Cardston, the VERY windy city! (April 28)

As much as I love Cardston, the wind here is crazy!!! When it's not snowing it's windy and cold :( haha and when you think the weather is starting to warm up then you wake up to snow EVERYWHERE! My district spent the day on Saturdayshoveling snow off of peoples driveways and sidewalks. Sister Gonzalez and I woke up so sore Sunday morning, but it was worth it serving others and getting fit in the process! haha

    This week was very slow and discouraging because everyone is gone on their Easter break and we dropped two investigators after praying about it because they weren't progressing, so sad! So this Sunday we fasted for our area and to find more investigators. In one of the sacrament meetings we attended that day I opened my scriptures to D&C 58: 4 and 6 which says "For after much tribulation come the blessings...Behold, verily I say unto you, for this cause I have sent you-that you might be obedient, and that your hearts might be prepared to bear testimony of the things which are to come." When I read this I realized that Heavenly Father is preparing us for better things and we have to go through trials before we receive blessings, even though that is sometimes hard to do.

    We got to go to a baptism on Saturday for the sisters investigator that's in the other stake. The spirit was so strong there and I was so grateful to be able to witness such an amazing event in this woman's life. It makes me beyond excited to be able to help someone experience this and have the gospel in their life! :) Our potential investigator, Chelsea, should be back from her Easter break so I'm hoping we can start teaching her this week :)

    I'm so grateful to be out here, serving the people in Cardston. I love this gospel with all my heart!! I hope you all have a great week this week :) I love you!!!

Love always,

Sister O'Dell

Heart attacked an older lady's door with scriptures and love!

It's me! :) (April 21)

   So much happened this week, let's see if I can remember it all!! haha Well as you heard Sister Rose had an emergency transfer, still not sure why, but she's in my zone!!!! :) We had a zone meeting this week and when we saw each other we just ran and hugged for like 10 minutes!!! We were both crying and so happy to see one another. It is such blessing that I will get to see her more often now :) I love her so much!!

    We had a 9 year old girl that we were teaching the lessons too, her mom is less-active and her dad is anti-Mormon, and she was going to be baptized!! But her dad wouldn't give her permission so they dropped us :( We were super sad and the other investigators we are working with aren't really progressing so we just felt like we were stuck. So last sunday we fasted and worked our butts off and were able to visit a ton of less actives! One of them is even going to go through the temple soon and we will get to be there with her!!! :) The biggest miracle was we got a phone call from a member who has someone for us to teach!!!! :) This member is a teacher at the high school and she's been talking to one of her student's, Chelsea, who has always been interested but hasn't been able to do anything about it because her parents wont let her. Well she just turned 18 and she wants the lessons!!! Those should be starting this week hopefully :) Sister Gonzalez and I feel so happy and blessed!

    While we were driving around trying to visit people I suggested we visited our less active, Suzzane. Turns out she was having a really bad day and she was so happy that we came to see her. At the time I didn't realize that the Holy Ghost had prompted me to go see her, but I am so glad I listened! This woman is amazing. She literally has no family that wants her in their life and she is just so lonely with a disease called Crest. She is pretty much slowly dying and it's a miracle she's lived this long! But she is so positive and she said that she has all this love to give and no one to give it to so she is going to give all her love to sister Gonzalez and I :) When we visited her she had a bunch of easter candy for us, it made my day!!!

    Then on Friday our district came up with an easter program for the elderly at the Chinook and sang easter songs and shared scriptures. They just loved it!! I even sang a solo!!! I sang the first verse of A Child's prayer, sister gonzalez sang the second then we sang together :) I was so surprised at myself for doing that but I am so glad I did after seeing how happy it made them :)

    Yesterday was Easter! Happy Easter :) Sister Gonzalez and I spoke in two wards and taught a lesson for someone'ssunday school class, so we were super busy yesterday! Usually when I write talks I have to write every single word that I want to say haha but this time since I'm so busy during the week I just wrote down the topics and scriptures I wanted to talk about and just had to have faith the spirit would help me speak and it did! It's amazing what faith can do :) While I was writing my talk I felt prompted to write a poem about my Savior and so I did and shared it with everyone. And now I'll share it with you :)

The love the Savior has for us

It's a love that indescribable.

We are engraved upon His hands

He knows us by name.

He suffered and bled from every pore

for every sorrow and sin we have.

He went though all that agony,

so that we can repent,

and be with our Brother again.

The sick he healed and raised the dead

and one by one blessed each child.

Not for the praise, but because of love.

He was rejected and spat upon

by those who didn't understand

the love and truth He had for each one of them.

Nailed upon the cross,

He forgave those men

who ignored the truth that

they were crucifying their Savior.

But three days later,

He overcame that death

and we can too, if we believe in Him.

Jesus Christ is our strength.

He is the Resurrection and the light.

    Later that night Sister Gonzalez and I went back home to do some training and studying. As soon as we got in our comfy clothes the phone rings and we couldn't understand anything other than she wanted us right away and her address. A bit hesitant because we didn't want to be the sequel to the Saratov Approach ;) haha we went anyways! It turned out to be an older couple and the wife has been bed-ridden almost a year with Parkisans (idk how to spell it) disease. The husband had went to church and heard our talks and thought they were so great that he wanted us to share them with his wife. It was amazing to hear that our talks had made a difference in someone's life! The wife told us how it's best if you have a compliment for someone to say it to their face so she gave us a bunch of compliments and called me a "dashing daisy" hahah :)

    I hope you all had a fantastic week and Easter!! I love you all so much!!! :)

Love,

Sister O'Dell

Sister Gonzalez and Sister O'Dell.

Visiting with Katelyn and Lilly.

Posing with Brian!

One Month Down! (April 14)

    I can't believe I've been out a month already! Anyway, this week was not the greatest because I got the stomach flu :( That was not fun! But now I'm thankfully feeling better! Friday we drove up to Cardston for retrainers and we get to the mission home, knocked on the door and no one answers. So we call our zone leaders and they call the AP's and turns out our zone leaders told us the wrong date! The meeting was Saturday not Friday. The president said not to drive back up Saturday and that he will train me this week one-on-one. I am so sad I didn't get to see sister Rose! Lesson learned here, don't ever believe what the elders tell you :)

    I thought being on a cow farm was awesome until this week I saw a cow give birth!!!!!!! Oh my gosh it was amazing and so gross hahah the baby calf is so adorable and the mom instinctively just starts licking and loving her baby, it was so cute :) I wonder what I'll see this week! hahah :)

    Yesterday we finally got to visit mountain view ward. Being over 7 wards is crazy on sundays! Everyone is so nice, I love it. There was this one older guy who kept coming up to me and spoke to me in French on purpose and expected me to somehow understand him suddenly after just talking to him 2 minutes earlier, so weird haha Then later on that day we helped out our ward mission leader pass out invitations to a ward chili cook off. As we were driving around trying to find the members houses I just felt drawn to this blue house so we stopped by it. It turned out to be this guy Lance who is a NON-MEMBER!!! Most of the population in Cardston are members and our ward leader hadn't heard of this guy yet so this was awesome! We invited him to the cook off and we are praying he'll come!!! This was such an amazing experience for me that the Holy Ghost really is with me and is trying to guide me, but I just have to listen and ACT!

    I hope everyone has a great week, especially as it is almost Easter Sunday. I know that my Savior died for me and for every single one of you so that we could live with Him again and I know that He lives!!! I am so grateful for this gospel and for my Savior. I love you all!!

Love,

Sister O'Dell

It's me again! (April 7)

Hey everyone! :)   

    This week I got to go to a cow farm!! My life is complete now :) There were millions of cows roaming everywhere and it's calving season so there's a ton of babies!! Awhhh :) Then on Wednesday we went to the Chinook which is a retirement home and the woman have relief society on that day so sis. gonzalez and I got to go! It was so funny because so many of them were falling asleep and there was even one lady who fell asleep next to me and her head was almost leaning on my shoulder haha they're all so cute! On Friday they had their town seminary talent show in their little movie theater and we got to go to that because sis. gonzalez and I and the other set of sisters PERFORMED! We all sang "Emma" from the Joseph Smith Tribute CD. It was fun doing something new!

    Last Tuesday we visited an 8 year old girl who wants to be baptized but since her family was inactive and they're just barely starting to come back to church the bishop said she wasn't ready to be baptized so that means we get to teach her the lessons. So we went to their house and tried teaching the first lesson, The Restoration, and it was just so hectic in there and the girl wasn't really paying attention and we didn't feel like we were really getting through to her. But as soon as I started to talk about Joseph Smith and talk about the first vision the house seemed to get quite and the little girl locked eyes with me the whole time and you could feel the spirit so strong. It was such a cool experience! It's amazing what the spirit can do. :)

    While we were out tracking this week we met this elderly woman who turns out to be an inactive and has a problem with the word of wisdom. Her house was filled with cigarettes and sis. gonzalez and I came out of there smelling like a smoker!!! hahah #sistermissionaryproblems But we are excited to get to know here and other less actives we have met and try and help them become closer to Christ again!  

    Conference this weekend was AMAZING! I felt like every talk helped me in someway. It answered questions I had and even told me things I didn't really realize I needed! And this was the first conference I watched every single session and talk without falling asleep! hahaha so I'm pretty proud of myself :) What was everyone's favorite talk? I was thinking about you all the whole weekend!

     For april fools we got pranked!! We totally thought it was the elders but it turned out to be Sis. Zemp (the woman that we are living with)!! She had put blankets in the shape of a body on my bed with a wig on the pillow to look like a body and then she put a bloody face in the pickle jar in our fridge!! It was hilarious and it definitely scared us!! I thought it would be weird living with members but I actually really like it. It's nice to know that there's always someone there if you need them. :)

     Well that was my week!! I hope everyone had a great week and an amazing spiritual weekend!! Love you all!! :)

Love,

Sister O'Dell

Sister O'Dell and Sister Gonzalez.

The funny April fools prank by Sister Zemp.

And the other April fools prank! 

Hello:) (March 31)

I've finally decided that Cardston is probably the size of Snowflake, Arizona! So small! But I'm loving it :) I'm loving my companion, Sister Gonzalez, more and more everyday! We have so much fun together in every situation which I'm so grateful for. I can officially say I've experienced what it's like to slide on the ice when driving and to get your car stuck in snow! Not fun! (don't worry mom and dad it wasn't bad and I'm safe!) haha Oh! Snowflakes really do look like snowflakes! haha It was pretty cool to see the snow fall on me and get to finally see all of it's intricate details. So pretty!

We have dinner at someones house every single night :) We've over 7 wards so each ward gets to feed us one night a week. It's been fun getting to know all the members and sharing a message with them every night. Every single house I've been to has stairs going up to their front porch, not one house is actually on the ground I've realized. Probably because of all of the snow!This week I got to meet a few less actives. I met with the Decottignies who are French (a mother who only speaks French, and her son who speaks French and English). At the beginning the mom was talking a ton of French to her son and I asked Sis Gonzalez what they were saying after we left and the mom was mad that we were there and wanted to know what we wanted and the son pretty much told his mom to shut up and let him listen to us hahahah what a sweet relationship! Sis. Gonzalez has been sick all week so we haven't been able to do much this week which I totally understood but I was feeling like...I didn't have a purpose here in Cardston yet because I felt like I wasn't doing much. But on Thursday we got to visit with this older lady, Wendy, who's really sick and just lays in bed all day. She's always in so much pain and her kids don't really talk to her. but while we were visiting her she told us she was gaining her memory back and her kids were talking to her again (such a miracle.) We shared with her D&C 32:25 ( I think) about being steadfast in Christ and that just made her day. She couldn't see that well anymore to read the scriptures and she was so grateful for us to visit her and read to her. After we left I just felt so happy and got the thought this is why I'm here. I'm here to bring others to Christ and it doesn't necessarily have to be through finding brand new people to teach lessons and baptize. Sometimes, actually a lot of those times we need to be helping those around us and take that time to help them draw closer to Christ but also for us to be more Christ like. It was just a cool experience for me and made me realize Heavenly Father is always with me.

Sunday was a bit crazy. We were only able to visit 3 out of the 7 wards but I enjoyed getting to know more members! Then every sunday night they have mission prep and we get to help out with that :) We also help with seminary on Tuesdays! I might be going to the Cardston temple this week or next week! :) I can't wait! And sometime before I transfer go to Waterton National park and take a tour of the amish community here. They're called something else other than amish but I can't remember! There are a lot of amish and native americans that live here, and old people! Today our whole zone always go to the Leavitts house for Pday (they're in our stake and the nicest people ever). In their house you go through a door upstairs and it's like Narnia! haha It's like walking into another world of fun hahah they have every game imaginable and racquetball and volleyball and pool and everything! I'm excited :) Then tonight we have a lesson with a 9 year old girl, Ana Unger :) She's an investigator! I'll let you know how that goes next week :)

Well that's my week! I hope you all are having an amazing day :) I pray for you all every night :) love you!!!

Love,

Sister O'Dell

Sister O'Dell at Dairy Queen. She still loves her Oreo Blizzards!

Outside the Cardston temple with Sister Gonzalez

I'm Officially in Canada! (March 26)

 Hey everyone! I'm finally in Canada now! :) and there is snow everywhere! It's been snowing alllll day. It's been so awesome. I'm allowed to email you today to let you know that I'm safe in Canada now. But I can email again next Monday on my PDay!

     Yesterday from the airport the mission president, his wife, and assistants picked us up from the airport and drove us to the mission home. The streets and yards are covered in snow! Apparently for this time of the year it's not supposed to be still snowing but I'm so glad that I can finally see the snow! Then we just spent the rest of the day at the mission home and they talked to us about what all goes on and what not. Then that night we got to meet our trainer companions! But my companion wasn't there because she is serving in an area that's farther away but I met her this morning when we all get transferred. Her name is Sister Gonzalez and she seems super nice and fun! She is from Quebec Canada and she speaks Spanish, French and English! After that we went to walmart to get a few things since the area where we are serving is pretty small haha I'm serving in Cardston! It's 3 hours away from the mission home.There is so much farm land here! Definitely a smaller town than queen creek hahah The Cardston temple is literally down the street from where I'm living! I'm actually emailing in the family visitors center which is right next door to the temple so hopefully I can go in there soon! And guess what! My companion doesn't have a license so I have to drive!! AAAHHH!! I've been driving around everywhere today and it's a bit scary since I don't know where anything is and over here they drive so slow! But I'll be in this area for 12 weeks since that 's how long it'll take for sister gonzalez to train me. I live in a members house with a couple that are around their 50's I think. We live in their basement and we have our own little kitchen down there along with our room and our own desks to study at.

     It seriously doesn't seem real that I'm here yet. This is crazy! And I guess Cardston is like a mini Utah haha and they spoil the missionaries! And we get to eat at a few places for free, like Dairy Queen, once a week!

    So after emailing we have a dinner appointment then if we have time meet with a less active. And that'll be my day!

    I love you guys so much! I hope you all are having an awesome day! :)

Love,

Sister O'Dell

Sister Kinsey O'Dell officially in Canada!

Lots of snow outside the mission president's home.

Sister O'Dell and her companion Sister Gonzalez