Sunflowers!

Sister Madsen has been bugging me since day one of her arrival in Great Bend to find a sunflower field. Well, I had to inform her that they were not in season and that she just had to hold her horses, so she was impatiently waiting to find a field. Well last week we went to Hays and drove past a sunflower field so on our way home I stopped and we had a little photo shoot in the field. It was awesome! I truely love the girls, they are amazing and make me laugh. I hope you all enjoy the pictures!

P-day fun in Salina

P-day for you non LDS members out there equals "Preparation day" which means that the missionaries get one day to clean their apartment from top to bottom, wash their car, do their grocery shopping, check e-mail/write letters to family/friends. They have from 10 am to 6 pm to do those things. Well this P-day we had a "district" get together, which in definition means that the Salina District of missionaries which includes the Sisters in Hays and Great Bend and then the Elders in Salina. The Elders had a family invite all of us over and put together some fun activities for us to do together. We had a Scripture scavenger hunt, a find the tootsie roll in powder sugar thing, and then feed each other pudding while blind folded, and then some water balloons and soccer! It was AMAZING, it was a long drive but I would do anything for the Missionaries so I drove the Hays/Great Bend sisters there for a 3.5 to 4 hour visit..so more time on the road but so goes life! Here is a slideshow of pictures and then a few videos! Enjoy!

Find the tootsie roll in a pan full of powdered sugar!

Sister Madsen and I feeding each other pudding...so gross but yet funny as can be!

Sister Ayala and Sister Higbee taking their turn....they didn't like it at all..

Elder Mendoza and Elder Reita were so delicate with each other

Called to Serve Him!

This video was recorded at Zone Conference in Wichita. I have been a slacker and I haven't posted this video yet, or have I blogged my feelings of the conference. So here goes my feeble attempt to put my feelings into words.

Awesome! There I did it! Okay so really, I love being with the missionaries, that is not a secret. Everyone I know, has at least a slight idea of my love for missionary work and being with the Sisters. So, throw in a few Elders and a 8 hour conference centered around missionary work then you have one very happy Jessica! The whole thing was just amazing, I owe a lot of my passion for missionary work to Zone Conference, they really amp a person up for the work, in fact it was the Zone Conference I attended in April that jump started me on a mission path again. I love them I really do, as for the Missouri Independence Mission, we have a new mission President, President Van Komen. I have been worried that he wouldn't meet the standards that President Hacking set forth, and well I met him and his wife at ZC. I must tell you that I KNOW with no doubts that he was called by Heavenly Father to lead and guide this mission for the next 3 years. I look forward to the work he does here with the Elders/Sisters under his belt. A lot of great teachings took place, but I must say my favorite was President Van Komens talk in the P.M. session that really touched me. He was talking about our missions and how many of us wonder how our families/friends/ancestors feel about us serving. He and his wife were discussing this one day and realized and had a strong feeling that he knew his ancestors knew he was called to serve as the mission president for the MIM and that they were proud of him. And what gave me the chills was this "I know Elders/Sisters that our ancestors are aware of us on a mission, and not only are they aware of us and the missions we are serving, they are with us, they are lining the streets of the areas we work." That right there was engouh to give my soul peace, knowing that my Grandparents on back that are not members (to my knowledge) will be proud of me serving, and will be right there with me on the streets I will walk, cheering me on. They will be following me with a chariot of fire, helping us to teach. The Holy Spirit was so strong, it could bring tears to your eyes. It was AMAZING.

I have been blessed to have the oppurutnity to expirence Zone Conference as a Ward Missionary in preperation for my own full-time mission. I look forward to serving a full-time mission when the time is right and to be able to feel the Spirit that strong for 18 months of my life.

So here is a little video I recorded at lunch time, the Elders/Sisters sing to the ladies whom prepare all of us lunch. It truely is something to see/hear. I love it very much and listen to it almost daily if I have the time! I hope you all enjoy and can understand how important Missionary Work truely is in this day and age.

Animal Noises...

So this is a little video of Sister Madsen and Sister Higbee playing this game that Sister Madsen thinks is awesome. What it entails is a person says a kind of animal and the other person has to make the first noise that pops into their head. Hermana Madsen has tried to get me to play but I laugh to hard to get any noises out. So here you go, laugh and let loose with the girls!

Sometimes I wonder....

Why good people die and the bad people taking our tax dollars get to live on knowing they will never get out of prison.

The reason I am questioning this is because one of my teachers from High School passes away Monday from double pneumonia. It was sudden and there was really no warning, at the age of 45 with 2 children to finish raising. Just hard for me to wrap my brain around. I know about the plan of salvation and where she will be now but I still wonder why. Why? Anyone have any idea? Mrs. Poland was an amazing teacher, she touched my life for sure, I mean she hasn't taught at GBHS since my junior year which was 6 years ago and she still remembered me when she saw me out and about the town. Now she was the principal of Claflin High school and leaves at last 300 kids with out their leader which they have depeneded on for 6 years. Just a sad story, tomorrow I will go to her funeral since it happens to be my day off, and well I just hope she is alright up there in the Spirit World being taught by the missionaries.

But here is to you Mrs. Poland and to your awesome ways. Thanks for being a dedicated teacher to really touched my life in the short time you were my teacher. I love you and will miss seing your smiling face.

Bowling!

Well, this happened last week but well I just now have time to get these pictures/videos posted. I took the Missionaries from Hays/Great Bend bowling before we left for Zone Conference in Wichita. It was a stinking blast. I love bowling and I love the Sisters so of course we had a few laughs!


Above: Sister Ayala (Guatemala) and Sister Madsen (California) singing Sponge Bob Square Pants theme song in Spanish. Sister Ayala loves that back home!


Sister Higbee (Nevada) whom serves in Hays right now doing a little Moon Walk for us!


Sister Madsen (California) went bowling with me a couple months ago on a P-day and well she was doing awesome and I hadn't hit my mark yet, so well after a strike I shot her this look, and I guess she grabbed my camera and made this video. I used to have a really bad temper but I am so much better now! Funny stuff indeed!

Road Trip to Wichita

So, I had the great oppurtunity to drive the Sister missionaries from Hays/Great Bend to Wichita for Zone Conference. I happened to be off so it worked out PERFECT! I think it goes down as the greatest car ride in my history of car rides. We did a lot of singing of hymns, but we put a few twist on it. Check out the videos, one is of Sister Higbee whom is from Nevada then we have one of Sister Madsen from California.

P.S. I about died laughing while driving due to having a sweet asthma laugh and well I couldn't breathe and then I couldn't see due to me crying from laughing so hard.

Awkward....

Freaking awkward...that is me in one well shoot two words.... Okay so let me expound upon that in this certain blog it means that I am awkward when it comes to missionaries. So it is no huge secret, my best friends the past 4 years have been the missionaries whom serve in the Missouri Independence Mission. Well, so I meet and know these awesome people as either Elder or Sister, and that is all I ever call them for either 2 years or 18 months. Yes I learn most of their first names while they are serving but that is odd in its own. Especially odd when I start e-mailing or writing letters to their families and they write back by calling the missionary by their first name.

But what happens after they go home? Well, they lose that Elder or Sister title and become their normal self and are typically called by their first name. Except when it comes to me. I just CAN'T get over that little leap. Just can not make that step from the ever presitgous call of Elder or Sister to them being "normal" again. So hard for me, shoot even a couple of them have got married and I still can't call them by that new last name.

I am so awkard and I don't understand it...but that is me..and the reason this comes up is because I was talking to one of the RM's and well I called her by her first name and it freaked me out and her out, she said it was a bit weird...so I think I will always call her Gurr Mommasita in which I called her while she was in Great Bend as a greenie...

Spanish

So, wierd title right? Well I have a perfectly good reason for it! I am learning Spanish. I must say I am being forced but I love it non the less! Here goes the breakdown as to why I am learning and what not. Obviously everyone that reads this knows my life is church. And with that I help Missionaries all the time. I get off work and usually go with them for the remainder of their night, plus on weekends I usuaully spend all day Saturday/Sunday with them. Well, we now have 2 Spanish speaking Sisters here. Hermana Madsen, whom is from San Diego was called to the Missouri Independence Mission to speak Spanish. She had to learn it in 10 weeks at the Missionary Training Center. Thursday we received Sister Ayala, she is from Guatemala. The funny thing is that the white girl was called to speak Spanish and the girl from Guatemala was called to speak English. So I am constantly subjected to the Spanish and well I have been picking up on it quite quickly. In hopes to be able to speak/comprehend it.

Those of you who have known me for a good portion of my life should know that I used to despise the Spanish Culture. I coudln't stand the Hispanics in Great Bend really, I talked to a few here and there at school but that was the extent of that. I was raised with parents who were raised in a town that didn't allow anyone but whites in, so therefore they were not used to it either. But life has lead me to a different path, I am loving the Spanish culture and loving the people themselves. Heavenly Father has worked miracles in my life and this is one of the many. I think it is his weird way of getting me ready to serve a mission to where I will ahve to know Spanish. I am excited, so excited that I ordered some material to help me learn quicker, and plus the Missioanries are making me learn 10 words a day.

Olympics

I knew I loved this country. I too knew I loved sports. But I never knew how much till this year. Watching the Olympics wishing I was there to use my voice to cheer, but alas I am sitting in my living room yelling at the television like the atheletes could hear me as if I were there.



I love the feeling I get when the National Anthem is being played as our atheletes are standing there with the biggest smile on their faces and tears in their eyes. I am proud to be an American, I know I am free, I know I have my own agency, and I know this will always be the case. In which I am proud. We unite when it comes down to the line.

So here is to the greatest country ever!

Mission Moocher!

I was called a Mission Moocher today. It was a joke but in all honesty I think that is about correct. I love being with the Sisters/Elders. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love every second of the time I get to spend with them.

Thinking back on it, I think I can say I am a Mission Moocher, I haven't yet been able to afford to go on my own so I just soak up the experiences from the girls that have served in Great Bend since I joined the church 4 years ago. I mooch off of their spirtual highs, and I mooch of their trials and their learning points.

When I actually can afford to go on a mission I will have pretty close to all the expierence one could probably need in a lifetime!

So from this moment on, I will be known as the Mission Moocher, and I am darn proud of it too! Wouldn't trade for nothing! It has taught me a lot and helped me to know that I belong on a mission myself!

Ether 12

Ever have the most spirtual high then hit the biggest low? Well, I have those all the time and this last weekend was not an exception.

I was really dreading reading scriptures and saying my nightly prayers on Sunday night so I passed it by, but Monday night I was doing a lot better thanks to the help of MommaMadsen and Natalie Gurr. So I picked up my scriptures and started reading where I left off which happened to be Ether 12. I must tell you that both Gurr and MommaMadsen told me it came down to faith. I have heard that before, I mean everytime I get upset about something someone always says where is your faith. We learn line by line precept by precept and well here is what Ether 12 says (I am posting al ink to the actual chapter...so check it out)

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/ether/12

I truely love my Heavenly Father. I love how he uses the Holy Ghost to guide us and our feelings. I was in the dumps but the scriptures always knows how to pick me up. I don't think it was a coincidence that I was reading in Ether this past week. Now I know a fair amount of you out there are not LDS and have no interest in it, but please take the time to read that chapter, I guarantee and promise that you will learn from it and its principles are correct.

Oklahoma City or bust!

I love it! I don't think there are any words I could write that would help any of you understand the wonderfulness of it, unless of course you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints. Being worthy enough to enter the Temple alone is an amazing task, some might think it is easy, but in my 4 years of being a member of the church, this is the first time that I actually feel "worthy" to have entered and to hold a recommend.

Now, I hope I didn't confuse you all with some of the lingo I used (that was never my intention). I wanted to convey to you how the day unfolded Saturday. I was blessed enough to be able to stay with the Carlton's over in Larned and even more blessed to have the oppurutnity to have Kjersti and Brian ride with me down in my car. So, we went to bed around 11:30 P.M. give or take, and well pretty sure my alarm went off and a very early time of 04:30 A.M.. So as you can tell I had very little sleep and was up and ready to drive the almost 5 hours to reach the Oklahoma City Temple. Totally worth the trip, but I must say it was hard because as much fun I knew we would have I knew or had a gut feeling that the riders would sleep. And sure enough Brian was sleeping from the get go and Kjersti was awake an hour or two okay so maybe 3. But she was snoozing off and on the whole time. So it was me, myself, and I with some Mormon Tabernacle Choir to keep me awake! Oh and the Spirit, pretty sure if I wasn't able to have the Spirit as my constant companion then I would be dead for sure. Anyways, we arrived at Hutchinson and met up with the Draper family at McDonalds for some hearty breakfast! Had a grand time, we all were walking zombies, but again very worth it. We are an hour further down the road and what do we see? Well, glad you aksed! It was not only one rainbow, it was a double rainbow. So the song "When I am baptised" instantly pops into my head, and I knew that we were on the Lord's errand to do his work in his holy house that day!


So fast forward to Oklahoma City, we are following are amazing (NOT) Mapquest directions and are driving through the subdivision to reach the Temple. And we had been listening to Spiritual uplifting music the whole ride, well at least me and Kjersi had been, and we get two blocks away from the Temple, it was in our sights and all the sudden Brian pops up from sleeping singing "I got a pocket a pocket full of sunshine" So me and Kjersti were like BRIAN knock it off we are being spiritual here. We finally reach the parking lot and it was filled with members wandering around, well we look at our clock and we were an hour early for our session with the youth for Baptisms. So the kids change in the parking lot to their church clothes and we went up the door and the Temple attendant said we have a session going now if you would like to join. So Kjersti, Brian and I got to do 2 sessions of Baptisms for the dead. It was amazing, but the downfall was that we didn't take enough under garments for two sessions so me and Kjersti were in the bathroom and using the blowdryers to dry undergarments off. The whole time the other group of youth were preparing to leave which they were from Pittsburgh, KS which was awesome. Needless to say they had a good laugh from me and Kjersti!

Well, the time had come for our originally planned session to start, the other Great Bend youth showed up. And we got ready and got out to watch everything. And the Temple President came in and gave us a little opening prayer and a little speech. And this is where I LOVE it. I have been questioning what Heavenly Father wants me to do in life, wether it be serve a mission, go to school, or pursue a relationship with a guy. I had struggled a lot with that, and wasn't getting the answer that I wanted or even to that didn't think I got an answer at all. So he was talking about our lineage (Ephraim) and how we are "leaders" and how we are in a special dispensation of time to where we are to use our leadership skills that we were born with. Also, he spoke about our lineage of amazing missionaries and how we need to spread the Gospel to every nation, kindred, and tongue. I had goosebumps immedietly. I know now with out a shadow of a doubt that I am called to serve, my heart, might, mind, and strength will go into preparing for a full time mission for my church. I won't settle for anything less then that. I am so stinking excited.

That there is why I love the temple so much, it is the house of the Lord and you can receive answers to your prayers very easily. That is why it is so important to be worthy enough to enter, the more worthy you are the more intune you are with the Spirit which allows for guidance like that to take place.

I love the Lord, I love his Holy House. I know this church is true, I know it was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I love this church, and I love the blessings it has poured down upon me and my family.

Disclaimer * if any one has any questions about what was said, please ask. I am more then willing to share the knowledge I have of the truthfullness that is on the earth again.*

Temple

Hey Ya'll,

So I just sounded totally hick but so goes life. I just wanted to write a little something something real quick before I go to bed for the night.

I am so stinking stoked, I am going with the Great Bend Ward down to Oklahoma City to the Temple. I know I am going to have an amazing time, not only is it the Temple, but it is with the youth a few other adults. I love the temple so much, I don't get to go with the audlts but that is fine with me, I am not ready for that step yet. I am much happier doing the baptisms with the youth.

Well, I am so excited and that is about all I can think of right now. So you better believe that I will post pictures from the trip and more feelings on the whole thing!

I love Sister Missionaries!

So, no big surprise. I love helping the Sister Missionaries. I have about 500 pictures to prove that they are all I hang out with. With that said I thought I would post a few pictures, mostly current ones from say around April till now and a few awesome videos. I guess my favorite would be the video of them singing at a District Meeting. I believe it was my birthday and they sang a song, and it was my last district meeting since I started my new job. So I will post it so you all can enjoy and see the amazing talents of them.

Sister Labass, Sister Hyrns, Sister Gundersen, and Sister Madsen!

Now these are the pictures we took before the meeting waiting on the silly Elders to show up so we could get inside the building. Seriously has to go down as the best birthday in history!