Joyce & Ethan get Baptized

Hey Y'all!

This week was probably my favorite week on my mission! I got to watch 2 people I love enter the waters of baptism on the same day who were across the country from each other. The first one was on Saturday Afternoon in Seattle and the second was Saturday night here in Elkins WV. I am so thankful to my mission president for allowing me to Skype in and for everyone here in Elkins that made all of this possible. It's so cool to see how even though you may be anywhere in the world, the gospel is the same and never changing.

Squad back together for Ethan's Baptism <3

This week I also got the opportunity to go on Exchanges with Sister Maxfield!! It was so great seeing and working with her again. I loved seeing how much we have both grown from the MTC and I'm glad our missions led us back together for a short time:)

Exchanges with Sis Maxfield:)

We started teaching a lady named Carol this week who had requested a Book of Mormon. She just got a new phone number and was getting these text messages of scriptures that were meant for the person who had the phone number before her. Anyways, she looked them up on the internet which eventually led her to Mormon.org where she inquired to learn more and eventually we were sent to her. So we show up and teach her and her daughter the Restoration and make a return appointment for Sunday. When we got there on Sunday she said, "I have to confess something...I tried to call you to cancel because someone told me you were a cult but I couldn't because the phone number you gave me wasn't working" After doing a little investigating we found out that when Sister Neilson had written the phone number the 8 looked like a 0. We assured her that we were in fact not a "cult" and we were able to teach her a great lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By the end she was asking us about how baptism works and wants to join us for church. It's amazing the ways that the Spirit and Heavenly Father work.

Have a great week everyone:)

Sister de la Cruz

Pics of Joyce's Baptism

LOVE HER

Joyce had to have a picture with Sister Mikesell in it as well:) 

 Such a good day

We had people write notes of encouragement for her while we helped her change. This picture a little boy drew for her cracks me up.

#20

Hey Y'all!

Not a whole lot of exciting things happened this week so this email is probably going to be a little shorter. One thing that did happen though is I turned 20! It was great being out here to celebrate and so many people made it wonderful! Sister Bay made me an amazing pulled bbq pork dinner (which she knows I love) and made a cake for me which we ate at Zone Conference on Friday. I really don't know what we'd do without the Bays. They take care of us everyday <3

Zone Conference Sister Nyborg and my two babies:)

We had Zone Conference this week which was, as usual, mind blowing because of how much President Lindhardt knows as well as a jolt of the spirit because of all the missionaries gathered in one place. I love being around other missionaries so much and we had a treat of a Zone P-Day today! We drove to Clarksburg with the Buckhannon Sisters and played wiffle ball, chair soccer, and basketball with the 4 other sets of missionaries in our Zone. It felt so great to let out some energy and have fun for a bit. 

  Ending Zone P-Day with some Panera

Hike last Monday to Bickles Knob

Joyce came to church on Sunday! It was a little crazy because the members who were supposed to drive her called us 15 minutes before they were supposed to pick her up and told us they couldn't because they had locker their keys in their car. Anyways, after a small panic attack we were able to find someone and everything went great:)

What do you do when you see a deer skeleton on the side of the road? Try to get the hoof 

Love you all! Have a great week!:)

Sister de la Cruz

The Power of Slim Jims

Hey Y'all!

Another great week in Elkins WV! Joyce has been continuing to prepare for her baptism which is still scheduled for this Saturday!! She had a great time at church yesterday and even found out one of her close friends is a member! Her baptismal interview is tonight and we're praying everything continues to go as planned! We are so excited for her and I'm so glad the Lord kept me in Elkins for another transfer so I could be here for her:)

Emailing today with our matching braids

We started teaching one of our members parents and sister last week and they are so awesome! We came back after our first visit and the sister gave us a play by play of like the first 15 chapters of the Book of Mormon! They are so sincere it's been so great getting to teach them. We committed them to pray about baptism during our last visit this week so we're hoping to help them take this next step soon! And then when we met with them on Tuesday the sister's daughter and her daughter's husband joined in and we are now teaching them as well! It's been an interesting experience teaching that many people at once but thank goodness we don't have to do it without the Lord's help!

Relief Society Birthday Party with Joyce and Sister Whipple

We met with a less active member on Saturday night and he had just gotten 5 cans of beer from the store because he said that he was stressed. We have been working with him for a long time trying to break him of this habit. After a pretty intense lesson we told him that he could either give the beer to us or pour it down the sink. Miraculously, he got up and cracked a can open and started to dump it out. We could tell that it was really hard for him and he almost took a sip as he was pouring it out but Sister Neilson told him that for every one he could pour out without sipping he could have two of her slim jims (Sister Neilson always has like 20 slim jims in her bag). He looked at them and took the challenge and when we left he had 10 of them. 

Thank you to everyone for all of the emails and letters! I love hearing from all of you! Just a reminder that the new mission office address is:

WVCM

839 Chestnut Street
South Charleston, WV 25309

Love you all! Have a great week!

Sister de la Cruz

Sister Neilson!

Hey Y'all!

This week has brought a lot of changes to Elkins and the Mission! I said goodbye to Sister Mikesell on Friday and traveled down to Charleston to pick up Sister Neilson, my newest companion! She came straight from the MTC and has the fire of a new missionary so I'm so excited for these next weeks. She is from La Canada, Southern California and did a semester at BYU-I before coming out. All of these new missionaries graduated in 2017 so that's making me feel pretty old. She is so awesome though and we are going to get along great! 

The things the Zone Leaders will stuff....

We had Stake Conference this weekend and we were so excited because Joyce was going to come with us Saturday night. However, an hour before we were supposed to come by and pick her up she called and cancelled because she wasn't feeling good. We weren't sure if that was just an excuse because she was nervous or not but accepted it. Then, we started driving to our home and looked down the road and we see Joyce driving down the road in her motorized wheelchair! I pull over next to her and she tells us she's on her way to get medicine from the store. After a long pep-talk and maybe a little bit of bribing... she finally agrees to come with us again! It was such a powerful Stake Conference and Elder Dunnigan, an area Seventy spoke. We talked to Joyce afterwards and she told us that she felt like one of the speakers was speaking directly to her and she was touched by what he said. I know that Heavenly Father put us in Joyce's path that day so that we could get her to Stake Conference and she could hear that message. 

 The Mexi-Mommas (We both are trainers this transfer)

 Saying goodbye to my First-born 

My New Baby!

On Wednesday Sister Mikesell and I attended a funeral for one of our ward members who passed away last Sunday. It was so cool to see how much comfort everyone there had because of they had the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. Yes, there were tears but it wasn't because of losing Sister Phillips, they were tears of having to say goodbye for a short time until they met again. I love the peace that we get from a knowledge of the gospel and how much it can help us when we go through times like losing a loved one. 

Love you all! Have a great week!

Sister de la Cruz

 Brother Rutherford gave us his can of Chew!! 

Brother Rutherford

Last P-Day, visiting a Civil War Battlefield 

Gotta have clear pores

My Surprise Birthday Party!

Hey Y'all!

This week has been so great! On Thursday we got a call from Joyce asking if we could come over and she said that we should come hungry. So we go over and when we open the door she shout "Happy Birthday!" and she had gotten pizza and cake & ice cream to celebrate my birthday! She told us that she knew we were away from home and wanted to make sure that I got to celebrate with someone. It was for sure my favorite birthday party that I've ever had. She was so kind and knowing that she doesn't have a lot herself made it even more special. I love how kind and humble the people that I have met here are. 

My Birthday party:') 

Love members who buy us Papa John's

Sister Neilson's first click day!

On Wednesday we went to Mill Creek, an town south about a half hour from Elkins to find some people to teach. We ended up pretty far out in like the middle of nowhere and we were about to go back towards the town but we decided to look at the GPS and see if there were any roads nearby that looked promising. I saw one that stood out to me and so we decided to go down it. It was all torn up and there was a house here and there, about a quarter mile from each other. We usually wouldn't go on a road like this but for some reason we did. And this road was the definition of back roads, WV. Up a steep mountain with cows, horses, chickens, a donkey, other fowl. We drove a couple miles down it and then turned around and decided to knock the houses on the way back. The second house we came to had a long drive way and so we parked at the top and walked down. We were almost to the house when all of the sudden this big dog came running out and was barking and growling and snarling. We immediately turned around and headed straight back to the car cause we really didn't want to get destroyed by this dog. About halfway back to the car a lady came out and asked if we were looking for someone. We told her that we were missionaries and she told us that she grew up best friends with a family that were members and even went to church with them sometimes. She agreed to have us come back this next week to share our message with her. It's amazing how there are times when you have no idea why you're in an area or a situation and then the Lord shows you. I really had no idea why we were in the back woods of Mill Creek but then we found Linda and I know the Lord led us to her that day. I've learned on my mission that we are only instruments in the hands of God and that He will lead us to where he needs us.   

I hope you all have a great week and stay warm:)

<3 Sister de la Cruz

Thanks to my parents for the new CTR ring for my birthday!:)

The Lost Phone, Hitting a Deer, and Another Baby!

Hey Y'all!

We've had a really hectic past couple of days. We found out on Sunday that I'm actually going to be staying in Elkins for another transfer and Sister Mikesell is going to be leaving. That took both of us of guard because I've been here longer. Then Sunday night we were out in Mill Creek, which is about 30 minutes from Elkins, and we lose our phone. We had pulled over on the side of a hollow (pronounced "Holler", a back road in the woods) to text some people and one of our old investigators pulls up next to us and Sister Mikesell opens the door to talk to him and he says that his wife is home so we drive to their house to talk with her. On the way we realize that we don't know where our phone is. We assume it's somewhere in the car and go meet with Sister Currence and then afterwards we look all over in the car but can't find it anywhere. We decide that it probably fell out of the truck when she opened the door to talk to Brother Currence and so we head back to where we pulled over to look for it.

Last Monday at Blackwater Falls

And out of nowhere as we're driving down this hollow out of the corner of my eye I see a big brown figure come straight at us. I slam on the brakes just in time and we hear a big thump as a deer bounces off the truck. We were both in shock at what had just happened. By another miracle it didn't do any damage and the deer walked away looking startled as well. 

Valentine's Day

 Finally we make it to where we had pulled over and think we lost the phone. It's pitch black outside and all we have is our headlights so we look around for a while but still can't find it. We decide to just head home and pray that it is in the car somewhere. On our way home we stopped at the Bays and they called it but still it was nowhere to be found. Finally we decide to go back to Mill Creek in the morning and look for it again so this morning we headed out there in the rain and the whole time we were praying we would find it. We got the spot we had pulled over and said another quick prayer and then as soon as I stepped out of the car I spotted it laying face up pressed into the mud. By a miracle it still worked perfectly after we charged it. We knew God helped that phone stay safe through the mud and rain and that nothing can hinder His work here. 

Elder Jensen, Elder Pitcher, Sister Chowen, Sister McKendrick, and the Bays :)

When the phone turned on we saw that we had a missed call from President Lindhardt. We called him back and told me I was going to be training again starting on Friday. Another curve ball from President. I'm excited to show another new Sister around and to have the excitement a new missionary brings to the work! It's gonna be a great time! Training is 12 weeks long so I could be in Elkins for another 2 transfers. We shall see what the Lord has in store. I've learned you can never predict His plan for you as hard as you try. 

I'm loving the work here and we've had several referrals this past week so I'm excited for the future of Elkins:)

Love you all and hope you have a great week!

The Power of Fasting

Hey Y'all, 

Another interesting week here in Elkins!

Last Monday we went to see the bishop of the Buckhannon Ward blow glass with the Buckhannon Sisters. He is a famous glass artist in the area and even has things in the White House and did some stuff for the Olympics. He showed us how he makes vases and small bunnies that he is doing for Easter. It was crazy because he could make a glass bunny in like a minute. And since we're missionaries we were able to get anything in the gallery for half off so of course I had to get a couple items:)

 Shaping the glass

Glass bunny

Later Monday night we taught a couple we teach how to hold a Family Home Evening. We played Restoration Jenga with them and had a great time. It was really funny though because Inez, the wife, went first and tried to take out a block and basically took the whole thing down. I quickly put it back together and told her to just try again. And again she tried and it looked like it was coming down again to I would just hold the tower each time it was her turn so we could actually get somewhere. Then at the end she told us that she wanted to take down the tower so that we would build it back up and she could learn about all the different parts of the gospel that were written on each of the blocks. They are such wonderful people who want to learn so much and are some of my favorite people to teach. 

 Exchanges With Sister Anderson and Sister Cox

Our matching card holders 

We have been teaching Joyce for a while now and hadn't been able to get her to come to any church activities. So when we heard that Philippi was going to have a baptism on Saturday we thought this was our chance. She has a hard time with new situations and when we invited her to things before she would say she'd come but then back out last minute. To solve this we just started doing things in the moment with her, like the church tour. And we knew that this baptism was going to be a scary thing for her so we decided we were just going to go ask her on Saturday night if she would come with us and leave right then. We decided we were going to fast Saturday in preparation because we knew meeting new people at the church would be scary for her. And so we fasted and showed up to her house a little before it was time to leave and after sharing a short message and bringing in the Spirit we asked her if she would like to join us. We were both shocked when she said, "Yeah, lets go!" and didn't put up a fight at all. She was all up for it! And so we went to the baptism and it was sooo good. They had a member who got baptized last month talk on the Holy Ghost (super cool because he just moved here from Kenya and has an awesome accent) and Karen, the lady who got baptized, told Joyce how excited she was for her to get baptized too! Everyone was so nice to Joyce and I know it was a great experience for her. 

I'm so excited for another great week here in Elkins, whether it's my last one here or not we're gonna work hard to do what we can!

Have a great week!

Sister de la Cruz