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

The Power of the Chapel

Hey Y'all!

This has been a great week full of more miracles here in Elkins. We took one of our investigators, Joyce, on a tour of the church on Friday and it was probably one of the most spiritual experiences I've had on my mission. We have been teaching her for a couple months now and she's really scared of new experiences and meeting new people and so we decided that if we showed her around the church before Sunday that it would help her get used to it. So we took her into the chapel and just ended up talking to her for awhile in there and she opened up about praying and asking God if this Church is where she needed to be and how she hadn't received her answer yet. We felt impressed to promise her that if she prayed right there right then that she would get her answer. And so she did...and we sat there for a couple minutes in silence after she said asked God again for an answer. Then we went to the back of the Chapel and showed her the baptismal font and Sister Mikesell started to ask her a question but she only got to "If you..." And Joyce said, "Yes! I will get baptized." It was such an amazing experience and when we were done showing her around we asked her if she received her answer from God. She told us that when she was standing at the back of the Chapel she got a chill down her spine, the same one she got when Bro Reams gave her a blessing a few weeks before, and she knew that it was God telling her that this was where she needed to be. I know that God answered her prayer that day in a way that she would understand and that this Church is truly where she belongs. I'm so excited for her and her journey back to Heavenly Father. 

 Us and the Buckhannon Sisters at the Philippi Chapel

On Saturday we went on Exchanges with the Bridgeport Sisters again. I was with Sister Anderson this time and we had a great time in Grafton, WV.  Fun fact, she grew up by Everett, WA:) Pictures of the exchange to come next week. On Sunday we had another miracle. After sacrament meeting we were looking around and saw someone we had never met before and so we went over and introduced ourselves. She told us that one of her friends recommended our church to her so she came to see what it was like! She is sooo cool. We sat by her in Sunday School and Relief Society and she participated and fit right in! She told us that she should have come sooner! The ward did a great job welcoming her and she said that she'll be back next week. We got her phone number and hopefully we will start teaching her soon! The only problem is that she is moving to Virginia soon so we don't know how long she will be in Elkins. 

One of Joyce's cats, Thomas. 

FYI: Our mission office address that you can send mail to changed. It is now 839 Chestnut St. South Charleston, WV 25309 :) 

Can't wait for another week here in Elkins! President told us in interviews last week that either Sister Mikesell or myself will be leaving after this transfer, probably me because I've been here the longest, so we're making this last bit of time together count! Today I hit 7-months out on my mission. I can't believe that I've already been out that long. A couple more months and I'll be halfway which is a scary thought! It's cool to see how much I've already done though and to be able to do so much more with the help of the Lord in these next 11 months! 

Love you all and have a great week!

Sister de la Cruz

"I Don't Want to Sound Rude But..."

Hey Y'all!

Not a whole lot of interesting things happened this week. We were able to help clean a less active house (the one we miraculously found and help thaw her pipes). In gratitude she gave each of us a beautiful necklace that she made. Mine is made of crystal and is a very vibrant turquoise color.

  Sister Maxfield and I reunited at Zone Conference 

Yesterday we had one of our investigators that we were really excited about drop us by leaving a note on his door that said "Thank you for your time, I don't believe. I don't want to sound rude but go away and don't come back" We were pretty heart broken because we had felt like he was actually starting to believe in God. Although it hurts, we're still glad we were able to plant a seed that missionaries in the future will be able to harvest. 

 How many missionaries does it take to change a light bulb? 2 and Elder 

On Wednesday we spent a good part of the day learning how to do a little bit of house maintenance. One of our smoke alarms starting beeping and we spent like 20 minutes trying to replace the batteries. Then our kitchen lights went out. And they are the long four foot lights that neither Sister Mikesell are familiar with. We spent a good chunk of the night trying to figure out how to take them out and then another good bit trying to figure out how to put them back in. You'd think changing a light bulb would be a little easier. 

Things are still going well over here in Elkins and we're hoping for another great week!

Love you all!

Sister de la Cruz

The Light the Gospel Brings

Hey Y'all!

It has been another great week here in Elkins! This week our Zone focused on finding more people to teach and so our Zone Leaders asked us to plan an hour each day of pure finding. It was amazing how as we began the hour with a prayer and then got to work how many people the Lord put into our path. We found 5 new people to teach this week and I am so grateful that God knows exactly what each of these people need. He is guiding the work and I'm just glad I don't have to do this mission by myself. 

My Action Figure :) Thank you Sister Van Tassell! I love her!!

Yesterday we were driving to Parsons with the Bays and all of the sudden everyone in the car screams and we hear this really loud thump. I was freaking out not knowing what was happening. I looked back out the window and saw a few turkeys fly away and one nail the ground. A flock of turkeys had flown in front of our car and Elder Bay hit one! I wanted to go back and get it and give it to the Elders to stuff but Elder Bay wouldn't stop. Luckily it didn't hurt the car in any way. 

I've really been able to see how the Lord is taking care of me on my mission. Last week, the wire in my permanent retainer on my top teeth snapped. I thought I was going to have to go to Bridgeport, an hour and a half drive, to the nearest orthodontist and have to pay a lot to get it fixed. Amazingly though I mentioned it to a ward member and he told me that he worked for a dentist in town and they would be willing to fix it for free! So we went in and they patched it up and now it's as good as new! Heavenly Father really is looking out for him missionaries. It was a miracle that it had snapped in a place where I had a ward member who could fix it.  

Painting on our Wall of all the Missionaries who have lived in our apartment

About to destroy Sis Mikesell with my golden hand of Warriors of the Promised Land. 

Earlier this week Sister Mikesell and I noticed how different we feel on our missions. It's almost like we're in a bubble, free from the world. We still have stressful things we go through and things are hard but it's weird how light and happy we feel. And this is how I want to feel for the rest of my life. I guess it just comes when we focus our time on things that actually matter and build our relationship with our Savior. It's been a wonderful experience helping people find this peace in their life and see the change in them. We have a member who has been less-active for the past couple years and as we've been starting to teach him we've seen him just become happier! He even told us that his neighbors have noticed the difference and he has more light in his life. 

That's all for this week and I hope everyone is doing well! Thank you for all the love and support!

Sister de la Cruz

"Watch, the water is going to break tomorrow."

Hey Y'all! 

The Zone Leaders skinned and stuffed a squirrel

Transfers were this week annnnddddd.......I'm staying in Elkins with Sister Mikesell..big surprise there. I love it here and so I'm glad I get to be here for at least another 6 weeks. So many interesting things have happened recently. To start off last week I had a whole bunch of name tag issues. Monday morning Sister Mikesell and I were in the kitchen and my magnet name tag fell off. I picked up the main part but we searched and searched for the magnet and could not find it anywhere. Finally we just gave up and luckily when I had ordered my last name tag it had come with an extra magnet so I could just use that. Then, later that same day we get home and I look down and my name tag isn't there! We again searched the apartment with no luck. I just assumed it was a goner and called the mission office and ordered a new one. Later that night at 9pm we get a call from a member and Sister Mikesell just starts laughing. The member had asked if I had lost my name tag and said that one of her friends had found it at Kroger's Gas Station and that it would be waiting for me there so the next day we went and picked it up. I thought I was free from any more name tag issues for a while but then on Tuesday we were in a lesson and my pin name tag somehow fell off and piece of it broke off and now I can't use that one! At least I ordered another one that should be coming in the mail soon. 

My name tag in the gas station waiting for us

On Thursday night Sister Mikesell told me she had this really weird feeling to take a shower before going to bed. She said that the thought just kept coming into her mind for some reason. I told her to just take one to be safe and jokingly I said that the water was going to break the next day and so she did. Now here's the REALLY weird thing.... the next day at lunch I turned on the sink and the pressure was super low. I told her to come and look and we both looked at each other and ran to her shower. She turned it on and there was a slight trickle and I just died laughing on her bathroom floor. I really couldn't believe it. The water wasn't working. When we left the apartment after lunch part of our road was blocked off and there were people working on something under the road, probably a water line, and when we came back at night our water was fine. I don't know why Sister Mikesell felt like she needed to take a shower but whatever it was was really weird. 

At the Baptism of Ron last week with the Zone Leaders and STL's

The Ski Resort

We got a request from someone asking for a bible this week and so on Sunday we went and delivered it to him. The only problem was that he lived over an hour away and we don't have very many miles we can use so the Bay's so graciously agreed to drive us there. It turned out that the guy lived at a ski resort on the top of a huge mountain so we made the trek up there and had to navigate through all the skiers, trying not to get in their way. It was a very pretty drive and I'm glad we got to see more of West Virginia that we otherwise wouldn't have been able to. 

Can't wait for another week! Hope all is well with all of you!

Sister de la Cruz