His ways are higher than my ways

The dog post haha...we always saw these signs on our runs in Dyker and
said how awkward the man was posed and how we would need to pose next
to it someday. That day never came and then we saw another one and
thought we had to take the opportunity haha

Buenas :)

Well, family and friends, our three months are up! This has been a fabulous final transfer with my darling hermanita and I am very happy with the work we've been able to do together. It seems the Lord always has something greater in mind when I think I know His plan. I will be staying in Dyker for another transfer and Hermana Voss will move on to her second area! I am so excited for her! Confused, anxious, and a little stressed (I feel like I'm sending off my child or something haha!) but very excited. She will be fabulous :)

This week was very exciting. I'll send my little "notes" email with some additional detail as well (including all the funnies haha!) but I'm gonna highlight a few of the thoughts/experiences of the week. First we have to start with last Thursday. We had planned for some weekly planning this day, but when we got a call from the less active mom of our investigator asking us if we could be at her house in 45 minutes the plans changed! God often works in ways that seem to be mysterious to us at first, but as we look at what He gives us with spiritual eyes, things start to become clearer. That was definitely the case here. Unaware of what we were on our way to do but "urgent and consecrated as we could be" ;) we somehow --through many a tender mercy-- got to her home just as it hit 11:30. We had quite possibly the most beautiful experience I have had on my mission thus far that morning with her. She told us she had been crying that morning and needed comfort but didn't know who she could call that would come. She told us she knew we would "always be disponible" and come "right away". She opened up to us immensely and the Spirit was there so strongly. We are excited to see what changes she will begin to make in her life as she nourishes her testimony again. It'll be marvelous :)

We also had another lesson set but she had to cancel last minute... but then we ended up teaching four lessons that day! We had another with our awesome two sisters-- wait! You don't know about them yet! So we taught them last Monday for the first time, then again Thursday. They are so prepared it is crazy. This, this is how missionary work is supposed to be. This is what a white field looks like. They are the most darling girls. They're sisters of less active parents and in high school. We love them so much. So we got to teach them last week as well!! Twice! After their lesson we went and had a lesson with our favorite family. :) we asked the daughter to prepare a little something to help us and it was amazing. Her testimony is growing every day. It was so awesome being able to visit with their family and help strengthen them. We love them. (Also, I have begun a "people I need to see when I come back" list, they're on it).

We also had the great experience of visiting one of the less actives in our ward with the elders. They were going to give her a blessing at the hospital so we went with and stayed after to talk with her and get to know her. She is so darling. We read the Book of Mormon to her and she said she was remembering everything. She told us it's been six years since she's been to church or read and us reading to her brought back all these emotions and memories, she hopes to be at church next Sunday :)

Just so much joy in the journey. I read a talk yesterday about how much more joyful it will be to rejoice together in the kingdom with those we have helped bring there --who have helped us in return to arrive. I can't wait :)

Also, we had the chance to meet with one of the sisters we have been teaching again this week! She is going to the temple!!! Goodness gracious, seeing the spark in her and the love she has for the gospel...it is just so amazing. She picked this Saturday for the temple (perfect, cause it's also stake temple day!) so we will be going then!! That also means my preparation day will be this Saturday, not Monday of next week, just so y'all know :) I could not be more excited for her. Seeing how far she has come and the joy she has is what it's all about.

This mission. Literally the best thing I could have ever done with my life. One huge tender mercy, for me, thus far has been that God has given me the opportunity to feel and understand maybe just a little of what He feels for us. Let me explain. We will do --and have done-- almost anything for our less actives and investigators. We have and will come running at the drop of a hat when you call, change our schedules to meet you, call you every single day at the same time to read with you, text you to remind you to pray, pick you up, bring you things, take you out, teach to your needs, pray and fast with and for you, we will literally do anything for these people we love so much. Why? Really, why? Because we understand how important this message is. Why are we so persistent? Because we understand the importance of bringing them back or to this gospel for the first time. And that is why we go to these great lengths, because we have something so so precious, perfect, and miraculous we want you to have and are doing everything in our power to help you obtain it.

...this sense of urgency I feel for the work has come with the great blessing my Father in Heaven has given to me to be able to understand a little bit more the real significance of this time now and it's eternal consequences. He has allowed me to better understand the sacrifice of my Savior and the absolute truth that is in the verse that says the thing that will be of most worth unto us is to preach the gospel and cry repentance. I believe that. I know that. I hope all of us can have the fire of the gospel in our lives and act on the desire to share it with others. And if you don't yet have that desire, pray for it! Seek it! Ask God to give you the desire and opportunity to share the gospel and I know He will.  I invite you to look for opportunities to share this gift we have been given and help God in the building of His kingdom. I know there is no greater joy to be found than in this work.  :)

I love you so much! I hope this week is great and that you got pictures of the birthdays!! Until next week when I have my new companion and district...

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

Just a little windy...

Sorry Hna Voss :)  #hairprobs

Everything else :)

Lenny's pizza :)

LUNES
AWESOME lesson with sisters #thisiswhatawhitefieldlookslike #bestlessonever #ilovethemsomuch

One of my favorites!!!
- We met with her for the first time in a couple weeks and had a really great lesson. I love her so much. Keeping her in my prayers always :)

Cool physician we met on the train coming home
- Met this super cool guy on the way home. He knew who we were as Mormons and had a few questions. He was really cool.


MARTES
Card making at the church #whentwoguysshowuptotryandgetinthechurch #andthenyougetscaredandcallyourDL #wearefine #keptthedoorslocked #sorryiftheywantedthegospel #gofindtheelders
- We were at the church and it's policy that the doors have to be locked if only sisters are in the church but then these two guys showed up and tried to get in and we were scared so we didn't let them in...they weren't members of our ward. Hope if they wanted the gospel they found the elders!

Hermana and landlord again! "Sisters!! You keep helping them, they need the help! I'll go over there and let you in!!" #mademyday #somemissionariesreallymadeagoodimpression #stillwaitingforthefruits #heisbasicallyamember #whyyounottho?
- This guy really is so awesome. He should just be a member already. He is just great. I think we might try and get his info so the elders can go and visit him again. Maybe after all these years he's a little more prepared to accept the message. And if not, still would be great for him I think :)

Teaching! #planofsalvation #fistbumps #bala-la-la-la
- We taught this stud family again and an old investigator of ours we passed off to the elders always does the Big Hero 6 fist bump with us. They're my favorite.

English class!! #iloveservice #myfavoritepeople
- We tried to help them learn how to say the word "stamp". You would not believe how hard that word is for them to say. I think all those years of mom teaching people how to pronounce things has rubbed off on me. We walked through every sound. Wouldn't move on til they got it. We'd combine a few sounds. They'd get it. Then, we say the word. "Estomp." Every. Time. Ugh. It's a work in progress :)


MIERCOLES
Last district meeting #hastaver #workshop #elderpavontestimony
- I gave the workshop of our last district meeting together. It'll be weird having half of the people be new...I'm excited, but it'll be odd.

#whenyoucanteverseeyourlessactivesorinvestigators #justletusloveyou!
- Ugh. Let us love you!!

Dinner with Hna! #favorite #anotheronewhosaysweneedtobeskinny #arewereallythatgordita?
- really good food but said she wasn't giving us rice because we need to be skinny and rice makes you fat 😂 (are we really getting that bad...? 😜)

Temple lesson!!!! #AMAZING #holySpirit #soprepared #vamosaltemplo #alreadyhasherrecommend #nextsaturday?!?!
- *happy dance*


JUEVES
Talking about the video the elders have of us at the noche de hispanidad, Hna Voss: "Seriously, I need to get that video so I can send it home to my family and they can see that I'm Hispanic now." #wemightbelatinas #pinkskirts #columbia #represent
- We danced with the Sociedad de Socorro for the noche de hispanidad and we're representing Columbia so we did a Colombian dance...in other words we all put on the skirts and just followed around the one Colombian lady who danced with us haha! It was way fun though! And the elders have a short video of it apparently and we were talking about needing to get it from them for this purpose haha

HOLY LESSONS. #THISISHOWYOUDOMISSIONARYWORK
When your less active mom of one of your investigators calls you and asks if you can be at her house in 45 minutes, it takes 35 to get there, and you're barely even dressed #YESWECAN #tendermercies #whywegoingthough? #noidea #followtheSpirit #gladwealwayshaveit #goingforthtocomfortandserve #wasgoingtocallsomeoneelsebutknewshecouldcountonuscoming #membertrust #somuchSpirit #prayer #hertestimonythough #saidshewouldcometochurch #food #doublewhammy #secondlesson #weallbecrying
- Our awesome lesson. This was all great. She also fed us awesome food so that was pretty great. Hispanics are my favorite. I just love this people. We will hopefully be seeing her again soon this week :)

When you have a lesson with your two new investigator sisters and they are just so prepared and darling it kills you... #planofsalvation

Noche de Hogar with our favorite family #restoration #holytestimonygrowth #daughterissuchastud #maybemylasttimeteachingthem

Did we earn our pillow? #heckyeah
- yeah we did.


VIERNES
When you try to take a picture with your companion and the wind blows your hair where it just consumes both of you...

That awkward moment when the address for one of your potentials is that of a Jewish synagogue #nottheaddresswearelookingfor
- yup. That happened.

"But soft, what lights through yonder winder breaks!" #whenyourcomptriestoquoteshakspearebutaccidentallygoescountryonyou
- this was an awesome moment that resulted in both of us dying on the floor laughing hahahaha

#notrainingcalls
#slowdayafterarealdayfeelsextraslow
#onlythreedaysleft

36th St sign... "life is pain, highness. Anyone who says oth--" "not with the gospel of Jesus Christ!!" #menarethattheymighthavejoy
- That picture we have of us at 36th street. It's supposed to say "wet paint"


SABADO
#lastrealdayofproselytingjuntas

[all these next few were on the way to visit the less active in the hospital]
#whenyougetonthesubwaylookoverandseeyourelders #really? #whataretheodds #whenyoursubwaycarlightsturnout #thatsnew
- We stepped on the train, look over, and there's the elders. Then when we got on the next train the subway car lights turned out. That was weird. We all thought we were gonna die for a second there, haha

When you see a nun and burst into sound of music and your companion doesn't leave you hanging #thehillsarealivewiththesoundofmusic #aaaahhhh #frolicsinafield #thishappensallthetime
Elder Weisler: *clearly gets reference* *beams* Elder Creager: *clearly doesn't get reference* *what are you doing* *why are you singing* *why did we get the weird sisters* *stop*
- This was great. I saw this nun coming out of the NYU Lutheran hospital and I turned to Hna Voss and started signing the first line of the sound of music and then she carried it on with the next little line. Now that happens all the time, but the funny part was when Elder Weisler got our reference and Elder Creager did not at all haha!

Lesson #scripturereading #sheisjustdarling #hopefullyatchurchnextweek #whenyouintroduceyourselfasyourcompanion
- Accidentally introduced myself as Hna Voss...wow we've been together too long 😂😂

When you go to do a look up and are walking down a dark street and seven drunk men somehow are in the exact way of your path and there is no way around them...but then God is just so good that He somehow makes it so you walk within inches of them, right through, between them all, and they don't even see you #tendermercies #notlikeanythingwouldhavehappenedbutgaveussomecomfort #angelsroundaboutyou
- That is pretty self explanatory I think, and pretty cool. Nothing big, I don't think anything would have happened anyway, but it definitely brought us some comfort and reminded us He is with us, so that was great :)


DOMINGO
Church. #primaryprogram #whenthirdhourisonpoint
#...lastweek?
No. One. Home.
Still planning on the temple this Saturday!! #tanemocionada #preparado #laiglesiaesverdadera
Calls... no. one. answers. #wannacheckthephone...? #noonelovesthemissionaries
- Sunday was Sunday...not much success, but a good día de reposo :) and of course opportunity to attend church and worship with the rest of our ward!

Pictures!!!

Ward missionary activity

Semi-annual temple trip :)

CCM district together again

Just a little bit of happiness :)

CCM Hermanas y companera

Elder Holland's visit and the mission

Everything else :)

Well, here's all the fun stuff!! 😁 ...in a very nasty format...I'm sorry 😬

Lunes
Found two members we have been looking for! #twoweekslater... #mostperfectchildyouwillevermeet #iwilltaketwoplease
    - they are my favorite. The daughter is five. She's the perfect child. I'm sold. We haven't seen them or been able to get a hold of them for two weeks but felt prompted to drop by and they were home! #tendermercies

Martes
Me: "How many sisters does it take to open a glass of salsa?" Hna Voss: "One elder." *finally opens it* "YEAH! ....it's like that final moment of labor."
    - pretty self explanatory haha! That was one tough salsa jar though! Took us a good fifteen minutes before she finally got it haha!

District meeting with ZLs
    - Elder Morris and Menge came and were "member presents" for our role plays to help critique us all haha! I love them. They are awesome. Also, fun fact, Elder Menge and his last companion (Elder Lee who's home now) were the ones who drove me to the mission office when I went home...back before I knew him. So there's that!

Lady on the bus: "are you twins?" #nice #haventgottenthatoneyet

Lessons all fall through...

Dinner at Costco #happyplace #gotapicture #sawamember

Investigator! #doorsteplesson #pickingupforchurch!!
    - dropped in on her and she was actually home! This was also prompted by the Spirit (as are most of the decisions we make) and we invited them to church. Guess what? Then they actually came!!!!

Miércoles
Referral!!  #realintent #comingtochurch??
    - This lady was a referral and we taught her and her son for the first time. They are great. She is literally the definition of real intent (we hope!) and was very eager to set our next appointment. We will be seeing her tomorrow actually!

^^landlord knew us #"youtheelders??" #whenmissionariesleftagoodimpression #somanysolidseeds
    - Her landlord was outside with a bunch of other people. Asked if we were the elders. Said back "with sandy" (the storm we would presume) that the elders came and helped him clean out some flooding and that they used to help him all the time. Said they even went home and came back to visit him with their families! Look at that :)

Hermana: "I used to make things really spicy" Hermano: "used to???" #dinner #mexicanbrownies
    - had dinner and a little lesson with a member family.  The food was a little spicy and so she told us this story about when she cooked for the elders once back in the day when they first were investigating the church. Her husband disagrees with the idea that her food is no longer spicy haha!

Jueves
Two Jewish boys after speaking to us in Hebrew: "*coming closer* are you Jewish?" Hna Voss: "no! Mormons!" #youwishwewerejewish #wewishyouweremormon
    - speaks for itself haha! We walked by them once on our way home for dinner and they spoke to us in Hebrew but we didn't realize it so we kept walking. On the way back after dinner they asked in English if we were Jewish. My compañera, the awesome thing that she is said "no! We're Mormons!!" It was great haha :)

Crowded sardine bus: "'scuse me, thank you, thank you, I'm not a size two!" #awesome #ownit #annoyingkids #heavenhelpthefuturegenerations #takingnotesforraisingmykids #inappropriatemusic #ihaveapamphletforyou #lawofchastity #theworldisfallingapart
    - this all goes for the hour that was trying to get somewhere; I forget where. This lady couldn't get off the bus and in her attempt to do so said the above quote. Also, children nowadays need help and I was definitely taking notes for what my children are not gonna be doing. Goodness gracious.

Awesome lesson on the street #isabel #gaveherabom
    - this lady was so cool! We actually saw her again and had a porch lesson. Hopefully we will be able to see her this week!

English class #creepyguyafuera #elderswaitingtowalkusout
    - we taught English class and afterwards we came out and the elders were there. They said there was a creepy guy outside who'd been across the street looking at the church for two hours that the other members had pointed out to them. Cause it was late and dark they waited for us to, in the words of Elder Creager, "make sure you didn't get followed." :)

When you live down the street from a Jewish synagogue and it's fiesta time #gettingcrazy #drunkjews #drivingbyblastingtheirfiddlerontheroof #tryingtoprayhere
     - also self explanatory. Some big holiday or something cause their place was pumping for about a week!

Viernes
*Studying* *hears thunder* *moves curtain* "oh, it's raining!" Hna Voss: "My guess is that today is going to be a little bit significantly colder."
    - see second note for Saturday haha

Under Pressure #queen #missmyclassicrock
    - heard this song today in our travels. Also, the grocery store we shop at has very good classic rock as well. Didn't hear anything big today when shopping, but they're on the right vein haha

#deeeeeeeeepclean #whenyourhousehasntbeencleanedinprobablyoverayear  #cleanlinessisgodliness #lovecleaning #neverthoughtI'dsaythat

Me: "Why do we always take pictures on bad hair days." Elder Weisler: "What exactly constitutes a bad hair day?"
    - when we were all posing for a picture after the missionary activity and I was standing next to Elder Weisler and said the above. Don't actually have that picture yet. We will work on that!

Elder Creager: "...that's the man's job. ...the man's job." Me: "What's the man's job?" Elder Creager: "The man's job is any job the woman doesn't wanna do." #iftheresmenialthingstobedoneinthehousewhobetterthanthemanofthehousetodothem? #thereinlieshappinessbrother #josephsmith
    - we tried to help clean up from the brownies and Elder Creager just kept saying xyz was "the man's job." When I finally questioned him on it that was his response haha 😂 it reminded me of the quote in the restoration movie by Joseph Smith when the Scottish guy asks about why Joseph does all these "menial chores." Probably my favorite

Sábado
Cold cold cold cold #lotsofrain

Me: "I got a lot much more better..." #whenyoucantenglishorspanish

Attempted findings #whydoesnoonewantsalvation? #theydo #justhaventfoundemyet

Simplified planning with the STLs #wedontknowwhatwearedoing

Cold cold cold cold #lotsofviento

Domingo
Attempting to get to our family for church... #gonnabelate??
     - we couldn't make it to her and they weren't answering the phone so we went to the church so make sure we weren't late and then she came with her family anyway! It was awesome!!!

#lessons #smellslikeabaptism #whenthelessonsareonpointforourpeople #ilovechurch
    - The little boy is eight and really wants to be baptized :)

FIIIIIIIIINDIIIIIIING #whenallyoursetlessonsfallthrough #anddontgetdinner #...again #justmissionarywork #buttheLordblessesyoulikenobodysbusiness #teachwhenyoufind
     - our lesson and dinner appointment fell through. It was at 5th ave and 36th street. We live at 23rd ave and 81st street. ...to say the least, didn't have time to go home and eat before prime time, so we ate dinner after nightly planning. But that was when we found the family on the train as well! The blessings just never cease!!

When your members really like emojis... #ghettophone #showsupassquares #throwstable #whenshesendsyoufiftysquaresandtwoquestionmarks #aaaaahhhh
     - we have really old phones. And they can't get emojis or text that's in other languages. A member sent us a whole text and it was just all these squares on our phone. We sat there wondering if we should just call her and then she sent us two question marks. We called and she just started talking and we were so confused haha! But got it all figured out :) (oh, and Hermana Voss makes the joke of throwing the table when we just can't even haha so that's where that comes from)

Weekly call in report #whenyourDLremindsyouyouonlyhaveoneweekleft #shhh #wedontspeakofit #bestdistrictevercomingtoaclose #bringonweek12
   - We better give this last week everything we've got! (And guess who Elder Weisler asked to give the workshop for our last district meeting together! Yep. This'll be fun haha)

Lunes
*working out* Hna Voss: "The question is will my next companion do morning workouts with me?" ...or will I be on my own for that one again...? #transfers #gettinganxious #allthingsintheLordstime
     - from this morning while we laid there trying to motivate ourselves to follow Bruce (he is the voice of the guy on this exercise app we're allowed to have. The voice is Australian. That's why we named him Bruce haha. We were having a rough time getting rolling this morning haha!)


Anyway, this is the fun stuff of the week! Hope you are doing well!! I love you lots!!!
Mucho mucho mucho amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley 😊💛

#bendito

Well hello hello :)

Sitting here typing this while we wait for our flu shots...soooo fun... anyway, week 12 is upon us. That is absolutely crazy. So sad... all things in the Lord's time. BUT that stuff all happens next week.  We've still got one more to give it everything we've got, so dang right I'm gonna make sure I give it everything I've got!! :)

This week was great! We have decided we are an all or nothing companionship. We met our goals for other lessons, less active lessons, referrals received/contacted, new investigators, and investigators progressing but then got nothing on the rest of our key indicators. Kind of a bummer some things we had planned to meet those goals fell through. 'Tis la obra... We were supposed to have three investigators at church and a less active family. Only the less active family came but you would not believe how happy we were to see them!! We had a lesson with the mom after while the elders met with the kids (the little boy wants to be baptized and we think the elders would be better for him) and those lessons were both so great!

We had two other lessons set for Sunday, both of which fell through. That was a little sad, but we were able to teach four lessons on the fly instead. One was even a Facebook lesson at the church. We will hopefully be able to see them in person this week as well! We also found a new family. Tender mercies and miracles all around :)

Friday we had deep clean. Man, we love a clean house. Smelled like bleach and soap everywhere but our house was finally clean after three hours! I don't think it has been cleaned in five years based on how nasty it was though...and we had already been doing some cleaning throughout the weeks... #cleanlinessisgodliness
It also rained all day Friday so that was fun! We had our ward missionary activity and taught everyone about member missionary work. It was super fun actually. Also, Elder Creager made brownies for the activity. The elders are better bakers than we are.

I need to apologize for this email, I am struggling hardcore to find words and thoughts to share. I think I went to the temple and after that it's just like, the days are just going so fast...I feel like nothing has happened since I last wrote you but then I feel like so much has happened! I feel like all I think about is the work and this is just my life. I mean, it's been my life for the last eight months, but I mean for real, it's just I have a hard time remembering other things are happening.

Everyone we meet asks how missionary work functions. We always say we will finish our time and go home, go to school, have our own family, and carry on with life. ...it's just...I don't know that I quite get it. I think I feel like this is my life and I don't even want to think about anything else. I've had a few people ask me how long I've been out or how long I've got left and I can't even tell you unless I think about it cause I just am not even able to track the time. I've thought a lot about what I want my mission to mean to me. Elder Holland said in his address to us that he wants our mission to mean to us what his meant to him. I want that. He said he thinks --he very strongly feels-- that he has thought of his mission every day for the last fifty years. I want my mission to shape my life and change who I am so much that I too reflect on some aspect of this time every day. I honestly don't even feel like I'm giving anything. I don't feel like I'm missing things, or that I'm giving a year and a half to the Lord... to me, this is a year and a half the Lord is giving me! I would love nothing more than to live with this kind of Spirit in my life always.

Goodness, I've gone so soft. I just read other people's experiences and I feel the Spirit so much and am so happy for them. I am so thankful for this time the Lord has given me to focus my all on Him. Nothing else. No other distractions. Nothing. Literally nothing else I need to worry or think about other than how to help in His work. How to help those I love. How marvelous of a blessing is that?? :) it honestly is not even a sacrifice in my eyes...I give my whole self and He gives me a new and better self and souls to rejoice with in the kingdom. Quite the trade! I have learned more and more how much our Father loves us beyond our possible imaginations. He promises us literally everything. All He has. We can have and be all that He has and Is! And the way is prepared! Literally every.single.thing. necessary to return and receive those blessings is given to us! The only thing we have to do is choose to take the path! Even the choices that lead us to choose the right path are prepared for us! It's kind of ridiculous if you think of it. Our Father has set posts with big huge signs at every.single.corner. to guide us (sometimes we call these commandments, or teachers, parents, prophets even! Crazy, I know!) and help us find the right way. I have never seen more clearly than I see now.

"Narrow is the gate and straight is the way"... so sorry. I'm getting all preachy here. It's just so simple. I cannot fathom the fact that there will be some of us who choose --even with our perfect knowledge-- at the judgement bar to settle for mediocre. The plan, the PLAN, is for every one of us to return to become as God is.  And the path is perfectly laid for each and every one of us to do so. I can't believe some will choose against it. I guess as I've truly sought to allow the pure love of Christ to posses me my concern for the welfare of every soul has increased exponentially. I had the thought the other day as we were planning for some of our less actives that some missionary somewhere could be doing the same for some of our family. I thought of how much I love these less actives and how much I love my family. I want them all to have this joy I have, but I know it's not up to me if they get it. I know it'll be in their time as they experience what they need with the Lord working on His end, but what can I do now to help in that? I don't know. Just love I guess. Wait. Love. Share when appropriate. And wait some more. :)

Aaaaaaaanyway, that was a huuuuuge tangent off in some direction, but this is what has been on my mind when I think about family. I think about you a lot. I think about my future family a lot. And I think, where will they be? Where do I want them to be? What can I do to try and help them get there?  One day we will all get there haha! :)

Sorry this is such an odd "weekly"... I'm going to send my notes with some fun stories for you next. Not exactly sure what this turned into haha or why I felt I needed to get all that out, but it just kinda happened! Oops :) I love you lots!!

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

The Book of Mormon...what more do you need?

Long time no see! Como estamos? :)

This has been a crazy week...two weeks? I don't even know where the time is going. We only have two more weeks together in training and that just blows my mind. I know I always whine about the time going so fast, but it really doesn't slow down!

We had a lot of fun experiences these last two weeks and also a lot of very, very spiritual experiences. I think imma save explaining all the crazy funny stuff for a separate email that isn't really in a concise format haha. It'll be a little game for you trying to figure out what all the randomness means haha 😜 But holy cow. Let's start with last week. The temple.

Wow, I love the temple. We got to Rego at about 9:30 and Elder Brown was already there with his companion. We sat there talking for a few minutes and then all of a sudden there was a fist in front of me. I fist bump it and look up, there's Elder Stoker! We all talked for a bit and then the Hermanas finally arrived. We had the cutest little reunion. It was so great. I felt like Alma, how he finally meets back up with the four sons of Mosiah after years of being apart preaching the gospel and how what made him the most happy was that they were still "his brethren in the Lord".  Same. :) We all traveled through the subways to the temple together and were sitting there reminiscing about almost eight months back when we first came in together haha. It was awesome.

The actual temple though. Best part. This week was just so spiritually packed! The temple and Elder Holland! The coolest thing was when we walked in. There were fire trucks going by outside but the second the doors closed you couldn't hear a thing. Now usually when I enter the temple and then when I enter the celestial room I feel the Spirit shift. Same Spirit, just stronger then a little stronger again. But the coolest thing for me was that I walked in to this temple I've never been to before and I didn't feel any change. I instantly felt at home but I didn't feel the Spirit change. You may think that's a bad thing, but when I left the temple it didn't change either. Know what that means? To me, it was a tender mercy from the Lord. He was telling me that I'm on the right path. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be.  Yes.  I literally almost started crying when we first walked in because I was so happy.

It talks about in the scriptures how you can wax stronger and stronger in humility, firmer and firmer in faith, and that your confidence can wax strong in the presence of God. Slight tangent, but I've been thinking a lot about the judgment bar and how the Book of Mormon prophets all testified that they will stand as witnesses before the Father that they did their part in testifying of the Christ and we did or did not choose to accept their testimonies. And it has me thinking: will we be ready, worthy, and able to stand in the presence of God? Forget about having confidence in His presence, will we even be ready to stand before Him? The goal would be yes!

Anyway, so the long story short here is that I feel like I'm getting there. And for me that has started with having the same Spirit of the temple with me always. It was always such a cliché thing to me, people saying how we can feel that same Spirit of the temple always. But now I do.

That was a lot of words to express a simple thing: temples. Be worthy to be there always. No better place to be in this world.

We also had the opportunity to participate in this lovely activity called a Noche de Hispanidad. Oh dear. So each organization represented a country and of course they gave us missionaries the USA. Naturally my compañera and I went all out. We had half the members coming up to us afterwards to get pictures with us haha! #makingafoolofourselves But it was a great opportunity to build some member trust and help them see us as real people. I think them seeing us in work work work mode and also goofy mode was actually a very good thing :) the food though, the food was so good. Food from every country and then some. Also, I have learned I like tamales.

Drum roll please. The best part of the whole last two weeks: Elder Holland. Or as he referred to himself: Jeff. Wow, that was cool. We got to Woodside at 7:30 for the devotional that started at 9. We sat second row behind the assistants and can I just say it was the coolest thing. He wanted a picture with the whole bunch of us and then to shake all of our hands, so that was amazing. We did the picture first so we got all lined up then he came in. We all knelt down or bent over for the picture after he sat and he goes, "such a good looking group! *we kneel* and humble!" Haha. We all filed out of the picture and got to shake his hand and his wife's hand. We said our name and where we were from. Once he started his remarks he said he didn't care about what we said to him cause he was going to forget it anyway, but that it is very important for him to shake all of our hands so that he can have a five second interview with all of us. One on one. He said that was the purpose. To look into our souls. Yikes! Haha! It was so cool. He said there are maybe three or four struggling, but that this is a strong worthy mission and that he could feel our spirit really strongly. It was amazing.

Elder Holland came with his wife and then their son and his wife who also brought their ten year old son. This was so cool. President and Sister Reynolds addressed us first, then Matt Holland, then Elder Holland for a second, the daughter in law, then Sister Holland, and then Elder Holland again. It was great. So. Many. Notes. Thoughts. Questions. Goodness. It was so great. He got a floor mic and was walking around and was just so intense. It was amazing. We've got some golden quotes from the class with Elder Holland that we'll send at the end :)

He first got up and said he felt inspired to talk about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. Now, if you have not seen his talk Safety for the Soul, what are you doing reading this?? Go! Read it! Then come back. He basically was along the same kind of lines as that talk (even quotes himself at one point) only up the fire to about five hundred times the fire from that talk. Also, add a chalkboard and his scriptures cause he was writing and flipping like mad haha! It was amazing. But, basically the message is the subject line. We have the Book of Mormon. And this book literally holds the key to everything. Like, everything. He said after about thirty minutes of preaching about the first few chapters of the book, "if you can only get an investigator to read 15 pages of the Book of Mormon i can't think of anything [the first seven chapters or so] more important!" Dang. We gonna be testifying of the Book of Mormon like there's no tomorrow!

But, all in all, this was probably the coolest experience of my life. Done. If you don't have a testimony of the restoration of this gospel, test it! Do as Alma says --whether you believe Alma was a prophet or not-- and experiment upon the word!! What will happen if you experiment on what God and the prophets have given us?? If it's not true you will have read a cool book, heard a cool story about a man who says he saw God, and will have had some cool thoughts to then carry on with you life. But if it is true --and I testify with all of my being that it is-- then do you know what rich blessings, promises, and joy await you?? Do we not even want to try the word and see if it is good?? We will not even just experiment for a few days just in case we could get those blessings?? Because I promise you we will.  :)

But I want it clear to everyone I ever meet that I know the Book of Mormon is true and the prophet Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration. Through him we have the true church restored again with a living prophet to guide us in these perilous times when men's hearts shall fail them. Now what will we do with that testimony? Share it, hopefully. :) those of us who know, open your mouths and let yourselves be instruments in the hands of God. For those of us who do not yet know, try. Just try it. See what happens. And when ye are converted strengthen thy brethren, lift up the hands that hang low, strengthen the feeble knees, bring others that they might be strong also. We have something no one else has, might we all do everything that lay in our power to share the joy of this gospel with everyone we meet is my prayer and hope.  Have a fabulous week :)

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

Weekly that's not a weekly

As far as a weekly goes, I'm not sure I will have time to really write something up that would please me haha :) I will put in some of this week on next week's maybe or if we have time later I'll write something up that is consistent with my desires haha :) but for Jos I think I will send this little thing (these are my notes of the week so I remember what to write about in my journal or weekly if I don't have time to write during the week). I'll explain them later but it probably will not be in a very comprehensive format haha! Sorry 😬

(Mom note:  Below is the follow-up for two weeks' worth beginning with 10/11.  Didn't include all of the lessons, findings, etc - but they have been busy!)
Love you!!!!! Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

Coney from the pier - not the water. ;)

Lunes
Coney
...free food...??? #whenyourwaiterflirtswithyou #...thenpaysforyourfood
- We went down to see Coney from a distance and then went to this little restaurant and our waiter was probably three years or so older than us. The awkward part was when he paid for our food...that was weird. So that happened and we didn't quite know what we were supposed to do about that, haha!

Cello guy

- We were on our way to do some finding and there was a guy who got on the train with a cello. Sister Voss ran over and sat down by him and they started talking. They were all talking composers, symphonies, pieces, they're all singing them together...it was great. It made me so happy to see them both so happy!! He even offered for her to play it but we got off a stop after. We then saw him again outside with his cello and wife on Thursday (which is where cello guy 2.0 came from haha)
Meeting with obispo and the elders and sheyla #"goodfoodgoodcompany" #toomuchofagoodthing
- Monday night we had a meeting with all the missionaries at obispo's house. Sheyla is the best cook ever. Her food was so good. Elder Creager gets credit for the quote haha :)

Martes
"Is that my girlfriend?" "No! That is a young lady!"
- We were on our way to a lookup and there were all these drunk guys (yes, it was day time) on the sidewalk and one calls out, "is that my girlfriend?" And this older guy who was sober looks at us then back at him and goes, "No! That is a young lady!!" It was great
All appointments fall through...
Investigator watched conference!!!
Lady told me she liked my eyes, son said I was "very pretty" #thatsnew #neverbeentoldiwaspretty #awkward
Lady tells us not to talk to strangers...then tells us whole life story #knewweweremormons #wouldntletussharethegospel #"mymotherwouldkillforthreethings:coffee,tea,andstockings!" #hanvoss:"IfshehadtheWOWshedonlykillforonething"
- Aaaaaah, this lady was fun haha. We were waiting for the B1 bus and this lady was looking at us so we said hi (why do people always get all weird when we say hi to them?? If you're going to stare at us, expect us to say something!) and she was all, "you're not from here. You shouldn't talk to strangers." But then she went off and told us her whole life story so we couldn't even share the gospel with her cause you know with New Yorkers you can't even get a word in cause they don't even take a breath haha!!

Miércoles
Apology cookies #thankyouElderCreager #betterbakerthanus
- We made apology cookies and Elder Creager gets credit for the recipe. Holy cow they were so good.
Fiiiiiiiinding #whennolessonsgo...
Two Jews thought I was Jewish #whentheyspeaktoyouinhebrew
- On the train these two Jewish ladies asked me for help with directions but they asked me first in Hebrew. I was like, what?? Then afterwards when we got off they said something else to us in Hebrew. #sorrydidn'tcatchthat

Jueves
When your compañera tries to leave the house in flip flops tho...
- Bowed my head for the prayer before we left our apartment and she was still wearing her flip flops haha (we wear them in the house if we're not wearing shoes cause the floor is gross haha)
Weekly planning #inspiration
Delivered our apology cookies
Cello guy 2.0
English class #ranaranaguy #hasaname #broughthiskid #hissonisthecutest
- Rana rana guy! That means frog :) we met him and his son in the subways and invited them to English (his son had a turtle backpack and kept saying rana rana!) then they actually came! First time that's happened 😂  :)

Viernes
Saw rana rana guy!! #ranacrossthestreettosayhi
- We were out walking and he saw us! Came running across the street to say hi then walked us to the subway. Awesome investigators are my favorite :) (also cause he came to GENERAL CONFERENCE!!)
BoM  #...notdroppedyet
Angry call from unhappy lady #awkward

Exchanges :)

- This super cute old lady we visited who called us after we left her a note and was very angry and passionate about the fact that she did not need to learn about religion. Needless to say we win the going back :) #gonnaneeditsoonerorlater #takeitorleaveit #cantsaywedidnttry
Correlation
Exchanges "we gotta tame the fire a little bit" "Nono! Gasoline! Pour on gasoline!" #itsgettinhotinhere #thiscompanionshipisonfire
- So post exchanges we were doing our follow up and one of the sisters said she wants the fire we have for this work and the desire we have as a companionship. I said we had a lot of fire but it might need to be tamed a little bit and she said this haha

Sábado
Kabocha no nitsuke #awesomeauthenticjapanesefood
- This awesome Japanese thing that sister Shiobara made for us on Saturday for lunch
When my compañera is just too dang cute #boysbepayingforourfood #"illstoptilafteryoufinishyourmission"
Two Facebook lessons!! #"ilovetechnology..."

Domingo
Rain rain rain rain!
New capilla! #somanypeople #fillingthegym #everyseatinRSfull #rompedeayuno #ourbestfriend #givemetocharity
- We have this thing where on fast Sunday everyone brings food and after church we all break the fast together so that's cool :) we also had 188 people at church so that was awesome!
Weekly report #11lessons

Lunes
Crazy guys while eating *whining about the price of his maid* *friend* "if my wife wasn't dead you coulda used her!" "Is it cheaper to get a wife?" *old lady eating salad with chopsticks* "it's cheaper to get a life!" #fergettaboutit
- This one was pretty great haha, I think it explains itself fairly well
When you're too busy teaching an awesome family and almost go to Manhattan #thanksGod #alwayslookingoutforus #didntletusgetonthewrongtrain
- This one too...almost missed the stop to then go to Manhattan cause we were teaching, cool experience but couldn't get any info, darn
#bomdroppin
When apparently you're just really not supposed to do that look up
- We had a lookup we were heading to when we taught the family on the train and almost went to Manhattan, then on the way back we taught another lesson (see #bomdroppin) and ended up not having time to do the lookup because we kept trying to get there but finding others on the way. Guess that is what God's intention was haha :)
*eats ice cream for dinner* Hna Voss: "boyfriends didn't break up with us, but our investigators did tho"

Martes
Met a girl on the subway #movedhereforwork #whatdoyoudo #"ohimonbroadway" #...
TEMPLE
Saw sister Mejía in the subway on the way back!!! #bestreunionever
Package happiness #finallyfall

Miércoles
District meeting
Awesome family from Honduras!! #comingtotheparty #andbringingsomething #doesntevengohere #yet
- We found this awesome family on the train. They said they wanted to come to church, hopefully they do this next Sunday :) we also have had a Facebook lesson with the mom so we will see what happens there

Jueves
Zone training meeting #awesomeness #"powerfulhaircompanionship" haha #yes #grewitourselves
- We had zone meeting and that was great. We got a picture after and Elder Morris and Elder Menge (our zone leaders) told us we were a powerful hair companionship haha!

Zone Meeting

Viernes
Noche de Hispanidad #wheneverythinginthespanishprogramstartstwohourslate  #fivedollarridiculousshirts  #makingafoolofourselves #thoughtiwasdonewiththeglitter #neveragain

"You're just such a precious companionship!" -Sister Snow

¡Buenos días! ¿Como estamos? :) (oh, and mom, to answer your upside-down question mark question, you have to install the Spanish keyboard I think on your phone to have it!) This has been a good week! We were talking the other day about how we are on week eight...now we're on week nine! That's so crazy. I think I will probably leave Dyker after this transfer...that's a sad thought. We've finally got our pool building up, but I'm happy with what we've been able to do here together and what we get to do over the next couple of weeks! We'll see what happens when transfers roll around :) 

This week we had many an opportunity to learn and grow and change. We had zone conference Wednesday and then conference this weekend! It was great! During zone conference we were instructed and taught about diligence and planning. It was great! We did a few speed-round planning sessions to practice and for one of them President sat in on our session and helped us! It was awesome! He helped us think in a slightly different way about who we were planning for and we ended up receiving some revelation for how to better help her. We're very excited about all the little changes we were instructed on to help us be better :) I never thought I'd be so excited about planning in my life haha!

We had a lot of really cool experiences this week in finding. We helped a lady carry her groceries on Monday night and that was an awesome experience! Let me tell you, I have never seen so many people in my life who are struggling to carry something and then tell you so fast, "no no! I've got it! I'm fine! No, thank you!" when you ask if you can help them. But this lady, we both said at the same time, "can we help you carry those?" And she just looks at us and goes, "...yes!" We we're so excited we just grabbed all the bags and started walking with her. She stopped and looked at us and said, "who are you??" We told her who we were and she said she was "just praying that someone would come along and say, 'can I help you carry those?' but who was going to just come up and ask if they could help carry something?" She was so awestruck and just was praising God the whole walk to her apartment and telling us how He had sent us as little angels and we couldn't have helped a more grateful person. It was awesome. We gave her a card and told her if she ever needs anything our number is there. Hopefully an impression of the missionaries/church she can remember :)

Tuesday we had an awesome lesson with one of our less actives! That lesson was so cool!! We showed her the Hope of God's Light video and talked about faith. We want to try and strengthen her testimony and faith in the Savior, then she will come to church and make those changes on her own! I don't know that I've felt a lesson quite so tailored to someone's needs as that lesson was. We didn't even know for sure what her needs were going into it, but the Lord works through us when we are doing our best and diligently seeking His guidance and will. That lesson was a manifestation of that to me. I'm excited to see how we can help her over the next few weeks while I will be here, I want to make sure I give her everything I have to give to serve her and meet her needs while I'm here. ...time just goes too fast. It's amazing when you can see the Spirit working in someone while you teach them though :) that is probably the best thing!

We had a similar experience with a less active we found street contacting! Well, we actually found three less actives street contacting haha! This lady lives here with her little girl and is just the most awesome person. I'm very excited to see how we can help them grow in their faith and come to better know the Savior. What a blessing it is to have the knowledge we have of Him! Our lesson with our third less active we found was beyond amazing. This family is so darling and simply amazing. I would do anything to help them get to the point where they could be sealed! We will see what the Lord has in store!

Thursday though, now this was a cold day! (Thinking it might be tights weather pretty soon!) It rained the entire day and was just cloudy and wet everywhere we went! I planted a pretty solid seed though...turned out she was a JW haha! That was a good time :) We found some other people to talk with and teach though, so that was a huge blessing! The funny part was when it was raining and we walked by this group of guys on 5th Ave and one of them turns around and goes, "and they said the sunshine wasn't coming out today." We lost it. We didn't even make it five steps away we just busted up laughing! We would've given him a card and told him it was the light of Christ and he could learn more about it on the website but he was in a decent sized group so we figured maybe not. Next time haha. 

Friday we did a lookup in the morning and she is actually super interested! We have a lesson set for her this week, we'll see how it goes! :) on the way back from the lookup we found this awesome lady named Peggy on the bus. She asked for a Book of Mormon and began to read it right there. We gave her a chapter to read and will hopefully see her this week as well! #teachwhenyoufind #findwhenyouteach

We also ate at Las Margaritas Friday night before heading up to an appointment with the second less active we found finding earlier in the week. She has a darling little girl and are just the cutest. She doesn't know a whole lot but has a desire to learn and grow in the gospel. Currently, she works Sundays. Well, she works every day...all day...but we know if we can help her to develop more faith and strengthen her relationship with the Savior that she will come to herself and make those efforts needed to come to church. We've got high hopes for her :)

We had a new investigator lesson set for Saturday right after conference (she had work so she couldn't come) but she texted us during the session saying her baby was sick so she couldn't come out but that she wanted to reschedule for Monday --her day off. So, we are seeing her at one o'clock today! Can't wait to see her again and see the Spirit speak to her of the truthfulness of the things we will share. Teaching is probably my favorite thing. It's just awesome. 

One of my favorite thoughts I had during conference was about repentance. It goes hand in hand with what President and Sister Reynolds have taught us by their examples...repentance is a joyous thing!! The chance to change is a miracle for us! Christ really is joy. The Atonement is joy. And I just love how we can have the perspective on change and repentance as something to help us experience even more joy and become even better every moment of every day. So for me, I will be working on repentance. Every moment of every day. I will be striving to ask every day, "what lack I yet?" I know when we come unto the Lord He will show us our weaknesses and our areas of improvement and that is such a joyous thing because not only does He show them to you, but He has already provided the way for them to become strengths. The way is prepared for us to become strong in the Lord. Therefore, my invitation for you is to ask the Lord as the prophets have directed, "what lack I yet?" I know He will show us where and how we can improve and that through His grace we can become more and more like Him. I love you lots!! Have a fabulous week :)

Mucho amor,

Hermana Karra Gourley