney and I can tell we are going to have a great transfer together!

Nice to find out that District Meeting was in Valpo
today instead of in Griffith...

Wednesday: My first full day with Hermana Whitney as my companion was really good. We had some good studies and then drove to Griffith for District Meeting. We walked in but couldn't find where our District was so I called the Elders to ask what room they were in. Elder Angeletti told me, "the one where we had Zone Training Meeting." I was so confused because we didn't have Zone Training at the Griffith building. Then he was like, "District Meeting is at Valparaiso today." And we were like WHAT?!? He said that they thought they had texted us about it, but we didn't get a text. So we grudgingly got back into the car and drove clear over to Valpo. We got there just in time for the last 30 minutes of District Meeting. It was good though. We learned about ways we can work better with and involve the members more. After that we drove home and had lunch hour before spending some Facebook proselyting time at the library. We then drove into Chicago Heights to work for the afternoon. We did a lot of stop-by's. A lot of people weren't home but some were. We went to potential new investigator's house. He was home and stepped outside to talk to us for a minute. He went off for a long time about how great he thought it was that young people like us would go out and help make people happy. He explained that he is super busy and doesn't really have time to listen to us now, but maybe someday. He was really nice but it just breaks your heart when people don't feel the need to listen to your message and they don't realize what they are giving up. But he has a seed and someday he will want it. We also tried to find some less active members but a person at their address told us that they don't live there anymore. After looking for a some other people, we headed home to have dinner and language study. Hermana Whitney made us pasta and we had a good rest of the evening talking and studying. Today was kind of hard for me though. I missed Hermana Escobar sooooooo much! It really does feel like my best friend and my sister has been taken away from me. Her and I became so close and now I hate not being with her. It is one of the hardest things about my mission so far honestly. It is a similar feeling to when I left my family. But I know it is the Lord's will though and He really does know what is best for us and more importantly for the people and for the area. I am excited for this new adventure with Hermana Whitney!

Thursday: We had a nice full morning of all of our studies. I had a really good time studying about Zion in preparation for Zone Training Meeting. In companion study we planned our lesson for one of our investigators and then for language study we read in el Libro de Mormón together. We then had our lunch hour and then started weekly planning. I made our list of all of the people we are working with and then said the "big prayer", it took 20 minutes which is pretty typical. We then started planning for the rest of this week and next. It is taking a lot of time because it is my first time doing it without Hermana Escobar and I am doing all that I can to make sure that no one falls through the cracks. After some time of that, we went to the library and did Facebook contacting. We the drove to the chiropractor so that Hermana Whitney could get some relief for her pretty messed up back. After a very interesting scenic and back roads tour of every small town from Valpo to Hammond, including Gary, (thanks to our GPS) we arrived at our appointment with a branch member family just in time. It was such a good appointment with them. We ate and talked and laughed. They really are the most amazing family. The three girls are so cute. One of them was eating all of this lettuce and then decided she was a rabbit so she went and got a tail and acted like a rabbit. It was so fun! We had a great lesson with them and shared the "Your Potential, Your Privilege" Mormon Message. They really liked it and we talked about how we have so much potential because we are children of Heavenly Father and how we can't ever forget it and we need to help others recognize it as well. We then had a good discussion with one of the hermanas of the branch about how we can help strength the other hermanas of the branch. After that really good appointment we hurried back to Gary for MCM. It went really good. We had a really good, long report to give the branch mission leader so that made all of us really happy. His wife then fed us tacos and Hermana Whitney and I and the Elders who had just eaten a huge deep dish pizza gladly accepted the food, even though we were already stuffed, because that is what you do as a missionary. We then went home and and completed our nightly planning.

Friday: After having studies we went to Chicago Heights to meet with an investigator. Unfortunately he wasn't home because he had to go work so instead we went and visited an investigator and her kids. It was so awesome because when we first got there she told her kids that she didn't have time to meet with us right then. But her children pleaded and told her that we were bringing the word of God, of course she had time to listen. Mind you these kids are 8-14 so that was really neat! We were so amazed and excited to see that not only had the kids read the chapter we left them, but they had highlighted things they liked too! We taught them the Restoration using the pictures in the pamphlets and they really liked it and understood it. It was a really good lesson and it felt like Hermana Whitney and I were able to teach together with a lot of power and unity. We almost were able to put them on date for baptism, but the mom understands what a big commitment that is and wants to wait just a bit so that she can know this is the right path for her and her family. After teaching them we went to see an old investigator of Hermana Whitney's that we had been trying to get in with for a while. She was home and let us sit down and teach her the Restoration. Again, I felt like the lesson went really well and she agreed, although a little hesitantly, to a baptismal date! We then went to our lesson with a part member family we have been working with. It was...well...frustrating and sad. The hermana (our investigator) gave us watermelon and we were talking with her about her husband Francisco (recent convert). She told us how he has lost all desire and excitement for Church and just doesn't want anything to do with it, they haven't been to church in almost a month. Whenever he hears that we are coming over, he leaves. It breaks my heart to hear that because he was so solid. Then things got even worse when one of her evangelist friends showed up and sat in to listen. She was a fighter and wouldn't let us get in a single word without telling us how we were wrong. It was so frustrating and sad. It breaks my heart to know that I have a message that brings such joy and happiness, but that I can't share it sometimes. Needless to say, it was a rough lesson as we tried to read the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It got a little better when Hermana Whitney and I sang "I Am a Child of God". But I still left that lesson so sad for that family. We then headed towards home, stopped and worked on contacting some people via Facebook for a little bit, and the went home and had dinner, language study, and did some more weekly planning.

Saturday: Today started a with a beautiful rainstorm that lasted through the entire morning. I absolutely love the rain here. It is just so crazy because it comes down so fast that everything floods. We had studies and then drove to Chicago Heights to meet with an investigator. But when we got there he told us he had a problem because someone had asked for his help because their basement was flooding. He told us he would be back in the afternoon so we rescheduled for then. We went to the library and did Facebook proselyting and then had a quick lunch at Burger King. After that we called our investigator to see if we could come by then but he said he was actually at the doctor's for a checkup so a bit later would be better. We then went looking for a lot of old potential investigators that had been on our lists for a long time. We found out that a lot of them no longer lived at the addresses we had. That is sad but also nice because it helps us clean up our records and keep everything accurate. We were able to get a potential investigator out of it so that was great! We were also able to get some return appointments with people for this next week so that was great. Once again we called our investigator again to see if we could pass by and he told us that he was on his way to the hospital in Chicago because he had super high blood pressure and some other things going on. He told us he was okay but felt so bad he wouldn't be able to meet with us. We told him to not even worry about it and that we were praying for him. We then decided to look for some former investigators in the trailer park that Hermana Whitney used to know. We found a hermana and his wife, who are actually the parents of one of our investigators. They were so happy to have us in their home and we spent quite a while talking and discussing. We shared a little message about the Book of Mormon and they told us that we are welcome in their home anytime. They listen to anyone who brings the word of God. They aren't interested in changing...yet, but they were so fun and enjoyable to talk to, we think we can warm them up to the idea. We then went and saw another former investigator of Hermana Whitney's and he was so happy to see us too. We talked to him for a bit, well he loves to talk so he mostly talked and we mostly listened. He is another person who listens to anyone preaching the word of God. He is very nice and we will try stopping by him occasionally. After that we were able to make contact with a potential investigator that missionaries had been looking for for months. He was home but too busy to listen at that point but gave us a time next week we could go back. After that we tried the house of another potential investigator but no on answered. We headed to Whiting and our dinner appointment with a hermana branch member. It was really good. She cooks really good food and made me eat seconds, then we had ice cream too! I was so full :-) but being in the Spanish program, you definitely learn how to stuff it down! We showed her a video about the Temple and talked about the blessings of the Temple. She enjoyed talking and telling us her life story. A lot of people like doing that and as missionaries you learn to be very good listeners. We then helped her set up some fans before we left. Back at home we had language study and then nightly planning.

Sunday: We had a SUPER Sunday! This morning we were able to get in a little bit of personal study before heading to Church. Everyone was so excited to see Hermana Whitney back in the branch and it made my job a lot easier because she knew mostly everyone. Unfortunately our part member investigator family didn't come, which was really sad. But the another investigator family as well as another investigator of ours did come to church, so we were way excited. The Elders also had a few people there so we were able to help them out. For Sacrament Meeting one of the speakers was from the Stake Relief Society Presidency, and she doesn't speak Spanish. So the Branch Presidente asked Hermana Whitney to translate. It was quite the experience. It is really hard because you have to listen and translate what they are saying and say it plus at the same time be keeping up with what they are saying so you know what your are supposed to translate next. It was crazy but she did a really good job! Finally, 45 minutes after Church ended we were able to say goodbye to everyone who was excited to talk to Hermana Whitney again and head home. We had lunch and then did our studies. After studies we called a few people, did some planning, tried to scout out some places nearby we can go knocking, and then drove to our appointment with the Branch Presidente and his family. It was so much fun to be with his cute family and talk with them and watch their two adorable daughters. We had a good dinner and then shared a video about the Temple and talked about the blessing we have from the Temple. Back at home we had comp inventory and then nightly planning.

I am learning, although I always knew it, that change is a part of life. Things cannot ever stay the same because we cannot stay the same and still return back to our Heavenly Father. We are here on earth to change, to stretch, to grow. I absolutely loved the time that I had with Hermana Escobar and I KNOW that we are going to be friends and hermanas for eternity. But now I am so excited for this adventure with Hermana Whitney. I am excited because I know it means I am going to learn and experience new and different things and I am going to change and grow. I hope you all have an amazing week and please know how much I love each one of you and how grateful I am for you in my life!

Eternal Love, Hermana Allyse

Shhh, please don't tell my mom I got my ears pierced! :-)

Happy 4th of July, Transfer Calls with a twist!

2014-07-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hermana Escobar and I on Independence Day

Hello Dear Family and Friends, it has been a crazy and busy week...

Monday: We had a pretty normal P-Day today. We were able to email for quite a bit and then went and did the shopping we needed to do at Walmart, Aldi's, and the Dollar Store. I had no idea before my mission but have definitely learned how awesome the Dollar Store is!!! :) We then had a little more emailing time and then spent the rest of the afternoon at home because Hermana Escobar wasn't feeling too good and we wanted her to rest up good for our crazy day tomorrow. That evening there was an INSANE storm. I had no idea how much crazier Midwest storms are than back in Utah. It was blowing and raining so hard, I couldn't believe it. That evening as I was going to sleep, I watched the room light up literally every 2 seconds as lightening flashed. It was so crazy!!!

Tuesday: CRAZY day today!!! There is so much to tell, I better just start from the beginning. We had studies and then got ready to go to Chicago Heights and our appointment with a hermano investigator. We headed out and quickly discovered that the storm last night was much, much worse than we had thought. We realized this as we got to a stoplight where we needed to turn and found that the stoplight had no power and that half of it was actually, in fact, lying on the ground. Needless to say, that road was closed and we had to take a detour. Nearly all of the stop lights were not working and we had fun driving all over the road trying to avoid the branches and entire trees lying in our path. It was SO crazy! We were finally able to get back onto an open main road, but we were going to be super late to our appointment. Luckily, he texted asking if we could meet this afternoon instead, which was perfect for us. We finally got to Chicago Heights, it took 1.5 hours verses the regular 30-40 minutes, and we discovered that the damage from the storm was even worse in Illinois than it had been in Indiana. None of the stoplights were working and most of the area didn't have any power at all. We decided to try our luck with some stop-by's. We went to one of our investigator's homes and found her there with her 6 kids and with the power being out, they were bored to death. So we played the Plan of Salvation game with them and they really enjoyed it! They asked a lot of questions and we had a lot of fun. I felt really good about the lesson because I felt like I was able to contribute and teach a lot. We then hurried back to Dyer in Indiana to have a lunch appointment with a less active hermana that surprised us by coming to Church last Sunday. It was sooooo good! She was so nice and made us some super good food. We enjoyed talking with her and getting to know her and her kids. We shared a scripture and she said she would love for us to make it a weekly thing to visit them, which is just fine with us! After that really good appointment we drove back to Chicago Heights and had a little bit of Facebook contacting time at McDonald's. It ended with Hermana Escobar getting hit on by one of the employees and we had to leave real quickly. #SisterMissionaryProblems. After that we had a great lesson with another one of our investigators. We read in 3 Nephi 11 with her and discussed baptism. That night we went to a less active family's home. We had scheduled a lesson with them but when we got there they were too busy cleaning up from the storm. So we convinced them to let us help them. We ended up stripping copper from wire for them so they could sell it, and we got some great blisters from it! That night we went home, had dinner, and had language study.

No Hitchhiking, especially as Sister Missionaries!

Wednesday: Wednesday was kind of a rough day for both Hna Escobar and I. The medicine that she is on started causing her to have severe panic attacks today, not fun at all! They were kind of scary and just made it super rough for the both of us. But we went to District Meeting where we learned about how amazing the Book of Mormon is at answering questions of the soul. After a Priesthood Blessing that helped Hna Escobar so much, we headed to Chicago Heights. We were able to have a short little lesson with a hermana investigator and her kids because their power was still out! We talked about Faith and used seeds to help them plant to teach them, it went really good. We then went to our appointment with a less active. But she was asleep so instead we ended up playing the Plan of Salvation Game with her daughter who is 8 and not yet a member, and her cousin who is the same age and absolutely loves us! We had a lot of fun and the cousin, was really interested and had such a sincere desire to learn! That night we had our branch mission leader and his wife come out with us to a couple of lessons. We saw a less active family and were able to share Helaman 5:12 with them. We hoped and prayed that lesson went okay because Hno walked in there and just started calling them to repentance and talked a lot, but we think they took it okay :) We then had a quick lesson with them and one of our hermana investigators. It went good and she was really happy to talk with our ward mission leader and his wife, they are from the same place in Mexico so she gets along really well with them. That is so important because she needs all the support she can get right now!

Our Awesome July 4th cake
that we made and took to the barbecue

Thursday: Happy Birthday to my most amazing Mom!!!
Today started out VERY stressful. We hadn't been able to find the phone the night before to plug it in so we assumed it was in the car and just planned to get it the next morning. Well, that morning after showering I went searching for it. Hermana Escobar was still asleep because she just was not feeling good at all. After looking for it for nearly 2 hours, cleaning the ENTIRE car and apartment 3 times, I concluded that the phone was not in either place, just a slight problem. I finally had to wake her up to ask if she had any ideas where the phone could be. She didn't have any ideas of places that I hadn't already checked for the phone in 5 times already. So we had to wait for the apartment office to open so we could call the English Sisters and get their address to go over and use their phone to try and locate our phone. The English Sisters would not answer their phone because they didn't know the number we were calling from, even though we called them 7 times in a row. Thankfully the Hebron Sisters did answer and we were able to go over there. We used their phone to call our phone. Someone picked up and said something really garbled but then didn't respond when we tried to talk to them in English or Spanish. We tried calling the two families that we had been at last night, but neither answered their phones. So we headed to Chicago Heights to retrace our steps and try and find our phone. We stopped at the first family's place, and it wasn't there. We went to the second family we had visited and couldn't find it in their trailer. As we were getting ready to leave, at this point wondering if we would actually get our phone back, we decided to check where we had been parked on a field the night before. We hadn't checked there earlier because they had been mowing the field, a fact that had worried both of us. Hermana Escobar walked up there and found the phone lying in a field, just a couple of feet from where they were mowing!!! It had a little water damage but after a little TLC in a bag of rice, it is just fine! We couldn't believe it! We still don't know how or who answered it when it was lying in the middle of a field, but we are just so grateful that we found it! Heavenly Father definitely loves and looks out for his children! We stopped by one of our investigators to see if they needed any help in preparation for their mom coming today. They didn't so we headed to Hermana Escobar's doctor appointment. This time it was with a general practitioner to see if he had any ideas. He did. After talking with her and looking at all of the symptoms and tests, he agreed with us that fibromyalgia is VERY likely. He basically diagnosed her with it. Fibromyalgia is just hard to diagnose because it is basically a last resort diagnosis, meaning if you don't have anything else, than it is probably that. We had been thinking about it for a while and her symptoms and background match up so perfectly with that. He wanted to prescribe her about 5 different medicines right there, but she is just going to go with the headache medicine he prescribed, the psychiatrist he said she should see, and wean herself off of the medicine from the neurologist, then we will work from there. It is so nice to finally have someone that agrees with us and takes us seriously about what we have been thinking. We still don't have the answers yet, but we are headed in a direction which is definitely a plus! After that doctor's appointment, we went home and spent the rest of the evening letting Hermana Escobar rest because she wasn't feeling good at all and had a SUPER bad headache.

Friday: Happy 4th of July! Happy Independence Day! It was such a special day to be serving a missionary because I think of all of the many sacrifices that have been made, are being made, and will be made to protect us and the freedoms we so enjoy. Especially as a missionary, I recognize that I would not have this incredible opportunity to preach the Gospel if it were not for all that has gone into our liberties and freedoms and for the Lord's guiding hand of our country. I know that it is not perfect, nothing ran by man can be. But we really do live in the most blessed nation. I love this scripture: "And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose..." (D&C 101:80) God really does bless the USA and I love how this talk explains more about this Promised Land in which we live: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1987/10/our-divine-constitution?lang=eng

Great members who hosted us for their 4th of July BBQ

Spelling out "USA" for a photo on Independence Day

Today was a very different, but very good, 4th. We spent the morning at home, studying and such because Hermana still wasn't feeling good at all. Then we realized we had promised that we would bring a Tres Leches cake to the barbecue we were invited to and we had totally forgotten. So we had to run to Mejier (pronounced Myer, a huge Walmart type store) and get stuff to make the cake. We made the cake together and studied then headed to the barbecue. They are the same family from the English Ward that we spent Memorial Day with. On the way there, we had the idea to decorate our cake to look like an American Flag. So we stopped at Mejier again and got stuff to do it, then Hermana Escobar decorated it on the drive there! The English Sisters were there too. It was a super fun afternoon. One of the brothers was incredible! He bought each of us Sisters a super good $12 steak and we got to choose which cut we wanted and then he grilled it up right there for us! I had a New York cut and it was SO good! We also had other really good barbecue food and I definitely ate my fill! It was fun to talk with everyone and watch the kids light off fireworks. It is so crazy how different it is here compared with Utah for fireworks. Here, fireworks are sold and lit year round. The family we were with just bought a HUGE box of all types of fireworks, most you can't even use in Utah even during the 7 days around the holidays! Of course as missionaries we couldn't have anything to do with them, but it was fun and sometimes a little scary to watch! The English Sisters also had an investigator come and he brought a chess board. Everyone had a lot of fun playing him. Although he definitely didn't let on to how good he was and he beat everyone! I also got to drive the lawn mower tractor this time, so that was fun too! When President gave us permission to go to this barbecue with the English Sisters, he asked that we stay for only 2 hours. All too soon that time was up and we had to leave. We stopped to post on Facebook really fast and then got home just in time for our July 4th 7:00pm curfew. We spent some fun time taking pictures for Facebook and then had our evening inside. I was able to see a few fireworks from our bedroom window but we definitely were not in the right place to see them real well :-) it was such a good 4th of July and I am so thankful for the special significance it was to me this year as a missionary.

Saturday: Nothing too interesting happened today. Oh I forgot, it was TRANSFER CALLS day, that was a little interesting :) We were actually at home all day because Hna Escobar wasn't feeling good at all. But that was okay because we ended up having plenty to do! So, we get this call at about 11:00 am. To our surprise it was President Woodbury, our mission president. He was calling just to check with Hna Escobar to see that what he was thinking was okay with her before he finalized any transfer stuff. Yeah, in case you are wondering, that doesn't happen very often!!! Actually, like never! But as I have learned, she is a "special" case! :-) JK But yes, my companion is being transferred :-( We had kind of been expecting it but I had been praying that it wouldn't happen because I love being her companion so much and am learning tons. But, the Lord has called her somewhere else. She is going to be serving in Rensselaer, which is actually the only other place in the Valpo Stake that Hermanas can go!!! So she is staying close, which is such a blessing to me. It is actually an English branch but they translate for the Spanish Speakers and teach in both English and Spanish. It is crazy because we met a member of that branch yesterday at the barbecue and he was like, "Maybe we will be seeing one of you sisters down in Rensselaer sometime!" So we found out she was leaving at 11:00 am but President was too rushed and couldn't tell me anything about my new companion. The rest of that day was quite painful, just waiting knowing we were changing but not knowing who I was going to be getting. Hna Escobar decided that since we were home, she might as well pack. It was so sad but I am so excited for her because President told us it is the best place in the mission for healing because the Branch Members are SO amazing. She was completely packed within an hour! We spent the rest of the day talking and preparing everything for her to leave and me to take over the area. Finally at 9:45 that night, we got a call from AP Elder Jacobs telling us what was going down with transfers. You will never believe it! Hermana Whitney is coming back to Griffith (she was here a year ago) to finish her mission (she has 1 transfer left) and she is going to be my companion!!! I love her so much and am SO pumped to be her companion! The craziest thing happened right before we got the call. We had a random number text us asking if Hermana Whitney was there. We said she wasn't but asked if we could take a message. We found out he was a potential investigator she had found here 4 months ago but hadn't ever been taught because he always wanted Hermana Whitney. Coincidence? I think not!!! So yeah, I am so sad to be losing Hna Escobar, but this is the best possible outcome I could ever think of!!!

Sunday: Was a super busy day filled with a lot of goodbye's for Hermana Escobar. Church was good, the less active family that we are working with a lot, were at Church and their son passed the Sacrament for the first time! It was the coolest thing ever! It was also amazing because the other deacon in the branch, was also there and so we had two deacons passing the Sacrament for the first time ever in the history of the branch, it was the coolest! Everyone is so sad to be seeing Hna Escobar leaving, they truly love her and she loves them so much! That afternoon we went to Chicago Heights and stopped by a lot of people to say goodbye and let her take pictures. We then had our dinner with the branch Presidente and his family. They are such a cute little family, we love visiting with them so much!

Happy 4th of July!!!

So that was our CRAZY week! A lot happened and a lot is about to change! I am so excited and also so sad that Hna Escobar and I won't be companions any more. I have learned so much from her and we have been through so much together. I don't think and hope I won't ever have a relationship like this with another companion on my mission! We are tight! Thank you so much for all of your love and support! I love you all! Have an amazing week and I will talk to you all and tell you about my adventures next week!

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Gospel of Jesus Christ brings great JOY!

2014-06-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

P-day Selfie at the beach...

Hola Querida Familia! It has been another week, another super good week! We were able to do so much and really find joy in the journey so it has been wonderful. Life is going great, my Spanish is getting better, I really love and am learning so much from Hermana Escobar, and it has been rainy, so everything is pretty much fabulous! :-)

Monday: We had a super busy P-Day today! We woke up at 6:00 so that we could be studying by 6:30, to be out the door at 8:30, to shop and email before 10:00, to leave for Zone Activity at the beach that started at 11:00! Whew! I am exhausted already just writing that out! :-) But we had some good studies and then went to a couple of stores to get some groceries and a couple other things we needed. We then went to the library to be able to email for just a couple of minutes before we had to leave, carpooling with the English Sisters, for Zone Activity. Lucky for me, the English Sisters got confused on the time for the activity and so we ended up having a little bit longer on the computers than planned, which was really nice for me! We then got some lunch at Arby's and drove to Porter Beach near Michigan City on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Jumping for Joy on my Mission!
(Doesn't living the Gospel of Jesus Christ
bring such great JOY?)

We had SUCH a fun Zone Activity! It was warm and really humid but wasn't horrible. We were able to stick our toes in the water and it was so wonderful. I have to admit, being at the beach when it was so warm and the water looked so inviting and not even being able to think about swimming was super hard for me! There was even a kayak that some ward members brought and it made me wish for my kayak! But, I survived! We played sand volleyball for quite a while and I had a lot of fun. We also played the Book of Mormon version of Ships and Sailors and "Duck, Duck, Goose", as well as Signs. There were some members there as well as some investigators and it was just a lot of fun! After a couple of hours this INSANE rainstorm came in. We were soaked in minutes and it was so great! I counted it as a tender mercy from The Lord because I ended up getting as wet as I would have swimming! We had fun playing on the sand and running around for awhile. But, when there started to be a lot of lightning, we knew it was time to leave. We all then made the hike through the sand and rain and lightning to our car. We are grateful for carpooling with the English Sisters so it wasn't our car that got all dirty from our soaked and sand covered bodies :-) it we the best Zone Activity EVER!

Missionaries, Members & Investigators at the beach

We then drove back to the library where our car was and then Hermana Escobar and I ran home and rinsed off and changed real quickly and went back to the library to email some more. We then went and had our dinner appointment with a branch member hermana. It was sooo good because she made us tostadas de tinga (spicy chicken with beans, lettuce, and cheese on a tostada) because she knew it was my favorite! We shared a message with her family about the Sacrament and how it points us to the Temple as our goal. It was a great end to a super good P-Day.

Hermanas at the beach, but NOT in the water!

Tuesday: We spent the morning at home letting Hermana Escobar rest because she was so exhausted and in a lot of pain from the day before. I worked on cleaning and organizing the apartment as well as as studying. We then went to the chiropractor to see if he could give Hermana a little bit of relief from the pain. He adjusted her and then me again too. He was able to help Hermana Escobar feel a lot better so that was really great. We then had some Facebook proselyting time and then had a lesson with our less active family we have been working with. We talked about the story of Abinadi and the 10 Commandments. It went well except it was kind of all over the place because they kept asking questions about other things and wanting to discuss it.

Wednesday: I woke up feeling like I had been beaten up because of the chiropractor visit yesterday. :-) But after stretching out just a little bit, I felt a lot better. Poor Hermana Escobar tried and tried to wake up and get her body moving, but it just wasn't possible. I did what I could to get ready while trying not to wake her up as she was sleeping in the living room. I then had a good personal study, again, trying as hard as possible to be as quiet as a mouse! Finally about 9:30 she was able to get up and get ready so that we could head to District Meeting. District Meeting was good, we had a discussion on the adjustments to missionary work. It is a just a few things that we will being doing differently, such as teaching Lesson 5 before and after baptism, arranging the new member lessons, and staying in better contact with the convert. I really think that these are good adjustments. Especially because I feel like we were already doing a lot of that because it was what was best. We also talked about unity and especially unity in teaching as a companionship. After checking Facebook for responses to some contacts that we had sent, Hermana Escobar and I went home because she was in so much pain and her muscles were spasming really bad. I made us lunch and cleaned. We then went to our dinner appointment with a branch member family. It was really good, homemade fried chicken and potatoes. The hermana really just opened up and talked with us. She is struggling a little bit right now because of her family. She also told us her entire story of being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It was really interesting because that is like the 5th time fibromyalgia has popped up in regards to Hermana Escobar's health. We are starting to wonder if that might really be the problem. But we called and talked to the mission nurse after our appointment and she said that it has crossed her mind too, but she wants to wait and see if Hermana Escobar gets better and if not, she will think about it. We had a good lesson with the hermana and her grand kids. We read Moroni 7:33 and then Alma 32:26 and talked about faith, how we grow it, and what we can do with it. They seems to enjoy it. Once back at home we spent the evening cleaning and preparing for apartment inspections tomorrow.

Thursday: This morning Hermana was feeling pretty tired and in pain again. So we spent most of the day at home. We had apartment inspections and Sister King went through so fast because she already knows that we keep a very clean apartment, thankfully she wasn't here a week ago! :-) We journaled together a lot and wrote thank you cards. In the evening we went to our appointment with another branch member family, the absolute cutest family EVER! We then had a lesson with a couple of hermanas about the people of Alma when they were in bondage.

Friday: AMAZING day! WOW! Today was quite the crazy busy day! We were able to teach and work so much and it felt so good! We first had a lesson with a less active we are working with a lot. He doesn't feel comfortable coming back to Church yet and so we really focused on the Book of Mormon in our lesson because we know that if he is comfortable with the Book of Mormon, he will be comfortable going to Church. It was a good lesson and he committed to really read it. We then decided to do a couple stop-by's before our next appointment. We went to an investigator's house who we haven't taught in FOREVER. She was home and invited us in. Her and her family are struggling a lot right now with just a lot of different problems and so we read Mosiah 24:8-16 about Alma and his people being in bondage. They really liked it and I think it helped them have some comfort and hope. We were able to make a return appointment with them so we were excited about that! We then stopped by another one of our investigator's houses, we have taught her and her brother once but haven't really been able to contact them since. But she was home and let us in! We had a short but very powerful lesson with her about the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson we invited her that when she knew all of this was true, to be baptized. She said she would! So yeah, now we have an investigator on date! :-) We then tried one other stop-by but they weren't home so we headed to our appointment with our recent converts/investigators. We had lunch with our investigator and then we read 2 Nephi 31:5-13 about baptism and talked about the Book of Mormon. It was a very powerful lesson, but she still doesn't understand that she needs to be baptized again in our Church. We have been very bold and loving with her, she says she knows it is true, but still won't make the decision and says she is still waiting on her answer. We feel it is because she hasn't been reading in the Book of Mormon so we recommitted her to do that because we so want to help her. After that lesson we spent the afternoon doing stop-by's and trying to find some old potential investigators and less actives. Today was also a very special day because it was exactly 170 years since the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I am so grateful to have the knowledge that I do because Joseph Smith restored it. Because he was willing to die for this Gospel, I am able to live to share this incredible Gospel with others!

Saturday: We had another good working day today. We spent the morning studying and then doing weekly planning. We were able to get a lot done and planned for. We the tried to take cupcakes to one of the members in our area, but she wasn't home. We went to the library and worked on Facebook proselyting and I worked on our population map. We then drove to Chicago Heights and tried to find some people to teach. We walked around the 20's a little bit and we got a PNI and gave a really cute little girl a card with our number to give to her grandma. We went to another potential's house because we had been told she would be there, but she had just left. We gave a Book of Mormon to her sister who is in 5th grade and she promised she would read it because she likes reading. As we were leaving we saw a black man looking really sad sitting on his doorstep. We went up to him and asked him if we could give him a card. He said yes and we started talking with him. We asked if he had ever heard of the Mormons before. He said yes because his son is a member and is in the army stationed in Germany. We gave a brief summary of the Book of Mormon and asked if he would like to learn more and he said yes! He definitely was more happy after talking we us and we now have a legit referral for the Chicago Heights English Sisters. We then drove home, through a CRAZY rainstorm, and started dinner because the English Sisters were coming over for dinner. We had a good time with them. We then finished the evening by having language study.

Sunday: It was a REALLY good Sunday. We had a good MCM with our Branch Mission Leader and a member of the Stake Presidency. It was so good because we had a lot that we were able to share and discuss with them. Us and the Elders than waited hopefully for all of the investigators we had invited that we just knew were going to flock into the Church at any minute. After waiting for a while, it became apparent that no one was coming, we were all pretty sad. We decided to at least go and sit in Sunday School to help build relationships with the branch members and because there was no point in just us four missionaries having a Gospel Principles class by ourselves. We walk into Sunday School and got the biggest shock ever. There is the less active family that we have been working with and who are preparing to go to the Temple along with the Mom who hasn't been able to come to Church in years because of work! Then, we saw another lady that we didn't even know, but Hermana Escobar was able to figure out who it was because she is a less active in our area that we haven't ever met but who Hermana Escobar has contacted on Facebook! It was so cool to be kind of down because we thought no one came and then to walk into Sunday School and see 5 less actives sitting there, 2 of whom we haven't talked with in person! It was so good! Then, it got even better after Sacrament Meeting because our 12 year old less active boy that we have been working with received the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained a Deacon!!! It was seriously one of the happiest moments of my mission because he got the "Force"! He loves Star Wars and so we relate the Gospel to Star Wars to help him make connections! We were so happy! After that we went and helped a member out moving some stuff and then went to Chicago Heights to try and find a couple of people. No one was home so we decided to stop by the a recent convert's house because they hadn't come to Church and we wanted to check on them. After we knocked on the door, the hermano, who is the recent convert walked out barely acknowledging us and hopped on his bicycle and rode away. This made us quite worried because it has seemed he has been avoiding us the last little while and this strange interaction was the cherry on top.

My cousin Annie took a photo like this in Guatemala,
I wanted to be just like her!

As you all can see, it was a REALLY good week! We were able to teach and work a lot so it was so good! Illiana (the name for our area because we are on the border of Indiana and Illinois and work in both) is doing good and we are working hard. I hope that you all have an amazing week! I love you!!!

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Hump Day!

2014-06-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

P-Day Selfie

Hola y Buenos Dias a todos! Tuvimos una buena semana...oh sorry. English, huh? :-) Well this week we actually were pretty busy and were able to teach a lot of lessons, so it was a super awesome week! Sorry I am kind of long winded in this letter, but some really neat stuff did happen!

Monday, June 16, 2014: Today we had a really fun and busy P-Day. We did personal study and then all 4 of us did Comp study in the car together as we drove to Valpo to the Chiropractor to all get fixed. He was so amazing and knew immediately what the problem was and fixed it with each of us. After I told him that I walked weird because one leg is shorter than the other, he gave me an adjustment that made my legs even and made it possible for me to walk like a normal person. Now I just have to retrain my brain! :) He also called me Hercules because he had been doing this thing with each of us here he tried to pry apart our thumb and pointer fingers. In the beginning he could do it easily, but then on everyone else he popped a vein back into place and they could hold it so much better. But with me, he was surprised because he couldn't get them apart in the first place. He knew that I had been a swimmer because I was so strong. Us four sisters then had some fun in downtown Valparaiso. We tried on bridal veils at one store, ate pretzels, had designer cupcakes, and enjoyed walking around. We then went back home.

Huge Lollipops in Valpo!

Tuesday, June 17, 2014: Today after personal study Hermana Escobar and I left to go and pick up member Hermana to take with us to some appointments. After some U's turns and a detour on a sketch dirt road in backwoods sketch Gary, Indiana, we picked up the Hermana and headed to Chicago Heights to meet with a Hermano. It was a really good lesson with him. He really opened up to us and told us some things. He really has a desire to change and so we are working really hard with him. He uses a lot of ghetto Spanish vocabulary so it is pretty hard for me to understand him, but I am getting better! We then stopped by some of our investigators, with our hermana member. We were supposed to have an appointment with them but they hadn't confirmed so we weren't sure that it was going to happen. The hermana investigator was home so we had just a little lesson with her. She is very Catholic and not open to changing at all. But her husband is interested so we are trying to teach him, it is just difficult to find him at home. We shared Ether 12: 4, 6, and then 12 and talked about faith. She seemed to like those verses. Faith is something she is comfortable with, so we talked about that and the peace and comfort we have from knowing that God is control and then brought in some restored truth by talking about how families can be together forever. She was cordial but obviously still is not really interested in our message. We then took our hermana member home and learned that we were supposed to be home in 30 minutes because apparently the English Sisters were moving out to their replacement apartment and we had to be there. We went home and helped them get all packed up and ready to move out. Our other appointments cancelled so we were able to spend the afternoon letting Hermana Escobar rest and reclaiming and cleaning our apartment. It felt so good to start putting things back in order. The English Sisters did, however, end up sleeping over in our apartment with us again because the carpet in their apartment hadn't been cleaned yet.

Hump Day Olive Garden Take Out Dinner

Wednesday, June 18, 2014: 9 MONTH MARK!!! Wow! I never imagined being at this point! I think back 9 months ago, getting on that plane, flying to Mexico, it all doesn't seem that long ago. Then I think about 9 months away and how it is just that far away. It is SO weird and a little scary to think about. Today was a great day! We had studies. In my personal study I finished reading el Libro de Mormón in Spanish out loud! It has been my goal to finish by my 9 month mark for several months but I had gotten so far behind that I didn't think it was going to happen. Then on Saturday I was feeling bad because I was in 3 Nefi and didn't think I could finish by Wednesday. But Hermana Escobar encouraged me and so I read 20+ pages every day since then and finished the entire Book of Mormon in Spanish by reading Moroni 7-10 this morning. It was the best feeling in the world to accomplish such a goal. It was an amazing experience. After some comp study we headed to District Meeting. It was really good and we learned a lot about Faith, Hope, Charity. One of the biggest things that stood out to me was this statement: "God did not send me here to wallow in mediocrity." I just fell in love with it because I feel like it is something I definitely need to work on as a missionary but also it is something that anyone anywhere can apply. I also was surprised to be called upon to share my talk that we were supposed to have prepared for Zone Conference on chapter 4 of PMG about recognizing the Spirit. I had prepared before Zone Conference so I had my notes and was just able to talk about what I learned and how I am applying it. I emphasized relying on the Spirit and how we need to feel what an investigator would in order to teach with converting power. After that we had District lunch at Subway and watched a crazy rainstorm roll through. Hermana Escobar and I then went home for a little bit so that she could rest before our appointment in Chicago Heights that evening.

Hump Day Camel

I got a fun surprise at home. There was a package from my family that had the cutest stuffed camel inside and a little note telling me Happy Hump Day! We headed to teach an investigator but hadn't been able to confirm with her so we weren't sure if it was going to happen or not. She wasn't home so we left a card. Even though Hermana Escobar wasn't feeling great we decided to do a little bit of work since we were already in Chicago Heights. Our recent convert needed to cancel the appointment we were going to have with him so we went looking for some people at the trailer park and ended up finding a less active family at home, and they are never home! She let us in, gave us agua de Jamaica, and we shared Moroni 10:32 and 4:3 and talked about the Sacrament with her and her son. It went well and she said the might come to Church this week. After meeting with them we tried to find a few other people but everyone else was either not home or doesn't live there anymore. We ended the day by going to a Olive Garden and getting take out to take home to celebrate my 9 month mark. It was way good and a lot of fun. The English Sisters showed up later that night because they haven't had the chance to set up their new apartment yet and so they needed to sleep in our apartment again. I am halfway! I cannot believe it. Starting tomorrow, I am on the downhill side! I know it will be just as hard, if not harder, but time is now counting down rather than up and it is soooooo crazy to me! 9 months...

Thursday, June 19, 2014: We worked on cleaning the apartment and helping the Sisters get all ready to fully move out of our apartment. In the afternoon we went to Hermana Escobar's follow-up appointment with the neurologist. Really nothing new there, he just wants to check on her again in a month. We then met up with the STL's and started our exchanges. I stayed here in Indiana with Hermana Whitney and Hermana Escobar went up to Chicago with Hermana Smith. I LOVED being with Hermana Whitney! We served in the same ward in my first area so I know her well. We went into our apartment so that she could eat and we could do language study. We actually ended up talking and catching up for a long time. Sadly enough, our appointment with two of our new investigators, at 6:00 canceled. We went to the library and did some Facebook contacting and then drove to East Chicago to pick up a member hermana to take to our appointment at 7:00 with a hermana investigator. We show up and an investigator that I have never met was there. But so was a ton of family and she told us she couldn't meet with us then. It was a little disappointing but not unexpected. I decided to have us do a couple of stop-by's since we were there and had our hermana member with us. We tried to find a couple of PNI's but I couldn't find the address anywhere. We stopped by the other, who wasn't home. By this time we decided to take hermana member back home, especially because a pretty epic looking storm was rolling in. It was great to have our hermana member out with us. She is such a sweet person and really does have a strong testimony. We all enjoyed talking to each other as we drove. After dropping her off and driving home through a crazy rainstorm, I picked up hna Escobar's prescription, I tried to get gas (getting soaked in the process) but the pump was broken, and then we planned, had ramen, and talked until 10:30.

Friday, June 20, 2014: As we were stretching this morning Hermana Whitney told me about how the chiropractor that she had been going to was no longer able to practice because he wasn't licensed. She said her back was hurting pretty bad and I told her how much I wished I could take her to the chiropractor that lately has been working on Hermana Escobar, and even helped me out earlier this week . After thinking about it, I realized we had time to go to the chiropractor that morning. So we got ready, I made us some eggs, we has about a half hour of personal study, I made a game plan for our lesson with one of our investigators and then we headed for Valpo. We walked into the chiropractor's office and I told him I had brought him someone else to fix. As soon as she told him what had happened he knew what the problem was and set about fixing it. He was so good for Hermana Whitney and was able to help her a lot. He put her on an electric STEM machine with some ice for a couple minutes and then left the room. Upon coming back he mentioned that he had been praying in the other room about how to help her. Is this man amazing or what?!?! As we were leaving, with Hermana Whitney feeling so much looser and comfortable than she had for the past 2 months, he said he just hadn't started his day out right yet and asked if we would pray with him. He is just amazing!

We were able to leave just in time to drive the hour to Chicago Heights for our lesson with our investigator. I was pretty nervous for this lesson because I knew I would be leading it out and doing most of the teaching. We got there and she fed us like normal. Hermana Whitney made up a little fortune teller to play with the kids which I thought was fun. We talked with her and she is doing good. We then started the lesson with her and some of the kids. We read 1 Nephi 3:7 and talked about obedience and trusting in The Lord. We then transitioned this into talking about authority and baptism. I really could feel my mouth being filled with the words I needed to say and the questions I needed to ask. The Spirit was definitely there, testifying. It was going well, very powerful because we were being very bold but also loving, then our investigator's sister showed up. At this point the kids left. Her sister sat down and proceeded to interrupt and add in her own comments every 5 seconds. I was so heartbroken because it had been going so well. Her sister was starting to realize she was interrupting, although she kept telling us that our investigator had already been baptized and we didn't need to talk to her about it again, and was being quieter when another sister and her brother walked in! After teaching and testifying of baptism, we invited our investigator to be baptized and to set a date as a goal. All she said was, "Esperanme Hermanas." Meaning, "I am not ready yet, I need more time". I was so sad because she knows this is true and I know she is ready. Maybe if we can just have a one on one appointment with her next week, we can talk with her and resolve some of her concerns.

After our lesson we went to see if one of Hermana Whitney's old investigators was home. Unfortunately she wasn't so we ran to the library to do just a little Facebook contacting real fast. We then tried to do some stop-by's.

After exchanging back, Hermana Escobar and I went to try and find a less active. The one we were looking for is still in Mexico but her son, who is also a member, was there with another boy and we think an uncle. They immediately let us inside, we later found out it was because they thought we were Jehovah Witnesses'! When they found out we were from the Mormon church, they were not very happy at all! We tried talk to them but there were very closed to us. Several years ago they were offended by an hermano at Church and now they want nothing to do with it anymore. It is so sad to see how people let something from so long ago affect their and their loved ones', eternal salvation. We felt like we were begging and pleading with them, especially because the one boy that is a member seemed to have interest, but they would have none of that. We both left there very heartbroken for them.

We had a lesson with a less active in the afternoon. She was so sweet and we talked a little about the Plan of Salvation and how we are here on earth for a purpose. We shared some scriptures and then she talked a lot to us and shared a lot. It was so nice to see her feel so comfortable talking and sharing with us. She knows so much about the Gospel and really does have a strong testimony, we just need to get her and her family to come to Church!

That evening we drove to Gary and had MCM. It went really well. We had a lot of people to talk about so everyone was happy! They made us this really good agua de cantaloupe. All that it is is: water, sugar, and cantaloupe, all blended up. It was super good! After MCM we went home and had a little language study. As we were studying, the doorbell rang. We opened the door to find a chocolate shake and a thank you card from "Pablo Pedro Alfodo Michaka". It was pretty easy to tell it was from the English Sisters, it was so sweet of them!

Saturday, June 21, 2014: We woke up today to Hermana Escobar having a pretty nasty cold. My poor companion is just having to deal with one thing on top of another! She slept until it was time to do personal study and comp study. She made it through those and then had to go back to bed. She can't even take NyQuil or any decongestant because it might react with her prescription medication. Pobrecita! For the rest of the day she slept and rested. We journaled some and got some weekly planning done. I was able to clean and scrounge up enough quarters to do a load of wash. The English Sisters also came by at one point and asked for some food because they have nothing in their apartment. That really was all of today, another day inside but luckily I am always able to find things to do to keep myself busy.

Sunday, June 22, 2014: After getting up and getting ready, we drove to the Church for our meeting at 9:00. Funny enough, no one ever showed up for the meeting so we just listened to the English Sacrament Meeting again. For Church we unfortunately didn't have any investigators come, but the one of the less active families that we have been working with came! Since there were no investigators in attendance we sat in on the Temple Prep class with the Branch Presidente that the less active family attended. For Relief Society, my getting to know you paper was read to all of the Hermanas, Hermana Escobar guessed who it was within the first three clues. In Sacrament Meeting we had some visitors from the Stake so Elder Whitehead translated for the five people in the congregation that didn't speak any English. The talks were so wonderful. They were about the Book of Mormon and the power that comes into our lives when we read it continuously, every day. It was a little sad today though because there was hardly anyone there, about half of normal attendance. Which in our small of a branch, that means there was like 15 people there! After Church we went home and made lunch and then had studies. We then had our dinner and lesson with Presidente and his family. It went really well and we had a good time talking with them, even if he was teasing us about Costa Rica and the World Cup!

I am so grateful for the 9 months that I have been able to serve the Lord on my mission. I have grown so tremendously, and I have been fortunate to see others grow in their faith in the Lord as well. I am grateful to all of my family and friends who have been such a support to me during the first half of my mission. I cannot fully express how your support, as well as the love I have felt from my Heavenly Father, has sustained me during the ups and downs of my mission. I am so looking forward to the next 9 months and all of the wonderful opportunities that await me!

Love, Hermana Allyse

Reading el Libro de Mormon out loud in a bathtub... "Loaves & Fishes"

2014-06-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

Photo we took for use on our Proselyting Facebook Page

Buenos Dias! How are you all doing?!?! Can you believe that it has already been another week? It is so true about how time goes on a mission, the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days! But it has been another good week here in Indiana (and part of Illinois of course!).

We had a fun P-Day on Monday and we got a ton done. We were able to email for a while and then we took our car to the shop to have the tires rotated and the oil changed. The English Speaking Sisters picked us up from there and we went thrifting. It was a lot of fun to see what we could find, I got some cute blouses. That evening we went to a barbecue with a couple of branch member families and their friends. It was the best Mexican barbecue, carne asada, chicken, guacamole, beans, and rice. It was so great!

"Loaves & Fishes" Zone Conference Snack Pack

Tuesday was Zone Conference and it was so amazing. We learned a lot about being obedient to the Spirit. It was very powerful. Hermana Escobar was in a ton of pain though so there were some times we had to leave and let her lay on the couch for a while. Lunch was good and super fun because my incredible family sent me "loaves and fishes" (cookies and Swedish fish) to share with the whole zone. That evening we went to an eating appointment with a branch member family. It was really good food and we were so full. One of their sons who is a less active was there so we were able to talk with him a lot. It was great because he is a techy person and I was able to talk to him about that kind of stuff and that helped him be more comfortable talking with us. Once we finally got home, stuff got really bad. Hermana Escobar was in so much pain, more than I have ever seen her, which is definitely saying something with all that she has been through. I did all that I could for her, holding her hand and talking. We were actually able to call the Elders and they came and gave her another blessing, in our apartment, that is how bad it was! After a long time, she was finally able to get a little sleep.

An Indiana Moon

On Wednesday we were able to go and have a lesson with one of the less actives that we are working with, a Hermano. I felt like it was a good lesson because I actually talked and interacted a lot more. That is something I have been working a lot on this week. We read in Mosiah 3 and I led the lesson a little bit just because Hna Escobar was still so exhausted and in so much pain. That afternoon I studied and cleaned the apartment while she rested up. In the evening we went to our Branch Relief Society Activity and helped them make little trophies and cards for the fathers for Father's Day. We enjoyed being there with the hermanas of the branch and helping out!

Thursday we spent the entire day at home. I literally studied and cleaned all day. It is so incredible to me that I can always find things to do when we have to stay in. I guess that is the key to how I haven't sick of being in the apartment all the time is that I am always finding something to do, and I don't let myself get bored!

P-day "thrifting" in quaint Downtown Valpo

On Friday we headed to Chicago Heights to do a little work. Our appointment with our recent convert/investigator family fell through and so we got some good contacting work done on Facebook that morning. Then we had an appointment with a sweet member family of our branch. We were then at home for the afternoon with the English Sisters, letting both Sister Spackman, who is also sick, and Hna Escobar rest. That evening we went and helped out some of their investigators with them and then went and helped do more service at the dog kennel too.

I had to cancel our appointment with our less active for Saturday morning because Hna Escobar was just too exhausted and having too much pain. She was able to rest for a good long time while I studied. In the afternoon we went with the English Sisters to an appointment with one of their investigators because they needed another woman but it was too short of notice for them to arrange a member. That appointment ended up canceling though so we went back home and Hna Escobar and I were able to do some intense planning for this next week. We really are going to get out and do as much as we possibly can and so we are setting up all of the appointments that we can. That night we made another emergency run to the church building so that some Elders could give a blessing to Sister Spackman this time. We sure keep the Elders on their toes. Sister Spackman has been super exhausted lately, really bad headaches and feels like a knife is stabbing into her heart (typically not a good feeling I think!). This happened in her last area but the doctors couldn't find anything wrong. It died off for a while but it is starting up again now. The blessing helped and she was able to rest a little more that night.

Reading el Libro de Mormon out loud in the bathtub

Sunday morning came very early. Hna Escobar actually woke me up at 4:00 am because she was in so much pain. She hadn't taken her prescription the night before because she said it was too late and she didn't think it was helping much anyways. Boy did we find out how much it really was helping! She woke me up which signified to me how bad it was because she never does that, she would much rather just lay there in agony. Then she was willing to take the medications right then even though she knew it might make it so that she couldn't get up for Church, another thing she is never willing to do. I got her medications and some ice for her. A little while later she was able to get up and take a hot shower which helped relax her muscles some. While she was showering I read the lesson for Gospel Principles because I knew that I would be teaching the whole lesson. After that we both were able to sleep for about another hour, which was really good. We had branch council where we discussed some of the people the branch wants us to focus on. Church went well, one of our investigators came. Hna Escobar just pasted on her famous smile and pushed through the whole day. After the meetings our branch had a lunch and party at the Church for Father's Day. The food was super good and it was fun to talk with everyone in the branch and translate with the English Sisters who were hanging out with us because we all carpooled to the Church together. Back at home everyone promptly fell asleep except me. I went and sat in the bathtub and read in el Libro de Mormon for 2.5 hours! There is a promise for missionaries learning a different language that if they read the entire Book of Mormon out loud, when they finish they will be "fluent" meaning able to communicate and share the Gospel. I have been working on it since the MTC and my goal has been to finish by my 9 month mark. I got SUPER behind because of all of the craziness going on. So, I shut myself in the bathroom, the only room where someone wasn't sleeping, and read all of 4th Nephi as well as Mormon. It was so good and really relaxing and powerful to just be able to read like that for so long. That evening Hna Escobar was able to get up and we went to our appointment with the Branch President and his family. We had a good dinner and just enjoyed being able to talk with them and sharing a short message from Preach My Gospel about patience. They are the cutest little family and we enjoyed being there.

Gorgeous Indiana Clouds
and a Water Tank for Uncle Paul

So that was our week! Sorry that nothing too interesting like in the past happened! We were able to do some work which is really good and are really hoping to be able to do a lot more this next week. I just feel so bad because I know how frustrating it is for my poor companion right now. She feels so bad because she feels like she is just holding this area back. Her and I are both working on developing patience and really trusting in the Lord because we know that He knows what is going on and He has a plan for all of this. I am so grateful for this knowledge because I really don't know how I would be able to go through life without it. But we KNOW that our Heavenly Father has an individual, specific plan for each one of us. We may not always understand or see the big picture. But we can take such comfort and peace from the fact that everything is in His hands and we just have to pray a lot and do our best! That is definitely one of the biggest lessons that I have learned on my mission so far. I cannot believe that it has almost been 9 months, that is really crazy to me! But I know that this is where I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to be doing. My plan is rock these next 9 months and live them with no regrets! I love you all sooooo very much and hope that you have an amazing week!

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Priesthood Blessing with a strong message, Killing with Kindness & Service, iPad Tech Support

2014-06-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hermana Escobar and I

Buenos Dias! Can you believe it has already been another week? Wow! Quite a bit happened this past week and Hermana Escobar and I were pretty busy, so that was good because it got both of our minds off other things. I truly love being a missionary! It is just the most incredible experience. You learn things you didn't even think you would as a missionary. But all of these things just make you better able to be a representative of Jesus Christ and to share the Gospel. This was definitely one of those kinds of weeks!

Monday was a bit of a rough P-Day for Hermana Escobar and I. We did our grocery shopping first because we had to do it for us and the English Sisters who are living with us because they went to the city to see the sights. After that Hermana Escobar was so exhausted and in too much pain that she just had to go home and sleep. I spent p-day cleaning the apartment and such. We didn't even really have much emailing time because Hermana Escobar was hurting so bad. On Monday and Tuesday her hands were in so much pain and were so tight that she couldn't use them at all. She couldn't even physically make fists, let alone write, type, or use the phone. That night I went to a lesson with our less active families. I took one of the English Sisters with me because Hermana Escobar just couldn't go. It went really well. We talked about the big picture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The 12 year old boy is just so excited about the Gospel and loves learning. He also loves Star Wars so we try and relate that as much as possible. We were teaching about prophets and he was kind of confused so we compared the prophet to Yoda and it clicked for him. We always remind him of the 3 things he needs to do to have "The Force" - pray, read his scriptures, and go to Church. He is so fun to teach! That night Hermana Escobar got a call from President Woodbury. He wants her to try a few more things to try and get better, but he also let her know that she is most likely going to end up needing to go home because of her medical problems. This made for a rough end to the day.

We had a pretty busy, crazy day on Tuesday. We went to the Valpo Sisters apartment to work out how to get one of the English Sister's freshly washed clothes to her (her clothing was salvaged from the fire, the Valpo sisters washed them for her, and she is now on the other side of the mission because she was transferred two days after the apartment fire) and we then went to a different chiropractor who is also a member but is in Valpo so it is a lot closer to us than the chiropractor in LaPorte. He has the neatest little practice set up. It was a very good visit because he actually took us seriously and recognizes that there is some kind of problem. He examined Hermana Escobar and talked to us about some ideas that he had. He said that he is going to figure out and fix the problem, and if he can't he knows people who will. He had us go back to Merrillville and get paperwork from the hospital of all of the blood tests done and to get the disc of the MRI's. He examined those for a while and tried to adjust Hermana Escobar to give her just some temporary relief, but she was so tender he just couldn't. He explained that he thinks it must be something pushing against the spinal cord which is causing all of her nerves to freak out. It was great that he was so open with us but hard because he thinks that she will most likely need to go home. :(

Neither of us slept good Tuesday night because the chiropractor had told us to ice Hermana Escobar's back for 20 minutes every hour. So that meant I was awake every 20 minutes that entire night. I would get up and get her ice, 20 minutes later I would put it back in the freezer, and 40 minutes after that the cycle started again. At 5:00 am Hermana Escobar was so sick of me doing that, but it did help her feel like a smaller semi-truck than usual had hit her when she woke up in the morning! :-) After the one of the longest nights of my life, we went to the Church early on Wednesday because we received an email late Tuesday night letting us know that in District Meeting the next day everyone was migrating iPads from one system to another. Being office mission techs, we knew that we should know what was going on beforehand so that we could help the other missionaries with their iPads. At the Church we migrated our own devices so that we would know how and be available to help. We also received a call from the chiropractor letting us know that he talked with President Woodbury and that he had a distinct impression we would be receiving a 'call' from him very soon, a call sending Hermana Escobar home. Needless to say, we didn't get a lot out of District Meeting because we were both so worried and anxious. After District Meeting, as everyone was leaving, some Elders from the other District walked out and Hermana Escobar asked them if she could have another blessing. They happily did so and it was so powerful. The strongest part was this: "Hermana Escobar, Heavenly Father does not want you to go home." The Spirit was SO strong and you knew that those words from that Elder's mouth were true. After that, everything changed for Hermana Escobar. We had been about 99.9% sure she was going home! we had even talked about it a little. But from then on, we decided we were going to beat it, she was going to stay, because that is what The Lord wanted. After the blessing we stayed at the Church for a long time because there was a big problem with some of the newer missionaries iPads and them trying to create Apple ID's for their devices. When they had come in, the Church just had them use generic group Apple ID's. But now with the the new system on the iPads, they need their own personal Apple ID. When they tried to create their personal Apple ID it didn't work because it said that their myLDSmail.net email address was already being used with an Apple account, but it shouldn't have been. After spending some time thinking and investigating, I figured out the problem and found a solution of how to fix it! I discovered that the missionaries' email had become connected with the generic account Apple account. After figuring that out Hermana Escobar and I were able to figure out a way to log in to those generic accounts and delete the missionaries' email addresses from the generic Apple account. We were then able to create their personal AppleID's for them and give them the info. It was so amazing to be able to be "techie" and figure out a solution to the problem to help others to be able to share the Gospel. There were so many missionaries that needed help and no one else that knew how to do it, that we put in a 12 hour work day on Wednesday helping people with their iPads. We did a lot of video chats that night to be able to help people all over the mission. It was so great! Hermana Escobar and I were so exhausted but so happy to have been able to help, and a Mission President never called to deliver that impending bad news!

On Thursday we headed out to Chicago Heights for some appointments. But, by the time we were almost there, both of them had cancelled. :-( So instead we went to the library and were able to help a ton more missionaries with their iPads. We also got a really neat email from Elder Taggart, the mission online/iPad coordinator. He had been talking with church missionary technology people in Salt Lake and had let them know that we had figured out the problem. Salt Lake hadn't been able to figure the problem out and were having problems in all of the missions that the iPads are rolled out to. They asked us to explain to them how we had figured out the problem, and then how we figured out a solution. I got to type up this cool report to teach Salt Lake how I found the problem and fixed it, it was way neat! After a quick break for lunch we went to the Church and helped missionaries with their iPads. We then went to MCM with our Branch Mission Leader who lives in Gary. I don't think I have talked much about Gary. It isn't part of our official proselyting area but it is a part of our Spanish Branch. We are there regularly for members and MCM and such. Gary, Indiana is a very interesting place! It is crazy to see an entire city just kind of rundown and forgotten. So many houses boarded up, stop lights that just don't work, and entire trailer parks burned out. It is a crazy, and pretty cool place! MCM was super good because we ended up teaching the Restoration, contacting a referral, and getting a potential new investigator, all at once! We were finishing up when our ward mission leader was like, "Hey! I hear my son's girlfriend's phone. That means she is awake. I will go get her and bring her down, you all share a short message, OK?" We were like, "Of course!" So she came down and only speaks English. So us and the Elders taught her the Restoration and it went well! She says she has her own religion but was willing to listen and there is definitely potential for the future. It was great to be able to teach her! After that we went back to the Church and helped some other people over video conferencing.

Our current sleeping arrangements in the living room

Friday was another super long day. We had an appointment with an ophthalmologist, an eye doctor, in the morning. It was the same as every other doctor we have been to for Hermana Escobar. We spent 20 minutes filling out paperwork, 30 minutes being asked the exact same questions we just filled out on the paperwork, 60 minutes waiting to see the doctor, and the 2 minutes with the actual doctor. It was just enough time for him to tell us what everyone else has been telling us, "There is nothing wrong." He said her eye, which had been really blurry since that morning she went to the hospital, had nothing wrong with it. It had gotten a little better since the hospital but was still blurry. All he said was that she was farsighted in her right eye and should get glasses. So that is another thing checked off the list of answers, but we didn't get any real answers. We the drove to Chicago Heights and we played the Plan of Salvation game with one of our investigators, her recent convert daughter, and her nieces and nephew. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it and learned a lot. They told us that they (the kids) had all sat down together and had read from the Book of Mormon and that they had been so excited for us to come back. So it was a super great teaching appointment. After that we hurried home to clean up the apartment a little to meet up with the Abbotts, the mission nurse, to give them the disc of all of the MRI's so Sister Abbott could look at it. It was after that when I learned a very important lesson. I noticed that the English Sisters who have been living in our apartment for two weeks since their apartment fire, had been home that morning and had taken down some of my stuff and had gone through and covered up all of my family photos with their own family photos. They had also hidden Joey, Hermana Escobar's special teddy bear that has been her comfort during all of her medical struggles. This also came after the English Sisters had put a lot of wax on the toilet seat a couple of days before to be funny. Neither of us were very happy that they had done that. Especially me, I am afraid that I was upset that they would do some thing like that. Things with them had become pretty strained over the past week. My amazing companion sent them a text letting them know that we loved them but didn't think that what they had done was necessary. They texted back that they had been bored and just though it was funny. Hermana Escobar then took me into their room (the one bedroom of our apartment, Hermana Escobar and I moved out to the living room when the English Sisters moved into our apartment after their apartment fire). Their room has been a complete disaster since they moved in and we decided to clean it up for them. Hermana Escobar really taught me to kill them with kindness. We cleaned their room for a while and I honestly felt so good after doing that. My companion truly taught me that the best thing to do in any situation is to just love and serve. That night we went to the best appointment with the cutest little family. The Hermana made us tacos and they were so good! So good that Hermana Escobar had 3, that is more than she has eaten in weeks! We then went outside with them and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. It was SO fun! Who would have thought that I would get to sit around a campfire and roast marshmallows as a missionary! We then went home to find sorry cards, pizza, and nail polish. The English Sisters felt so bad for how they had been acting with us. Things immediately got a ton better between us.

On Saturday I spent the morning studying and then we went to an appointment with a member in the branch. We had lunch and taught her about Alma and Moroni and repentance. We the helped her with some of the table centerpieces she was making for her daughter's personal bridal shower that night. That was fun and interesting! We also went and picked up some balloons for her. It was so great to be able to serve her just a little bit. That afternoon Hermana Escobar was in a lot of pain and super exhausted again so I just worked on studying and planning for next week.

Sunday was a great day! We had both an investigator, and a less active family we have really been working with, come to Church! We couldn't figure out which to go with, it was such a great problem to have! Hermana Escobar was looking, if not feeling, a little bit better and so that made all of the branch really happy to see! The rest of the afternoon was spent at home because Hermana Escobar was hurting, so exhausted, and started to run a fever! I made dinner for the four of us sisters and everyone really liked it so that was good.

P-Day Selfie

Yep, it had been another interesting week here! It is so amazing to me how much learning I really am doing although we are mostly in the apartment. We are trying our best to still be regular missionaries as much as possible. It is hard sometimes, but we know that we will get through this. Things have gotten a lot better since the start of last week. It no longer feels like a cloud hanging over us as we are just waiting for the call telling Hermana that she is going home. We are going to get through this, no doubts! We had such a good week this week. Yeah, there were some downs, but if it weren't for those, that happy times wouldn't be so great! I love you all sooooo much and I hope that you have an amazing week!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Come What May and Love It!!!

2014-06-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!!! How are you all doing? This week here in Indiana hasn't been quite as exciting and interesting as past weeks, thank goodness!!! Unfortunately, Hermana Escobar still isn't doing so good and so we just spent a lot of time letting her rest this week. But we had some good times too, don't worry! :-) Nothing is ever boring with Hermana Escobar and me!

Memorial Day BBQ in Indiana...

We had such a fun P-Day on Memorial Day. We went with the English Sisters to one of their member's family's barbecue. We had a great time just talking with everyone and enjoying that kind of atmosphere, you don't get that very often as a missionary! It was so warm today too, one of the first really humid days of the summer, I think I am in trouble! :-) Monday evening Hermana Escobar was so wiped out from the whole day, so I left her with Sister Goff who needed to pack for transfers, and I took Sister Spackman with me to an dinner appointment with a member. After getting lost and a crazy rain storm, we finally got to their house and had dinner. It was some super good carne asada. For the lesson, I was basically on my own. The family knows English but the mom is definitely more comfortable communicating in Spanish so I taught in Spanish all by myself. It was such a good lesson, I truly felt the Spirit working through me. I had no idea that I could speak and understand that much Spanish until it was up to me to have to be able to. It just felt so good and the lesson on repentance was definitely the one the mom needed to hear because she is so worried about her own children. It was just so amazing because I could definitely tell that I was following the Spirit and my mouth was being filled as I opened it. It was neat because the lesson that I shared was not the one we planned to share when we planned for it during comp study because Hermana Escobar couldn't go. So we planned to play the Plan of Salvation game, but then the pieces weren't there that we needed. So then, I decided on the Scale of Righteousness and talking about repentance, and that is EXACTLY what she needed, even though I didn't realize they had taught that to this family several months ago! It was so amazing to see how Heavenly Father can work through us when we are so open to His direction (and in my case, desperate! :-)

Memorial Day Wagon Ride

Tuesday we helped the Sisters at their burnt out apartment. We tried to pack up as much as we could and bring it to our place. I spent the rest of the day going through and organizing and cleaning (or attempting to) everything. We had a really good lesson with a member family that night and talked about the "Big Picture" which is how the steps of the Gospel lead to Eternal Life and the three basic things we need to do each day (prayer, scripture study, and attending Church) to progress on that path. It was a good lesson with them.

Wednesday we had a good District Meeting where we talked a lot about the importance and power of using the scriptures in our teaching. We also talked about acting with urgency and making sure we keep our lessons 45 minutes or less so that they are powerful and the Spirit is there. This is a very big challenge in the Spanish program especially, but we have definitely been working on that this week. We then had a fun District Lunch at Culvers, it was super yummy. Next we decided to stop by a member's home because it was their daughter's day off and we wanted to see if we could talk with her because the parents wanted us to teach her. She wasn't home so instead we talked with the mom a little bit and taught her a lesson about the Gospel and the "big picture". It was super good for her and definitely gave her an excitement of missionary work and the desire to share the joy and knowledge that she has with others. We then spent the rest of the day helping the Sisters finish up at their apartment. We got everything out that they want and now we just have to wait and see what the Church wants to do with some of the salvageable furniture.

On Thursday morning we made the trek to LaPorte to the Chiropractor. He helped Hermana Escobar who had been in a lot of pain. But, it is like a double edged sword because that relief literally lasts for about 5 minutes and then it is like double the pain. :-( We stopped in Valparaiso on the way home and dropped off all of Sister Goff's laundry at the Valpo Sisters apartment so that they can wash it for her (one of their members bought them their own washer and dryer!) and then we drove to Chicago Heights for our appointment with a member Hermana. She made us some super good soup and then she got to work on Hermana Escobar. Her son, who is an athletic trainer and studying massage therapy, gave Hermana Escobar an intense massage on her arms (they have been numb and tingly and she hasn't been able to use them very well, plus they hurt a lot), that helped her get feeling back. Then the Hermana gave us all of this Mexican natural medicine to try for all types of things. Hermana Escobar is so desperate at this point that she is just trying it all!

Friday we went to Chicago Heights and taught a less active Hermano. We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and it went really well. It is really neat to see him really start to trust us and have the desire to change and to come back. We invited him to Church but he says he just doesn't feel ready yet, so we will work on that! We then went to our Doctors appointment with the neurologist. He said that everything had come back negative from various tests and their was nothing wrong with her. After examining her, he just ordered more blood tests, for her to get a medical work up by a doctor, and to come back in three weeks. It was just so exasperating because everyone says nothing is wrong, but with the insane amount of pain she is in, it just doesn't make sense. That afternoon was super rough on the both of us. We tried to do weekly planning but it just wasn't working. Hermana Escobar was just in so much pain and so worried and unsure of everything. We called and talked with the Sister Training Leaders and then went to the church building and the Elders gave her another blessing. It was a really good blessing and basically just told her to have patience, not exactly what she wanted to hear, but what she needed to hear!

On Saturday morning we went with the English Sisters to do some service at a dog kennel for one of their members. She is paying for 10 dogs to stay there but the owner has just stopped taking care of them so the sisters have to go and do it. We had to clean out their kennels and feed them and everything. It was so sad to see them there, obviously not having been taken care of in long time. Hermana Escobar and I then drove to Chicago Heights to help a Hermano with his Facebook. He had told us that he wanted to make it more appropriate and uplifting. Hermana Escobar mostly helped him, there was some pretty interesting stuff on there that she had to help him hide! We then went to the Hermana who has helped Hermana Escobar earlier this week. She gave Hermana Escobar a back massage and more medicines. Then her son massaged her shoulders and made it so that she could actually lift her arms!

Sunday was a rough day at Church, mostly because my companion almost passed out and was in so much pain. It really is killing me to see her hurting so much and not be able to do anything about it. But, we had a less active family come to Church and I was so excited because they came early to come to classes, which they had never done before! They had asked us for the number for the branch president the day before and when they showed up to Church, they told us that they had talked with Presidente and were going to start Temple prep classes! The man and woman have been engaged for over a year now and now we find out it is because they want to be sealed in the temple! So now they are trying really hard to take the steps to make that possible! This is so exciting because we have been trying to work with them so much and to help them. We didn't' have anyone else there so we were able to go to their Temple Prep class with them and kind of help out in there. The afternoon was spent with Hermana Escobar resting and I studying. I then took Sister Spackman and we went to our dinner appointment with Presidente and his family. It was good, once again I realized how much Spanish I really do know when it is all up to me!

So that was our week, nothing too interesting. I feel so sad for my poor companion. Neither of us know what to do but we are just doing our best to do as much as we can with what we have. We don't have answers yet, but we are just moving forward. Come What May and Love it! I love you all so much and truly thank you for your prayers, especially on my companion's behalf. I know that we feel them constantly supporting us through this rough time. We have faith that we are in God's hands and that all of this is for a reason, we just can't wait to figure out that reason! Have the most amazing week! I love you!

Most Spiritual Experience this Week: Definitely the lesson that I taught Monday night. I felt the Spirit in the lesson and recognized truly how my mouth was filled with words, because I had no idea what I was going to say beforehand.

Something I Learned in Personal Study: Jacob 3:1-2 - Jacob is talking to the pure in heart and giving us comfort and peace in the knowledge that as we look and pray to God in our afflictions, we will know that He is aware of us, has a plan for us, and that everything will be alright. Definitely something good that I learned this week!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

The Spirit of God like a "FIRE" is burning!

2014-05-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hi incredible friends and family! We have had another very interesting and very crazy week here. In Indiana. Nothing is ever boring here for sure. I promise that everything I wrote is true! In the service of The Lord, there is never a dull moment!

Monday was another long day in the hospital. Sister Abbott, the mission nurse, and her husband drove down from Chicago this morning to be with us. We were hoping to be released in the afternoon. But then the doctor made his rounds and told us we would be there until at least tomorrow because the VER test that we took on Saturday is only read on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hermana Escobar and I were both pretty sad to hear that we would be staying another night because we had planning on going home today. But oh well. The nice thing was since the hospital room had WIFI we were just able to sit there and email during our P-Day hours. We talked with Elder and Sister Abbott a lot too. They went and got lunch and brought me back some too. They also got Hermana Escobar a teddy bear. She had been wanting one for a while so she was glad to get it. The Abbotts went home in the early afternoon and we just continued to hang out at the hospital. We did have a visit from our Branch President and his family which was nice. Other than that it was another pretty boring day with no answers about Hermana Escobar's diagnosis.

Hermana Escobar hoping to get discharged

We spent the first part of Tuesday wondering whether or not we were actually getting out. We had to wait a long time to finally hear that the tests got read and even then the hospital housekeeping wasn't so sure we were leaving. We had another visitor, a Hermano from the Branch. He sat and told us stories about Guatemala and Honduras for a while so that was a lot of fun. Finally in the afternoon the doctor came by and told us all the results had come back, everything was clean, and we were free to go. It was definitely bitter sweet for us because we were so happy to finally be able to leave the hospital, but it was also really difficult to leave without any answers whatsoever. We ended up not leaving the hospital until about 5:00 because we had to wait for a second doctor to give his okay that we could leave and we had to wait for them to put all of the x-rays and MRIs on a disc that we can take to our next doctor. Finally, we were able to leave, with a nice little prescription for Hermana Escobar's medicine. We went and got that dropped off but she was so out of it and exhausted and nauseated that we couldn't wait the 15 minutes for it to be filled. I took her home and let her rest before we went back out to pick the perscription up and get some quarters so that I could do some much needed laundry. That evening we did another mini exchange with the Griffith English Sisters so that I could go and buy us some much needed groceries and supplies for the week.

Wednesday we tried to be as normal as we could, but it didn't work so well. We did studies and then went to District Meeting. Everyone was so happy to see Hermana Escobar alive and upright. We learned about obedience and it was good. We then went to our next doctor, an orthopedic specialist. We honestly spent more time filling out paper work and waiting for x-rays then we had with the actual doctor. He took a glance at her x-rays and then told us that there was nothing wrong with her. It was SO frustrating. Everyone we talk to tells us nothing is wrong but my poor companion constantly feels like a bus hit her, has no energy, and is super nauseated. Needless to say, we both, especially Hermana Escobar, were a little depressed after that short doctors visit. I was able to get Taco Bell to help cheer her up before we went home and let her rest. We then drove to Hammond for a dinner appointment with Hermana of our branch. She made us tostadas and they were really good, but Hermana Escobar was just so out of it. She had no energy, no appetite, and looked sick as a dog. We ate a little, were able to work in a short message, and then the member, seeing how sick my poor companion was, gladly let us go home. It was the shortest eating and teaching appointment with a member I have ever had or will ever have, 35 minutes! Once back at home, exhausted Hermana Escobar slept and I cleaned and scrubbed the apartment like none other.

Thursday morning we had apartment inspections. As soon as the sister assigned to do the apartment inspections saw Hermana Escobar laying in bed sick and heard what was wrong, she gave us 100% and left really fast :-) the rest of Thursday we let Hermana Escobar rest, she is just so exhausted and in so much pain, plus the medicine that helps with the pain but makes her drowsy and a little nauseated. Pobrecita :-( but I worked a lot on other stuff and tried to stay productive.

Friday was a bit more of a productive day. We were able to have a good lesson with a less active. We started teaching the Restoration but then moved into the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the basic things he needs to do- pray, read scriptures, and go to Church. He really is ready to change and is making progress. We also had a lesson with 3 new investigators! We went to our recent convert's home to seen his wife (our investigator). He was leaving but was like, "Here are my nieces and nephews. They don't believe in God. Teach them!" So we taught them the Restoration and it went really well. They are interested and were so excited to get their own copies of the Book of Mormon and to read. The rest of the day we were at home because Hermana Escobar was completely exhausted from everything we did in the morning.

500 Gallons of water a minute dumped into your apartment
makes for some very soggy clothing & personal possessions

Saturday...remember how I am always like, "it doesn't get crazier than this!"? Well today was definitely one of those days, although it started pretty normal. We went to the Chiropractor in LaPorte this morning and it was so good for Hermana Escobar. He was able to realign one of the vertebrae in her neck and immediately her nausea went down and her vision started to come back, so she was super happy! On the way home we stopped at a little Mexican restaurant, it was okay but not like the taquerias in Chicago :-) We then went home and let Hermana Escobar rest because she was so exhausted and hurting. As we were sitting there talking as she was in bed, we got this text from the English Griffith Sisters: "Our apartment building is on fire...BAD!! WE WILL MORE LIKELY THAN NOT BE SLEEPING OVER AT YOUR APARTMENT TONIGHT." Oh, okay, WOW! We immediately called

This WAS one of the nicer apartments in the mission...

them and found out what was going on. The apartment above their's had caught fire, and they (the Sisters) were at home when it happened but no alarms or sprinklers ever went off. Someone came running through the building, yelling for everyone to get out so they grabbed their backpacks and ran out. They then spent the next couple of hours watching their apartment building burn and the fire trucks from all over dumping unimaginable amounts of water on it. Once they found out they wouldn't have any more info for a long time. They called us to come and pick them up because their parking lot was locked down and so they couldn't get their mission car out. We took them back to our apartment and studied for a while until they got a call that they needed to get down there with in 30 minutes if they wanted to salvage anything. We hurried down there and we were allowed 10 minutes inside their apartment to grab all that we could.

Although we feel bad for the Sisters who's apartment
burned, we are excited that they will be staying with us.

The living/sleeping area was pretty destroyed, the ceiling had fallen in. But most everything else was okay, just a lot of water and smoke damage. We were able to get them the essentials and then get out. Back at our apartment, Hermana Escobar and I got it ready for an at least 2 week sleep over :-) That night we had a very special house visit from President and Sister Woodbury. It is kind of scary and very rare that a mission president goes to missionary apartments. But, we do what us Mexicans do best and we fed them! They brought by some sleeping mats, sheets, and towels for the sisters. Yes, it was quite a crazy day and I even forgot to tell you about what is normally the most interesting part of the day... today was transfer call day! Drum roll please...Hermana Escobar and I are staying together for another 6 weeks!!! I am so excited about it. When President came by he said it was because he figured we deserved it after all we have been through and after seeing how good of care I took of my companion. So we are way happy to have another 6 weeks together!

These Sister Missionaries got out with the clothing they
were wearing and their mission bags, everything else
that they had was damaged or destroyed in the efforts
to put out the apartment fire above their apartment.

Sunday was not quite as interesting as the day before, although four of us getting ready in our little apartment, and very tiny bathroom, was fun. At Church everyone was so happy to see Hermana Escobar alive and back at church. We taught the Gospel Principles but unfortunately didn't have any of our investigators there. There was a younger less active at church so we taught in English and that was weird but good. The rest of the day we did studies and then went to the Branch Presidente's house for dinner. We then taught their family a lesson on faith and obedience with a quote from Elder Bruce R. McConkie being the central theme. It was a good lesson and a nice end to an insane week.

Having the four of us missionaries in an apartment is an interesting dynamic and will definitely be an adventure. What will eventually happen is Hermana Escobar and I will move out into a new apartment which will be closer to our working area and save the mission about 400 miles a month on our car. The English Sisters will permanently move into our apartment. So the next couple of weeks will be fun!

I love you all sooooo much and I am so grateful for you and all that you do! I hope you all have the most incredible week!

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Sent from my iPad from the Illinois Chicago Mission

CRAZY Week in Indiana (if 5 days in a hospital is crazy to you, it is to me)!

2014-05-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

The lovely view from temporary lodging for 5 days

Sweet Family and Friends!

Remember how I have said before that Hermana Escobar and I have had some crazy adventures and weeks? How I said, "It can't get crazier than that!"? Well, I lied. This week definitely takes the cake. It has been crazy and long. But is all good. We have definitely experienced, and learned, and felt a lot! I promise that all that I wrote here is true. Believe it or not :-)

Fabulous P-Day. It was wonderful because I was able to spend a lot of time chatting back and forth with my family. We also got some good grocery shopping done. After P-Day we drove over to Chicago Heights for a lesson with a less active family. It was a really good lesson. We discussed Elder Ballard's conference talk about Following a Up and introduced them to Preach My Gospel. Their 12 year old had a LOT of questions. He is so fun and compares everything to Star Wars. When he found out that we don't have TV and aren't even allowed to watch TV, he asked what we did. We told him that we read our scriptures. He was like, "WOW! That is a real Jedi!" So yeah, it is official, I am -real Jedi now because I am a missionary, it's pretty cool! :-)

On Tuesday we had Zone Training Meeting. It was...interesting. It was really good, but also kind of hard for many. It was a call to repentance for everyone, which is always difficult to take, but we learned so much from it. There have been so many problems in our mission with disobedience with the iPads. President Woodbury called and commanded us to repentance and taught us important principles on being obedient with the iPads. While he was doing that, he had us all turn in our iPads and he had Elder Taggart go through and check them. I was so glad that I have been obedient and had nothing to hide or be ashamed of on my iPad! Of course there are always areas I can improve on, and I have some plans to do that, but it was so nice to know that Hermana Escobar and I feel that overall we are doing really well with using the iPads as effective tools but not being disobedient with them. The rest of the afternoon we spent at home for Hermana Escobar. She was able to get a blessing from President Woodbury, and in it he said that she needed to do nothing for a day and a half. So that is what we did. We went home (after a quick stop at Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch of course) and watched the Hastening of the Work of Salvation broadcast. She then slept for the rest of the afternoon and I studied and cleaned.

Wednesday I spent the morning cleaning, studying, and packing for exchanges. We were also able to get together some clothes and other things to donate to a girl who is leaving for a mission next week and she has nothing. We then went on exchanges with the Hermana Training Leaders. I went up to Midway with Hermana Smith while Hermana Escobar stayed with Hermana Whitney in our area. It was so great because it was like going home, almost back to my old area. We spent the afternoon doing stop-by's of different old potential investigators. Nobody was home. We did have one really neat street contact though. We started talking to this one woman who was walking her dogs. We explained who we were and our message. She thought it was great what we were doing but wasn't really interested. We asked if we could share the Because of Him video and we did right there on the street using our iPad. It was so powerful, she started crying! We were able to talk to her a little more and I felt impressed to give her a Book of Mormon so I did. I explained about it and I testified and it felt so good! She isn't an official potential investigator but we definitely planted a deep seed for the future.

Hermana Escobar in the hospital with her get well gifts

Thursday...was interesting to say the least! We decided the day before that we would push the time back to exchange with our companions because otherwise we wouldn't have time for studies. So we did studies and then we were getting ready to leave to go to a funeral that we were going to sing at. I received a call from Hermana Whitney, who was with Hermana Escobar, and this is what she said: "Hermana Meanea, I need you to not freak out (Hermana Escobar told her to say that :-) but Hermana Escobar is being admitted to the hospital." I was like WHAT?!?! Apparently she woke up that morning to the entire left side of her body being numb and a excruciating pain from her head to her toes any time she moved, not good. After talking with the mission nurse and trying urgent care, they took her to the ER and the doctors decided to admit her. I was so worried and so felt so horrible that I wasn't there with her. Hermana Whitney said they were just waiting so she wanted us to go to the funeral and then come down. We went to the funeral, and it was so great to see my old district and talk with my former companion Hermana Black, but I was so preoccupied, all I wanted to do was get back to Hermana Escobar. We found out that the funeral wasn't going to actually start until later in the day, so we just left and drove to Indiana, it was the longest drive of my life. We stopped at the apartment just long enough for me to grab some stuff that we would need and then we got to the hospital. Hermana Escobar had just got put in a room after having an MRI and cat scan. She was doing better because they had given her a good drug cocktail for the pain. Some Elders were able to come and give her a blessing, it was powerful. The Sister Training Leaders arranged for the other Hermanas to cover the Noche they were supposed to have with members and investigators in their area, and they stayed the entire evening with us. No one had any answers, they were just doing a lot of tests. Our District Leader was so awesome and brought us a pizza because us other three Hermanas were starving. After talking with President Woodbury, and the decision was made to send the STL's home and we would see what things looked like in the morning, hoping for answers. So Hermana Escobar and I spent a very restless first night in the hospital. We were too anxious and stressed, it was hard to sleep. So, yeah, that was our Thursday!

Hermana Escobar and I at the hospital

Friday, a day we were hoping for answers, came, but the answers didn't come. We were just doing a lot of waiting and sitting and resting. They took 4 different labs of blood to test, but nothing showed up. We were able to get together with 2 other sets of sisters to make arrangements for me to be able to go home for a few minutes, shower, change, and get some other things we needed, and to take our car back to the hospital because it was still at the apartment building. The afternoon was spent waiting for Hermana Escobar to be able to take a full body MRI and Vision Evoked Response test, but it never happened because everything was so backed up in the labs. President Woodbury was able to come see us and gave Hermana Escobar another very powerful blessing. It was neat because in the blessing he talked about how The Lord had intended us to be companions at this time because I was supposed to be able to take care of her. I have definitely been trying my best and don't want to leave her side for anything. In the afternoon she started having a really bad chest pain, but her heart monitor didn't show anything. They took an emergency EKG but nothing there either. It eventually subsided slightly, but just adds to the mystery. This night, some of the Sisters brought us chocolate milk shakes and coloring books. That night was a lot better in the hospital because we were both so utterly exhausted that we slept really well.

The chair I got to sleep in by Hermana
Escobar while she has been in the hospital

Saturday started early with a full body MRI and X-Rays at 7:30 am. This was the worst time for me because Hermana Escobar was gone for 3 hours and I was alone. I hated not being with her and not knowing what was going on. That time passed very slowly. She finally was brought back and we had lunch before she was finally able to have the Vision Evoked Response test. This one I was able to go with her to. It was kind of funny because she got all of these electrodes hooked up to her head and had to stare at a red dot on a checkerboard screen. We then went back to the room where Hermana Escobar rested for a while because she was so exhausted from all of the tests. We also found out that we would probably be there until at least Monday, waiting for all of the test results to come back. A little bit later a nurse told us there was a chance she could be released that night. But the results never came in, so she wasn't. We did have a visit from our ward mission leader and his wife. They brought us tacos and we had a good visit. That night, at the pleading of Hermana Escobar, we did a mini exchange with the English Speaking Sisters. I really didn't want to leave, but Hna Escobar was very forceful. :-) Sister Spackman stayed with Hermana Escobar and I went with Sister Goff. We ran home so I could grab things and then we slept at their apartment. It was nice to sleep on a bed and to actually sleep the whole night without vitals checks, 5:00 AM blood labs, heart monitors going off, and every other sound that kept us awake in the hospital!

Hermana Escobar and I at the hospital with her stuffed bear

Sunday morning I went to the English Ward PEC and then MCM with Sister Goff. We then had Sacrament Meeting. It was so weird going to a sacrament meeting in English. It was the first time in 8 months!!! Everyone was so confused about why we were together but it made sense when I explained that we did it so I could take care of the Spanish Branch and Sister Goff could cover her ward. Hermana Escobar and I had our investigator and recent converts come to church so Sister Goff and I went to the Spanish classes to be with them. Stater Goff was so sweet to be so willing to attend the Spanish Branch meetings even though she doesn't know any Spanish. It was good and everyone was so worried about Hermana Escobar. Finally, after church I was able to get back to my companion. I missed being with her so much! That afternoon we had a TON of visits from the Branch. The Elders came first to administer the Sacrament, but they weren't able to do it for nearly 4 hours because of all the other visitors that flooded in. They all brought food and little get well presents and talked a lot. Finally the Elders were able to administer the Sacrament to Hermana Escobar and get on their way to the branch presidente's house for dinner. The rest of the evening was spent with Hermana Escobar resting because she was SO exhausted from all of the pain and from all of the visitors. She is semi okay as long as she is on strong enough pain mess, currently Tylenol 3 with codeine. We had a last set of visitors. It was good and we had a lot of laughing. It was another very long day. No answers yet but we are hoping that she will be released tomorrow!

Hermana Escobar hoping she can
be released after her 5 day hospital stay

It has been so amazing to me because Hermana Escobar has never stopped sharing the Gospel. We talk to every nurse that comes in. We have given away a couple of Book of Mormons, and even taught the Restoration. We have a super cool story. Saturday night we met a nurse who is actually a member of the English ward. We were talking with our nurse and about how we are from Utah. She was like, "Oh, this nurse that I know is trying to get to Utah!" We put two and two together and figured that this nurse might be a member :-) We found out that she is the only member of the Church out of 1800 workers here at this hospital! Our nurse introduced us to this nurse member and we talked for just a minute. On Sunday the member nurse came up and found me and told me that she was supposed to get off at 12:00 am that morning but she ended up staying until 2:00 am having a Gospel discussion with her coworkers because her coworkers know us and have seen all of the missionaries going in and out. Now the member nurse is getting her co-worker's contact information and they will be some amazing referrals for the English Sisters! The member nurse came back in early Monday morning and was actually our nurse (she might have requested to be assigned to us) and she spent some time telling us about her missionary experiences and we shared in her excitement. How cool is that?!?!

So yeah, that was our week. With today being our Monday P-day, we are hoping that all of the medical test results come back today and that the doctors will decide to discharge Hermana Escobar. Whatever happens, our past week has been crazy. But we have had so many blessings, so many tender mercies. I know that the Mission President telling Hermana to stay in bed for a day and a half was inspired because as soon as that day and half ended, that is exactly when the problem became apparent. If she hadn't listened, what would have happened? Maybe it would have been worse, maybe she would have pushed it to far, who knows? Then it was such a miracle that we were on exchanges and that Hermana Whitney was with her because she was able to take care of things because I don't know if I would have been okay in the ER. Overall, it is such a tender mercy to me that I have been in the hospital since Thursday with no problems. You may remember that I have this problem with medical facilities. I pass out anytime I am in them. But I have had no problems because I have needed to be here with my companion and my Heavenly Father needed me to be here. Our Father in Heaven is SO amazing! I love Him and know He love us more than we can imagine. I hope that you all have an amazing week and that I have not as quite of an exciting one! :-)

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Sent from my iPad from the Illinois Chicago Mission

Spanish Sign Language, Day at the Temple, Skyping home for Mother's Day, and Green Skies...

2014-05-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

I love serving with Hermana Escobar!!!

Hello Everyone! How are you all doing? We have had another amazing week here. Everything is just so incredible and I just love being a missionary so much! Here are some of the amazing things that happened this week!

We had a pretty busy P-Day on Monday. We were able to get some shopping done and some other errands. That evening we had an appointment with a member family. The Hermana made us some really good Mole (chicken in a sauce made from chocolate, chilies, bananas, and peanuts) and we were able to have a great conversation with them. This morning in personal study Hermana Escobar thought that we should share President Uchtdorf's talk on gratitude with them. We found out why when we started sharing our message with them. The Hermana talked about how she just didn't understand why all of these hard things are happening to her sister that lives in Mexico. They just found out she is getting surgery because she has cancerous tumors, she lives alone with her son who is disabled, and has no one to take care of her. We were able to share the quote from his talk: "We can choose to be grateful, no matter what. This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement, and despair. It blooms just as beautifully in the icy landscape of winter as it does in the pleasant warmth of summer. When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation. In grief, we can still lift up our hearts in praise. In pain, we can glory in Christ’s Atonement. In the cold of bitter sorrow, we can experience the closeness and warmth of heaven’s embrace." The Spirit was soooo strong and the Hermana started crying because it is EXACTLY what she needed to hear. You could definitely feel Heavenly Father's love for this precious daughter of His and how He used us to bring peace to this family in this hard time. It was so neat to recognize how even though we didn't know that morning what they were going through and needed, He did and He prepared us to help and comfort them!

Sister Missionary Sleepover!

Tuesday was a good full and busy day. We had a lesson with a less active member. We read in the Book of Mormon with him and it went well. We then had another less active lesson with another Hermano. There weren't any other women home so we ended up teaching him outside because it was a beautiful day. Because it has been a long time since he has been to Church and since he has been worked with before and we have no idea where he is at, we just started by teaching the Restoration. The lesson went pretty good, he is just a little confusing and it was hard to figure out exactly what he does and doesn't remember. After that we went and did some tracting. Not many people were home but we were able to see a former investigator who invited us back another day and we got a potential investigator at another house. We then had a miracle when we were on our way back to our car. We have a goal to talk to EVERYBODY because it can be so hard to contact people while being in a car all of the time. There was this man sitting on his steps with his dog and so we stopped to talk to him. After we tried talking to him he made some signs indicating that he is deaf. Then my incredible companion gets all excited and just starts signing to him!!! She only knows like 10 words in sign language but she was able to use that and the Spirit and the gift of tongues (or in this case, signs :-) to communicate and teach him for 10 minutes! It was so amazing to watch! He seemed to have a lot of interest so we got his info and are going to try teaching him over Facebook. It was such a miracle because I don't know sign language and Hermana Escobar knows very little, but when as missionaries we open our mouths, The Lord fills them (or signs them)! That evening we had a good lesson with a less active family. We read Moroni 3-4 about the Sacrament prayers and discussed the importance of the Sacrament. Hermana Escobar and I then spent our dinner hour getting the car washed, vacuumed, and all ready for our trip tomorrow. We then hurried to our apartment and packed for our over nighter and then drove to the Griffith Sisters apartment for our "sleepover". It was so fun! We had 5 companionships in all and we just had a great time being together and talking. Of course, we were in bed by 10:30, but I am not going to say that we were asleep at 10:30 :-)

Hermana Escobar and I at the Chicago Temple!

Valpo Zone Day at the Temple

Wednesday, an amazing day, was a very early morning, 5:00, because we had to be at the Temple in Glenview by 8:30. After getting ready, we headed out. I was so excited because I got to drive there and back. I love driving, especially long drives, and especially through the city! The drive up was really good we had 3 other sisters with us and we just had a great time talking and getting to know one another. Thankfully, traffic wasn't horrible, especially because we took the 294 on the outer edge of Chicago, so we ended up getting to the Temple actually a little early. The Temple was amazing. So peaceful and beautiful. Just what you need to recharge your spiritual batteries! We then went to the mission home for lunch and then a testimony meeting about the Book of Mormon challenge. It was such a powerful testimony meeting, I loved it. We then had a class with President and Sister Woodbury. They were under commandment from Elder Nelson to talk to us about Eternal Marriage and the importance of the family. It was a little awkward because we are missionaries and shouldn't be thinking about that stuff. But it is important because that is what Satan is attacking now and we need to be ready to defend it. After a great time with them, I was able to get my interview with President Woodbury before we headed out. It was a really good interview. He really is a man inspired of God to help us missionaries be the best that we can. He helped me out with a lot of things and just helped me feel peaceful and happy and ready to work.

"Temple Selfie"

Our car then stopped by the mission office for a bit because we were FINALLY able to pick up Hermana Escobar's birth certificate and social security card so that she could get her replacement driver's license. We had a fun time just talking with the office staff before we made our long drive home. It took an hour and fifteen minutes just to get south of the city, we hit rush hour just perfectly. And took 3 hours all together to finally get home. Needless to say, it was a very long and spiritually exhaustive day, but such a wonderful and incredible day!

at the Illinois Chicago Mission Office

Thursday was a much more boring day compared with Wednesday. We spent the day at home because Hermana Escobar was in a lot of pain with her back again, sitting in the car for so long yesterday definitely didn't help. We were able to get weekly planning done and I worked on various things and cleaned while she rested.

Friday we were able to go to Chicago Heights and work. We had another good lesson with a less active Hermano. We read about Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life with him and he liked it and seemed to get a lot out of it. One funny thing happened during this lesson. In lessons with him I haven't talked a whole lot before because he loves to talk and normally talks with Hermana Escobar or a member that we have with us because he knows them better then me.

Special Picture just for my cousin Zac!
Me sitting at my Mission President's desk...

But this lesson I talked a little more and he looked at me one time after I bore testimony and told me that was very beautiful and that I had good Spanish. He seemed surprised that I could talk at all because I had never talked much before. It was just funny because he was so surprised. We then had an interesting, long appointment with our investigator and her recent convert husband and daughter. She made us some food and we had another fun experience here. Hermana Escobar is allergic to gluten and is trying to get better at not eating it so much. Well this sweet investigator made some pasta and meat, and gave a huge serving of pasta to Hermana Escobar. She knew she couldn't eat much of it because she would get really sick, so, anytime the investigator's back was turned, Hermana Escobar would just load up my plate with her pasta and I would eat it as fast as I could so it wasn't obvious.

Hermana Escobar & I singing
at the Mother's Day Dinner

It was super fun and I ate a lot of good food! That afternoon we were finally able to go and get Hermana Escobar's Illinois driver's license. Everything went well and she passed all of the tests. It was so weird when she took her driving test because I was not allowed to be with her and so we were both separated from each other and alone for about 20 minutes. It was such a strange feeling! That night we then had the Branch activity that was a Mother's Day Dinner. They had a really good turnout. We actually had a lot of people there that were friends and relations of one of our recent converts, so that was super neat. Hermana Escobar and I sang for everyone, Love at Home, and it went pretty well considering there were two tone deaf people singing a duet together! :-)

Saturday was another day where not much happened because unfortunately Hermana Escobar was back in bed again because of a lot of pain and nausea. I worked on various things and mostly just tried to keep her from going crazy because she was stuck in bed all day.

Screen shot of my Skype call home
for Mother's Day

We had a good, and very emotional, Sunday. We were at Church at 9:00 because we were supposed to have a meeting, but it didn't happen. So instead we just listened to the English Ward Sacrament Meeting. Of course it was mother themed for Mother's Day and there were some good things shared. Then as part of her talk, one of the speakers read the book "I Love You Forever". I don't know if you all have read that, but it is a cute book about the love of a mom. I remember my Mom reading that to me when I was little. That was kind of hard but also really special to hear. Church was good. Sacrament Meeting was amazing because a less active family that we have been working with decided that they wanted to surprise us and so they decided to come to Church! They haven't been in years, but they came today. Then the less active son of a active member came too. Hermana Escobar and I were both soooooo excited! That afternoon we did studies and then we got to call our families over Skype for Mother's Day! It was so wonderful, but that 40 minutes definitely goes way too fast. I am so very grateful for my family and their love and support, and the opportunity we had to talk together! It is so weird to think that I only have one more missionary phone call left to make now (at Christmas)!

Green skies typically aren't good, right?

We then had dinner at branch presidente's house. The drive there was very interesting. As we drove there, all of the sudden storm clouds moved in, the sky turned green (a tornado warning sign), the wind started blowing so much, and then the rain just started coming down in sheets. It was pretty eerie! In the 10 sec it took us to run from the car to the building, we were completely soaked! As soon as we got inside their building, the tornado sirens started going off. Luckily, nothing developed but it was so interesting to be in the middle of an infamous Midwest storm! It was a good night with President and his family and we had a good time.

Sweet family and friends, once again I truly cannot thank you all enough for your amazing love and support! I love you all like crazy and hope you have the most amazing week! I love you! Bye!

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Sent from my iPad from the Illinois Chicago Mission

Country Girl driving through Downtown Chicago & on Lake Shore Drive, "Look Upward"

2014-05-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hola Queridas Familia y Amigos! Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!! I hope that you all have had as an amazing week as I have! Isn't life just amazing? Don't we have so very many things in our lives to be grateful for? I hope you all can feel the peace and joy this Gospel brings, it truly is incredible! Anyways, here is only a brief summary of my awesome week!

Monday was a great P-Day. We had a fun zone activity where we played volleyball and got to be with the other missionaries in the zone. We had a great time and definitely enjoyed wearing our non-pros. That evening we finished up planning and preparing for the coming week.

Martes we had a very long day of doing stop by's. We had a huge list of old potential investigators that we just spent the day going through. Nobody was home so that was a little bit of a downer, but that is okay because we will definitely see blessings from being diligent and doing all that we can to further the work of The Lord in our area.

Wednesday was another busy and full day. We had a great District Meeting. I felt like it was directed right at me and my needs. It is always so amazing to me that when someone is teaching by the Spirit, everyone listening by the Spirit hears the personalized messages and direction that they need. This is true for everyone all of the time, but I have especially noticed it as a missionary. We then had a fun District Lunch at a taqueria. It is so great getting to know the other missionaries because they are so strong and are amazing people. Hermana Escobar and I then had a good appointment with an investigator. We mostly helped her get ready to get her drivers license and she also wanted help setting up an email and Facebook. We eagerly helped her, conveniently adding ourselves as friends on Facebook :) Next we had a good appointment with some potentials investigators. We taught the Restoration and it seemed to go pretty well. They both said they wanted to know for themselves and would read the Book of Mormon. The rest of the afternoon we spent looking for old potential investigators. No one was really home but we did have a miracle at one house. We were looking for a potential but no one was home. As we were getting in the car, there was a man standing next to his truck at another house. Hermana Escobar asked him if we could give him a card. We introduced ourselves and he introduced himself and Hermana Escobar freaked out. It turns out that he was a less active member that the missionaries had been searching for for at least 4 transfers (6 months)! We just happened to find him, talk with him, and set up an appointment because we were out doing what we were supposed to and Hermana Escobar followed the Spirit! It was SUPER neat!

Driving in Downtown Chicago!

Thursday was AMAZING! Wow! Where do I even start? Well, I drove 200 miles today, that made me super happy because love driving. And those 200 miles included Downtown Chicago and Lake Shore Drive, both unintentionally, but that is fine because it was so incredible! So, starting from the beginning, this morning we went to the Chiropractor for Hermana Escobar. That went good and then we started the long drive to the mission office in Wilmette. For some reason, as we were approaching Downtown Chicago, the GPS directed us off of the interstate. Within minutes I found myself driving in the middle of downtown of one of the biggest cities in the US,

Chicago!!!

accidentally! I was scared out of my mind because there was so much going on and some many cars and turns and craziness, but it was so neat! I can officially say that I drove in downtown Chicago, something most people would be okay with never being able to say! After an exhilarating drive through downtown, the GPS put us right back on the same interstate! Don't know why it took us off but I am glad it did, we got to see and experience things we might otherwise not have been able to! Once we finally got to the mission office, we gave a tres leches cake to Elder Taggart, and the rest of the office, as a peace offering for how many miles we drove in our mission car last month. We then discovered that everything Hermana Escobar needed to get a new license was there, except for those all

Driving in Downtown Chicago!

important birth certificate and social security card. But, she did get all of her new credit and debit cards, so now she has money, so that is great!, We just have to wait for everything else to come in. After talking for a while with the office staff, we got lunch at Arby's and then started our drive back home. We decided that since we were in the city, we would stop at a Children's Hospital to say hi to some members that have been there since January. For some reason, the GPS guided us there by taking us 20 miles along the Lake Shore Drive. For those who don't know, Lake Shore Drive from Wilmette to South Chicago is the road that is at the very edge of the city and Lake Michigan, it goes right through downtown, it is crazy busy, and it is very beautiful. It was an incredible drive, and

Soldier Field on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago

especially meaningful because I remembered taking the exact same drive with my family when we were visiting here in Chicago last summer! Needless to say, on all of our GPS detours, Hermana Escobar ended up taking hundreds of photos!!! Unfortunately, the member wasn't at the hospital when we stopped by so it looked like that side trip had been a bit of a waste. But, when you are in the service of The Lord, nothing is a waste!!! As we were leaving the hospital, there was a woman waiting for a ride that we said hello to and started talking to. We had a great conversation and she asked us who we were and what we were doing. We were able to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ being restored and that we have living prophets. She was super interested and gladly accepted our card and said she would look at Mormon.org. It was such a blessing from The Lord that

Lake Michigan as seen along Lake Shore Drive

He really does put people in our path if we are doing His work! We finished the drive home, did a little bit of proselyting on Facebook, and then had studies to finish out the very long but wonderful day!

Friday was an interesting day. We had a lesson with a less active family and the Relief Society President who loves to come out with us. It was a good appointment. We shared 1 Nephi 8 about the Tree of Life and then we were just able to talk with them, the two ladies (one a member and the other not) just had little babies and so the Relief Society President was really able to friendship and just talk with them, it was super good because it is exactly what they needed. Hermana Escobar and I then did some proselyting on Facebook before going home. Hermana Escobar's back was killing her, she couldn't move it all. So we took her home and she spent the afternoon resting and I did random cleaning and work around the apartment.

Saturday was just kind of a weird day because we were unfortunately home all day long. Hermana Escobar was in so much pain that she couldn't move, and if she did move she was extremely nauseated. Needless to say it was a long day and I did all that I could to help my poor comp. I spent the day doing various things around the apartment -

cleaning, working on Area Book, working on my iPad, studying, and taking care of Hermana Escobar. It definitely is not the best feeling of a missionary to be inside all day, knowing you should be out working for The Lord. But if this time for Hermana Escobar to rest helps her heal, it is for sure worth it!

Sunday was a much better day. Hermana Escobar was feeling a little better so that is super great. We had our missionary correlation meeting this morning and that went well. Hermana Escobar and I then taught the Gospel Principles class about the life of Christ. It was great, especially because Francisco, our recent convert, and Sarah, his wife who is an investigator, were there. We were able to fine tune the lesson a lot to Sarah and her needs so that helped a lot, you could definitely feel the Spirit. The rest of Church was really good. The Branch is really small, about 15 women in Relief Society, and around 40 in Sacrament Meeting, but I love them so much and because there are not so many, I am definitely coming to know them and love them. An English ward meets there about the same time we do and there are a couple of super nice members that love to give us missionaries food. Whenever we walk out of Church we feel like we have been shopping because we have plastic bags filled with food. Like today we had eggs, zucchini, bananas, a frozen pizza, and a chives plant. They are so sweet and help us out so much! After Church and a little bit of stress trying to find a ride for Francisco and his family to get home, the ride we had arranged just left without them, but we got it worked out, we drove to Chicago Heights and studied in the car while we waited for an appointment we had scheduled. Then, the appointment called and said he had to cancel. So we drove home, ate, and studied so more. We then had our weekly dinner with our Branch President and his cute little family. It was a lot of fun and then Hermana Escobar and I talked about how Christ and the scriptures are the living water and shared the Bible video about the woman at the well.

My desk/personal study area in the apartment

One thing that I really enjoy about my mission is the opportunity for my personal study time. I love personal study so much and learn so much every day. That one hour definitely is not enough though! I am reading in 2 Nephi right now and I love in chapter 18 so much. In verses 6-7 it talks about the Waters of Shaloa which are symbolic of Christ an how His way and His words are smooth and are living water vs. the waters of Euphrates that are like the king of Assyria that bring death and destruction. In verse 10 I love the word Immanuel because it so perfectly describes Christ = God is with us. Vs 14 about how Christ is a sanctuary for the righteous and a stumbling block for the wicked is very powerful. One of my favorite verses was 17: I will wait upon the Lord...I will look for Him = I will trust Him and His timing in all things. In verse 20 we learn that if we don't have the Light within us we cannot testify nor teach. We have to allow the Gospel and Christ to illuminate us. Then in verse 22 we learn that when we just look at the world all we see is darkness and depression and we can be dragged down into it. But we learn in the very end of verse 21 that we need to "LOOK UPWARD" to Christ so that we will not be dragged down by the things of the world.

As you can see it was another great, exciting, and adventurous week! I love you all so much and I really do pray that all is going well for you. Have the most amazing week and especially have a Happy Mother's Day to all of the special women in my life you have all been my example and have helped me get to this point, I love you so much!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Missionary work is "Sweet", especially at the Albanese Candy Factory...

2014-04-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hermana Escobar and I at the
Albanese Candy Factory on P-Day

Buenos Dias Queridas Familia y Amigos! How is everyone doing? Hermana Escobar and I had another amazing and interesting week. Things are going great and I really do love being here and being with Hermana Escobar! Here is my novel for the week. :-)

Monday for P-Day we hung out with 6 other sisters. We ate at Chick-Fil-A and then went to Albanese Candy Factory. After our P-Day we spent sometime proselyting on Facebook because we couldn't afford the miles it would cost us to drive to Chicago Heights.

We live in Indiana and work in Illinois,
so we cross the border all the time!

Today was a terrific Tuesday! We spent the day in Chicago Heights trying to see potential and new investigators. We were able to catch a few people at home and set up some appointments with them. But we still burned through our long list of people to see very quickly. We were able to spend some time figuring out what all Hermana Escobar needs to do to get an Illinois Drivers License because it is going to be too hard for her to get a new Utah one because she can't appear in Utah in person. She gets to take the written and driving tests as well as we get to drive clear to Wilmette sometime to get her passport from the mission office. She is super excited about all of that (sarcastic face)! We had a crazy story happen at the DMV. We were getting ready to leave and Hermana Escobar was getting ready to back me up. As I was getting ready to back up, she yelled "Hermana" and I looked at her to see her holding a HUGE wad of cash. At first I was really confused where it had come from and then she explained that she had just found it lying in the middle of the parking lot. We went to take the cash in to the DMV office and as we were doing so, the Secretary of State police officer as well as some other people we had been talking to earlier told us we should just keep it because it wouldn't do anything to turn it in. We insisted and went back inside to turn in the money. As we were waiting in line, a little girl came up to us and asked if we had found a big wad of cash in the parking lot. She explained it was hers and she had been in charge of holding it for her mom. We gladly gave it to her because you could just tell that she was telling the truth. As we walked back out we explained what had happened and all the people that had told us to just keep it were amazed and very impressed with us. It was really cool and we were so glad that there was never any question to us of what we should do, it really made an impression on a lot of people! Tuesday night we had a dinner appointment with a member. She made us really good enchiladas and I found out she is the sister of an Hermana that I used to visit a lot in Midway. It was so neat to have that common ground with her and I could completely tell they were sisters. We played the Plan of Salvation game and it went great.

We spend a lot of time in the car
as we travel to our assigned area

Going for a pattern, today was a wonderful Wednesday. We had a really good District Meeting about "Talk with Everyone" and "Teach when you Find, Find when you Teach". Hermana Escobar and I learned about a lot of things we can better implement as a companionship. We then ate our little sack lunches at the Church and checked Facebook for a couple of minutes and then headed to Chicago Heights. Unfortunately the appointment we had wasn't home. So instead we decided to put into practice exactly what we learned at District Meeting. We went tracting and started teaching as soon as someone answered the door. Chicago Heights is kind of difficult to knock because it is mostly black and white with pockets of Hispanics here and there. You just have to pick a random street and go for it, hoping there might he Hispanics there. That is one thing you definitely learn on the mission is to look for clues that signify that Hispanics live there (the biggest give away is Christmas lights hung up, if so, you know it is Hispanic!). This particular street happened to be completely white Lutherans. We got rejected at every house. It was so hard and sad, especially when they told us things like "You don't focus enough on Jesus" (His name is on our name badges!) or "I'll be praying for you that someday you may see the light and learn the truth". It was a tough street but I learned so much from it by watching Hermana Escobar. She is truly such a powerful teacher and testifier. She shows love and joy and really connects with people and is able to follow the Spirit so well, it was amazing to watch and I hope to learn to follow her example. We then had a dinner appointment with a member and it went really good. We played the "Scale of Righteousness" game with her, her son, and her two grand kids and it seemed to make a big impact on them. As we were getting to leave, she told us about a less active that she used to see with the Elders sometimes. She said she hadn't seen her for a while but that she lived just a few blocks away. We told her we would check with the Elders and see if they were working with her. Since we had a little extra time we decided to just stop by and see this less active member because we were right there. We got on the Area Book app on our iPad to check the address and see if the Elders had met with her recently. As I was driving there we saw from the area book record that the Elders were actually scheduled to be in an appointment with her right then! We were so glad that we checked before we knocked on the door and awkwardly found them there when we were in their area without permission to stop by one of their less actives. We headed for home and creepily texted the Elders telling them to tell the less active member hello for us. They were very confused about how we were stalking them :-)

Thursday was interesting. We had apartment inspections and that went well because our apartment was nice and clean. We then worked on weekly planning for several hours. After spending a little time at the library on Facebook, we went to our eating appointment with a member in Whiting. She made us some really good food, it was weird because it was almost all Americanized; we had ham, potatoes, rolls, and then...pinto beans. The beans helped it feel more normal :-) We had a good little lesson on "the scale of righteousness" and how the power of repentance allows us to change. We then hurried to MCM because we were late and it was in Gary. Hurrying was hard because the road was not a road, it was actually just potholes hooked together by a little bit of asphalt. We were trying to hurry and my poor companion was extremely nauseated from the food (she is allergic to gluten and a TON of other stuff) and the ibuprofen she is taking (which she is also very allergic to) because of her ridiculously painful and messed up back. Needless to say, it was a very interesting drive. MCM was good, except for my companion was also pretty loopy from all of the Ibuprofen so that was really interesting. We then thankfully made it home so that Hermana Escobar was able to rest.

We had a VERY busy day on Friday! We literally spent all day running from appointment to

Uncle Paul, this photo is for you. Since you enjoy water
towers, this is one that we often pass by in our area

appointment. It was so great to be so busy but we were sure exhausted! Our relief society president really wanted to come out with us so we met up with her and then drove to an appointment with a investigator. She is very Catholic and doesn't have too much interest in changing. But her husband is Christian and does have interest. The only problem is that he is never home so we are trying to teach his wife so that we can teach him. But when we got there with our relief society president, the husband was there and so we were able to teach mainly focusing on him. We shared the #BecauseofHim video and talked about Christ and about the Book of Mormon and how it is evidence that all of this is true. We then went to another appointment with the relief society President, this time a family that is less active. We shared the video again, it really has been such a powerful tool for us to use. We talked about the Sacrament and how it is such a gift for us. After that lesson we hurried and took the relief society president back to her car and then hurried to an appointment we were pretty late for with our investigator and recent convert family. They are the cutest little family. A father and his daughter were baptized at the end of March. We are working a lot with the mom to help her recognize how this is the true and living Church. She is very actively involved and attending two churches right now and is finding it difficult to receive her answer. She fed us some really good pasta and carne and then we shared the Restoration video. It was a powerful lesson and it was going really good. Then her pastor came in and the mom had her daughter hurry and hide the Book of Mormons that we had been reading from. #exasperatedface We have taught the mother so much and she believes it is true, she is just waiting for her answer and is a little scared to take that step, but she will get there. Next we got in a little bit of Facebook proselyting time before going to meet with a Chicago Heights ward member who speaks Spanish and who we had set up an appointment with. It was going good and we had been talking with her, getting to know her, for just a couple of minutes when she was like, "It's been great to meet you and all but we are going to have to reschedule, I have other company. " We were kind of kicked out of her house and we were both kind of confused about it, but that is okay because we go back later. We then had a great dinner appointment with a member and her kids. We had a great, if not kind of crazy, time talking with them. They are a great family and I really enjoyed being with them.

Hermana Escobar as the "novia"
during a skit for the branch activity

Hermana Escobar and I have officially decided that everyday is interesting with us, and Saturday was no exception. We did our studies and the drove to Chicago Heights. We tried to contact some PNI's but they all said some other day. We did a little bit of Facebook proselyting and then went to our appointment with a less active family. When we knocked on their door someone who lives there told us that they had just left to walk their dog. The crazy thing is that we had just confirmed with them an hour before and the Hermana even said she was making us food. We waited for a while and tried calling them, but nothing.

It was really strange and kind of sad, but we just headed to the

The Elders serving in our branch
in their skit costumes for the
branch activity

chapel to help everyone get ready for the branch activity. It was a branch talent show and it was so

much fun. A lot of people participated. There was some amazing singing and us missionaries ended up doing 2 skits. One we wrote because they asked us to and the other was one that Presidente saw of some other missionaries do and thought it would be great for us to do. It was called, "Querido Juan" which means "Dear John" :-) It was super funny and a little bit awkward, especially for my companion, the novia (girlfriend) of Juan, our District Leader. It was a really fun night.

Sunday Hermana Escobar happened to check the phone as we were getting ready to start studies and we found out that we had a meeting at 9:00 with the leaders of the Branch and President Cabrera of the Mission Presidency. We had enough time to hurry and get ready and then run out the door to the meeting. It was a really good meeting and President Cabrera really got everyone excited about participating in missionary work. He suggested we start holding a branch Noche de Hogar, he mentioned how successful it has been in Midway in the Chicago Stake and I was quite proud. :-) The rest of Church was good and then we went home and did studies before going to Presidente's house for dinner. It was a nice end to the week.

Time really is starting to go by faster, it is kind of crazy! I hope you all are doing good. Please remember how much I love you and miss you! Have an incredible week!

Hermana Allyse Meanea

A Week of Changes, Shrimp, Passing Out, and Joy!!!

2014-04-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

WOW Amazing Family and Friends! This has been a crazy week and a lot has happened! Everything is so incredible, I love it! I love my new companion and my new area, it is so fun and interesting.

Dominos for our last night together.

I guess we will start with last Monday. After emailing for P-day we went to Giordano's together as all of the Hermanas serving in our ward. It was fun and great to just be all together and be able to talk together one last time. We also went to the post office so that Hermana Jones, Hermana Black, and I could all mail boxes home. It was pretty funny that I sent home far more than Hermana Jones who has been out 18 months and is now going home! That afternoon I worked on packing and then we headed out to try and see some people so I could say goodbye. We had a miracle happen with one of our very interesting investigators! We hadn't seen her for a while, she hadn't been there for our appointment and she hadn't been answering her phone calls for a week, all of which was so unlike her. We left the our house a little later than we had been planning but still hoped that she might be home this time. As we were walking down the alley between her house and our house, she walked right past the alley on her way home! We got to her house at the exact same time that she returned home from being at her daughters house for several days. If we had gone any earlier, we would have missed her!

Eating Camarron!

Another part of the miracle was that because she was just getting home she didn't want to talk for long, which was so great because she does like to talk normally and we didn't really have time. She was so sad to see me leave and made me promise to come back and visit her, she also gave us juice like always she always has done for one last time. We then tried to contact another one of my favorite investigators but she wasn't home :-( We then went to a member's home and they were so amazing. The dad gave a little family home evening about missionary work and how even if we don't baptize in a area, we are planting seeds and are in the service of The Lord. They then had a very special dinner for us...camarón. In English that is...shrimp cocktails!!! Thankfully the sauce was strong enough and Heavenly Father is so amazing to bless me that I didn't taste the shrimp and I was able to eat it all! What a tender mercy from Heavenly Father (if you couldn't tell, I can't stomach shrimp)! I had a great night with them and it was so sad and hard to say goodbye, but I will be back. That night I just finished packing and we ate Dominos that my family had arranged to be delivered to our apartment for my last night there with Hermana Black.

Hermana Black and I one last time...

Tuesday morning we got me all ready to go and then waited for the Westchester Hermanas to come get my luggage and the other Hermanas from our ward to pick us up. Thankfully we were able to find a place for all of my stuff. It is incredible how much you collect being in an area for six months! At the transfer meeting I said goodbye to Hermana Black and we moved all of my stuff to my new car. Hermana Escobar and I then started the long drive home to Indiana. We are definitely not in South Side Chicago anymore. We left the city and drove through fields and open space, something that I haven't seen in 7 months! I love my new companion, she is so fun and energetic and happy. I am so excited to be serving with her and I know there is a lot I will be able to learn from her! We unpacked my stuff a little but and then

Welcome to Indiana Hermana Meanea!!!

headed out to a lesson with a less active family. It was a great lesson completely led by the Spirit because Hermana Escobar and I didn't have much time to prepare and we have never taught together before. They are a super sweet family and their son really wants to come back to Church, pray, and read his scriptures so that he can have "the Force". For dinner that night we got Elotes. An elote is corn, mayonnaise, butter, and chili powder. It sounds a little gross but is actually really good! That night we had a pretty intense nightly planning session and we made companionship goals for this transfer. It was a fun first day and it is going to be an amazing transfer!

My new comp, Hermana Escobar

The info about my new companion and my new area. My companion is Hermana Escobar from Provo, Utah. She just turned 20 and has been out on her mission a transfer longer than me. She is super outgoing and fun and energetic. I am so excited to be with her and to learn from her. Our proselyting area is half of a Spanish Branch's area. It is a HUGE geographical area! By comparison, my old area in Midway was pretty big by Chicago Stake standards, but it has NOTHING on this area!!! We cover a 1/3 of the Stake, and it is a huge stake. Our area is at least 70 miles wide and 50 miles tall!!! We live in the middle of our area, but we actually do most of our work in Illinois. So that means that everyday we take the 25 mile drive, about 45 minutes, to where we work. We have so much car time in this area, definitely another big change from my last area! We only have 3 active families, 3 less active families, and 2 recent convert families in our proselyting area to help us find investigators.

Toto, I don't think we are in the
South Side Chicago anymore...

On Wednesday we did some studies and then went to District Meeting. It was a good meeting, we learned about how we can best use #BecauseofHim and how we can share Preach My Gospel with the members and extend commitments to them. After District Meeting we did some Facebook proselyting and then went to the library so that we could download the #BecauseofHim church videos on our iPads so we can use them in teaching this week. I hope you all heard about the amazing social media initiative the Church did this past week. As missionaries we were highly encouraged, and we did, get highly involved in this. It was a lot of fun to go throughout the week seeing what we could do to share what is possible #BecauseofHim. We then met with a Spanish speaking member of the English Ward in our area. The Stake President has asked us to work on developing a relationship with the Spanish speaking members that attend the English ward so that we can work together in the area. She was great and we were able to share the #BecauseofHim video with her and she is definitely going to be a big help to us. After that we drove to another member's home for a dinner appointment, but no one was home. :-( We got Taco Bell instead and then made our long drive back home.

The sky is so big and beautiful and open in Indiana

So Thursday was great! We had basically all of our appointments cancel, but that is okay! We drove clear to our area in Chicago because we had scheduled appointments, but then the appointments canceled. Because we already used way too many miles than we are allowed (because it is not possible to stay within the miles allotted to us because of how far we live from our working area) so we sat in the car for several hours and did our weekly planning. It is kind of hard and a little frustrating coming into a new area. I just want to know everyone, I want to know the area, and I want to be able to help with the planning, but it is coming along. We then got a text from one of our investigators. Her mom is in a nursing home and she asked if we could go and see her mom for a bit. Happy for the chance to serve a little bit, and take a break from weekly planning, we drove to the nursing home. It was a huge place but we finally figured out where we were going and put on the gowns, gloves, and masks that we needed to enter her room, we looked great! She is a very interesting woman. We talked with her for a bit and helped her with just some little things. After about 20 minutes with her I started to get that particular sensation that happens to me when I am in hospitals and other medical buildings. I got really hot and started to lose my vision and hearing, just a slight problem! I knew that if we didn't get out of there really soon, I was going to pass out right there in the nursing home, something I really didn't want to happen. Hermana Escobar was able to explain really quickly to her that it was time for us to leave while I was doing all that I could to stay conscious. Thankfully I was able to stumble out to the car, all the while with my companion wondering what in the world was going on with me. Needless to say, I don't think that I will be able to do anymore volunteering at nursing homes! My only regret is that I was so out of it when we left that I didn't have us take a picture in our hospital clothes! We then drove to a member family's home. We had a really good dinner with them and then shared the #BecauseofHim video and had a great lesson with them. Her mom lives with them and she is not a member so we were really focusing on teaching her and helping her feel the Spirit. Hermana Escobar completely followed the Spirit and we had a very powerful lesson with them and invited the mom to Church. They all seemed really touched.

A Beautiful Welcome to Indiana Moon...

Friday morning we had fun making cookies and brownies to take around to different investigators and less actives. We then drove to Walmart to see if by some miracle they had Hermana Escobar's wallet. Sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning, she lost her wallet (she claims a gnome took it). We completely cleaned and went through the apartment and car...twice! It is nowhere. After learning that Walmart didn't have her wallet we called and took care of all of her credit cards and then talked with Elder Taggart, the mission vehicle coordinator. She is either going to have to jump through hoops and fill out all of this paperwork to get a replacement Utah drivers license because it is a little difficult for her to appear in person right now, or she can apply and test for an Illinois driving license. Either choice is going to take about a month so that means I am now the official driver of the companionship. It was a little scary at first because our area is so big and I really don't know it at all yet, but I am getting a lot better now and really enjoy the driving. We were dropping off some of the treats that we made when we got a text from our one investigator who's mom is in the care center that we visited on Thursday. She asked if we could have our scheduled lesson with her at the nursing home with her mom instead of at her house. This was a problem for us because of my little dilemma, we didn't think it would be a good idea for me to pass out while we were teaching them in the care center. The solution? We went on emergency splits with the English sisters from the area. It actually worked out because our investigator is more comfortable in English and we will probably have to pass her off to English missionaries anyway. So I spent the afternoon with Sister Buckmiller and we did a lot of stop-by's. We were trying to contact some of the less actives on their ward member list and it was so sad to meet people who wanted absolutely nothing to do with the Church anymore. It breaks your heart because you know what they pushing away. But we had a good time together and it was a pretty comical situation. The lesson with our investigator went well for my companion, and they even taught the receptionist at the care center too. I was so sad to have missed it but it sounds like it went really good, especially because I didn't pass out!

Saturday was another interesting day, I am just starting to accept the fact that all days are interesting on a mission! Hermana Escobar had a chiropractor appointment this morning so we drove there and back, it is about an hour each way, and I LOVED the long drive. We then returned home and did studies and worked some more on weekly planning. After that we took some pictures to put on Facebook for #BecauseofHim and for our profile pictures. We then spent some time on Facebook, proselyting and teaching. We really tried to do all we could
on Facebook because we already used so many

#BecauseofHim on our car

miles going to the chiropractor and back, not to mention how much we use just normally, that we couldn't drive to our working area today. So we did all of the work we could on Facebook. Facebook really is an amazing blessing to have as a missionary, it makes it possible for us to contact and teach people when we otherwise many not have had the chance. That night we washed the car and used window markers to write #BecauseofHim on our windows so that we can try and reach as many people as possible tomorrow.

Happy Easter!

On Sunday we had another busy day, which is always good to have, especially on Easter Sunday! We had a meeting with the branch presidency and the Elders also serving in our branch. We discussed the less actives and investigators we are working with. The branch really wants to work with us and have people to visit and work with, it is so great. Hermana Escobar and I taught the Gospel Principles class about Prophets of God. We had two of our recent converts there as well as a member we visited this past week who brought her mom who we also taught and invited to come to Church. We then had Relief Society and then Sacrament Meeting. Going to Church in a branch is so interesting, it is soooo small! We have about 30-40 active members, it is so different from the Chicago Midway Ward and from my home ward! The Branch President had me get up in Sacrament Meeting and introduce myself and give a little testimony. It was a beautiful Easter Sunday and the talks were very powerful about Christ and all that we have, are, and do is #BecauseofHim. Hermana Escobar and I handed out little eggs we had filled with chocolate and HLJ (Hace Lo Justo = Choose the Right) rings and had written #GraciasaÉl/ #BecauseofHim on them. Everyone loved them and though it was so cute. After Sacrament Meeting we had a little meeting with the Relief Society Presidency to talk about how they can help us with the people that we are working with. We then hurried to an appointment, but our investigator wasn't there so we just left the cookies and brownies we made for her. We then had another appointment cancel so we went to stop by our other recent converts/progressing investigator. They were home and let us in. We shared the #BecauseofHIm video and talked about Easter and about Christ. They are such sweet people. The husband and daughter were just baptized on the 29th of March, the husband passed the Sacrament for the first time today, and we are working with the Mom. She believes it is true but currently attends and is very active in 2 other churches and so we are helping her to see and understand this is the only true Church and how she is ready to accept this Gospel. We then went to another appointment with less actives where we again shared the #BecauseofHim video. They liked it a lot. Their 12 year old boy has been reading in the Book of Mormon and even asked us where he should read next! We then went home and had studies. I had a wonderful time studying about Easter and the Atonement. It just became so much more real to me. Christ is real, He truly is our Savior. He really did live and die for us, and He lives again! It was such a beautiful Easter Sunday and having this incredible opportunity to share glad news of Easter and of the Atonement, on Easter Sunday, with the people of this area, truly made it a very special day for me!

Have an amazing week everyone! I love you soooooo much! Thank you so much for all that you do! Don't let the joy and peace that we felt from Easter Sunday, dissipate. Our Redeemer lives and that means that we can have this same peace, joy, and happiness year round because the blessings of this knowledge are everlasting! I love you and our Savior loves you!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea