ELKINS and SIS VAN TASSELL

Hey Y'all! 

These past few days have brought a lot of change! I absolutely LOVE Elkins! It is a super cute small town with beautiful country hills all around it and this time of year it's especially beautiful with all the trees changing color. The people here are the definition of redneck and I've already eaten deer jerky and a family we teach is going to make us Squirrel gravy!!! It's a very different atmosphere than Teay's Valley was but I love it already! We have a small ward with only about 50 active members and we've already been asked to give talks next Sunday :) 

I also have to take a paragraph to tell you about how AMAZING my new companion is! Sister Van Tassell is such a great missionary and I already know I'm going to learn so much from her. She is the kindest most fun loving person I have ever met and is always full of energy. She's from Paul, Idaho, right next to where Sister Condie was from. Good thing I can still use all my potato jokes:) This is her last transfer in the mission so I'll be killing her off soon unfortunately :( She is such a hard worker and I know that we'll work wonders with the help of God in this area!

Sister Van Tassell

We teach two AWESOME young families. One is the Mallows. The mom just got baptized in August and the dad is still learning more. We asked him in my first lesson there what's holding him back and he said he just hadn't prayed about it because he didn't have the time. We committed him to do so before our next appointment and Bro Richards (our ward mission leader who is leaving for his mission in a couple weeks and was baptized a year ago) bore his testimony about receiving answers to prayers and the Spirit was SOOO strong. At the end of the lesson we asked Bro Mallow who he wanted to say the closing prayer and he said that he would say it! Sister Mallow was shocked because that was apparently the first time he's volunteered to do it himself! I'm super excited to come back and continue teaching him. 

Diamond, a stray with such cool eyes!

Diamond likes to be our walking buddy.

The second family we teach is the Currences. They are super into hunting and are related to everyone within like a 5 mile radius of them. They're on date to be baptized in November and are super solid! Every prayer they have in our their knees as a fa

mily, whether it's the opening prayer or a prayer over the food. 

Justin: "I work at this Mexican Restaurant and it's really good! You guys should go there!"

Me: "Is it like authentic Mexican food or Americanized Mexican food?"

Sister Currence: "If by authentic you mean they cook it in the restaurant then Yeah!" (She was 100% serious)

Everybody: "Oh! Do you speak Spanish" 

Me: "No"

Them "oh...."

Something else I learned this week: When Sister Van Tassell says she's going to knock walnuts out of a tree, stand far far away. Otherwise you'll get pelted with falling walnuts. 

That's all for this week! I hope everyone has a great week and I love all of you!

Sister de la Cruz

Cute little farm :)

I'm Getting Transferred!

Exchanges:) Sister Condie, Me, Sister Schoemig, Sister Coombs, Sister Paulson

Hey Y'all!

I'm getting transferred to Elkins, West Virginia to be with Sister Van Tassell! So far what people have told me is that Elkins is a small town in the mountains and it's GORGEOUS! I'm excited to go meet new people and have a change of scenery but I'm going to miss Teay's Valley SOOO much. There is so much happening here now and I'm so sad I'm going to miss John and Amelia's baptisms in the upcoming weeks and hopefully Eddie and the other John's. I've come to love everyone we teach and the members that it will be hard to leave. 

Me and Amelia! She's getting baptized on Nov. 11th!!

This past week and a half has been packed with teaching and other things. Last Tuesday we had exchanges with the South Charleston Sisters. I went out with Sister Paulson and had such a great time! I LOVED being with the other Sisters for a day, we were nonstop laughing the whole time. A girl who just got back from her mission in France came with Sister Paulson and I to see a couple people. One of them was an elderly man named Jim who I will never forget. He welcomes us at his doorstep and we talk a little bit. Then he asks us if we want a Christmas CD and we say sure, why not. So he let's us into his house and it is COVERED in THOUSANDS of CD's. Apparently he has like devoted his life to burning CD's so that he can share music with people. So he goes over to one shelf and gives each of us a CD and then goes to another and gives us all two more. Then he tells us to follow him and he plays a CD and it's a voice recording of him saying things he's learned in life. Like "You can either be squirrel food or the seed of a mighty oak, it depends on where you plant yourself" and a whole bunch of other phrases. We had to fight hard to not laugh. He was such a kind man and I would visit him all the time if I lived here. And I got some nice things to listen to during Christmas time :)  

Sister Condie owed me Cold Stone because she bet me I couldn't go a whole day without our car monitor telling me to slow down lol (it's very sensitive

On Friday we helped a member we teach move. We hit the jackpot there as she was getting rid of A TON of her old clothes and we got first dibs:) I basically have a new closet. 

Every time we teach John I am amazed at how prepared he is. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he doesn't have a problem with a single thing! That's unheard of in West Virginia! And he asked us about tithing and how he could pay it BEFORE we ever mentioned it. This guy is going to be sooo strong in the gospel. Thankfully Sister Condie can send me pictures of his baptism :) 

Bro Schmith! Every missionary's grandpa away from home, he joined the church about 3 years ago:)

Well, not a lot happened this week other than teaching and finding. Teay's Valley is doing so well and I'm really going to be sad to leave it. I will miss Sister Condie so much and am so glad I got her as a trainer because I learned from her everyday. We were shocked when we got the call I was leaving because President kept telling us how much he liked us together. I know I'm needed somewhere else though and can't wait to figure out why that is!

I love you all and hope this week is great!

Sister de la Cruz

 More pics done by Sister Schempp

Exploring Charleston

A picture from Sister Schempp!

Hey Y'all!

I hope everyone's week has been great:) We had a pretty good week here in Teay's Valley for not being in Teay's Valley as much as we would have liked. First, we had interviews with President Lindhardt at the mission office in Charleston which was so great! He gave me good tips on how I can study so I can keep improving in my missionary work! I love him so much and know that part of the reason I came to West Virginia was so that I could have him as my mission president. 

Charleston

A house built by the governor in the 1930's 

On Friday we had to travel to Montgomery for District Meeting in the Furniture store again. I can't tell you enough how much I love the other 6 missionaries in our District! Sister Condie and I made Pumpkin Gingerbread for it that was a lot harder to make here than in Washington! I have to learn how to bake all over again but it still turned out good. Then we went to Charleston to get an oil change and to get our car looked at because it was making a weird noise when we turned right.  They said it would take a couple hours to complete so one of Sister Condie's old Ward Mission Leaders and his wife gave us a tour of Charleston. We went to different view points and visited some really cool old houses. I love the old architecture and how much history the city has. It's SOO pretty!  We got back to the car place and they still hadn't figured out what was wrong with it so we had to wait even longer. In total we had to wait almost 4 hours. And then they told us a strut was broken so we have to go back on Wednesday so they can fix it and they said that will take about 5 hours! Because it's out of our area all we can do is plan during that time. 

 Our neighbors, Bill and Louis. They had taken us out to lunch that day.

John, the awesome guy we found last week, came to church yesterday! He was so excited to come and there was a kid's baptism after church so we asked him if he wanted to stay for it. He told us that he couldn't because he'd have to have a blow dryer to dry off a medical thing he has when he gets baptized. We just laughed and told him that he wouldn't be getting baptized that day, just the kid. I'm so excited to see John become a part of this ward family!

My GORGEOUS companion!

Ok, another story about people being put in our path. So, earlier this week we were on our way to see a less-active member that we hadn't met before. As we were walking down the street we saw two ladies who were talking outside their house and one of them had a dog on a leash. As we walked past them the dog started going crazy and pulling one of the ladies towards us. She was finally able to yank the dog inside and turned to say sorry to us. They looked a lot like twins and so Sister Condie asked them if they were sister and we just had a brief conversation with them. They were sisters and one of them asked us what we were. We told them that we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Mormons!" one of them shouted. She then went on to explain that she had done a ton of research about Mormons and thought we were the coolest people ever! She had watched videos about missionaries, she knew about the welfare programs we have, and loved how much the church is focused around families. She even said that whenever she's not feeling great she'll google "Mormon Beliefs" just to be uplifted. Talk about being prepared. And she told us that Elders had knocked on her door right before she moved from Tennessee and talked to her a bit. She is so excited to have us come back and teach her more and really wants to come to church! She said that her only set back she has right now is that she smokes but she can work on it.  

The Lord really does work miracles. I have seen them occur with so many people as they put their trust in him. I love it here and wish you all a happy and successful week!

I love you all!

Sister de la Cruz

Also, 
Side note: Next week is transfers so P-Day will be on Wednesday. And I don't know if I'm getting transferred so if you are planning on sending me anything send it to the Mission Office just to be safe:

888 Oakwood Rd Suite 310
Charleston, WV 25314

General Conference

Hey Ya'll!

This weekend was so uplifting with conference! For those of you unfamiliar with General Conference, every 6 months we get to hear from the Lord's Prophet, Apostles, and other general authorities! It is amazing how personal each message is even though it's given to the entire world. I especially loved how President Uchtdorf open the Conference by sharing how by living the gospel our life will be better and God will use us to make the lives of others better. And then how Sister Oscarson followed that by reminding us that we need to lose ourselves in the service of others and that we shouldn't focus on what we can get out of church and other activities but instead ask ourselves, "Who needs me today?" I'm excited to get the written version of the talks soon and study them even more!

You know how we're told that people are constantly being prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel? Well, this week we found someone who has been preparing to receive it for the past five years and is now on date to be baptized next month! It was amazing how the Lord has had a hand in his preparation. John had cancer and almost died five years ago and since then has been trying to learn more about and get closer to God. He has been searching for a church but each one he went to just seemed like it was missing something. The day we found him we had knocked on all his neighbors doors but moved on without knocking on his. Then later that night we were walking back to our truck and had the feeling to go back and knock on his door. He answered and was so excited to meet with us again! He later told us that he had gotten home only shortly before that and so if we would have knocked on his door when we were there earlier we wouldn't have met him. I know that the Lord was guiding us that day and made sure that we were sent to him when he needed us. As Elder Rasband said in Conference, "Everyting is by divine design". There is no such thing as coincidence. John loved Joseph Smith's testimony and has been reading the Book of Mormon since!

On Thursday we went and had lunch with Sister Schempp. She is awesome and has recently started to get into photography and the violin. She let Sister Condie play around on her violin and asked if she could take a few pictures of me to practice. I, of course, agreed and did a little mini photoshoot before we had to get back to work. We then arranged for us to come back today so that she could practice some more and we could get our pictures taken! Being a model is hard! I have a new respect for them! It was so much fun though and I'm excited to see how the pictures turn out. 

Before conference on Sunday we taught our other John who is preparing for baptism next month the Word of Wisdom. He has been chewing tobacco for over 40 years and I was amazed at how much faith he had that he was willing to try and give it up for the Lord. We promised him that as he did so and relied on the Savior that he could do it and he would see the blessings come into his life. I'm so excited for what lays in store for him as he continues to keep the commitments we leave him! 

I love this gospel so much and know how much it can change a person's life!

I love you all and hope everyone has a great week!

Sister de la Cruz

Knocking Down Walls

On our way to tear down the house

Hi Y'all!

The weeks are flying by! I swear each one is shorter than the last. This week we had Zone Conference and afterwards we got to do service in a town that got destroyed by floods last summer. I was in a group that was in charge of clearing out a house. We knocked down all the walls and basically stripped it of everything but the frame. It was SOO much fun. But also a ton of work. We were exhausted for pretty much the rest of the week. I loved seeing all the missionaries in our Zone (about 30) come together and get so much work done in a few short hours. I hope we get to do more service in the near future because the people there were so grateful and I loved helping them. 

At the Service Project with our yellow "Helping Hands" t-shirts

I gave a talk this Sunday on how to get over the challenges of sharing the gospel. While preparing the talk I realized that the most important thing we can do is have faith. We all have the responsibility to share what we know and we can do that if we ask for and have the faith to find people who are ready to hear the gospel. And we have to have the faith that when we do find them that we'll be helped. Sister Condie and I also taught about Eternal Families in the Gospel Principles class and it was great because we had two people that we are teaching come!

This week I have truly seen the happiness the gospel brings into people's lives. John, a man that we are teaching, has come to church a couple times with us and this Sunday he was happier than we've ever seen him before! He was laughing and making jokes, a totally different person than the guy who answered the door when we found him! Before, he was full of guilt and sorrow and really wanted to change his life around and now he is full of hope and optimism! It's simply because he has started to rely on Christ and His Atonement. There are also some less-active members who have started to come to church lately and in the past couple weeks we have seen their countenances change! They are smiling more and are such a joy to be around! I'm so happy I get to help bring people to the knowledge of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and see this change in them. 

So funny story...We knocked into this lady Vickie and she told us we could come back...so we went back on the day she told us to...we knock on the door and we hear this deep voice that yells, "Come in!" So we peep our heads through the door and there is this shirtless man just sitting on the couch...we ask if Vickie is there and he said, "No, but she'll be back tomorrow evening." So fast forward to the next night....we go and try her again...knock on the door, the same voice tells us to come in...so we peep our heads in again and the same shirtless man is on the couch and told us that she's in the back room...so we go into the back room and she's asleep....well on our way out she wakes up and tells us to come the next day....so we do....*knocks on door* same voice...same shirtless man....and Vickie was not there...LOL we just walked away and decided to give her a couple weeks...and for the shirtless man not to be there...

I hope y'all have a great week and stay safe!

We chopped our hair!