Totally “Fort Worth” It!

 Hermana Kelsey 6:5 -email-

Dearest familia!
This week has been another really good week, that ended with some hard things. I guess I’ll start from the beginning.
Monday: We ate cena (dinner) with a member family, and I jumped on the tramp, and did some flips…in my skirt! 🙂 Ha ha ha!! It was okay though, because it was a tight one, and nobody saw anything. But it was super fun. I haven’t gotten to do that in a while. After that we had a noche de hogar (family home evening) with some investigators we are teaching. It turned out really well, and their kids and the dad are actually getting involved now. We were just teaching the mom and the daughter before. The mom is older, and is actually a grandma to her two daughters kids. But anyway, we are really excited about that.
Tuesday: Nothing really happened…but the son of the family we taught yesterday, and today, was being really, really funny. His name is Leo (his mom says it like lay-o), and when you say it like that it actually means, “I read” in spanish. I thought that was pretty funny.
Wednesday: We taught our really cool investigator Joe. He told us this last Sunday, that he didn’t want to get baptized anymore, but I think he is just overwhelmed with everything, and isn’t really sure what to do right now. We are still going to keep working with him.
Thursday: Today was planning day, but we skipped out on part of planning to teach our baptismal date for this Saturday. She is so cool. Her name is Lesa, and she is almost 14. Her family is actually part members. It’s kind of an involved story, but her mom died a little while ago, and now her dad is married to her aunt. Her aunt is a member, and so is her younger cousin Aidan. Her dad doesn’t really want anything to do with the church. We went to see him to get his permission though, and he said he was okay with Lesa getting baptized. 🙂 We were really excited about that. 🙂 🙂 But she is really cool.
Friday: We had zone conference. It was really really good. President Sagers is just so full of knowledge. And sometimes he goes off on crazy tangents and tells us random weird stories. He’s a very funny guy. Once you get past the whole intimidation part. 🙂 Then later in the day, we went to the E’s house to help them move some furniture, so they can get their floor worked on. It was really really hot because their A/C just went out earlier in the day. But I was excited because we got to wear pants for a little while! 🙂 Also…they fed us! In case you are wondering why that is so exciting, it is because that is a sign of conversion! Yeah!! 😀
Saturday: Today was a crazy crazy day. The day started out like usual. We visited some people, and then because we were running low on miles, we decided to take out on of our ward missionaries. Her name is Mercy, and she is older (like 50’s). She actually comes out with us a lot. So anyway, we were with her for like an hour or so, and no one let us in to let us teach them. We were walking around outside a lot, and it was really hot. Hermana Mercy has a tendacy of walking away from us, so when we were contacting this people, and she kept walking, we didn’t really think too much of it. Then we saw out of the corner of our eyes that she had sat down in the middle of the sidewalk. Sister Q ended the contact really quick so we could go check on her. We asked how she was doing, and she was telling us about how hot she was, and that she needed water. The lady we had just been talking to went into the apartment, and got a glass of water. Hermana Mercy started drinking some of it, and we poured some on her neck to cool her off. We called this couple that she lives with to have them see if they could come get us. All of the sudden, Hermana Mercy passes out. The lady that was helping us held her head up so she wouldn’t get hurt. Then she started throwing up. We didn’t even know what to do. Sister Q was on the phone with the couple at this point, but she hung up real fast, and called 911. We were trying really hard not to panic. We thought our exchange was dying in front of us!! Anyway, long story short the ambulance came, and she ended up going to the hospital. It was crazy. She ended up calling us later in the night to see if we were still having our baptism, because she wanted to come. That chick is nuts!!
After that, we went to the church to set up for our baptism. We had a really great baptism. Lesa is such a good girl, and she is going to do great things. 🙂 I think she is going to serve a mission someday. 😉
Sunday: We had a really good day at church. We had a couple that we have only taught once come to church, which is a really good thing. If you can get investigators to come to church, it is a really big step. But then, later in the evening we got dropped by one of my favorite investigators. Her name is Carrie. She is 14. Her mom and sister are members, but not her, her dad or her other sister. She is so awesome! I just love that girl. But she told her mom last night that she doesn’t want to see us anymore:( I was so sad last night. We have lost investigators before, but I really had hope that Carrie was going to go somewhere, and now she won’t. It was a sad time.
So that was our week.
Mom: Wow that’s awesome you are getting some kids to watch. 🙂 I’m glad things are working for you! 🙂 Just remember to always pay your tithing first, before anything else. That is one thing I have really strong testimony about. The Lord can’t pour out his blessings upon you unless you show your faith by paying your tithing, and making that small sacrifice. 🙂
Ha ha. You kind of are getting old. 😉 Jk jk.
(I had just told Kelsey that I’m turning 50 this year!) 
Emmysaurus: Wowee Wow Wow! You’re getting so big. Guess what? I’m going to miss your high school graduation…and so is Alex. 🙁 Man, that’s crazy. I’m glad you got some cute new clothes though. Is Rach in high school?! Wow, man! Everyone is growing up too fast. Well, I gotta go now. Peace and blessings!
Well, I’m out of time. Love you all. Keep doing good things!
Love, Hermana Kelsey

Howzit-Elder Flexy!

Elder Flexy 14:3 -email-
Make,
this week has been pretty good we are working hard trying to help the branch to grow. the church here is built on the backs of the missionaries and President Belunga. so we work very hard but we have plans to make it better, i got the letter with the photos in it and it was THE nicest thing i have received on my whole mission it’s weird to see Landon, he looks different. and same with Colin he looks so much older. Even Caleb getting married its crazy to see it actually happened. mission is good we are still working hard. being DL is going pretty good i have a lot of responsibilities but I’m trying my best to tackle all of them. its good to hear that all the daycare stuff is going well. and the walking and hiking i miss hiking and camping and that stuff was way fun. i hope you guys buy Emily a hundred dollar Geo Metro or Fiat uh-no. that would be good. anyway love you
Love Elder Flexy

Baba,
that’s cool that Duncan did his fifty miler(bike ride), that one is tough. ya i was on exchanges in Gege another area and they ride bikes and my bum was so sore. but i miss that stuff too. ya any church books you can find save them for me I’m becoming a gospel freak I’ve been reading like crazy. and i won’t deny it will take long to read those books but i will understand clearly. but ya i have a lot of books i have almost all of the student manuals for all the scriptures but the new testament. and the teachings of the presidents of the church for the first four prophets. so any books you can find keep them around. anyway sounds like your continuing to work hard dad. anyway love you dad.
Love Elder Flexy

M,
wow your getting more clothes where DO YOU KEEP THEM!!!!???? hahahahaha jk my little sister that’s cool that all is working out for you. you better work hard this year in school. or i will “Shire wena khakulu”(whip you hard) in Swati. but just work hard and you will be ok. i love you sister.
Love Elder Flexy

Sunday Best!

“Since virtue and faith too often do not readily trade in the marketplace, some may feel that they can live by what ever standards their whim or fancy suggest. In a value-free society–free of morals, free of standards–many also live free of feelings of self-worth, self-respect, and dignity.

Far too many young people, and older ones, too, fail to realize, as the motto of the city of Nottingham, England, affirms: Vivet post funera virtus (“Virtue lives on after death”).

In the intellectual approach to human worth, the values of faith in God and virtuous behavior cannot be quantitatively proven or measured, and so faith and virtue are often rejected by many as worthless. This is a route destined to failure because it does not take into account the powerful importance of the subjective things we can know but not measure. For instance, I love my wife and family, and I feel their love for me. You cannot measure how deep our feelings of love are for each other, but that love is very real to us. Pain is also difficult to measure, but it is real. The same is true of faith in God. We can know of his existence without being able to quantitatively measure it. Paul states, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” (Rom. 8:16.)

The dignity of self is greatly enhanced by looking upward in the search for holiness. Like the giant trees, we should reach up for the light. The most important source of light we can come to know is the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is the source of inner strength and peace.”

-James E. Faust

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Family History Friday: Best Websites!

Don’t you just love the internet?

It is an amazing place.

Well, it’s really not a place, at least not one you travel to get to. One of my favorite things about the internet, is that I don’t have to get in the car and drive to get there. I can just sit here in the privacy of my home office (in my pj’s) and visit the world.

I can see what other people are doing, and learn what they know.

Amazing!

Well, I thought I’d give you a little link to Family Tree Magazine. They do an annual list of their “101 Best Websites.” Some are free, some cost money or require a subscription. It’s a great list, you will find it here!

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Waterfall Canyon!

 What a beautiful day!!

We got up early and began our hike at 7:00 am.

It was nice a cool. The valley below looked a little hazy, but still beautiful!

As we started out I felt so good.

I have been walking almost everyday, trying to get in better shape.

I could tell it helped.

Then the trail started to get really steep and rocky. More difficult!!

The picture above is taken looking back on where we just hiked. It was really rocky.

My sweetest darlin! So fun to hike with!

Lots of beautiful scenery on the way up! Don’t you just love the sound of water?

When you see ferns, it means that the waterfall is getting closer!

 There’s the waterfall! It is so beautiful!

So nice and cool, near the bottom of it.

The valley below, taken from the top, by the waterfall!

It was hard, but not too bad. Very beautiful!

Bonus Baby! She is totes the Best!!

My darling Emily is so funny! She is beautiful, sweet, loving, and very funny! One of the things she does that is so funny, is that she abbreviates her words. She calls me “moth” which is short for mother, not the insect that flies. I will ask her if she can do something, and she says, “I totes can do that!” Which means, “I totally can do that!” Or, “I probs can do that!” Which means, “I probably can do that!” Then there’s “awk” for awkward.

So one day she shortened the word sister, to sist. Then I hear her say, “Note to self, do not shorten the word ‘sister’!”

Sooo funny!!!! It’s probs best not to call your sister a “sist”! (cyst)

Totally “Fort Worth” It!

Hermana Kelsey 6:4 -email-
This week has been a little trying. A lot of ups and downs.
We went to the Cowboys Stadium on Monday to see a game. Ha ha ha! No no, I’m just kidding. We just had a tour of the stadium. It was pretty cool. That place is huge! And very expensive. Someday, I want to go there for a real life game of some kind. Hopefully a football and a soccer game. 🙂 But that was pretty fun. Then when p-day was over, we were supposed to have a noche de hogar (family home evening) with a family we are teaching, and they cancelled on us. We were very disappointed.
Tuesday we were feeling kind of down. We went to our district meeting in the morning, and then went to lunch after. We listened to some tender mercies of the Lord (which is what we call “wordly” music that we get to listen to in food places). That made the day a little better. We ended up going to see the family that cancelled on us the night before, and they weren’t even the ones that cancelled. It was our member that was supposed to be there! That made us feel better. It ended up being a good day with some really cool lessons.
Wednesday in the morning, I had just got done showering, and Sister Q was about to get in the shower. A member of the family, we live with came upstairs panicking, and told us we needed to wait on the showers. Apparently, the water was backing up downstairs. He thought it had something to do with us, so he was all put out and kind of mad. We didn’t do anything though! So they had to shut the water off for the rest of the day, until in the evening when they found out that the water was blocked way down the street, and it had nothing to do with us. The rest of the day we spent driving around getting estimates for the body work we need for our car. It was a little frustrating because we could have been using that time to teach people. 🙁 Also, to answer your question about the temperature here, today was the 40th day with heat over 100 degrees. It’s really hot!!! We try to stay outside for very long if we can help it. It was apparently setting a record for the longest amount of time it has been as hot as it has been. Crazy!
Thursday we didn’t really have anything happen. Although we watched the news for a minute (in spanish, of course, so it was what is happening in Mexico), but it was really depressing. I don’t think I’m going to watch the news anymore, even when I go home.
Friday we spent the day trying to follow up on former investigators in Ft. Worth. We cover a really small area on the edge of Ft. Worth, so we decided to go there. It was pretty unsuccessful. Almost everyone wasn’t home, or had moved. Days like that are really hard, because it feelsl ike you aren’t getting anything done.
Saturday it rained finally!! We spent our exercise time in the morning listening to the soundtrack for the Lord of the Rings 3, and meditating. 🙂 It was nice. We had a lot of appointments that punched (cancelled) on us. Kind of a trying day.
Sunday we had a noche de hogar with another family we are teaching. The hermano (“brother” who is the dad of the family) has a baptismal date for the 27th of this month. We wanted the Lamb of God which is really great movie about the Atonement. The lesson was going really well, and all of the sudden out of nowhere, he tells us he doesn’t want to get baptized anymore! We don’t know why, but he was so ready and really cool with it before. So then we were sad. Hermana Q said that when she heard him say it, she felt like she got shot with a shotgun. I felt like he ripped my heart out, and stomped on it. But we’ll keep working with him. We know that everything happens the way it is supposed to, and that the Lord is in charge. 🙂
So that was our week.
Mom, That’s cool you got a letter from President S. He is so cool. He was pretty much made to be a branch president. 🙂
I’m glad you got a little girl to watch. There’ll definitely be more coming soon.Dad, ha ha ha. Sorry about mom getting rid of everything, and changing things. Sometimes it has to happen though. 🙂 It’s good for you. 🙂

Emmysaurus, I’m sorry you’ve been having hard times lately. But remember…”don’t worry (doo doo doo doo doo doo) about a thing (doo doo doo doo doo doo) ’cause every little thing is gonna be alright. Woke up this morning, looked at the rising sun. Three little birds, outside my window. Singing sweet songs, of melodies pure and true singing, ‘This is my message to you-o-o. Baby don’t worry…’ ” 🙂 Man, don’t you love Bob Marley!!! 🙂
But anyway, I gotta go now. Love y’all lots!! Be good! 🙂
Love, Hermana Kelsey

Howzit-Elder Flexy!

Elder Flexy 14:2 -email-
Make,
the week has been good i’m still in Nhlangano and i got a new companion Elder K he is from Zimbabwe. he is a really cool guy. he is pretty young on mission six months. but he is cool ya we are working hard because of transfers our week was weak but we will continue to work. district leader is ok i wanted to go the whole way without having leadership but i guess its for the best. i’ve learned how to drive again and now i can drive stick i’m still not very good but i’m trying. but ya i have a lot of responsibilities now but ya life is good. love you
Love Elder Flexy
Baba,
sounds like all is going well with moving things around again. in my house they will stay the same for a long time before i will change. mission continues to go great. i’m glad your staying fit and playing sports i plan to play a lot when i get home., love you
Love Elder Flexy

M,
i hope your doing ok with the things your going though but everything that happens is to help you grow stronger love you.
Love Elder Flexy

Sunday Best

Ephesians 6:12-18

Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication. 

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy