Zone Conference....

This happened like the first week of February. Whoops! I love going to Zone Conference as I have previously stated in other post. This one was awesome though, it happened to be my day off but the catch was there was a trio of Sisters in Hays and well 3+3=6 so obviously my car is a 5 passenger car. So are you wondering how we pulled this off? Well, it went like this: I happened to be teaching Relief Society on fast and testimony (it was my turn as part of the presidency) and this year we have decided to teach about the modern day prophets and something they really focused on, so I picked Spencer W. Kimball and he focused on missionary work. So I gave what I was told a powerhouse lesson and after the lesson was over Sister Gundersen went up to Sister Siefkes and asked if we could use her van! She of course felt it was okay so there we go, we had a van in hand to use! So fast forward! I picked up the van after I got off work a bit early so we could make it to Wichita (2 hour drive) at a descent hour and on the road we went! 5 missionaries plus me! It was awesome, a little side trip in Wichita due to me double guessing where the memeber we were staying with lived, but it was so much fun! We took some pictures that night as all of us sisters gathered there and we had a lot of laughs and some good talks!

So fast forward to the actual conference, I looked like a missionary and many thought I was an actual missionary and that I had just left my name tag at home! So I got to see some of my most favorite missionaries and also got to feel the Spirit so strong! I can't wait till I am the missionary at one of these on my own mission! But what I love the most is that at the end of the conference you greet the mission President and his wife and say your goodbyes. Well I go through the line and tell them Thanks for being awesome and Sister VanKomen hugged me and said how much she loved the work I do with the girls and what not and said man we need to get you an honorary name tag. Then this look came to her face, and she said I know exactly what we are going to do, we are going to order you one and I am going to pay for it! So they ordered me a name tag to wear when I go to District Meetings and Zone Conferences, and she also told me she better see me at EVERY Zone Confernece in the future!



This is Sister Rigby and Sister Lott. They currently serve in Hutchinson, well shoot Sister Lott is still there and Sister Rigby is now in Manhattan. None the less Sister Rigby was given these awesome footy pajamas by a member in Hutch and she wears them well!





This is Sister Martin, Sister Freitas, and Sister Miller they are the trio that was in Hays, KS for a little bit. Sister Freitas was actually supposed to go home, but she extended her mission by I think 3 weeks so she could go with one of her Recent Converts to the temple in Denver, Co!


The Great Bend "Trio". Sister Montano, Sister Gundersen and myself! Don't I look like a Sister Missionary already?








So this goes a little like this! Sister Lott and Sister Reynolds. Middle pictures is Myself, and Sister Reynolds and then Sister Lott squeezing in the middle of us! Then the last is myself with Sister Freitas, I knew her as a "greenie" and she is home now, makes me feel really really old to see another "greenie" I have sort of helped train go home...ugh...
Oh and we took a group shot, if you notice Sister Lott and Sister Rigby are making some sort of weird frame for their face, but the rest of us all look "normal" but that was every Sister that was at Zone Conference! I love them all, if you want to know who is who just ask!






So on the way home everyone but me and Sister Gundersen took a nap! Totally not fair for everyone else to sleep but so goes life!

Bierrocks....

Going going gone!

That is right, I became Sarah Lee or Betty Crocker or Rachel Ray recently, I have found joy in cooking as previously stated post. This time around I made homemade bierrocks, it was awesome and I had a blast. I took pictures of the whole process and if anyone wants the recipe or help making them from scratch just let me know! Oh and I did this for the Sister Missionaries as per normal, one had never had them before (her being from Mexico) so it was fun to see her try a new thing!

First you have to cut up your cabbage. I bought a large head and it produced way to much cabbage for the amount of bierrocks I was planning on producing!








I sat out the dinner rolls to rise so then I can flatten them (which I must say is good anger management if you need that sort of thing) I bought one large bag which had 72 rolls in it which you put together to make one bierrock so I made 36 total!




Ground the hamburger! I used 80/20 to make it easier when mixing the cabbage in to finish cooking. I also used 3 lbs. of ground chuck! My advice is to have a really really and may I say REALLY large skillet to do all of this in!



This is where I needed help, the skillet was to heavy for my weak wrist to lift and turn and sucessfuly dump the meat into the huge pan with the cabbage. Luckily my Dad LOVES to help in the kitchen, in fact I generally have to tie him down so I can cook in his kitchen, but this is the filling for the rolls!





I also enlisted the help of my mother, she was helping me flatten the rolls and then I filled them! It was a great bonding experience to be honest, I had a blast for once!

Here is the final product! I baked them for about 16 minutes upwards to 18-20 at max. They came out golden brown, this picture doesn't really do it justice, but they were AWESOME. I topped them off with a layer of butter to help soften them up!

Sister Montano enjoying her first ever bierrock! She was not quite sure what to think, but I think she enjoyed them in the long run!

Sister Gundersen on the other hand was looking forward to the bierrocks, I didn't tell them for sure I was doing it, I hinted. But alas, she said her whole mission people had promised to make homemade bierrocks and never did or did after she left, so she was very happy!

A night out

Again, this is belated. And again let me state that I know me going to a bar/lounge is not right with my current faith, but I had a blast and yes I might of had some guilt in going and regretted it just a bit but I stuck to my standards and have since sworn off going past this weekend. So no worries about me in that subject!

Anyways this lovely group of people I went out with are my amazing co-workers. I have been blessed to have fantastic people at work that I love to call my friends outside of work too. They had a few drinks and were feeling good and I didn't drink but yet felt good too! We had an overall good time!

When your companion is sick....

What do you do to entertain yourself? I am speaking of missionary companions of course, and well Sister Wells was out sick (yes I know she has been gone 6 weeks already, and we have already established I suck at updating this on time) so Sister LaBass found random ways to entertain herself throughout the day. This was part of it! Random bookmarks made of really old photos....good times for sure! Oh yeah and you make random music videos singing hymns!

Relay for Life

The place in which I work is has a team each year in the Relay for Life! This is my first year working here and well my friends/co-workers have asked me to be on the 15 member team. So I finally convinced myself that it would be just fine to sign up! I am rather excited due to the fact that I have a cousin that is currently battling breast cancer and I have lost a life-long family friend the past 2 months to cancer and also my oldest sisters Uncle-in-law has cancer he is battling. So I know a lot of people with it and I figure the least I can do is walk for a night to support them and their battles!

A little help for a friend

Hey Everyone,

I am posting this as a little plea for my friend. Her mom is going through a rough time so she is having a little fund-raiser to get some things going for her mom. I hope you all can take a look at her blog and maybe even help out if possible.

http://www.aprilshowersblogdesign.com/2009/02/uh-oh-plea-for-help.html

It's Official

I have started my paperwork to become a full-time Sister Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

I am so stinking stoked about this. I want to Thank my Bishop for putting up with me and for letting me even get to this stage of life.

Also I want to send huge Thank You's to everyone who has played a role in me becoming a Latter-day Saint and has supported me through thick and thin and dealt with my not so whoopy attitude and has also see my triumph and become a young lady who is ready to put in 18 months for the Lord. I love each and everyone of you and I am forever indebted to you for all you have done for me!

Now the next step is to get the money figured out and I am as good as gone....Oh happy day!

Tiny Frogs...

I was sent this e-mail at work and I just LOVED it....it has a AMAZING message behind it. I hope you all enjoy and really take what the moral of the story is to heart!

Once upon a time there was a bunch of tiny frogs.... who arranged a running competition.
The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower.

A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants....

The race began....

Honestly:

No one in the crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.
You heard statements such as:

'NO WAY too difficult!!'

'They will NEVER make it to the top.'

or:

'Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!'

The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one....

Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher..

The crowd continued to yell, 'It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!'
More tiny frogs got tired and gave up....

But ONE continued higher and higher and higher....

This one wouldn't give up!


At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?

A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal?

It turned out....

That the winner was DEAF!!!!



The wisdom of this story is:

Never listen to other people's tendencies to be

negative or pessimistic.... because they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you -- the ones you have in your heart!

Always think of the power words have. (There's life and death in the power of the tongue - Proverbs 18:21.)

Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!

Therefore:

ALWAYS be....POSITIVE!
And above all:

Be DEAF when people tell YOU that you cannot fulfill your dreams!

Always think:

God and I can do this!

meatloaf and mashed potatoes

Wow, so I just realized I never posted these photos. So a few weeks ago (again with Sister Wells/LaBass here in Great Bend still) I signed up to cook them supper and they requested just as the title suggested homemade meatloaf and mashed potatoes. So that is what they got after me asking them like a billion times if they were certain that is what they wanted. So off to Wal-Mart I went to round up all the supplies. And yes to all of you out there I did the cooking by myself with minimal assistance from my parents! I am becoming quite the chef these past few months!

So after the girls ate we took some photos b/c well face it we weren't about to go outside in the bitter cold b/c that would of made Sister Well's worse so we played with the left over mashed potatoes! I had a blast!

Sister LaBass thinking she ate entirely too much meatloaf!

Sister Wells thinking she also ate to much, but she doesn't look as stuffed as LaFish..er LaBass!

Mashed potatoe snow man, that was my creation! Woot!

Sister LaBass working on her masterpiece. It turned out well in the end...see below!

Can you figure it out? If not it is a mashed potatoe lady with crazy awesome hair! Sister LaBass did this..she is awesome!

Exchanges

I am once again behind in posting and I am not in chronological order at all, so forgive me for that. But a few weeks ago in the last transfer with Sister Wells and Hermana LaBass we had a lot of down time due to Sister Wells being sick and not being able to leave the house in the bitter cold weather. So after I got off work at 7 P.M each night I would go over and we would entertain each other, and well finally after 1.5 weeks of this and a missed district meeting (very rare for missionaries to miss this, especially when the President of the mission is going to be there) and so the Sisters in Hays got it approved to come down and help do some work in Great Bend and well one night I cooked grilled cheese for them all and we had a little picnic in the apartment and had some fun with it!

The bread that we purchased was a bit awkward and was squished on one side and we determined it looked like a bunny rabbit so we had even more fun with it! I hope you enjoy the little video and the pictures of the awesome night!

See the bunny?

The final product!

The Picnic, from l to r: Sister Martin (Hays) Sister Reynolds (Hays) and Sister LaBass!

Sister LaBass can never do a serious picture, okay so that was an exaggeration, but it took us like 10 shots to get a good picture of the 3 of us.....

Here you go, Sister LaBass, Sister Reynolds and myself...the 3 Amigas!

Holy Cow

So have you ever just wanted something so bad, that when you actually are going to get it you freak out?

Well, for 2 years I have been trying to get on a full-time mission for the church. I just haven't been able to afford it or I get side tracked with a male figure or school draws me back in. Well folks, it is going to happen. The stake president is coming to my ward this Sunday and my Bishop is going to get me the log-in and I will officially start my paperwork this Sunday. It seems to surreal. I will finally accomplish my biggest goal and I am so stoked but yet I stress. I still do not have my debt paid off, and to be honest I am not even close but I know Faith preceeds all Miracles so I know it will all fall into place. I am just so excited and ready and i can't believe this will actually happen this Sunday.

District Meeting

Again, I am behind on posting, but my time is limited and on my last couple days off I have been out of town with the missioanries hince no time to blog. So here it goes! I went to District Meeting with the girls back in December possibly January and Elder Eckern had just got a "Dear John" letter and was heart broken so the girls in GB made him a little present and we had some good times playing piano and what not!

Transfers....

So I am way behind on posting on this thing i call a "blog"...I will admit I suck at this type of thing, but we have had 2 transfers that I haven't posted about, well at least i don't think I have...so her are the photos that I really like and what not!

This was the whole gang that was at transfers this time around. We lost a lot of amzing Elders/Sisters to different Zone's...

Sister Hyrns and Sister LaBass. It was Sister LaBass's 9 month mark so hince the "stomach" picture! Oh and Hyrns was her "Mother" (a.k.a she trained her as a greenie)

Me, Sister Hyrns, and Sister Favikiowana (sp?)

Sister LaBass, Sister Hyrns, and myself

Sister Wells and myself....

Sister Freitas, Sister Hyrns, and Sister Gundersen!

Sister Reynolds and myself!

Elder Eckern and Sister LaBass!

Goals

Well, I have decided as of this morning that I have some goals I want to try to obtain by the end of this month. Some may laugh because they are pretty out there, but I know they are obtainable!

1. Drop the remaining weight to qualify for a full time LDS mission. Which in the long run means I have to lose another 15-20 lbs. I have already dropped about 25 to get to this point. I want to lose it by the end of February. I told my mom this goal this morning and she laughed and seems to think I should only try to lose 9 lbs to start out with. I am not going to use diet pills or any of the sort, just healthy eating and exercise to accomplish this!

2. Become more devoted to my daily scripture study and prayers.

3. Actually prepare my lessons fully before Saturday evening's and just have to do a review on Saturday then do all of the whole lesson.

4. Start the work on my dental/health portion of my papers (even though I have not yet officially started the mission paper work. I know what needs to be done, so I want to start it to be ahead of the game on the health portion, like getting my shots and all of that good stuff)

Well, there they are. I hope I can get this stuff started and can actually keep the weight loss rolling and get the weight off so that will not be an issue for later down the road when I actually get to start the papers. I know it is obtainable and I know I can do it. All I need from my friends/family is encouragement, don't laugh at me and think it is impossible just help me to remain steadfast and what not!

Independence/Liberty, Missouri

I just realized that I never posted the pictures I took while in Missouri a few weeks ago. I traveled up to KC, Mo and surrounding areas in one day and the whole purpose was to go see Sister Lisa Madsen at Liberty Jail and to get a tour from her before she went home. While I was up there I also went to go to Independence and went to the Visitor's Center in hopes of catching a few of the Sister's that I have met through-out their missions there. I got a tour from Sister Ayala and she did so well, she told me I was one of her solo tours. She taught me a lot and funny that I drove 4.5 hours one way to learn about Faith and how important it really is in day to day living. While I was talking with Sister Ayala, Sister Tedrow (A senior Sister) thought she recognized me, and which she did, I was up there a year ago with my parents and she remembered me! But I had looked outside and saw another set of missioanries walking in and one looked familiar, and I was like that looks like Sister Higbee and sure enough it was! She came to the VC to bring 2 of their investigators there. It was AWESOME to see her! It was time to leave and I was disappointed that I did not get to see Sister Brooks or Sister Abad, so I left and made sure Sister Ayala told them I said hello and that I loved them, and so I was on my way out to my car and I see a set of Sisters get out of their car and it looked a lot like Sister Brooks/Abad; sure enough it was! I got to talk to them for a few minutes and took a picture with each of them. I think my trip to Independence was a success, I got to see all my friends and I also felt the Spirit and learned a little while I was there!

Sister Abad and I! She is from the Phillipines!

Sister Brooks! She is from Utah! I love her to death!


My tour guide! Sister Ayala!

Okay so now on to Liberty, Missouri to hit up the jail! I have been there several times before, and I must say I love that place and the Spirit it holds! I was able to go to Liberty Jail before I was an official member of the church and I learned so much about Joseph Smith and all he went through while he was restoring the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He suffered so we can have this Gospel in our lives and he in the end gave his life so we as members today can enjoy the fruits of the Spirit and so forth. I love the Jail and I was so thrilled to see Sister Madsen again! It was rather funny, I walked in at 3 P.M. when she got on shift and of course she was downstairs, but the first shift of sisters were still around, so when I walked in a Sister hops up from her chair and said "She is here for Sister Madsen, and everyone meet Jessica, she is the most awesome team-up in Great Bend!" I was so shocked I had no clue really who she was, I mean I had seen pictures and knew her name (Sister Williams) but I had never met her in person and for her to know who I was and what I was doing there kind of freaked me out. But she said she had seen tons of photos of me and heard stories of all the crazy times Sister Madsen and I had had! So they called Hna Madsen and it was AWESOME to see her one last time before she went home.

She gave a power house tour and the Spirit I felt was so amazing. Talk about feelings of joy that overcame me. I left there with again a greater appreciation for the Gospel in my life and an appreciation of Joseph and all he went through for us Latter-day Saints! I love this Gospel and I love all it has done for me in the past 5 years. I am so Thankful for a member missionary who was firm in her testimony and was brave enough to share with me her testimony of the church. I owe a lot to Helen and I am just so thankful for each missionary that has helped me learn and grow while I have been a member, for the love they show to me and all the wonderful things they have done for me!

Sister Madsen and I in the routunda!