29 Mar 2011

Mom,

THANK YOU for sending me pictures of my newest nephew Brock! He's so cute and I just can't wait to get home and hold him and all that good stuff that a new aunt is entitled to do. =) Well, I can wait, but it's so exciting to have a little baby to come home to!

I'm not sure what's all happened this week as far as people and teaching. All I know is that miracles have happened and are happening all the time! We had a fantastic lesson with Cynthia and she is progressing awesomely! She's so golden and we're actually going to dinner with her tonight. Oh, let me tell you about this crazy experience we had on...Sunday? No, Wednesday. It was so nuts.

We had dinner with Gloria and Cesar Moreno and had some really good food. But, we had a lesson afterwards and a prayer. Quetzalli gave was asked to pray. So as Cesar was helping her pray, she prayed for us to be safe. At that exact moment, I had the sound of gun shots come to my mind. And I realized I had protection in this home. And I also had a father/daughter duo praying for my companion and me as well. As we stepped out of the house, I felt uneasy. I told Hna. Kendell to get in the car. I locked the doors and we drove off pretty fast. As we were driving, I was telling her about my experience and why I was so uneasy about being in Yakima. She said she felt the same and related to me her experience which she had had during the prayer...which was identical to mine. Gun shots and all at the same point. Heavenly Father loves His missionaries. I'm so glad he sends the Spirit to guide us!

Another exciting thing this week is that Juana and Heather - our recent converts - went to the temple for baptisms!!! And they both LOVED it!! It made us really sad because Sister Kendell and I got permission from President to go and watch and participate, but on Thursday, we both felt it was better if we stayed and did the Lord's work for the living. And, we were really sad we weren't there, but then, we just kept thinking that we can go when they receive their endowments. That's more important to us. And we know that they will.

We're had some crazy service this week. I've been reading in Mosiah [WHICH I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON!] and I've been thinking about Mosiah and the kind of person he was and the example he is to us. As we were weeding and totally re-vamping someone's garden this past week, as we got in the car to leave, I turned to Sister Kendell and said 'We just weeded Jesus' garden.' Yeah, it's really interesting and a lot more ...meaningful as we look at service like that. If we're helping someone else, we're helping God. We're doing a service for Him, as well.

Speaking of service, remember the other week when I told you about helping Emy and Miguel cut all the ivy off of their tree and yard? Well, we had a lesson with them last night and it was about tithing. As we were talking about it, Emy recounted a story about how paying her tithing blessed her. She said she debated paying her tithing because they had all the ivy out in their yard and she could use that money to pay for it to get taken care of. Well, she decided to pay that tithing and a day later, we showed up with 3 other sisters and we cleared the yard for free. She said it was such a blessing because they saved SO much money and not only that, the tithing was less than what she would have payed to have someone clean it up. It's amazing to see that...when you're a blessing to someone. And you don't even mean to be. I've seen it so much on my mission. There's no mistake that I need to be here and doing the work I'm doing.

Well, I still have to write President Greer. But, I love you all. And I'll write more next time! Thank you for getting that stuff for me and arranging getting my things from the Martinez family. They are awesome and I know you would love them, Mom. He's such a hoot and she's so sweet. One day, when we come out to visit my mission. =)

I miss you and I'm working hard. Concentrating on the work and not worrying about the time I have left. I know it's precious and I don't want it to end.

I love you all!

Con amor,

Hna. Pleshek

P.S. A few pictures from last week.

One of our green dinner. One of Sister Kendell and I walking through the pear orchards to get back to our house from dinner.

Sister Kendell and I waiting to go the the Tree's last p-day.

Us in our Aztec and Charger ponchos at Emy and Miguels.

The elders and us at an FHE with Emy and Miguel and all our of drumsticks!

22 Mar 2011

22 Mar 2011

Mom,

I failed once again and don't have a sticky note. But can I just say that EVERYTHING is going awesome here! Things are just going great and I couldn't ask for anything better!

It sounds like things at home are great! And well, exciting. Haha, with all the surgery and the baby having...yeah, the Gourleys are sure in for a great time! But, how exciting! I can't believe that time is going so fast and that they're all just ...wow. I can't believe it!

Last week, we had a RS birthday party which was awesome! It was about our pioneer ancestors and what not and just a lot of fun. There were 61 women there and one was a non-member. One of the ladies in the ward is awesome and she's such a good missionary!

Wednesday, it was great! We had a great day and everything just played out nicely. We had an exchange with Sister Stewart later that night and I know that it went how it was supposed to. She was still with us on Thursday and I'm so grateful for the Spirit and the way Heavenly Father directs everything. Our St. Patricks Day was funny. We just had a bunch of green stuff and it was...haha. Just great. Maybe I'll do that one day when I have kids...but that won't be for a LONG time. Erin told me Clare said she wants to be pregnant with her sisters. Well, I can tell you I'm not getting married for a long time and having kids for even longer. But, I'm not worried about that at all.

As far as Elder Ahart goes, he is awesome! Mom, just because he's used to people writing him letters doesn't mean anything. Haha. Nah, but he's a really cool kid. I wouldn't let him talk to her if he wasn't good enough for her. But mega-spiritual and just...he's great! And he's home...that's nuts!

We had some great exchanges on Saturday. We spent all of 7-ish miles, so it was great! We didn't get a huge amount done, but it was pretty great to have exchanges. Sunday was awesome, too, with exchanges.

Yesterday was awesome! CYNTHIA!!! Oh my gosh, Mom. You have to meet her! She is fantastic and so prepared for the gospel. She's amazing, there are no words! And I just...wow. I am so grateful that I know her. She prays for us and has forever changed my life!

As far as transfers go, we got the calls yesterday and I'm finishing my mission up in Yakima. With SISTER KENDELL! Mom, I'm so excited! She's amazing and we're going to just do super things together. She's such an amazing missionary and just pushes me to be better. I can't believe I'm on the last 6 weeks. It doesn't seem real and everything I think about it, I want to cry. But I'm just so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve and for staying in this area with my companion. Sister Kendell has been my longest companion - 6 months. And this has been my longest area - 7 1/2 by May.

I love you all and I'm so thankful to my Heavenly Father for blessing me. Sorry this isn't longer, but I've got places to go and people to save. =) I love you! And I can't wait to see pictures of the new baby and all sorts of good stuff. The Martinez have a blanket for the baby. Haha. Anyways, you all rock my socks and I can't imagine my life without you! I'm so glad we're together forever!

LOVE YOU!!!!!

Con amor,

Hna. Pleshek

P.S. I'll send pictures next week...I forgot my converter thing.

15 Mar2011

Mom,

So much to tell you in such short time. Well, I've got my trusty sticky note. Let's see if we can do some updating and informing!

Well, Tuesday, we had our zone p-day. It was some Olympics thing one of the elders cooked up. Personally, not my favorite. But we did it at this HUGE house...seriously. Four houses in one. But, it was fun just to play and kick some elders' butt in pool. I really did win all my games...and I didn't cheat! =) And I don't know what else I did, but I hurt my knee pretty bad. It still hurts and it's been a week. I called Sister Greer about it on Saturday night. I'm supposed to again today. We also had a great lesson with one of our RC's named Jacobe. It was probably the most spiritual lesson I've had with him. Haha. He's a fireball. But, we talked about the doctrine of Christ and how it can bless our lives. I'm so glad to be a missionary and to help people change their lives. It's amazing!

Wednesday, we had a great lesson with Emy and Miguel. The Juarez familia came with us. Daniel and Sandra. They're a couple too, around their age, with no kids. It was awesome and the lesson went great. Daniel and Sandra added awesome testimonies to ours and their little friendship is blooming. Ahh, I love it! It wasn't a huge, exciting day. We didn't have district meeting, by choice. But, it's okay.

Thursday, we spent a TON of time painting. I think I'm making up for not being home to help you guys paint Clint and Clare's house. We, yeah. Painted a ton. Every room in that house. We're lucky the elders were there with us to help. We also had THEE MOST AMAZING THING happen to us on Thursday. We taught a lady named Cynthia. Wow. She's a member referral and awesome! We walked in and she just started asking us questions and just, was a sponge! Absorbing all we taught her. It seriously was...THEE most amazing lesson I've had on my mission. She's truly PREPARED! We extended the baptismal commitment to her and she accepted. She's getting baptized this weekend if all goes well! I've never met a more prepared person in my life and she's amazing! She gets it all! And oh my gosh, I'm so blessed. Sister Kendell and I are SO blessed by the Lord!

Friday, we had weekly planning. We headed to Yakima afterwards because we had an appointment and dinner there. We were stuck there and no one was home. It was semi-frustrating, because we couldn't go back home, and we wanted to save miles and we were in the bad part of Yakima. So, at night, there wasn't a huge amount we could do. But we taught a few lessons and that was that. We had dinner with Emy and Miguel and when we showed up, he was drinking a beer. I was all Miguel! What are you doing? And he just...tried to give me excuses about how doctors say it's good for you and I looked at hime and told him God is better than any doctor I know. In fact, he's the best. He MADE us! So, I was a little irritated, but you know what? Repentance and forgiveness! =)

Saturday, we hit up White Swan with another service project. There was a big fire in WS a couple months ago and took out 20-25 homes or so and we went and sorted clothes there. It was fantastic to see everyone rallying around this community. I wrote more about it in my letter that's coming with the Martinez family to Wisconsin. We also had to get the first oil change on our Malibu. Great! We sat at the dealership for a while, which was great. We got a lot of things done. We also had a super lesson with a lady named Ramona. She's so awesome! And ready. I wish the church that she's 'baptized' into would just leave her alone and stop confusing her. But she's sincere and wants to know more! My companion almost died because of all the dogs and pets we were around. So, she went home and showered and I figured out the other things we had to do to prep for the week.

Sunday was slow and with the time change, it whacked out my system.

We had a BOMB district meeting on Monday. FANTASTIC and all about the Atonement. I found myself in tears more than once. The Spirit was there and so strong! And after our DM, I went on exchanges with the Naches sisters and I'm still here with them now. They're amazing and I'm so glad that I was able to come with them in their area.

I feel really lucky as well to be around such amazing people and to live with the Mitchells. They're changed my life and are truly valiant servants! I love them with all my heart!

And thank you for being amazing too! I love you all and I'm so glad I'm a missionary!

Con amor,

Hna. Pleshek

8 Mar 2011

Mom,

Thank you for the email. It was pretty great! I enjoyed reading it all. We've had a crazy week this week, but once again, I've forgotten my post it note, so we'll see how this email turns out. Haha. Well, maybe I'll try to attach some pictures and that can help jog my memory. I swear, my memory has gotten worse and better all at the same time. Haha.

We had a great district meeting last Wednesday. And I had this really cool experience preparing for it. I had to talk about teaching people, not lessons. And I prayed really hard to have the Spirit help me to teach what my district needed to hear. Everything I prepared went AWESOMELY along with what everyone had and it was a great meeting. We spent all day in Yakima and got to see lots of less actives in the Spanish branch. Pretty productive.

I went on exchanges with Sister Holmes Wednesday night to Thursday night. It went splendidly and even though I had some weird feelings and thoughts during parts of the exchange, it went really well. We got to teach a lot of people and just, great. I love Sister Holmes, she's so awesome! I also had this really weird/cool experience that night. I was praying for more charity and patience. I was kind of stressed and after I ended my prayer, I felt my heart soften and just this peace came over me. It was really weird because I could actually feel my heart getting soft, but it was, so cool. I'm so grateful for experiences like that that confirm that God is our loving Father and He DOES listen to our prayers.

That lead into a really great weekly planning on Friday. We had great insights on how we need to help the people we are teaching. It went super! We also had a great time following the Spirit. And we had this awesome lesson with a lady named Ramona. We taught her a first lesson and it went awesome. She said she was baptized in a church in Los Angeles and then came here and found a Seventh Day Adventist church which made her get baptized and she hated it. And now she's semi-studying with us and we told her that all those other baptism she had weren't valid and she needed to be baptized in Christ's church if she wanted to do what was right and serve Him. Pretty intense, and we'll see if she lets us come back...I hope so! She's awesome!

Saturday was...wow. Haha, just so funny. We were doing whatever, finished weekly planning and all sorts of good stuff. We went and saw this lady named Emelia and her son, Dimas. Sister Kendell had taught them before and so we went over to see if we could teach them again. Well, so after her feeding us tamales and flower water and shoving turtles into our hands, we decided that they weren't interested. But, then just as we're leaving, her friend from Vegas pulls up and she comes in and as like 'Oh, so you're Mormons.' So we're like yeah, and then we start talking and she's like well what about your king...Mr. Smith? And we're like oh no, he's a prophet, etc. etc. And so Sister Kendell starts talking about family history and stuff like that. It leads into the Plan of Salvation and we taught her a lesson about that. It was crazy because the friend was on our side the whole time. Everytime Emelia would start to almost...argue with us, she'd be like 'Let them talk. They'll explain and then you can ask questions'. It was just so funny and we were shocked. And after it was all done, the friend was like 'Show her the book! They have a book and it's awesome! It teaches great things and I love to read it. Oh and they sing. Well, at least mine did.' Keep in mind she is NOT a member. But then she also was like 'And they have this movie and...it's so great. Have you shown her the movie yet?' Just hilarious. And it went awesome! The Spirit is so great.

Sunday was long, but awesome! A member in the ward brought one of his employees to church and she loved it! She asked if she could come back and if we could teach her...if that would be okay. Umm, YES it would be MORE than okay! =) But, so great. Unfortunately, it was Gaby's last Sunday. She's reporting tomorrow to the MTC and will do AWESOME. We have some pictures with her.

Monday we did service for a part member family...Emy and Miguel. We once again, went at some ivy and it was....crazy! We spent for hours there with the Naches sisters chopping most of it away. We'll go back tomorrow and finish...hopefully.

Today we woke up to snow...joy. But the sun's already melted it. And things are going great! I love you all and I'm so happy to be serving a mission! You're the best!

Con amor,

Hna. Pleshek

Oh, did you call Sister Martinez? I want her to bring some of my stuff to Wisconsin and if you and/or Dad can go get it, that would be awesome! Sister Mitchell should be calling you, but ...oh man. I need it done ASAP because the Martinez family are leaving...on the 18th. Anyways, love you!

8 Mar 2011 from last week

March 1, 2011

MOM, This came back to me...apparently you didn't get it? SHOOT! But, I love you! It's from March 1st!

Mom,

Soooo much to tell you this week. Last Tuesday, we went to the high heel exhibit at the Yakima Valley Museum. I have this all written down, but I lost it...shoot. So maybe I'll find it and send it to you. But anyways, it was pretty legit and I'm glad that we got to see something awesome!

Wednesday, we had this awesome district meeting. Mega spiritual! And even though I'm in a "SISTRICT", it's awesome. Pretty funny. We also had this funny lesson with Heather on dating. Now that she wants other things in a man, it's funny because she's so scared to date now. And she gets really nervous around men. But you know, I told her she'd be fine. Not that I'm the world's best advice on dating giver, but I helped her out the best I could and she'll be okay! =) We were sooo busy. We had some great lessons and just all was so awesome. The funny part was at District Meeting, Elder Dresden told us we weren't to be walking around at night...and so that night, Sister Kendell and I were walking around Yakima at night because we were low on miles. Not sure that was the smartest thing, but we are okay and it was just a block. I thought it was funny because he kept telling us we weren't invincible. Yeah.

On Thursday, we took Heather over to a lady's house in the ward. She's awesome and also used to live in Vegas, like Heather. They're around the same age and hit it off pretty well. It was sooooooo cold on Thursday. Just frigid. Every place we went, we froze our butts off. We also told one of the member's brothers that we would go to Thursday night soccer. So, we got a member to take us over to Selah to play and she ended up getting hit in the face. But she's doing okay. Good thing she came with us earlier to a lesson that went awesome with a lady that should be getting baptized soon. AHH!

Friday, we treated Heather to a haircut for her baptism. It's been almost a year since it's been cut, so that's what we got for her. We also got roped into helping the Wilseys clean up this duplex that they own and are trying to get clean for someone to move into. Well, it was still FREEZING and the heat wasn't working in the house, so Sister Kendell, the elders, and I all froze ourselves helping clean and paint. But it was super fun because they stuck the 3 of us in a room together and we laughed ourselves silly singing songs. 80's songs to Patriotic songs, we just had a blast!

Saturday was HEATHER'S BAPTISM! It was AWESOME! SOOOO SPIRITUAL!!! And we had an investigator there and it hit her, really hard. She was crying and just...wow. It was such a great baptism and everything went perfectly!! It's probably the most spiritual baptism I've had on my mission. We also met a less active in the ward earlier that day and he's a little crazy. He was all 'bad and rough' and at the end, he kissed our hands goodbye. Yeah, a little creepy, but that's how it goes. Yikes. I also started coughing my lungs out. Not fun. I was losing my voice after dinner and the singing Hna. Kendell and I did at the baptism was semi-amusing because I couldn't talk.

That continued Sunday as I got made fun of in ward council. Haha. We did have a lazy Sunday. I was feeling like a piece of junk and it just...ahh. I wanted to die. Same thing on Monday. But I'm feeling better today and things have been great! We went to the temple today and that was awesome. Now all 5 of us are emailing together and we've got zumba on the program for tonight!

Oh, so I was talking to a member on Saturday. She's headed to Madison with her family for some training and they want to stop in Nauvoo and stay there and I told her about it and all the things to do. And she was wondering where we stay, so I told her about the Pountain's house. And she wants that info. Her phone number is xxxx and her name is Sister Martinez. She speaks English, so it's a-okay. =) Actually she's white. Haha. But anyways, you should call her so you can get that to her ASAP.

Also, I have lots of garment tops I don't use because they're too short. I haven't used them for a while and I was wondering if you just wanted me to send them home and you could use them or if you just want me to ditch them. They're not in bad shape, so that's why I'm asking. [And you don't have to put this part in the blog. Haha]

Anyways, I love you all! You are amazing and in my prayers! I love being a missionary! It's sooo awesome! Let me know where Mikey gets called to.

LOVE YOU!
Con amor,
Hna. Pleshek

1 Mar 2011

No letter this week. Only pictures. Enjoy!