Monday, November 30, 2015

Hello! I'm Sister Voss..... or should I say Hola! Soy la Hermana Voss!

Okay so y'all remember how last week I had announced that I was an ASL (American Sign Language) Missionary. Yeah, I'm not anymore. After two transfers of being an ASL Missionary (and FINALLY getting my nametag), I have now been switched to Spanish speaking. SURPRISE!!!!

Story TimeFriday morning we saw that President was calling and we're like, that's super weird.😯 So we all start panicking. (We haven't been disoedient we swear, its just VERY uncommon for the mission president to call us.) ANYWAY! We answered and he asked if I was there and then he asked to speak to me in private. I like start COMPLETELY freaking out on the inside thinking I've done something wrong without knowing it!😦 So I went upstairs to talk with him and he says "Sister Voss, I hear you know a lot of languages". How he knows this I don't know, but I don't actually speak language I can just read and sing them! ANYWAY! "How is your Spanish? I have a Spanish sister going home and we don't have any Spanish missionaries coming out until next transfer which means we are short one sister. I would like to have you switch, is that alright?" I'm thinking, okay, this guy is pulling my leg, he has to be! Of course I said yes. I'm not going to deny Heavenly Fathers perfect plans. He said he would get back because he wanted to pray and fast about it to make sure it was right but that he was pretty sure this is what the Lord wanted.😰

Long story short we went to the mission home for interviews and he said "Sister Voss, will you be a Spanish sister." And I accepted. So.... SOY LA HERMANA VOSS! Mucho gusto! PS- Prayers are appreciated.

 I will still be here on the Metro side, where I am going, and who my companion is, but I don't know what my new address is. That will come next week. ðŸ˜Š

Other than that, we had a pretty great week, CHALK full of miracles and teaching so many people with great potential! One of those miracles being fed SO MUCH FOOD on Thanksgiving. #LeftOversFo'Days!

I love you all and am so excited to start sharing the miracles that happen in my new calling!

Lastly, I have been getting emails about Christmas gifts. Honestly, I don't have much room in my suitcases, but hand warmers and wool socks are always appreciated. I will MAKE room for them. Mostly I would just love for you all to take the time to write me your testimony (whether it be of the Savior, the Gospel, the Book of Mormon) whatever! I would love to have them. BUT if you are going to send Christmas gifts, apparently there is a specific way we are supposed to do it here on the mission so you will have to get into contact with Sue and Steve Brown on how to go about that because I have no idea what is going on. Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers!

Happy Holidays!

Love,


Sister Voss

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Transfer calls soon!

My 4th transfer is already almost over! How is this even possible?!

This last week was a miracle filled week! We were busy, busy, busy! Best miracle of the week. We quite literally had a miracle handed to us! We had a referral from Church Headquarters. We contacted H, the referral. When we went up to her door we knocked and she came right out and was like, "Hi! It is so nice to meet you!" I was standing there in complete shock. I even looked down to make sure we all had our nametags visible because I'm thinking, "Uhhhh.... do you not see our nametags? You know we're Mormon.... right?" She continues on, "Yeah! They told me you would be stopping by but I didn't know when!" Come to find out she grew up Lutheran but has been looking for something more. She decided to go on to Mormon.org and look up the beliefs of the church and the FAQ's.... And (no joke) her husband grew up JW!!!!!!!! How is that even possible! I have seriously found the reason I am supposed to be here in Lakewood. Last week we fasted and prayed to find a family to teach who is prepared to hear the gospel. Literally, THE FOLLOWING DAY, we get that referral. She is so solid and we have an appointment on Tuesday with her and her husband (haven't met him yet)!

As always, the 6th week of the transfer brings so much anticipation and stress. We want to work our hardest to see miracles but we also don't want to lose our beloved companion or in my case, companionS. I feel like I am starting to see a small glimpse of how Heavenly Father and Christ see these two beautiful daughters of God. Sister Davies is the finest of the stripling warriors! Fearless, diligent, and amazingly compassionate. Sister Beaman is so tender-hearted and a silent giant. She knows how to bring the spirit into a room quicker than anyone I have ever met.

In other news, I am an American Sign Language missionary. (Some of you know this already, but now it is official!) Name tag and all! I'll send pictures.

Since it is the 6th week of the transfer please send letters and packages (after Wednesday) to the mission home. I'm hoping and praying I get to stay here in Lakewood. It would be nice to stick around in an area for a while!

I love you all and I hope you are seeing miracles every week!

Until Next week! Love,
Sister Voss

 Sister Davies and have a date with Hot Chocolate every night out on the front porch when we finish planning

My new name tag! It is like a dream come true!

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

No subject!

Not much to report this week other than the fact that the three of us are thoroughly EXHAUSTED! We have our hands completely full with an overflowing teaching pool! Which is AWESOME, but REALLY hard to find the time to teach everyone.

Tonight/ tomorrow we are apparently supposed to have a pretty nasty blizzard so we might be stuck inside all day tomorrow which is a bummer because our week is completely and utterly packed this week. But I'm still not 100% better from the flu, so a day of rest might be nice. Gotta get some energy back instead of running on fumes like I was this week.

I'm going to keep it short because we have a lot of stuff to do if it is in fact going to snow tomorrow. I'll send you all pictures :)

I love you all!

Love,
Sister Voss

1) Sister Kenworthy, Sister Messinger and myself! My first and 3rd companions! I love them so much!

2) It was Sister Beaman's 20th birthday on Sunday. We had such a fun time decorating our living space and surprising her first thing in the morning. We got it all on video. Her reaction is PRICELESS! Can't wait to post it on FB after the mission!


Tuesday, November 10, 2015

P-day. HALLELUJAH!!!!

Woah man! I have NEVER been so excited for P-day. 8 days is just WAY too long and this week was ROUGH. We went the library this morning and practically cried in contempt because the library doesn't open on Tuesdays until 1. Thank goodness for Family History Centers!

Fun adventure: I got the flu which is NOT fun ever, let alone on a mission. And since we live in a basement I did not see the light of day for 3 days. I'm still not 100% better but there was absolutely NO WAY I was going to miss emailing today.... So I'm basically going to go right back to the cave after I email to rest some more.

In other news, I got word from Fruita that several of the people Sister Ytac, and Kenworthy and I were teaching are making significant progress with one baptism this Saturday and one reactivation of a dear gentleman in the ward! WOOHOO! I love this work!

Yesterday we had a mission tour with Elder Anderson and his wife. Oh man! It was a spiritual feast to say the least. I'm pretty sure we came home with leftovers! I have pages and pages and pages of notes. I will compile them this week and save them for next week so that I can give you the important bits :)

Sister Beaman's birthday is on Sunday, so Sister Davies and I are planning on blowing up our living quarters with origami rabbits (Sister Beaman's one true obsession) and sticky notes of encouragement and love.

I have some pictures from this week that I will pass on after this. Sorry this is a short email, but I am exhausted!

I love you all!
Love, 

Sister Voss

 1) After the Temple session. Over here on the Metro side of the mission we get to go to the temple every other transfer.  Funny story. Because we caught the 630 am session we had to be up at 445 so we could leave by 545 since it takes 20 mins to get there. 18 hour day. No big deal. We were SO tired. Also, after we had finished our session and then mingled with the other missionaries for a sufficient amount of time we were SO hungry! We decided to go to Wendy's for lunch.... Fun fact: Wendy's does not open until 10 am.... 2nd fun fact. 10 am is not lunch time! Our whole day was thrown off!

2) Sister's Conference with all of our metro side sisters!

3) Obligatory matching comp jammies! Gotta show our CO love!
4) I'm pretty sure this is one of the best companion pics I've ever had!
5) This is what happens when you ask elders to take a picture for you.


Monday, November 2, 2015

P-Day! I'm running out of titles for my subject lines. Week 22 (weird!)

Hello Friends and Family!

Things have been AWESOME here in Lakewood. My companions and I are calling ourselves Murdock's Power Trio because we have been working SO hard, being SO tired, and seeing miracles every day! God is amazing!

This week I mostly want to talk to ya'll about the personal studies I have been having with my Book of Mormon readings. I started reading the Book of Mormon wanting to learn more about Faith. How I can develop my faith, how I can help others develop their faith, and how faith influences us daily. Etc.

First epiphany, II Nephi 9:18, "But behold, righteous the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God...." At the beginning of my mission I was SO afraid to tell people what church we were with. But now, saying "we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" is something that fills my heart with joy. When we have deep rooted faith in Christ, we do not bear shame when carrying the name (cross) of Christ. We endure the good, bad, and the ugly that comes with the title of being a latter-day saint. Elder Holland gave a talk and said something along the lines of (I'm totally paraphrasing here) "it is never easy because Salvation was NEVER easy. Salvation was not a cheap experience. If it wasn't easy for Christ, what makes us think it would ever be easy for us?" If we bear the name of Christ with joy we shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Secondly, a cool fact about faith taken from II Nephi 25:25 "For, for this end was the law given; wherefore the law hath become dead unto us, and we are made alive in Christ because of our faith, yet we keep the law because of the commandments.". Faith in Christ is what saves us, but our WORKS (keeping the commandments) are (is?) what seals our salvation.

So, for next week, I probably wont be able to email until Tuesday because we have one of the Seventy coming to visit our mission on Monday. Elder Wilford W. Anderson, the one who gave the talk about The Music of the Gospel in April conference. Pretty cool, right?! We are all super excited!

I love you all and will do my best to email Tuesday. Right now we have to go because we have interviews with our Mission President today.

Love,

Sister Voss

My companions have never carved pumpkins before. An obligatory initiating pumpkin gut picture was needed.
My pumpkin for Halloween :)


Our Pumpkins L to R- Sister Voss's WA & CO love, Sister Beaman's (they're supposed to be bunny's) and Sister Davies' epic Harry Potter glasses complete with lightning bolt.

We ate dinner at Chipotle on Halloween and the COOLEST family came in. They are all characters from Mario. I walked up to them and said "So I know you have NO idea who I am, but before I go, can my companion and I get a picture with y'all?" So rad!