NUNS!

So this week was good. We had a car. The temperature is lovely. We found lots of new cool investigators, and the flowers are all coming out :) Last P-day we went to the park and did something CRAZY!!!!! I will send pics. It was so fun. Also, I love ukeleles. Just throwing that out there. We went to BJ's Monday night for a farewell to sis. richardson. Sister Richardson and Sister Ross left back to Nauvoo this week. President picked them up from our apartment at 5:30 in the morning last Tuesday so they all had a sleepover at our apartment. There were 6 sisters! It was fun :) So now sis. Christianson and Wilkins are companions and they can either stay at our apartment or theirs. This week they have only slept at ours once. 

I went on exchanges with Sis. Johnson this week. It was really good :) It was nice to go on exchanges that are in spanish so that we can help eachother teach. When we go with sis. training leaders they dont know any spanish so its all up to just the one person that stays in the area to teach all day. But this exchange was good. I learned a lot from sis. Johnson. she is an awesome missionary. She really loves the people and it shows. We were able to visit Esteban who has a baptismal date for the 26th. He is here visiting his daughter who is a member. We also learned on our exchange that if you knock while saying "Hola!" they are more likely to answer. We were at a door contacting someone and they werent answering but we knew someone was home (this happens a lot) the thought has always come into my head to say hola as you are knocking so that they know you speak spanish and think maybe you are their friends or something but I have never done it. I asked sis. Johnson if she has ever tried it and she said no but then decided to try it and afterwards the lady answered! It was hilarious. On the exchange we stopped by the Arroyos (members) after getting yelled at by some guy across the street and us telling us that one day we are going to look back and realize we were wrong and regret all of this. But he doesnt even know what he is talking about ;) We just bore our testimonies, shared some scriptures when him and stayed strong :) at the arroyos she was cooking food for the Elders who were on their way over... so we were going to leave but then she started making us something quick to eat too. she made esquite. It was delicious. Its like a corn soup with cream in it and chili sauce with lime. YUMMY! 

Wednesday we had permission to go and visit NUNS!!!! So Ben and Tom who helped everyone get unstuck from our hill at the ice storm (who has also fed us a couple times) are tight with the nuns. They do the maintenance at their house (these nuns cannot leave. They live here all their life) and he called them up (because sis. richardson said she wanted to meet them) and they agreed to let us come. it was awesome. It was like sound of music :) not really. But they are not allowed to come out so we have to talk to them through like wooden bars. We ended up talking for about over an hour about their beliefs and our beliefs and they gave us a book about a carmelite nun (thats what they are) which talks about prayer. These nuns do nothing but pray all day every day. That is their main purpose. I bet their prayers are so meaningful. They told us they had a book of mormon in their library of books and said that they would read it! Cool huh? They were so cute! They ranged in age from about 20ish to 80ish. They were really interested in what we were sharing. They will get baptized. Someday. 

Luis birthday was this week! We bought the ingredients and Elder Ludwig made a delicious cake for him. We went over and sang to him and he fed us pupusas and showed us the punta and cumbia dance. And guess what? Luis bought a piano! It is super old and reminds me of our piano at home. I played it a bit. It is so beautiful! He bought it but no one there plays piano so he told me that since I am a 'professional' I have to come over and play it to make sure it sounds alright. 

We went to Maria Angeles house to do service for her. We cleaned and then she taught us how to make enchiladas. After eating we had a really good lesson on the plan of salvation and why it is so important to get baptized so that she can go to the temple to make more covenants so that she can live with her family forever. She talked to us more about her son that passed away. She is such an amazing woman and mother. But a bit frustrating at times too because she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet but she doesnt want to change religions because her whole family is Catholic. Although she understands why she needs to be baptized. Ugh... people. I just love her and her family so much and I want the best for her. She has gone through so much and I know this will bless her life like nothing else. Anways... after the discussion she taught us how to Zumba. 

On Saturday we went to the Bowens for a missionary Easter dinner and egg finding. It was so fun :) There were all the missionaries in the area and Elder Dalton and Reay from Conway came with their investigator who got baptized yesterday. It was so good to see them :) Dinner was delicious as always and the egg hunt was fun too :) (although me and sis. peterson hid them so we knew where they all were). After that we put together a soccer night to bring investigators to. It went really well! There were lots of people that showed up. 

Other than that its been pretty chill here in Little Rock. I love it here. I never want to leave. We had dinner with sis. lopez and randi last night and then went and visited Esteban who hopefully is getting baptized the 26th. Nery Polanco came to church :) We went and visited them a couple weeks ago and he promised us he was going to come this week and he totally showed up with his family! It was so good to see him there! I am getting a lovely tanline on my feet from my shoes too. LOVE it! I have been working towards getting the Hold to the Rod so I have been memorizing about 2 scriptures a day. It really has helped in my teaching too. I have been able to use them every day. 

Funny story! Haha last night the Elders had to be high maintenance after we were already in our apartment and made us go down to the car to get the mile info and it had been raining a lot. I went down in flip flops (which are super bendy) and the edge of the stairs have a metal piece so that they dont chip which is super slippery. Well... I fell. All the way down the cement stairs. Right into my companion at the bottom. It was hilarious. I am fine :) Just a few bruises. 

Little note from our friendly radio that warns us of tornadoes and thunderstorms and flash floods apparently: "turn around, dont drown!" 

Love,

Hermana Goudie

Just chillin' in the hammock

In front of the nuns place.

A pic with Tom! Who took us to see the nuns. 

Beautiful flowers! :)

The yummy enchiladas Maria taught us how to make.

The soccer crew.

SO SCARY!! We had to use out homemade hammocks sometime. Didn't think
we would end up using them like this though... ;)

Saying bye to Elder Johnson :(

Sleepover in the front room (don't worry we weren't going against the white
hand book. We all had our own beds still ;) )

Esquite!

Familia Arroyos :) (They got sealed in the temple a couple weeks ago)

The lovely flowers. :)

Went on a short little bike ride the other day to Juniors to save miles.

Caterpillar webs! HUGE!!

Maria braided my hair beautifully before helping her clean.  Her grandaughter
kepts putting my name tag on herself. It was cute. :)

Hiding Easter Eggs!

Found a pile of wood that had a TON of lizards in it. We tried to catch them but I don't
have dads lizard catching skills. They were blue bellies and we saw one that looked super slimy.

Such a good time with Bowens and Little Rock Spanish missionaries and Conway
missionaries and Ricki (who got baptized yesterday).

Such a cute little puppy!

Esteban! He is getting baptized on the 26th!

He can't read well so south Sisters ordered a HUGE book of mormon
for him. You can see it in the picture above too.

CONFERENCE!!

I never was one to love watching conference before my mission. But can I just say that conference is so stinking awesome!!!!!!!! I loved it :) It is such a wonderful opportunity that we have to listen to our prophet and his apostles to know how we can follow Christ more and better ourselves in the gospel so that we can be happier :) I cant wait until the talks are printed so I can read them and keep learning from them! On Sunday we had investigators come so I went into Spanish and I didn't fully understand everything that was being said. But from what I did catch it was lovely.

Last week started off interesting. Sis. Richardson told the Elders that it was her 25th birthday which is both lies so they dropped off a cake to our apartment and as we were singing happy birthday my comp. shoved the cake into her face. It was hilarious! Sis. Richardson is leaving us in 4 days :( And we just found out that Sis. Christianson is leaving too :( So we are getting 2 different ASL sisters to come and live with us next week. 

It was BIKE WEEK!!!!!!!! love it... not! But on our way home through the park this last week there was a car completely flipped over on the side of the road. The family had just flipped it and were walking away from the car and they all seemed fine. I have no idea how it happened but it was crazy. They knocked over a wrong way sign in the process and my comp. may have taken it and it may or may not be in our apartment now... On April Fools at like 9:23 we were on our way home with ASL in their car (I love living with them especially on bike week because they give us lots of rides) and we realized we hadnt played an April Fools joke. So... we stopped by the Pinn. Mnt. and North Elders apartment on the way home and told them they need to come out right now because we needed their help. Sis. Christianson has been feeling really sick lately. So the Elders came running out all worried and jumped in the car where sis. christianson was coughing and saying she couldnt breath and that she was dying... they all seemed pretty nervous and after about 20 seconds the sisters started laughing and then the Elders realized it was a joke and then we hopped in the car and made it back home on time. Oh missionary april fools jokes... a little bit ridiculous ;)

So Elder Ramirez bought a Ukelele on his mission from Amazon (but doesnt know how to play) so he is letting me borrow it :) I love it SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! It reminds me of camping this last year and learning to play Makaylas around the camp fire. I was able to figure out some chords and can play a few hymns and other songs and I have been playing it a lot lately. I brought it to the church and after the first session of conference on Saturday while the other missionaries played soccer I played the Uke. After the first session on Sunday we had a jam out session with this member playing the piano who also has an amazing voice, me on uke, and us sisters singing as well. It was so fun! 

I finally met Hermano Palonco this week! They took us out to dinner at Cicis pizza and then we went to their house and had a good discussion about why church is important. He told us why he didnt go to church anymore and we committed him to come this next week. He is so funny and I love that family so much :) 

This week while we were riding our bikes through the skreets of Little Rock we stopped at this house that I had seen Hispanics at a few days before. They werent there the first time we knocked but we had already locked our bikes up so we decided to walk down the street to where more Hispanics live and as we were on our way back to our bikes there was a little puppy on a leash running towards us but no owner. It kept getting in the street and I didnt want it to get run over so I picked the leash up and then we thought we would try this same house again that we knocked on and ask if it was their dog. As we were about to walk up to their door the Hispanic lady, Sarah, came out! We were able to meet her and ask to share a message with her and her family. She let us in and we did a really bomb how to begin teaching with them! They seemed really cool and said that they would come to church and be baptized when they said they know this was true. I know that the Spirit was there in that lesson guiding us to know how to say what we needed to to apply it to them and their lives. 

We had a lesson with Darius this last week with the ASL sisters. He is so hilarious. His prayers are the best prayers I have ever heard. He prayed about being baptized on the 12th and said that he would be talking to him later tonight so that he can learn how to finish this race. I want to pray like him one day. 

CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!! So awesome! One of the biggest things I got out of it was that we need to defend the faith. This is a battle and we need to stand firm to what we believe and it is going to be hard. But that is why we are here at this time. Because we are the strongest and God knows that we can do it. We need to have faith in Him and trust Him and keep building our testimonies upon this rock, or gospel of Jesus Christ, because if we dont, we will fall. 

I learned how to make papusas this week! Elder Castaneda and Ramirez taught us how before conference on Saturday. I cant wait to make them with yall when I get home in uno ano mas! Also Luis and Jessica (his daughter) came to conference! I love them! Luis is getting a piano in his house! I am so excited :) we had lunch with everyone who was at the church inbetween sessions and it was fun to see all the members and missionaries together from the spanish and english. Maria (juniors mom) and her nephew came to conference. I sat next to them and when Thomas S. Monson got up to talk it was so cool to say, "El es nuestro profeta" and feel the spirit testify to me and them. She then said, "En actual?" And I said "Si!" She was writing notes in her Book of Mormon because we told her to come with a question and that it would be answered. I really do feel like she got an answer and I cant wait to talk to her more about it! 

We had dinner last night with Ben and Tom (the people that live right by our apartment and paid for us to go to the zoo). They are the nicest people ever. We taught them how the Bible testifies of the Book of Mormon and gave them one and told them to read and pray about it. They take care of the Nuns and Sis. Richardson really wants to meet them before going back to Nauvoo so we might go meet them this week. 

One last thing this week. THERE WAS A TORNADO WARNING THIS LAST WEEK!!!!!!!!!! It terrified me! At about 12 at night the alarm went off in our apartment and I jumped out of bed to check it and it said it was a warning for thunderstorms. I hadnt realized but there was lots of lightning and thunder so I tried to lay back down and about 2 min. later it went off again and said tornado watch and then we got a little scared so we put stuff in the bathroom in case it was going to come and then about 1 min. later it went off again and said tornado warning. I was freaking out but the other sisters were all calm. they checked the alarm and I guess the area it was set for was way up north so it wasnt even for our area. After they changed it to the right area it stopped going off and after a little while I was able to fall back asleep. but it was scary!!! 

LOVE YOU ALL! the gospel is true! Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet today to lead and guide us! 

Con amor,

Hermana Goudie

laying the Uke today at the church and eating Shipleys Doughnuts!

Making Papusas Con Los Misioneros

Car Flipped upside down! Don' even know how it happened!

Wrong Way!

Que Pasa!?

Buanas tardes mi familia! como estan? estoy muy bien :) so we had transfers this week. I stayed as you all know but I had to say bye to sister mitchell :( It was really sad. She has been there with me since day 1 in the airport and I really felt like she was my sister in real life. She reminded me a lot of savanna. I loved her so much and was so sad to say bye. We stopped by their apartment the other day to write in each others journals and I must admit I cried saying bye to her. It was like saying bye to a best friend. She is missed but we are going to die together so I know I will see her again in at least a year. Probably sooner. And one day I hope we will be companions! :) 

Along with transfers we got some really cool missionaries in the district. 3 native speakers too! Love them :) Elder Dyorich left though :( but now we have Elder Ramirez as the DL (E. Ludwigs comp) and Elder Castaneda with Elder Gonzales. I feel like I am going to be able to learn a lot more spanish this transfer with these 3 natives ;) I am excited! We also got sis. stevens serving with sis. johnson.

we were in north little rock the day of transfers so we went out to lunch with most of the spanish missionaries that were at transfers. I have pics. we went to Larry's pizza. It was really fun to see them all and speak spanish with them! I love the spanish missionaries :) the other ones are cool too I guess ;) 

we found this really cool hispanic trailer park this week but its in sherwood... which is kinda far. I wish we had more miles because there are lots of hispanics but they are far away... but we found a lot of new people this week :) 

we did lots of service this week at sister franklins house (the one that just had a baby). We antiqued her babies crib and we also tiled her bathroom that they are remodeling. they fed us both times and the elders came one day too. her house is so stinking cute I want a house like hers one day. It kinda reminds me of great grandpas. 

We have been teaching Junior and Maria a bit this week and they are SO cool! Maria has been taught before by Elders awhile back and she knows everything. We mentioned Joseph Smith to her the other day and she pretty much told us everything that we usually teach about him. It was awesome! She said that she knew that he found the book of mormon and saw God and Jesus Christ and she knows that the Book of Mormon is true and wants Junior to know. She said that she wants Junior to read it and come to church because he is having a really tough time with bad friends and drugs and such. Anyways, Junior came to church with us! He seriously is such a good kid when he is around us. He said he loved church and wants to keep coming with us. I hope he does. His mom told us the story of her older son who drowned when he was 14 in a lake in conway the other day. It was so sad me and sis. Peterson both started crying. she found  him herself in the lake and she got so scared that she started panicking and drowning herself. This family is so awesome and I know that the Gospel can bless their lives so much. I want them to be baptized so bad and we are going to everything in our power so that they can make that first covenant with God so that they can live with their family for eternity and their older son as well. I love them! 

the womens conference was so good this last weekend :) we listened to it while we were helping sis. frankilin. I am so excited for conference this week! it is going to be so awesome. I went on exchanges with the ASL sisters for a few hours last night while my comp. stayed home with sis. christianson because she is really sick. It was awesome! We found some really cool people to share the gospel with :) 

This morning we got up real early and went and hiked pinnacle mountain with everyone. I have pics for you all dont worry ;) afterwards we went to a arkansas hog cafe that was really good. I am having a lot of fun and am doing great! I pray for all of you and hope that you keep reading your scriptures and going to church! Dont have too much fun without me ;)

Love, 

Hermanita Goudita

A Cute Little Puppy!

Just studying.

My companion thinks it's funny that I wear a robe... (Sorry for the sideways pic)

On the phone! Siempre! :)

The members from Russelville that took us out to lunch.

Last week when I was sick. ;)

Saying Goodbye to Elder Robles

Saying bye to Sis. Mitchell

Lunch again. Her Cameria is just better at taking pics.

Elder Ramierez Planner

Service at Sis. Frankilins.

Hiking.

Hiking Otra Vez

Us Roommates

Having fun!

Being Silly 

For any of your Murray Peeps: Look! It's Elder Reed!!

Lunch with the Spanish Crew!

New Elders in the district. Elder Ramirez is my new DL. Both Native speakers.

The hiking crew this morning!

Just some weird glasses I found at the church

THe place we went to eat today.

Biking! We are on bikes again this week.

 

Antiquing the crib.

Service for Sis. Franklin. Cutting with a saw!