And she lived happily ever after... The end

Here I am. The end of my mission. I wish so much to express all of the things I have learned on my mission and I really want to share them with you all. But I will wait until we are in person and when the time is right.

My mission has been such a sacred experience and I would not trade it for the world. I am grateful for the knowledge that just because I take off the tag does not mean its not still imprinted over my heart.

These last 18 months will be looked upon as the best and worst moments of my life. I have truly loved being refined by the Lord  and knowing my divine nature and knowing who I am to my Heavenly Father. That knowledge is something I will always hold dear and will never let go of. I am a missionary. I am a servant. I am imperfect. I am special to Him.  I am a daughter of Heavenly Father and an heir to the Celestial Kingdom.

I leave you with my witness that Jesus is the Christ. He is the perfect Son of our Heavenly Father. He lived and died for us. He still lives! Joseph Smith was chosen by God to restore the gospel. Today we have a living prophet and 12 apostles just like Christ did when he established his church and ministry here on the earth. The Book of Mormon along with the Bible and other books of scripture tell us what we need to do to get back to living in His presence. Without Easter, there would be no Christmas. Light will always conquer darkness. I leave you these words in the sacred and blessed name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love,

Hermana Voss

One more week?!

Hello Everyone!

I can't believe that the time has come for me to finish up my mission. This has been the longest and shortest year and a half of my life!

I will be flying home next week and I will be speaking in the Sequim Dungeness Ward on the 18th. I will keep you posted on the time. I'm not sure when our ward starts now. I would love to see you all! Please give me some time to readjust into normal life. But I know I am coming back at the best time of year to see friends and family. And I know that I am going to be insanely busy until the New Year.

OH! PS- I took my mom, my grandparents, and my sister off of this email because they all think I am coming home after Christmas. I am going to surprise them :) If you see them, don't say anything!

This week was chalk full of miracles. When we were on exchanges, Sister Clubb and Sister Herring were here in the Vail area and they were able to contact a potential investigator and her husband. I heard nothing but good things about them when they stopped in. So when we showed up to our follow up appointment I was really excited and prepared to teach the Plan of Salvation.

No sooner did the door close than did the husband start firing off questions and pulling up false doctrine that he had read on the internet. I looked at Sister Clubb and said, we need to teach the Restoration of the Gospel. What then happened in the following 30 minutes was incredible. This man, whose body language was very offensive and protected at first, gradually turned into him sitting back in his chair with his arm behind his wife's shoulders. As we testified and calmly and powerfully answered his questions, you could SEE the Holy Ghost softening his heart and it manifested in a very physical way. His wife also really opened up and started sharing her faith in the Savior and his sacrifice. By the end of the lesson, we were eating cookies with them. AND we got invited back to teach more!

To be honest I have never in my mission wanted to abandon ship as quickly as I did in the first 5 minutes of that lesson. I was ready to let him rant and do his thing and say "thank you for your time" and just up and leave never to see them again. But the Lord knows best and knew exactly how to guide Hermana Clubb and I to be able to help this lovely family come unto Christ. It was an experience I will never forget. I am so going to miss this work and the wonderful calling of being able to teach people how to repent, change their lives, and more than anything, come to know who the Savior is. But I think more than anything I have been my greatest convert on my mission. I know what God requires of me. I know what I need to do to return to live in his presence and I know who my Savior is and what he has done for me and the rest of mankind.

I hope you all are enjoying the advent calendar to "light the world". My companion and I have been seeing miracles because of it!

Love,

Hermana Voss

Holy FOOD!

I ate SO MUCH this last week it is shameful. We had 3 dinners on Thursday. Thank you all for your prayers, I needed them.

How about that awesome Christmas video that is out! And the Advent Calendar! It is fantastic. What a great way to get into the Christmas season!

I encourage all of you to take the time to watch this video and reflect on how the Savior gave light to the world and how you as individuals can do the same. We may not be savior's of the world, but in our own imperfect way, we can be!

https://www.mormon.org/christmas/light-the-world

I love this time of year!

https://www.mormon.org/christmas/in-25-ways-over-25-days

Here is the advent calendar :) I KNOW that the Lord will bless you and help you to see miracles as you strive to be a light to the world. I love the scripture in 3Nephi 12:14 and 16/ the second part of Matt 5:16 

14 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

16Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

I am so grateful for this time of year. I am grateful for my family, for this gospel, for the Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful for music. I am grateful for singing. I am grateful to be a missionary and servant of the Lord. I am grafeful for every single on of you who has helped and supported on my mission. Word cannot express nor ever will be able to express my gratitude and love for you.

Keep looking for the Lord's hand in your days!

Love,

Hermana Voss

Feliz dia de gracias!

Sorry about not writing these last few weeks. I'm just trying to soak up all the time I can get.

The work is great and I am loving my mission. I can't believe things are coming to a close so soon.

I am sorry that this is short, but we are going to the Georgetown loop and its gonna take a lot of our day. Gotta get the sites in while I still can!

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy!

I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Voss

Hello

I'm alive and well everyone! Not much for this week. I'm trying to stay focused. I love you all and stay happy!

Love,

Hermana Voss

Short note

Well...... This is a SUPER short note because my companion and I were sick all week. When she wasn't sick, I was sick, and sometimes we were both sick.

But, we know that there is a miracle around the corner.... We just have to keep pushing on. This week will bring much more productivity!

Stay well. Lots of love!

Love,

Hermana Voss

It's not vandalism and breaking and entering if Sister Missionaries do it.... Right?

Buenos tardes a todos!

    Well this week has been quite the ride! We were SUPER busy! We taught some amazingly prepared people. We were all over the place. WOOHOO!

    Sunday, we made pancakes for our investigator, Z. Super awesome guy who lost his home in the Louisianna flood and hitch hiked here because he worked here last year. Insane. He is back on his feet and came to church. We went around to his bedroom window and knocked to get him out of bed and then we served him pancakes. There is nothing like Sister Missionary love. Hahahaha! Sunday is my FAVORITE day because we get to go round up all of our friends and investigators to church. It is pure joy!

     I went on exchanges with Sister Poulton who is from North Carolina. She is incredible and I love her. We are both book worms. We bonded over our love of reading and writing.

     This week we had the fun task of breaking into our bishops apartment because the spare key wasn't where it usually was..... So, I used a credit card to get in. And it worked. It's not breaking and entering if you're a sister missionary right? And you have permission? I don't think Hermana Clubb believed I could do it. Hahahahaha! But we have pics to prove it!

    Other than that, No other crazy (obedient) shenanigans for last week, but that just means there is time for more this week.

Have a great week everyone! Keep smiling!

Con Amor,

Hermana Voss

1) The Sunday morning round-up featuring homemade buttermilk pancakes. Bet you didn't know we were so domestic!

2) Companionship bonding time- brushing our teeth on our balcony in the morning.

3)Elote! This stuff is DA BOMB! Elote is corn on the cob. Traditionally they put Mayonessa (NOT Mayo or Miracle Whip, the taste is WAY different), parmesan cheese and chile. It is delightful! There are SEVERAL white vans that drive around the big trailer park out in Edwards and they're always selling mango, elote, papas, etc. It sounds really sketchy but its totally not. These guys make BANK I'm sure! And they're always SUPER surprised that a couple of gringas are fluent in Spanish. It's always fun to surprise people.

Pics 4-6 (Don't judge my outfit) The process of breaking in to our Bishop's apartment.