Panama by way of Colorado. Hermana Bledsoes mission

 

If you've put up with my emails all this time, I'm incredibly proud because sometimes I look back and think... Wow. I said that?  But anyway, this is the last one! I fly home on Friday! So thanks for putting up with me, supporting me, reading all my lame emails..... I really appreciate it.  The past couple weeks have been nothing but busy, and I'm grateful for that lol. We got to visit the Colorado National Monument last pday, if you've never been I highly recommend it. It's very very pretty and also serves as a fantastic reminder of God's hand and how much power He has if He was able to make something as huge and as beautiful as that. I'd been before, but it was my companions first time and I wish you all could have seen her reactions! (she's from Maryland) We did lots of work on Facebook this week, we tried to get thrown into Facebook jail (when you send too many friend requests/messages so they lock you out for a day or two). Despite sending nearly 10...

I probably had the most spiritually enlightening week I've ever had in my life besides the time I went to EFY, but even that kinda pales in comparison. On Thursday we hopped onto a bus and drove 8 hours to Denver. Stayed with missionaries there and had a devotional with the mission Friday night. Seeing around 200 missionaries together in the same room was pretty incredible. Singing with them was even more so. Saturday we had a devotional with Elder Holland, elder Nielsen, sister Craven and Bishop Budge. I don't think I can properly put into words how amazing it was. Life-changing, is probably how I would describe it. Elder Nielsen told us that President Ballard had recommended that elder Holland not come to Denver because of his health. And he replied with "no, we're going." it was his first trip since before covid and he had a LOT to say. Here's some highlights: -"serving a mission is the most important thing you will ever do. The most important thing in...

Forgot to hit send on my email last week. Here it is: I'm officially in my last transfer as a missionary! So, to keep me from slacking off, they gave me a brand new missionary as my companion. It's been an insane couple of days, but seriously I wouldn't even guess that Sister Fa was a new missionary. She just jumps right in before I even explain what we're doing! She's awesome. It was after 9pm, so we were done for the day and she exclaims: "I'm just going to send ONE more message!" so I'm loving her enthusiasm for the work.  We're finally allowed to go out street contacting! We've been talking to people at the park and it's been SO fun. Naturally the very first person we talked to was a member.... Hahaha.  And last night we had a lesson with a lady we're teaching and her neighbor was over... And she was very very drunk. It was hilarious.  Funny story: a member came over and brought Sister Fa some cookies because she heard somewhere...

I finally took pictures this week so I have something to show you guys!  This week was insane and probably one of the best weeks of my mission so far. Here are some highlights: -It POURED rain out of nowhere (gotta love monsoon season I guess) lots of lightning too  -We pulled weeds and it was super muddy hahaa - Someone had QUAIL and gave us some pickled quail eggs and also a FAT zucchini. (we made muffins using the zucchini)  - There was a church building in Fruita (nearby city) that was burned down a couple months ago (arsen) and they just announced last night that the church was just going to bulldoze the property and not rebuild it for a couple years.... That was sad news but its okay.  And my FAVORITE part of this week was teaching Neena. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and she was just in awe. We asked if she believed it, and she said she did so we invited her to be baptized. She picked her own date (August 15th) and she was so excited ...

Good news everyone, it has been above 100 all week and I haven't died yet. That wouldn't be saying much, if we had air conditioning.... Our apartment is currently 87 degrees and it's totally awesome. On the bright side, we had a tri-stake fast for rain yesterday. So we'll be getting rain here pretty soon:)  Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you all did something exciting, we as missionaries just read about Captain Moroni and his awesome feats in protecting the liberty of HIS people... And just how this land was chosen to always be a land of freedom. Captain Moroni is one of my favorite heroes of all time. Just to reiterate what kind of person he was, I give you Alma 48:17- "If all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men."  I think that speaks for itself. No commentary necessary.  Anyway, I hope you ar...

This week was crazy long. but today I just want to tell you about some bees I don't like bees. They are loud and they sting and we eat their vomit.... Nasty. They are just not my favorite bug at all.  Someone in our ward is a beekeeper. He was showing all the 8-11 year old girls how the honey was made, and we were invited (because inwardly, we are 8 years old). He showed us the bee boxes, and explained how they worked. A couple things I learned: All the bees you see are female. The male bees rarely leave the hive Male bees don't have stingers. They have about a 5 mile radius Every batch of honey tastes a little different, depending on the flowers they visited And many other random facts. And you know what? The more I learned about those bees, the less I hated them. At the end, a bee just about flew into my face, but I hardly flinched. They were just happy, little innocent insects minding their own business, working their little butts off and making that honey for us to enjoy. M...

Happy Memorial day!  The past couple weeks have been absolutely crazy and I just sure do love being a missionary. My days are full of service, studies and Facebook! Little did I know that when I came on my mission I would spend more time on social media than I did before my mission hahaaa. But it's just so cool that missionary work is still missionary work, even if it looks a little different than it used to. I hope you all are doing something exciting today for the holiday! Or you can be like me and be sick and miss the ward breakfast😢 but I got myself a patriotic scrunchie so that made me feel better. Sorry it's a short one, but please enjoy my picture 1) my artistic side emerging 2) me and my awesome companion 3) I make the best crepes  

That's just part of missionary life. It's really exciting. Grand junction is pretty awesome. It's a lot hotter than the Denver side, but I'm okay with that. I'm also really close to Utah hahaaa. My new companion, Sister Staples, is AMAZING, I absolutely love the area and the members. We also just got new carpet and floors in the apartment, so it's real nice.  Here's my new address if you want to send me a half birthday card or something 1418 Cedar Ave  apt B1 Grand Junction, CO 81501 Love you all, stay out of trouble and remember to say your prayers!  

We had a lesson with James last tuesday. He's a recent convert to the gospel, and has SUCH a powerful testimony. He was out of town the weekend before, because he had flown to Maryland to get his motorcycle and ride it home. Here's what happened (and I'm paraphrasing quite a bit) "I woke up Saturday morning with food poisoning. I don't usually eat a lot when I'm on the road, the only thing I'd had the night before was a little deli sandwich, but it did a number on me. I felt horrible. But I wanted to be home by Monday night, so I sucked it up, got back on my bike and kept going anyway. It was bad. Like, puking off the side of my bike, bad. I felt miserable. I stopped at a motel pretty early in the afternoon to rest as much as I could. I took a nap, got up and walked around the motel, and met this guy named Paul. He was pretty cool. We talked a bit, he was there because he hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before and had a long drive to make. After a ...

It was Sunday morning, and we were at church. We were singing the opening hymn: a poor wayfaring man of grief. It was such a beautiful hymn! The words just about brought me to tears as we sang. It was such a good message! The song ends, and I continue to dwell on those words. I wanted to study them, they were just so-- My companion nudged me. "Prayer!!" She hissed. I looked up at the podium. No one was there. Then I realized what she meant. I jumped up and practically ran to the podium. I totally forgot I had been asked to give the opening prayer. Thank you Sister Canepari, for saving my skin.  You're getting this lovely email on a Tuesday because we had zone conference yesterday (Just a big missionary meeting.) It was pretty awesome.  It also snowed again... I keep waiting for summer and it still isn't here. California friends, please enjoy the sunshine for me.  Sorry, no pictures this week. Just a bunch of boring words. But not all words are boring, here's a fun...

Greetings, my amigos What a week it has been. When I say it was full of miracles.... I really mean it was full of miracles.  I'll tell you just one of them. On Saturday I was on exchanges with the YSA sisters (so we swapped companions for the day-- I went to Columbine, and one of the sisters came here). We had a lesson with someone they were teaching named Eli. We called someone to join our lesson(Skye) and we arrived at his apartment right on time.... but he wasn't home. All 3 of us felt very strongly that this lesson needed to happen. So we waited. About 20 minutes later we get a text from him saying he'd been in a car accident (he was okay though) and that it would be a while before he got home.  And still, we decided to wait. For one reason or another, this lesson needed to happen.  In the meantime, we talked with Skye. Her story was INCREDIBLE. She's 28 and preparing to serve a mission. Her testimony was literally the strongest I've ever heard.  So FINALLY Eli ...

  Well I got the dreaded call of a reassigned missionary last week-- I'm staying in Colorado for the rest of my mission since I only have six months left. So I won't be going to Panama like I had planned, but that's okay!! The Lord needs me here, for some reason.  In other news, I'm in a trio now! The more the merrier, right? Sister Canepari is our new companion, and she's awesome. It's going to be a good transfer.  On a more spiritual note-- I hope you are all ready for General Conference this weekend! "What is general conference?" Some of you may ask. Well my dear friends, general conference is a time when we get to hear a loving prophet address the church. He and the apostles give us counsel and direction for the upcoming days. Watch it, and take notes!! I promise you'll hear something you need.  I love you ALL and feel free to send me updates about your lives as well! I like reading them. Here's a picture of our threesome!

She will want to shovel ALL the snow. And then she will be sore, because of her weak California arms that have never picked up a snow shovel before. That's about the only update I have. It snowed a lot. But now the sky is blue and its already melting. Who voluntarily lives with this kind of weather? I think I prefer the sunshine. The snow is only fun on the first day. 2 Nephi 2:24 - But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. This scripture is starting to mean a lot to me. I always knew that everything happens for a reason, and this just proves it. God's in charge, not us.  Love you all! Enjoy my snow pictures.  

Helloooo everyone! Hope you are all staying nice and warm wherever you are lol Nothing exciting has been happening, except snow. I sure do love the snow. But other than that, just your everyday missionary work. How are all of you doing? Send me an email and let me know! I like hearing from you.  Sorry it's a short one. Love and miss you all!! Sister Bledsoe Enjoy these pictures of my district.