"Another one bites the dust" #droppingfiesta

Hey fam :)

Week five of this transfer is upon us and that's crazy. Time is speeding up and I didn't think that was possible! We had a really good week and were able to find a lot of new people to teach. Yesterday in particular we went on splits with the young women and Hermana Spencer and her companion were let into every house they knocked! We've got return appointments with them all this week. Tender mercies. Along with the splurge of new investigators we have been finding, we've been cleaning out our old investigators. It's kinda sad when you have to drop people, but the gospel just isn't a priority for them. There are people to find who are ready. Sifting the wheat from the tares. Entonces, we went out to give a few potential drops one last try this week. We sang "Another one bites the dust" leaving every porch.

The highlight of this week was sisters conference! That was so fun. We carpooled to woodside with the Hampton bays sisters (Hermana Ashford!) and it took us only an hour to get there (if we were coming from Dyker it would've been probably two hours on the subway). We were there from eight in the morning til five and it was awesome. The theme was Choose Joy. The first part was by Sister Martino (half of a senior couple in our mission) and her daughter. They spoke to us about some of their life and mission experiences with needing to choose joy in hard times. The Spirit was so strong. I was sitting next to Hermana Ashford and we were both writing notes like crazy. They said everything we needed to hear. It was amazing. The Spirit was so strong that whole first part of the meeting. We talked with President after and he said how you can tell the spirit of the meeting in the spirits of the people. He said the spirit with all of us was just crazy strong and the spirit of the meeting reflected that.

We took a few big group photos (I don't have those yet) and then we ate lunch. It was really funny cause there were about four men (President and the three assistants) amongst 65 sisters haha. After lunch we had two workshops and a service project. Our group did the service project first. We wrote letters to people in the military and then sorted out clothes according to size to be donated. Our first workshop was by President and Sister Reynolds. It was awesome. We talked about the young women's values a little and about our divine nature and how knowing who we are can help us to choose joy. We were able to feel the Spirit a lot and I was able to learn some new perspectives on knowing who we are as children of God. The last workshop was given by Sister Workman on mental health and the role of a happy healthy brain in choosing to be happy. They were great workshops, and I think the sisters learned a lot. Finally we had our last lesson all together by Sister Reynolds. I love her and President so much. They are amazing.

After the conference ended we waited around for my interview with President. Elder Wu from Dyker was there with his companion who was in an interview with President first. I saw Elder Wu and he was like "hey I heard you were coming back" and I was just thinking "you heard I went home...?" So, apparently it spreads real fast when someone goes home haha cause I was only gone for two weeks! (But at least the fact I was coming back spread just as fast haha.)

I got in my interview with President and it was awesome. It went really really well, it was great to be able to talk to him and I feel like I'm free to just work and do my missionary work as best I can without anything weighing on the back of my mind.

Also, we are getting Facebook this week... We have a special zone training meeting this Friday for it as well. I'm anxious for it but the Lord is in charge so I'll just follow His lead! #hasteningofthework

This Wednesday we went finding and I was able to have a really cool experience. We had an appointment scheduled with this man we'd found the week before so we got in the car and headed over there. It was my turn to pray before we got out of the car for the lesson and when I was praying I asked that we would be able to find the man, but right as I asked I felt maybe what the Book of Mormon calls being "constrained by the Spirit". I felt like I wasn't supposed to ask for that and we weren't there for him so I asked that we be guided to find who the Lord had prepared for us. We got out of the car and ended up finding a really awesome family and the man we were there for wasn't even home. We'll see what happens with them :) but that was a cool experience for me to be able to see the Spirit guide us like that.

Anyway, other than these events of the week... We have been really busy, workin harder than I've ever worked before. It's awesome. I love this so much. I am so happy it is beyond ridiculous. This is the best companionship, I love the trio. We are all best friends and I don't think it could be any better. I mean of course if you're gonna be with someone --let alone two people-- there's bound to be some problems, but we really haven't had anything that's been like an actual problem. It's been great.

Entonces, I am incredibly dorkily happy :) thank you for all of your prayers, I have never been better than I am now. I'm learning so much everyday and I feel so much closer to my Savior. Missionary work is the real deal, family. I love you so much :)
Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley


Tried to make up for the lack of pictures last week haha xD so, last week I realized the captions for the pictures didn't make it through. Haha, so the cookie one, no, we aren't just THAT bad at baking, we didn't have tartar sauce (thinking this is most definitely supposed to be "cream of tartar" haha!) and we thought hey we don't know what that is it can't be that important......l well haha, saw how well that worked! Also, the sign. So that's a road by where a ton of our investigators live in Coram and I remember the first time we were driving down and I said "ya....ya-pank...??" And they were like "no it's yaphank!" I was like I swear there was no h on that sign....but then we get to the next one and there was an h!! I was so confused, I was like I'm not going crazy yet....am I??? But then last Sunday we were walking down the road and I saw that sign!! So that picture was my "yay I'm not crazy there actually is one of the signs without an h!!" Haha:) and the pan...we had to bake brownies for primary cause we were teaching for Hermana Cortez cause her family was visiting Utah. We didn't have a pan. So we borrowed that one from the elders. Needless to say hermana Mejía did some major cleaning on it haha!  Que más... No se. Entonces, this weeks pictures!



Spencer was in the shower and we were bored so we did face masks haha. I am not a fan, it made my face feel all funny

 

#sistersconference! Got pictures with Sisters Fouts and Taylor, then Spencer and Ashford and Hermana Urízar ! (We realized yesterday we didn't get one of our actual trio so that's awkward...) 

It was Virginias birthday (an Hermana in our rama) so we went to a for real Hispanic birthday part, that was fun! There were a ton of other pictures taken and group pictures and such but we don't have any of those, they're all on social media somewhere haha

#knockingbeasts (gonna be great sales people post-mish!)

¡Buenos días, familia!

This has been quite the week. I got this letter thing sent to me from Hermana Mejía that I've been reading and it's just awesome! It goes really well with the consecrated missionary talk I read before in
Dyker. I just really want to make sure I give this everything I have to give it. The time is going so fast, I feel like it sped up since I've gotten back.

Anyway, with that little intro haha, this week was pretty good! We had zone training meeting on Thursday and that was awesome. We have Bermuda in our zone so we skyped them in to our meeting. We had these two members from the area next door come and teach us how to do better
knocking (they're managers of sales teams for Vivint). That was awesome! We learned a lot of new techniques and approaches that work way better than what we were previously doing. We tested out what we'd learned that night during prime time and the next day around one. While we were practicing Friday, I knocked a house and gave the little "pitch" thing and she was just kinda listening standing there. I was like, "I guess I can keep going....??" I said a bit about the restoration and was like, "can we...come back and share more....with...you...?" And she comes out and is like, "yeah I got
time right now!" .....that's...never happened before...! I was so excited! So we taught her the restoration and have a return appointment with her this week. #blessed

We had an awesome lesson on Sabbath Day observance. One of the hermanas had to run to the bathroom and she comes back and said we all needed to take a tour. In this little house, this was a ridiculously large bathroom, it had a jacuzzi and a sauna! It was crazy! Haha, so that was a interesting little thing. My compañeras took a picture of it haha.

We also teach this lady named Maria. We arrived at her appointment and ended up helping her with her naturalization test a bit. Those things are crazy! That test is so intense...it blows my mind!

I also had a cool personal experience this week when we were out knocking. We were finishing up and heading to the car to go for an appointment when we saw this group of five or so people on their porch talking. I decided we were leaving anyway and I really didn't want to talk to them (they were a little rough around the edges to my non-missionary eye), so I thought we'd just keep going. Not today! Hermana Mejía turned at their driveway and I was just bracing myself for the probable outcomes I had already sorted out. This is when the Lord normally steps in and gives you a chance to rethink and be humbled a bit. We started to talk to them and they were really kind and attentive. We showed them the video "Because of Him" and they were really interested in it. I mean it's not like the whole family is now taking the lessons and coming to church, but we did have a really nice talk and it was a good lesson for me to relearn. To see everyone as who they really are: children of God. I need to remember to always look at people how I did before in the first month of my mission. I made it a goal to always see people as who they could be. Look at them in white. That's the cheesy phrase they always use out here but it is so true. This was a good opportunity for me to relearn that lesson, I am very thankful God gave me that opportunity.

Last Tuesday we took two of the young women out with us knocking and a little miscommunication here and there, we dropped them off at the same house to "catch Pokemons" (apparently there's this new interactive Pokemon game...?). We received a text that night --three hours later-- from an hermana (the mom of one of the girls): "Hello. Where is my daughter. Its 9:30." We were told the yw had told her mom she was going to the other girls house, she had not. We said we were sorry and decided we would make hermana apology cookies the next day. Well....we tried to make her cookies haha...it didn't work very well, so we ended up buying her cookies and when we dropped
them off we told her the story of our attempted apology cookies. She laughed at us. A lot. But needless to say, we were forgiven haha!

We were also asked to teach the primary this Sunday, so Hermana Cortez gave us brownie mix to make their "snack". We didn't have a brownie pan, or any pan to be honest, so we called the elders and they had a cake pan. We decided that would work. Now, we drove over to get this pan and it looked like it hadn't been washed in five years (it probably hadn't). Hermana Mejía worked hard on that and we ended up getting it pretty clean. We took a half way photo of its before and after journey. It was pretty nasty.

So, I have been composing this email over about the last four hours...thus, I'm sorry if it is crazy scattered. We are all at the church (our district) celebrating Elder Broadhead's birthday! He's not a baby anymore haha! (Turned 19) so we've been eating, playing games, and just kinda hanging out! Entonces, sorry familia...

Also! There was a really cool experience I had this week in teaching someone we found knocking a few days before. We were teaching the restoration and I hadn't said much during the lesson aside from the opening prayer the lady had asked me to give. We were approaching the end when the lady's husband began murmuring in the kitchen under his breath. He was saying things (in English, the lesson was in Spanish) like, "she's not gonna change, you come here every week, you're always here, she likes where she is, she'll never change". He was quiet at first, then he began to get angry and started yelling at us. He used a few choice words in regards to the message we were sharing and almost out of nowhere I had the most overwhelming feeling of the Spirit. I opened my mouth as my testimony just came flooding out. I looked at her and just let it go. I felt like I was going to fall out of my chair the Spirit was pulling me so hard, I was so overcome by it. I testified to her that I knew the things we had taught were true and invited her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about our message. We closed quickly with a prayer and talked to her husband briefly. We have a return appointment for this week :) we got in the car and laughed about it thinking, just wait and see, they'll both get baptized! The Lord works in mysterious ways...

Anyway, all in all this has been a pretty great week. I have learned a lot and felt the Spirit so much. I was thinking the other day about how amazing being a missionary is and I realized how much I missed it when I wasn't here. I think that is my biggest motivation moving forward, how do I want to feel going home (for real) at the end of my mission? When I went home before I felt far from done. I knew there was more for me to give. I am working everyday to be better and improve through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know it is only through His Atonement and His grace that we are able to become what God wants us to be. I have such a strong testimony of God's hand in our lives and I know He truly is in the details of them. However, as a few of my favorite verses of scripture say (James 2:17-19), it's not enough to just "know" or to just have a testimony. It's what we do with it that matters. Knowing God has a plan for me and is intricately involved in my daily life means I can press forward without fear, "only believing" as the scriptures put it. I can trust that God leads my actions and will not lead me astray. Sometimes things don't go how we plan in life and we think, "why did I go this way/do this thing? Nothing came of this, was I not following the Spirit?" We can know that truly all things have a purpose in Him. I've learned that maybe His purpose at times is not to "test us", or for us to find someone to teach, but it is simply to see if we can be trusted. God doesn't need a slothful servant. What does that profit Him? He sometimes leads us to hard things, or nothing, to see if we will be obedient. If we will be faithful. If we will simply push forward and perseverar hasta al
fin, even --especially-- when it looks like nothing is coming of our efforts. I know this is true in every aspect of life. I've decided my reaction to what I'm given --blessings, trials, seemingly nothingness-- is what will build me or tear me down. As President puts it, "what dog wins the fight is the one that we feed the most".

I know with all I've got in me this is the true church restored on the earth, and I know that being here is the best thing I could ever possibly be doing. I'm so thankful for the opportunity my Father in
Heaven has given me to serve Him and for His trust in me. I hope this is a great week, family. I love you lots, act on your testimony sometime this week. Make a conscious effort to do something, to add
some works to your faith. Love you!!

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley


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A Tale of Two Missions

¡Buenos, hermanos y hermanas!

I have so many words and yet none at all sufficient enough to express how happy I am to be back. I have been so blessed, I cannot even begin to give the thanks sufficient...

So much has happened in the last week, and this is only my sixth day being back in the field. I guess I will start with the plane ride here for those (mom) who may have been concerned (mom) :) the flight to Atlanta was good, Nate (from Hillcrest) was on my same flight --along with several other missionaries-- all on their way to the England MTC! We talked for a second after the plane landed then split ways to find our connections. However, I realized after walking for a few minutes towards the train that I didn't know my gate number because I didn't have my second boarding pass. A lady I asked printed it off for me and I headed out. Missed the train, but the terminal ended up being fairly close. Up to this point I had not seen the sister I was supposed to be looking for. While boarding the plane the person in front of me fell back and we all kinda fell backwards a bit, so I apologized to the girl behind me to find out later that was her! She didn't know she was supposed to be looking for anyone and she didn't have a tag (hadn't been set apart yet) so we didn't realize we were both missionaries.

We all got on the plane fine, out of the gate fine, then it starts to rain. Like, really rain. The captain said he estimated an hour and a half wait before they would let the 45 planes ahead of us begin to
take off. And an hour and a half it was. Once the storm cleared it was a steady flight and we arrived around 5:10 in New York. Almost to the baggage claim area, I saw Elder Young first standing with Elder Ko and Elder Voorhees (Elder Voorhees actually goes home this transfer with Elder Young but is an assistant for only this transfer with them). They asked us a million questions about home while we asked a million questions about the mission.

We got to the mission office and there were President and Sister Reynolds. I loved seeing them. They are amazing. The minute we got on the road I felt like I had never left. Everything was so familiar and I really felt like I was home seeing them at the office. They had dinner ordered for us so we all ate together and talked with President and Sister Reynolds for a bit. Elder Young told President how anxious we were to find out our companions so he finally told us after dinner. I am with....Hermana Mejía and Hermana Spencer in Patchogue!! (That's on Long Island). I was so happy it was kind of ridiculous (also, Hermana Mejía trained Hermana Spencer so they're still together).

We live in a cute little house with a washer and nonfunctional dryer in the cellar on a little dead end street ten minutes or so away from the church. Sister Mejía is the driver and the other two of us switch off with who gets to be copilot. The island is a complete one-eighty from Brooklyn, but I love it! We had exchanges Thursday with the sister training leaders (Sister Tarnaskey and Sister Urízar) and I went knocking for the first time! I love it! (You can't knock in Brooklyn...that's just not a thing) It was a huge tender mercy for me that we were in an English area during prime-time find and yet every door we knocked was a Hispanic willing to listen to us with whom we got return appointments for the sisters in that area! I know that was God giving me the opportunity to gain a personal testimony of prime-time find and knocking (which I had never had the opportunity to do previously). I am thankful for that.

Friday was Mega Zone! Hermana Ashford is in my zone so I saw her, and Elder Brown (cafe) was there too! I also saw Hermana Bugingo, but we didn't really get to talk much. Our mega zone meeting went for seven hours. Yep. Seven hours of AWESOME counsel. I was in heaven. It was just missionaries everywhere, missionary work in every conversation... Man I missed this so much.

Saturday morning was the first day since I came that was normal haha. We finished companion study and my sisters asked what I did with my companion before for language study (Sister Mejía is a native, so that is a huge help). These sisters.... They are amazing. When we all woke up together,
exercised together, planned together, studied together.... Man, that first day I seriously wanted to cry during studies. We had a great little heart to heart to heart and I just expressed how grateful I am. We have been as exactly obedient as possible in all we can and I have felt the Spirit so much more in my life serving.  I feel God sent me home to allow me to reflect on everything and have the opportunity for Him to bear witness to me that He put me there to gain that experience.

And that is my Tale of Two Missions as I have begun the second with a fresh and amazing start!! I feel as though I never left, yet I feel so far from that self I was before, from the mission I was a part of before. If I ever had "the greenie fire" I've got it tenfold now! I have never had so much desire to serve. It is amazing how many blessings I've seen. The language has progressed so much the last four days, I can't even explain! I feel so confident, We have been talking to everything that moves and have had a lot of success these last few days. I know it won't always be like this and sometimes there are those periods of planting, not reaping, but I'm just happy to be laboring in the field! :)

Entonces. This has been a great couple of days, and I am looking forward to the next four weeks I will have with this amazing trio. #lovethetriolife
I am almost to the church and will send this off and reply to anything else.

Love y'all so much!!
Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley


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1- me and Sister Welch before I left
2- hour and a half wait in Atlanta
3- finally up with the storm cleared
4-6- with the sister training leaders! (Hermana Tarnaskey is the
redhead and Hermana Urízar is the other)
7- mega zone reunion - stoker = fun time!
8- food with a investigator
9- Elder Hendrickson in our district
10-11- us with the elders that were still here just now when we took
these pictures haha! (Elder Peters is the one on the right --he's from

the Netherlands-- and Elder Cahan is on the left)

FINALMENTE

Familia familia!

It's a beautiful day. Man. FINALLY. After three weeks of heck, the craziness is over. After facing the curve balls that were thrown and the walls that were constantly built up, this ridiculously long fight is over! I've seen four different professionals in the last two weeks and every single one gave me the same feedback: you were misdiagnosed, there's no problem or treatment recommended, you're good to go back!!

I'm so thankful for the opportunity I had to come home and reflect on the first four months of my mission. Even though coming home was the last thing I ever wanted, I know it was in God's plan for me and I will be a better, stronger missionary returning to New York. I cannot wait to get back to work!

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers, and for all the comfort I've received during this weird time. I will be flying out with another sister Tuesday morning and we're going to plan on the
next fourteen months kickin as usual haha! I can't say no more craziness cause the mission is pretty crazy, but I love it :) definitely the best decision I have ever made and I'm so blessed to be able to continue in the work!

Best wishes for a successful week and lots of happiness!
Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

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