Week 16

What a week!

Sister Ytac and I have been seeing some amazing miracles here in Fruita. I absolutely adore this place. On Saturday Sister Ytac and I got to go help set up for the Women's Broadcast at the Stake Center in Grand Junction. It was absolutely beautiful and so many beautiful sisters, too! What a joy it was to be there and to be so spiritually uplifted.

This next week we have some AMAZING plans for the area with our Ward Mission Leader, and we are so excited to be seeing our teaching pool grow every week! We are almost to the point where we need another set of sisters here to help us out!

Fun adventure of this week: A recent convert's son came over to spray our apartment because we have been having a pretty bad bug problem. Ugh. SO GROSS. So, he took some heavy duty spray for inside the apartment and some for outside the apartment. Oh man. We literally watched the bugs crawl away from the apartment. The next day, Sister Ytac and I walked out to our car to find a vast cockroach massacre on the port. Nothing like dead bug carcasses to make your skin crawl. But. Better outside and dead than inside and crawling around. Yuck. Fast forward a week later and we STILL have dead bugs showing up. I'm hoping this is a warning for all future bugs who decide they want to move in. WARNING: You will die.

Other than that, not a whole lot of new things going on. Just work, work, work! I love it!

The weather is still pretty toasty here in the afternoon but pretty chilly in the mornings. Not looking forward to the winter months, but the work must go on!

I love you all and hope you all enjoy General Conference this weekend! I'm looking forward to being spiritually uplifted and corrected!

Love,

Sister Voss

100 days!

Ladies and Gents! As of tomorrow I will have been in the mission field for 100 days! That's so weird to me! It feels like just last week I was in the MTC. The days go by slow but the weeks go by so fast!

Sister Ytac and I have been laboring hard here in the Fruita 2nd Ward! We almost hit our mission's Standards of Excellence this week which was amazing! We knocked on this one little street for about 3 hours the other day and talked with about 10 people, 4 of whom are now meeting with us and one is on date to baptized in October! Woohoo! Miracles are happening and the field is white for harvesting here in Fruita!

I am sorry I don't have much time to write today because I have an appointment to see a massage therapist today.... May be seeing a chiropractor as well if it persists. My back has been really messed up this last week and it has been keeping me from sleeping. Not sure what is up, but it isn't fun, that's for sure!

Today we are out with a sister who lives in Grand Junction and is getting ready to go on her mission in a month. She is spending P-day with us and going to come out with us during the week to teach and get to see missionary life in action.

I love you all and can't wait to email you more next week! Make sure to keep track of the miracles you see every day!

Love,

Sister Voss

Week 14

Holy cow the time flies so fast here! I can't believe I've been out in the mission for 14 weeks. Tomorrow will be my 3 month mark that I have been out in the field.

This week was pretty busy trying to get Sister Ytac situated and get everything she needs out here. We spent a lot of time with less-actives this week and 10 of them showed up to church! All of whom we have been teaching within the last couple of weeks! Woohoo!!

This week I have been SO tired. I'm not sure why. As a missionary, you're tired ALL the time because you are going LITERALLY from sun up to sun down.... and then some. 14 hours. But it is the best kind of tired. I lay down in bed at 10:15 and know that I have done absolutely everything I could that day that the Lord could put in our path.

The weather here is starting to cool down a little. But it still gets to be about 95 degrees in the afternoon on really sunny days. Yesterday was one of those days. Sister Ytac and I tracted for about an hour and a half. Lot's of people home on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and a lot of opportunities to talk to people. The Denver Broncos won yesterday so everyone was really excited about that.

This week Sister Ytac and I are working on getting her comfortable with OYM-ing. So pray for opportunities to see people on the streets and to give her courage!

We gotta go wash our car and get shopping done for the week. And nap.... an afternoon nap sounds really good. #Pday.for.the.win!

No picutres this week! :( Sorry! We were really stinkin' busy!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Voss

Week 13

Sorry this is all so late everyone! I forgot that Monday was Labor Day.... In missionary land you don't really have holidays so you think, "why should the rest of the world?" Then on Saturday night we received a text from our Mission President to our whole mission stating that he wanted us to wait and have P-day on Wednesday. So here I am, emailing on Wednesday

GOOD NEWS! I'm still in Fruita! YAY!

OTHER.... Weird news.... I'M TRAINING!!!

So here is the news! I am here in Fruita still! Yay! My address is still the W Pabor Wy. :) Unfortunately, Sister Kenworthy is still sick, so she is on the Metro side where she has access to doctors, which means I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Ytack (ee-tack) and she is from California! She is an absolute doll and I'm so excited to have her here in Fruita with me! We are going to work hard and see some amazing miracles! I can feel it!

I was very sad to part with Sister Kenworthy! We have gotten so close. She isn't just a companion, she is a sister of my heart! We were so sure we were going to be together for another transfer. But that Lord had other plans, and that includes her getting back to good health. We hope to be able to serve together again, though.

This last week Sister Kenworthy and I gave service to a single mom here in Fruita and we got our district in on the action. We did yard work for about 4 hours on Thursday afternoon and we had a HYSTERICAL time! We worked hard and laughed even harder! I'll send pictures in the next couple of emails :)

What else???? Oh yes! Yesterday was my first day as a full-fledged missionary. I am no longer a greeny! (Greeny is a term we have in the mission for a missionary who is still in their first 12 weeks)

Saturday we got our transfer calls, but President Murdock was the one calling us. He usually doesn't call unless you are being called to leadership, whitewashing, or training. I knew for a fact I was not being called to be a Sister Training Leader and I didn't think Sis. Kenworthy would be because she has only been out for 6 months..... Surprise!!!! So, the stork visited me and brought me my first Daughter in the mission straight from the MTC :) her name is Sister Ytac (ee-tack)  and she is absolutely adorable!  She is very shy and timid but I have absolutely no doubt she will warm up quickly and be an amazing disciple of Christ. She is a choice soul!

I'm SO stinking surprised that I was asked to train. In my interview with President Murdock this last transfer he had told me that there were only two Sisters coming out in this transfer so I wasn't going to train, but that I probably would within the next couple of transfers. I'm sitting there thinking, "NO PROBLEM there! There is no way I'm ready to train someone else! I'm just finishing BEING trained!"..... SURPRISE! I'm training. What in the world?!?! I'm the first in our district from our MTC group that is training, and I feel like I am the LEAST qualified and prepared for this! SO.... now all of a sudden I'm a trainer, senior companion, and I've taken over an area that I really haven't worked in much!

But Heavenly Father doesn't make mistakes. He obviously told President I would be a good trainer for some reason.... I just have a hard time figuring out that reason! I need all of the prayers I can get this transfer, and I'm pretty sure I will be spending a TON of time on my knees praying and pleading for guidance! Monday afternoon rolled around and I had a full out panic-attack because I was so nervous. Keep praying for me, please!

I love you all and I'm so excited to start my third transfer out here on the mission!

Until next week!

Love,

Sister Voss

 1st Picture: We were given a Green River watermelon by our Ward Mission Leader. Sister Kenworthy and I LITERALLY ate out of it with spoons. No shame.

2nd picture: That would be our crazy district. Elder Kamrowski, Elder Rogers, Elder Green, Elder Lybbert, Elder Sorhus, Elder Power, Yours Truly and Sister Kenworthy

Pic 3: Elder Kamrowski's "funeral" (He is finished with his mission and is now on his way home)

Pic 4: This is from when we did the yard work last week. That bundle is nothing but WEEDS! We pulled them all up from her front yard and then realized we needed to take them to the back yard to burn them with the rest..... So we  decided to grab a rope, tie it up and roll it. Genius and hilarious!

Pic 5- Captain America. Need I say more?

Pic 6- Sister Ytac (ee-tack) and I on our first day together!

Week 12

Cabin Fever is the name of the game this week

So with Sister Kenworthy STILL not better we have been inside most of the week. Not sure what is going on but if she isn't better by Wednesday we will be calling our mission nurse again and try to figure things out. She's finished 2 Z-packs (Zithromiacin). And while most of her symptoms are gone her fatigue is not getting any better, it actually seems worse. So, we've been going crazy being stuck at home so much. But we have had some amazing spiritual conversations about life, scripture study, etc. Fun Story: We had a scripture chase to find the word sponge and marshmallow in the scriptures. They exist.

While she is resting, I've mostly been cleaning the heck out of our apartment. We have stuff from 6 missionaries ago. Not to mention it hasn't had a decent cleaning in quite a while. I'm pretty sure Sister Kenworthy and I have spent more of our MSF funds on fixing up our apartment than actually getting food, toiletries, etc. **Attention Future Missionaries reading this email- For the love of all other missionaries out there in the world: CLEAN YOUR APARTMENTS! Seriously. It's not always fun to clean. But it is necessary.** You can thank me later. 3 words "Be ye clean!"

This Saturday we will be getting transfer calls (I can't believe its already been 6 weeks!) I don't think either of us will be transferred which is fine by me. But President Murdock is the one that receives that inspiration. I absolutely love Fruita! I love the community, the ward, and my district! Sister Kenworthy and I haven't had a chance to really work the area, but I have grown to love this amazing daughter of God with all my heart. We have been able to experience some rather amazing and funny Companion "Comp" unity.

This morning we had an elder in our district with a birthday so we threw him a surprise birthday party! Sister Kenworthy and I made the cake. We all got to the church building and hid... which took a lot more creativity than you'd think without being blatantly disobedient. Sister Kenworthy and I hid behind come curtains (Sight and sound, always), Elder Lybbert and Sorhus hid behind the piano, and Elder Rogers and Kamrowski hid in an empty closet, which was hysterical to watch them fit into that tiny space. We were laughing so hard! Sometimes missionary work really is HARD work, but a lot of times that work is accompanied by a lot of fun and memorable moments.

With transfers just around the corner, keep in mind that if you're going to send packages or letters after Tuesday via USPS send it to the mission home office at:

Sister Leona Voss

Denver Colorado South Mission

999 E Tufts Ave

Cherry Hills Village CO 80113

They will forward it on to me, whether it be in Fruita or in another area, but only if its USPS. I will let you all know ASAP whether I will be transferred or whether I will be staying in Fruita!

I love you all and pray that you all see miracles every day! Thank you for keeping me in your prayers and I love reading your replies. It's always good to hear from you!

Love,

Sister Voss

PS- It was brought to my attention that the milk jug pic. did not attach so I will send that pic along with some pictures from Sisters Conference that we had on Tuesday of last week.

1) The ferocious milk jug

2)Sisters Conference! BACK ROW LtoR: Yours truly, Sister Kenworthy, Sister Davis, Sister Collins, Hermana Young, Hermana Eldredge, Sister Koenig, Sister Johnson. FRONT ROW LtoR: Sister Clarke, Sister Harshaw, Hermana Chavez, and Hermana Bendorf

Week 11

Miracles happened this week! Woohooo!!!!

1st miracle- Sister Kenworthy FINALLY got to see the Doctor on Friday. Good news! She has bronchitis! Bad news. Ain't nobody got time fo' dat! But all is well. She is on some antibiotics and will hopefully start feeling better within the next couple of days. :)

2nd miracle- While I was on a day exchange with another sister from Grand Junction, Sister Collins, here in Fruita, we were having THE WORST time! It was 100 degrees and we spent 2 hours knocking and completely striking out. No one was home, and our GPS wasn't working. We were struggling! So, I decided to drive out to a part of our area I had NEVER been to before and we found an investigator, D, we hadn't been able to get into contact with since the beginning of the transfer. Fun fact: she's a former Jehovah's Witness. Anyway, we had an AMAZING lesson about the Plan of Salvation and about the pre-mortal existence. It was so uplifting.

3rd miracle- at the end of the day that miracle #2 happened we went back to the one neighborhood we were striking out at. For a little illustration, I will explain this neighborhood (Comstock) as Sunland in Sequim basically. Really hard to find different streets, and some streets you can only get to by using other specific streets. I also remind you that our GPS is still not working! Anyway, we FINALLY find Hemlock where Sister Kenworthy and I had knocked into this kid from Washington a few weeks previously. He works for the oil fields up in Wyoming so it's REALLY hard to get into contact with him. So, this sister that I'm on exchanges with, and I get out of the car and this random friendly yellow lab comes running up to us. She's in front of the house we are parked in front of. Of course, the concerned dog lover that I am is thinking, "Hrrrmmm.... I wonder if your owner knows you're not inside." So we go knock on the door and this woman, M, answers and I told her I wanted to make sure her dog was safe. Long story short, all is well and we are able to strike up a conversation with M and how she is really looking for God, but her son has a spinal injury that has left him with special needs and he is very vocal to his surroundings so she avoided church because people usually stare at them. WELL, we talked about how loving Christ is and how we really try to be examples of Him and that her and her son are always welcome to come to our church any time. She really liked that idea so we asked her if she'd like to go on a church tour so that she could get familiar with the building. We have a return appointment and a church tour set up for this Wednesday! Woohoo!

4th miracle- After we finished with M, we went to A's house (the kid from Washington) and knocked. A woman answered and said she really wasn't interested. I asked if A still lived there and she said yes but that he was out of town. So Sister Collins and I were walking back to the car. As we are about to get in this pick up truck with WASHINGTON license plates pulls in! It's A! He get's out of the car and I yell "Hey, A! How are you?!". He's on the phone and was like "hold on---- (whoever he was talking to)" he puts his phone on mute and was like "How are you guys!?" I asked if he had had time to read the pamphlet we left him and he said he had read the whole thing and then added "Oh hey! Do you guys have one of those books? (The Book of Mormon)". I had already put my bag in the car but Sister Collins whips one out and says "heck yeah we do!" He took it and was really excited to start reading it!

Miracles 2-4 all happened on Wednesday! Sometimes Heavenly Father wants us to prove just how bad we want something and I'm so glad we kept going when it would have been SO easy for us to say, "that's it, we've been knocking for 2 hours. It's hot as Hades, we're sweating, sunburned, running low on water and we don't know where to go because our GPS isn't working, and we've been insanely unproductive this entire time!" But, we were diligent and kept pushing through.

Friday rolls around (the day we find out Sister Kenworthy has da bronchitis). We had a pretty full day but nothing too bad as she is still pretty fatigued. We are about to head into our apartment, its about 830, and this boy, J, who we had OYM-ed (Open Your Mouth) a few weeks previously comes up and was asking us questions. We taught him, his cousin, and his buddy the Plan of Salvation. We talked about the importance of prayer, church attendance and scripture study and both J, and his buddy asked if they could have a Book of Mormon before we could even offer it to them. We invited all three young men to be baptized on the 26th of September and they said yes!

After all of the problems we have been having here these last 4 weeks, we saw miracles that made the struggles all worth it. I love it here in Fruita and I hope I get to stay with Sister Kenworthy for another transfer or two. We have really grown to love one another and we are both really excited to start seeing great things happen here in our area.

I love the Lord and I love missionary work. I know that if we are diligent, the Lord will give us miracles and that there are miracles in our lives EVERY day. We just have to look for them. Heavenly Father loves us each so much, and he knows who each and every one of us are. He knows our struggles and our triumphs and He sent his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth so that He would know how to succor us.

I love you all dearly and I hope you all look for the daily miracles that happen in your life!

Love, Sister Voss

Sister Kenworthy has re-purposed our treadmill that doesn't work.

Week 10

Hello All!

I don't have much time this week so I apologize in advance for not answering all of your emails! We had interviews with our mission president yesterday which means that P-day is today but we only get half the day. Sister Kenworthy and I have been running around in a frenzy since we finished studying and training this morning!

This week was REALLY STINKING HOT! It's been between 100-104 every day this week. A couple days ago I was on exchanges with our Sister Training Leader and we tracted for 2 hours in 104 degrees. It was really hard, but so worth it. I got to use my Spanish again which is always fun!  With Sister Kenworthy still sick I've been thankful to be spending a lot of time indoors. She finally gets to go to the doctor this week! YAY! Hopefully she will officially be on the mend!

That's about it for this week. Thank you all for your emails, letters, packages, and endless amount of love and prayers. I love you all dearly and love hearing from you!

Love,

Sister Voss

PS! I forgot to mention. If you do end up including anything in my packages specifically for Sister Kenworthy, she is allergic to corn (high fructose corn syrup seems to be the most common), but so far we haven't run in to any problems. Corn starch is okay though. There is something about that process that makes it so that she can have it. Thank you so much for your love and sending care packages!