Week 15 - New York State Fair & New Companion (9.12.16)

THE FAIR --So FUN!!!

Impressive sculpture....out of butter!

Sand sculptures..now that's more like it! 

Last day with Sister Case :(

 

YAY - new companion! :) Sister Priest

 

I was so happy to get a GPS!! It's the little things that make me happy haha 

Week 14 - It's September!

We did exchanges on Tuesday and my companion for the day was Sister DeVries. She’s so cute, it was a lot of fun spending the day with her. We taught a couple less actives then went to an African family’s house- the kids recently got baptized. They were adorable. Syracuse is super diverse. You never know what to expect. We went to Funken Waffles for dinner and it was super good. I had a waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. Then we went outside to the wall that had a lot of graffiti and took pictures. 

That night we tracted a little bit and at one house the son opened the door and we asked if his mom was home and he said yes and went to go get her. She was upstairs and just opened the window to talk to us and the screen fell out and was inches from hitting me, tender mercy. She ended up coming down and we gave her a Book of Mormon and set up an appointment in a couple days to come back. Then we taught an investigator, his name is J. He was saying how he knew a Mormon and he was one of the best people he has ever met. Sister DeVries realized the person he was talking about was in her ward - Brother Redfern!  We’ve had dinner at the Redferns- they’re a super awesome family. It was cool to have that connection.

Wednesday we had Zone Training Metting! I was asked to give a spiritual thought so I decided to share the experience I had when I recited the First Vision for the first time. President referred to my spiritual thought a couple of times (the ZTM was focused on the BOM) and he kept saying Sister Moore (another Sister in the Zone) and I was a little confused but then Sister Rogers pointed out that I gave the spiritual thought and he has been using the wrong name. He apologized and we all laughed, I kind of just went with it.

We had dinner at a member’s house after ZTM and they made us salt potatoes! They are really big here. We have never heard of them so S made some for us along with chicken and corn on the cob and hot dogs and watermelon. We were given chocolate pie and truffles and dinner leftovers when we left. The people here are too good to us. We had a lesson with a potential investigator J we tracted into after that. That lesson was incredible. During it I was thinking “this is why I’m on my mission”! We talked about the Book of Mormon and read Alma 32 with him about faith and he was like “yeah that’s me, I have a desire I just need more faith” and I asked him how he thinks he could get more faith and he said “read this book”. Um YES THAT IS THE BEST ANSWER? It was just super cool. It was definitely a privilege to be there in that moment. Sister Case and I were so pumped after that lesson. We were seriously on cloud 9. It was probably one of the best days in the mission.

Oh and J’s lesson wasn’t even the last awesome thing of the day. We saw S after that. She’s one of our investigators and she is so awesome. We have so much fun in her lessons. We taught the 10 commandments and just we were just talking and she said her husband missed the bus, he was in New York City, and so he was coming home later than expected because he cut it to close and I thought of dad and how he has missed his flights before. Silly boys, ha ha.

On Thursday we went to Sweet Frog which is a frozen yogurt place because a friend told us they have a deal on Thursdays. It was so good. We are planning on going this week too.

We found out recently that there is a less active family who lives in our apartment complex and we tried them earlier but they weren’t home. The parents only know Spanish and the two daughters know English and Spanish. On Saturday when we were going in for the night I saw that the lights were on so I said we should go over there, we did and it was awesome! Their apartment is so homey and cute. I loved it. There were super nice. We read a scripture with them, well read it in English then the daughter read it in Spanish so her parents could understand. The dad said the closing prayer in Spanish and it was so cool! He said “missionarios”, like five times. They gave us a loaf of fresh French bread when we were leaving :) They said they are moving in 2 weeks to Syracuse, the city, so that’s sad because we won’t get to see them anymore.

Mission life is great!

Some great friends....

 Some chalk + a sidewalk = a diagram of the Plan of Salvation

Sweet Frog is a great place on a hot day for some frozen yogurt!

Week 13 - sooo we got a cat!

sooo we got a cat!! 

Just kidding. 

There was a cat that followed us to our door and when Sister Case opened the door the cat ran in and we couldn't get it out for like 5 minutes. It was super funny! It finally left and then stayed for another hour meowing outside our door.

 Poor cat.

It's been a good week, we have been busy with service and teaching and finding new investigators. Something fun that happened this week is that we went to Heidi's! Its a restaurant that is super famous for its hot dogs and man there is a reason that they are famous because they are so good!! Regular hot dogs just can't compare. The one near us is now the only one that exists! I should've taken a picture. :( We had frozen bananas for dessert (which I have never had before). It was a frozen banana on a stick covered in peanut butter. Yum! 

On Thursday President and Sister Rogers came to our area because at our District Meeting. President was having interviews with each of us. Sister Rogers came and worked with us while President Rogers was planning at the church with the Elders. It was fun! We went to Arby's for lunch and taught a few lessons together. 

I love missionary work! I love this area and the members here! It has been hot and humid with some summer storms mixed in but life is good.

Have a great week!!

Week 12 - READ IT!

This week went by super fast! 

Last p-day was super fun, we went blueberry picking at a nearby farm with one of the members and her kids then went and got ice cream(which was super good), then had dinner and birthday cupcakes at another members house because it was her daughters 3rd birthday. I love the members here so much! They are so good to us. 

One of our investigators who is getting baptized soon called us this week and said he wasn't so sure about getting baptized anymore so we had a lesson with him about revelation and how to receive answers. The lesson went really well and I shared the story of how I really did not want to go to UVU and then months after I had started school there I received the answer that UVU is where I was supposed to be and God knew me and knew what was best for me even though I didn't necessarily like it. But I love UVU now and I am so glad I could start college there. The Spirit was really strong as I testified that God really does answer our prayers and He knows us individually. 

This week has been full of some really awesome lessons. On Friday we had three lessons in a row and we asked a member to come with us to all of them and it was so fun! I love when members can come to lessons with us, their experiences and testimony add so much to the lesson. There have been some cool miracles happen too. 

On Saturday we were planning to just stop by to one of our investigators' houses that night and teach a lesson hoping that he would be home and then earlier in the day we were driving from someone else's house and we saw him walking on the side of the road! We hurried and pulled over and talked with him and just taught him right there! As we were talking we realized that he wouldn't have even been home when we were planning on stopping by. I love how sometimes we are just in the right place at the right time.

I love being a missionary! Teaching lessons and seeing people change and come closer to Christ has got to be one of the most rewarding things you can do. This Church is true!! The Book of Mormon is my favorite book I have ever read because it makes me so happy reading it! There is so much to learn from its pages. So if you have never read it or if it has been awhile, READ IT. It will make your life so much better I promise.

LOVE YOU!! 

Sister Horne

Week 11 - Full of Service! ...and Pictures!

Hola!!

It has been an awesome week! Sorry this is short...but I did take a lot of pictures so hopefully that makes up for it! 

This week we went to visit one of our less actives that lives in an assisted living place. Her aid was in the room with us as we talked about the Plan of Salvation and she kept asking us questions! It was awesome. We gave her a Restoration pamphlet and told her about 1 Cor. 15:40-41 and she was super interested! Who knew that visiting a less active would lead to her aid becoming interested in what we believe? God is the best. He blesses us so much everyday. 

We did a lot of service this week and it was so fun! We taught the refugees on Tuesday which was a blast. We played frisbee with the kids before our English lesson and guess what? They know how to read!! Well at least the two oldest boys do. They are so amazing! Kids can learn languages so quick its crazy. Then on Wednesday we worked at Meals on Wheels which is always a fun time. Thursday we did service and then on Saturday we helped one of our recent converts dig a hole for her plants (which we struggled with but we finally did) and then set up a swing in her front yard. It was fun though. 

I am so grateful to be a missionary and to see God's hand in my life everyday! I love the Book of Mormon so much! If we had time I would read it all day. I love this gospel and the happiness it brings me. This Church really is true. 

I love you all!!

Sister Horne

Love this family! 

7/11 means FREE Slurpees!

She's super cute and fun to be with!

Core is a super healthy super good restaurant. 

Carol is a lady I work with at Meals on Wheels and she also works at this restaurant. 

She invited us to come and gave us free meals!! It was so nice! 

Then we went to Stewarts!! A gas station that has super good ice cream--its famous here. 

All the missionaries love it. I got mint cookie crumble and peanut butter pandemonium.  

Just doing a little service.

Preparing the spot (ugh- the bricks were so heavy), then setting up a swing...

 and digging a hole for this plant....

 for this sweet lady!

All done :)

Homemade Zucchini Bread - YUM!!

 This is a river in New York that we accidentally drove to. 

We were following the address we got for a referral and it took us to this river. 

It was gorgeous so we pulled over and took pictures :) We joked that we drove into Canada 

because we had no idea where we were haha New York is so pretty.

Week 10

A week without a car.....

...makes us so excited and happy the day we get it back from the shop!

Hello!!

It's been a great week!

We had a lesson with one of our investigators and we were teaching him the Restoration and I recited the First Vision for the first time in a lesson and it was AWESOME! Wow talk about something bringing in the Spirit. Saying it testified to me that Joseph Smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful that I have that knowledge. 

Last week we were tracting and we ended up knocking on the Mayors door and he was super nice and he invited us to go to an event at his Baptist church so we went since our appointment fell through that night and it was cool! It was a concert and the people in the band were from Ireland and they played religious music. It made me realize that we really are worshiping the same God. Yes we have our differences but we have a lot of similarities. It was a cool experience. :)

This week my testimony of acting on promptings really was strengthened. We were out walking and we walked past a house that we had tracted before and met a lady who was interested but we haven't seen in awhile. We weren't planning on going to see her but I randomly said "Karen!" and so we went back to her house to see if she was home and instead of seeing her (she was at work) we met her neighbor and she was super awesome and seemed really interested. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it. It was amazing how God prompted me to think of Karen at that moment. If I never would have had that prompting we wouldn't have met her neighbor and been able to teach her about the Restoration. 

I love the miracles I am able to see everyday! God is looking out for all of us and He knows who is ready to hear the Gospel and He leads us to them! I love being a missionary and the days are going by faster and faster!

Have a wonderful week! 

Love, 

Sister Horne