The miracle of forgiveness

Hello familia :)

How have we been? Can I first say, did this week seem ridiculously long to anyone else or just me?

Anyway, this letter is a little odd. I have not really felt the ability to put it into a formal series of events kind of thing with paragraphs and all that jazz, so instead we have classifications of items of the week and their details specific to each event. This will not be a normal thing, I don't think, but you know me - sometimes the thoughts come in different ways. :)

How I'm feeling: at peace

Miracle: learning the truth of forgiveness and humility by my experience.

So here is the deal, long story long cause we don't know how to make em short. :) I have been taught the doctrine of forgiveness since I could breathe, but that does not mean I have always been mature enough to understand it in anywhere near all its forms. Here I was given the opportunity to learn of forgiveness in a way I had never before. I learned to apply the Atonement differently than before. I learned to be humble in a different way than before. I learned truly the peace and comfort felt when we truly humble ourselves and forgive even when it seems --and maybe is-- that the other person is the one who should really be apologizing.

This is something I had come to mind last night, that Dad specifically has taught me this principle by his example all my life. I remember as a kid, Dad would do something to bother me and get under my skin just to mess or play with me. Goodness gracious I was some sight to behold as a child. (Do not disrespect your parents like I did, okay?) I would throw the biggest fit and tantrum, stomp off and go pout in my room. Then, a few minutes later after I had sat and simmered for a while, who would come knocking on my door with a, "Karra Leanne...I'm sorry"? Every time. Not until I got a little older did I start to learn a little bit about apologizing, but now I see those lessons that Dad taught me from when I was young, that even though he wasn't at fault (yeah, he was being annoying --out of love-- but that is still no excuse for how I would act...#lineuponline) he was humble enough to say sorry and forgive me for how I acted without my even asking for forgiveness. I remember he would leave my room after apologizing and I would sit there and think. I remember always feeling this little twinge of guilt and probably some remorse in those moments.

I have been blessed with examples of humbly forgiving and have slowly been being prepared to learn this concept by personal application. I still have a long imperfect way to go with this new way of "fixing" problems, but I was thinking last night about how much easier life will be in living this way! Honestly I was baffled at the thought of potential problems being fixed simply by choosing to drop the pride, and apologize and forgive --whether it is your "fault" or not, whether you feel the other person should apologize first or not, whatever it is. It truly is, for me, part of choosing to fully trust in God. If we really have been hurt or an injustice has been committed against us, if we trust Him we can know He will take care of the justice in His time and His way while trusting that He will compensate for all our losses as He has promised us. I have learned if there are things to "fix" that He will fix them in His time as long as we are doing as He teaches us. If we live as He would live, we will find ourselves becoming more like Him and feeling more at peace.

Anyway, that is my novel about how I learned I need to apply humility in more than one category of my life and that forgiveness truly is the key.

Miracle: finding a new investigator who is just golden #highhopes #noloweredexpectationsoverhere #scaredtoletthemgo #doingitanyway #faith

She was a referral who we met with on Wednesday. Goodness gracious. Can you say white and ready to harvest?? Cause I can! That was amazing. The Spirit was the strongest and most consistent throughout the whole lesson that I have ever felt. My whole mission I have not had a lesson where the Spirit was that constant and that strong. It was just raging! We will be seeing her again soon. :)

What made me laugh: the look on the elders' faces when we learned we were in the same project building --and the same floor even-- where they thought they were going to die about a week ago. Their faces were hilarious. #yeswewalkedreallyquickly

Tender mercy: receiving revelation as to a question I had from my scripture study last July. I had made a note of the question in my post-mish study list and yesterday during third hour I got my answer! The Spirit even reminded me of the question. I had this clear thought and understanding flow and then I had the question prompt my mind and I realized this was the answer. God is so cool.

Tender mercy: new missionary schedule and a bomb devotional. That is the encouragement I was needing. That is what I'm talking about. #yesBednarandOaks #gametime #moreexercisetime #thankyou #notgonnagetgordita #solobromeo #butreally

Tender mercy: awesome new background that gives me the motivation I need at times and also reminds me of home #iseverypictureusedbythechurchtakeninutah?

Tender mercy: the opportunity I have for my testimony and personal conviction to be strengthened in testifying to others as we teach.

This week specifically as I testified of being a servant of God, then teaching Sunday school and receiving the inspiration to ask, "How would you live your life if you knew that your Heavenly Father loves you?" The conclusion we came to was that we would live out of our reciprocated --but ever imperfect-- love for Him and because of that love keep His commandments and strive to prepare to meet Him. We would have more hope. We would live better. If we truly understood and knew of His love for us we would love Him the same and that love would motivate us to live very different lives. #charity

I have prayed for this gift all my mission. Charity we cannot possess. It possesses us. When we understand Him - His love, His plan, His ways - then we trust Him. Then we truly begin to take His image in our countenances. To bring this full circle again, how can the servant know the Master whom he has not served? It doesn't stop after the mission. It goes into eternity.

Tender mercy: understanding how the Lord teaches me

Tender mercy: blessed with the chance to talk with my spanish women for a few hours. I love spanish and I love the spanish people. #bestmission #bestlanguage

Tender mercy: my new motto from our new investigators: "He's [God] taught me to fight... on my knees"

Chastisement: #whomtheLordlovethHechasteneth Apparently Mom was always right and I do show everything on my face. Oops. Gosh dang it. I tried. There were a few times I did really well though, I can admit that!

Aquí estamos. I love you so much, mi familia!! I hope this week is great and filled with spirit and fun! Love you :)
Mucho amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

PICTURES:

OH MY GOODNESS. SMOOTHIE STORY. This first picture. We made a smoothie in this bullet type thing we have. Well, we COULD NOT get the lid off! We seriously could not!! So....we walked over to the elders' apartment (Firl and Chhay) and Elder Firl just.....whoop. It was off. Like nothing!! We were so frustrated. Ugh. Haha. But we had been making crepes so we gave them some. This picture was after we finally had our smoothie. Haha 😂😂

Birthdays & Baptisms

Hello, my beautiful family :)

I feel like before I reply to emails I have to get this out and answer any questions I can ahead of time ;) (speaking of, the elders were saying how they wished their moms sent them a list of questions because then they would know what to say haha, so thank you for helping me along haha)

We have a new transfer, and big news: we are all staying other than Elder Wilkins because Elder Firl is training! #24week #killinit #celestialdistrict Almost our whole zone is staying the same - only four people are out, I think, in our whole zone. This week we had a baptism for the Spanish elders! Yolanda has been waiting to be baptized for a year now, and was finally able to this Saturday! It was such a miracle for her to be able to be baptized, and under the circumstances presented. She has amazing faith.

Last Monday after preparation day we did a follow up with the Sister Training Leaders and ended up going late and long enough that they stayed the night again. It was crazy, but I think it helped a lot. I also went on exchanges with the sisters again Thursday.  I really love them. After everyone got back together, Sister Petersen took us all to Cheesecake Factory. That was fun. We all shared a few cheesecakes and food and it was hilarious when the waiter kept trying to take Sister Staker's cheesecake away. He asked numerous times if she was done and actually took it twice where we called it back. She practically licked the plate clean to show him how a finished cheesecake looks. Haha!

Friday was my birthday (thank you so much again!!) and so Sister Albanese wanted to take me to grab something for breakfast at this cute little bagel place. We went to correlation after and then all of us missionaries and our branch mission leader got Spanish food together :) we did some very effective weekly planning and then finished off the night with a visit to the Crisostomos. I love them. That was a good day :)

We also had the baptism for Yolanda on Saturday and that was awesome. The Spirit was so strong there. It was such an honor to be a part of it. Following the baptism, we went over to see the Forbes family. It was Sister Forbes', one of the girl's, and my birthday all this week so we ate dinner together and celebrated everyone getting one year older but possibly not wiser, haha. It was a good time. We also visited with the Forbes last night when we felt prompted to go over and that was quite possibly the coolest experience I have had in a while.

Oh man. So last night. You need to understand the miracle that is the amount of willpower I have developed thanks to the mission. We walked in and I glanced at the TV. You know what I saw? Loki. They were watching Thor! Ah! I wanted to watch so badly, but I refrained :) so yeah, I didn't give in to that one haha.

I have learned the last few months more than ever just how much the Lord truly does qualify us in our weakness and how He prepares us to do those things that are part of His plan, if we will align our will with His. I think I have learned a lot about the Atonement and about the real significance of having a strong relationship with the Savior, because for me there have been times when I have really felt there was no one else, but I knew I had Him, and with that I can draw enough strength to press forward. I know we can all have access to the strength and grace that comes though the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. I love the opportunity I have to share my testimony and witness of the gospel with those I serve.

I am getting caught up in this preachy rant again, but honestly, the gospel is all I have and I feel like it is all I need. I have gained such a testimony of that truth over the course of my mission. I remember Cruz told me the other day to never change and I told him we were always changing. He said not to change the core of who I am, to which I replied the gospel was my core so I could ensure that would never change. I really am beyond thankful for the opportunity the mission has presented me with to develop myself and my testimony to the point that I can have a firm foundation built on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love this work and I know that all things are possible though the Atonement, and that we really can receive strength and help in the hour of affliction. If we come to Him He will show us our weaknesses and in our weakness is His strength perfect. I love you and hope we all have a beautiful and joyous week :)

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

"Did you think to pray?"

Buenos días!

It has been quite the week... Week six of this transfer is upon us, and for the first time I think I can actually say that I feel like it has been that long.

This week we had some awesome lessons with one of our favorite less actives. He is progressing immensely and has a real desire to change and improve. It makes me so happy to see people that we are teaching benefit from the work we do with them because they choose it. That makes me happy. So he is doing awesome, and I love that! He is actually coming to preparation day with all the missionaries today for a bit to hang out! That will be super good for him.

We also had a FHE in the tarde with a family this Saturday. We showed the Restoration movie. It was great. I think they got a lot out of it and were able to have their testimonies strengthened of the prophet Joseph Smith. We also had two investigators there (through their family) and I think it helped them a lot to better understand the restoration, because they haven't ever really been taught it. Hopefully we cleared up some questions. We will see next time we visit with them this week :)

We also had exchanges 2.0 last week and I got to go to correlation for the STLs for the second time, haha. (I have been there as many times as Sister Bush has been there 😂) We were finishing up and heading next door in our herd of ten or twelve missionaries  to grab some food Sister Petersen had made for us when me and Sister Staker got to break up a fight! Long story short, the ex of this lady needs anger management but we broke it up and then sat and talked with her for almost an hour after he left. She just talked for most of the time while we just listened. I know God was in that situation. We found her on Facebook and also set up a time for them to go and visit her later the upcoming week. I think we were able to help her a lot. Tender mercies

Friday we had Zone Training Meeting. We were still on exchanges and Sister Staker brings me not-so-good tidings of anxiousness when she invites me to sing a song with her for the musical number at our meeting...which started in two hours. Some last minute running around resulted in us and Elder Christie singing "Lead Kindly Light" with Elder Thomas at the piano. It actually worked really well for a last minute, one-time practiced hymn.

Another tender mercy for me came in the form of the workshop given by Elder Thomas on goals. He told a story about one of the assistants who had felt one transfer they were (in a companionship pre assistant) to set a transfer baptism goal for seven. They got one that transfer. He addressed a question I've been pondering for quite some time about the same thing. About why we don't always reach our goals. I have had a hard time seeing how if we set goals in faith with the Spirit and then did all we could to work towards them, why they wouldn't be met then. I dunno, I just felt like if we didn't meet the goals we had set something was wrong. We either set them and didn't believe in them enough, or we didn't work hard enough for them, or we didn't set them according to the will of God (or with the Spirit). In telling this story and continuing his workshop, Elder Thomas said (about one of the mission goals that we were talking about specifically, but really I strongly feel this applies to every goal we set in faith with the Lord), "This goal, to have it set is His will. It may not be His will that we meet it each week, but it is His will that we work towards it." Therefore, in working and doing everything in our power to reach them His will for us is further accomplished as we experience and learn along the way as we strive to reach those goals.

Sister Staker shared something with me last night. Why does the Lord call us on missions...? If He just needed someone to go out and convert and teach people about the restored gospel he would send out Elder Hollands and President Monsons. But He send us out, and that is His will far more than just to bring people to the gospel, but to build us in the process. He could lead us directly to everyone that needs the gospel and is ready to receive it and we could just baptize them all and teach them all, but what good would that do us? He could have us set seven baptisms and then reach it but would that bring about the learning He sees fit for us at that time? Maybe not. It makes me feel better that it may not always be "the goal" that is actually the Father's goal for us. After all, as Elder Holland said, we are the Lord's investigators. How great of a blessing is it to see how much He plans for us. I think it's awesome.

This upcoming Saturday the elders have a baptism that we will get to go to for a lady named Yolanda. She is the sweetest thing and we are all very excited for her (side thought, I think they said Elder Stoker taught her when he was serving here). Also, there is a world-wide mission conference apparently the day after transfers. The talk is that there are going to be changes with the missionary schedule but it will be interesting nonetheless to hear what Salt Lake has to say to the missionaries of the world. :)

The Sister Training Leaders came and slept at our house last night and visited with us. We will have a little follow up today I think. I love them. They are just awesome. I am starting to get anxious about transfers coming up. I just never know what is coming and that stresses me out a little at times. I know everything that comes is according to the will of God, so that brings me peace. I trust in that. I still get anxious though as I wait to see what that will is, haha! I think that would probably be considered the opposite of patience...okay, so still working on the patience, but the trust is doing great! 😜 We're trying :) Oh, the eternal nature of this journey. Sometimes it is amusing. Haha.

This week will hopefully be a good one to finish off this transfer. I cannot believe I will hit eleven months next week... That blows my mind. The time, where does it even go? I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to serve here. I hope this next week is just great. :) Love you!!

Tanto amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

Ps. Oh, and the subject line is just because we have said maaaany a prayer this week for many different things. So, when in doubt (or when in any other situation that is listed off in that song) pray.

Let it snow

Long time no see :)

This last week was the oddest thing because it feels like on one hand it was so short but it also feels like it's been forever since last Monday. While driving yesterday I thought on something Elder McConkie said to us during church. He told us that Elder Harris gets areabook today! Well, when you're in training you are with your trainer for 12 weeks and you get areabook on week five. We all know this. But while driving last night I realized that meant this was week five! I hinted at it to my compañera and she flipped out. It feels like we just got here! Craziness. After we got home she looked at me and said, "you have eleven months on the mission!" and I said hold on, not yet, don't cut my time here, haha! Time is going too fast.

This week we had a bunch of lessons with some less actives we're working with. I am torn between the love I have working with these less actives and the help they need (and are willing to accept) versus if we should be focusing more on finding new investigators more than we are. I dunno, "find the lambs; feed the sheep". I just love these people here so much. I think the more time I've spent trying to forget myself and fully focus on those I love and serve the more the Lord has worked on me. He has shown me my weaknesses and given me strength, has taught me how to hear His voice and truly come to Him as I am to let Him change me.


This week was a lot of fun as we taught different members and investigators but I think the best part was something new that changed things up a bit and got us out of our routine feeling. We had a massive dump of snow this weekend! It was so fun! It made everything look different, everyone was acting just a little different, it just brought a little change, and that was nice :) Everywhere we went it was just snowy and white and pretty...we were singing all these Christmas songs and just loving it #puttingmysnowbootstogooduse #threeinches?? #alittleoffonourforecasting. So that was a lot of fun. It made us both really happy. My compañera walked outside and stepped in the first six inches of snow and said "what?! This is not New York, this is Canada!" It was awesome.

We have been blessed to see that same change begin in many of those we teach and love. We met with the different members of one of our awesome families, and I just love them so much. They're amazing. The have so much potential and I can see it any time I look at them. They are each trying to make some changes in their lives and we really want them as a family to feel of the blessings of the gospel and come along this journey together. We did some service for them Saturday and passed our lunch hour making crepes with them. It was super fun and we also bought the trust of the little two year old who used to cry anytime we hugged a member of her family haha. We will be teaching one of the daughters who's not a member tonight, and she is such a stud. We just love her.

We got together with the English elders last night to do some planning. We have six part-member families that we are tag teaching with them, so we wanted to go over progress and our game plan for the week. We were cute and thought it'd only take thirty minutes. Well, and hour and a half later we finally had a plan for them and knew what each companionship would be doing. We started to lose it a little towards the end #weeklyplanningx2 #drainedineverywaypossible and got an awesomely hilarious video of the elders that I'll send later :)

After planning with the elders we tried to find this lady we were supposed to have a lesson with. She lives in one of the sets of projects out here that we are actually allowed to go to, haha (most of them are bien peligroso...the elders told us a story last week that happened to them just that day where the Spirit was definitely protecting the situation. It's a fun time haha). But we had a lesson set for 8 so we tried to find her and it was rather sketchy haha. Maybe that is just cause it was at night, but we ended up getting a scratching and barking dog at the door with some gangsters in the hallway, complete with a creepy elevator we had to take to the sixth floor, all instead of a new investigator. But we will try again...during the day. Haha.

I've had the opportunity to bear testimony and promise of the Atonement and its grace to many people this week which has allowed opportunity for me to reflect on how this gift has affected, and continues to affect daily, my life. It has been so incredible these last few days in particular because I have truly been blessed with "eyes to see". (That is a pattern I've noticed in my studies, the pattern of the Lord in speaking about eyes that see and ears that hear...or that don't. It's been pretty cool.) As I have sought it --and as it has been fit to the Lord-- He has taken me backstage briefly to show me just a few of the workings behind what He has been about. He has shown me how much He has truly been here and where His hand has been in everything. There are no coincidences, and seeing just a portion of His plans and works for me has strengthened my testimony and helped me to truly continue in faith hoping for things to come, not only for me, but for those I love and serve as He works on each of us.

We had exchanges last week and they were done a little differently where I went to Rego with Sister Staker for the exchange and Sister Bush came to Far Rock with Sister Albanese. To kick of the exchange we drove out to Rego and met them at Sister Peterson's house for dinner. That was really fun. I love Sister Peterson. We had this really good soup and bread, but let me tell you about the bread. She throws it in the oven and we sit there talking for a moment while it "browns". She goes to check on it, opens the oven door, and says, "oh I think they're getting brown!" Sister Bush just goes, "uuuuuuh..." as Sister Staker says, "um, I think I see a fire..." The bread in the back somehow managed to catch on fire and they were burning up in there while the ones in the front were "just getting brown". We avoided setting off the fire alarm as we danced around fanning away the smoke. That was a good laugh. (Also, there were pictures taken there but I do not have them...sorry. Actually side thought, there are a whole lot of pictures that I have been in and do not have, nor have I seen. Kind of weird that those are just floating around somewhere, haha.)

After dinner we split ways and I was off with Sister Staker to the subway while the other sister drove back. Man, I miss the city. I just feel so much more at home there. Haha, never thought I'd be saying that I felt at home on dirty subways and smelly buses :) the exchange was really good and I learned a lot from Sister Staker. She is just awesome. She told me as we concluded our exchange that I just gave off positivity, like I was just happy. She said she could feel "this hope or faith" that I had, taking everything in. That made me really happy. I have been trying so hard and I think I'm starting to get it. I'm trying my best to remain happy and hopeful despite whatever comes.

I am thankful for the opportunity God has given me to change and view what comes in life differently: with hope and faith. That is what I've been working on a ton, and I didn't know if I was really getting it, but I'm getting there now. That was a huge blessing and tender mercy for me to see that my efforts are paying off and with His grace and strength I truly am becoming more like my Savior and Father in Heaven.

Anyway, oh yeah! I almost forgot! I also translated for the first time on Sunday. Haha. Ha. That was an adventure. I almost died. Haha. I didn't do too badly though. At least if I translate every once in a while it will keep my Spanish sharp, hopefully :) Other than that, not sure what else I've got! We will go read your emails and answer any questions I have missed :) Love you tons!!

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley



Fun quotes of the week:
"The mission really helps you to become as a little child...all the way back to snacking and taking naps."
-Sister Staker as we packed up to leave by stocking our pockets full of goldfish for the road :)
"Never look at the stairs...just make it."
-Sister Albanese as we came home after the snow storm. ...which reminds me I still haven't made that a video. I will do it! I promise! Sorry...I forget things sometimes when I actually can do them and remember when I can't...oops :)

We also ate at our pizza place again today and heard the following: Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Duran Duran, Foreigner, Tears for Fears, Flock of Seagulls (?? Could be losing it here, but that is the name that came to mind haha!), Elton John, and John Lennon. It was a good day for the music at Boardwalk Pizza!

Yes she is from Utah but it still makes me nervous for her to drive in that!! :) 

"I can't fight this feeling [the Spirit] any longer..."

Buen dia, familia! Sorpresa, we have preparation day today this week! #holidays #primeprostime #notoneofthosemissionarieswhojustforgetstoemail #imtalkingtoyoueldermcconkie #solobromeo #hetries

I feel like this last week never ended because we never had our preparation day and now we are having just this awkward day in the middle of our week where we email...it's really weird haha. Last week we had a lot that happened. We had so many tender mercies, let's see how many I can remember specifically: awesome lesson with the Crisostomos, PERFECT less active-investigator-recent convert Haitian party-lesson-dinner, new years(!), service x5000.

So because this is so fresh in my mind I need to talk about yesterday first!! Goodness, this was an awesome day. Well, first things first: we got to go and do some service! The mission has turned away from large continuous organized service activities and prefer for us to do random acts of service all the time rather than just three hours of a service project one day every week. This opportunity came up last year or the year before when the fabulous Elder Young found this guy in Bell Harbor with his companion (whoever he was, I didn't know him so forgot the name haha). This guy has this ridiculously huge Christmas display of his house and yard every year. Man, I wish I had seen this or had pictures of it, it was crazy!!! So we helped take everything down and load it all up into the semi truck. I mean, this was the real deal, they were not messing around! They had a fire truck to get things off the house, they had some fifty guys there with us helping move all these things. It was crazy. But it was a lot of fun, regardless of the rain that never ceased haha.

After service we had a quick district meeting and then had our lesson. This guy, this guy is awesome. He is a member of the Jamaican clan and they are legendary is this area. We were excited to stop by and see how they have been, so we did that Sunday and they said we could come back the next day to teach some of the members of the family individually. First up was the 25-year-old.
This morning during personal study I thought about him and remembered we had felt prompted to leave him a chapter. I know the chapter pretty well but was curious what exactly we had left him. I opened it up and with the first verse was laughing. I told my companion to read it. We skimmed through the chapter together and just looked at each other amazed. God is so good!! Yes, we know this, but really! This chapter, the whole thing, was the most perfect thing for him. It blew our minds just how perfect it all was, exactly with what we were talking about and exactly with what his questions were. It was really cool. We are super excited to meet with him tomorrow and see what he thought of it. We think he probably laughed about how perfect it was too. Man, the Lord is trying to tell him something! Just as He is all of us with our individual needs. Will we recognize His voice and His answers to our questions when He sends them? As He always does? I hope for each of us that is a YES!

Friday we had interviews with President in Rego. That was good. He gave me some good reminders.

Now Thursday we had our little miracle dinner/lesson/thing. It was awesome. The Saturday before Elder McConkie told us he felt impressed to get these three specific families together for this. We all agreed and he said it would probably take some time to get organized but that we could do it and if we could that it would be great for these families and their progress. Well, three days later the date was set, the people confirmed, and the food planned. It was a miracle. We were allowed by the zone leaders to go as well with the english elders because we had three families of investigators there who we are tag teaching. This was perfect. It went amazingly and right after we left we all four offered up a prayer on the driveway because it was so perfect, and the only way it was ever happening was if it was the will of the Lord.

Since this dinner we have met with one of the families twice and the husband is progressing like crazy! He really knows everything is true. His testimony is unbelievable, and he has been prepared literally his whole life by the Lord. It is amazing how his stories testify of this. We taught the family Sunday after church when they invited us over to try their traditional New Year's squash soup. It was really good. The husband shared a bunch of stories with us and had one that brought us to Helaman 16 with Samuel the Lamanite. That whole lesson was fairly soportarnos as it didn't go how we had planned, but rather we played off his experiences and how the Lord has been preparing him his whole life up to this point to accept the gospel. Right after we left the elders taught them having been invited, and they committed him to be baptized. He wants a senior couple who served here back in the day to be there. We are going to get in touch with them and see when they can come out for it then propose that day! We are really excited.

This brings another thought to mind. This is probably the fourth family we have visited just in the last week who has shared with us just how much this or that senior couple in particular meant to them. It is crazy to me how much these senior couples really do for the work. It may be a different side of the work without knocking or formally proselyting all the time, but it is important and necessary and it changes lives. So thank you so much to all of our awesome senior couples and all those thinking of serving with their spouse. You change everything. It is amazing.

It has been a good, busy, crazy, and surprising week haha but that is the joy of the work, taking what comes and running with it! Oh! Almost forgot!! I saw Sister Welch on Sunday at church! We were talking to Hna Crisostomo when she came in so I didn't see her until we walked into the chapel and I was so happy to see her!! For those of you who do not remember every detail of my mission ;) she is my abuelita! I love her so much. It was so cool to see her. She started her mission here two years ago so seeing her with her family was awesome.

Anyway, this has been a pretty great week. Weird writing today, but así es. Well, I love you tons, and hope we all are ready for a new year. Everyone likes to make new year's resolutions that they forget within the first month, but I would invite each of us to make our own resolutions for our spiritual journey this year, to evaluate where you progressed and perhaps digressed spiritually in the last year that we can determine and have a vision of where we want to be at the end of this year. Personally, I will be working on charity. Of course this is a lifelong journey that we are all on and we will not be perfect at those things we strive to improve this year by the end of it, but we will be better if we choose to be. I will be working to be more true to the feelings I have and expressing them more freely.  :) If you have a hard time knowing what aspect of your spirituality you want to improve I would highly recommend the end of chapter six in Preach My Gospel where there is a little self-evaluation list of Christlike attributes where you can see what areas you would like most to improve and then make a plan for how you will do it. Anyway, this rambling has gone for long enough, I love you and wish the best week and happy new year for each of us! Love you!

Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

P.S. Also, the subject line: we were doing the service and there was a radio blasting and the song by REO Speedwagon came on and we (Elder Firl --my 80s music comrade-- and I) could not for the love remember who it was, but in the end one of the guys looked it up for us so we were at peace, just a little disappointed in ourselves ;) ...the mission veil is real, I'm tellin' ya!

P.P.S. This exchange also took place yesterday haha
Hermana: *about my hair* "Girl, you better not go to Jamaica, they gonna scalp you for that!"
Me: *nervous laughter*
#strangestcomplimentihaveeverbeengiven #illtakeit

Laugh moment this week:
Washing every dish known to man in preparation for the dinner:
- Elder McConkie: *goes to rinse hands in sink*
- Me: "careful it's really hot"
- EM: ".....does that water not burn you???"
- Me: "my grandma says something like if it's not hot enough for you to barely handle it, it's not hot enough haha"
- EM: "uuuuuum.....I'm gonna unhot it..... I haven't got mom hand yet"
- (Later, after a cake overflowed and started to spill on the oven
so they had to clean up the batter before it started to burn)
- Iderle: *uses a rag and paper towel and her bare hands to wipe off the spilled batter from the 400 degree oven*
- EM: *looks of horror* "HOW???"
- Us: "mom hands"

Christmas in Queens

Feliz Navidad!

Opening Christmas :)

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mucho amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley

My List of Positive and Joyful Things:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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