Friday, December 27, 2013

THANK YOU so much for all the Christmas emails!

THANK YOU so much for all the Christmas emails! It was so nice to see that so many people had written me for Christmas. You all are awesome, and I apologize that I don't get to reply to all of you individually today. Our internet is being super sketchy today so it will be a miracle if you even get to see this email.
I don't think there has been a better Christmas than the one I just experienced. It was beautiful. Christmas eve we went outside of the CTM and sung Christmas Hymn in Portuguese. In Brazil they set off fire works for Christmas eve. It was awesome because we had an incredible view from our apartment. The CTM President and his wife came to each one of our apartments and sung Christmas carols and gave us each little bags full of chocolates.
Christmas was so much fun. We were blessed to have a devotional given by the area president, We sang songs, watched movies, we went out into the streets of Sao Paulo for a little bit and cleaned the streets. SANTA CAME!!! or Papai Noel is what he is called here. He gave all of the Elders a new Tie and All the sisters got Necklaces. The Food wasn't super great. We had Nasty Brazil Pizza for dinner but it was fine because the whole day was focused on Christ and it was awesome :) And after dinner we got to watch the live broadcast of the Provo MTC devotional with Elder Bednar. IT WAS AWESOME. It was the best devotional I have ever watched. He started out the meeting by passing around 200 cell phones and all of the international MTC got a laptop and we got to email or txt questions to him and he answered them. It was so cool. He is definitely one of my favorite Apostles. I am so I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and I hope you all continue to keep the Spirit of Christ with you!
Love you all!
-Sister Roberts

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Feliz Natal!!!

I love you all and I'm sorry that I cant email you all individually. A Miracle has happened in the MTC We have been out of Internet and Phone service for the past 6 days and we didn't think that we would be able to write our family today but some nice man spent the last 14 hours hooking up laptops for us to use today. Unfortunately we only get 10min to email today so I was unable to read every ones emails, and I am not sure that I will get to email again while I am here in the MTC. We were suppose to leave on December 31 but because its New Years we will be leaving on the 2nd of January. I am so excited and nervous to go out into the field. But If you don't get an email from in for a couple of weeks rest assure that I am safe and that I am doing well, I just don't have internet access.
 
I love you all so much. And I am having a wonderful Christmas. I love Christmas. What a wonderful time of year to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I don't have a lot of time left but as my Christmas gift this year I want to share My Testimony with you.
 
I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I know that He is the Savior and Redeemer of the Word. I am so grateful for his Atoning Sacrifice. I cannot even imagine the pain he felt so that I can have eternal life. I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us. and I know that he has a plan for each of us. Sometimes we may not always understand why we have to go through certain trials or live through certain experiences But Heavenly Father can see the big picture and he knows exactly what he is doing. I know that I am suppose to be on a mission. I know that Lord has called me to Brazil for a specific purpose. I am not sure what it yet but I know I am here for a reason. I know that my savior lives and that he is my very best friend.
 
I love you all Merry Christmas!!
 
Love Sister Roberts

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

This week was better

This week was so much better than last week.. well kinda. I got to go to the temple today. The Sao Paulo temple is BEAUTIFUL!! I feel so lucky and so blessed to be able to attend the temple. The weather here is beautiful! Its so nice outside. We get gym time everyday and I play volleyball with all the Elders. We get the same food every other day, so I'm already bored of it. but the good news is that we get to leave the CTM (yes, dad here its called the CTM not the MTC) and walk around the streets of Sao Paulo so we stock up on sweets and other foods to last us through out the week. There are only 54 missionaries here, and only 3 other American Sisters. I didn't realize how incredibly blessed I am to be here. Everyday I wonder "Why did I get my visa when there are so many others waiting for theirs?"
 
We got to watch the Provo MTC devotional from last week given by Elder Cook. It was kinda hard for me to watch because when the Provo MTC Choir sang the camera zoomed in on my old companion Sister Keeler. I miss her so much. I love my companion Sister, O'Brien but this week has been challenging. She came straight from home and was put in a three week district. She doesn't know any Portuguese and she gets discouraged often. Our lessons have been Challenging because I speak for most of them, which I guess is good for me because my language gets better and I have more confidence but its so hard because I see how frustrated she gets and how hard she tries. Unfortunatly starting tomorrow we won't be companions anymore because another American is coming from home so she will move to that district and Sister Thornton will be my new companion.
 
I can't believe that Christmas is in a Week. There isn't snow outside, There isn't a Christmas Tree with presents underneath it, and its 80 degrees outside. But the spirit of Christmas is always here. I love looking outside and seeing Christmas lights hung in aapartment windows ahh its beautiful.
I cannot express to you how beautiful it is here. I am so bummed that I don't get to send you pictures because Brazil is Beautiful! I look out my bedroom Window and I can see the colorful scity of Sao Paulo mixed in with a luscious green Jungle. There are hills and some random mountains in the distance. Ahh its beautiful.
 
Being a missionary is so hard. It is so hard to be with someone 24/7. Learning Portuguese is hard. Being away from the people I love is hard. But it is so worth it. I love going out in the streets and answering peoples questions about the church in my broken portuguese. I love sharing the gospel. I love being a missionary.
Love,
Sister Roberts

Friday, December 13, 2013

AAHHHHHHH!!!!! Im in Brazil!!

I love Brazil! the people here are so nice and so friendly and they are so patient with me. Sao Paulo is beautiful! Honestly I don't think Ive ever been to a place as beautiful as here. I have already fallen in love with this courty and with the people. the CTM is a lot different than the MTC. The teachers hardly speak English. So we Speak Portuguese basically the whole time. I'm a little behind but I'm cating up pretty fast. I can almost understand everything that my teachers tell me so that is exciting. We only get 45min to email instead of an hour, and we are only aloud to take picture on P-day and we can only take them in the CTM and we can't send them home. So You won't be getting any pictures from me for a while. The food here is different.. haha its good and sometimes weird but it doesn't make my stomach sick like the Provo MTC did. There are only about 120 missionaries here so the environment is lot more intimate than Provo. The President and His wife are Super nice! They come and talk to us all the time, I love them. My companion, Sister O'Brien just got here yesterday and she is from Leeds England!! She has the cutest accent. I love her but she is really struggling. She just came from home and doesn't know any Portuguese and she got put in a Four week class. The teachers don't understand here English at all so I have ended up translating for her kinda a lot. I love her, but I really miss my Provo companions.
 
I'm pretty sure that I have experienced every emotion known to man kind in the past three days!
Ive been Excited, Annoyed, frustrated, Happy, Sad, Depressed, Discouraged, Disgusted. Traveling was awful. Oh my gosh I wanted to kill the Elder that ended up traveling with me. He is fresh out of high school and he is the kind of person that acts like he knows everything and that he is always right.  Usually they don't have missionaries sit by each other on the plane, but I got the unfortunate opportunity to sit next to him in the very back row of the plane, flying from Atlanta to Sao Paulo! WORST 9 1\2 Hours of my life! My Portuguese isn't super great but I did have a lot of confidence in the words that I could speak, but every time I tried speaking to the nice Brazilian next to me he was like "Oh my gosh sister Roberts that's not how you say it. Don't you know anything?" I was already kinda stressed out about getting on a plane and flying to another country but he just put me over the top! I didn't sleep at all on the plane and so When I got the CTM I was super tired and I was trying to push all of my luggage up to my floor and some really nice Brazillan Sisters tried helping me but they didn't know English and I couldn't communicate with them I started crying, I cried all day. Wednesday was probably the hardest day of my life, I was stressed out about the language and the culture, and the Elder that I was traveling with was so degrading and I hadn't slept in 38 hours.  It was so hard and I was so discouraged. But its fine because I can do hard things. And being a missionary is the Hardest thing I have ever done. But after a nice hot shower, a good night sleep, and saying many many prayers the past couple of days have been awesome. I love the CTM I love everything about the Brazil. Its beautiful and I am so glad that I am here. I wish I could send you pictures because it is so beautiful. The view from my window is amazing. I love life, I love being a missionary, and I love all of you!
-Sister Roberts

Friday, December 6, 2013

I'm going to Brazil?! What!?!

Oh My GOSH!!!!! I'M GOING TO BRAZIL!!!!!!!  Woot  woot!





Saturday I had a very strong prompting that I needed to start to prepare myself for Brazil. I knew that I was going to get my visa this week. So it wasn't a surprise to me when my class was interrupted Wednesday morning by the nice lady over the intercom asking me to come down to the travel office. My Companion and I were freaking out!  We walked diligently  **cough cough ran** to the Travel office and the lady was like "Are you Sister Roberts? Your Visa has arrived and you will be flying to Brazil Next Tuesday. My companion and I looked at each other and we started jumping up and down and basically had a very un-missionary like moment.




I looked down at my Travel itinerary and at first I saw that I was the "Travel Leader" and I was like thats weird why wouldn't they have an Elder be a leader it must just be Sisters flying down...um no... I am flying BY MYSELF to a country I've never been too, speaking a language that I hardly know!



Basically I am pumped to go to Brazil. But I would be lying to you if I didn't tell you that I am absolutely terrified. I may or may not have had a slight emotional break down that night. At first I was so excited to leave, but then all these thoughts of "you suck at Portuguese" "your companion is going to hate you" "your new district isn't going to accept you" "Everyone else is going to be so much better than you" started coming in to my mind...Freaking Satan... Its all good because I know that Heavenly Father wouldn't have me do anything that I am not capable of.

But I am so sad to leave Provo. I love my district. They are awesome! I am so close to all of the Sisters and the Elders are practically my brothers. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!




We've had such a good time this week. The Portuguese is coming along.. slowly but is coming along. We have a new investigator this week and we committed him to baptism already so we are pretty pumped for that. 

One thing that I learned this week is that my companions and I are completely different people!! We are so different, we have different styles, we like different things, we want to go to different classes and do different things, but when it comes to teaching the gospel we are Always on the SAME page. Every time we prepare a lesson we all feel that we should be teaching the same thing. Its awesome. I love these girls so much! They're awesome missionaries and they have taught me so much in the short time that we have been together. I am going to miss them dearly.

You all are awesome thank you so much for all the Love and support. My Next email will be from Brazil!! 
TCHAU!!

♥ Sister Roberts

 Package from home
My daily schedule



Friday, November 29, 2013

I love the MTC

Oi!
This week has been amazing! A lot of people told me that the first 4 days were going to be super hard and that I would feel like giving up. I don't know what those people were talking about because I just had the best 10 days of my life!! For reals I have been having so much fun.

Yes, Portuguese is hard, it takes all of my focus and concentration. And because I haven't had any Spanish or ANY spoken language background I feel like I have to work twice as hard, as the rest of my district. But rest asure I can speak Portuguese...well kinda.. haha its coming along :)

I am working my butt off!!!  I sit in class, and during meals, and during free time and I practice and practice and I try to make sentences. The gift of tongues is Amazing! On the third day here my companions and I taught a lesson all in Portuguese for 41min!! It was fantastic. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had. Our first investigator fell down a flight of stairs 20min before we were suppose to teach him. So all of the sudden everyone in my district started to freak out cause were were going to teach someone that we hadn't met and someone that we didn't know what their needs were. I was excited cause I was like yeah contacting I've done this before! So my companions and I were like alright lets get in there lets learn about him and then we will teach him! It was awesome after getting to know him I felt impressed that we should teach the Resteration, when I mentioned it my companions looked at me like I was crazy because we didn't know any of those words or phrases but they also felt like we should teach that too. It was so hard!! But with the Lords help we were able to teach! It was awesome.

The MTC is awesome I don't know why I was nervous about coming here, the people are so nice and so kind and aww I love it here. But the Food here is AWFUL!! Oh my gosh its so bad! I get so sick after every meal,but there isn't really any other options so I just suck it up and eat it. Also real bummer the Temple is closed so We don't get to go at all while we are hear so that kinda makes me sad but its cool. We do get to go on temple walks every Sunday so thats kinda nice to leave campus and get some fresh air.






My Companions are Awesome!! Sister Keeler is from Washington DC and she is the only other missionary in my district that is going to Piracicaba with me. She is picking up the language super fast so she helps me out a lot. she is also pretty fluent in Sing language its kinda funny cause if we are in the middle of a lesson and I don't know the word I will subtly sign a word and she will say it out loud. Haha its kinda fun :)

My other Companion is Sister Koford. She is from Missouri. She is one of the most fun loving positive persons I've ever met! She is always making me laug
h and we are constantly having a good time. I love my companions they are great!! We work so hard.

Thanksgiving was awesome. Elder Russel M. Nelson came and talked to us and we got to sing for him (I'm in the MTC Choir). We had thanksgiving dinner and the food was actually pretty okay. It didn't make me sick!! and Afterwards we had a Thanksgiving talent show and it was really entertaining. We did a "Feed my starving children" type service project and it was pretty cool the News came so maybe you could see my on KSL. And then GUESS WHAT!! We got to watch a movie! Ephraim Rescues! I thought it was pretty good, not as good as Seventeen Miracles but still we got to sit there and do nothing but be entertained so it was exciting :)


One of the things that really stuck out to me this week was a statement made from Sunday's devotional "Remeber that you and Christ share the same name badge" I love that bececausde it reminds me that I am representing Him. I am helping others come unto Him. It is so much work, hard work, but there is so better feeling then when your investigator acceps your invitation to baptism.

Eu sei que O envangelho de Jesus Cristo é restaurado. Eu sei que A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Ultimos Dias teve plenitude de verdaderio Envangelho. Em nome de Jesus Cristo, Amém.

Thnks for all the letters and Dear Elders! I really appreciate hearing from all of you. Sorry that I haven't been able to respon yet. Today was my first P-day but I wrote you all letters or emails back so be exicted!!
Love,
Sister Roberts

Friday, November 15, 2013

The Gospel is Simple

Alright, I am FREAKING OUT!! But actually I'm feelin pretty calm but I'm still FREAKING OUT! Basically I'm a hot mess full of different emotions (I'm a girl, what do you expect?)

I've got ONE week!! Actually I've got less than a week!!! I'm getting set a part Monday night then I'll be flying out to Provo (Yeah visa didn't come ): ) Tuesday Morning and then into the MTC Wednesday Afternoon. 

I am Soo EXCITED! I am excited to bring others to Christ. I'm excited to experience a new culture. I'm excited to finally be around people my age and to feel productive and to not feel like the lazy bum I've been for the past three months. I'm excited to finally serve my mission. Fun Fact: I've had to wait almost 5 months since the time I've got my call to enter the MTC, well okay 4 months and 24 days to be exact..thats 137 days of waiting, not like I was counting or anything (;  But I would be lying to you if I told you that there weren't some things that I was nervous about. Those being,
  1. I am Not a fan of cold showers. I know that may sound stupid but really lets be honest I hate them. And they make me sad, and steaming hot showers are one of the few things I look forward to everyday.
  2. I am extremely afraid of gaining weight. And I Do NOT want to gain weight!! But Beans and Rice...ugh not the healthiest diet. (If I come back looking like a fat spotted freak will you still be my friend? Okay great I'm glad we have that settled!)
  3. The only Portuguese I know is "Ola, Somos missionários da Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias (Hello, we are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) And I don't even know if that is right. But if it is I'm super good at saying it. :)
You know if I'm blasted with cold showers for the next 18 months I'll survive, and I'll learn how to take really really fast showers. And If I gain 50lbs then I guess the gym will become my best friend when I get back.. But learning Portuguese, I am extremely terrified. I mean come on I can hardly speak English how am I expected to Learn a language that I've never even heard?

Which brings me to my topic today.. The Gospel is simple. Let me introduce you to someone special.


This is my buddy Robert. He's Deaf. He was baptized about 5 months ago and since I've been home I've interpreted Sacrament meeting and weekly lessons with the Sister Missionaries. After each meeting he always thanks me for teaching him. But the truth is,  He teaches me.

Robert has taught me so many different lessons. But probably the most important one is that the gospel is simple.

Sometime we feel like we need to go into deep doctrine and use big eloquent words to teach the gospel, but with my experience, that is just not the case. I don't know any "big"words in sign language. I would say that my signing is good, but its not great. My vocabulary is very limited. But I have interpreted through every Sacrament meeting and every lesson with out a problem. WHY? Because the Gospel is simple, and the spirit is strong.

I'm reminded time and time again that the Spirit is the teacher not me. It doesn't matter what I say If the spirit isn't there then the lesson is ineffective.

This gives me hope for Brazil. I don't know any Portuguese. But I know that if the spirit is there I can teach the gospel in less than 50 words.

Its going to be good. Everything will be okay :)

♥ Mallory

Saturday, November 9, 2013

My Thanks from A-Z

Haha you will never guess what we celebrated this week. THANKSGIVING!! Haha big surprise I know, first Christmas, now Thanksgiving whats next? I promise we are done with the early holiday celebrations.
We had turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, sweet potatoes, and of course Pie! It was delicious! 

Obviously my family is really good at smiling..Oh well


Unfortunately I think Thanksgiving it an overlooked holiday. Every store I've walked into for the past week has all of their Christmas stuff up. This time of year we get so sidetracked with all of the sales and presents and things we need to buy for Christmas that I don't think we really give Thanksgiving the attention it deserves. Personally, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because I can sit around and be fat all day and NO One can judge me! ;) 
But for reals what a great day to express gratitude for all the many things and blessings we've been given. 

So here are my thanks from A-Z

I am thankful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ

I am thankful for Brothers

I am thankful for Chocolate Covered Vegetables 

I am Thankful for Disney Movies

I am thankful for my Education



I am thankful for Friends

I am thankful for Girls Camp


I am thankful for my Hands and the ability to communicate with them.


I am thankful for Independence

I am thankful for Juice boxes

I am thankful for Kindness

I am thankful for Love

I am thankful for Missionaries. Especially the one giving the thumbs up ;)

I am thankful for Nighttime Shenanigans 

I am thankful for the Outdoors

I am thankful for Parents

I am thankful for Quiet Time to My Self

I am thankful for Roommates

I am thankful for the opportunity to Serve the people of Brazil.


I am thankful for Temples

I am thankful for the US Postal Service

I am thankful for Vacations with my family

I am thankful for Waterfalls

I am especially thankful to those people who subtly tell me to XYZ! 
(Seriously, you guys are the best! Keep up the good work)

My life has been so incredibly blessed. There is SO Much to be thankful for. I hope this Thanksgiving we can all take a step back and show some gratitude for the blessings we have.

Happy Early Thanksgiving!! 

♥ Mallory

Monday, October 28, 2013

Texas Ya'll

So guess where I went this week?? TEXAS!!!
I flew down to Dallas and got to spend some time with my grandparents and extended family. It was awesome. 
I got to hangout with 3 different sets of Aunts and Uncles, carve pumpkins, watch my cousin play volleyball and bond with some of the coolest people I know.

I don't know what my problem is but its seems like I never take pictures when I'm doing cool things. Fortunately I did remember to take a few.

My Grandpa took me up in his plane it was awesome.
 
View of the lake from the cockpit.
 
Granny and I went canoeing. Haha It was entertaining to say the least.
 
Yep I took a selfie and Yes I had to wear a life jacket.

I love me extended family. They're awesome and I'm so grateful that I got to spend some time with them before I leave for Brazil.
 
♥ Mallory

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Merry Fake Christmas!!!

Guess what today is!?! Its CHRISTMAS!!!
Kinda sorta, not really.

I'll be gone the next two Christmases and my brother will likely be gone for the first one when I come home from Brazil because he will be serving his own mission. That means that it will be at least three years till my Whole family will get to spend Christmas together again.

So Today we had Fake CHRISTMAS!! (more like I wanted Christmas and Everyone went along with it... Haha my Family loves me!)

Haha in all Honestly I wanted an excuse to eat Lasagna, watch White Christmas and have Christmas Stories read to me.

Here are a couple pics of our festivities :)

Setting the Table for "Christmas Dinner"


Eating with the Fam.

I love Christmas. I love everything about Christmas. Even though today isn't December 25th and there isn't snow outside and Santa didn't come doesn't mean we can't celebrate CHRISTmas. Christ should always be at the center of our lives.

I invite you to take a moment from whatever you're doing and ponder what Christ's birth means to you. 

 If you need some help you are more than welcome to watch this :)


Merry Christmas Everyone!!
♥ Mallory

Sunday, September 22, 2013

His Timing


One of the biggest lessons that I've learned so far, is that I'm on Gods, timeline not mine.

I like to feel that I'm in control of my life. When I had finally decided that I was going on a mission I had it all planned out that I was going to finish and submit my papers with in two weeks and then I would receive my call two weeks after that with the hopes that I would leave in early September.

Obviously that didn't happen.

From the time that I had decided to go on a mission to the moment I submitted my papers, a little over two months had past.

I've been waiting to leave for Brazil for almost three months and I still have two more months to go.

Waiting is hard.

This past few weeks have been rough.
I don't have a job, I don't have friends, I basically sit around and do nothing. Satan has done an excellent job at making me feel worthless.

I have always had a pretty good self esteem. I've always felt important. I have NEVER struggled with any of that. But lately I've just felt useless, and insignificant.

But as my Primary kids often remind me, I am not that at all. Because I am a Child of God 


I'm not worthless. And obviously as seen from the picture above I'm cute and adorable. But more importantly I have a Purpose.

And so I've tried to keep my self busy, I've been working on craft projects, trying to learn Portuguese, running errands with my mom, preparing for the mission ect.

I don't know why it took me so long to do my papers when others finished theirs in 10 days. I don't know why I'm leaving in November when many others who got their call after me have already left.

But I do know that God has a plan for me. And I feel like I am constantly reminded that His plan for me is so much better than my own. I know that there is a reason why I'm not leaving till November, I'm not sure what it is but I have faith that God knows exactly what he is doing.

I have faith in Him, and Faith in Him, also includes Faith in His timing.

- Mallory ♥





Wednesday, September 11, 2013

"A Song of the Righteous is a Prayer Unto Me"

I'm not going to pretend that I'm a huge music fanatic because I'm not. I don't like sitting there and analyzing every pitch and tempo to every beat I hear. But I do appreciate music. And the past couple of days I've been making a playlist for the mission. 

The guidelines in my Call Packet is this:

"Appropriate music can be a powerful source of inspiration. Missionaries should select music that is consistent with the sacred spirit of their calling. Music should be used to invite the Spirit, provide spiritual motivation, help focus on the work, and direct thoughts and feelings to the Savior. Missionaries should not listen to music that distracts, that merely entertains, that has romantic lyrics or overtones, or that dulls spiritual sensitivity by its temp, beat loudness, lyrics or intensity."

I've done dome real digging and I think I've finally have come up with a (tentative) playlist that I wanna bring. So for those of you that are either curious/interested or are struggling to find "mission appropriate" music this is what I've come up with.

The Lower Lights
I love them! This group may possibly be my favorite. Their hymn arrangements are so unique I feel like they have kinda an indie vibe to them. They're great.
        


Page CXVI
This group also has a very unique approach to the hymns but I love them, they're a little bit more upbeat. They only have a few hymns but they're great.



Vocal Point
This BYU A Capella group just released a CD "Lead Me Thou On" that is filled with hymns. Plus its a bunch of attractive spiritual guys singing haha I don't think it can get much better than that!



RM Sound Track
I don't know if this music is too "up beat" or whatever for the mission but if its allowed I have already decided that this is the music I will be listening to while I'm doing my pinterest workouts every morning!



Rebecca Mohler
She is also a sister missionary serving in Cleveland Ohio and her Music is beautiful. I love her voice because its a little bit softer and its not so "in your face". It makes her really unique.



BYU Mens Chorus
Like I said, it doesn't get much better than listening to Men's voices. But you can download their entire "Set Apart" album for free here.

Errand of Angles Soundtrack
Honestly I think any soundtrack of any of those movies (you know Singles Ward, Mormons and Mobsters ect.) are just fabulous. Some of them have really great hymn arrangements. This song in particular is one of my favorite.



Pleasant Pictures
Their album "Music for My King" Has a ton of revised hymns. When I listen to their music the first word that pops into my head is enchanted. Its got kinda a "mystical" vibe, but I think their music is great.



Youth Music
On the LDS website (lds.org) they have a whole page dedicate to spiritual uplifting youth music. It has a mix of a variety of artist (Hilary Weeks, Jenny Phillips ect.) and the best part, You can download all of the music for FREE. Here is the link

Okay so here's the truth I have no idea what the specific rules are in my mission. Some of my friends are allowed to listen to anything spiritual and Disney Music. On the other hand I have friends that are only allowed to listen to hymns sung by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. So until I find out what exactly I can and can't bring, I will continue to add and search for music that I personally think fits with in the mission guidelines.. but just in case I'll bring my MOTAB Cd :)

If you want to listen to the rest of my missionary playlist here it is

Thursday, September 5, 2013

The Last Hurrah!

You should all be jealous

Because...

 THESE LOVELY LADIES CAME AND VISITED ME THIS WEEK!!!


Yep thats right ladies and gentleman two of my fabulous roomates, Shelby and Morgan, came to the great state of Minnesota. All three of us are under call to serve missions (Shelby's been called to serve in Brazil and Morgan to serve in Kansas) so we decided to have a last Hurrah before we leave.

We all flew into Minneapolis on Monday and it was basically a nonstop party all week!! I've been working and taking classes for the past couple of months and so we pretty much crammed "summer" into this week. Here is my brief pictured filled summary.

Tuesday
We drove up the the Mall of America. We went shopping, spent way too much on make-up (gosh Sephora why do you have to be so dang expensive??), got lunch at my one of my favorite restaurants Bubba Gump, and we may or may not have gone and looked at rings (calm down we're going on missions no one is getting married for at least 2 years)

  Obviously Shelby really enjoyed her sandwich.

In honor of our other roommate Krista who couldn't make it we parked in the Georgia lot.

After hanging out at the Mall of America we decided to be adventurous and drive up to Minneapolis. Alright confession time. I only live like 30min away from the big city but I only ever go up there for the hollidazzle parade, and high school graduation. Basically what I'm trying to say is that I had no idea where we going. but its fine because after aimlessly driving around we spotted the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

The Three of us in front of the Cherry and the Spoon

Morgan being as beautiful as ever

Wednesday 
We went to the STATE FAIR!! I love the state fair. Those of you not from Minnesota have no idea how wonderful the state fair is.We went to the Lumber Jack show, got henna tattoos, ate a bunch of food thats really bad for you, saw a cow being born, and a bunch of other awesome stuff.

Went to the Lumber Jack show


Sitting inside the Luminarium. This may have been the sickest thing I've ever seen.

Shelby Singing at the Giant Sing Along

Look Morgans a Scarecrow!

This, right here, is a little piece of heaven. The state fair has the Best Cheese Curds. 

Thursday
Thursday was more of our "chill day". We slept in till who knows when. But we went canoeing on my friends pond, went for a walk to the lake, and hung out around Lakeville.

Canoeing on the pond!


Friday
My brother works at our amusement park, Valleyfair, and he scored us some free tickets so we spent the whole day at the amusement park. We went to the water park and spent the first hour or so in the lazy river. Haha I'm so glad that I have friends who love to sit there and do nothing but float. It was fun we road roller coasters and screamed our heads off it was great.

My one and only picture of Valleyfair

After we were done riding roller coasters we decided to get food while we waited for my brother to be done with work. So we went to this Chinese place but by the time we got our food the place was closed so we put the seats down in my van and had a party in the back.

Eating take out in the back

Saturday
My family loves to geo cache so naturally when friends come to visit thats what we do. We did a couple of caches and we found most of them. But we did do a small little hike up a hill and at the top it was beautiful.
Lets please excuse my ugly sweaty face. K thanks.

Afterwards we drove to Minnesota's biggest candy store, and Shelby was in heaven.

Shelby found her happiness

We ended the night with dinner at Olive Garden with the Parents. It was delightful.

Sunday
We went to church and taught Primary! We had four little boys in our class and you would think that with the three of us we would have been able to have a nice peaceful lesson.. that was a funny joke. It actually wasn't too bad, and our lesson consisted mostly of playing hangman. They loved it.

That night we had our last and final crepe night. Crepe night is kinda a tradition we do in our apartment. We make a big bowl of batter and the three of us crowd around the stove, each of us getting a burner, and we make crepes.. its great!

  ♥

Monday
We drove Morgan to the airport and she flew back to Salt Lake afterwards Shelby and I decided to drive up to the Science Museum of Minnesota up in St. Paul. It was great because I took my little brother and his friend and because it was labor day they got in free!

Tested blood types in the Cell Lab.
(nice photo bomb Clayton)

Shelby created a Tornado

We built this awesome contraption.

I decided to practice my air bending

We had way too much fun at the science museum. They have alot of really cook things there If you haven't been I totally encourage you to go!

Tuesday
Was our last day together. So what did we do Sleep in! I think we slept in till like 12:30. We spent most of the day relaxing. We didn't do anything too crazy just drive around Lakeville we went our to lunch and got Cold Stone and we spent most of the day talking about life. We did end up going to Perkins at 1:00am though.


They gave me such a huge plate for such a small sandwich.. it was depressing.

And then it was time for Shelby to go home too.

We had the greatest time together, not just this past week but this past year that we've lived together. These girls are amazing! They inspire me. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to them. I was sad to see them leave, but we are all moving on to bigger and better things. They are going to make great missionaries! 

I Love you guys! 

Till We Meet Again!

♥ Mallory