Totally “Fort Worth” It!

Posted on by
Reply
Hermana Kelsey 12:4 -email-
Dear family,
This week flew by for me too. We are having transfers on Wednesday, and Sister W. is getting transferred to D. But Sister V. is coming to be my companion!!! I love her guts. She is the one that I met in the MTC my second day there, but she came out a transfer before me because she already knows spanish. She is so great. I’m way excited. President S. seems to have made it a pattern for me to only stay with my companion for one transfer. I’m not really sure why. But I kind of glad Sister W. is getting transferred. I will miss her, but if she stayed here for longer, she would “die”(end her mission) here in H., and I would have to “kill”(send her home) her. Which I have already done twice, and it is really hard. But anyway, that is the big news for the week.
Next big thing….we had a baptism on Tuesday! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Yay! It was for a little girl named N. She is so sweet, and loves to read her scriptures. It was a really good baptism. Not really too stressful, which is good for us as misionaries, because we usually get way crazy stressed, because there is so much to do. But it was really good.
In other news/events:
-Tuesday I had a foot race with one of the elders, and he barely beat me. So I think when I get back home, I’m gonna train myself up real good and try to do track at school or something. 🙂
-Also, on Tuesday, we got told we are going to hell because we “put Joseph Smith above Jesus Christ”, and a man spoke to us in tongues, (it was one of the creepiest things I have ever heard), and then on Friday, we talked to a young guy that was smoking something, but it wasn’t cigarettes, and he weirded me out.
-We got a surprise apartment inspection and Elder P., who is in one fo the senior couples in our mission and can’t see at all, tried to clean our white board with Shout. Sister W. almsot lost it completely, and had to pinch herself to keep from laughing out loud
-I got pooped on by a baby bunny, who them tried to hide the evidence by sitting on his little Coco Pebbles
-I met a woman who is the mom of one of our recent converts, and she is literally 5 or 6 inches shorter than me!
-And last, but not least, we had a crazy woman that came to our Relief Society on Sunday, and almost started a fight. Our Relief Society president had to get up, and talk to everyone to make the situation better 🙁
Let’s just say it has been an interesting week.
Mom,
1-Best guess on when you’ll be home? 1. I don’t think this one is really for me. You already know when I’ll be home, right? 🙂
3-Biggest challenge? Blessing? 3. Biggest challenge depends on the area for sure. But one big challenge on the mission in general is just adjusting to change. Just when you get comfortable with the people and the area, you get transferred somewhere else, and you have to leave the people you love, and the companions you love, and the elders you love. That is definitely something I have struggled with through out my mission. The blessings? Wow, that one is hard to. One of the biggest ones I have seen is gaining a stronger testimony in the gospel, and a bigger love for people in general. I have definitely increased in charity for others.
Dad:
I’m glad you are still doing scouts and enjoying it. I kind of wish I knew more survival type stuff. I like to think that if I was lost in the woods I could survive, but who knows. That’s crazy Meg and Jace are moving. I was thinking about writing to them the other p-day, but I always seem to run out of time to write to anyone except you all on the computer. So tell them I say “Hi”, and sorry I haven’t written them back.
Emmy:
Write to me!!!!! 😀
I gotta go now. I love you all so much.
Peace and blessings!
Love, Kelsey

Howzit-Elder Flexy!

Posted on by
Reply
Elder Flexy 20:1 -email-
Mama,
life has been good this week i had a pull up bar fall on my head and and it bled pretty good but its ok it wasn’t even bad but they had to shave a small part of my head so i’m wearing a hat now.. pretty funny. anyway we are having lots of success. people at church. things are going well. we had the same lesson that you taught on sunday thats so cool.
1-Best guess on when you’ll be home? 1.ish probably by july ___ at the latest i think.
2-Do you need anything? (We will be sending Alex a birthday pkg soon) 2.um… idk just the usual stuff is fine.
3-Biggest challenge? Blessing? 3.ish the toughest thing is when people don’t listen because of pride and blessing is seeing them baptised.
Special Question:
4:How do you answer people when they say we aren’t Christian? 4.well i tell them they are wrong because we are christians because we believe in christ.
Love Elder Flexy
Baba,
i’m glad that your still in scouts that has always been so great for you dad. life is great love you
Love Elder Flexy
Riley,
ya it will be cool. and i’m going to be happy meet janet.
Love Elder Flexy
M,
thats so good that you are going to be a cna i’m glad you are working hard and doing well. love you
Love Elder Flexy

Sunday Best!

Posted on by
Reply

C. S. Lewis spoke of a dilemma faced by someone

who must choose whether to accept or reject the Savior’s divinity–where there is likewise no middle ground:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. …You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. …But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

********************************

“He Himself has said, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:16–17) That was His own promise.
We as Christians in all [the] world accept that promise and should try to prove it to see whether it is workable or not. There are many who have done this. I realize that there are … many who have put that to the test, many who know that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the Savior of the world.
So, not only do we have the evidence of the records … , not only do we have the testimony of good men who have lived upon the earth in our day, but if we have complied with the requirements of our Heavenly Father, if we have had faith in God, if we have repented of our sins, if we have received baptism by immersion, if we have received the Holy Ghost under the hands of authorized servants of the Lord, I say, if we have done all these things then there is in each soul a sure knowledge that cannot be gainsaid [denied] that God lives and that Jesus Christ was the Redeemer of mankind. …
… As one of the humble members of this Church I bear you my witness that
I know he lives as I know that I live. … Jesus is the Christ,
and I know that the children of men must come to that knowledge, that they must receive it, and in the language of him who lives in heaven, “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ.” -George Albert Smith
Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Life is a Wonderful Journey.

Posted on by
Reply

Life is a wonderful journey.

It starts on the day your were born. 

The years stretch out like stepping

stones, untraveled and unworn.

Some days our stride may falter, 

or we wonder where we are.

Some days we look back with

surprise that we have come so far.

We find our way, or it finds us,

and journey hopefully toward something

deeper, something truer than

our eyes can see.

Life is  a wonderful journey, made

with steps both great and small,

winding it’s way toward the beautiful

truth that waits at the heart of it all. 

Written by someone amazing @ Hallmark.

I love reading cards! Don’t you?

Family History Friday: Write a Letter!

Posted on by
Reply

To whom it may concern…

I love it when someone writes about their life,

and then leaves it for others to read after they are gone.

It is wonderful to read how they felt, and how they worked through struggles and challenges. I think one of the most important things I’m glad to know is if they loved God, if their belief in God helped them in their life. I think that everyone should at least write one letter.

I found a great blog that gives some good examples of writing a letter to your descendants. It’s called Faith Sisters! You can find it here!

Write a letter to your descendants…what a great idea!

Happy Family History Friday!! Love, Joy

My Cute Little Flexy!

Posted on by
Reply

Our little Flexy really was the cutest little boy.

I’m serious!

OK, one of the cutest little boys, him and Riley.

When Flexy was just a kid and learning to read, a little bit bigger kid books, he discovered “Captain Underpants.”

I know some kids are reading “Great Expectations” in the 7th grade, but Alex was the kind of kid who went at his own pace.

I so love that about him.

He didn’t let other people pressure him to be more than he was ready to be.

One of my favorite memories is of Flexy telling us about his favorite Dav Pilkey book. It was called, (ready for this?)…

“Captain Underpants and The Invasion of The Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies From Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds)

So.   Funny.

It was even funnier to have Flexy say it for us. And then of course he would have to tell us all about the book. If you ever get a chance, glance through one of the “Captain Underpants” books. They are so cute. We even made a puppet of “Captain Underpants” for one of Flexy’s assignments in school. It turned out great!

I’m so glad Flexy found books that helped him want to read.

Sweetness and Light.

Posted on by
Reply

I am a whimp, I’ll admit it.

I cry at the drop of a hat, or at least at the end of sad movies!

My darlin can tell you that I mostly watch movies with a happy ending. I just can’t take the sad endings. I have been known to cry, of and on, for days after seeing a sad movie. Every time I think about the movie, I cry.

One time years ago, my darlin went to get us a movie, I said, “Be sure to get a comedy.” I thought it was a pretty safe bet. He got to the video store, and looked, and looked. He came home with a movie he said was a comedy. In the first five minutes of the movie, the lady in the movie’s husband dies and the rest of the show she is trying to figure out what to do with herself. I cried and cried. I said, “This is not a comedy!” All he could say was, “I looked at so many movies, I must have picked the wrong one!”

I’d say!

So I have come up with a great idea. I think the movie industry should put a code on the movie. Let’s call it the “Sweetness and Light” code. They could put a cute little picture of a “sun” on the back cover next to the rating. Then all of the poor husbands who are trying to pick a happy or funny movie will never make a mistake.  And all of the pansy people who can’t take any sadness will be able to watch the movies that are full of “Sweetness and Light.”

“Zip-a-dee-do-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay!!”

I was so Scared!

Posted on by
Reply

I have had good experiences with dogs and bad experiences with dogs. When I was seven years old my neighbor and friend had a St. Bernard dog. It was huge!! It wasn’t very friendly. If the family was around, he was a nice dog. But when they weren’t around he was so scary. My girlfriend’s home was on the way home from the school bus. One day while walking home, the dog came running out. He didn’t leave the yard, because someone called to him when he started to run after me. I was terrified.

The next day, while walking home I was so scared to walk past the dog, that I went around back of their home and avoided the front altogether. It took a lot longer and well there was this issue with the stickers. The sticker weeds were high, and I was wearing my favorite tights. By the time I got home, they were ruined. I hid them, so my mom wouldn’t find them. I vowed that day, never to let something like that happen again.

I wish when I was a kid that I asked for help more. I don’t know why I didn’t tell my mom or let anyone know I was terrified.

I spend my days now with young children. It helps me to be a kind person, to remember how hard it is to be a child. How sometimes they don’t have words to tell how they feel. I hope I am observant and aware when they are sad.

Totally “Fort Worth” It!

Posted on by
Reply
Hermana Kelsey 12:3 -email-
Dear familia,
Things are good here. We took too long on the beginning part of our p-day, so now this is going to have to be short. Sorry. 🙁 Plus this computer is being weird, so I’m going to have to do what I can to make this work.
So tomorrow we are having a baptism! Yay! She is an overage child. Her parents are both members, but they were very less active for a while, but because of some circumstances, her mom is getting really involved with the church again. She is really cool. Her name is N., and she has two younger sisters that are just so funny. Sister W. loves the four year old more, and I love the two year old more, so we call them “yours” and “mine” when we talk about them so we know which one we are talking about. Ha ha. They are so funny though. 🙂 They are always picking on each other, and the 4 year old is always sad because of the two year old. They are just little cuties.
Mom:
That’s crazy that Bishop B. is the new counselor! Who is the new bishop of the singles ward? I still wonder about what is going on there, and who is still going and not married. Ha ha. But only sometimes. Mostly I don’t even think about it. Except it will be cool when I get home to be able to talk to all of the other cool returned sister missionaries when I get there. 🙂 Like Whitney B.! She’ll probably be getting home pretty soon. She left a few months before I did. She is so cool.
Okay questions:
1-How long does it take for my letters to get to you? I usually date them. 1. It usually takes about 3-4 days for your letters to get to me.
2-How many senior couples are in your mission? 2. I think we have 4 or 5 senior couples in our mission. Most of them run things in the office, but some of them go out and teach overage children and recent converts. One of the senior couples, the J’s, work in spanish work with us, because the husband speaks spanish. And they feed us every Thursday.
3-What do you usually study in the morning study time? 3. We study different things every day. Usually we study for our investigators and their needs, but since we don’t really have any here, I have been studying a lot more for myself which has been nice. I study different topics everyday, and try to be guided by the spirit to what I need to work on the most. There is always something to improve on. Usually it’s Christ like attributes, which I could spend the rest of my life working on, trying to become more like my Savior. 🙂
Special Question:
4-What is the best way to help new members of the church to stay active?

4. The best way to help recent converts stay active is to get them friends. They need some one that will invite them to church and activities and sit with them in sacrament and so forth. That is something that is very important, because even if they have a testimony of it, if they don’t have support from the ward, they won’t want to be there.

Dad:
Man, I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little upset the Patriots lost. BOOOO!!! Oh well. We ate with some members yesterday, and he was all ready to kick us out of the house because the game was about to start. Ha ha. But I’m glad I didn’t get to see it because I would have been yelling at the tv and stuff, and no one I know here on the mission should see me like that. 😉 But anyway, I’ll get over it. And next year, I’ll get to watch the Superbowl. Yeah buddy! Anyway, I also really miss music. When you were talking about those songs it makes me think of listening to real music.
Emmysaurus:
Hey girl! I’m glad things are going good for you. 🙂 I’m doing okay.  I can’t believe you cut off your hair! Sister W. (my companion) is way jealous, because she is a hair stylist, and she wants to do something like that with her hair, but she doesn’t have money or anyone to do it. So she wants you to send a picture if you can when you write to me. Okay? Okay! 🙂
Well, I gotta go now. I love you all lots. Recuerden quienes son! (Remember who you are!)
Love, Kelsey
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Howzit-Elder Flexy!

Posted on by
Reply
Elder Flexy 19:5 -email-
Mama,
this week has been great we worked hard we checked out the area book and we found some sweet previous investigators. and we had nine investigators at church. finally some success! thats so good that they are reorganizing the stake its been the same ever since i remember.
1-How long does it take for my letters to get to you? I usually date them. 1.flip! idk i don’t ususally check the dates.
2-How many senior couples are in your mission? 2.um there are probably around fifteen i think
3-What do you usually study in the morning study time? 3.just the scripts pmg and the student manuals
Special Question:
4-What is the best way to help new members of the church to stay active?
4. well president hinkley taught that every new member needs a friend and calling a nourishment of the word of god so that is best you can put your money on the prophet. 
the week has been great love you
Love Elder Flexy
Baba,
ya those are great songs especially “angels among us” have to say i miss that kind of music. anyhoo love you
Love Elder Flexy
M
sounds like all is going good you changing your hair still thats good. well keep up bein awesome!
Love Elder Flexy