November 28th - December 5th, 2016

FAMILY. 

Sorry I forgot to tell you Pday was on Tuesday this week #mybad and surprise! Today is Pday. We had an amazing week. We had zone conference in Colombia Missouri, also knows as COMO. It literally blew my mind. Basically President Bateman told us we're all stuck in this tiny box. He always teaches us about the trust box and as long as we live by the perimeters of the trust box we have the freedom to do whatever we want, looong story short. We have tiny boxes. We are scared to get out of the mold of "tracting, 5 missionary lessons, more tracting" basically we want to be obedient so badly that we won't do anything slightly creative. Moral of the story i'm trying to break out of my tiny trust box and it's SO FUN! 

We had really great spiritual lessons with the Ovitts. Actually, cool story. We had a lesson with just Jerry and Sis Ovitt (no twins) and Jerry was opening up to us about some struggles and it was just absolutely heart breaking. On the way home I was thinking of ways we could help them with Christmas and life in general, almost in tears about our limited resources.  We get home, walk up to the mailbox, and pulled out that card you sent mom. Somehow I knew it was money. We walked upstairs and I opened it and just about cried. I'm so excited to help them with Christmas  That card couldn't have come at a better time. THANK YOU. We finally got the twins a Children's Book of Mormon and they are CRUISING through it. Love them so much. We had good lessons with Bruce and Karen too. They both came to church and it was awesome! They committed to be baptized and we're so excited about it. They both have a lot of things to overcome, but they can do it with the help of the Savior. Karen was telling us how broken she was and how much she needs this. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. 

Had exchanges and I got to be with Sister Bishop!!! Love that lady. She is really sick so we actually had to stay in the apartment but it was so good because we got to talk. I needed it haha. She is my best friend. We hugged and cried and said goodbye and she said in my ear "I'll see you at the airport with Cafe Rio in one hand and pants in the other" I love my sister. 

Last week i got attacked by the cats as you know, this week i got attacked by dogs. Sister Ball kindly watched and took pictures from the safety of the car. The pic is pretty funny. 

The other night this lady called us and said "is this the sister missionaries? I need to get back to church." She has been LA but feels the desire to come back! I love that! Can't even wait to meet her. Basically my life is one big miracle. One miracle after another and I just love it so much. 

Mom I realize I keep forgetting to answer your questions week after week so here you go: yes i kept my stocking but my comp took hers so i just have one. Yes i got new Nikes like months ago, they're sick. I really don't need anything for Christmas. Just save the money for when I get home and I'm dead broke. Will you also ask Rochelle if I can work for her when I get home? 

LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!

November 21st-28th, 2016

Dearest Dad, Mom, Tara, Dustin, Devin... and anyone else that reads these things.

This week was so good haha. I know I say that every week, but it's always just so good! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! We sure did. We had two appointments. We went over to the Davidson's in the morning to help cook... they go ALL OUT. So much home made stuff. We ate lunch with them there and paced ourselves for the next one. We also had an appointment with this cute family named the Harts :) It is just the two of them and they are raising their grandson Matthew. It was really fun to be with them. They really liked having us over so I was grateful to be with them. SO MUCH FOOD. People literally stuff you full as a missionary. I am obsessed with the members here. I can't even describe how much I love them and how many amazing experiences I have with them.

This week as you know, the church released #LightTheWorld and I am OBSESSED WITH IT. Literally the best video ever made, with the best meaning, and best way to get involved. I need every single one of you to visit Mormon.org and watch it and also to see the different ways to get involved. In 25 ways. Over 25 days. It is the best thing ever. Honestly, it WILL light the whole world if everyone participates. We just need to do as the Savior would do, and turn ourselves outward. "I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." "YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD" 

We were able to teach some of our investigators this week which was so good. I forgot nobody wants to meet with missionaries around Thanksgiving, so it was a slower week but still great. I love the Ovitts. They have been reading the Book of Mormon and Jerry (the dad) even PRAYED! I was so thrilled. Sister Ovitt (the twins grandma) is the CUTEST. I love her so much. She is so hilarious and adorable. I wish you could all meet this family. 

Soooo there are a lot of interesting people in Missouri. I thought I knew what a "crazy cat lady" was like....... until November 26, 2016 when i questioned everything. So we met this lady at Walmart... I could tell she was a little odd, but hey, Jesus said love everyone. I asked her if we could come share a message with her, she said yes! So a few days later we go over to her house. She lets us in right away while she's telling us she hopes we like animals, we respond with "oh yeah no problem!" People, I walked into this house and my jaw dropped. CAT CITY. I couldn't believe the amount of cats. She's showing us all of them, then shows us the garage where there were probably 20 more just running around like a jungle. She had stacks of cages, even a TV playing for them in the garage! Cats like TV?? Then she was like "I got a bunch more in the barn! Wanna see?" I was in complete shock. So she has no furniture but an air mattress and a table. I asked if we could sit at the table to talk... she says "well it's THEIR table but I guess" The table had like 3 huge bowls of cat food on it. I sit down and was instantly SWARMED with cats. I was actually scared. I felt like I was drowning. We struggle through the Restoration lesson while trying to shove cats off us. I had no idea what i was saying to her, I had cats climbing on my head, cat tails in my mouth, cats climbing up my back, it was literally terrifying. I AM NOT EVEN EXAGGERATING. ASK SISTER BALL. So then, this one cat kept getting so mad if I stopped petting it, but I was so distracted by the other cats I stopped for a second, next thing I know I felt like I was stabbed with an actual knife. This cat had sunk it's claws into my stomach and these claws were literally razor blades. I grunted and doubled over in pain, trying not to chuck the cat across the room. I literally had to remove the cats claws from inside of me. I had to pull them out. Blood was everywhere. Like a large about of blood all over my clothes from my STAB WOUNDS. Anyways, i finally met an actual crazy cat lady, and i hope to never meet one again.

Oh side note, I got pulled over this week. Sorry Dad. No ticket though, HALLELUJAH. I gave him a long sob story about how I'm not from here and I'm a missionary and bla bla bla. Dodged that one. I ran through a stop sign but I honestly didn't see it and we were in the middle of nowhere it was pitch black and nobody was even around.  

The cutest member gave us the most legit Christmas tree. So grateful. We went to the arch for Pday last week and it was very dramatic and crazy. We accidentally got lost in East St. Louis basically the epitome of "the hood" and locked ourselves out of the parking garage. Never again. I cried on the way home because I realized it's probably the last time I'll be at the St. Louis arch. Also sung in the very small very amateur ward choir. It was so great, we've been practicing for Christmas! I love this time of year. I love this work I'm apart of, I love the people here, I love my whole life!

https://www.mormon.org/

November 14th-21st, 2016

Dearest Fam. This week was incredible. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

We're still figuring out the area, we are LOVING the ward. The members here are truly the Bee's Knees. We've still been sifting through investigators that the elders had and finding a bunch of our own. So... secret is out... I've kind of been struggling with teaching people here. I keep going through the thought process of "maybe I'm just a sucky teacher" or "maybe it's just because I'm training a new missionary and it'll get better" or "maybe it's because the Elders found them, and not me, so I don't have the same connection" Moral of the story I haven't felt like I'm in this area for them. Usually I find people and i just KNOW I'm in the area for THEM. SO that's been in the back of my mind. When one day I was looking at the ward list and this name just stood out to me so much. Another spiritual 2x4 to the head. I was like "we have to go see the Ovitts." So we drop by randomly and they welcomed us right in. There is an older lady, Sister Ovitt who is blind and so freaking adorable. Her son, Jerry, lives there to help take care of her and stuff. He also has twin girls that are the exact same age as Chloe and Gracey and remind me of them so much. Their names are Lily and Layla.  The grandma is less active because of health but loves the church and listens to the Book of Mormon every day. Jerry has been less active since he was a teenager, but is really open right now. He is divorced from the girls mom and is just kind of unhappy. The girls are 9 and so stinkin cute. The second I walked into the door, I knew my purpose is Warrenton is for this cute family. Jerry agreed to take the missionary lessons with the girls and try to grow his testimony. The girls have never learned anything about God or Jesus Christ so we are teaching them the basics too. After the lesson we were asking the girls questions to make sure they understood and they were getting them spot on! I looked at their grandma and the look on her face of pure joy just overwhelmed my heart! I know she has been waiting for this for years. I love them so much. We're also teaching Bruce, the "old drunk" but he's doing great! He came to church and loved it. This other adorable family, the Higgins, came to church too. Brother Higgins was baptized 5 or so years ago, but fell away. He is trying to come back and we're teaching his 10 year old son, Dominic. He also has a 7 year old son, Noah. I just love everyone here. I can't even handle it.

I also love this small town! This family in the ward has some cows, and one of them gave birth to a calf and it was like the most exciting thing in town! Everyone was going over to see it and take pictures of it. They invited us over to see their cute new cow. It was born on Sunday so I think they should name it "holy cow." Lol. 

Life is sweet, people. I LOVE THIS WORK. I ALSO LOVE YOU. TALK TO YOU LATER.

November 7th-14th, 2016

 FAM. Oh my goodness. Where to start. First of all, saying goodbye to Fenton was so hard!! Ugh. I stayed the night in Webster Groves until my new baby came on Wednesday!! It was super fun. I stayed with Sister Day and Sister Oldroyd, we all came out together and we all turn around trained together (which is when you just get done finishing your own training, then you train.) we were also all STLs together, and now we're kill training together! (which is where you train until you die in the mission.) On wednesday I got my 3rd baby!  Her name is SISTER BALL and she is SO COOL! I love her. She's from Idaho, just graduated in May (legit, so young.) I'm teaching her about mission life, but also real life on your own! It's her first time away from home. So we practice teaching people, but we also practice cooking and cleaning :) She always says "i literally have no idea what i'm doing. What do I even eat." hahahah it's so cute. She is so motivated to work though so it's gonna be a good transfer. 

Warrenton is very unique. The town is even smaller than Mahomet which I did't think was possible. The ward boundary is giant. We cover 20+ little towns. The Bishop called it the "Alaska" of the Stake haha. It's been interesting trying to figure out this area and train. Let's just say I'm incredibly tired haha. But it's been good! The ward is AMAZING. We have felt so loved and welcomed. We got involved right away and it's been so fun meeting all these awesome members and investigators the elders had. The members have been calling out of sheer excitement that they have sisters now and inviting us over! The ward seriously rocks. The Bishop and his family are SO COOL. 

We taught a bunch of investigators that the elders had. Jonas, from Belgium, is SO COOL. But he's moving! We taught Bruce, and he's just an "old drunk" in his words haha but he is the sweetest guy. His daughter and grandson were legit murdered so that's been super hard for him. We taught Tammy, Crystal and Dustin, just a whole bunch of people. We were teaching this couple in a smoke filled trailer in the middle of nowhere with the MANGIEST dog I've ever seen and I just thought to myself.... it doesn't get better than this:) Love it. I really want to work with Part Member families in this ward because there are a bunch. Everyone I've baptized on my mission has either been married to a member, friends with a member, or dating a member. MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK IS THE ONLY WAY!

Well peeps, that's about all the updates from Warrenton. I love the small towns, I love my companion, and I love the Lord! Life couldn't be better! Happy Happy Birthday tomorrow Mom! I love you guys!!

October 31st - November 7th, 2016

Family. I am having a crazy whirlwind of emotions! First of all, as you all guessed, I'm leaving Fenton after an amazing 6 months. I have loved my time here. I am going to a little Podunk town called Warrenton. I'm "whitewashing" elders out of the area, and training a brand new missionary! I'm SO GRATEFUL. President Bateman asked if I wanted to train again for my last two transfers and I said  YES! 

This week was the best of my life. So much happened. I'll try to summarize. Got to see Kurt and Emily! Their sealing is coming up soon. Can't even wait. Got to say goodbye to all my favorite people. Justin is doing well, so is John, so is Sonja, so are all of our other investigators and less actives. SAYING GOODBYE IS SO HARD. I'm gonna send a crap ton of pics so buckle up. Let me just update you on JIM. I'm pretty sure I told you about his background. He is already in 2 Nephi. He knows the church is true, it's filled his heart. He texts us every day about how he can feel God in his life and how he wants his whole family to to this with him. He is SO COOL. I hope I can come back for his baptism. I just love so many people here, words honestly can't describe. 

Don't even get me started about having to say goodbye to my American Legion family. UGH! I cried. They were so upset about me leaving. They gave me one of their hats so I'm a member now. They are some of the most amazing people I know. They were just starting to open up about their religious feelings. I have all their addresses and emails and I can't wait to be life long friends :) 

That's about it, I leave the area Tuesday but have to stay the night somewhere because the new missionaries get here Wednesday. I love you guys! I'll send you the new address and everything when I get it! Have a great week!!! XOXO 

THE CHURCH IS TRUE THE BOOK IS BLUE.

October 24th-31st, 2016

Hello family. This week was insane. We were go go go constantly. I LOVED IT. Thanks for all your emails, and happy halloween! 

Soooo long story hang in there. I was on exchanges with Sister Francis last week and it was 8:45 (the time all missionaries dread because it's too late to tract but too early to go back to the apartment) So we were looking through a list of "potentials" and there was one guy that stood out to us named Jim. But the paper said his wife was anti and not to go to the house. So we sent him a text message asking him if he wanted to meet. Long story short, Jim was beyond interested. He said the Mormon Church has been on his mind for months. Every time he drives by the church he feels a pull to go. He is SO PREPARED. It's just his wife :( We got to get her interested. He told us he prayed one night about what to do because he really wanted to strengthen his faith and get to church and we texted him about an hour later. THE SPIRIT IS SO REAL. He came to church and loved it.

John also came to church. He dropped his baptism date though :( He loved the primary program SO much. He is probably the funniest person I know. He said he believes the Book of Mormon is true, so we're trying to help him connect all the dots that if the Book of Mormon is true, so is everything else. Ugh. He wasn't getting it. One day it will all make sense! THE BOOK OF MORMON IS THE KEYSTONE OF OUR RELIGION. 

We taught Chrissy, Hunter, and Haley. I love them so much. They are so REAL. Ugh! Just the coolest, most down to earth, humble family. I meet a lot of crazy people, and they are just normal people looking for truth. It's refreshing. They are going through a lot with custody and stuff right now which breaks my heart. I'll send you pics of them, try not to DIE at how cute they are. 

Other updates:

I accidentally broke our phone in half. Oops.

Ward trunk or treat was the best thing that ever happened to me. We decorated our trunk Christmas theme. No other decorations but those.

Primary program is the best sunday of the year.

Transfers are next week and I think I'm leaving.

The Gospel is the only way to live.

I love you all!!!!!!! Thanks for all you do. I love this work with my whole heart!!!!!!!!!!!! 

​​

--

Sister Broadhead 

October 17th-24th, 2016

Hellooooo family! We had a really great week. So much has happened! 

John came to church again! I was so shocked. Justin is doing okay - he is still battling a lot of addictions. Sonja is doing good - adorable as ever. Her mom Heike is doing good too. I just love that whole family. We found a new family! Chrissy, Hunter and Haley. Can't remember if I told ya'll about them last week or not. Basically we are teaching really cool people and it is depressing that the transfer is coming to an end! Only 2 more weeks. 

Things I learned this week:

-Heavenly knows his children. We had president interviews this week and President Bateman taught me something that was a direct answer to my prayers. I told him through teary eyes because I was so shocked at how direct it was, and something I had only prayed about privately to my Heavenly Father. His response: "that only came to me this morning, and I haven't shared it with anyone else. It was for you. Heavenly Father knows you Sister Broadhead." 

-Life is better with a companion. Heavenly Father has blessed me with some of the sweetest companions around. I love that I have gotten to serve with 9 (so far) amazing sisters. God did not intend for us to be alone, I'm grateful to share the experiences I have with someone else. Some day the companion I have will be eternal. (gulp) 

-We choose who we are, who we become, and what we do with our lives. Agency is a powerful thing. We can choose how to respond to each situation, good or bad. We are not a result of our circumstances. We can choose to be Christlike, full of love, obedient, worthy, happy. Who we are lies in our hands! 

-for every door I knock in this mission, a convert is baptized in Mexico. (true fact) 

Life has been good. We are happy and healthy. I have been reflecting a lot on my 6 months here in Fenton. It has been so amazing. The midwest will always be hallowed ground to me. Love ya'll! Thanks for all you do! See you in 3 months!!! (double gulp) The church is true, the Lord loves YOU! 

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Sister Broadhead