Dear Family,

Lets try that again haha This is meant to be funny not depressing... :)

So here are my 7 stages of grief for leaving my mission...

1.SHOCK AND DENIAL. Everyone keeps talking about it and I just can't accept it yet. An Elder in our ward is also going home at the same time and whenever people talk about missionaries going home I just throw him under the bus and say he is so no one talks about me going home. haha I am feeling very loved though because members and nonmembers are all making a big deal about me going. They love me :)

2. PAIN AND GUILT. So sometimes I really get sad. For instance, every morning we have personal study and then companionship study. We typically share with each other what we learned in our personal study. I finished telling her about my happy, faith filled personal study and so it was her turn. All she said was, "I read a talk by President Monson called our wonderful journey home.." and I started bawling. hahahaha pretty pathetic huh?

3. ANGER AND BARGAINING. I was so angry the other day I ate a whole plate of brownies and then turned around and ate a big bag of peanut MMs.. I don't even like those things! haha they are going to have to like role me onto the plane...

4. DEPRESSION. The adversary is working really hard on our investigators and it makes me very upset. So I ate some chocolate chip cookies hahaha

5. UPWARD TURN. 2 Nephi 10:23 I finally realized that it is my decision whether to be happy or not. :)

6. RECONSTRUCTION. Not sure what that means but I finally got to go running this morning because they weather wasn't below freezing. It was awesome. That sounds reconstruction like :)

7. HOPE. So I have known my whole mission that my last transfer was going to be really important. I have always had those feelings. I always thought that it would be because people would be really prepared and I would be able to help them into the waters of baptism. Which this is true, but I realized this week it is important for another reason. I will be honest this transfer has been hard and I know this next week isn't going to be super easy but I have learned so much. I have really come to understand why I am here at this time. I sure love the people here and all I want to do is help the feel of God's love and understand why living the Gospel is what is best for them.

I have felt very strongly about working with Brother Shears. I know he will be baptized one dayand hopefully it will be soon. We had an amazing lesson with him yesterday about the Atonement and then this morning he found out some very sad news. It is really neat to realized Heavenly Father knows what is up and it is ever cooler when he allows you to be an instrument in his hands. Please pray for him and his wife.

I know this is all part of God's plan. It is not what I would have originally asked for but I know things will work out for our good.  

I love being a missionary,I love Nebraska and most importantly I love my Heavenly Father and Savior. They live. I know they do. Hopefully I will get to email next but if not. I love you all. The Gospel is so important. Don't ever forget it. Thank you mom and dad for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL.

Love, Sister Page.

Leaving it all out on the field

Dear Family,

We found our family! :) Well they were right in front of us the entire time. Actually we are working with a couple families. Well we have been working with a couple part ember families this whole time and they are slowly progress.. but they are progressing! I have just fallen in love with some of these families and I know I will be close to them forever! I may not be here when they get baptized but I have been praying a lot about that and I know everything will be okay. I finally was able to turn everything over to the Lord this last week and I just feel at peace. I know these feelings of peace and hope only come form the Atonement of Jesus Christ. How incredibly amazing that is. Heavenly Father knows me way too well. He knows exactly what I need and when I need it.  Sister Page often has a different idea... but what is new. He know best. We just need to pray to know His plan! Anyway.. I will stop preaching.

So some updates on people we are working with people. So, We have been praying really hard that Sara's dad will give her permission to be baptized. I know this will totally change her families life. Her mom, Amber is doing really well but I think Sara being baptized will really seal the deal for her staying active. She was inactive for ten years unitl like 4 months ago! I think her husband knows that if Sara gets baptized then church will be a big part in their lives from now on. It scares him. That is okay though. WE just wanted to sit down and talk to him, but he kept avoiding us. Finally I just walked downstairs to talk to him and he totally hid in the other room. So we went back upstairs taught Sara the word or wisdom and law of chastity and were about to head on our way. As we were leaving I just felt so strongly that we needed to talk to him tonight so I just said, "I am not leaving until I talk to him." So finally Amber went and talked him into talking with us. He was so nice! We just got to know him a little and then talked to him about Sara being baptized. I totally respect that he is her dad and whatever he decides is his decision, but I just wanted him to know what he was making a decision about. It went really well. AS I was talking with him I had an overwhelming feeling that he would be baptized one day. It was really neat. He didn't give us an answer but I know it softened his heart a little. The next day Sister Taggart, Sara, and Amber and I fasted and prayed together. What a wonderful faith building experience for all of us. On a funny note Amber told us later that at their families New years eve party they were having sparkling cider and Sara thought it was alcohol she starting crying and said, "stop drinking that! It is against the law of chastity!" hahaha woops we probably should go over that a little with her. :) we love her so much.

 Maggie is still set for baptism but she got super sick this week. She was in the hospital for a couple days. She didn't make it to church yesterday so she won't be able to be baptized before I go. Sometimes you wonder why things happen the way they do, but I know everything will work out!

So the family we found is Raquel and Sam. We had met them a while ago but they have been avoiding us for some time now. WE finally caught them at home and since it was below 0 outside they let us in. They finally expressed to us their concerns and we were able to resolve all of them. Lets just say I hate the show "sister wives." they are excited to get more involved and I feel very strongly they will be baptized one day. God is so good! :)

I have to go but I love you all. Be good and remember Heavenly Father loves you! He has a plan for all of us!

I am excited to work hard these next couple of weeks and LEAVE IT ALL OUT ON THE FIELD. If I have learned one thing from sports it would be that you give it all until the very end.

Love, Sister Page

Dear Family,

What is up??? it was so good to see all your shinning faces. I feel bad because going into talking with the family I had so much to tell you and ask but then it all my brain right when I see you. That is okay though. I did want to apologize. I loved everything I got sent for Christmas. I had a wonderful Christmas and wouldn't change a thing. When I was thinking about it I realized I seemed like a total brat and I was just kidding. I am very grateful to have a wonderful family who doesn't forget about me over the Christmas time!!!

So I already told you a lot about our week but I still have more :) Tuesday night a bunch of us missionaries went caroling. We literally just knocked on random doors and sung to them. Then we would give them a "He is the Gift" card. It was lots of fun! I was very surprised at the response of the people. It was a very cold night but most of them would come outside and listen and then thank us. This one house me and another sister went up and knocked the door and as we were walking back to the group to sing this man answered the door with nothing on... haha dad you asked me over Skype what the scariest thing I have ever experienced on my mission.. I think that was it hahahaha I wish I could say that was the first time that has happened to me out here... Other than that it was a fun night!

Sister Taggart and I have been trying to be as positive as possible. I know that negativity destroys faith. We definitely don't want to do that. This week we had many appointments fall through, which is not a surprise because of the Christmas week. We also had some investigators drop us BUT Sister T and I were not going to let that get us down. We just kept praying and working. Last night we had an awesome lesson with this lady named Maggie. She is incredible. I think I have mentioned her. We taught her the plan of salvation and asked her if she had prayed about the Book of Mormon and been thinking about being baptized. She said yes but wasn't sure if she was ready yet. I had a very strong feeling to talk to her about setting a date. She said she feels that one of us is leaving so soon she needs to be baptized before I go. I was completely shocked. It was awesome. So we set her for the 17th! She has many things to overcome and obviously if she isn't ready at that date I won't force it but she can totally do it! Please pray for Maggie.

I am so excited to make these next few weeks the most hard working, miraculous, fun time of my mission. I was listening to Called to Serve this morning and I am just so grateful to be serving Him right now.
"Are you going to faulter or finish?" I AM GOING TO FINSH!

Love you all. Be good.

Love, Sister Page

My dear family and friends,

Want to hear something funny? I sang in church yesterday? Want to hear something even funnier? I was suppose to sing with Sister Taggart, but she lost her voice. hahaha

We had a wonderful Christmas program yesterday. We committed SO many people to come to church.. like probably 20. Only three came hahaha it was awesome! That just means we have to commit 100 people to come and then we will have a good amount show up :) It was a good day though. I sure love Christmas. Here is my Christmas message for today I read this talk this morning and I wanted to share part of it with you..

President Benson said that one of the greatest things about Christmastime is that it increases our sensitivity to things of God:

“It causes us to contemplate our relationship with our Father and the degree of devotion we have for God.

“It prompts us to be more tolerant and giving, more conscious of others, more generous and genuine, more filled with hope and charity and love—all Christlike attributes. No wonder the spirit of Christmas touches the hearts of people the world over. … For at least a time, increased attention and devotion are turned toward our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”²

This Christmas, as the spirit of the season permeates our hearts, let us do something that expresses our feelings in an outward way, showing that we understand that the babe born in Bethlehem is the real Redeemer. President Howard W. Hunter (1907–95) gave some practical advice that helps us do that:

“This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again.”³

Without Christ, there would be no Christmas. Without Christ, there can be no fulness of joy. Without His birth and His Atonement, we would have no Intercessor, no Advocate with the Father, and no Mediator who makes it possible for us to return to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father and live together as eternal families.

I celebrate with you the beautiful and miraculous reality of the birth and mission of the Son of God, and I bear my testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer—the promised Messiah.

WE had an AMAZING zone conference this week. I learned so much. we had a gift exchanged and some elder gave me toilet paper... hahha elders are so dumb. At least my gift will come in handy one day unlike other random things people gave. At the end of the zone conference President gave time for people to share their testimonies. Me and two other sister who are leaving this transfer went up. I was grateful for the opportunity to share with my mission family that I know my savior lives. I am grateful that I not only believe in Him, but I can now say that I know him. 
WE had some neat experiences this week. WE finally were able to have a lesson with this amazing girl named Maggie. We taught her the Restoration and set her for baptism. We taught her part of the lesson in the chapel and the spirit was so strong. She has had a hard passed and needs the gospel. She started crying when we talked about the blessings of the Gospel. I know the spirit touched her heart. She has many things to ever come but I know she can do it, if she relies on the savior.
We were so excited because one of the people who came to church yesterday was brother Shears. He isn't a member but his heart is totally being softened. Please pray for him. He is an incredible guy. He told his wife the other day that he just feels good when we come over. She told said to him, "well yeah, it is the spirit." haha they are a cute couple and I know one day brother Shears will be baptized.
So I am finally learning that I can't do this all on my own. I know I need to trust in the Lord because this is HIs work but it is hard to know how we show our trust in him. I realized today that all we need to do is be obedient and be happy and that is how we show we trust him.
I love you all. Have a wonderful Christmas!!!
Love, Sister Page

Dear Family,

It sounds like you all had a pretty epic week.... well so did I! haha take that :) just kidding.

I am happy to say that I did get to stay in Grand Island! I only had to threated a couple people... just kidding but we did pray a lot. It made us feel really good that so many people here were praying that Sister Taggart and I got to stay. Prayer works everybody!!

I feel like so many things have happened this week and you all know I don't write super long emails so I will try :)

Sister Taggart and I felt we needed to start up a game night so we could get people into the church through a non threatening way. We finally got it all set up. We did it Thursday. We got one less active there and three investigators. It was great. We played apples to apples and yes I won haha it was a good night though. It is just so important to helped investigators get friends who are members. I was so grateful it all worked out, because you know me I can get a little stressed sometimes haha

So, for the passed couple of weeks I have been super stressed and maybe a little anxious because I know my time is running out and there are just so many things I feel I need to accomplish. I have been praying a lot. Saturday morning I had a wonderful study and realized that I just need to do my best and hand the rest over to the Lord. I studied Psalm 37:3-7 I felt so much better! Then everything that could go wrong went wrong. We had three appointments cancel that day. Then someone was very rude and disrespectful to me and I finally just broke. I was super confused that I was doing what was right and was trying to act in faith and then everything fell apart. I got down on my knees and prayed. The spirit brought to my remembrance about 6 months ago a sister called me because she was very discouraged and depressed. She was having a really hard time feeling and following the spirit. The expressed how she just felt the adversary working so hard on her. I talked to her that day about the first vision. Random I know. We talked about how Joseph Smith was doing the right thing by asking the Lord in faith but the adversary did all he could to stop him. After Joseph Smith over came the adversaries attack that is when one of the most important miracles of all time happened. I know the adversary works the hardest right before incredible things happen. We just can't give in. I decided to take my own advice. I felt I needed to get a priesthood blessing. So, I humbled myself and called a member of our ward. It was an incredible blessing and after we were able to feel at peace and get our and work. The next day, Sunday, was an amazing day. We had two investigators at church, we got a new investigator and we had an awesome lesson with a less active. Righteousness is and will always be more powerful than wickedness.

I love you all. If you feel the adversary working really hard on you right now just don't give up because Heavenly Father has amazing plans for you.

Love, Sister Page

HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!! I hope you all had a wonderful week. Today it is 55 degrees outside. I love it... don't worry though tomorrow it will be -10 that is just how it works here. haha

Sister Taggart and I had a wonderful week. We have been working a lot with The Baker family. The mom is a member and non of the kids are. They have had a really hard life. Imagine like the worst possible scenario and that is probably it. They have come so far though. We have been having some really good lessons with their family. Us and the elders are teaming up to work with them and it is going really well. They all came to church yesterday. It was a miracle. We also had the Tweeten family there. It was a great day.

This week we really focused on getting people to our ward Christmas party. We had many part member families there and a couple of investigators. The Lord is truly blessing us. One of our investigators, names Verlon, he is married to a member. WE had an amazing lesson with him about the Book of Mormon and he is totally reading it. But anyway he played Santa Claus at the party! How cool is that? He will be baptized one day no doubt. After the party we had dinner that night with a member family in our ward. We were talking to them about how awesome Verlon is. Then me being the stupid sister missionary i am said, "yeah wasn't that cool how he played Santa Claus for the party?" Then their youngest started like crying and they other one was like, "what do you mean he played Santa Claus??" So basically i ruined everything for those little kids. I am going to be the worst mom ever. hahaha Anyway it was ever all a really good day.

Rumor has it that Sister Taggart and I are both leaving this week at transfers. If that happens i will really be sad. I have learned a lot about prayer this week though. I know that everything will happen the way the Lord has planned. I am so grateful for the Holy ghost which the Father sends the comfort us. I know that prayer is how we, like in the Christmas video, "embrace The Gift." I am looking forward to getting to know my Savior even more this wonderful season. I shared my testimony yesterday in Sacrament meeting and talked a little about our gifts to the Savior. I invite you to really think and pray this year about what He would have you give.

I love you all so much. Have a wonderful week and don't forget the share "The Gift" with others. 

Love Sister Page

Well howdy ya'll?? (haha they don't even say that in Nebraska but they don't say anything cool so whatever)

Sounds like you had a great Thanksgiving. I had like 6 thanksgiving dinners haha I am never eating again. ever.

We had a pretty great week. I really missed playing football thanksgiving morning though. President Weston banned it this year But that is okay. Thanksgiving morning we went and served food at the salvation army for a couple of hours. It was lots of fun. I only had three of the older guys ask me if I was married... haha I wasn't sure if I should lie or tell the truth. It was such a neat experience though.

This week I also got to go back to Kearney for exchanges! It was so wonderful to see everyone. I honestly felt like I had never left. I got to see old investigators and recent converts. It was so neat to bear my testimony to people I use to teach and commit them to do things they know they should be doing. You develop special relationships with people here and even if you leave for ten months and come back the relationship is still there. It was fun to see the versa and the cammacks too. I just love those families. The Vera's mentioned how much they enjoyed staying with the family. They said they learned how to be better family members by observing our family. It made my way happy to hear that.

So we have this really cool opportunity to share the new video the church put out called, "He is the gift." The video is on Christmas.mormon.org. The church is getting really smart and wants this video to be shared with everyone! So share the link of Facebook. I have really enjoyed sharing it with people and helping us all remember to embrace the true gift of Christmas. I really feel like there is a family that I need to help all receive the gospel before I go home. I know this is the perfect time to bring the spirit of Christ into someone's home. Please pray Sister Taggart and I find this family. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to help people be baptized, but I know I have more to do!! :)

Sister Trussel was a less active for a very long time and she has been coming back to church. We ended up having a thanksgiving dinner with her whole family. None of them are members and I asked Sister Trussels mom if we could teach her and she said yes. We were pretty excited. I know this is the Lords work. I know our Heavenly Father sent his Son so we could return and live with him again. I know families are forever. I am so excited to share that with others this Christmas. I invite you to do the same. I love you all. Have a wonderful week.

Love, Sister Page

Well Howdy family....haha I don't even know the answer to the question I put as the subject.. I just felt I should start putting subjects to my emails.. :)

So we had a great week this week. WE official handed the David over to the elders. It was sad because we spend so much time and prayers for him but I truly feel we did all we could for him.  The elders are also teaching this part member family. The mom is a member and there are five boys and one daughter. We are going to start teaching the daughter. She just gets left out and needs to be taught in a very different way. She is a sweetheart. She is 12 and has had a really hard life. She has been abused and more. It was so sad to hear all about it, but I am so excited to teach her. My favorite thing is to help people know how much Heavenly Father loves them and has a plan for them. Those moments are when I truly feel like a missionary.

We also got the chance to teach Stephanie and Maria this week. We were able to set them for baptism. We had the lesson in a members home and the spirit was so strong. We decided we are only going to teach investigators in members homes!!!

Sara Tweten is also doing really well. She really wants to be baptized but her dad is still being stubborn. He will hardly even talk to us. I prayed a lot about it and felt we should give him a conference talk. So we printed off the talk by Elder Uchtdorf called "Receiving light and truth" He totally read it I know he did!! I guess we will just take baby steps :) WE committed Sara to ask her Dad if she can be baptized... She agreed. :)

AS I was praying Saturday night I really felt like I should fast on Sunday, so I did. I wasn't exactly sure why. We were suppose to have 5 investigators and 2 less actives at church and non of them came. I didn't understand why I felt the need to fast but then everything went wrong. Although it was very sad, I was so happy yesterday. I just felt so much joy from the spirit. I realized that I was fasting so that I wouldn't get discouraged. Since we stayed positive we were able to see other miracles that day. I learned a really good lesson and my testimony about fasting was strengthened. God is good.

I am so excited for the holiday season and especially that I get to be a missionary. What a wonderful time of year to declare the "good news" to the world.

I love you all have a wonderful week.

Love, Sister Page

My Dearest Familia,

Well, it is freezing here... how is the weather there? Last week we were outside roofing without jackets on and now it is like 5 degrees plus wind chill. We are super grateful we have a car!!! :) Plus the members here totally spoil us. Don't worry mom, I am being taken care of for sure!

This week we had our mission tour with Elder Nielson from the seventy. It was exactly what I needed. So many of my questions were answered. It was wonderful. Heavenly Father defiantly answers prayers even if he has to send a general authority to do it. In his training he talked a lot of the redeeming powers of the Atonement and the enabling powers of the Atonement. He taught us how they are both different, but both so important. It was really neat. This week I have really been humbled in many ways. I am grateful that God calls the weak and the simple to do His work haha cause that is me. I like Elder Uchtdorfs talk in the Priesthood session he said, " If our weaknesses and shortcomings remain obscured in the shadows, then the redeeming power of the Savior cannot heal them and make them strengths." Heavenly Father is trying to teach me that I cannot do it alone. You'd think I would have learned this by now. NO wonder we are suppose to read the Book of Mormon everyday... It teaches us to be humble and rely on God. I am working on it!! :) it is a good lesson that will be important for the rest of my life.

Something else that was really neat about the mission tour with Elder Nielson is that he said that after he leaves Nebraska he is going to talk to the Kazakhstans Embasator about opening the country up for missionaries to go in!!!!!! how cool is that Deemer???? :) I was so excited I went and talked to him after and told him all about Deema. He was super excited. I told him I would pray that it goes well. Little tender mercies like that from the Lord are amazing.  

So this week we decided to hand David over to the Elders. I am sad but it is for the best. He fell a little this week and having him with the elders will be blessed. Once a gain the enabling powers of the Atonement are for everyone!! Keep praying for him.

We also got a chance to teach Stephanie and Maria. Maria is 15 and went to the Young womens in excellence night. She totally loved it. What better event for her to attend? It was wonderful.

Sister Trussel (less active) invited us to go listen to her dads band play. He is not a member and they really wanted us to come! WE got special permission and we went. Sister Trussels mom came up to us after and said she prayed that we would be able to come. I was super excited. WE want to teach them so bad. I have faith we will get the opportunity to! they are so amazing. Another miracle with that is Sister Trussel came to church for the first time in years yesterday!!! :) we were so excited. Miracles are happening.

Well I have to go but I love you all. Thanks for being so supportive. Life is good.. keep smiling :)

Love, Sister Page

Well hello my family,

This week was a lot better than last week! We didn't have as many appointments cancel haha so that is good. Honestly the best part of my week was we got to roof this recent converts house. It was so much fun! Not exactly sure if missionaries are allowed on top of roofs but I read the white handbook and it didn't specify... haha. Bishop kept hinting at me that he wanted me to do work down on the ground. I finally I turned to him and said, "Bishop, are you trying to take away my joy right now? haha he laughed and let me stay. It was so much fun. This family we helped out got baptized like a week before we got there. they are pretty sweet. She had mentioned to me they were roofing there house all by themselves. Since they are new they don't understand that the whole ward will show up to help and that no one needs to do it alone! She was so surprised when so many people showed up to help. The next day she bore her testimony in sacrament meeting and it was very powerful. We had some investigators there which even made it more cool.

Speaking of investigators, David is doing really well. He is working really hard to quit smoking and drinking. We had a lesson with him the other day on the covenant of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The spirit was strong and he is really started to understand. He got excited and expressed to us that he was wondering why we are always striving to do good and to be good. He said he understands now and it is because we always want to spirit with us. He sincerely has a desire to change and he has so much. It is amazing what the Atonement can do.

We also had a lesson with a part member family and he isn't a member. He is doing so well and started reading the Book of Mormon for the first time! I know it can change him. He invited us back over this week for dinner. We are super excited.

We got to go to mutual this week. We had an investigator in Young Women's and Activity days. So sister Taggart and I divided and conquered. It was so fun to be back in Young women's. I haven't grown up much. I fit right in. Sara who was in activity days really wants to be baptized. She is nine and is sooo ready. We have been teaching her and this last week she asked us, "what if someone wants to be baptized but their parents won't let them, will they still go to Heaven?" It broke my heart. I think her dad will agree to her being baptized soon though cause his heart is totally softening!

We also had a lesson with this less active lady in our ward. We talked about the sacrament and courage. Elder Robbins of the seventy said in his last talk, " Courage is not just one of the cardinal virtues but courage is the form of every virtue at the testing point." I realized how important it is in life to have courage to love and fear God before we fear man.

I love you all. Sorry my email is short. I will send some pictures... they are worth a thousand words ya know! :) The Gospel is true!

Love, Sister Page

My dearest family,

First, I just want to say thank you to everyone for their love and support. I have amazing friends and family.

So, this week was transfers... Sister Taggart and I both stayed here. Thank goodness. I love Grand Island. We did however get Elders in our ward. This ward has never had Elders and Sister... like never. We are pretty excited to divide and conquer this area. One of the new elders is Elders Scott and he is training a new missionary. Elder Scott and served in Kearney so you might remember him. Although I enjoyed at times be the only set of missionaries here, I know it will be good for the area. I will try and humble myself. No promises though. :)

We went and visited this part member family. She is a member and her husband is not. We have been praying really hard to know what will help him have a change of heart. We felt really strongly about the Book of Mormon. When we were visiting with them we told him a little about it. To our surprise he new very little. The spirit was in the room and he accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would read it. The best part is after we left he asked his wife if they could have us over for dinner this next week!!!! How cool is that? :) We were pretty excited and it was a huge answer to prayers. I know if he sincerely reads the Book of Mormon not only will his heart be changed but he will understand why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is so important. Too many people get caught up in the Church and not the truthfulness of the gospel. I was reading a talk this week by Elder Hallstrom of the seventy. He talked about how "sometimes we use the terms gospel and Church interchangeably, but they are not the same. They are, however, exquisitely interconnected, and we need both. The purpose for the Church is to help us live the gospel." I see that more and more on my mission where people get wrapped up in "churches" and not the truthfulness and fullness of the gospel. How grateful I am to know the truth.

Another neat thing that happened, was with another part member family. Sara, is nine and is not baptized. We got to teach her this week! She is so smart and has such a pure heart. She called us yesterday and said, "I finished the chapter you wanted me to read. What else should I read?" I about died. No wonder Jesus said we need to humble ourselves and become and little children.

Sister Taggart and I also had the opportunity of meeting with a very less active lady in the ward. She lost her husband to MS five months ago and is struggling. She is ready to come back to church though. She needs it. We had an amazing lesson about the Atonement and the spirit was really strong. I love those moments when you really feel like you are fulfilling you missionary purpose. :)

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week. Keep smiling. :) I love and miss you all.

Love, Sister Page

ps I got to see Sister Fuller and her family before she went home. I am super said all my companions are gone but grateful I still get time here in the field. Sorry I forgot my cord. I will send pictures next week.

Dear family,

Sorry I am late emailing today... we got a flat tire. It was totally the elders fault so don't worry I made them fix it. I know what you are thinking, how can I know that it was their fault? I just do. So I played soccer in the parking lot while they fixed it. haha I promise I wasn't a huge brat about it. Today has been such a crazy day. This week I have been dreading for so long. All my past companions go home. :( My heart is a little broken. I was trying to get an opportunity to go to their departing testimonies but it doesn't look like I will be able to and I am sad. All four of them were amazing and I will miss them very much. I am so grateful for all that I learned from them. I definitely wouldn't be the missionary I am right now if it weren't for them. I hope they all come visit the family soon. I know what mom and dad are thinking and yes I would love for any of them to marry Tyler or Briton :)

This was a wonderful week! Last Monday we drove to Omaha for the trainer trainee meeting. We got to stay with the Papillion sisters... It was so awesome!!! Everything is going really well in that area, it makes me so happy. The meeting was very good and I learned a lot about myself and how I can be a better trainer. Poor Sister Taggart haha I am such a bossy turd sometimes. It is a good thing I didn't train myself because I probably would have killed me. She has done so well and as we talked at the meeting the only struggles I can see in her are things that I still struggle with so I can't complain. Plus it is hard to know how to help her. Things are going very well though. We are learning together.

We had a really awesome lesson with David this week. He understands the things he needs to do and change. We had the lesson in the church and he set some really great goals. The thing that is making the biggest difference is that members are really fellowshipping him. He came to church this week and really enjoyed it. It is amazing to see how the gospel can change peoples lives.

Another AMAZING thing that happened this week! I got news from Sister Fuller that Chip and Ava were getting baptized and they wanted me to come speak at the baptism. Long story short we called everyone and their dog to go. in order to go I had to have a member drive us and have an investigator come. We had it all set up but the night before everything fell through. I about died. Finally I remembered that I don't need to figure all these things out on my own and that I needed to get down on my knees and pray. I felt really strongly to just read the book of Mormon, which doesn't really make sense because it was late at night and things needed to get figured out, but I did anyway. I opened it up and just started reading. It was a total answer to prayers. I read Mosiah 24:16, " And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage." crazy huh? Right after I read that a part member family called and said they could go. Sometimes Heavenly Father unfortunately has to wake us up a little. It was great to go to the baptism and speak. I have a new motivation and desire to help others enter into the gate of baptism. I am so grateful for that learning experience. Heavenly Father really cares sometimes we just forget to keep him included.

Haha after we got home Saturday night I remembered I was speaking to next day in sacrament meeting... I was super excited to speak about the Book of Mormon. It went well. I love to Book of Mormon. You all better be reading it so you can finish by the time I get home.

I love you all. Be good and remember what is most important.

Love Sister Page

Dear Family,

First off, I got Deema and Tori's school pictures. They are so stinkin old. It is freaking me out. I have Tori's 8th grade picture in my wallet and the picture I got of her this week is not the same person.. hahah

We had a pretty good week this week. David was doing so well but then we stopped by one night and he was totally wasted. I feel bad cause it totally freaked Sister Taggart out. We were safe and everything, but it was just really sad. He has so much potential but can't seem to find the strength to make that step yet. He has such a good heart and I think he just needs some time to figure things out.

We were praying and fasting really hard for this one part member family this week We had the opportunity to visit with them. The wife is active and her husband is not a member. He is totally awesome though. He is the nicest guy you will ever meet, but he has had some bad experiences in the past with members and churches in general. We asked her before we stopped by if we could ask him if he wanted to take the lessons. Although missionaries have been lame towards him in the past, she said we could ask him. So finally I got up the courage and asked him. He didn't say no! haha it was great. He said he just wants to take baby steps! I am totally okay with that. I know that if we get him in a good spiritual environment that his heart will be changed because he wants to do what is right. We were pretty excited. He totally came to church on Sunday.. mostly to see the primary program but still it was amazing.

Skyeleah is doing well too! We prayed really hard to have the opportunity to go see Meet the Mormons in Omaha. Our ward mission leader and his wife offered to take us! We prayed really hard and tried getting ahold of Sky. We knew this would be such a wonderful experience for her and will really help her find answers. We couldn't got ahold of her Saturday morning so finally we just went over there and woke her up and got her out of bed. hahaha it worked. She only hated me for like 5 minutes. She totally loved Omaha!!!! Meet the Mormons was great for her to see. I loved how whenever the story talked about missionaries bring the gospel to them is was ALWAYS sister missionaries!!! That is whats up. After the movie we went to the trail center and to the temple with her. The spirit is so strong there. I was so happy to be back. I love the temple there is so much power behind going to the temple. I love President Monsons quote, "No sacrifice too great for the blessings of the temple." How true that is. We went into the waiting room in the temple and taught her a little bit more about it. I invited her to pray to know if this is the path Heavenly father wanted her to go on. The spirit was really strong. She not only felt it but recognized it as well.

I have been studying a lot lately about sacrifice. I read this morning about Aaron and when he is converting the King. At first the King says he is willing to give up his kingdom to know God but then he realizes he needs to give up his sins to know God. I realized that this is the sacrifice Heavenly Father wants from us.. to give up the sins that easily beset us. Amazing the things you can learn from the Book of Mormon hahah

We got a new ward mission leader yesterday. We were super sad to see Brother Obrien go. He and his wife have done so much for us. We are really excited for our new one. He is from England and is a power house. Heavenly Father has some amazing things planned form Grand Island. I am super grateful to be apart of it.

Life is good. I love the Gospel. Have a wonderful week! :)

Love, Sister Page

Dear Page Family,

So I totally thought the Library was going to be closed today so I haven't even been thinking about what I would tell you about. We did have a wonderful week though. We are earning the trust of the members, which I have learned is the best thing you can do to move the work along. On Wednesday we had a ward activity so the first of the week was focused on getting investigators and LA to the activity. We were able to come in contact with many less active ladies in our ward and invite them. One of them has never let any member of the church in her house she would just talk to them out on the porch so Sister Taggart and I had to get creative. We showed up with service clothes to help her mow her lawn and told her we had to go inside and change. She let us and we had a wonderful conversation with her. The next time we went we brought a member and she let us all in. Then I told her I was calling someone to pick her up for the activity and she let me! She came and loved it. We told one less active to fellowship the other one and vice versa. Everyone just needs to be needed. We all had a wonderful time.   It was this cute pumpkin patch with like western games. There was this big slide and you bet I went down it in my skirt. I am super bummed because I didn't bring my camera but that is okay. We had like 5 less actives there, 2 investigators and a couple part member families. Sister Taggart and I feel it is most important to work with the part member families right now. So many of them have potential. We met with one of them last night. Sister Orr is a member but her husband is not. So picture an older man with a mustache who was been a trucker is whole life. When we first knocked on his door he answered and said, "What do you want?!" Poor Sister Taggart was so freaked out. I just smiled and told him we wanted to visit. WE had a good little lesson with them and they invited us over for dinner. I know he has had many opportunities to accept the gospel and quite frankly he just doesn't want to be told what to do. He totally likes us though and they invited us over for dinner this week! I was reading in Alma today bout Amulek. He had a hard heart and rebelled against the Lords invitations many times. Then when The Lord asked him to serve a servant of the Lord he accepted it and having Alma in is home softened his heart. Brother Orr was really excited to have us over and we hope and pray his heart will be softened.

Skyeleah and David are doing really well. They are both progressing towards baptism and I am just so grateful for the opportunity I have to teach both of them.

Super lame email, sorry. I ran out of time. I hope you have a wonderful week. Please remember who you are and whose you are. I love you all.

Love, Sister Page

Please pray for Skyeleah, David, the Orrs and the Sheers... your prayers are much appreciated! Thanks :)

Dear Family,

Before I forget, I got a letter from Amy in Papillion. She is doing amazing. It makes me so happy to see her becoming a kingdom builder. She really gets it, ya know? She was sad I wasn't there but they sang my favorite hymn which made me feel really good. I will definitely be in touch with her for the rest of my life. It is so neat to see the Gospel change people. Oh and it makes me feel good that she didn't forget about me haha

This week I went on exchanges with my STL. It was awesome haha I love having sister training leaders. I just feel bad for all the sisters who had me as their STL and not the sisters that I have! haha The Sister I went with is from Canada. She is great but I couldn't remember where Dad served his mission... super embarrassing I know. So if you could let me know that would be lovely thanks. :) Sky, the girl we took to the womens broadcast is doing so great! We ahd a lesson with her this week. It is such a blessing because as I am training Sister Taggart Heavenly Father has given us opportunities to apply what we have been talking about. Sister Taggart set Sky for baptism for November 1 :) she was sad she has to wait so long it was really cute.

 I was so determined to get investigators to watch every session of General Conference with us! We had everything set up for each session watching with an investigator or a part member family. I was so excited. I love watching conference as a missionary! Sky ended up getting really sick this weekend and didn't come. It was sad BUT she watched at home and she loved it. She said she can't wait for church next week. I am so happy she heard Elder Bednars talk. I wish I could show that to everyone and their dog... cause everyone has a dog here and it is so annoying! Anyway, We also had a lesson with David this week. He is doing really well. He is pretty rough on the outside, but has a sweet spirit. You can tell he has had a hard life but he has a sincere heart and true intent and that is all it takes. He came and watched two sessions of conference with us. It was so funny cause after President Monson spoke he turned to us and said, "he is the man!" really loud in the chapel. It was great. President Monson really is the man haha what better way for others to gain a testimony of a living prophet than to hear him speak. David after conference said he knows there are things he has to give up. I think that is simply amazing becasue we haven't taught him any comandments. I know the spirit witness to him adjustments he needed to make in his life to be more in harmony with God. I hope and pray we all are sensitive enough to the spirit to know what things we need to adjust. What great blessing it is to have the gift of the holy ghost!

 Sometimes while watching conference as a missionary I have gotten sad thinking about not watching with the family like I have done for most of my life, but how amazing it was to watch with a nonmember. sometimes I think we don't realize how good we have it until we share it with others... that was super profound I know ;)

Anyway this week was really good. I loved a lot of the talks but i really enjoyed Elder Jorg Klebingat's talk. I loved how he talked about during the hard times we just need to smile and say, "I understand Lord, this is a time to prove myself." I hope to make that the theme of the rest of my mission. I know that if we don't decide to work hard and enjoy the present then we never will in the future. I know this Gospel is the only way to true happiness. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you a lot. Be good.

Love, Sister Page

PS thanks Tori for you letter... I sure love you. Good luck in play offs.

My dearest family,

I am so excited for conference. It truly is the best time of the year!

This week has been a great week. We have been able to meet a lot of people. Sister Taggart and I set two people for baptism this week. We are super blessed. We have been able to include some members in our teaching as well. I think the most important thing we can do right now in this area is earn the trust of member by working hard and being powerful teachers.

So Amy my investigator back in Papillion got baptized this last Saturday. I was praying about whether we should go or stay in Grand Island for the women's conference. I had the opportunity to talk to President Weston in interviews and he said I should go. I just needed to find and investigator and a member to take us. I was pretty excited. We found an investigator and a member and we were all ready to go on Saturday. A couple hours before we were suppose to leave the member who was taking us called and told us her daughter was in the hospital so she couldn't go. Her daughter had an infection. She is going to be alright thank goodness but I was very sad. I was also super confused because as I had prayed about what to do I felt I needed to go. I remembered my women's conference and how sad I was not to have gotten an investigator there. The broadcast is just too amazing not to share it with the world. AI am like completely convinced any girl who saw it would want to be baptized haha so I was pretty determined. I prayed and felt like we had things to do in Grand Island and everything was going to work out.  We were walking back from the Hospital(cause we don't have a car haha) and we met this Girl named Skyeleah. She had just moved here. We invited her to go and she totally came. SHE LOVED IT. I told you anyone who saw it would want to be baptized :) Miracles are truly happening here. We will probably have to turn her over to the YSA sisters but I don't even care. I am just happy we got to bring someone. I got permission to call Amy and she had the most amazing experience at her baptism. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to teach her. So just always remember God has a plan for you even when you think everything is falling apart. Sorry my email was so short. I will send some pictures next week and write more. Grand Island is amazing and I am grateful to be here. My mission president told me to just be myself and stop stressing hahaha sounds like something mom and dad tell me every dad of my life. Maybe I will do it this time. hahaha I love you all. Heavenly Father is aware of all of you and has a plan for you. Sometimes we just have to be patient and remember to ask him. Keep Him involved in the details :) Have a wonderful week.

Love, Sister Page

"My Calling: I am called of God. My Authority is above that of kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master. He has chosen me to represent Him, to stand in His place, to say and do what He himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, my acts are His acts, my words are His words, and my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants done. To say what He wants said. To be a living, modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of His great and marvelous latter-day work. HOW GREAT IS MY CALLING." (Elder Bruce R. McConkie)

I wanted to start off with that quote. I am so grateful to be a missionary right now and I am realizing how special it truly is.

So I guess I never get to inform you about my exciting news because by the time Monday hits you already know hahaha anyway I am in Grand Island! President Weston got sick of me and sent me away again hahah totally kidding. I will talk more about my adventures so far in Grand Island in a minute. Right now I want to start off with the beginning of my week...

So I prayed so stinkin hard that I would be able to teach everyone one last time before I left. Heavenly Father answered my prayers big time. I was able to teach Amy the day before I left. She should be getting baptized this Saturday or next. It was an incredible lesson. I am going to miss her so much. She has let the Gospel of Jesus Christ truly change her. I know I will be friends with her forever. I don't know if I will be able to go to her baptism but I am just grateful for her decision! I also got to teach Chip. We taught him in the Stephens home. The spirit is so strong in their home and Brother and Sister Stephen really helped Chip out. Chip agreed to be baptized. It was really neat. Not only was I able to teach all the people we were working with this week, I was also able to teach families that we have been trying so hard to teach for SO LONG! We taught the Haycock family, they are a part member family that I have mentioned a couple of times. The mom and son agreed to be baptized! :)  We also got to teach the Whipples who we have been trying to meet with for so long. It was just amazing. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone, but I know I made so forever friends in Papillion with members and nonmembers. I am super blessed.

So Thursday morning I got a call from President Weston. He told me my time being Sister Training Leader was over and I had a new assignment. I am training Sister Taggart and we are pink washing the Grand Island 2nd ward. Pink washing means they took out both elders and are replacing them with sisters. They rarely ever take elders completely out of an area like that. I am not exactly sure why, but i know unfortunately there was a reason for it. The ward has only had elders for years so they were all pretty excited to see sisters. They day I got the call from president i had a lot to do. We ended up going and taking out the new missionaries like we have done a couple of times. I didn't really want to go because i had to pack and say goodbye to everyone but i knew Heavenly Father would really bless us if we did. Sacrifice means "To give up something we value for the sake of something of greater value. If we were not required to make sacrifices, we would never be able to develop the faith necessary for eternal salvation." Anyway it was really neat in those couple hours we spent with the new sisters we got three new investigators and saw some awesome miracles with them. My last day in Papillion was great.

So, on to my new adventure. I picked up Sister Taggart. She is from Tooele, Utah. She is a super fun, hard working sister. I am excited to be with her. We got to Grand Island and the Elders took us to our new apartment. Long story short they just said sorry we didn't clean and a bunch of the lights are burnt out. It was the dirtiest apartment i have ever seen. I am grateful the lights were out because we couldn't see how gross it really was. I felt so bad for Sister Taggart. She was super overwhelmed. We spent a couple hours cleaning up. I finally just looked at her and started laughing. I just said think of how hard our dads would be laughing at us right now. She is also really close to her dad. She finally cracked a smile and laughed it off with me. Laughing is way better than crying! So here I am in Grand Island with a new missionary, we knew no one and we have no car. hahaha super pathetic right?  We ended up getting a ride to the store and getting light bulbs we came back to the apartment and put them in... and still no light. I finally walked over to the breaker and turned the lights back on... silly elders haha they have been in the dark for days apparently.

The best part about being in Grand Island is the members are so excited we are here!!! I have had people come up to me and say, "Sister Page, it is good to see you!" apparently i met them a while ago while on exchanges in grand island. The ward is SUPER supportive and the bishop has helped us out so much. There is so much work to be done here! I am so excited to be here and so grateful Heavenly Father has trusted me enough to send me here. I have no idea how to train or pink wash but He does :) i read about revelation this morning.. Elder Oaks said, " We will get promptings of the spirit when we have done everything we can, when we are out in the sun working rather than sitting back in the shade praying for direction on the irst step to take. Revelation comes when the children of God are on the move!" So that is what I am going to do is work hard and pray harder. I am super excited to be here!

I love you family! Have a wonderful week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEEMA! THE BIG 18... SO WEIRD! I SURE LOVE YOU LIL BRO :)

Love, Sister Page

Dear Family,

Well hi :) to answer your questions.. yes, this week is transfers. Sister Fuller and I had to opportunity to talk to president this week. He said I had been an STL long and I was done. I was really sad. He also said I will be leaving Papillion. It is really hard, but I have been praying really hard that I will be able to accomplish everything I need to this week. Yesterday we were able to set us appointments with two families who have been hesitant to learn, but have SO much potential. I have felt very strongly about these families and we will be teaching them this week before I leave! God is so good! Pray those lessons go well.

This week was a very strange week. We trained at two different zone trainings and went on a couple exchanges. I felt like we weren't in our area at all. We still saw many miracles though. There is this recent convert who had a bad experience but Sister Fuller and I found him! He had left for the military and came home. We felt like we should go stop by. Long story short he came back to church this week and his mom is a new investigator. What a blessing! We were on exchanges when she became a new investigator. The Sister I was with was having a really hard time. It was her idea to go see this family so I was grateful it was such a spiritual visit with her. It really built this sisters faith.

Amy has been out of town this week but she texts us about her Book of Mormon reading. She is in Alma and is doing so well! Aly, my recent convert, went to the temple this week for the first time. She did family names and had such a wonderful experience. I am so proud of her. Their are so many little miracles happening!

Edd and Nancy invited us to go to a pow wow since they are native American. It was so fun hahaha I will send pictures next week! Please pray for Edd though. He is really struggling.

I will let you know how transfers go. Please pray for me haha I will need it.

I had the opportunity to bear testimony of eternal families in many different settings this week. I know with all my heart that families are forever. I am so grateful Deema came into our family. His story has touched so many people out in the mission. I am grateful for the temple and the sealing power. This gospel is the only was to true happiness.

Keep being amazing. I love you all.

Love, Sister Page