It snowed this week!!

Check it out!!! It snowed this week!! (: This is just outside the of our house.

This is a picture of me and my beautiful companeras and we are just eating at the Stricklands who by the way are like the most christlike people in the world. (: They do come in second to my mommy though(: 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Como estan??  I hope you actually get this letter before or on Thanksgiving. (: I realized today that I seriously have been out here so long and usually it doesn't even seem like it. The past 8 months have seriously flown by! It's the craziest thing to me. I guess I feel like when I get home I am just going to go back and everyone is going to be the same but obviously that's not going to happen. haha   I forget you all are learning and growing too!

So guess what?? As you know, I'm training again!! I got my new Hermanita on Wednesday strait off the airplane although it definitely does not seem like it. Her name is Olivia Winters and she is from South Jordan too.Yep, we know each other. We went to Middle school and at Bingham HS I knew her. Sweet huh?  She is a very nice girl and I am very grateful to be serving with her. What's even luckier is that I get to stay with Hermana Horrocks but I think I already told you that.

Not really anything too exciting happened this week... Oh wait! It did! We got a baptismal commitment out of Bree for Dec. 14th and the coolest part is that date is her birthday! She is really excited but she has a lot of opposition from her family so if ya'll could pray for her to receive an answer, that would be wonderful. Gracias!!

Oh and I would just like to make it known how grateful I am to be somewhat fortunate enough to be a member of the church. There are so may people that don't have it and my heart just hurts for them. Seriously, how lucky are we to have the knowledge we have! Anyways love you!! Have a great week!

Hermana Bateson

going to be training... again

So this week came and went by super fast. As usual. Something amazing happened to me this week. So Wednesday is transfers so we got the transfers call on Saturday while we were doing some service and first we found out that I was going to be training... again. So I just assumed that they were going to take away Hermana Horrocks but then we kept listening and turns out that we are going to train together! I am so excited(:   That means I get a whole six more weeks with  her! I am just super excited about that because we have the best times ever together. I am so grateful. Also, that does mean we have to train which is always such a learning experience because these Hermanas are coming from Mexico MTC now and I love to hear all about that. I hope she is cool. That's all I have to say about that.

My companion is helping to stop me biting my nails and you would be so proud to see how long my nails are now! Also, today we went and got our nails done and the little Asain lady that did my nails took one look and was like, "you bite! You stop bite!" haha it was so funny!

Oh my goodness I have to tell you about the spiritual experience I had today. So our appointment that we had at 8 cancelled because she was sick. So we went to go see this familia that we sorta lost faith in because they weren't progressing or anything so we decided to stop by and it ended up being a total bomb. I have learned to love feeling the spirit work through me. I love sharing my testimony. I am so grateful to be a member in the church. What a privilege and honor it is to be a missionary.

How are you all?? I hope everyone is doing well. I am looking forward to Christmas (: 
Hermana Bateson

2 letters this time

One day, we were driving around trying to contact these people and we found them but they were still at work so we started tracting on this beautiful mountain until they got home and I turned around and saw this... que bonito!(:

This picture is absolutely terrible of me but it's a good one of the district and our Zone Leaders! love them!(:

I know I have been slacking but... I finally got the fish mailbox(:

(oh and in case you were wondering... it was FREEZING that day!

4 de Noviembre

Hello, Everyone, How is everyone doing? I have sure missed Utah lately although I have heard some rumors that it's snowing so maybe I don't miss it that much. haha

Okay two quick thoughts before I forget:
1) I am grateful to mi madre this week because she raised me to be a hard worker. Even when it's hard and you don't want to. I am so lucky  to have the work ethic I have because that truly is what these people out here are missing. I have been thinking so much about that lately. I'm so lucky to have such a good mommy.
2) I love learning. I seriously do. It's my new favorite. I can't believe that it took serving a year and a half in Tennessee to realize that. haha

So this week was Halloween! We had a super fun "Trunk or Treat" out at the church on Wednesday with the ward. I was able to better get to know a lot more people in the branch and me and Hermana bought the same cardigan and dressed up as twins!

Sooo on Sunday I had a bit of an experience. I went to Relief Society and was chosen to be the translator. yayyyy..not.  haha Let's be honest right now, my Spanish is not that good and so I ended up translating Sociedad de Socorro for some Spanish sisters and after I asked them if they could understand and they said "un poco" which means "a little" so basically I need  to step it up and all that I could do was laugh because I honestly and truly did my best. haha slap in the face haha. It is hard when you seriously have no Spanish investigators or anything. Pray for my Spanish It needs some work. haha

Alrighty, well shout out to the Young Women for sending me that adorable package and all the quotes. I love ya'll remember who you are and stay beautiful!!

Love you all!!!

Hermana Bateson


11-13-13

This week was super fun. And by fun, I mean productive. haha Monday was super awesome because my beautiful companera and I got new coats at Banana Republic so now not only do we have the truth... we also look great sharing it(: Thanks Mom! haha Tuesday we spend our time in the mountains... it was beautiful. I think I sent a picture but I swear it is fifty thousand times better in real life! (: Wednesday... I spend yet another day in Knoxville with the Sister Training Leaders for exchanges. I learned muchisimo!(: Knoxville is so boring though. I am totally converted to serving in the country. And by country I mean Tennessee middle of nowhere country where the houses are ten miles apart and the walking up the driveway could easily be taken as scaling a mountain. haha

Guess what?? I played the piano at District meeting!! (: Yayy! It was so exciting, I'm not kidding, I thought I was the coolest. (: I played "We thank thee O God For a Prophet" and "Love One Another" Of course they were in the easy hymn book but still... I played and people sang to it. Goal? Accomplished.

Also, there is this super awesome family in the ward named the Boles and let me tell you... if anyone does member missionary work, it's them. We found a solid investigator through them. Member missionary work. Do it. I mean, this is the work of the Lord guys. How can you not want to be a part of it?? It makes me soo happy(: (:

Um... I think that is all for now. I absolutely am so happy here. No doubt, its the hardest thing of my life but I can't think of anything more rewarding... literally I have tried and there is nothing. haha  I love being a missionary and I love learning and I love the gospel and I love YOU!(:

Hermana Bateson

I'm doing great in Sevierville!

Me by the sign again

Ahhhh Tennessee

Mi companera y yo con masks(:

Mi companera y yo with our mustache pens we found at The Cracker Barrel(:

The leaves are be-a-u-tiful here in Tennessee right now(: Here is a sample

For some reason, we were practicing our sad faces in the car one day so... enjoy. hah

It's so weird because it seems like each day in the mission is like a freakin marathon but somehow, P day comes around sooo fast! It's crazy! But anyways... how are y'all? 

I  am doing great here in Sevierville. It's a great place for me to be. I feel very lucky to be serving aqui. My district is super awesome - all Spanish speakers and I love that. Plus there are actually people in the ward that are Spanish ( or Natives... whatever you call them) and so I love it. 

This week has been awesome. Mi companera is a boss at the piano so thanks to her and my "Hymns made easy " book, I have agreed to play the piano at District Meeting on Friday. I'm super nervous, but I think it will be good for me to get some time in playing with actual people singing along.

 Also, I had to give a talk yesterday in church and it was super awesome because I really didn't have to prepare all that much and I wasn't even nerviosa or anything! I'm thinking that it has to be like a missionary thing because it was always super scary to give talks back home but now, it's just sorta like teaching a lesson or something.

So you guts, the best thing ever happened this week. We were able to teach this girl named Courtni and she gets the Gospel.  Por ejemplo, so we taught the whole restauracion up to Jose Smith and we said that God and Jesus Christ appeared to him ( which to us Mormons that seems like no big deal, right??) Well, it is. She said, "What??? There is God and there is Jesus?" and we were like, "yeah, isn't that amazing?" And she literally sat back and said, "I have always believed that. It just makes sense." It was amazing. (:

Also, I know the priesthood is real. So, the Elders had a baptism on Saturday and she wanted to be confirmed at her baptism which usually doesn't happen but anyways... so Elder Peterson confirmed her and immediately when he put his hands on her head, I just knew, in my heart that it was real  and to sorta tell you why that was so profound, earlier this week we had been totally bible-bashing, like hardcore with this gut who was about to go to "Bible school" -about the priesthood and weird stuff like that. So anyways, that confirmation was just a witness that it is true.

I love the gospel, I love the church, I am just so happy to be a Mormon. We are so Blessed.

Anyways, so this week I got a "compliment" from one of the Elders. I couldn't actually decide if he was trying to be nice or calling me stupid in a nice way. Anyways, he said I acted exactly like Buddy the Elf. I thought about that for awhile and decided to take it as a compliment because seriously... who doesn't like Buddy the Elf??? Am I right or am I right? 

Anyways, okay I love you all! Sorry to ramble. haha   Hermana Bateson

The first cold day

Mi companera y yo. (: 

This was the first cold day and so we had to take a picture of us all bundled up and FREEZING! haha (:

Isn't this the cutest sign?? 

I think so too(:

Okay so how are you all doing?? This week was one of my most interesting yet. So it started out like any other week. P-day was super fun. We went up to Pigeon Forge and played tennis with the Elders. I figured out that I'm glad that I i didn't try to play sports ever in my life because no matter who I play with ..... we LOSE! I'm serious. It's un poco depressing.

Tuesday, we went to Bonnie's house for like seven hours and made pies and oh my gosh... my baking skills are like a TON better than my sports skills. I learned how to make pie crusts! It's sooo fun (: I will teach you all how to do it as soon as I return.

Wednesday we went to this funeral and I'm pretty sure that it was my first funeral so.. yeah!    Plan of Salvation = real.

Thursday we went all the way up to Gatlinberg for this meal appointment. It was Beautiful!!! It actually reminded me of Utah  a little bit with the "mountains" (more like big hills if you ask me) and the leaves are all changing and just, WOW.

Saturday we committed our new investigator Evan to be baptized! Yay! La obra  misional!! So it was only a monumental experience because Hermana Horrocks  hasn't had that experience yet on her mission so it was really good for her to see Missionary work change someones life. I seriously  do have la mejor companera. I am so lucky to be with her.

Friday (sorry backtracking) we had la cena con esta familia en Espanol y apparently not only do they correct my Spanish but this guy was correcting my English too!! haha Oh and Mom, they were from Argentina!(: 

Monday (ayer), Elder Corbridge came to speak to us. He is such ans amazing man and he taught us about teaching the most important thing. Guess what it is? The Gospel. El evangelio is singlehandidly (haha -note her spelling) the most important thing because only through it can we receive a remission of our sins. Amazing!!! Well  I am out of time(:  Les quiero

P.S. Go read the talk "the Way" by Elder Corbridge from Conference.

Tidbits from online chatting with Brooke

I know this looks super lame, but it really isn't! This is a picture of "sapo the gato" We found him tracting. This guy was standing outside of his house and we started talking to him and 5 minutes later I walked away with this toilet paper holder shaped like a cat! (: haha

I didn't write you yesterday because we had a General Authority come to our mission so our Pday is today instead! (: The one that came was Elder Corbridge, he actually spoke in General Conference. You should read his talk. It was really great. But yeah, he came to our mission and it was such a good meeting. Sorry about my letter last week. I was so busy with transfers and all that I didn't get it in the mail until the next Saturday! hah Lo siento!(: 

Did that guy give you his toilet paper holder?

hahahahahahah No. He made a ton of them and just gave one to us because he was moving. hahahah 

No pictures of you this week?  

 I didn't take any. It was a busy week. Im really trying to get this area going hahah It's been slooooww here for a while but I am trying to get some work going. 
  

Only 10 1/2 more months! 

I'm proud of myself too because I haven't even gotten fat yet and that is a surprise because they feed us soooo much! haha

What do you do for exercise? During your exercise time?

Yeah I get up early so I have enough time to workout good. haha And I do like intervals with jogging, sprinting, and like resistance training such as pushups and planks and stuff. 

Does your companion do it too?

 She doesn't like getting up early but she goes out there with me and does some jogging and walking usually. 
  
Emily mentions she runs out of money for food. How are you doing?

 Sometimes I do but that's because I buy a lot of other stuff too. I don't just buy food usually. I'm doing pretty good right now I think. 

But anyways... I have to go now. My time is almost up. Love you Mom! (: 

Tenga una buena semana(:

1st transfer

This is my old bedroom! hah Mine is the bed with the black flowers(:

Is this dog not the cutest dog everrrr? I love him. His name is Winston(:

I know this looks weird of me but I just want everyone to know that sister missionaries in the South have thee cutest bikes ever! (:

Downtown Loudon(: Voy a extranar a Loudon!

Best sign ever! I finally took a picture of it like the day I left Loudon. The Elders made this sign like 4 or 5 months ago and I loved it so much I had to get a picture!

The other side of it. (:

This is the old study room down in my beloved Loudon!

1st letter this week: 

Hola, Another week! Holey Moley! I am really so confused on how it is already October, but whatevs I guess. Does time go by this fast in real life? Just wondering because it's starting to scare me. haha

Well conference was this week and wow. It gets better and better every time I watch it. We are so blessed. Want to know what my thoughts were the whole time?? Well... to sorta preface my thoughts... they kinda go along with Uchtdorfs talk and this guys conversion story I heard. He said, " I don't want to be a Mormon" 
Wake up call everyone- living the gospel is hard and most people aren't willing to it. Also, people (at least in the South) go to church and listen to their Preacher tell them that we are a cult and to stay away from us. Why would you want to walk around with the churches name taped to your chest or even have the courage to express membership?? he said, "I don't want to be a Mormon... but why are we?? Because it's true."
Hello! It really is true. The blessings are really and truly there. It's amazing. I am so grateful to be part of this church. How blessed we are to have a prophet- the mouthpiece of God.

Also, Sunday morning we were driving over to the Elder's casa to pick them up for Conference and every single church that we passed (besides the Seventh-day Adventists haha) had full parking lots and we pulled up to the parking lot to our little humble  church and we were the only car there. If those Baptists, Methodists, etc, only knew that THE prophet of God was speaking they would do anything to go there. Truly, how great is our work. Bringing them to the truth. Anyways, sorry for that missionary soapbox. Sometimes I can't help myself. haha 
LOVED CONFERENCE! 

P.S. The Lord has truly tested my patience this week, There is this Elder where I am serving with a lot of "different" philosophies about missionary work and the rules and stuff. Let me tell you... I have only raised my voice once and I am proud of myself (: haha

P.S.S. Big News! I almost forgot to tell you! GUESS WHAT??? I am getting transferred for my very first time. I am so sad to leave Loudon but I completely trust that it is what the Lord wants. I am very scared though. I feel like I'm going to a brand new mission or something. Estoy nerviosa :/

2nd letter: October 14th

Well this week has been very different for me. I actually got transferred for my very first time! It was so crazy, I'm telling you. So now guess where I am?? Sevierville! It's super loco. 
My new companion is freakin awesome too (: I love her and her name is Hermana Horrocks. She is from Bountiful, Utah and I just don't even know what to say... oh yeah. She is one of those "sporty girls" haha. She is super good at sports.

So we live with these miembras called the House's and that is pretty different. The house we live in is an old farm house built in the 1800's and so its super like "southern slave" material. It's crazy. And awesome. 

It's really weird because right now in the area we didn't have any investigators. Like none. So I am working super hard just to find new investigators... Someone to teach! haha And my comp has been here for 12 weeks and hasn't exactly had any investigators or baptized anyone so we have a lot of work to do. Also, she just got done being trained so I really want to help her to have more faith in the area and la obra misional.

Anyways, I'm really excited to be here.(:  My Spanish has also been improving too because we actually have Spanish members and all of my district is Spanish so it's fun to actually speak Spanish and have people understand me. haha

Tengan una buena semana!! Hermana Bateson