January 20,2014

oh my goodness time is going way to fast! I don't like it....
oh my this past week. I don't even know how to put it into words.
Missions are crazy stressful! and Crazy hard! and so incredibly worth
it. This past week I have been struggling a bit with my emotions and
just feeling overwhelmed with things. It's been hard. But through it
all I have felt an incredible connection to the Holy Ghost. I have had
strong promptings that have led me to know where to go and what to
say. They have led me to know how to handle my current trial. It's
been a testimony trying and a testimony building week!!!

So cool experience time. So on Saturday night we were sitting in our
apartment working on something when all of a sudden I was like. Sister
Haskell we need to go see Harriett Brings. Sister Brings is a less
active woman who we have only actually met one time. But the spirit
told me that was where we needed to go. So we dropped everything and
went to her house. She was home and let us right in. As we talked with
her the spirit was so strong. The entire lesson was so led by the
spirit. later as we talked about it Sister Haskell was like I didn't
even know what I was saying until it came out of my mouth! But
everything she said the spirit testified to me was true and the right
things to say. As we talked with her she really opened up and told us
the reason she left the church and has never come back. But as we sat there the spirit hit me
so strong and told me that she was ready to come back. I know that it
will be an incredibly difficult journey for her but with our Father in
Heaven's help she will be able to do it.

Our other less active Sister Haskell (not my companion :) ) is doing
AMAZING! She came to church last sunday for all 3 hours, then she came
to the relief socitey activity on tuesday night and brought her
non-member daughter. Then Friday she called us to ask about the
baptism on Saturday (the Elder's investigator got baptized. It was
awesome!) and then she came to that and then church again on Sunday
for all 3 hours!!!!!! so basically she is amazing and doing wonderful!
we are super excited for her.

Oh ya we also stayed with the Sister who serve in the Mt. Rushmore
ward for two nights last week. (sister Johnson and Sister Ransom) who
are also our sister training leaders. it was way fun and they are
super awesome sisters. But we do again have hot water so that is
awesome! Super excited for that :) It was nice to be able to take a
shower in my own bathroom again. Yesterday was Sister Ransom and Elder
Salmon (he served in Grand Forks with Sister Ransom and I, He was in
the other ward there and now he is a zone leader here in Rapid) anyway
it was there birthdays yesterday. So last night we went to the
Kearsleys apartment ( they are a senior couple who works in the
mission office) and had cake and ice cream. It was super fun. all the
missionaries who serve here in rapid where there. so 4 sets of elders
and 4 sets of sisters! we took pictures as soon as I get them I will
send them home. Sister Ransom is supposed to send them to me.

 Ok so did you decided if you are going to go to her home coming? I
was going to email her mom with moms info or give mom her mom's email
so you could work it out and figure out where it is and when. But she
is from Orem so it's not too far from home :)

This week has been hard but so worth it. I know that everything will
be okay. Heavenly Father loves us all oh so much!!
That is exciting that you are having the missionaries over for dinner.
be nice to them!!!!! :) and give them rides when they run out of
miles. and feed them yummy food! What's funny is that my Bishop here
in Rapid, his son is serving in the Utah Provo  mission right now. but
I thought our stake was apart of the Lehi mission? is there  Lehi
mission? I could just be going  crazy. It's a very real possibility.
Also I am super excited to hear who our new bishop will be! what is
the name of the new stake president? It will be weird to come home and
report to someone that I don't know. But like you said Mom he has been
called of God and that is what is most important. It's weird that this
all happened while I am out on my mission! speaking of missionaries
does our ward have anyone else who is out right now? (besides me,
Marie, and Ethan.) The ward I serve in here in Rapid has literally
like 8 missionaries right now. it's crazy! plus two more getting read
to leave. But then I guess two of them are about to come home too.

Well I think that is all about my crazy week. I love you all and miss
you all as well! 

I LOVE YOU!!!

Love always, your favorite sister missionary,
Sister Boudreaux

 January 13, 2014

) so like I said this week has been crazy!
but really good too!!! we taught 14 lessons! which is the most lessons
that I have taught since I got here! it also ties the most lessons
that I have taught on my mission. So that was good! we taught 11 less
active lessons this past week which is crazy! but good too! We also
found a new investigator! so that was exciting.

So we found a less active named Sister Haskell ( who is not related to
 my companion) and she came to church yesterday and stayed for all 3
hours! it was amazing! it was the first time she has come to church in
years! so we were super excited. and then Sister Haatija who is our
amazing less active who decided that after years of being away from
the church she needed to give it a second chance, she stayed for all
of church too!! and we had two other less actives come! it was a good
sunday as far as seeing less active members at church. Also because
church was cancelled last week because of the crazy weather we had
testimony meeting yesterday. There are some of the sweetest little
kids in this ward who bear their testimonies! It reminds me of home :)
so great. I really do love this ward.

so I got a letter from Jadyn ( the cute girl from grand forks who is
getting baptized in march) and she told me that she has decided to go
to BYU Provo for school!!!! which is awesome because that means when I
get home next october she will be in her freshman year of college and
I will totally be able to see her!!!! super duper excited for that.
also she and I are both praying that I can get transferred back to
fargo :) (well I am of course praying that the Lord will send me where
ever I am needed but I do add in a side note that if there is anyway
that I could be at her baptism I would really appreciate it :) )

So our district recently has been really struggling. So a few weeks
ago we shared with them how sister haskell and I had developed this
new motto, Pull a Nike and Just do it! so Elder Plitt our district
leader called us wed. morning and asked us if we would be willing to
give a short training to the district about our new motto. We were
like sure! and so we prayed about it and planned it out during our
studies. I was able to share a quote by Elder Holland that Lindsey
sent to me at the start of my mission about how important that it is
that we work hard in our missions,not to baptize everyone but because
it's what is expected of us. That if we don't work as hard as we can
then it will be our fault that these people don't come unto the
gospel. He talks about how you should give everything you have when
you don't think that you can and especially when you don't want to. I
was then able to share the experience that Sister Ransom and I had in
Grand Forks (which was a little bit odd because she is in my
district.) about how we had been working SO incredibly hard and we had
NO ONE to teach. but we just kept going. and sometimes I would think
to myself why? why are we working so hard? what is the point. but we
kept going and eventually the Lord blessed us with Brianna Poppe. I
told them about how I had a moment during Brianna's baptismal service
where I had an overwhelming feeling of joy. a feeling that this was
exactly why we had worked so hard. and I thought to myself that if I
had to do it all again, I would. Because that moment made it all worth
it. We had some other really great thoughts at district meeting and we
all committed to working hard. To pull a Nike and just do it!! and
this past week we hit every single one of the goals we set besides
one! The only thing that we didn't hit was having investigators at
church. We needed one more to show up and we would have hit that goal
too And not only did we hit all the other goals but we exceed every.
single. one. The Lord blesses us when we work hard. :)

We had zone training meeting this past week too and it was so great!
such a powerful meeting. I really enjoyed it! We are lucky here in
Rapid because President and Sister Anderson are able to attend some of
our zone meetings, where in other parts of the mission you only really
see them once every other transfer. in my first 7.5 months as a
missionary I only ever saw my mission president twice. Both times for
zone conferences. Since being here in Rapid I have seen him at least
once a week if not more. anyways back to our meeting. so at the end we
were singing I'll go where you want me to go. and Sister Ransom was
sitting at the front of the room because she had been giving part of
the training as a sister training leader and she just started to cry!
(because she is going home soon) and of course seeing her cry made me
cry. so after the meeting I told her that I loved her! and I told her
that I am the missionary I am today because of her. She grabbed my
hand and said 'I love you Sister Boudreaux'. I just love that girl so
much! I am going to miss her when she goes home. But the good news is
that Orem is not very far away from American Fork!! :) I have also
decided that you should go to her homecoming! so you can meet her :) I
will see what I can do to find out when and where it will be. She goes
home the first week of February. I will keep you updated.

Well I don't think there is anything else to write home about! life is
good! this church is true!! and I love you all with all of my
heart!!!!!!!!

Love always your favorite sister missionary,
Sister Boudreaux

Pictures January

  from last zone conference!

 sister ransom sister gogan and I
Fargo zone reunion! all these missionaries were in the Fargo zone at
the same time right when I came out on my mission

Sister Haskell and I! 

It was FREEZING outside! as in -51 degree's. so of course we took pictures

more fun pictures in the freezing weather!

January 6, 2014

So I am now on the down hill slope and I am not very excited about it.
This past Friday was my 9 month mark! It's all downhill from
here...... :(
On a more uplifting note this past week was good and crazy! So
yesterday and today the weather has been freakishly freezing so they
cancelled church!! at once point yesterday it was -9 or something like
that but with the windchill it was -51!!!! a little bit on the cold
side I would say. but we were allowed to go out and work if we had
appointments which we did have a few so we went to them. We were super
sad though because we had like 4 less actives and an investigator who
told us that they would be at church!!!!! we never have that many
people commit to come to church!! ever!!!!!!! but its okay.... next
week hopefully they will still come.

So our investigator who was going to come to church, her name is
Kristina and she is amazing. I don't know if I have wrote about her.
She read the entire Book of Mormon in two weeks! crazy!!!! but her
husband is Catholic and not super supportive. and she church hopped a
lot growing up so she doesn't want to rush into things right now. We
feel like one day she is just going to tell us that she wants to be
baptized. Everything we have taught her so far has made sense to her
and she hasn't had any problems. On Sunday when church was cancelled
we went to see her and taught her the Word of Wisdom and she was like
ya I am already living this. She had no problems with any of it! I
honestly think that if we could get her family on board then she would
totally join the church!!!!

We had an amazing visit this past week with our less active Sister
Haatija. She is amazing. She was born in the church but left when she
was young. One day she was listening to her Mom (who is still active)
talk with her sister (who is less active) about the church and how it
could help her. Sister Haatija decided then that she should give the
church another chance. So she asked her Mom where she could get a Book
of Mormon. Her mom called the mission office, they connected her to
the Elders and about a half hour later they were at Sister Haatija's
apartment giving her a copy of the Book of Mormon. That happened last
September I believe and she has been reading it ever since. This past
Friday she told us she was in 3 Nephi and she is in Section 22 of the
Doctrine and Covenants. She studies the scriptures every night for at
least an hour!!! She quit drinking coffee and has almost quit smoking.
She says the more she reads and learns the less she wants to smoke.
She told us she is so sad that she took someone elses words all those
years ago and never found our for herself. She told us that so many
times in her life she has heard Christ knocking on her door and she
just never let him in, until now. She asked us how someone goes about
sharing their testimony in sacrament meeting. She wants to tell others
her story and tell them that they need to find out for themselves. she
was totally going to bear her testimony yesterday too!! and then
church got cancelled..... but long story short she is amazing and I
love her!!!!!!!! Her son lives in Missiouri and he is not a member and
they have been talking a lot recently and he said that he would like
to learn more so we are going to get the missionaries sent to him!!!
this gospel is just so true!!!!!!

Since it was so cold yesterday we were asked to stay in if we didn't
have appointments so last night frim like 5 to 9 we were in. So we
wrote letters and that got boring so we finally went up and knocked on
the door of the Malik's who we live with and asked what they were
doing. We went up and helped sister malik cook and made bracelets with
her girls. Oh and we tried this experiement where you boil water and
then take it outside and throw it in the air  and it turns straight
into snow! it was crazy!! the things you do when it's cold outside and
you can't go out teaching..... it was fun :)

oh ya this past week was new  years. we went to bed at 10:30 so
nothing really all that exciting... :) it didn't even really feel like
a Holiday. I guess I am just super tired today because I can't think
of what else we did this past week. Time is just going way too fast!
that's is all that I know.

OH so because church was cancelled our ward mission leader invited us
and the Elder's and any less actives or investigators that we had to
come to his house for a testimony meeting. It was so amazing! the
spirit was super strong. We didn't have anyone come but the Elders had
their less active who is returing to activity Thomas and his uncle
Dave who is an investigator and Dave's non-member son come. There was
also Brother Kingrey who just joined the church in May there. and of
course the Beu's and their daughter. It was super awesome. Everyone's
testimonies were just so different yet we all knew the same thing.
That the church was true. Then after that we were able to have some
chili and sit and laugh and talk. It was a good substitute for church
I guess :)

Well I really can't think of anything else to write. Life is good, the
work goes on and the church is true. I LOVE YOU!!!

Love always your favorite Sister Missionary,
Sister Boudreaux

Dec 23

 AHH!!!  I can't believe that I get to talk to you in two days! I am
super duper excited. It didn't really  hit me until church yesterday
and I was sitting there and the thought just like hit me. so ya I am
super excited. oh just heads up we will need to talk real fast on wed
about my scholarship because they sent me the wrong paper work so mom
I will need you to get the right ones sent to me.

So this past week has been a bit crazy. But I feel like I say that
every week now. Rapid is a great place to serve but it is a whole lot
different than Grand Forks! This past week we have been focusing on
working better with our members and it has been going really well. We
have a meal co-ordinator in our ward who makes sure our meal calendar
get's filled and so we have dinner pretty much every night which is a
great opportunity to talk with the members about their missionary
efforts. So far we haven't gotten any referrals for non-members but
they have talked with us a lot about less active memebers we could go
visit. So that has been good. We are also working with the Elders to
get out ward co-ordination meetings with our ward mission leader to
function more effectivly. So that is going well too. We share our ward
with the assistants to the presidents so they are like hardly ever
here they have to travel around the mission so much but it's still
been good. They are some great Elders.

Okay also why did I not get any pictures of the baby????? how is she
doing? how is Bri? I need to know these things!!!!!! I keep telling
everyone I get to be an aunt for the 6th time and I am super excited!
basically I just have the coolest family out there. I talk to people
about you all of the time. People are still amazed to find out that I
am the shortest child in my family of 6. :)

We got to go Christmas carroling last night with the other sisters
from the area. It was super fun. We went to a few less actives houses
and then to some people that we didn't know. The spirit was super
strong when we were singing but oh my goodness was it cold!!!!! It
looks like we will for sure have a while Christmas here!! Christmas
day should be really good too. We are skyping in the morning. (plan
between 10 and 11 I will call mom or dad before hand to let you know I
am ready and to get on.) and then we are having Christmas lunch with a
family and then going to the mission home for a few hours and then we
have less actives to visit too! so we are excited it should be a good
day.

Also another side note we started this healthy living challenge with
the other sisters in our zone (there are 7 sets of sisters and 7 sets
of elders in our zone!!! that is crazy!!!!!! I have never served
around so many sisters before. it's awesome) so anyways all 7 of us
are participating and you get a point for everything you do or don't
do. There are 10 things on the list and you get a point for each one.
One of them is to not eat sweets except on P-day and the Holidays. I
have been doing so good! we also have to eat two servings of fruits
and veggies and I have actually been doing that too. Basically I am
doing great! I am pretty sure I am winning so far. I joked with
everyone and told them that all you needed to do for me to be healthy
is make it a competition! :) but it has made a huge difference. A
while back I really started to focus on working out which I have been
much better at but now adding in the eating right has been awesome.
maybe I will fit in my clothes better again! hahaha

Oh I don't know what else to write about. Things are going good. Life
moves on! the work continues. I love you all oodles and oodles! Thank
you for all the love and support. It really means a lot to me!

Love always your favorite sister missionary,
Sister Boudreaux

oh!!! P.S. I almost forgot something huge! I chopped all my hair off
last week. It's in an a-line and I love it! super easy to do now. you
will see it on wed.! and I can send home pictures next week. ok bye
for reals this time!

Dec. 30

So this past week was really good!!!! I loved it! I didn't really get
homesick at all. My Christmas as  a missionary will be one that I will
never ever forget! Christmas Eve I told you about our experience with
the car in the ditch... but we got it out! and that is the important
part. And we did it without the help of any of the Elders! in fact
they don't even know.... it's a secret! :) we also were able to go
Christmas caroling to a woman in our ward who's son passed away this
past year who was really struggling. She told us we brightened her
whole day! That morning as we studied Sister Haskell and I felt like
there was someone who needed us to see them on Christmas Eve. So we
prayed and Sister Wahlin's name came to mind! So we went. It was a
great experience to know that you are a instrument in the hands of the
Lord to bless His children.

Christmas day was amazing!!!! so after we skyped home we went and had
Christmas lunch with a family in the ward. It was good and we ate some
good food! Then we went to the mission home and got to spend time with
President and Sister Anderson and all the local missionaries. it was
so much fun! We talked and laughed and then they have a ping pong
table in the basement and so we went and played around the world which
is a big group game of ping pong. we were laughing super hard. good
memories :) There are some pretty great missionaries that I get to
serve around here! tons and tons of fun. Then we went to visit a few
less actives and an investigator and share some Christmas messages
with them. (So side note our cars only get a certain amount of miles
each month and we were running low) so we Christmas night we had a
different less active we wanted to see but she wouldn't be home until
around 8. we didn't have the miles to go home for dinner and then come
back up for her lesson so we went searching for somewhere we could
eat. The only place open was IHOP so we stopped to get some food. We
ended up sitting there for almost an hour before our food came so they
gave it to us for free! Crazy Crazy. but we were able to leave a
mormon.org card for our server and the manager actually came out and
talked with us for a bit too. So they were good contacts! Basically
Christmas was crazy busy but tons of fun!!!!

Then in our weekly planning session we talked about how recently we
have been making tons of great plans but we haven't been following
through on all of them. So I was like you you know what we need to
pull a Nike and just do it! :) so that is what we decided to do. We
prayed for courage to open our mouths and then we went to work!! oh my
goodness these past few days have been so good! We were able to
contact a ton of different people, we found some new less actives to
teach, we are working much better with the Elders, and then yesterday
as we were out tracting we found two new investigators! We had the
best week we have had so far this past week and it was amazing.
Yesterday was also Elder Kearsely's birthday one of the senior couple
missionaries who work in the office. and so they had us missionaries
over for lunch at their apartment. I love them! they are amazing.
There have been so many good memories made recently. I just love being
a missionary!!!!!!!!

So today as I got to the library I had an e-mail from Jadyn the cute
girl I was teaching in Grand Forks right before I left. and it made me
cry!! she is just amazing and I am so excited for her! She is set to
get baptized on March 8th!!!! I just love her. I decided that all I
need to do is get transferred to Fargo in march because then I could
get a ride up to Grand Forks! The Poppe's moved down to Fargo just
recently and they would totally take me up there and then I could be
at her baptism :) a girl can hope right..... and pray! :)

so pretty much I love you all and this week has been great. I miss you
but I am so glad that I have this wonderful opportunity to serve the
Lord. He loves us all so very much. He knows our needs and He wants to
bless us. As we strive to follow Him, He blesses us. I love this
message of the restoration. It's true! Every time I study it or teach
it I come to know that more and more. Sister Haskell has a hard time
learning things sometimes so recently I have been helping her to
understand the great apostasy better and as I have focused on
different ways to teach it and help her understand the history behind
it and what happened my testimony of it has increased. This morning
she started to understand how in the dark ages there really wasn't
religious freedom and that church was just the priest telling the
people what to do and that was it. They didn't get to read from the
bible they just heard what the priests told them and had to believe
it. When that clicked in her brain she looked at me and said, "that
just makes me so sad inside" I told her me too, but that is why we are
missionaries. That is why we share this gospel with all of the earth.
So that people can find the truth. That they can know they are
children of God and that He  has a way for them to return home to Him
again. I love the message of the restoration!!! and I know with all of
my hear that it is true.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love always your favorite sister missionary,
Sister Boudreaux