1/7/14

Jennifer O'Neil	10:08 AM (44 minutes ago)
to me, Emily, Taylor, kathryn, Jefferson

Hello family, from the arctic cold!!  I dont know if you have seen the weather for this area or not but we had record lows of -8 degrees and windshield warnings or -40!!  The benefits (really a BIG distraction) of living with member is that you get to know of the weather.  And the news told us to not go outside for longer than 5  minutes.  My nose is froze, my toes are froze, even my tail is froze.  

anyways, so chruch was cancelled this sunday because of the storm, and so that was one of the 2 days we were quarantined inside.  We get a little bored when you are inside for a couple days, so I got a little creative with the toys we found in the basement, hahah (see pictures)  :)

New Years day was eventful.  I was sick again! woot!! so I called sister Fenn and she told me to rest, and the Elders gave me a blessing and we didnt go to district meeting. but I am Much better now. And to tell the truth, you wanna know something funny?!  I woke up in the middle of the night and felt like i was in a rush. that i had to get up and get going; as if i was at home and had to go sell programs. It was the strangest thing! hahaha and I was more homesick for new years than i was for christmas or Thanksgiving. but it wasnt THAT bad, i just wanted to be out there.  It doesnt feel like a new year , because i wasn't there to stand at the top of orange grove and colorado and look a the thousands of people down Colorado boulevard.  there is just something about that scene with the sun coming up. one of my favorites.    

We had two miracles this week! a former investigator contacted us and told us she wanted to learn again some more. It was awesome! she also told us that she has been reading The Book of Mormon and Mormonism for Dummies.  ( maybe she wont be a dummy and join the church :) haha ).  so we are going to meet with her this week

also our investigator Kira posted on facebook that one of her new years resolutions is to be Baptized!! WOOT!! we are so excited. and now we are going to try and help her set a goal that she will work towards. she really has a lot of struggles for being 20 years old, so we are praying and doing all we can to help her.  

Also this week we have been looking for a new apartment. We finally made the decision that it would be better for us to move out and into a place of our own, while living with a member is wonderful it is extremely distracting and has taken a toll on our effectiveness and ability to stay focused (in addition to many other things).  I am sad that it has taken me this long to really realize the change that i have seen in my self, and now wish we had made the decision sooner.  Nothing bad has ever happened while living with Mamma Goods, it has just not been the best environment for missionaries to live in.  so it has been fun looking for an apartment. Elder and Sister Nance are service missionaries from the Morton ward and they are SO FUNNY and just are the greatest to help us.  We had a good time with them on saturday looking at a few apartments and found some pretty nice places. 

Have i told you that EVERYONE in our ward is related?  Well everyone in our Area is related. On Tuesday a less-active member invited us to go to lunch with her at this place called busy corner.Busy corner is like a classic little diner where everyone knows everything and the waitresses put in orders the second you walk in, because everyone has a usual. So I already felt out of place because i was this city girl that felt over dressed for lunch, surrounded by all these decked-out-in-camo rednecks and a navy grandpa.  We got there and sat with her and her daughter and her daughters husband, her sister in-law (sister flemming) and her bother in-law (navy grandpa) (navy grandpa and sister flemming are siblings),  and Her sister in-laws son (sister flemming) (who has been to prison and is now taking the discussions with the elders). (and her sister-in-law and daughter are in our ward).  so we are sitting there and enjoying our time waiting for our food, and this older couple walks in and it was the bother-in-laws (navy grandpa) ex-wife.  She walks over and gives everyone a big hello and chats it up, and then goes and sits with her new husband just across the room.  Then a family walks in and they are the Navy grandpa's kids and family, and the mom of that family was a granddaughter to sister flemming. I sat there so confused - convinced that these cousins had married each other. kind of bothered inside and not really sure what to say. hahaha and just when i had figured thats just how they do it out here, sister flemming comforted me and told me that she was married to her grandson and then divorced, so an in-law  remarried into the fam.  Still weird!!   and then a couple other people walked in and my mind just kept getting blown! and yet it was so fitting. haha it was definitely an experience that i thought would only ever happen in the movies. i hope you followed that.  so funny!! I love it here. 

anyways it was a great week! full of fun and pranks  (appropriate i promise) and exciting things and MIRACLES! 

 Hopefully we will move this week and someone will be on date to be baptized!! we NEED a baptism!   

love you all. Happy birthday to those who will celebrate this week, maybe that is all later on this month. but love ya!

Love 

Sister O'Neil