Happy New Year!!

I would really prefer to just send pictures of this week and call that my email, but I figure that would get me in trouble, right? So I'll do an overview. Like last year, Christmas on the mission was SO good. It was really different from last year but really great! We visited members and had a big breakfast with all of the sisters, and then we ended our night by caroling around the Trail Center with some sisters and elders that serve nearby. It was a perfect way to end the night. Tonight for New Years Eve we will be deep cleaning the TC and getting rid of all of the gingerbread houses! Hallelujah. I LOVE gingerbread, don't get me wrong. But after a month + of it, I am SO ready for it to be out of the TC.

This week was a little slow for me..caught a little flu bug that kept me in the apartment on Sunday and Monday, but luckily for us, being in a trio worked to our advantage again and my companions left me at the TC while they went out into the area. They saw a lot of miracles and set our two new investigators for baptism! Being a missionary is the greatest.

So, do you remember me telling you about Tom? He is the one that the assistants were teaching and I took him on tour last Christmastime? And then 3 other times throughout the year with different sets of elders each time? And then I got transferred into his WARD? Heavenly Father is so good. So he is planning on getting BAPTIZED on Saturday. Sorry for the allcaps every other word, but I am so hoping this happens. He is so nervous, but during Sunday School this week he leaned over and said, "I just need to replace my fear with my faith." BAH. Best moment for a missionary ever. I love that. We are praying that he will keep remembering his faith, not his doubts.

We are also praying that Hailey and Lindsey get to be baptized this week. Their little brother Brandon is 8 and we have been teaching him the lessons so he is prepared to be baptized since his dad just gave him permission to be baptized. His sisters have a different dad and he hasn't given them permission, but we are really praying that a miracle will happen and his heart will be softened enough to allow them to be baptized like they want! We love them so much!

This week will be another really good one. Can't believe it will be 2014 tomorrow! This morning in my personal study I was working on brainstorming out personal goals for the year. In my talk last week in church I talked about how in Luke 2:52 it says that Christ grew in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with his fellow men. Those 4 ways show us what categories we need to set goals in: mental, physical, spiritual, and social. That's what I plan on doing in the next few days, and look forward to what the Lord has in store for me this year!!!!!!!

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Sister Farnsworth

                                                   Where Study Time happens!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve is my FAVORITE day of the year. I think it's because of all of the traditions in our family on Christmas Eve. And anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE tradition. And parties. 

This week has been so great- we had Christmas Zone Conference! It is a lot different than other Zone Conferences. There are still great trainings and the Spirit is SO strong, but there are a lot of musical numbers, and we have a little "talent show" with skits and such and a white elephant gift exchange. President and Sister Weston also gave each missionary a little book that was a compilation of conversion stories that we had all written before last ZC. Some were personal conversion stories, some were of people we had taught, some were of people that we had just met and learned from on our missions. It was such a neat Christmas gift. I love the Westons SO MUCH!!

We also got a new car to share with the other sisters in our ward, which is nice because it means we don't have to car fast (go without a car....for at least two meals?? ahhah missionary joke. I'm really lame don't worry about it if you didn't get that). It smells like new car. AKA the best smell ever. 

Saturday morning was our ward's Christmas breakfast and SO many of the less active members we have been working with came! It was so good to have them in the church building where they could feel the Spirit and feel of the love of the ward. We also had some investigators and potential investigators there which was awesome. The ward, as usual, was incredible and reached out big time to help everyone feel welcomed and loved. Afterwards we went over to Brother Vaterlaus' house (Ward mission leader) and wrapped boxes to put food from the Bishop's storehouse in to deliver for Christmas. I dont' know if any of you have ever wrapped just the outside of a box that doesn't have a top, but let me tell you, that was a challenge. Mahlstede and I had to use some serious geometry to figure it all out. Sister Jensen hates wrapping. Moreso she just struggles wrapping and ends up cutting random scraps of paper and taping it on. Hhahaa. It's the best, she is so funny!! After that we organized all of the food into each box and got to deliver some! It was the BEST way to start the week of Christmas. It got me thinking though...I don't know how moms wrap everything for Christmas. So much to wrap! So we offered to help our Relief Society President wrap all of her gifts for Christmas. She let us, which was awesome for us because it was fun to feel like Santa's elves, and it was awesome for her because it saved her a ton of time to have 4 people do it instead of just her! So grateful to actually do helpful service!

Sunday was really wonderful. I had to speak, but I think it went ok. I also got asked to accompany someone in Sacrament meeting that I had never met before and when the meeting started I still didn't see her anywhere. Luckily she walked in right before the talks started, and everything went really smoothly. At least it was good to distract me from worrying about my talk that I hadn't really written and I had 20 minutes to fill with.....hahaha. That night we went caroling around the TC's neighborhood to invite people to come see Gingerbread. It was a blast.

I could go on for another HOUR about this week, but I'm sure you all have a TON to do because it is the day before Christmas! Love you all so much.

I just want to bear my testimony of my Savior. I know that He was born, that He lived, and that He died because He truly understood our Father's plan and He loved us enough to help us return. I love Him, and I am so grateful to do His work.

I love you all, and hope you have a VERY Merry Christmas!

Love, Sister Farnsworth

A Great Week!!

I feel like I end up just scratching my head (not because of lice) with every single week that passes by because I have NO idea where the week went. Each week seems to go faster and faster! We have had a blast this week. Our whole week was pretty much spent either at the Trail Center or preparing William for baptism! I guess I'll start there and go backwards through the week!

There isn't much to say about the baptism because it was pretty picture perfect, which is a relief because it seems that every other baptism I've had something goes wrong haha. William was so sweet and excited and nervous! We spoke on the gift of the Holy Ghost and wrapped boxes inside of one another and as he opened each one there was a blessing that we get from having the Holy Ghost. It was so fun, and the little kids at the baptism loved it as much as William did!! Ha. The ward found him an apartment to move into that same day. I LOVE THIS WARD! They are so incredible and really know how to selflessly serve.

On Friday, we got to go to the temple! It was so wonderful, as it always was, but it really just made me so grateful to have the blessing of peace in our lives. I always feel so incredible peaceful when I am in the House of the Lord, and I always leave knowing that much more that He loves me.

We sang at a homeless shelter in downtown Omaha with about 6 other sisters. We just took one of our little keyboards and speakers and threw together a little concert, and it was so so so much fun. I am so grateful for the Spirit that Christmas music brings...even if it isn't a hymn, the Spirit still is there! So many of the people who lived there and the people that were serving dinner came and talked to us and thanked us for singing, which was a perfect opportunity to invite them up to the Trail Center for Gingerbread. It is crazy that gingerbread houses can be such a good missionary tool! It's also crazy how much we sing in this mission...between singing at all of the Christmas concerts, singing in church with the other missionaries in our ward on Sunday, and singing with our district in Zone Conference tomorrow, we are keeping nice and busy with the music!

We are teaching so much that we are going on splits pretty much every day....probably 4 or 5 days a week. It is keeping us really busy, but that is the BEST kind of busy! And Papa would probably tell me that it's good that I'm staying busy so I can stay out of trouble, right? Right. I love it, because this is the way that I like to work, and the Lord really is blessing our area.

I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do for me, for your letters, and Christmas cards!

Love you!
Sister Farnsworth

#gotlice

Hello!

WOW WOW WOW. This week has been absolutely crazy. We have officially made it into “winter” in Nebraska….the other day when we got in the car it said 0 degrees, and I’m pretty sure it just said that because the car doesn’t display negatives. Or wind chill. It is COLD and is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas. How in the world did that happen? Wasn’t it July yesterday? Seems like it. I got our family Christmas card yesterday (and didn’t appreciate seeing my release date on the page) but loved to see your beautiful faces smiling up at me! I’m also so grateful for the testimonies I have received so far. They have made me laugh and cry and I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for letting me have such wonderful people in my life.

In the news department for the week….JACOB GOT BAPTIZED! I had the biggest tender mercy on Friday, when, as per usual, Sister Brough called me and said we were supposed to be putting on a concert at the Kanesville Tabernacle in a few hours. So, we threw stuff together and headed to the concert. It felt like going home because when I was serving in Loess Hills I lived right up the street from the Tabernacle! We were only 2 songs into our little concert when Jacob walked in! BEST SURPRISE EVER. I knew at that point that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to his baptism because I was on shift at the TC, so it was so good to get to talk to him and see how happy he was and how excited he was for his baptism! Sister Harris and Sister Jensen (my old companion, not my current companion) said that the baptism was incredible and that he was beaming all day.

In other news, WILLIAM IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! Talk about white Christmas! He has changed so much, and he is SO prepared. Did I tell you how we found him? Our recent convert Johnney (pronounced John-ay) lived at the Open Door Mission (a shelter) before he was kicked out for being baptized. Don’t even get me started on how sad that part is. He invited one of his friends William from the shelter to his baptism, then he started the lessons, and has just instantly gained a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. He keeps saying that if he would have had the commandments his whole life, he would have been so much happier, and that now he can become the man that God wants him to be. We love him SO MUCH. 

The most important part of our week, honestly, was all about Liz. Bishop Jevne gave us an address of a new move in to the ward and asked us to go find her. Sister Jensen was on splits with a member of our ward, so Sister Mahlstede and I went to find her. It was really dark and in a humble part of Omaha, and so when she saw two people walking up the street she started backing into her house until we called out and asked if her name was Liz. She came closer, and then started bawling and hugging us, telling us that us being there was an answer to her prayers. We walked into her house (in the basement) and found a completely unfinished basement with no carpet, no walls other than the support beams, and no water supply other than her shower, so she washes her dishes and everything else in the shower. She has four-year-old son named Ricky that is autistic, and has my same birthday, and we hit it off so well. I LOVE THAT KID. It is scary because it really isn't a good situation with her husband, so we are trying to do everything we can to help her in that regard. 

We got a phone call Sunday morning that she couldn't come to church because Ricky got LICE. Hahaha Mahlstede and I just stared at each other for about 5 minutes straight with panic on our faces. Ha. Not really that long, but it felt like it. Luckily, Heavenly Father knew that was going to happen so He placed Sister Clements in our ward. She is a cosmetologist who also just happens to have a lice killing business. She went with us yesterday and taught us how to help her so we could get through Ricky and Liz's hair quicker. She was so busy but just dropped everything right away to come serve. That is the kind of ward I am serving in right now!!!! So blessed. So we learned how to get rid of lice and helped her do that, and then took her bedding and washed it so she would have clean bedding to sleep on that night with clean hair. 

I love being a missionary. I love getting to serve in the ways the Savior would serve if He were here, especially at this Christmas season. The Spirit is so strong because it is His season, and I love the opportunity I have to share His good news. 

I love you all! 

Sister Farnsworth

#longletter

Hello! Happy Transfer week and Happy Thanksgiving week! This week has seemed like a complete whirlwind and I hope that I can remember everything that I need to tell you all! Before I get started….MOM. Thank you so much for the incredible “advent calendar” and thank you so much to everyone who wrote notes and put such thought into what they wrote. So far I have opened one from Papa, Amanda, and Kevin, and I am so excited to read everything else that I will read. I have the BEST family and friends in the world! I also got my cute stocking from Kate and Sid. Best siblings EVER.

Well, my last week in Loess Hills was an eventful one. We were so busy that it was a struggle to try and see everyone that we needed to, especially because I figured that I would be getting transferred and wanted to say goodbye…even if they didn’t know I was leaving. Sister Harris called last night and told me that Jacob passed his baptismal interview and that he is excited for Saturday! Can’t wait for him, and hopefully I will be able to get to go to the baptism. In other YSA ward news, Chris blessed the Sacrament on Sunday, which I am SO bummed I missed. It would have been the best thing ever, but I have had so many incredible moments with him that I can’t complain!

Thanksgiving was awesome, as every holiday I’ve had on my mission has been. We did our deep cleaning in the morning (we have to do that before every transfer) and at around 10, I got  the phone call that I would be getting transferred to Old Mill to be companions with Sister Jensen (a different one than I was companions with before) and Sister Mahlstede!!! I guess the Lord likes having me in trios! I FREAKED out because I was so excited. Then I called Sister Shimokawa to tell her I was coming to her ward. Then she texted you haha. We headed to the Trail Center not long after that because we had been asked to take the 31 new missionaries on tour of the TC before our Thanksgiving dinner. The new missionaries are INCREDIBLE and I am always so grateful to get to take them on tour and feel of their enthusiasm and of their spirit. We had a great dinner, put on an impromptu concert (what else is new when Sister Brough and I are in charge of the program ha) and got to watch Ephraim’s Rescue!!! If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure to see it ASAP. And if you haven’t seen 17 Miracles, make sure to watch that first! Best. Movies. Ever.

Sister Jensen is from Virginia and has been out for a year this week! She and Sister Harris were in the MTC together. It is so fun to be companions because we have served around each other for a long time and now we finally get to actually be companions. Sister Mahlstede has been out 5 months today, and we have been really good friends ever since, so it is a DREAM to get to serve all together. I am already completely in LOVE with the Old Mill ward. The people I have met already are incredible and I just keep learning that I will love more and more people!

Transfers were Friday morning and then we have hit the ground running ever since. It is so great to come into a ward where missionaries have done such great work already!! We live down at Willit which is the apartment complex right down from the TC, so that is awesome! Means we have a place to work out every morning, so you KNOW I'm happy. We have had some of the funniest moments in my 4 day in OM. I have been in tears every single day since I've been here from laughing. Old Mill goes from downtown Omaha all the way up to West O (about 5 miles from Lakeview!!) so it has a crazy range of people. I have already found "family" connections....the name Farnsworth seems to scream "ask how we're related" so I've collected family my whole mission. I love it. 

Well, as sad as I was to leave Jacob right before his baptism, the Lord blessed us to be able to have a huge miracle in Old Mill! The sisters had been teaching a guy named William for just over a week before I got here, and had invited him to be baptized on January 7th. On Sunday, his second time at church, he bore his testimony that the church was true and that he wanted to be a part of this church and this faith and this family, so he wanted to get baptized! He is so prepared, so we moved his baptism up to December 14th. Not this upcoming Saturday, but the one after that. I know that the Lord has prepared so many people in this area, and I am excited to go and meet them and to help those we are already teaching progress and find the joy that the gospel brings! I'm sure that we will see a ton of miracles, especially because we can go on splits really easily and double our time in the area! Love it. 

Gingerbread is going really well! I don't really understand how people have the creativity or patience to put them together, and I look at gingerbread the same way I shop....5 minutes in and out, but I know that this is a tool to get people to come and feel of the Spirit of Christ and of the pioneers. We had 748 visitors Friday, 919 on Saturday, and over 500 on Sunday. So amazing! 

Well, I love you all so much! I am so grateful for all of you and your Christlike examples to me. I hope that this December, as we all get ready for Christmas, that we are doing something each day to bring ourselves closer to our Savior, and especially to bring others closer to Him. I know that as we do that, we will be able to feel the real joy of the season! 

Love you the moon and back!

Sister Farnsworth

                                   Sister Farns, Sister Mahlstede and Sister Jensen