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