Parade beauty!

8-4-14

Dearest Family of mine.

Safety first for the bikers.  I wish I looked that
cute in a helmet.

     Well...not gonna lie. This week was super slow and we didn't get the chance to teach very much. But it was still a mega fun week! We had the opportunity to do a lot of service and interact with a bunch of people.
    Monday last week...was boring....Tuesday too was pretty basic....except Tuesday we went to a relief society activity that was a music night and we got to listen to this awesome cellist and violinist! It was amazing! 
     Wednesday was a bumb day...everyone and their dog canceled on us...and it was hard to go out finding or contacting because we ran out of miles on our car and our area is sooooooo big it's almost impossible to walk around and do it...But Wednesday night we had a ward activity bike ride planned out in Neola, so we borrowed some bikes from the Felkins. Before we went to the ward activity, I ate at a members house who recently moved from Salt Lake and who had parents who lived down there...so she started talking about how the Elders were always over at her parents’ house and she started talking about their favorite Elder, named Elder York who was from Washington too....and I was like "Wait a second! Elder York? As in Elder Spencer York???" And She was like "Yes! Do you know him?" And I was like "Do I know him!!!? Of course! My dad was his bishop when he left! And my little sister spoke at his baptism!!!" it was really funny! The Mormon world is a very small world! She had a lot of funny stories to tell me about him and how his mission has been going. :)
      After dinner the family drove us and our bikes to Neola, and from the Neola chapel they drove us 13 miles up the Uintah Canyon on the Reservation. Over in the Canyon it was pouring rain, so as we started our bike ride we were soaked within a minute or two! It was mostly a downhill bike ride (except for one steep up-hill....ugh....) and it was super fun! It was gorgeous and as the clouds broke open a rainbow showed up. It took us about a half hour-45 min to make it back to the Neola chapel and it was super fun and pretty!...but can I just say that I was still really really wet. There was food served after and we got the chance to interact with a few less actives, which was great! After we had to rush off to get to our coordination meeting on time, and we didn't have time to change so we showed up really wet and got the stake office chairs really wet as well....our high councilman over missionary work said not to worry about it and that it would dry by Sunday... haha
     Thursday was the first official day of UBIC (also known as Uintah Basin in Celebration) It's this three daylong event to celebrate the settling of the Uintah Basin. There is an art show and sports competitions, booths set up, crafts, entertainment, talent shows, concerts, food, and just a whole bunch of random stuff and everybody gathers in Constitution park which is right next to our Stake's stake center (which was hosting the art show)  Thursday night we met with the Clegg boys again and talked about the importance of prayer. I think it was the most involved lesson we've had because after talking about prayer we went into their drive way and cracked out the paint and made prayer rocks with the little boys. They are the cutest!
     Friday was crazy. We had DTM in the morning and then from 11-3 we had service at UBIC helping out with the kids crafts. All the missionaries in the surrounding areas came together to help out and it was crazy! We were helping them make hats and dream catchers and kites and cement slabs with marbles in them and face painting and planting seeds.

Riding in style for the parade!

     Saturday was a crazy fun day... Saturday morning was the UBIC parade which us missionaries signed up for and the Sister missionaries got to ride in the parade on 1960's mustang convertibles! The elders had to walk....sadly. But they had fun too! We had a lot of fun waving at all the people we knew and meeting new people as well! I did get kind of sunburned...but not too bad... I knew I'd someday have a legit farmers tan...Today is that day....
     After we went straight to service again at the craft pavilion and Saturday I painted faces. The kids were super cute and pretty soon all the Hispanic elders gravitated over and wanted me to paint mustaches on them...and then they painted one on me.... I should have gotten a picture! One of them has it on their phone so maybe I'll steal it from him and get them! It was really funny! We had to help clean up after which took an extra hour and we were all starving by the time it was over.    Sunday was long and we went to three different sacrament meetings! We had a less active family make it to church who we had been trying to get to come to church for MONTHS! I was sooooo excited! 

Dumping out old bag!

Loving the new bag - Thanks for
doing the shopping Sharee!

     Also this morning I got my new bag in the mail!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! It is perfect!!!! Sis McMurray kept laughing at me when I put my stuff in it and tried it out because I kept saying "WOW! It's soooo light!!!! Wow!!! My shoulder doesn't hurt at all!!!!" SO THANK YOU! It was perfect.
          When I say the words "I know the church is true. I know that Christ is our Savior and We have a Heavenly Father." I don't take those words lightly, so you need to be aware that there is heavy weight behind them. 
     I love you all and hope that you have a blast at the coast again this week! Keep it touch!!!! MISS YOU! Love you to the moon and back!
Love,
Sister Lenise Diane Volmer