November 28

Oh, my goodness! Is Thanksgiving already over?! The time out here on a mission is really a phenomenon. (Hope I spelled that right.) It's crazy how fast everything goes; it feels like I've been here forever but I really haven't. Only 2 months! Crazy stuff! Well, I hope you all had an enjoyable 2nd Thanksgiving Day. Sister Coplan and I had a good day. We studied and did our planning for the week and had great plans to take cookies to some of our recent converts and less active families in the ward. Well, that's really hard to do when you don't have a car. So, we planned and studied some more before going to dinner. The Mundy's are a great family and treated us like royalty. :D They had a TON of food; we didn't make a dent in it. We did stuff ourselves silly, though. After dinner we had the opportunity to serve at the Jail... No one came in! I don't think that really surprised me too much, though. It was really hard to stay awake and focused for our 4 hour shift but somehow we managed. I would have taken pictures of the senior couple (sleeping) but didn't have my camera with me. It was a great Thanksgiving but it really didn't feel like a holiday to me; I wasn't surrounded by family.

Friday morning we again served at the Jail and it was CRAZY BUSY! There were over 100 people in our 6 hour shift. I don't think I saw Sister Coplan all morning. We had tours one after the other. It was good to stay busy but hard to grab a bite to eat and take a breather. I can only imagine what the summer months are like. Friday night was great. We had an appointment with Carl and Ernestine. Carl had worked all day so fell asleep as we watched the "Finding Faith in Christ" DVD. Ernestine is SO excited for her baptism! It's really great to see her child-like joy. Saturday we took Ernestine and her granddaughter, Vivian, to Independence for the Christmas lighting ceremony at the visitor center. They both absolutely loved it. They were super cute looking at everything. Ernestine said she could spend a whole day there. We want to go back down on Saturday. We have a baptism we are taking Ernestine to so she can see what will happen at her baptism. We have to talk with the member that is taking us, though, to see if they are all right with that.

Sunday was so much fun. We went to sacrament meeting then served at the Jail. For dinner we ate with the Nickel's family who are the daughter and son-in-law of the Kesler family who are ward missionaries. It was great! They have a 2 year old son who was super excited to play with me; it was great to get down on the floor to 'cook' in his kitchen. After dinner with them we went to the Kesler home to help them decorate their Christmas tree. I really appreciate the Kesler's kindness in thinking of us and letting us be a part of a tradition that we wouldn't get to otherwise. No worries, we still did missionary work. We tracted some and visited the Chrisp's-a less active couple in the ward.

This week has gone by crazy fast-it's Wednesday already! There isn't too much different going on this week; just lots of missionary work and preaching the gospel. Being a missionary is great. I love meeting new people and learning about them. It's been quite the experience and eye opener for me, too, to see how much people are actually changing when they join the church. I'm realizing how much I've been... Sheltered? (for lack of a better word) from life outside of Utah. I'm grateful for the experiences I've had thus far to help me understand more about the conversion process.

Two bits of good news for you. It snowed the other day! Nothing stuck to the ground and it only lasted about half an hour but still, it snowed! AND I got clearance to drive this morning! Hooray! I had to pass off all my lessons and get approval from President Keyes. It's kind of weird to me because I haven't been behind the wheel of a car for 3 months but I'm excited to be able to learn the area better before Sister Coplan goes home. I think Sister Coplan is a bit nervous about me driving, though.

Well, that's about all from here in Liberty. Remember I love you and will keep you in my prayers. Happy Wednesday!

Love,

Sister Wilson

(I understand the importance of this name now.)

November 21

Happy Turkey Day!! It is amazing to me how fast time keeps moving. I'm really struggling to remember what day we're on; every day here is the same! It's been good, though. Last week we had an appointment with Chris but ended up dropping him. His girlfriend wasn't too thrilled to see us when we showed up and let us know (in no uncertain terms) that they would be staying with the Baptist church. That's all right, we'll kill them with kindness. We left with an invite to the lighting ceremony at the Independence Visitor Center and went on our way. We'll keep working on it. We visited a less active member of our ward, John, and really had a good visit. John was just received the Aaronic priesthood and is now the assistant Priest Quorum advisor. He was really excited to tell us about the stake auxiliory meeting he got to go to but wasn't really sure why. We visited the Rocha family. They've got 4 adorable kids that are crazy rambuctious when Angel and LJ are there (Angel and LJ are kids of our investigator, Kimberly). We were trying to talk to Brandi but the kids were running around crazy. I couldn't stand it anymore so I let Sis. Coplan talk with Brandi while I played quiet(er) games and sang with the kids--whatever works, right? We had a great lesson with Kimberly and finished the Plan of Salvation. She basically believes everything that we're teaching her but wants time to pray about everything--YES! We don't want anyone to just believe what we say but take it to the source and ask God; it's great to see her progressing.

I'm really excited about Ernestine. (Remember, December 9 baptismal date?) Friday afternoon she made us REAL Indian Tacos with frye bread. (Have you ever googled fry bread, scone, and biscuit images?) FABULOUS! It was great to be with her and Carl and eat and share some gospel message. I have been nervous about Ernestine; I wasn't really sure how much she really understood about the gospel and where her testimony was. Monday night we taught her the "Big 4" commandments-chastity, tithing, Word of Wisdom, and Sabbath day. It was so great! Ernestine is super ready for baptism and is ready to do whatever she needs to do to meet her December 9 baptismal date. It's so great to see her progress.

We had Zone Conference basically all day yesterday. It was very spiritually uplifting and draining at the same time. I think the greatest thing I learned or was reminded of was the importance of my calling as a missionary. There's a lot of work for me to do and get better at. One of our speakers was President Ames (from the Liberty Stake but also in my ward) and I really liked how he told us to enjoy our missions and let it soak into our very souls and allow ourselves to be changed. We shouldn't just be 2 years older when we go home but should be a better person and individual.

That's about all our investigator news. Life is great here in Missouri. It's a balmy 60 degrees today-loving it! There's been only one day I've had to put a coat on. Sister Coplan and I are going to spend most of our Thanksgiving day planning for the upcoming week and visiting some of the less active members who need a visit. We are going to the Mundy home for our 2nd turkey dinner. (Monday night we ate with the Laudie family. Sis. Laudie just couldn't wait for Thanksgiving so she's cooking it twice this week.) On Sunday we had 3 or 4 families from the ward stop us after church to make sure we had somewhere to go. Liberty 1st Ward is so great-very conscientious of us missionaries and super willing to fatten us up. One of our senior couples (the Simper's) also made sure we had plans. They were going to cancel their plans at the mission home and cook for us if we didn't have any where to go. Remember, I love and miss you all but know I am where I am suppose to be. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Love you!

Cris

November 14

So, Sister Coplan and I were talking about our upcoming plans for the next couple weeks and... HOLY CRAP! November is basically half over! Where has the time gone? The days are really flying by. And, because each day is basically the same, I get confused what day it is. Since last week I have officially survived my first transfer--HOORAY! Sad, though, that Sister Lisonbee left us; she went home. It's really different with just Sister Coplan and I but it's great, too, because I have to force myself outside my comfort zone to talk more. We were really glad to have more space in our room, too. We got rid of my bed (sad day) and brought in a desk. Now, I'm sleeping on the bottom bunk bed-yuck! I told Sister Harding all the time at the MTC that I couldn't wait to get to Missouri so I didn't have to sleep on a bunk bed anymore; joke's on me! Sister Coplan and I are doing great, though.

As you might have guessed, my new p-day is on Wednesday. It was stretch from last Tuesday until today. Update on the week... Last Tuesday one of our investigators forgot we had an appointment (NOT OKAY!) so we 'stalked' by an investigators house who has been avoiding us. He was home! We talked with him, Chris, for a little bit and set up an appointment for today. He told us he's being going back to his Baptist church but he's still reading the Book of Mormon. Tonight our goal is to find out if he's really interested in learning more about the church.

Wednesday we met with Peter and his children, Mary and Amos. This family is a referral from a ward member. They are a really great family. Peter is from Kenya and the kids were born in Canada. Etta (Peter's wife) wasn't home. They took a copy of the Book of Mormon and said they would read it and let us know that maybe Etta would be there next time we met. We've got high hopes for them. Mary and Amos know a lot of the kids in our ward so we'll have quite a few people that will be able to help fellowship them.

We have had many appointments set up with Kimberly but she keeps cancelling on us. BUT she did come to church on Sunday and brought her whole family. We have another appointment on Friday so we'll see how that goes. We've done a lot of door knocking but that doesn't seem (to me) to be real effective. The best way is to have members refer people they know and to bring the missionaries in when there is more solid base. That's our ward mission leaders goal but it'll take a few years to actually get there.

Yesterday we met with Ernestine and taught the Plan of Salvation---she loved it! She's really interested in temple work and being baptized for her relatives that have passed on. She's super excited for her baptism and can't wait for it. Her husband, Carl, is still meeting with us but isn't ready to commit to baptism yet. Keep them all in your prayers!

It looks like you had a great "Fakesgiving!" Is anyone having a real one, too? I will get the opportunity to eat with the Mundy family. Sister Coplan and I are super excited about it. Liberty Jail will be closed for about 4 hours so we'll have a chance to actually eat with the family. (Normally if we're on shift and someone signs up to bring dinner they just drop it off and we eat when we can.) The Mundy's are great and their house is clean and doesn't smell like animals. I'll take pictures for you. :D

Well, that's about it for my week.... Not a whole lot new or exciting. I'm working on recognizing miracles everyday by finding a positive in every crappy situation. It's getting colder but the work is good and I really do love Missouri. Liberty 1st Ward is great; they spoil their missionaries and make sure we don't go without. Life is fantastic, I'm happy, and I love what I'm doing. I love you all and will keep you in my prayers.

Love,

Cris

November 6

Six weeks! Can you believe I've been in Missouri for 6 weeks? Sometimes the days are like 3 twenty-four hour periods but, looking back, the weeks are just flying by. We've had a relatively good week.... Well, okay, we didn't have a lot of success last week as far as our goals went BUT we did set a baptismal date with one of our investigators. We were really excited; we had talked about baptism with Ernestine before but it didn't work out. This time Ernestine set the date because it is special to her-December 9. It is the 1 year anniversary of her sons death. Ernestine is a Kiowa Indian who has been in mourning for the last year. She knows the Book of Mormon is true and always talks about the Church as "her church." I let her know how sorry I was that she had to go through the death of her son but that being baptized and beginning a new life in Christ on the 1 year anniversary would be a great way to celebrate his life. She agreed with that and is excited about it; she knows she still has a lot to learn but is telling her family about the date and is inviting them all to come. Even better--her husband is reading the Book of Mormon and is interested in finding an answer for himself, as well. We can definitely feel a difference in Spirit when we go into their home now.

We met with Kimberly again on Saturday. She's been sick the last couple of weeks so we haven't had the opportunity to meet with her. Everything that we are teaching her is the same thing that she believes--imagine that! She's had prior commitments with her family and hasn't able to come to church but we are hoping to see her this week; keep us in your prayers!

That was the extent of our meaningful lessons this week; kind of slow. We met 3 really great potential investigators last night but will have to check up on them later to see what happens. Yesterday was a slow day at the Jail. In a 6 hour shift we had 2 tours come in--an hour before we left. We did a lot of studying and getting to know the senior couple. I took some pics of the Jail to share with you-I haven't done that yet.

I really have great companions. Their personalities fit mine well and they aren't into drama-thank goodness. Sadley enough, Sister Lisonbee leaves us Thursday morning to return to Utah. Sister Coplan and I are really sad to see her go and will miss her positive example and willingness to work so hard. But we are also excited to have more space-it's been pretty crowded but I have learned you can do anything for 6 weeks. :D

That's about all that's going on around here. It's getting colder and the days are getting shorter. I love being a missionary and learning all about the gospel. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. I love you all a ton; keep sending pictures!

Cristin