Christmas in Queens

Feliz Navidad!

Opening Christmas :)

I hope that my wonderful family had a great Christmas this year. I know mine was pretty great! :) This Christmas was rather different than Christmases past for many reasons. Christmas in the mission is something that will forever be a memory as it was so special. The funny thing is, it didn't feel like Christmas at all. I remember talking with my compañera on the 23rd after we had arrived home following our mission wide Christmas devotional and she said it didn't even feel like Christmas was so close. I remember listening and thinking, "what has Christmas felt like in the past compared to this year?" I think it was really cool what I realized was that usually Christmas time is the one time a year when literally all I am thinking about is Christ. My Savior held a special place in my heart during those weeks.

The miraculous thing has been to realize that just as the Spirit I usually feel so strongly in the temple has remained the same when I arrive and when I leave since being on the mission, the Spirit I usually feel at Christmas didn't feel any different because I truly have felt it all year long. In serving my Savior I have thought of Him in every moment of every day. I constantly am able to focus on Him, which, I believe, has made all the difference. I always believed what the prophets said about being able to have the same spirit as in the temple with us always, and now I have experienced it. I too, now understand and experience what they say about what it truly means to have the "Christmas spirit" all year round. I feel that has made all the difference.

This week was full of happiness and learning, planning and dropping, cleaning and mess making. We have been working to make something of our pool starting with cleaning out our "potential investigators" and "new investigators" lists by calling all those we have to either set up appointments or drop them. It has been quite the task and we are nowhere near finished. There is quite the work to be done here, good thing that's what I'm here for!! :) My compañera said this week, "this is just the best area! We get to build! Yes, we need to build everything cause there is nothing, but we get to build!!" That's the kind of attitude I'm talkin' about, right there! I love the fire for this area. I want to work. The Lord knows that is what I am here to do and so He is giving me the job. That is another lesson I have really been learning and reflecting on...the truthfulness behind the promise "ask, and it shall be given unto you, seek and ye shall find" because as I have asked and sought, my Lord has been more than gracious in giving. I know this is true and that He will give good gifts unto those who seek and ask for them.

Wow, enough of that preachy stuff, haha. I can save it for my soap box ;) but this week we had Christmas (of course!) and our Christmas Devotional (which was awesome) and district meeting (also awesome). Christmas began great and we actually had a pretty good turnout for church (I think it helps our members come on holidays when many used to be easter/christmas only church goers before they converted, haha) and were able to all visit together. I also was asked to introduce myself and bear my testimony for the branch with the other new missionaries --I've decided I feel more comfortable speaking in Spanish in front of people now, haha (not that I enjoy it at all, but it is less painful in Spanish!)


The Christmas Devotional was amazing. We all did our skits we had prepared as zones, ate food, hung out, listened to talks and testimonies and music (shout out to the stud ex-compañera of mine for her bomb cello performances #feelslikeacelebrity #iknowher), and best of all, were introduced to our 2017 vision and goals! Wow, that was awesome! This years 567 has only been preparing us for the upcoming 365. It's all about faith. The whole vision and goals for next year are all about faith and increasing our faith and acting in our faith. I am so excited for the mission to raise the bar and for the missionaries to rise with it to a new level of commitment and consecration. The promise of the scriptures to "sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you" has never felt so real. I can taste the changes that will be coming as the Lord continues to hasten His work. Faith.

With the devotional, I also was able to see all of my favorite missionaries --well, those that aren't home already... It was awesome. My compañera was not feeling well Friday, she stayed with Sister Peterson (the mission medical nurse who lives next door to the chapel) the whole day and I was in a trio with my Hermanitas Ashford and Voss! It was a very fun time visiting with everyone and seeing how happy they are. I think you can tell how close you really are with someone when you can go months or weeks or whatever without seeing or talking with them, but then when you get back together it is as if you were never apart. You pick up right where you left off and it doesn't even need to be awkward. This is exactly how it felt with all of my favorites :) oh I love them.

I also got to speak with President and Sister Reynolds for a bit on Friday, so that was great. I just love them so much. I know I say that every time I talk about them, but I just cannot explain how thankful I am for them. They are just fabulous.

Last week's district meeting was awesome as well. I was asked to give a workshop on chapter five of Preach My Gospel and my compañera gave one on charity. It was really a good district meeting. Elder McConkie also felt inspired to do something at the end, which he had not been planning on that ended up taking a lot longer than it was supposed to haha. We did what he called a 1 and 1. We go around the circle of missionaries one by one and each person says something they love about and a time they loved the missionary who we are on at that time. So we started with Elder Grande and so Elder Firl was first to say his loves and then my companion and then me, and so on until we had all said it about Elder Grande. Then we all did it about Elder Firl and so on, person by person. It ended up taking quite a bit of time but it was awesome. I think it really helped to build more trust in our district. So that was awesome. The missionaries here are hard workers and ready to get the job done. We will see what we can do here. [Also, not sure if I ever said my district is Elder McConkie (DL) & Harris (1st transfer trainee), Elder Cisneros & Grande (came in with my companion), Elder Wilkins & Firl (2nd transfer trainee), and us.]

But overall this week has been really great. I met some more of the missionaries in my zone and got to know them a little bit better when we had a little zone practice thing, so that was fun. I think it is interesting how easy it has become for me to be open and genuine with people. That used to be very hard for me, but I think with the charity thing I have really just opened up a lot about everything, and I am becoming kind of an open book. The surprise for me has been to find that people are not weirded out by your real-ness haha!

Also, we had an awesome lesson this week with a new Spanish less active, she is my favorite. It was kind of awkward translating the whole time, but also really cool. It felt really natural and my companion was saying just how much she could feel this hermana's spirit. It was great. We will be visiting her again this week. We also had a great lesson with another sister and were able to help her learn and feel the Spirit a lot. We are excited to see how we can help her come to a better understanding of the gospel.

Anyway, all is well and we are holding out for all that is to come. It is gonna be another great week, we can't wait to see what work the Lord has set out for us. I love you tons! Stay safe traveling. Love you!!

Mucho amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

My List of Positive and Joyful Things:

Lunes
1. Preparation daaaaay
2. We hung out with the elders a bit and made the dubbed "gingertivity". It was fun :)
3. Visited Adriana at work to say goodbye. That was hard...
4. Visiting the Arvizu's. That was good. I'm gonna miss them!
5. Visiting the Sanchez's. That was also really good. I will miss them too...
6. Packing last minute cause I'm a procrastinator (but hey, I got it all done, right?)

Martes
1. Having help from the elders to take my things to rego #queensboundwithouthaulingluggage #hallelujah #bendiciones
  -Transfers.
2. Seeing all my peeps!!! Literally all of them!!! It was great!!
3. Elder Broadhead is gone district leader in Rego I believe
4. Sister Taylor telling me she was called to serve as a sister training leader  #killit #loveher
5. The madness of trying to get transfers organized but getting to just talk with missionaries I love
6. Talking with Elder Ko for a second about finishing his mission and then realizing...:
- "wait, you would know where I'm going!"
- "Yeah! You're going to my favorite area!" *starts to leave as he's called down the hall*
- "wait, where's that!?"
- *runs, skips, and hops away looking back over his shoulder beaming* *disappears into the sea of missionaries*
- *has vague flashback to Elder Young* "I love Assistants."
7. Finally finding out where we are all going and being ridiculously excited about it all!
8. Meeting my darling new compañera :)
9. The reactions I got from the elders and sisters in my new area or who have served in my new area
10. Meeting the trainees of my favorite elders
11. Got to say goodbye to all of my favorite missionaries. Man...that was really hard... but also really good. They're all ready, and they'll all do great with whatever comes their way. So I got a picture with Hermana Mejía before she left me
12. Getting boxed in at the church where we were able to get food while we waited
13. Seeing Elder Creager with a few other elders at the food court and talking all together as we walked back to the church after eating. Soooo, reminiscing about old times that feel so long ago, and catching up a little. Good Elder. Great Elder.
14. Driving home! Welcome to #theROCK.

Miércoles
1. My darling little compañera wanting to serve me by literally serving me...food #shemakesreallygoodfood #...notgonnastaysmallforlongatthisrate
2. Talking together in companion study
3. Receiving some answers as to why I'm here
4. Meeting the elders' cool new investigator and sitting in on the lesson
5. Seeing the Lord truly bless me with patience and charity  #lovefirstteachsecond #byexample #ugh
6. Visiting with sister Walters. She's this awesome older lady in our ward.
7. Getting lost on the bridge! Hahaha! The most blessed mistake we've ever made, it was awesome. ....So the story, we thought we were on x road, actually were on y #thenoGPSlife #itsastruggle and it was a toll bridge! We had NO cash and it was all craziness. The lady at the gate told us to pull over and then go into the building with her. It was quite the hassle and we told her the situation and how we'd goofed. We were all laughing like crazy and just trying to make the best of it! (Also, my compañera had prayed that morning when we left that we'd laugh if/when we got lost haha) She wrote up the bill thing and said how we had to pay it. We would need to get a money order (okay, I don't even know what that is, not gonna lie here!) and mail it in within five days or a check and yada yada. We told her we didn't have checks and didn't know what a money order was...she was laughing with us and so confused. We told her all about how we are missionaries, all about our service, why we're here, and everything. We taught a bit about Christ and gave her the card to see the Christmas video as we got ready to leave. She ran to grab something so we talked with the guy behind us and spread a little cheer there as well. She had told us there was a bank on the other side of the bridge, we could get cash and pay the $6 (yes, six cause of all our beautiful little fees...oops) on the way back over to the right side so that we could bypass the money order thing. She came back and said something like, "because it's going to be such a process for you ladies, *takes the paper back* *slides over $2* here, use this on the way back over and don't worry about it." Oh my goodness gracious she was an angel!! It was an amazing experience, and truly a huge blessing. So, that was our story :)
8. Taking Nini out. Hopefully we can help her a little...

Jueves
1. Feeling a little sore from the day before #excellent #needtobeabletowearclothescomfortably #evenunderalltheselayers #wetry #maybemorningworkoutsaredoingsomething #...maybeitsfromcarryingalltheluggage #wehavekillerstairs #stadiums
2. Getting to Rego quickly and having enough time to do some lesson reports #stressrelievers
3. The perfectly timed elders to give a blessing
4. Traveling safely home while singing to the Christmas MoTab cd from Tammy!

Viernes
1. Progress is coming, I can feel it.
2. We had correlation so I got to meet our branch mission leader and his wife! They're from El Salvador (apparently everyone is from there, or Honduras, or Guatemala here) #pupusas #yes
3. Talked with the Lily's (senior couple here who we just love love love) after correlation. They are a huge blessing and support.
4. Made some attempts to tackle our area book. Got a little bit of progress made!
5. Dropped off a little gift to some potential investigators
6. Got chipotle for dinner (her favorite) and met an awesome guy in line. Shoulda shared more and started teaching right there, gosh dang it...we're working on it :)

Sábado
1. Snoooooooooow! We love snow :)
2. Weekly planned, which included setting our transfer goals, which included some good talking. I'm excited to see what we can do here. It'll be fun to get down and dirty here a little bit.
3. Cleaned out our area book a little bit more #pocoapoco
4. Branch Christmas party! Yay! That was fun, and I got to meet a bunch of members and recent converts over food so that was great 😜

Domingo
1. Church. I got a feel for everything and got to see how everything has been running. Let's do this thing. #sorryiamabusinessperson #notimetodillydally
2. Also met our branch president. He is 28. Expecting his first child in march, and in the middle of school. He's a trooper! Served his mission in Utah so he knows how stuff gets done. Now we are just gonna support him in fixing it!
3. Doing some look ups and feeling like a missionary

Other stuff:
- Not exactly sure what I'm gettin at a place called "Thrift Market Drugs"
- "Fried Chicken & Deli" by day, "Fricken Deli" by night #whenhalfthelightsdontwork
- There was this lady at the diner where we went with nini. She was going on and on about how good we looked, said I looked like a mermaid cause of my hair...? Haha
- just for your information, our district: Elders McConkie (DL) & Harris (trainee), Grande & Cisneros (Spanish), and Wilkins & Firl (Spanish #andnoicantsayhisnameeither)

Welcome to the Rock

Buenos días, mis favoritos!!

Qué tal? :) this week was just craziness all around, but at least it was kinda fun craziness haha. First things first, Monday. Now that, mi familia, was a sad day. We finished up our preparation day and then headed out to visit some people for the last time. Our first stop was Adriana. She was at work and so we stopped by to see her. Then we saw her family and then Sanchez's. Dang that was a rough night. It feels so long ago, but I love these people so much. I didn't think I could ever love people like I love them. Saying goodbye to them and handing them off to new missionaries was the hardest thing. I have come to develop the biggest testimony of the reality of God's promise to us that if we ask we shall receive. I've spent the last ten months asking for the gift of charity for this people and here I am, a witness that God truly does answer our prayers. Even though it was hard to say goodbye, I know all things work according to God's plan, and for that I can have faith and hope and move on. I'm thankful for that trust I have in Him :)

Tuesday was full of crazies as we last minute packed and cleaned (cause we're procrastinators) in preparation for our little greenie to move in. Once we got to Rego my compañera was off to the meeting and I was left to wait with the other missionaries. I talked to a few and eventually all my "peeps" arrived. All my favorite missionaries were in the same place and I didn't know what to do with myself! I said goodbye to my departing family and had happy reunions with mis Hermanas. I even got to meet all the trainees of my elders!!! They will be so awesome. I am so excited for them. They will do great. (Also, I loved how excited they were!! I love talking to people about things they love cause they get so happy and excited, and that makes me happy! This is how I felt seeing them with their trainees haha.)

New companion Sister Albanese :)

It took a ridiculous amount of time to get transfers all organized for some reason and so everyone and their dog was there in the same place waiting to find out where we're all going. And drum roll: Elder Broadhead is district leader in Rego (same zone), mis Hermanas Ashford and Voss are compañeras (!), Hna Spencer and Hna Platt's trainer are companions, Elder Weisler is zone leader in Brentwood, and I am in.....Far Rockaway! Fun fact of the day, far rock doesn't have Spanish sisters. So, my compañera is from New Caledonia. She speaks French and is learning English. Apparently the English branch is only like ten people so they just recently combined it with the Spanish branch. That being said, we are serving both! Fun fun! Sister Albanese (my compañera) just finished being trained but has been on her mission for five months cause she served a few in Tahiti before her visa was ready. She is just the sweetest thing, I love her so much. Also, we are in Queens technically, but because the English area is so big we have a car. So, it's nice to have a car. Also keeps us out of the wind. That stuff's crazy. (Oh, and I'm the driver, so there's that.)

We had our branch Christmas party Saturday and church Sunday. We've got quite the situation going here. The Spanish people are more prominent and are fairly strong but because the English people are so few they had to combine.  So....here we are. We will see what we can do, but it also looks like I will probably be translating a bit for the English people too cause only two of us are really close to fluent in both languages. Haha. Ha. Haaaa. It'll be fun. Wish me luck.

I have had many an opportunity this week to reflect and trust and seek to grow. I have come to find a lot of peace about being here in this area and am excited to see what the Lord has in store for us. This will be a tough couple weeks, but we are ready and the Lord has prepared us for it! I'm more motivated than ever to get out and find, hopefully we can have the guidance and companionship of the Spirit with us always to help us know what efforts will be best in doing the work of the Lord here. ...Also, another side tangent cause this reminded me of it... one of the members we visited this week said something about how we as missionaries always have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and how they as members aren't blessed with that same thing.........you, my friend, do not understand the baptism of fire. So...we're working on that with them, but I just want to testify that I do know that we all can be constantly led and guided by the Spirit and we can all feel His influence in our lives the same way we feel it as missionaries. We can all feel His constant companionship if we choose to live worthy of it. This is the grand blessing of the gospel that our Father in Heaven promises to us when we covenant with Him at baptism. So, seek this, and then live worthy of it. If you pray for the Spirit to tell you what you should do, and then you act when you receive those promptings, then you will have His companionship just as we do as missionaries.

Anyway, that's that tangent for ya! Haha! Hope you have a great week and can feel the Spirit of the Lord this week as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. He is the greatest gift ever given by a Father in Heaven who loves us more than we could ever believe. Please keep Him in your memory and your heart this season and always. I know He lives, I love you lots!! Have a great week :)

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

YES...she LOVES it.  :)

Last project together: the gingerbread nativity grandma sent

(I'm sure this is just a little "sunshine" for mom) :)

Ahh!!!  So hard to say goodbye to her "family"

Best trio ever!!! :)   Adios, Hna Mejia!

I smell Christmas! ...and a transfer

Buenas!

Here we are, another week and transfer down. I cannot believe that. I had the sudden realization yesterday that transfers go by in the blink of an eye and I only have six left. I almost died at the thought. Six. That is so fast. Only six transfers. Six. I can't even think about it. I'm moving out of my beloved Brooklyn and leaving the people I've served and loved with all my heart for the last...can't even count how long it's been :)

The last week has been pretty great and it went so fast! We had some awesome visits with people and honest to goodness I can't even remember what happened, it went so fast. We had snow! That was one thing I can remember! We had snow yesterday and it was awesome. It's all melted away now, but it was a fun little reminder that Christmas is coming.

I think back on people I've loved and taught and again I can't remember what happened, but I remember how I've felt. I love my mission. These experiences I've had here have been amazing. I think I'm finally satisfied with what I've been able to do here with the companions I've served with. Transfers will be great, just a little anxious about where I will be going. Good thing the Lord is in charge and not me!

So sorry fam, I honestly don't know what to say. As the weeks go on they go faster and faster! We are about to make the gingerbread nativity grandma sent as a district and I can't seem to get my thoughts together for an email... I will see if I can pull anything more together as the day goes, I'm so sorry!! But I love you so so so much and I can't wait to see you in a few weeks!! Still flabbergasted we only have two weeks...crazy. Love you!!!!!!

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Merry Christmas, mi familia! Yes, I know we still have twenty days, but it is finally starting to feel like Christmas, and I love it. No, we don't have snow, but yes, we have a Christmas tree and hymns to sing so all is well :)

This week was probably one of the best weeks of my mission. We honestly cannot count the blessings. But we will share a few of the ones we can count. First off, we had interviews with President Tuesday. That was probably the best thing that could have happened for me personally.  I absolutely love President and Sister Reynolds, and they truly do so much for us, it is amazing to me.
I don't know how they have as much love for us as they do. But that was the best thing that possibly could have been done that day. I will testify that we need to sustain our leaders. They truly are called of God. If you have a problem with one of your leaders pray for understanding to see them as God sees them and look for the good in them. We are all simply trying our best and some God has called to lead not because they want it or are seeking after it, but because He sees something in them and we need to respect and sustain that. To sustain is to support and it is a privilege we have as members of the church to sustain God's chosen leaders. Just, don't criticize those the Lord has called. And if you don't feel they are doing a good job or should have been called at all, pray and ask God to change your mindset. We will be a lot happier that way.  Sorry, not sure why I went off on that preachy tangent there, maybe someone needs to hear that. But this is one of the things I have come to believe and know the most during my time here. But yeah, interview with President, dang good stuff :)

We also had the opportunity this week to visit a bunch of our beautiful women in our ward. There is this new thing in our mission called "operation gold mine" and basically the idea is finding. We have taken that to heart this week and ended with one of the most blessed weeks I have ever had as we found three new investigators and taught thirteen lessons. It was amazing. Such a miracle and tender mercy to me to finally see all the work in this area start to amount to something. It's getting there. It really is. That was one of the most joyful things for me to see this week.

It is so awesome to see our hard work paying off and the Lord has truly been raining down blessings. We were the most effective this last week than we have ever been, even though my compañera was crazy sick for over half of it. I am so thankful we are able to work hard and have fun while seeing the hastening of the Lord's work in Brooklyn. This truly is the best area in the mission (no, I'm not biased, what are you talking about).

Yesterday we had the best lesson ever. We both came out of it dumbfounded. That is how missionary work is supposed to be. That is what "the field is white" looks like. Remember the guy we found at the train platform last week when we were singing? We finally met his wife yesterday. She is Hungarian (shhhhh, no we can keep her. doesn't matter she doesn't speak Spanish. we aren't gonna have to pass her off, what are you talking about!) and the most darling thing. Her name means flower, so we call her Flower. She is absolutely fabulous. She told us how she used to be so closed off to "things like this" but now she is just "something changed in me" and she's open to everything. We taught her about Christ and the Atonement. We taught her the resurrection and she got so excited and said, "that's what I believe!!" and looked at her husband for confirmation. He just smiled and said, "yes, that is what you believe!" It was the most awesome thing. We taught her to pray and invited her to offer the closing prayer. It was perfect. We're seeing her again Wednesday :)

This has all in all been a great week. I cannot believe it is already week six...I honestly cannot believe it. We will have transfer calls already made in a week. Crazy. I am so glad I am here serving these people I love. Learning to become more like my Savior has never been such a priority for me. I don't know how I ever lived before. It is times like these when I look back and can't even remember where I was before. I have never felt so close to my Father and my Savior. The best thing is, the mission is what has allowed me to change (#foreverchanged) and I don't have to stop changing after! I have been thinking about post-mission a lot (ugh, school and real life...thanks mom 😜) and am really excited actually to carry this time with me for the rest of my life. They say we give a year and a half or two years of our lives to the Lord but really we give nothing compared to what He gives us. We give our whole selves and all that we are to Him and in return He gives us Himself, all He is, and all He has. I don't think that's an even trade! I hope we can all strive to give a little more fully of ourselves to the Lord and remember Him this time of year and always, that we may ever submit to His will. I love you very much and pray for you always. Don't forget to #LIGHTtheWORLD :)

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

My List of Positive and Joyful Things:
#bendiciones

Lunes
1. Once again, preparation day = happy
2. Taught A.!! Finally. After two months of being missing in action we finally found this sister again. She's coming to church with us Sunday and we gonna teach M. how to have a clean mouth, gosh dang it.
3. Set up a lesson with a familia finally for next week
4. Planned on the go for all our peeps and finally set lessons with some our LAs
5. The china lady who walked by us smelling oddly of cucumbers *walks by* *looks at each other* Hna Platt: "was that...." together: "cucumbers??"

Martes
1. Found L.!! We showed her the new Christmas video and set up another lesson for Saturday :)
2. Talked with a super sweet lady on the bus who said it'd been a rough day. Made her smile and also Hna Platt gave her her umbrella, so that was nice :)
3. Interviews! God sent. Goodness. Exactly what I needed. Perfect.
4. Talking with Sister Reynolds.
5. Just got a hold of G.!! Finally! We will be visiting her later tonight!!
6. Sitting at the Chinese place waiting for our food and hearing these kids talk next to us. They were disgusting...so of the world. It was sad to see. But. It brought me joy because it reminded me of Sunday when we were in young women's with Stephanie and we got to see these awesome youth of the church. So I have even more joy and appreciation of them and their willingness to truly stand as an example and hold to what they believe when those they are surrounded by are so strongly opposed in values
7. Visiting G. and her girls and are seeing them again Saturday before our other lesson

Miércoles
1. Receiving personal revelation #andatlastiseethelight
2. Visited A. and her family. Shared the new Christmas video with them
3. Finding people to talk and share the gospel with on the bus heading to a less active lookup. We ended up not doing the lookup, but found some people who really benefited from us talking with them and listening to them (on both buses!)  #bendiciones #Hiswaysarehigherthanourways
4. Had time to write once we got home, let it go a bit haha

Jueves
1. Does improv count as a workout? Dancing this morning. Still have more stress though that I feel like I need to get out...may or may not dance a bit when we get to the church for weekly planning (got the gym. yes. where I can be loud and jump and make noise without having to worry about waking someone up beneath me haha) ...man, just gotta let it go sometimes!
2. Personal study, reading more about faith and not needing to be perfect to be perfect in effort
3. Compañera is feeling a lot better #prayerswork
4. Figured everything out. FINALLY.
5. #dinerfood #breakfast #babyorangejuice #worthittho

Viernes
1. Compañera is feeling even better than yesterday!
2. Filmed our video. You will see :) (...this is what happens when you arrive to your appointment before they're home so you decide to lip-sync/carol from the porch to passersby #LIGHTtheWORLD #harktheheroldangelsing)
3. #talkwitheveryone took this for real today...and are going to try and apply it to every day now even more. We showed the video and talked with a lot of people.
4. Correlation. We have a ward mission leader who is wanting to do his job and trying to do it well. I am very happy for that.
5. When a nonmember offers you coffee and the less active you are visiting tells them you don't drink coffee, but then proceeds to offer you tea instead ;)

Sábado
1. Lessons lesson lessons! Our day is full of lessons! Yay!!
2. Trying to get dinner and a bathroom #caaaaarbs #nolosnecesito #cookiesforabathroom #....whatdoyoumeanthereisntabathroom?
3. Invitation to go to a member's house and try cake they made #freefood #dontneedtogetfatter #butourlessactiveisthere #weareonourway
4. Met this gem outside on our way to our lesson #storytime
- Me: *sees cute little old man on the street* hi!
- Guy: *looks us up and down kind of surprised* You look very good
- Hna Platt: Thank you
- Guy: *looking at me* Where you from? Irish?
- Me: *tries to contain wind blown hair so as to see his face* Nope, German
- Guy: Awwww! *speaks rapid german*
- Me: Oh no, haha, I don't speak German.
- Guy: Oh... *looks at Hna Platt* And you, where are you from?
- Hna Platt: Swedish!
- Guy: Ahhhh! *speaks rapidly in another language*
- Hna Platt: Wait I don't speak that language either
- Guy: Where are you from in Greece?
- Hna Platt: No no not Greek, Swedish!
- Guy: Oh... so you don't speak Greek
- Hna Platt: Nope
- Guy: What are you? Christian?
- Us: Yes we are missionaries for the LDS church!
- Guy: that's nice. Everybody Christian! Well...*Lifting up his cane and tapping my side with it* Good day *tap* nice to meet you *tap* and merry Christmas! *tap*
5. Visited the M. family which means we got to visit with I. for a bit!! It was great! Also, she said this and it was absolutely hilarious: "New York rats aren't like normal rats, they're jacked up on pizza." --100% true, they're huge

Domingo
1. Made it to church for the sacrament. Barely. We were late, but we made it. (#needshelpunderstandingtheimportanceofthingsandwhentonotbestressed #gettingtochurchlatewithyourinvestigatorandlessactive #busesdontcome #shouldhaveplannedbetter #itiswhatitis...? #couldhavedonemore...? #ugh #atleastwemadeit)
2. #throwback #"whatqualifiesasabadhairday?"
3. AWESOME lesson with Flower!! 🌸 she is the definition of real intent and has been so prepared...we are so excited for her :)
4. Christmas devotional. ...well, the elders trying to get the devotional in Spanish. That was hilarious. Then, the actual devotional. I love Christmas.
5. This was a blessed week.

Lunes (hasta ahora)
1. Grocery shopping and they were playing Christmas music!!
2. Walked by this guy in the grocery store and in a full fledged baritone voice he sings to himself, "Rudolph, the red nosed reindeer." That made me happy :)
3. Pizza for lunch #italiapizza #madebymexicans #seeds


Foods of the week:
Ma-sopa:  😜 nah, it was just soup...she asked the "más sopa" thing and we had been trying to understand what she was saying the name of it was so when she said that, we thought she asked if we like the soup, calling it "masopa" as if that was the name. Still not sure what the soup was. Little skinny short noodles swimming in orange juice and tasting like chicken noodle soup...with none of the ingredients for said soup. Was really good though!
Tacos dorados: literally just means hard/crunchy tacos but they were chicken filled and eaten with Mexican cheese and a super pica sauce. Super good.
Pomegranate vitamin water: lots of it in place of tea! Really good and love the substitute ;)
NY bagels: not bad, but man, do New Yorkers love their cream cheese #thatwasamistake #notagain #adisgracetohnaplatt

The countdown is forbidden

Hello hello :)

I can't believe it's Monday again so soon, yet so far. I don't think I'll ever get a hold of how time runs out here haha! Last week was a lot better. We taught eight lessons (yes!) and have some really high hopes for those we're working with right now. I don't think I can say enough how much I love this work. Me and Hna Platt were talking the other day about how when we go home we are going to be the best members when it comes to missionary work that the world has ever seen...the missionaries who serve in our wards better be watching out haha :) stuff is gonna get done.

As we are aware, Thursday was Thanksgiving! It also was my half-way mark. (Let's just address the subject now and say it is in reference to said second half of mission. Not 'bout to count down, no way. Just gonna live and work day by day.) Let's just say I had a lot to be grateful for. I think it is interesting to me how much God has been subtly preparing me for post-mission real life over these last nine months. Now the preparation is not so subtle and I can look back and forward and see where He is preparing me and changing me. It's exciting but also a bit nerve wracking, I don't think I've ever thought so much about the future in my life. I'm excited for it though. I think the one Christlike attribute from PMG I'm starting to get a hold of is hope. Now I am pretty hopeful for things to come, just gotta keep working on that faith one...and the trusting...and the patience...okay we got a long list, I know :) He's helping me with it one step at a time, just as He does all of us.

I hope we took advantage of the opportunity we all had to express what we are thankful for not only to our families but to our Father in Heaven. We truly have been so blessed. Probably the most important thing for me to always remember is that God loves us so much that He gives us all these blessings, and we truly depend on Him for all we have. When we remember our place...who we are as His children, we will want to submit to His will, express our gratitude to Him, and serve Him. He loves us, never forget that :)

One of the things I am most thankful for here is the opportunity I have to serve with such awesome missionaries! Thursday we got together with out zone and went to a turf field close to the chapel and played ultimate frisbee and soccer for two hours! It was so fun! Holy cow that was the best time, it was awesome. We played two games of ultimate frisbee and then one soccer game last. Now, my friends, if you know me at all you know that I have the hand-eye coordination of a...I dunno, but something that has really bad hand-eye coordination :) by the second game of frisbee I was doing pretty good, but that first game though...woo! Quite an abomination to behold haha. It was super fun and probably the best exercise/cardio any of us have gotten in the last two years haha!

After the zone activity we ran to our lesson! This lesson was so great! We taught about prayer and she's been praying every day, came to church, and is progressing like crazy! We are so excited for her!! The baptism for her brother was yesterday and that was just amazing. He said he felt so happy after, it was so great to see.

Also Wednesday we did this super fun Thanksgiving activity as a district. We made this little board and sat outside the church inviting people to write down things they were thankful for. It was super cool! We had this lady from Egypt come over and she said she was Christian and asked us to spell Jesus for her to write on her feather. We spelled it out for her and then she also wrote it in Arabic! It was so cool! That was an awesome activity. Super successful too.

On the way back to the house sometime last week we were waiting for the train and this little boy was standing there with his mom. His Spanish was better than mine and he was just adorable. We talked with him for a bit and then when the train came he exclaimed, "oh! Es lleno!!" Then when someone moved so he could sit he looked up at me and said, "quieres sentar? Siéntate." I was like no, it's for you! He was the cutest thing :) I love Hispanic kids. Speaking of Hispanic kids, another fun time, Thanksgiving. That was so fun, playing with their kids and talking with them was so great. She told us she made us traditional Thanksgiving food so that we would feel at home :)

Saturday night we also had some awesome tender mercies. We had most things not go according to plan and ended up with only an hour before we needed to be home. Not enough time to go see someone else, not small enough time to go straight home, no people to try and contact via messaging or calling, so we jumped on the trains to ride them looking for someone to share the gospel with. We ended up finding two. Bendiciones. It was awesome :)

This new Christmas campaign though!! Goodness gracious I love this video and everything about it. Random tangent, lds.org. I love this thing with a passion. I could spend hours reading what's on there, watching Mormon messages, looking at the Bible videos (if you have not you neeeeed to - they are amazing!!!!), reading quotes and talks,...goodness gracious I love church. Anyway. Sorry, ran off on this tangent though, but seriously, this Christmas video is awesome.

Well this has kinda been all over the place, but it was a pretty good week :) I love you so much! Hope the holidays were fun and not too stressful for y'all. Love you lots!! Have a great week!

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

"None but saints can be happy under every circumstance.”

Buenos días from freezing New York, where we go from light jacket to parkas in under 24 hours (sounds a little like home, right?)

This week was pretty good, we started off with service at the home of a family in our ward. This was a lot of fun, we were able to help them unpack and build a stronger relationship with their daughter. She really just needs a friend and some love. We are going out with her tonight to get some hot chocolate and talk. We just love her so much.

Exchanges

The member trust thing was huge this week as we got to see a couple different families and support them and help them any way we could. We love them very much :) They are so fun. It seems like we are finally being able to get somewhere here. We've been given a few less actives as referrals from some of the members and are slowly seeing things pick up. It's nice when we finish a week and feel like we've really done something. I guess that's been the most frustrating part for me - looking back over the weeks and thinking, "what did we even do?" We had exchanges last week and the sister training leaders watched us do our nightly planning and said we literally are doing everything right, but yet we've been so frustrated. So, we had to evaluate a little bit. We decided we really just need to just be happy because we are doing everything right. We are both working equally hard for the same goal and so there is no reason we shouldn't be happy if we're doing that. Therefore, this week really is a choose joy week.

We had a lot of tender mercies and little things this week that helped remind us we really are doing what the Lord would have us do. Friday we had mega zone and a lesson, both of which were awesome joyful times where we got to learn and teach by the Spirit. On our way back to the church after the lesson, we kinda fell into another funk even though we'd just come out of this great lesson. We were heading home via the train and when we got to the bottom of the stairs to wait I kinda subconsciously just said a little prayer in my heart, "Give me someone to help, please. I don't want to focus on or worry about myself. Give me someone who needs what I need where I can give it to them." I looked over and saw this lady sitting at the bottom of the stairs. She was crying and I just walked over and sat down by her and we started talking. We were able to talk with her for probably twenty minutes or so before and on the train. She expressed her gratitude to us and we were really able to help her. We will hopefully be able to see her again this week after getting some of her info.

One of the streets they walk often "Now it's just bare and wet"

This moment was amazing for more than a few reasons, but the biggest one for me was what I saw after when reflecting on that experience. It was incredibly joyous to me to see that God has truly changed my heart --and is still changing it everyday-- where in my time of "need" I instinctively sought to help someone else in need. So, to see that my asking of God to help me develop charity and asking to be guided to do His will has been working is amazing. Haha. I've been asking for this, and now I can see the Lord has been answering my prayers. If we express that desire to Him that we have and truly submit to Him and just try, then He truly does change us and grant unto us the desires of our hearts. I am so thankful for that, and thankful for the opportunity I've had to see how the Lord is changing me and changing my character to become more like His. So that brought me joy :)

Saturday we also got some awesome news: the brother of our investigator (we were with her and the mom while the elders teach the son) is going to be baptized this next Sunday!! We met the dad when they all came to church together yesterday and set up to visit with all of them this Wednesday!! We are so excited. Also, Joshua told us yesterday they picked December tenth with his dad for his baptism! We couldn't be more excited for them.

Just remembered from Sunday, Elder Nielson, my compañera, and Elder Weisler were asked to give talks. Guess who got cold called when there was still extra time. Gosh dang it. It was okay; not the best but not the worst haha. But that was fun. Obispo likes to keep you on your toes.

There is also a stake Christmas devotional on December 11th that we will be singing in as a ward. We got to spend an hour after church attempting to arrange our baby "choir" (don't know if you can even call it that haha) into singing cantan santos ángeles. It will hopefully be pretty good in the end, I think we have enough members that we can make it work ;) it was also a fun throwback to the CCM choir days with Elder Stoker haha.

Anyway, I'm really not sure what else I've got for ya! Really the biggest thing from this week was just...just be happy. Don't lower your expectations, don't blame yourself, and trust in God. That's mostly what I got. If we really are doing everything we can to do His will then it doesn't matter what the outcome is, because that is according to His plan too. Knowing and shifting to believing is really important, I think. I used to feel like they were the same, now I know I need both (throwback to April general conference). I hope we can all trust in God a little bit more and know He is at the helm and remember the truth behind one of my favorite scriptures: "if God be for us, who can prevail against us?" I love you!! Have a great week :)

Mucho amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

Wait...Is this a serious picture or smiling???? #lovesthesemissionaries

Apparently it was supposed to be a serious picture :)

Finally...Success??? (We don't like serious pictures)