Crestview Coming In Clutch

CRESTVIEW LYFE

updates

Look what we found....

-I love this crazy place. Yes I love Crestucky. I love these humans.

-If you can't already tell I am on cloud NINE today. SO happy about life and it's prospects.

-At Burger King the other day --having a meeting with our ward mission leader (who happens to be the most amazing human ever.. like he should win an award for all he does for us and does to help the work move along in Crestview)

and a homeless man approaches us and let's us know he is a pastor for a homeless community church. He asked us to pray with him, so we stood up held hands and he prayed for us. It was awesome. And interesting because one of the Elders had to hold his nub.. the guy was missing an arm.

Also, I opened my eyes for a minute to see one of the Elders holding hands with my companion and raising his eyebrows up and down because he was holding hands with a girl on his mission.  I died.

-We got pulled over. The cop tells us we don't have the right stickers on our bike rack and the only reason he's not giving us a ticket is because he is in the other ward in Crestview.

Later we found out from the Elders that had talked to him, that the stickers issue was completely and utterly bogus. The guy just wanted to "give the new missionaries a hard time and a good story"

perhaps he didn't anticipated giving us a hard time, a good story, and a heart attack.

but that wasn't the first time I had a heart attack this week.

The Elders had a baptism on Saturday, we show up, they hand me a program and say

"You might want to look at that"

I open the program and sit down and almost throw up because

"Talk on Baptism.........Sister Saunders"

is in the program.

awesome.

I can do this.. I was all pumped and trying to think of every scripture about baptism I know and they laughed at me the whole time so I realized.. they were completely bogus.

I was right, they printed a program especially to freak me right out.

-I had deep fried catfish with cheesy grits at an old family owned restaurant called Tropic Palm the other day. No one in there was younger than 45 and Sister White and I were the only people in there with more than two teeth.

-People give directions like this

"you turn right at the Tom Thumb.. you know the tom thumb?"

which one? (there's a tom thumb everywhere you look)

"the one next to the Waffle House"

......

"Aren't there three Waffle Houses on that road?"

-I went to a Methodist bible study group session last Tuesday and they argued with each other over one verse that would have made 100 percent sense to them right when we read it if they didn't believe in the trinity. But they believe in the trinity so naturally the whole bible study was absolutely confusing and the spirit was not there.

No offense to Methodists, they are so far my favorite religion and if I wasn't a member of the only true and living church of Jesus Christ on the Earth I'd probs be Buddhist

 but a close second to that would be the Methodist  :)

And yes we were told before the bible study to keep our Mormon lingo out of the discussion, but we did make some comments about our interpretations of the verses and left with peace and they invited us to come back again so SEEDS PEOPLE. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SEEDS

plus an old lady there gave me a kiss on the cheek and a hug so I think our Mormon Lingo was acceptable after all!

-We got to sing at the old folks home with the youth Wednesday and meet some potential investigators

one is 102

that's right, she's 102

They absolutely loved the singing, and at Chill Frozen Yogurt afterwards some of the youth started playing

"I hope they call me on a mission" on the ukulele and sang it with us.

-This ward is the bomb.

The young women are having a party for Halloween and inviting their friends so that we can go and share the gospel with them.

-Just received an online referral to go teach a women in Crestview looking to convert:)

send prayers our way.

-I LOVE YOU ALL SO BIG

but especially Saul this week because it's his birthday, I will never forget the first time I saw a picture of my little brown brother and knew he was supposed to be my brother forever. I will never forget walking in the house to find balloons a year later and a sign telling us we were finally cleared to go pick him up in Guatemala. I will NEVER FORGET the feeling I had in the temple as a 12 year old being sealed to this little guy for all time and eternity.

    

I LOVE YOU SAUL happy tenth birthday you 

lil rascal <3 miss you bunches

Have a fab week ya'll

I love you

but I actually really mean that a lot, those words might be the most overused in the language of humans but don't just read that and let it go.

I LOVE YOU

-Sister Saunders <3

(ps transfers are Wednesday and I'm staying, so is Sister White so I will be killing her. Basically I am either killing or birthing companions apparently ;)

How to kill a guy in 10 seconds

Zone Conference

Hi there everyone. There is so much to say and not enough time to say it. 

(if only you had a dollar for every time you read that in a missionaries email)

Well here's the thing about life right now.

Zone Conference was nerve rackingly scary and an insane adrenaline rush but also more importantly it was a spiritual overload and it was exactly what we all needed.

Easily one of the most important things ever is member missionary work.

Music is one of the quickest, most powerful ways to feel the Spirit 

(or send it out the window) Be careful what you listen to.

https://www.lds.org/youth/for-the-strength-of-youth/music-and-dancing?lang=eng

Be yourself. Be real. Be like the Savior. Keys to success right there.

Change is part of life, but if we repent daily and follow the Savior 

we will be changing with life for the better instead of the bitter.

those are some tidbits I was taught

Met an awesome hippie alcoholic that invited us over to help him get his life in order.

"I was googling and lookin for some salvation and came across your religion which seemed pretty cool and thought I'd check it out."

He's in a band. His mom and him have committed to baptism, pray for them because we are meeting with them tomorrow for the second time.

super cool moment with them after the opening prayer 

His mom was in tears and said "I want you girls to come back."

The Spirit was so strong. 

Were there billows of cigarette smoke? Yes. (that was a bit dramatic but it did smell that way)

Was the hippie guy sober? no

Was the Spirit there to bring him and his mom and us to tears and testify that they both can repent and change and come unto Christ? 

that my friends and family, is an unequivocal and nonnegotiable

YES

In wally world today some guy walked up and asked me what I want to be the rest of my life

I said an elementary teacher

he said now that would be extremely difficult.

then he said something along the lines of this:

"I was in the military 20 ish years. I killed people for a living."

"Thank you so much for all you have done for this country and-"

"No don't thank me. I didn't do it for America. I actually got to the point where I enjoyed it. Don't worry, I had counseling many years and I'm completely normal now. But I have had human skin stuck in my teeth, can you imagine that?"

"No."

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you. I learned how to kill someone in ten seconds let me explain.."

Then he explained -but shockingly enough it's a bit too graphic for me to even repeat. 

Then he asked me where I got my pretty eyes from and told me that he wanted to take them from me.....and we ran away because... no... not cool.

REMINDER TO EVERYONE

don't judge a book by it's cover but you can never be too careful.

this dude was an old, clean cut, nicely dressed man that looks like your neighborhood friend.

Nay. 

But we did get his number and address to send the ELDERS over because everyone needs Jesus.

"Ya'll need Jesus"  

Don't worry, we have a member in our ward who is a sniper (actually we have a few) and he will accompany the Elders just in case this guy isn't quite as normal as he thinks.

But on the real, this old man was very kind (in a kind of creepy way of course) but he still fought and went through so much for what? Think about it.

Why did he do that if we aren't going to live up to the standards this country was first established upon?

These brave men and women are risking their lives and their sanity and emotional stability for US.

Let us always retain the right to LIFE LIBERTY and the PURSUIT of happiness and remember that PURSUIT is an ACTION word that equals what?

WORK

"This Work Is Gonna Fix What Don't Work Anymore"

diligence

work

prayers

"He died to make men holy let us LIVE to make men FREE while TRUTH is marching on."

Keep marching on and pursuing what you love 

and pursuing the things that bring life to the life you live.

SHOUT OUT TO TWO PEOPLE

both named Madison/syn

Madison Corbin

 I love your guts and I'm so happy I was able to come here to Crestview and meet you. You're stuck with me forever, have fun at BYU. I wish you could stay, but I know you will have amazing adventures there<3

(side note: Before I came on the mission I posted a picture on an insta page telling where I was going so people that are there/also going there could see and we could connect. Madison messaged me and made me feel so welcomed to Florida even before I set foot here. She told me she lived in Crestview and gave me advice about the mission. Low and behold, I got transferred to her ward and got to go on splits with her. What are the odds? I love her so much even though she's leaving me;)

Shout out to Taylor Corbin for this skirt and Sister White for capturing this face;)

Madisyn Stevens (Steve)

Holy Cow

You are getting set apart tonight. I couldn't be more proud or excited for you as you take this huge step into the rest of forever. My mission president told me as soon as I got here, that the MTC (Missionary Training Center) prepares you for the mission and the mission is the MTC for the rest of your life.. and then some. There are so many eternal principles that you already know and understand that I can't even imagine how amazing of a missionary you will be and become. I LOVE YOU so incredibly much.

Please know that<3! Now go give them Heaven Sister Stevens. I know you will.

#SwagInTheSisterhood

Make it a great day!

Sister Saunders

It's Hurrican not Hurrican't

Once Upon a Time I Survived a Hurricane

Let's Talk About That

but first 

I just want to take just one moment to appreciate people.

Human beings, children of God. We do some pretty amazing things from day to day. Sometimes when more than one force is working against us, we overcome and learn so much. We learn from each other, we learn from our own experiences, we learn from the good and bad choices of our own making and others. Not just immediately in our own lives, but in history --the past and the present. Always learning.

But that’s not always an invigorating revelatory experience.

I have met more people in the last seven months of my life than I feel like I have my entire life. (I know that’s not accurate but It sure feels that way)

And each of these people I have met has changed me. I mean that very sincerely.

They each individually have a story to tell, and they have told it. I have felt it, and it has changed my story.

Deloris. Just met her a few weeks ago, and I love her very much.

When she was young, she moved from lower Alabama to Miami Florida. Her family came from a dirt poor farm in Alabama, and to the other kids at school in Miami, she dressed and talked really weird.

When they would have reading time, the other children would pick her to read to make fun of the way she said things. She would pick on someone else to read and that person would then pick on her again.

Every other time, she had to read. The teacher didn't do anything about it, and the rest of the kids snickered and pointed as she did. It became a game to always say her name after they had their turn.

In the halls they stepped on her feet and pulled the bow loose on her old country fashioned homemade dress.

This woman is now in her sixties, she lives alone with some major phobias but she is as kind and caring as you can possibly imagine.

The inside of her house looks like a safari, trees everywhere, a huge aquarium, and glass/plastic/stuffed animals. Giraffe’s, elephants, cheetahs, monkeys, and many others.

She raised six wonderful children and now has two dogs. She still struggles in public when people laugh, she knows they aren’t laughing at her logically, but she still has to talk herself out of thinking that they are.

Jesus Christ has felt all of the things she has, and as we study Him and as she applies the atonement in her life something is able to take place in her as it does in each of us: healing.

Sister Jones

The sweetest woman ever. I can already say Mary Jones has a very special place in my heart. Part of her story: when her parents had both passed away she went to the temple to have them be sealed together forever. Despite her best efforts with her sister staying up most of the night before trying to figure out all of the information, this was many years ago and the internet did not quite have the resources it now has, and they did not have everything needed when they got to the temple. Back then they had to drive to the Washington DC temple from here in FL. They drove all that way to show up to the temple and find out that wasn’t enough info. Well they left and came back in a matter of minutes for whatever reason and when they walked in the temple there was a man there at the front desk that hadn’t been there when they came earlier. No big deal.

He asked them if he could help them. Mary explained the situation, he asked if he could take her info to the back and explained he might be able to find the rest.

She gave it to him and he left.

Mary, and her husband went into the waiting room and a women came in

“Can I help you?”

We are already being helped they explained. This woman was confused.

As they explained the man who had talked to them, she told them there was no one there serving by that description.

Mary’s husband and this lady proceeded to go to the back to find this man, and after looking everywhere and heading back to Mary, Mary heard the man over her shoulder hand her back her info and say

“There you go”

When she turned he was gone and the information was complete and ready for her and her husband to complete the temple work by proxy for her parents.

Mary told us this story in a Wendy’s of all places, and the Spirit was very evident.

“The temple worker lady was a bit nervous about everything because they had looked in every room and there was no one there, but my husband and I were not. We knew what had happened, that man was an angel sent to help my parents by helping us with the missing information. Temple work is real, it is true, and it is vitally important.”

Also on Sunday, Mary walked up to me, smiled, gave me a hug and said

 “You’re special.”

 Made my heart so happy, she is such a sweet amazing lady.

We went on exchanges a couple of times.

First was with Sister Cook and Hilton, I went to Fort Walton for a day and it was awesome.

We did some service and put together a bunch of kits for the people in Louisiana. For those of you that live under a rock but have still managed to read my blog right now, they have 7 feet of water (flooding) in some places because of the 1 in 1000 year rain storm that dumped on them.

We’ve been quilting, putting supplies together, and all sorts of stuff for the members to take for the relief effort weekend.

There were so many Mormon Helping Hands (over 6000) that the governor of Louisiana made a holiday called "Mormon Helping Hand Day" 

*high five to us

People are so amazing here, they dropped everything and went to clear peoples stuff out of their homes for a few days and give them supplies to stay comfortable because they have nothing left.

After this project we needed a ride home and the lady we were helping asked us if we could go pick her daughter up from school with her first. Sure!

Only she didn’t tell us where her daughter goes to school

Her daughter goes to school about 25 min away from Fort Walton

Fort Walton is about 45 minutes from Crestview

Add that together and that’s about the time it takes to get from Crestview to:

Gulf Breeze.

What.

A few thoughts tripped me and hit me in the face as I realized where we were headed when we passed the Navarre Bridge:

1.       WHAT

 2. Oops.. We are out of our area and zone. But we had no idea or we would have figured something else out. Most likely. So we will be okay right? #yikes

 3. OH MY GOSH THERE’S THE CHURCH--THERE’S THE BAXTERS HOUSE--I THINK KENNA STUBBS GOES TO THIS SCHOOL--PAUL AND PAULA LIVE RIGHT DOWN THAT ROAD--WHERE IS VICKI? SHE COULD BE AT THIS GAS STATION GETTING BOILED PEANUTS--LEXI PICH LIVES RIGHT THERE, I NEED TO GO SEE HER--I WONDER IF PYPSI WYPSI IS DRIVNG ON THIS ROAD SOMEWHERE?!? IS THAT A BRUMBALOW RUNNING AROUND??

4. *tears

Needless to say there were about a milion and one different emotions and memories flooding my brain and it was overall a very happy moment and CLOSURE

They're still there, I will see them again, Gulf Breeze will still be there when I go back. 

We also went on exchanges the day after the Huricane so I guess I better explain the Hurricane.

Everyone and their dog was having a panic attack and there we were in a Mexican restaurant eating queso and fried ice cream with a member.

Granted, I don't live on that tiny strip of land in the gulf anymore.

but sister White and I were watching the news on a tiny screen eating our food and noticing the tropical storm get changed to the level of Hurricane Hermine

and us being from Utah reading 

"22 ft waves" 

"Power outages to be expected" 

"Tornado watch on the outskirts"

The wind was blowing, the sky got dark, and the member there said

"This is nothing. Barely even a reason to have a hurricane party."

We were still nervous. 

hurricane party: when a huge storm is coming and a bunch of lunatics buy out every stores supply of alcohol instead of boarding up their homes and they basically drink and drink and drink to forget that their life might be in danger, or to add to the adrenaline of that fact. 

But President Smith had those close to the coast evacuate and us get in before dark to be safe.

Then. It happened.

The Hurricane hit.

that night.

Hurricane Hermine.

*suspense

In Tallahassee

not Crestview

or anywhere near it...

it didn't even rain...

we were kind of bummed because it literally wasn't even bad here but the next day we found out tally got hit pretty hard 

70,000 out of power

and that storm is still crawling up the east coast

#prayforthevineyard

but we are safe and sound

:)

The next day on exchanges guess what I did..

cleaned up rat and mouse and dog poop and pee in an 86 year old ladies house.

What is it with Florida weather and animal poop situations that are inevitably connected in my life..

what fun. But hey... soap and hot water is a real thing. Esp. when you had to catch a few cockroaches in there as well. 

Anyways.... things are great. Lots to learn and experiment here. Pray for us because we are teaching in our first Zone Conference on Wednesday.

SHOUT OUT TO MASS WHO IS NOW 20!!!! You old dear you.

shout out to Sister Etcitty who told me I have a Southern accent on our exchange. I'm low key happy about it.  But I can honestly say I can't hear it in my own speaking. 

Shout out to Ashley who I fetching love because she took us to the beach last prep day and we ate the most amazing greek food I've ever had in my life.

Kaid was there too. (Ashleys 1 year old)

he may or may not be my boyfriend someday. ;)

On Saturday it down-poured 

we think it might have been the outskirts of the storm just hitting us a day later

We danced and played in the rain. 
I love storms. 
So much that I probably can't live in the dessert the rest of my life because I will miss this so much. 

Miracle moment: We street contacted a Filipino who asked if he could take a picture with us because he knows a Mormon in Utah and wanted to send her a picture of some of her missionaries. LOL

He's totally getting baptized.

Please Pray for Robin, The Garcias, and the other Robin, and Sydney 

LOVE YOU ALL BIGGER THAN LIFE

I took this:)

<3 Make It A Good One

-SisterMissionaRyanne