Ice, Amish, and Transfers!!

Quick news alert to all... My new address is

512 Warren Ave #10 Osceola, IA 50213!

Well, this week has been awesome! First, the weather. One day, you wake up and there's snow, the next it's sunny and 40 degrees out, and the next your car has an inch of ice covering it. Sister Short and I have gotten used to receiving a "Tell us your road conditions" text from the zone leaders every morning. But it's been amazing. Our ward mission leader, Brother Bishop, is a manager at Hy-Vee (Grocery store only found in Iowa), so he gets a lot of free food, and he has been passing it along to us. So, on Sunday he tells us 'I have some cookies for you!'  We were pretty stoked until we realized that 'some' meant a giant crate of them. So we hand them out to people shoveling snow. I feel as though we are tempting them to the dark side haha!

One of the struggles of missionary work is less active members, and Osceola is an epitome of it. So, Sister Short and I head off to the tiny town of Williamson to visit some of these members. But, to our astonishment and glee, the farm was owned by a nice little Amish family! We had great fun talking to Velma. Then, we headed to a different house (Also supposed to be a less active), but it was also the home of an Amish family. While I thought it was cool, Sister Short was head over heals. It had been on her bucket list to talk to Amish people.

And Transfers! Since I am still in training, Sister Short and I will be staying in Osceola. But, members don't all seem to know that. We've had to explain to many people that maybe only one of the elders in the ward will be leaving (Split ward, Sister Short and I have the northern half, and Elders Alton and Rutledge live in Leon, on the South Side), but that both of us sisters will be here. 

Love Osceola. Love the members. Love my companion, and Loving the mission life!!

Both Photos are of My super Awesome District! 

 (Elder Anderson, practicing his witchcraft, Sister Short, me, Hermana Monson, Hermana Esplin, Sister Mora, Elders Barrett, Williams, Alton, Orme, Gardiner, and Balderston, and Rutledge in the front)

The Last Two Weeks...

Well, lots to catch up on! Last Monday we had to cut emailing short in order to make it to Waukee in time, where we had a pretty legit zone p day! Played some soccer and scatterball, and got to know a few missionaries. Then, we stayed the night in a town called Urbandale with a couple of sisters so that then we could be right there for zone conference on Tuesday morning, which lasted ALL DAY!! It was great though. Heard lots of cool information, INCLUDING that the Chicago East Mission is getting dissolved, and that the Iowa Des Moines Mission gets part of it! Also, Sister Short and I got a wicked new car!

 Then, we stayed in Urbandale again before taking the 2 hour drive to Iowa City for New Trainers Meeting. Got to see all the people I was in the MTC with, so that was pretty fun. We went out to lunch, then we took the three hour journey back to our area... It had been a while haha! Got back and got a call to go to the post office... My super amazing sister sent me a pretty fun Valentines package, haha! (Thanks Heidi) 

Then we went and saw investigators! Sadly, Roy and Rita will have to have their baptism pushed back some, but they are still trying! They were supposed to be baptized this Saturday, but now we are trying for March 17th!

Fun stuff... Sister Short and I got to play with some toys... Highlight of our p day haha!

Good news is our investigator Jackie. She has been going through a lot with her family, and we were starting to get worried, as she wasn't answering. So, Sunday evening we surprised her by showing up at her house in Chariton, which is 30 miles from Osceola. But the Spirit was guiding us! She told us that she wasn't sure how much time she would have to keep meeting with us. We told her about how Joseph Smith was about to give up on praying because of Satan, but how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ stepped in before he did. We read her the passage, and the Spirit was so strong! We talked to her about the importance of prayer and scriptures, and she said that she would try.

This morning, all my dreams came true. Jackie lives with her friend Tawnya, who is a member. Tawnya called us, super excited. Jackie smokes, and she sent Tawnya's son to go get her a cigarette from her room. Then, We sent her the scripture of the day, which was Alma 38. She loved it, and kept reading. By the end of 10 pages, she told Tawnya "I love that book! It's gotta be true!" that was last night. This morning, before Tawnya left for work, Jackie tells her ' don't you work on March 31st. I'm getting baptized!" She is stopping smoking cold turkey (With the help of the church's stop smoking workshop) so that she can keep her date. It's amazing just how much the word of God can do!

What Sister Short and I do when we get grounded due to unreasonable amounts of ice outside... 

Who knew you could stack golf balls!​

Little Miracles

This week was busy! Sister Short and I met with Jackie three times in one week, a lot of driving, but a lot of miracles. The church she used to go to doesn't believe in certain principles, such as Satan. We were cautious as we planned, so as to not really confuse her, but the second we mentioned his part in the plan, she said it made sense. It's been amazing to watch her as the Spirit testifies of the truth of our words. We found a way for her to come to church every week, and she was super excited to come yesterday, and we set a date with her to be baptized on March 10th! She said that she has felt better since meeting with us than ever before, and we are so happy for her.

Our other investigators, Roy and Rita, are also doing awesome. They never miss a day of church, and are trying super hard to keep the commandments. Their baptism is scheduled for February 24th, and we are also really excited to watch them as it comes closer. Sister Short and I taught them about temples the other day, and just the fact that they could be baptized for their grandparents and such made them happy. Roy has really loved family history, especially after he found out that he is half Russian.

Next is Jenifer and Maria Salvador. They recently moved here from El Salvador (pretty cool, right!), and Jenifer knows a bit of English from school. But we have met with them a couple times. Jen is super excited, but Maria was raised Catholic, so she still has some questions, but nothing we and the Spirit can't answer.

Last is Fred. He belongs to a nondenominational Christian church, and probably just wanted to Bible bash with us at first. We were led to his house looking for a referral, who turned out to be his ex wife, who just moved. So we just talked to him. Eventually just gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read 3 Nephi 11, when Christ came to the Americas. Then we called him on Saturday, and now he's super interested!

Last is a true winner. We knocked on Jerry's door on Friday night, just before he left for dinner. We were teaching the restoration, and came to the part about how much God truly loves us. He then told us a story. He found out that he had cancer in his lip a couple of months ago, and had had multiple surgeries on it to get it out before it became too serious. Then, he was on the phone with a friend who told him to pray to ask God for help. Jerry figured why not, he was willing to try anything. Then, about a week ago, he went in for a check up, only to find that the cancer was gone! Sister Short and I were speechless as he teared up and told us that he had felt so alone until then, but has seen God helping him since he prayed. We are going to visit him again, and we asked him to keep praying. He's super awesome, someone truly prepared to hear God's word.

I know that this church is true. It has to be. There is no other way that all these little miracles can happen, that we knock on doors to receive no answer, but then a few pop up, willing to hear more. All these people have seen God in their lives, and truly want to come closer to Him as they have realized how much more amazing having His Spirit is. He loves and cares for each and every one of His children individually, which I have really begun to notice this last week. I know He lives. I testify that He will help all those who ask, in His name, Amen.

Text from a member

Sister Girvin and Sister Short are sooo wonderful! Thank you for sharing them!

Week Two

Hello again!

This week was pretty slow... Main highlights, Sister Short and I met with Jackie again. She loves what we teach, but she doesn't know if she wants to drive a half an hour to go to church, when there's another church right down the street, but we are working on it! She came last week, which was awesome.

Our other investigators - Roy and Rita - are also doing great. They are on date to be baptized on February 24th, and we are all just so excited for them! They haven't missed a day of church in about three months (Besides when it got cancelled because of weather), and they have been loving it. 

One of our main focuses though is trying to reactivate members. Out of the 200 members, only about 80 go. The area is so big though, so it's hard for people who live way out there to make it to church. But with Christ, they can all feel His Spirit and come. I am merely a messenger to tell of that Spirit.

Probably the funniest part of this week... Sister Short and I got a call from someone who said that he wanted to meet us for lunch. We were wary - had never met the guy before- but we said a prayer and headed over to the Mexican Restaurant down the road. He shows up - seems nice - and then we tell him that we are new, and don't really know the parts of the area that he is looking for. He then realizes that he left his wallet, and went to go get it. Sister Short and I thought that he meant in his car, but then he left. 45 minutes later, he came back. Turns out, he drove to a town 20 minutes away, where the hotel was, just to get his wallet. But while we were still there, Sister Short and I thought that he had dined and dashed, so that was interesting.

Sister Short and I had a fun time in New York!!

(JK, Iowa just likes to put small famous landmarks on the side of the road)

Osceola, Iowa

This week has been insane!! On Wednesday morning, we reported to the travel office at 6:50 am with all of our luggage. We rode on a bus to the Provo frontrunner station, and rode that to Salt Lake, where we had about 2 minutes to grab all of our bags and hurry up the stairs to another bus, which then took us to the airport. Flew from Salt Lake to Denver, then from there to Des Moines, where we were met by the amazing President and Sister Badger. They are super nice and sweet, and they had amazing food, even better than the MTC. Sister Tobias and I were the only new sisters in Iowa, and there were six elders that flew with us, and we stayed the night at the mission home before heading to Iowa City early Thursday morning. There I met my super awesome trainer, Sister Short, from Draper, Utah. (yes, she is a little short). Then we drove three hours to my first area - Osceola, Iowa (Pronounced O-C-O-la). We are pinkwashing the area-basically, there hasn't been sister missionaries in Osceola in 30 years, so both of us are new to the place, so it has been an adventure. The elders before definitely had a sense of humor and put pictures of Christ everywhere. Why is that funny? So on all the walls, on the fridge, in the fridge, in cupboards, on the couches, tapped to the bed, and in the shower. Yes, in the shower.

Friday, we had our first district meeting. Played a few games and ate food, so that was awesome. Then, Sister Short and I went knocking. We knocked for about an hour in the cold (Iowa is FREEZING), and got mostly 'no thank you', but there was one house that looked like a house straight out of Christmas movie, and the person there listened and took a Book of Mormon. First Investigator! Yay! Saturday, we taught a nice couple named Roy and Rita. They had been receiving lessons from the elders before, and they are on track to be baptized in February. We got a referral from one of the families, and her name is Jackie. She has been awesome! She listened to the first lesson and completely ate it up, then surprised us by showing up to church on Sunday. She said that she has never felt so good as she did since her friend told her she set up appointments with the missionaries.

This morning was probably the best though. The elders before had left a few things behind, and Sister Short and I had a lot of fun with it...

It's the full thing, by the way. We went out and played basketball for a little, but it was awkward because the suits were way too big.

A Text from the Mission President

Sister Girvin made it to Iowa! We’re so excited to have her here with us. We love her already!

Love, Pres and Sister Badger