Transfers! (July 29)

Transfers is this week and it turns out I'm staying here in Cardston for another transfer! I get to pick up my new companion tomorrow. :) After this transfer I've been in Cardston for 6 months! Super excited to see why I'm meant to be here for so long. :)

Not much happened this week other than we had Jody's baptism on Saturday!! Though that morning she called and said she had some family things she had to take care of that morning and said she hopes she can make it to her own baptism...! Then she calls later on and said she is coming but is going to be late and so everyone was there at 1 pm for her baptism but she didn't come until 1:40...haha But in the end she was baptized and she has never been happier!

We met with the Freeman family this week! I just love talking to them because every time we do you can just tell they are getting more and more prepared! Hopefully we will start teaching them soon. We have so many potential investigators and I am so excited for the next 6 weeks to see what happens with them!

Sorry for such a short email, hopefully more happens this week! I love you all and hope you have a great week. :)

Love,

Sister O'Dell  

Sister O'Dell hiking Bertha Falls, a hike that is all up hill!! 

Sister O'Dell with Elle and Emma Atwood! 

Sister O'Dell showing her American and Canadian Pride!

Sister O'Dell and her district.

What's Sleep Again? (July 21)

 I think my weeks are getting busier and busier! Pretty much every hour of our days this week has been filled! On Tuesday we had our district meeting and our district leader Elder Gordon had me do some of the training...! haha It was about keeping commitments and I realized that in order for our investigators or less-actives to keep commitments we ourselves need to be committed! Then that night we had some time so we went to Aetna to see a family, the Aitkins, that was referred to us. They are non-members and their daughter went to girls camp and just loved it and now they want to learn about the gospel. :) When we got there the mom, Yana, answered the door and was like "are you the missionaries from the church? Come on in!" She asked us a bunch of questions and right then and there taught her the first lesson! She was baptized in a few churches but none of them are here in Cardston and she doesn't even know why she moved here in the first place! I've realized that a lot with non-members that move here, they never know why they move to a small town like Cardston. Though I think I know why... :) Heavenly Father is preparing them that's for sure! He is also definitely preparing another family, the Freeman's! They are a super awesome family from England that have no idea why they moved here but they know there's a big reason and they are just trying to find out what that reason is. :) The dad is always at work but the one time we stop by to see them he's there! We got to meet the whole family and talk with them and get to know them. We had a great gospel discussion and the dad, Matt, was just in shock that we CHOSE to serve a mission! So excited to meet with them again!

     On Wednesday we went and visited the Orbins, the family from Hungary. They just love having us over and want us to come again because once again we weren't at their house long enough haha but this week we are going to meet with them and teach them the first lesson!

      Saturday morning we got to go to stand off for Indian Days and served pancakes to all of the Natives! That was pretty fun! Then that night our investigator Susan cooked us "authentic" Mexican food. Canada definitely does not have good Mexican food like back at home that's for sure! But grateful for Susan for trying. :) During our dinner she admitted to some of the struggles she was having and asked about getting a priesthood blessing. She didn't know much about it but had the faith that it would help her. After a priesthood holder gave her a blessing she had tears in her eyes and said she just felt so at peace. I am so grateful that she was able to have this experience and feel the Holy Ghost so strongly. I can't wait to meet with her again and see how much her testimony has grown!

     Yesterday was Sister Martin's birthday! A bunch of the YSA cooked her a birthday dinner and made us Ukrainian food haha it was delicious! The night before we had a "movie night" watching the Joseph Smith movie with a YSA investigator and the YSA came and watched it with us! I just think it's so funny that a bunch of YSA would choose to watch the Joseph Smith movie with the sisters on a Saturday night...! hahah

    This Saturday we also have a baptism!! Jody Manyfingers :) I am so excited for her! Her biggest problem that she has been dealing with is drinking coffee and she hasn't drank coffee in over a week. Love seeing her testimony grow and strengthen even through the trials she is going through leading up to her baptism. She has such a sweet spirit and I am so grateful for this chance to teach her and get to know her. :)

 Well I hope everyone is having a great week and are sharing this amazing gospel with everyone they meet! Love you all. :)

Love,

Sister O'Dell

Sister O'Dell with the Hungarian kids that shes teaches.

The house Sister O'Dell and her companions are living in.

The Church is True! (July 14)

  Such a crazy week! Though it's nothing out of the ordinary! Tuesday we had our zone training meeting and last transfers our zone got bigger so we have 16 elders and 7 sisters. Such a big zone! Then that night I got to try some Croatian pancakes. :) Which are pretty much like crepes and are so delicious! We help out at the English Learning Class and we have a few Croatians that take that class, that's how we know some Croatians hear in Canada. :) hahah Then on Wednesday we were invited over to this Hungarian family's house. They are investigators and the elders have been working a bit with them but I finally got to meet them on Canada day and they wanted to get to know me better and my new companions. While we were there we played a Hungarian memory game with their two kids as they laughed at us as we tried to sound out those Hungarian words! haha Being with this Hungarian family made me think of Jordan and made me grateful that I don't have to learn Hungarian. :) haha They loved us so much that they called us the next day and invited us back over this Wednesday because we didn't spend as much time with them as they liked! haha It's nice having people chase after us instead of us chasing after them! hahah Earlier that day on Wednesday I got to go out to lunch with the amazing Kendra and Doug Tanner and they're adorable girls. :) Loved spending time with them and seeing familiar faces from home! Shout out to my Sierra Vista ward at home, love and miss you all!! :)

     On Thursday for our district finding activity we went singing down main street again. We actually got a lot of people to stop and let us sing them a song! One guy wouldn't let us sing to him though because he worships satan...haha and the other guy said he was in a rush to get high....haha But we met this girl Martha who is from a colony (not Amish but I don't know how to spell it...Heridite? lol) but anyway she invited us to her colony one time to sing hymns with them! They don't normally talk to us so it was exciting to be able to talk to her.

     We have been so busy teaching our investigators and less actives that we have to go on splits a lot to get all of this done! We had a lesson with Jody Manyfingers, our investigator who is now getting baptized on July 26! :) She is a native that's married to a less active who is starting to come back now but she isn't a member. The few times I've been able to teach Jody I've been able to see her progression and her testimony strengthen and it's the coolest thing. She has been struggling with not drinking coffee but she texted us yesterday and told us she hasn't had the desire to drink it! I have a testimony that prayers truly do work! So happy!! Then on Friday the Chinook Lodge (retirement home) fed us lunch to thank us for all the times we came to sing to them. They even had a little ceremony and had us each come up and get a rose as all the old people clapped for us hahah so cute!

     Saturday we had Manny's Baptism! We started off that day helping clean out a barn full of garbage and dead animals for Lisa and Manny haha and then we had the baptism! Manny's baptism was the coolest thing ever. The spirit was so strong there. I loved seeing the smile on Manny's face and see how happy he was to be getting baptized. Then on Sunday he received the Holy Ghost and he and his wife, Lisa, bore their testimony which was so powerful. I am just so grateful that I got to be apart of this!

     I love this gospel so much. I am so grateful to be here in Alberta doing the Lord's work!! Love you all! Have a great week!!

Love,

Sister O'Dell

Hiking in Waterton last week! Representing Arizona!

Manny's Baptism

Manny's Baptism

A bear that Sister O'Dell saw in Waterton!

Sister O'Dell and her ward mission leader, Brother Prete, and his wife.

Sister O'Dell and her companions with the roses from the elderly people.

The Tanners back from Sister O'Dell's home ward visited her and took her to lunch while on their trip to Canada!

An Unexpected Transfer (July 7)

 I don't even know where to begin to tell you about my week...! So on Wednesday sister Gonzalez and I got to the temple visitors center to start our shift there and President Nicholas called us! He told us that a sister is going home early in McGrath and Sister Gonzalez is taking her spot and I am going with Sister Martin and Sister Estrada, the two sisters in the other stake here in Cardston and we are going to be a tri-companionship and cover both stakes! So for the rest of that day we both had to pack up all of our stuff and then we got transferred. Must admit sister gonzalez and I cried all morning haha I just love her so much! But McGrath is part of my zone so I will still see her :) It's going to be the 3 of us until the end of july which is the end of our transfer and then after that I have no idea what is going to happen. Covering all of Cardston is the craziest thing EVER. But we are already starting to see so many blessings! We are working with so many investigators and have quite a few potential investigators.

    We have one investigator, Manny, who is getting baptized this Saturday!! :) Sister Estrada starting teaching him in her last area, but then she got transferred and he ended up moving here to Cardston and we got to finish teaching him the lessons! He is so awesome. Last night we had a lesson with him and he bore his testimony at the end and the spirit was just so strong in the room. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything! This experience just showed me why I am out here and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! I love being a missionary. :)

    I got to celebrate Canada day this July first! They had so many parties going on that day and we got to meet a lot of people. That night they had Cardston's annual "Party in the park" where I got to see an Indian Pow-wow! So cool! Then sadly I didn't get to celebrate fourth of july since I am here...in Canada...but I dressed up in red, white and blue so that counts right?! haha the two sisters I am with are sister training leaders and they had a training that day in Calgary so I got to go with them to Calgary for the day!

    Then Sunday was just a crazy day. As a missionary Sundays are definitely not a day of "rest"! Since we are over both stakes and I am not going to let my area die I had Lori Broadhead, a returned missionary, go on splits with me and went to 3 of my wards while the other sisters went to their wards.  That took like all day haha then we had a lesson with Manny and visited some YSA less-actives. Yeah I'm over the YSA ward now too! A bit weird but fun at the same time haha One night this week we ended up having 3 lessons around the same time without even realizing it since of the last minute transfer so all 3 of us had to go on splits and get to those lessons!

    This week has been super crazy and a bit over-whelming but I know that this is what the Lord wants and I'm already starting to see the blessings. :) So grateful for this gospel and for the chance that I get to serve the Lord! I hope everyone sees the blessings in their lives everday! Love you all! :)

Love,

Sister O'Dell

Sister O'Dell with her new companions, Sister Estrada and Sister Martin.

Sister O'Dell on Canada Day!

Sister O'Dell and Sister Gonzalez on Canada Day!

Sister O'Dell and Shellee.

Sister O'Dell and Sister Gonzalez with Amy Bay.

Sister O'Dell holding a cute turtle!!!

Heavenly Father is always there for us! (June 30)

 So last P-Day we went to Waterton and hiked Bears Hump. It's so steep ALL.THE.WAY.UP. But once you got to the top you could see why everyone loves hiking it. It's so gorgeous!! I just love nature :) While we were there we ran into two older couples, one was from the Netherlands and got to have a gospel discussion :) They're Christian and didn't agree with everything we said and they tried helping us to see "the light" haha looking back on that experience I could see if you didn't have a strong testimony that these people could had swayed mine and made me have doubts because I could tell they were sincere and wanting to save me haha but I am so grateful to have such a strong testimony of this true gospel and I know it's something you have to work on every single day!

    This week was kind of slow. Sister Gonzalez and I were feeling pretty discouraged on Friday so we just parked our car in front of the temple and sat there, not knowing what we should do. We decide to get out the car and walk around when this older man comes out of the temple and walks over to us. He starts telling us this story about when he was on his mission and how amazing sister missionaries are and how much faith they have. He then said as he walked out and saw us he was prompted to come over to us and let us know to not be discouraged. That we are doing a great job and the Lord knows the intent of our hearts are good and that he loves us so much. Hearing that it totally made me cry and realize that Heavenly Father is ALWAYS there for us and knows what we are going through.

    On Thursday and Friday we had service projects. On Thursday we got to go to the reserve and pick up all the trash that's out there (in the pouring rain) and then haul it all to the dump! So gross haha and then on Friday we got to help out at the indian reserve cemetery cleaning up the trash and picking up the dead flowers around the graves. They want to make them nice for their families. Those were two service projects I have definitely not done before, but it was great to be able to help and serve. :)

    I hope everyone is smiling and serving! Remember everyone we meet are our brothers and sisters :) Have a great week! Love you all!

Love,

Sister O'Dell

This picture is from awhile ago, but this is Wyatt!

Service at the dump!

BEAUTIFUL picture on top of Bears Hump in Waterton!!