1 year down!

10-20-14
Dear Family.

One year down!

Welp.

A year down.
     That is soooooo strange. I've been gone for an entire year and it passed so much slower and so much faster than I thought it would....This year has been one of the hardest, most crazy, most up-and-downy, most bestest, most magical, most uplifting, most trying, most wonderful year I have ever had!!! And I'm not done yet. I've still got six months to go! 
     This last Monday we had an awesome zone activity at a member’s house and we played volleyball.  The elders in our district are hilarious and we had a lot of fun. One of the Elders brought a blender and made Oreo milkshakes and Elder Greenacre (from England) and Sis Goritto had a chugging contest to see who could drink theirs the fastest.  Then I had a contest with Elder Guthrie our District leader...and he won...I had a stomach ache after and I had only had a little cup!  
     Tuesday I went on exchanges with the STL's in their area. They are Spanish sisters, so I didn't really know what was going on the whole time..no hablo espaniol....But it was a neat experience! I was with Sister Culotta, who is super fun and nice.   Most the people we saw could speak English and so we taught some lessons in English so I could participate, but it was funny because Sis Culotta had only ever taught in Spanish, and almost couldn't do it at all in English.  She would just stare at me as I taught because it just didn't click in her brain how I could say things in the right order in English and she would get tongue tied.  I guess her calling is just for Spanish and mine for English. I've seen that a lot with missionaries. Once they are a missionary with a certain language they almost don't know how to talk about anything gospel related unless it is in that language... haha. I didn't get fed twice this time, which was really nice! But my bed was hard as a rock....so that was good for the next day –Not!  Wed. we did a lot of contacting and some service for an older woman.
     Thursday (My year mark) was eventful and fun!

Making Applesauce

     We did service for one of our investigators, C, who is older and has a lot of health problems. We helped sweep her floor and then wrapped Christmas presents for her. Yup. Christmas presents in October....Sis Wicker thought I was a nut because I was humming Christmas carols to myself the whole time. I love the holidays! And I'm excited for Christmas! :) We also did service at the Hair's house and helped them make Applesauce, which was messy and a lot of fun! I love laughing with their daughter Kaitlyn! They are seriously such a special family and I always feel such a spirit in their home.

     Later that day we taught S again, who is just as funny as ever. Her husband was more involved this time and expressed that he is more interested in coming back to church. Now we are just working on helping S get a testimony, so we will see how it goes! Pray for her!

Lenise's buddy Kaitlyn

      Dinner was hilarious that night. It was an empty nester couple and the first thing the husband says is "I'm so glad you've made it because the last two times we were supposed to have sisters eat with us, they bailed. I'm so glad you're here! Come on, let’s go play air hockey!!!" We were a little shocked and then laughing as he dragged us into their game room and we played two on two air hockey with them until dinner was done cooking. I was laughing a lot and it felt good to be so suddenly pushed into something fun and be around energetic fun people! Sis Wicker and I have a lot of fun together, but more people having fun is even FUNNER! Or ...more fun....whatevs. When they found out it was my year mark, the husband Bro Taylor insisted that we light a firework off.... I was like "Um it says in the white hand book we aren’t allowed to do fireworks..." and so he sat me in a chair behind their back sliding glass door while he went out on the back patio and lit the firework off for me and we all laughed and cheered. It was great fun! :) 
     So Friday we got ready to go do service, except when we climbed on our bikes we realized that Sis Wicker's back tire was super flat, so we ended up on foot and had to skip service because of the long walk we had to take to get to the chapel for district training meeting. District training meeting was a lot of fun, because we talked a lot about following up with people on commitments we extend.  After, a member brought us pizza and we had an epic Disney quoting war (I totally won...) and we all decided we wanted to dress up for Halloween night when we get to get together for a party (missionaries are not allowed to be on the streets on Halloween), and we decided that each companionship had to be a famous Disney duo. Sis Wicker and I are trying to pick between Sully and Boo from Monsters Inc, Sven and Olaf from Frozen, Elsa and Anna, or Rapunzel and her mother....we'll see what we come up with. I kept begging Sister Wicker to let us be Mushu and the cricket from Mulan or Timon and Pumba from Lion King!!!....but she said "Um...no."
          I love Sis Wicker. She is a spiritual giant (she is actually 6’1 ½” tall) and the sweetest girl.. I love her to death and have learned so much from her. She is amazing.
      Thank you SO SO SO SO MUCH for the one year package! I loved the picture album book thingy from Shutterfly! It made me SO happy!!! And all the other little things in there too!
     Also shout out to Kaylene who sent me super cute Halloween window stickers! They are currently on our bathroom mirror and making our bathroom experiences a much more delightful adventure! :) Thank you so much for all you do for me and for your prayers! I really do feel them and appreciate them a lot! 
     Love and miss you all to the moon and back!
Love,
Sister Lenise Diane Volmer

Old and New in Orem

10-13-14

One year ago in Orem- now back there again!

Dear Family,
     Another week in the life of a sister missionary in the Utah Provo mission :) I can't believe how I forgot how entirely different Orem is from Roosevelt. It's almost like being on a different mission. But it's good. I'm really liking it. It's been hard finding people to teach and you have to get out of your comfort zone a lot more here, but it's very gratifying work. Every day when I get home we are just pleasantly exhausted....and sometimes just down right exhausted.  But it's been a good feeling. I really like riding my bike! It makes me feel good and I feel like I have more energy.
      Sis Wicker is awesome! I love her and we have a lot of fun. I think she enjoys laughing at me the most. She is such a good missionary and very obedient and we work really hard together and have some big ambitions for this area and how we want to build it up. You should see our wall, it's covered in maps and goals and charts...it kind of makes me feel like a spy and secret agent :)
     This week has been busy with lots of contacting and knocking doors. Wednesday we got to see Meet the Mormons! It was great! We got to watch a pre showing of it at the stake center because we are not allowed to go to the actual theatre and they don't want us proselytizing right outside the theatre. They don't want people to feel obligated or pressured when they go, so they just had us watch it on our own so we could discuss it with people later when they wanted to talk with us about it! I loved all of it! I think they need to make more of them! I love how they broke down the stereo types and gave a fresh new view of what we are really like and how diverse we are! I especially liked the last story about the convert missionary mom. We are working with a woman I've told you about before named R who has gone through pretty much the exact same thing as the woman in the movie has and her son just turned 8 and got baptized. We told her that in 10 years that would be her :)
     Thursday we had zone training meeting and read and discussed Elder Jörg Klebingat's talk from the Saturday afternoon session of general conference! (That one was my all-time favorite!) It was fun to meet more of my new zone and I'm pretty excited. They seem like a lot of fun. I already love my new district. It's literally three sets of sisters and then one set of elders as the district leader. We call our district leader the relief society president! Haha! Our district leader is pretty cool and his name is Elder Guthrie. He's from Florida and reminds me a lot of Josh Peterson.  The other Elder is Elder Hill and he was serving in Mexico before going home for health reasons. When he got better they sent him back out, but sent him here to Utah where he wouldn't get sick. He's cool too and they are both nice and like to have a good time. I've made a good friend with one of the sisters in my new district named Sis Carey! She is super fun and cute and came out a transfer after me but goes home the same time I do. She was also companions with Sis Jones right after me. It's been fun getting to see a bunch of people I knew from last time I was here and getting to know them better!
     Ok, so something made me super mad....you know my first baptism B, from here?  Well he hasn't been going to church AT ALL!! And I ran into him on the street and asked if we could come visit him and help him get back to church and he said yes and told us to come by last Monday at 8. When we got there he wasn't home! I then tried to Facebook him, and he had blocked me!!! Grrrr I've been  super determined to call him out and get him to church.
     We also made cookies for all our bishops this week to try and strengthen our relationship with them. The better your relationships with members, the more likely you will get referrals! So we've been working hard on doing that! We had something really awesome happen on Friday! We got a random phone call from an unknown number and it was a  calling and saying she wanted the lessons because she felt like it was about time for her to be a member!!! When we got her name, number, and address and set up an apt, & hung up Sis Wicker and I were jumping up and down squealing like little girls! Haha! We met her on Saturday.  She is British and hilarious and spunky. She is blonde and had bright red lipstick on. She is married to a member who is less active. Obviously, we are very excited to work with her.  When they come to us we feel so blessed.

Lenise is making people happy by spreading the gospel.

 

     I've been thinking about Peter a lot this week. He was Christ's right hand man while He was on the earth and yet he went through a lot of trials, had a lot of weaknesses, and messed up a lot. It gives me comfort that even if I mess up and stumble, I can still be a disciple of Christ. He was rebuked multiple times and strove to do his best. If we strive to overcome our challenges like he did we can become like he was later. He was known as "Peter the Rock" and went about preaching the gospel to multiple nations alike and dying in his cause. I often think of the story in Mathew 14 when Christ was walking on water in the middle of a storm and Peter saw him from the ship and wanted to walk out on the water to meet him. I think of all the times I've wanted to do amazing hard and substantial things to prove my love for my Savior like Peter did in that moment. And yet when he saw the waves and the winds he feared and began to sink. I have done the same...when I see the trials and they seem to overcome me I feel like I'm sinking and reaching out and crying out for my Savior to help me... And he does...but not without saying "oh Ye of little faith, wherefore didst though doubt?" I need to have trust in The Lord that he can mold me into who I need to be. It reminds me of a song I've hear on the mission that goes "why do we only remember the sun, after the rain starts pouring down? We take it for granted until it is gone, then say to The Lord Rescue me now. I'm wading through water that's rising fast, and these dark clouds are gathering speed. Just when I feel I'm not going to last, I look through the clouds to the refuge I need. Lords, let this storm, bring me closer to you, please help me break through this, Lord help me see; letting fear flood my heart just drowns me. No matter how many hard things I'm called to endure, of one thing I am always sure: I'll be closer to you."
     I love you all and hope you are having a good week! :) The church is true
Love,
Sister Lenise Diane Volmer

Back to first area, new companion, and General Conference

10-6-14

Saying goodbye to very special people.

Dearest family,
    Where to begin, where to begin....this week has been one of the longest ones I've had in a while, and to say I'm tired is probably an understatement...haha. The beginning of last week feels like a dream. Roosevelt and Orem are so different from each other that I feel like I've stepped back into a different world.
     Monday was a hard/fun day. Finding out I was being transferred was really hard. Both me and Sis McMurray started crying in the family history center and when Elder Christoffersen and Elder Trejo came in they kind of just stood there and stared at us awkwardly and Sis McMurray was just like "don't look at me like that!!!" I really miss her :( she was so great and so much fun. Monday we spent most of the day at a sports zone activity. We played soccer, which I sat out at first because I wasn't feeling well still and my cold was horrible, but I played for awhile then went and said goodbye to the Ryan's (the one who has a recording studio in his house) they are the best and their kids are so cute.   Thank heavens Mom’s prayer for me not to cry while I said my goodbyes was answered.  We swung by Glenda Hunts house, who is the grandma of Robert and Remo Hunt who we baptized back in March and I got to say goodbye to them. They have been doing great. It was amazing because the Sunday before I said goodbye we went to church in their ward and when I was handed the sacrament I looked up and it was Robert standing there passing it to me....can you say best feeling EVER to see someone you taught fulfilling their priesthood duties!
     That night I began packing....Ugh. I hate packing with a fiery passion! Haha!

Loved the Roosevelt smiles!

     We then went to lunch with Dusty. That was sad...Dusty is the best! He served in the Australia Perth mission with an Elder Shwartz who just happens to be the famous LDS pianist William Joseph....and so he gave me a cd that they arranged on his mission. I'm really gonna miss laughing with Dusty. He's been like our protective big brother and has helped us out and taken us hiking and all sorts of grand adventures.  I said good bye to a ton of people, then ended up at the Wilda’s.  I was pretty nervous about leaving and starting new, so I asked Bro. Wilda for a blessing. He blessed me with all these amazing things, like focus, peace, strength, and to not worry about things I can't control at home or in my future. He then blessed me that in my new area I would be able to judge situations and not people, and be able to see past premonitions or prejudices or rumors I may have heard about my new area or companion...That made me think a little bit....and confused me a lot. I didn't know a lot of other missionaries and I had only ever served in two areas and had never heard of what the other areas were like...he told me sometimes we reap and sometimes we see... The next day I couldn't help but cry some more as we hauled all my stuff out (through our basement window....) and drove away through Roosevelt. 9 months – my 2^nd home.
     It was fun to see people I knew at transfers, and when President announced that I was going back to my "baby" I was like "No Way!" I was so excited! So yes I'm staying in the exact same house and I'm in the same neighborhood, and I'm working with a lot of the same people from 9 months ago. It helps because I don't have learn so many new names...but Orem is so different from Roosevelt. I'm used to teaching 20+ lessons a week? And now I'm down to 5-10ish... I was excited at first but the second I stepped back into my apartment I was flooded with all the stress, weaknesses, and frustrations  I used to feel while here 9 months ago.  Last time I was here I didn't feel like I was making a difference ever. So now I'm trying to figure out why God put me here again. Maybe it was just my ‘newness’ as a missionary.  There has to be a reason and somebody or something I need to do, I just know it...or he wouldn't have sent me back. So I have faith that he will help me understand my purpose in Orem. It's good to see some familiar faces I thought I would never see again. It's a lot harder work out here and you get exhausted a lot faster, even though there aren't as many people to teach.  Since being back, I've already had a door very rudely slammed in my face, I've chased down a car, and I've pushed a broken car down the street.
     My companion is Sister Rachel Wicker and she is an absolute sweet heart! She is so hardworking and is so inspiring to me. She has been out on her mission for 9 months and she is 22 years old. She was an only child for her first 20 years and her mom had a baby a month before she left on her mission. So she has a little baby sister. We’ve talked a lot about goal setting, staying positive, not putting ourselves down, and true beauty. I've been back on a bike which feels awesome! (Except for my rear end...that was painful for a while...) but it's nowhere near as hard as it was when I first came to Orem

With Companion # 6 Sis Wicker at the
Sunday morning session.

     I saw RG again since I left last and she is doing really good. Saturday we watched General conference with recently returning less actives who had a billion dogs....ok maybe. They had four. But they were all over us! Very distracting. They took us to lunch and then we went to a member’s house that I knew from before. Their name was the V. Saturday afternoon session was so epic! I had a few questions answered that time around and I wanted to applaud too! We then went out contacting all night and I was really tired.
      The next morning we woke up super early in order to get ready for conference and were out the door by 6:30am. We drove over in Pres McCune's car and had fun talking with him and his wife about how he used to be in a rock band, and then how we put on garage dances at our house, and a bunch of random things.
     Conference was sooooo good! I was on the floor on the very very far right facing the stand, only about five rows back, and right next to the door where all the general authorities entered! We stood near the isle in the beginning and Russell M Nelson came out and shook our hands! I was trying to squeeze through elders to get through in time, but he passed, and I stuck my hand out anyway and he turned back and said "Hello sweetie" and shook my hand. HE CALLED ME SWEETIE! And shook my hand!!! I felt like a fan girl! Haha! It was really cool. I got to shake Tad R Callisters hand and Sis Oscarson, and Jeffrey R Holland walked right in front of us and waved, and D Todd Christofferson blew a kiss at us and L Tom Perry is the cutest little old man, and we saw Dallin H Oaks, and it was AMAZING when the prophet and his councilor a walked out, not 20 feet away from where we were and the whole center stood and was so silent. It was crazy to be so up close. It was hard to focus just because we were all so star struck to be there. It was an amazing experience! The choir sounded awesome as well! I love our prophet and general authorities! They are the best!
     After we were walking through temple square to get to our cars and I saw Bradley Hunt...and then his dad...so I knew Becca was nearby and I ran over and found her and gave her a hug. AJ was there to and I was able to shake his hand and wish him well before I had to run to catch up with the other missionaries.
     By the time we got back we were just in time for the second session and I got to watch it with one of my favorite family's! The Hairs!  I do feel like I need to pack and pretty much reread all of conference because I couldn't absorb it all.   Later last night we were invited to what we thought was a family party with less actives and recent converts invited. So we show up...and it's actually a college party....I felt soooooooo awkward there talking to people and everyone flirting and being loud. It was weird. I wanted to run...but then out of nowhere popped Victoria Roberts! It was fun to see her! But she kept saying my first name… which weirded me out! Hahaha I'm going to be such an awkward RM!      Thanks for all your love and support! I love you all and miss you! I hope I didn't miss anything!

Group I went to Conference with.  Pres & Sis. McCune on right.

Love,
Sister Lenise Diane Volmer

Here Comes Goodbye to Roosevlet after 8 months

9-28-14
Dear Family.

     To be perfectly honest, I am sitting here in the Roosevelt family history center trying my hardest not to bawl my eyes out right now.

                      I'm being transferred. 

      I'm leaving my second home: Roosevelt. And I'm a total mess. I love these people so much. I knew this would happen someday, but I didn't expect it to hurt so badly. This is worse than leaving home, because I don't know how many of these people I'll get to see again...This is so hard. There are so many people I feel I need to help here and it is so hard to have to leave them all. But if it's God's will...I'll do it. If there is one thing I've learned on my mission, it's that God knows what He's doing. And he hasn't failed me yet. He promises "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." Wherever it is I'm going...He needs me there. No questions asked. But that doesn't mean I'm not still hurting. It's hard have a family and home built so strongly here and then to leave it. 

Saying goodbye to a good friend & Roosevelt, where she has
been for 8 months of her mission.

   I'm so sad to not be with Sister McMurray again. She has become one of my best friends...we've had so many good laughs and inside jokes and such a good time together. We have never had contention at all while we were together. She is the best! She is such a sweet heart! She likes to have adventures and play in rain puddles, she loves horses to death and I've never wanted to learn to ride horses more than when I was with her. She has one more transfer left before going home, so I'm super sad I don't get to spend this last transfer with her!  She comes from a family of 8 and was living in Ohio when she came out, but her family has since moved to Logan Utah and that is where she will be returning. She is going to BYUI in the winter so maybe she can meet Kelsy and Sierra!!! 

     Life here is crazy. It has been a super busy week! We got 6 new investigators! (who I won't be able to teach... :( I was so excited!)        

     Tuesday was super busy and we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We had a lot of appointments fall through and cancel, but we were still able to see a few people. Wednesday we had to drive down to Provo because Sis McMurray had a meeting. They are starting this new pilot program in our mission where six weeks before you go home they give you an RM course to do. Each week is a different topic and it helps you prepare for life back at home, setting goals, getting a job, future education, and dating and marriage. Apparently they've had a lot of problems with RM's being lazy and falling away from the church because they need a "break" or something stupid like that. So we drove down there and I got to see and talk with Sister Balero because she is going home the same transfer as Sis McMurray. She asked if we could sing at their final testimony thing. So hopefully that works out! 

     I got to see T Thursday, and I'm sooooo sad to be leaving. It seems like everything keeps piling up and making her life worse, and I'm so sad that I won't be there for her anymore. I will have to write her a ton! Thursday we also got taken out by the Croziers (my third grandparents! They are the best!) and they took us to a restraunt that gave me my dinner on a plate the size of a garbage can lid...it was huge! I barely made a dent in it! Goodness.... All I ever want to eat is soup and watermelon. 

     Friday night we met the Eggett family (4 of the 6 new investigators we got this week) I was so excited to start teaching them because the mom and I really clicked and was so receptive! I hope the new sister can click as well too! I'm so sad I don't get to teach them!

Chandler's baptism

     Saturday was Chandler's baptism! It was great! Except the font got filled too full again! haha! He wanted his uncle to give both the baptism and the holy ghost talk, and so he combined them ..it was seriously one of the shortest baptisms ever...haha but it was still good! 

   The General womens meeting was sooooo good! I loved the rendition they did of I Know That My Redeemer Lives! And I loved Sis Marriot's talk and also Elder Uchtdorf's of course! It was soooo good! I love how he stressed so strongly the importance of obedience and keeping the commandments in our role as making back to heavenly father as His children. Such a good talk. 

     Sunday I woke up sick...and still am. I have a terrible cold. I hate colds. I turn into a snotty mess. Especially when crying about leaving Roosevelt! But I kept it at bay until after I sang His Hands in the Roosevelt 7th ward. (I'll send you the video.) Sunday was a loooooonnngg day. we were up early to get out to White Rocks (30 min away) in time for a 7:30 meeting. And then we were nonstop all day long at churches and meetings and lessons and stuff. We had dinner at Dusty's house last night again because dinner fell through. It was fun playing with his niece and nephew who live there. They have a 9 month old named Thor who is probably the FATEST baby I have ever seen in my life....Like holy cow....Thor fits him so well...haha. And Little Zoe is the cutest thing and is only 3 and has a huge personality and made me play barbies with her. 

     Then last night we got to teach Bri again, which is always super cool and spiritual. I'm going to miss the White Family a lot! They are so much fun! 

     Well... I'm off to start the goodbyes...these next few days are going to be really hard for me! If you could pray for me I would appreciate it! 

     I love you all to the moon and back. This gospel is SO true. I have recieved such a deep love for people as I have served them and am so grateful for the time I have spent on my mission. My mission means everything to me. And I wouldn't change it for the world. 

Love,

Sister Lenise Diane Volmer

Temple....and slashed tires!

They all look happy!

9-22-14

Dear Family,
This week. I can't put it into words. I don't think I've had such a hectic week yet. It was all kinds of amazing exciting awesome outstanding great goodness! And all kinds of horrible in between.  Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.
    Last p-day we went sour patch bowling again...which was a lot of fun and hilarious! We changed it up a little and did some tornado bowling where you have to spin around for ten seconds before you bowl.  I love our district and we have so much fun together! They have all discovered my talent for taking hideous double chin pictures...and I think I am currently the back ground on 3/4 of their ipad screens. Also Elder Quezada challenged me to eat a palm full of the sour powder from the sour patch bag... that was really gross. Then that night we had Jaden's baptism interview with the Zone leaders
    Tuesday we had exchanges with the STL's. I got to go to Vernal with Sis Rogers. She is a sweet heart and we had a lot of fun laughing. We had never been on exchanges before and it was fun to get to know each other. My day with her was super busy and we were on the run all day long. It was

    The next day, Wednesday was SOOOOO busy! We had district meeting and district lunch (at which I snorted like a pig on accident while eating and had all the elders laughing their heads off at me....yeah I'm pretty sure I'm the dumb blonde comic relief in their lives....) and then we were teaching nonstop all day. We were running back and forth, and then we stayed up really late packing EVERYTHING because we were switching houses the next day and had no time to pack before. Two people packing everything at once...that was fun... It was super sad to leave Sis Brighton. :( I love that little old lady! She was the sweetest! She was really sad to see us go, and I was sad to leave. I have never lived somewhere other than home as long as I did at Sis Brightons house. But the next day, Thursday we hauled everything into the Roosevelt 11th ward. We are seriously so much closer to everything in our area now...and I love our new home! The bed is soooooo comfy! And helps a lot with my back! LOVE!  And there are nowhere near as many spiders. (You would be proud of me. Sis McMurray is more scared of spiders than I am, and I have gotten better at killing them...although I can still only do it with a shoe...and I might let out a scream every now and then.)  My legs felt like jello after the stationary bike and treadmill! It's great! Our landlords are the sweetest too! They are so kind to us!
      Friday we got to go to Vernal to the Temple because a less active couple I've been working with for 6 months were going to get their endowments. The Croziers (one of our ward mission leaders and his wife. Bro Crozier is like my adopted grandpa. I wish you guys could meet him. He is everyone’s favorite person and the sweetest!) gave us a ride up. We stopped at a church book store to buy something for Jaden's baptism and somebody there randomly donated $20 to help us buy her a nice journal and get her name engraved on it. Tender Mercy! We then went through the temple session. It was great! It is seriously the BEST and most AMAZING feeling to be able to see people you've been working with enter the celestial room. I was smiling like an idiot the whole time! 

Slashed tires after temple re-dedication.

     Then when we got out of the temple, I found out that the pianist I had arranged to play for my musical number at the baptism the next day had suddenly fell through. It was like 8:30 at night and the baptism was the next day at 10am...I was frantic! I was trying to call anybody I knew who could play the piano....it took forever! And I was so stressed! But finally Sis Wells came through. But I didn't get the music to her until the next morning. So that was stressful. 
      Then the next day the ward mission leader accidentally left the font water on for too long and almost flooded the baptism font!!! Jaden's baptism went well, but when she got in the font the water was up to her neck! We thought we would need a lifeguard or floaties if it had been any higher! Her grandpa who baptized her could have just put his hand on her head and dunked her for her baptism! When she was done her mom was at the door saying "Ok jade, now swim back!" haha! Gosh!
      Saturday evening we got to go back to Vernal to watch Elvis and Debbie Prescott get sealed together, which was really neat! They were so excited and the spirit was really strong. After a stressful couple days it is always just feels so good to be in the temple, to feel everything melt away, and to feel at home. 
     Sunday was cool because we got to go to the Ogden Temple Rededication Broadcast. I have never been to one before (I was too young when our temple was dedicated) so it was cool to experience. We went to two of the sessions and the spirit was really strong! I love our prophet and his apostles! They are so inspired! And I love the temple!
      Something not so great happened afterwards though. We were climbing into our car when one of our Bishop's sons drove by with his new wife and he rolled down his window. So I rolled mine down and he said "Did you know that your two right tires are completely flat?" and I was like "Wait...what?!" so we climbed out of the car and sure enough they were flat. We were racking our brains trying to remember where we had driven recently that could have done that and couldn't think of a thing. We called the zone leaders and they borrowed one of the donut tires from the other sister’s car that matched ours and they came and helped us change our tires. After further inspection we realized that one of them looked like it had been sliced open a little and the other one looked like it had a puncture wound from a knife. I can officially say that while on my mission we got our tires slashed.... yay....not. 
     Sunday night went better though! We got to meet with B! We haven't seen her in forever! I've told you about her once before, forever ago! She lives with the White family. And they are Hilarious!!!! We had a bunch of good laughs last night! They have a son serving in England right now who gets back in May. And after telling me about all his flaws...they then decided that I needed to marry him.....Um....say what?! I've had people try to adopt me before, but this was the first time they tried to marry me off to their son....Hahahaha NO.
      So yeah. Crazy week. 
      I love you all! Thanks for keeping me in the loop! I miss you all to smithereens. 
Love, 
Sister Lenise Diane Volmer

You are my Sunshing!

9-15-14
Dearest Family,
     Well this week was random but really good! 

Gifts from good friends passing thru..
Hope Mom screaming in your ear when she
heard where you were didn't hurt to much!

Thank you Stokers for making my day
extra special. 

     Okay, so first! You asked if I actually got to see Brother and Sister Stoker. Sadly, no I didn't :( It made me really sad that I missed them, but I talked to them on the phone briefly. I was actually in the next town over in Duchesne helping out with a benefit rodeo for someone with breast cancer in our stake. So I was about 45 min away. And when I saw their phone number calling, I thought it was a telemarketer. I hesitated when I saw it said Washington....but I didn't follow my gut feeling sadly, and silenced it and resumed helping haul hamburger patties to the food area...Later I was bummed to find out that I missed them...it would have been strange seeing someone from back home in Roosevelt. haha! Home and here seem like two completely different worlds, so it would be weird to have them mix...but I wouldn't have minded :) Be sure to tell the Stokers thanks again! It seriously made my week!

     So, sadly I have no fun adventures to tell you about from last p-day...we pretty much spent three hours at a car garage getting our oil changed...lame...

     Wednesday was just super busy with lots of teaching appointments! We are working with two younger kids to get ready for baptism. C and J. J is the best, I think I already told you about her and she is getting baptized this upcoming Saturday! We are really excited for her! I love her and her mom. They are two people I feel like I was meant to be here for. 
     Thursday was a really slow day, and I wasn”t feeling very good that day so it felt really long... Friday was another long day. We had zone training meeting and it was super spiritual and awesome but I still wasn't feeling very well so it was hard for me to focus and I felt all scatterbrained. I got called on by surprise and totally butchered my answer to the STL's question and it was really embarrassing...  But afterward I felt better and we had a lunch picnic with our district. I love my district! Those elders are so funny and really good at changing my mood around.
     Saturday was busy with my rodeo adventure/service and getting the fun flowers. 
     Sunday was a really busy day for us too. We got up early to go to a ward council meeting at 7:30am all the way in Neola (30 min away) and then we had to give talks in the 8th ward. (Bro Ryan's ward) I gave mine on the Talk "Are you Sleeping Through the Restoration" by President Uchtdorf from the last Priesthood session. (really good talk! read it!) 

Card from a friend & words to a song
from my childhood.

      Later we made some cookie dough to make cookies today or tomorrow for our ward mission leaders to let them know how much we appreciate them! We hope to get them out to them in the next few days! There are 11 of them... Later in the afternoon we were trying to figure out who to see after an apt fell through and Sis McMurray said "We haven't seen T in a while..." and instantly I felt that we needed to go see her. Right then. When we got there her gate was closed to her driveway and chained...But we are missionaries...aint no way that's gonna stop us! So we unchained it and drove right on up. She came out on the front porch squinting at us because she didn't recognize our new car. And it was true. She did need us a lot. She struggles and hurts so much and has so many hard questions. Sometimes all I can do is repeat over and over again that Christ loves her. That if it hurts so much right now it's not the end. It's not. This life is nothing, absolutely nothing compared to the rest of what God has planned for us. If there is one thing I've learned on my mission, it's that I know nothing! There is so much I don't know, but there is so much I am excited to discover in the next life. So I asked if I could sing for her, and she said yes. I sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives. I love that song, and it is so powerful and straight forward. And after it I couldn't help but just cry (because I'm a baby, and music is the way I feel the spirit) and repeat "I know it. He does. I know it." I love T and if there is anybody out here in Utah that I am supposed to be here for, it's her. She has so many obstacles that she needs to overcome still, but sometimes all I can do for the people here is be there. Be there for them. Life is a mix of sunshine and grey and I've learned that I get to be the one to determine how I react to it, and also how I help others get through it. Is it strange that in losing yourself you actually do find yourself? Is it strange that in forgetting myself I've discovered so much more self-confidence? And a greater knowledge of who I am and whose I am? And of where I can go and who I can become. And others who I can bring with me. So many others that I want to bring with me. The least I can do is make it back to heaven. The most I can do is bring everyone else with me.
      I love and miss you all a whole lot! You are all in my prayers! 
Love,
Sister Lenise Diane Volmer                                                                                                                          

A mission full of adventures!

9-8-14

Dear Family! 
Alrighty! So! This week was a super fun one! Lot of adventures!

"Should I go in or out?"  Adventures of caves!

     Monday we took our whole district up to Pole Creek for P-day. We had a blast! The elders in our District are Elder Quezada, Elder Taylor,  Elder Rivera,  Elder Elliot! And they are the silliest bunch of elders EVER. They are the funniest people to talk to and I've loved getting to know them all! Our district is super close and we have a lot of fun! We tried to go into pole creek cave like I did with Sis Nomo, but because it has been raining so much lately it was flooded, so we could only make it down into the mouth and entry of the cave, but the rest was waist deep...so that put a ‘damper’ on things, but it was still fun. We also went to the Sinks where there is a waterfall and cave/tunnel thing and took fun pictures. We then "juiced" which Elder Quezada introduced to us...it's pretty much just hiking somewhere and drinking juice at the top in lawn chairs...so we did that.  Dusty always makes things interesting. We had a girl name K with us, and he was asking Dusty if he ever hunted and he said "No I don't hunt, I kill..." in a really creepy voice. We all laughed and she said "Then what do you kill?" and he said "Things that need to be dead...." haha oh gosh...  Afterwards we went and had BBQ at Dusty's with Elder Quezada and Elder Taylor, because the other elders had a lesson. We had a very lengthy discussion on the magical-ness of bacon (silly elders).

Looks like Lenise got her Volmer Reunion t-shirt!

    We've been working this week with a 9 year old girl named J who is getting baptized the 20th. She is super cute and such a tomboy! She seriously is the only girl in all the Uintah basin on the little league football team...yep. She rocks. But she won't cut her hair so it is super long and her favorite color is still pink....haha I wish she was a few years older so we could marry her off to Carl! Her mom is a less active and is coming back to church and she is great! We love her to death too! She is so sweet and we got to go to church, relief society, and primary with them yesterday! It was great! 
    Wednesday morning we went to Randalette to do some service with Elder Rivera and Elder Elliot and the zone leaders. We got there late because of cleaning inspections and so Sis McMurray and I got to lunge the Elder's land lady's horses. I got to brush their mains and comb them and then Sis McMurray (Who owns 8 horses of her own) taught me how to lunge the horses. (It's where you stand in the middle holding the lead rope and a switch while they trot around you in a circle.)
     Thursday was zone conference, which is pretty much a 7 hour long meeting with President McCune....They are always so spiritually uplifting and inspiring and fun! But they can also be overwhelming....It was a really long one, but I felt uplifted. There are a lot of changes I need to make. I'm nowhere near perfect and work on my weaknesses every day. That's one thing about being a missionary...your weaknesses become a lot more obvious to you...But we had a really awkward discussion at lunch during zone conference with Elder Christofferson.....while President McCune and his wife were sitting at our table…. Elder Christofferson started comparing girls to horses (a result of our service on Wednesday) I don't know about you, but I don't exactly appreciate being compared to a horse....but he had some good comparisons I have to admit....You should have seen Pres. McCune’s face. haha
    Friday night we went to a camp out (just for the evening) in Dusty's ward. We rode up to the campground with K (we got to wear JEANS!!!! YES!) on this really bumpy road and had a blast with the ward eating and playing games with the kids and getting to know the members better. It felt good to be out in nature and to interact with everyone. One of the families brought a bull whip and was cracking it. We asked if we could do it too and they taught us how! I was really excited because I remember Grandpa Merkley always cracking his bull whip and I remember trying but never being able to! It was super cool to be able to actually do it! I was pretty sad when I found out Grandpa was taken to Guardian Angel...but after all that grandma and mom have told me, I think it is probably for the best. I pray for him every night. I know that even though he won't have any idea who I am when I get home, that his spirit is still in there and someday I will have my swing-dancing, Butterfinger loving, black sock wearing, tongue-sticking-out grandpa back someday. I am eternally grateful for the plan of salvation, the promise of eternal families, and the resurrection. Let him know I love him!
        Sunday we had all of our investigators on date for baptism make it to church. YES!!!!!!! It was awesome! We got a lot of teaching done and had another BBQ with Dusty for his birthday because dinner fell through...again. I got eaten alive by mosquitoes though...But I heard if you get a spoon and make it hot by running it under hot water, then put it on the bite it's supposed to make it go away. 
   So this week was AWESOME! Loved it and had so much fun! We've been doing really good at reaching our goals and have been finding new people to teach which is awesome!
    I love you all so much and I am so thankful for your letters and testimonies! I've loved getting to see videos of Hannah and Baby Davey this last week from mom! I hope all is going well and everyone is safe and healthy! Thanks for keeping me updated on what's going on with AJ too. We still pray for him every day.
    Miss you and love you all to the moon and back!
Love,


Sister Lenise Diane Volmer