Raining and pouring

Can I just start out with talking about how weird Utah weather is? It can be all 4 seasons in one day around here. Luckily I have my handy dandy waterproof windbreaker now! Woohoo! I got it right in time for the rainstorms we've been getting.

Yesterday was the best birthday present ever!!!! Nothing like skyping (trying to skype) your family!! Wahoo! Also, we've been getting a ton of ice cream recently. They're probably going to have to roll me off of the plane when I get home.

So let me tell you about Walmart on Mondays. You'd think there wouldn't be that many people there, right? Wrong. A lot of the time it's packed with people, and normally we see like 12 sets of other missionaries there. Utah missions are so weird.

Speaking of weird stuff! I have to talk about the Portuguese speaking Elders in my district! They wrecked their car and only had one bike for the HUUUUGE area, so they had to borrow one of our girl bikes!! Hahaha!! It was so funny watching that poor Elder ride away on my companion's bicycle!

Sister Snyder and I are seeing a lot of great things happen!! We are working really hard on getting 21 lessons a week, and I think we'll eventually get there. We also have someone on date for May 31st!!! Yaaaaaay!! He is an awesome kid and you can tell he really wants to follow Jesus Christ.

We've been teaching people about the Restoration of the gospel with jenga blocks recently, it's pretty fun. Especially when we're teaching little kids and we let them pull out the bottom "priesthood" block while we teach about the Great Apostasy. There is such a light inside little children, they are so innocent and so ready to learn.

It's sunny outside today! Hurray! I'll send pictures soon, sorry I haven't sent any in a long time!!!!

I love you all, have a happy week!

Sister Hinkle

Woo! We're old!

So my companion and I have birthdays 3 days apart, so one of the members (Sister Asay) got us a birthday cake and took pictures of us when we had dinner with her the other night. Yeah!

No Car :c

So last Wednesday was transfers! I stayed in WJ and Sister Arthur went to Kearns. I now have Sis Snyder, who is super fun and a way hard worker. We get along really well. As you can tell, I did NOT get the car that I was super excited for, but that's alright walking is pretty fun sometimes. I haven't been able to ride my bike the past week though, because on Tuesday I slipped on some stairs and hurt my tailbone. It hurts a lot less now than it did the first couple of days. I also accidentally smacked my forehead against a car door today. So the band aids I got in the mail last Monday were a very appropriate birthday present! Hahaha.

                                         

Speaking of which, you have no idea how excited I was to get that box! With my own wrapping paper! I opened everything the night I got it, because let's be real here, I'm not waiting until my birthday to tear those suckers open. I am thrilled with everything in there. Especially the bubbles.

So, since we're trying (desperately) to be healthy, yet we still have an abundance of candy that people give to us, we have a little sumthin sumthin we like to call "Fatty Fridays" around here. Sister Arthur and I came up with it and it's being continued with Sister Snyder. It's where we eat healthy all week and then on Friday we can eat all the candy and junk food we want during weekly planning. So far it's working out well. Granted, we've only done it for like 3 weeks.

In other exciting news, I got a package from Katie today! She sent it here with her friend Alicyn who lives in the mission just a few minutes away from my area. It came with a cute box and some candy and a giant hug. It was so exciting to see someone that just saw her a few days ago!!!

There are a lot of great things about to happen in this stake, I can feel it! We've been saying a lot of prayers and working really hard. This week we're hoping to start teaching 4 new people. I am so excited that I get to stay in this area for another six weeks. There is a ton of work to do here, and the members are really helping us out. We almost always have someone that's able to come to lessons with us. There is  advice that I want to give people who are curious how they can help missionary efforts. Be willing to fellowship people, be their friend, be willing to answer their questions, love them, be an example to them. Be willing to go to lessons with the missionaries. There is something so special that happens when members come with us to lessons. It gives the investigator another person's testimony and it gives them someone they can turn to after we (the missionaries) stop teaching.

One thing that our district leader was talking about a few weeks ago was how we should expect miracles. We need to walk out our door every day knowing that there will be someone put in our path that we can help, we just have to make the effort to notice them. Katie sent me this conference quote from President Eyring in a letter "You hold in your hands the happiness of more people than you can imagine". I know that's true. We always need to look for people that we can uplift. They are there, and they are waiting for us.

This was a really good week. I'm excited about this transfer. Really great things are going to happen. There is nowhere I would rather be right now than right here, serving this mission. It's not some crazy place, and it's not like there are people chasing after me with pitch forks, but it's where the Lord needs me to be. Sometimes we need to be humble and realize that serving a mission has nothing to do with us. It has nothing to do with what I want at all. I gave this 18 months of my life to Him, wherever He wanted me to be, doing everything He asks me to do, teaching those who I'm meant to find.

I hope everyone has a happy week!

Sister Hinkle

Spriiiiiiiiiiing

Dandelions, armpit sweat, and the smell of grass. IT'S SPRING TIME IN UTAH! You know what THAT means! Hilarious sunburns and Easter.

 I was able to attend two baptisms last weekend! The first one was for a boy we've been teaching here in WJ named Alex. The second was for a couple I was teaching back in Kearns, Chad and Shanna. It is so amazing to see how just talking to someone while they're picking up leaves on the street can lead to them entering into the waters of baptism only a short time later. Every person I teach is so special to me. It's incredible to see their hearts soften and to see their eyes open as they remember things that they knew before this life. It is such a blessing to be a part of this great work. There really is no place I would rather be right now than right here, serving this mission.

I know I didn't get to write a big giant email last Monday, we didn't have much time to write. SO, I have to tell my story today. Last Monday we went to Deseret Book and I saw this super cute little bike necklace and on the paper it said "I will go where you want me to go... I will be what you want me to be" and I was all "AWWW that's so cute I'm a missionary blah blah I love that song and I ride a bike and I should get that bike necklace blah blah blah I'm really good at it now and that necklace is so perfect" and about TWO  HOURS after I bought it, I had my first bike wreck. DUMB. The necklace is probably cursed. My leg was all torn up because, of course, I wrecked on the ONLY gravel road in all of West Jordan, but it's almost fully healed now. It was unfortunate, but pretty funny.

In other news, our district leader (Elder Nelson) goes home on Wednesday. But as a last good deed he did Sister Arthur and I a favor and put in a good word with people who can give this area a car. WHICH MEANS WE MIGHT GET A CAR THIS WEEK, WHAT? YES. I AM SO THRILLED. We can get from ward to ward in like 2 minutes instead of 15. We won't have to find a ride to Walmart on Monday! Hurraaaaaaaaay. BUT, if we don't get one I'll still be happy. Biking is pretty fun now that I can actually make turns and now that my skirt doesn't get caught in the tires.

Also, as we all know, yesterday was Easter!! I have enough candy to last me until next Easter. In fact, a woman who gave us treats yesterday asked if either of us were diabetic, and I told her "No, but I will be by the end of my mission". I literally have an entire shelf dedicated to chocolate in my freezer, not to mention the 4 Easter baskets in our coat closet. I am so done with candy for the rest of my life. Anyways, yesterday we went to 5 sacrament meetings, we heard a LOT of really amazing talks about the Atonement! We've been asked to share this video with everyone the past couple of weeks. www.lds.org <- there's a video called Because of Him that pops up on the first page. Watch it!!! It's all about the Savior and His sacrifice for us His brothers and sisters!

I know that Jesus Christ lives, and I know that it truly is because of Him that we can be resurrected and that we can live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again for eternity. I know that it really is only through Jesus Christ that we can be relieved of the guilt and burdens that come from sin and from the world. I know we can rely on Him, I know that He knows everything each of us have suffered though. And I know that He loves each of us dearly. I know it.

I love you, have a happy week!

Sister Hinkle

General Conference weekend

This week was pretty normal, we are continuing the work here in the Mountain View Stake. Lots of wonderful people!

As you all know, last Tuesday was April Fools day. It is a lot more celebrated around here than it is back at home. All kinds of trickery going on in this stake. Salt cookies, fake presents, practical jokes. It was pretty fun. We also had interviews with President Chambers that day. He's such a great mission president!! He knows just how to lead this mission, and help us be successful missionaries.

We have a baptism this Saturday!!! We are so excited for our investigator Alex!!

Speaking of leading, General Conference was this weekend!!!! We listened to the important guidance of the prophet, President Monson and the Apostles and other general authorities! I didn't get to go up to Temple Square, but at some point on my mission I will. We stayed here and watched it with our landlords, and Sunday afternoon we watched it with the Afitu family in 2nd ward. This year's conference was so great!! 

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ KNOW us and LOVE us. They are always beside of us to give support. They will give us the strength and help we need in every situation. No matter what our trials are or what weaknesses we have, They will not let us fail. We need to be like Jesus Christ in every situation. We need to come to Them and ask for Their help. With the short time we have here on earth, we need to do our best.Truly try to love the people around you just like Jesus Christ loves them. Never stop praying. Our Father in Heaven DOES hear you. Don't waste time or effort on the things in this world that don't matter. Work for the things that do matter. Through obedience to the commandments, we can have true joy in this life, and eternal happiness with our Heavenly Father and with Jesus Christ in the next life. I know that the Book of Mormon and the Bible are both the word of God. I know that they testify of Jesus Christ. They teach us the things we need to do while we are here on earth.

I love you!!!! Have a great week! Always remember who you are!

Sister Hinkle

What's the happiny happs

This week was exciting, we learned that one of our sets of ward missionaries HAS FAINTING GOATS IN THEIR BACK YARD. We spent like 15 minutes watching Brother Purser try to make them fall over. It was so dang funny. We'll do get them to do it one day! We also met a member who has miniature horses!! I'll send some pictures of the horses next week because we're going to eat lunch at her house on Wednesday. Mini horse party. Woo.

There was a mission fireside last Friday. We listened to our Mission President's cousin talk about climbing Mount Everest and reaching goals and things. It was actually really inspiring and it made me think a lot about how we always need Heavenly Father's support and help to reach goals and to succeed in this life. He's the one who created this place for us to live, and He knows what will truly make us happy!

After we listened to the Brother speak, we got to visit with the other missionaries. All of the other missionaries. It was awesome! I spent a long time talking to my first companion, Sister Swain, who I really really miss. I found out that she's one of my Sister Training Leaders now, though! So Sister Arthur and I will get to go on exchanges with Sister Swain and her companion sometime during the transfer. I also got to see Sister Ricks and Sister Loveland!! Sister Loveland wanted to take a picture with me and I was holding the remnants of a cupcake stump so that's what that picture is all about. After we got an hour or so to visit, the Elders had to leave and the Sisters got to stay for dinner. They talked a lot about the things Sister missionaries struggle with and about how we can know if we're a successful missionary. It was a really great day.

Then on Saturday morning we got to go to the 5th branch, which is an assisted living facility and help deliver flowers to people! It was like the funnest thing ever. I have pictures, but this computer isn't a fan of my camera. Then, of course, Saturday night was the General Women's Broadcast. It was pretty good. We watched it at the stake center with a lot of other women from the stake. Then it was back to work.

Sunday we helped teach two 5th Sunday lessons and one Young Women's lesson. We were in church from 9-4 yesterday, we do have 3 different church buildings that we bounce back and forth from, though, so that livens things up. Hahaha. Covering a whole stake is crazy.

The snow came back this week, but I don't think it'll stay very long.

Oh, also, I found some people from Kearns in one of our meetings yesterday, so that was exciting to see them.

That's all I've got for this week.

I LOVE YOU, BE HAPPY!

Sister Hinkle