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)

Do we still look like sunshine?

Welcome, welcome Monday morning!

This has been quite the week. Well, it's been more like two and boy, does it feel like it! My compañera and I received the wonderful blessing of getting what you would call "the common cold" this week as we brought it to a close feeling rather ironically like Job. We lost six investigators, found no one new, taught two lessons, and lost our health. What a time. However, this has been a great opportunity for me to once again reflect on why I'm here and what I'm doing. We came around to Friday as our hundredth lesson was canceled and we sat reading through preach my gospel, chapter nine, for any ideas we could implement again to try and find people to teach.

Upon getting home you could say I was more than a little frustrated. Not discouraged, but frustrated. I've learned that with everything that comes you actively have to choose whether or not you have faith that this was/is in God's plan or not. Do I believe there are people ready and prepared to receive us? Do I believe that even though I haven't seen any fruits that I am doing His will? This has been the hard one for me. Recognizing that just because things don't work out doesn't mean we did something wrong or didn't follow the Spirit. It's having a little faith in yourself and your ability to do the will of the Lord while realizing that sometimes His will does not always lead to instant harvesting. "I'm responsible for the efforts; the Lord is responsible for the results" (credit: grandpa).

I wasn't happy this week. I was very much not happy actually. But then I realized I was choosing to not be happy because of this this or this and that, if I had a little faith, I could move on and choose joy. So that's where the new goal comes in: show our faith through our positivity. Throwback to when me and Hermana Ashford were first companions and I said to myself, "Wow, she is so happy. You better step it up on the happiness or this is going to be a rough journey down a long road." Haha! She taught me how to be happy! And we really were so happy. I let some of that joy slip a little. Now why would I do that?? That's dumb, it's "the only intelligent thing to do" (in the words of the author of The Fourth Missionary) to choose joy cause otherwise I don't think any of us will ever make it out of here as who we are supposed to become! My invitation for you is to reevaluate. Look at where you are and decide if you are choosing to have as much joy in this time and this life as you can. Are you choosing to live being a little happy when the Lord would have us live every day joyfully? Why wait til heaven for happiness when you can have it now? :)

One of the things that brought us joy this week was when we went and heart attacked one of our most awesome member families!  The awkward part was when we were about to leave and they caught us! They ended up inviting us in and giving us pizza and cake while we sang happy birthday to their son and heard about their conversion story. They're awesome. The not-so-fun part was walking the *cue Sister Platt* "TWO miles!" home because there were no buses for 30-40 minutes at that time. But hey, at least we got a good speed walking workout in ;)

We also got a new ward mission leader! Hermano Montoya! We are so excited to get the member missionary work rolling. Speaking of member missionary work, we took Hermana Herrera out with us to a lesson we had set. Fell through. She insisted on getting us lunch where we got to hear about her family and converting to the church. After lunch we tried to find another one of our less actives. That too fell through. When we left, Hermana Herrera said, "as long as you have tried you have not failed...President Hinckley said that." It was such a little blessing for me at that moment for her to say in effect, "even though none of your plans worked out, I know you're doing all you can" and it was comforting to know she didn't think we were failures because our lessons fell through and we once again found ourselves on plan F.

Zone #1

This week also included zone training meeting and stake conference. At stake conference two of the return missionaries in our ward also spoke and talked about member missionary work a bit so that was great. Get everyone on board with that one!! And zone training... I love our zone. We got some great instruction at zone training and I felt the Spirit a lot. It was one of the better days of the week (other than that was the day I got sick too, haha). It was great to get to see the other missionaries...also at stake conference, I got to see all the other missionaries I love who are serving in Brooklyn so that was great too! President and Sister Reynolds were there and they spoke as well. Never passing up an opportunity to hear from them. They are just darling. I want to be like them :) We got to say hi and talk for a quick second before and after the meeting, but will see them this week for mega zone conference and again next week for interviews! Busy time!


Other than all that, I'm not sure I have much more... hopefully this week can be really good. We've got a lot planned and hopefully will be able to make everything align with what the Lord would have us do. We also have exchanges coming up this week, almost forgot about that. That should be fun :)

I hope all is well, I will end with one of my favorite scriptures (I say as I have literally hundreds labeled as 'favorite') in Isaiah chapter 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.  4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength:

I love you! Hope you have a great week :)
Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

When your lesson falls through so you eat the donuts you had bought for them while you plan...

Temples & transfers & very little "everything else"

Buenos días, mi familia!

Last subway ride together... :(

Today was quite possibly the most awesome day of my mission thus far, because today we had the opportunity to go to the temple with one of our members for her to perform the baptisms for some of her immediate family. I have worked with her for seven months now with three different companions and seeing the progress she has made and how far she has come is the most amazing thing. She bore such powerful testimony to us several times today and it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. I'm so proud of her! To be able to see how strong she is now and the faith she has is such a blessing.

First day selfie

This week has been crazy with transfers and everything that has happened. *drumroll* My new compañera is Hermana Platt! She is from Arizona and came in with Hna Voss. Funny thing is, Hermana Voss and Hermana Platt just switched places! So Hna Voss is serving with Hna Platt's trainer in Mineola (that's on the island --big switch from Brooklyn!!) and Elder Creager is out on the island somewhere too. Our district consists of us, Elder Oaks and his new companion Elder Nielsen, and Elder Weisler with his new companion....Elder Stoker!! Elder Brown just got transferred to his second area - he is Hna Voss' district leader now - and mis Hermanas Ashford and Spencer are in a trio with Hna Ashford's trainee in the Hamptons! Craziness.

New district #whydoialwayslooksoawkward 😂😂 #nimodo

We (my new companion and I) saw President for a quick second as we were leaving transfers. He asked how we were, and of course we were great! We expressed we had all been a little more than surprised to hear I was staying and to then also find the graduated-trainees would be swapping places. Transfer day came to a close after traveling through the subways with two big suitcases, a fun English class, snack stealing (not really, Sister Adams gave them to us) and a ride home from the the senior couple who teaches institute (the Adams). It was quite the day, and it's been quite the week adjusting to everything. The days just fly by and yet it feels like it's been so long since Monday.

We had district meeting Wednesday and got to know everyone just a little bit.  I'm starting to realize how short the time is. Six weeks sounds like a long time...that's only six Sundays! Yes, I know that's obvious, but Sundays go by so fast! Here we are already at the door of another! The weeks pass so much faster than ever before. I will hit halfway this transfer...slow it down!! I guess if nothing else the fact that time goes so quickly helps me to live everyday to the fullest and truly give all I have to give at every moment.

We had the awesome experience of teaching two of our favorite investigators the restoration this week. We taught one of our investigators and also set up for the English elders to go and teach another man in the same building - who the landlord referred to us (this guy is so awesome!!) - who even downloaded the Book of Mormon app right then when we told him there was a book...after he asked what we thought of the musical haha! Hopefully they are able to teach him and bring him to the joy of the gospel!

The second lesson was teaching the family Hermana Voss and I had found about a month ago on the train. We hadn't been able to meet with them in person again until this week for our first real lesson. We had stayed in touch through the miracle that is social media and we're able to set up this awesome lesson. It was amazing. I have never seen people so prepared as this family. They are amazing. We love them so much. The Spirit was in that lesson so strongly the whole time, but the moment we began to explain about Joseph Smith it just flooded the room. I know they felt that. I hope they accept it and act on what we've invited them to do and what the Father invites each of His children to do: ask Him and then act on the answer He will give to them. We love them so much.  :)

This week was pretty good, and pretty fast! Hopefully the next week will be productive and just as great! ...I was going to say, "if time could just slow down that'd be great", but I have accepted the timing of the Lord and His timing for me is speeding up. That means I gotta speed up with Him! If this is what He wants then it is what I want. Turn on the burners (as a World Cup host said in a game I watched probably ten years ago haha) and put yourself into overdrive cause this stone cut without hands is moving fast and it's not about to slow down either! Girding up your loins has never seemed like such a real and applicable thing to me as it does now haha! I hope and pray we can all choose to rise to the new standard the Lord has set and jump on board with this fast moving train and seek to do His will in all things. I love you!! Have a great week!!!

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

Ps. Also, we made our caramel apples on Monday but only Sister Voss has the pictures so I will need to get those later to send home :)
Pps. Ran into Riley Richards from Hillcrest at the temple with his companion and their recent converts. That was weird. We both thought we knew each other but weren't quite sure why! I asked if he knew Tayva and then it all clicked haha. He finishes his mission this month, crazy.

Everything else...
Lunes
Made our caramel apples #tookpicturesbutididntgetthem
Gotta get those pictures from Hna Voss
    - That's about it :) don't have them yet but we made the apples and they were ridiculously good

Martes
Transfers #ourlastsupper #sayingbyetoourkids #soproud #offtotheisland!
    - We finished eating our last meal together and then saw the elders a few tables down. They said it was their "last supper" so we took that as well haha. Also, me and Elder Weisler just kind of stood there as we watched them leave and then I told him it felt like I was sending off my children, both of them! He agreed haha, there they went, off into the world to be big kids. Hope we did all we could for them to be prepared for whatever comes haha

Traveling through the subways with two big suitcases #wegotthis #strongindependantsistermissionaries
English class #interested #maybeineedtobeanslp
    - This word was the tricky one today haha..."en-tah-ruh-stud"

Ride home from the Adams' #socool #gaveustreats #yes
    - They are the new senior couple who teach institute. They gave us treats. Then gave us a ride home. They are awesome. Also just super cool and fun so we love them.

Second day selfie

Miércoles 
District meeting! #WeislerStoker #GourleyPlatt #OaksNielson #districtpicturesalwayssoawkward
Lesson #templeprep
    - Had an awesome little lesson to keep her excited and preparing. She is amazing.

Elders' cool church tour experience #awesomechinalady #"she'sgettingbaptized"
    - We stopped by the church to send a few Facebook messages at the end of the night and were in the relief society room. The door opens and this lady pops in with the elders behind her. She apparently walked into the church (there were meetings so it was open) and started to look around so the elders gave her a chapel tour. They even invited her to be baptized and she's going to meet with the Chinese sisters this upcoming week! It was so awesome! After she left the elders came and told us about it and Elder Weisler said she's gonna get baptized, he can feel it haha

Jueves
Conference call #talkwitheveryone
    - Had our mission wide conference call and this was the focus. After all, everyone needs the gospel, right?

Weekly planning  #comingtochurch...??
    - Had our lesson and invited. We will be calling at ten tonight and nine tomorrow to remind...hopefully she can follow through on her desire to go!!

Favorite!!
    - Finally found her! Got her new number and are going to pick her up Sunday to make sure she can go to church :) also going to see when we can watch the restoration with her this week.

Noche de hogar
    - Always the best. This family are such studs. They are amazing. I love seeing their faith and testimonies grow.

Viernes
Helped with temple names
     - This was way fun! And now I know how to use Family Search better as well

AHHHH!!!  #bestlessonever
     - Already talked about this, but this was AWESOME

Sábado
Temple!! #brightandearly
Coming home: "corre para su vida!"
      - We were walking home from the train and this little Hispanic family was running through the crosswalk and this little five year old maybe holding onto her mom's hand yells, "corre para su vida!!!!" (Run for your life!) and it was the funniest, cutest thing. (Also, little kids speaking Spanish is just adorable anyway haha)

Pienso que eso es todo... don't have much for ya, sorry. I've realized as you get more into the routine of things and realize how fast the days go you just want to work all the time and it gets hard to find things that seem unordinary to tell others about haha. But that's another blessing, telling others helps me reflect and be more thankful. I'll try and be better at that. Love you lots!!!!
Mucho amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

And we got some pictures today at the temple! 😊😄