Another fun week:)

From: Kristen Owens
Date: Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 1:02 PM
Subject: Another fun week :)
To: carolyn owens

Hey Family,

First, thanks mom for your letter and all the updates. I am sooo happy that Makena was able to be sealed to our family!!! :) I love her sooooo much! Ah! I am so grateful for the gospel! And Little Madden was blessed :) I can already tell from the pictures that he is going to be a great football player :) We'll call him chunky fudge the second (that's for you mom and dad). And thanks mom for the package and all the goodies (yes my favorite cadbury eggs!) and the pictures! I had to look at them several times--I miss you all so much! It brings me such joy to see you all so happy and blessed! Holy moly! I pray for you every night. Thanks for your great examples.

This past week Lil' Tommy got baptized! He was sooo happy! He had to be immersed 4 times....ha But, it just shows how important the ordinance is to do it exactly right. He claims he was dipped once for every year he could have been baptized before (He's 12). He is the coolest kid. We just love him and are excited for his brother to be baptized this Wednesday. He really is my favorite. His family is awesome and we are so grateful for his example to them all. He is set to receive the Aaronic priesthood next Sunday. The ward was very supportive and the confirmation was great.

Well, let me just say, being in a trio is fun! It's hilarious! We laugh so much every day. Sister Topi and Sister Kekauoha and I are all sooo different, but it is fun to have so many different opinions! Sister K is so much like Britt! I tell her that all the time. She has such a big, bold personality and it is very refreshing to have someone say it how it is! The other night we had a few things fall through and we were getting a little frustrated with our investigators and them not keeping their commitments. Sister K was a little upset so naturally we made her pray :) ha.ha. She said the best prayer I have ever heard. She was so straightforward with Heavenly Father and it was just so great. I just love her. I remember Sister Mansfield saying once that if you are mad you shouldn't wait to pray--pray even when you are angry! :) it works. Sister Topi is so loving and charitable. We are both learning how to show forth more love to those around us. Working in three is much different than two. It's fun though :) wouldn't have it any other way.

We are working with several families and we are really excited for them. Both of the families are from Liberia. They are great individuals with such a strong spiritual side. We are hoping to get them baptized next month. WE BAPTIZE! They are so great.

I am learning more and more how important it is to have our investigators and recent converts be truly converted. They need so much support because the culture is so different. We meet so many less active members that have testimonies but aren't living it. It kills me to see their potential and I know it is killing them to not be living what they know to be true. Please reach out to those who are not active. They need a friend. Just be their friend.

We had a great experience this past week with a less active lady who is in a nursing home with cancer. We decided to stop by and we ended up singing a song "I am a child of God" to her and sharing a brief message about trusting in God. It was such a neat experience. I remember reading in Emily's letter a while back about how she loved the power of music and this experience was a testimony to me of how powerful music really can be. The spirit was sweet. I love the hymns.
We had an okay week. We did have a miracle though. We had prayed with our district leader right before a lesson that we would be able to teach a restoration lesson and invite someone to be baptized that night. We went with our joint teacher and the person wasn't home so we 10x10 the area and ended up meeting a couple, sharing the restoration message briefly with them and inviting them to follow Christ's example. They didn't say yes to the baptismal invite, but they did have a lot of questions about baptism. We are seeing them again tonight. Faith is an interesting thing. It's incredible how much flows from having faith. A mission is definitely a test of faith. Every day! :)

This transfer is pretty exciting. We have some good things going on. It's hard balancing three in a companionship but it's been a great experience. I am excited to see what the rest of the transfer brings. We have made goals: 1-be more focused and consecrated and 2-find, teach, and baptize a family. We are praying really hard. Thanks for all of your prayers, we really need them. I always feel like I am not reaching my potential and that is something I am working on is not letting that get me down.

The weather is great. It's definitely snowy! We were grounded today until 12pm :) This time last year it was 60-70 degrees :) yay.
The work is great, my testimony is growing so much, and the Lord is so willing to forgive. I know the Atonement is real. I know this gospel is for all our brothers and sisters. I know this church is His church. I love you family. Please keep the prayers coming.

Love,
 Sister Owens

Hey

Kristen Owens	Mar 11 (7 days ago)
to me

Dear Family,

This is getting a little depressing, opening my email and finding no letters from anyone. I am going to blame technology for this one, but if it happens again, I'll really start to wonder..."Anyway, Life goes on," as my Sister Topi would say.

So. This week was awesome! We received a third sister straight from the MTC! She was there for 2 weeks and is from California. Her name is Sister Kekauoha. She is hilarious and reminds me of Brittany's personality. She is so much fun and her laugh is great. We just love her. My companions are complete opposites yet we get along pretty well :) It's interesting training two missionaries at once with both of them at different stages, but, it's up to the Lord. So, these sisters are awesome. I really do admire and respect them for who they both are. They bring such different things to the table. I have come to realize I am a controller....ya....I need to relinquish my pride...ha. My goal this week is to rely more fully on my companions and the spirit rather than my own knowledge and skills. It's so much easier to be a missionary when you do that. The ward is getting really sick of me being here...they keep saying, "since your in a threesome, does this mean someone is leaving?" ha I joke with them and say they better get used to me being here because I am not planning on leaving anytime soon :) One of the most rewarding things this week for me was when a member approached us at the baptism this past weekend and said, "I finally had my missionary moment." She invited her neighbor to come and check out the church because they have been looking for churches to go to. Don't worry, I totally high-fived them both for their efforts and they planned on giving them a Book of Mormon to them after church. We will followup today and see how it went :) But, this is after many moments role playing with them and encouraging them and promising them blessings and opportunities to share the gospel and they did it! :) I love it! The members here are incredible. They really are so enthusiastic about the work and they do it so well :) We love them and I really hope I never leave this area. I don't know what I would do at a different place...eek.

Well Lil' Timmy is getting baptized this weekend! He is the cutest and we all feel like he is our little brother. I almost started crying in our lesson (okay, i did cry, but just a little) when we talked about the priesthood and invited him to prepare himself and remain worthy for that special gift. This kid is going to do great things as he prepares to serve a mission as well. His brother is getting baptized the following week. It will bless their family so much as they do that and receive the priesthood. That family needs it :) We love them.

We had some great experiences this week. I invited some Muslims to be baptized after teaching them briefly about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Restoration. they said they would follow him in every other way but not baptism, He is only a prophet to them. It was a rough lesson. but, it was still great to invite them to follow Christ :) sister Topi just laughed at me after and couldn't believe I invited two very very Muslim people to be baptized. hey, that is our purpose right? ha

Funny Stories: One day we were driving in the car and sister topi rolled down the window and yells, "BAAPPPTIIIIZZEE!" in her Albanian accent. We now have a theme for the transfer--"BAAPPPTIIIZZEE!!!" It's our response to everything, we even say it before we go out and work in the morning, or right before a lesson. It's great. I just love her--she is hilarious.

Sister Kekauoha had to explain the word "booger" to Sister Topi. Love those tender moments. This is probably inappropriate to write, but it was funny. She's had to explain a lot of words to Sister Topi...we are now working on not using so much slang in our vocabulary :) It's fun to be with two other companions--adds a lot of dimension :)

Miracles this week: too many to write. President has added a new key indicator: how many restoration lessons with an invitation to be baptized we teach each week. We taught 5 this week and got 7 new investigators :) It's been pretty cool to see how many people are prepared for the gospel, also as we follow President's counsel=miracles. I love inviting people to follow the Savior and receive a remission of sins and receive the Holy Ghost! It's the best.

Well family, I love you, and I am so grateful for you. we were able to find some families this week and it helped me put things into perspective as Shea and Nadine are sealed to Makena for time and all eternity. I love FOREVER FAMILIES! the gospel is true, my heart is so full of joy! I love it! Keep on keeping on! You are my lights and examples. I couldn't do this without you!

Love,
  Sister Owens

No Letter from Mom?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kristen Owens
Date: Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 11:25 AM
Subject: No letter from mom
To: carolyn owens

Dear Family,

Well I want to say thanks Father for writing me a letter :) It was good to hear from you :) Everyone else, you are all condemned. REPENT! I still love you.

Well, this week was pretty great! We had some great experiences. We set a date with one of our investigators (lil' tommy) for March 16th. His brother is getting baptized a week later. They are a great family. We just love them. We met some great people this week. I learned a lot. We met a man who had been taught previously in a different area from Liberia. His name is Tom and he is super solid. Came to church this past Sunday. He loves it. He is totally getting baptized next month. We decided to let the elders teach him and his family. They will do an excellent job. So our ward in March is going to increase A LOT! Between us, the elders, and the senior couple, we have about 7 baptisms planned I believe. Many people are coming unto Christ and it is the best. I love the blessings that come from the temple and living the gospel. I love the gift of the Holy Ghost. In Sunday School we heard an analogy--The Holy Ghost is like the sun. He's in one place, but His presence is felt everywhere :) That is so sweet!

Well this week was full of miracles. We met some wonderful people. We have 5 new investigators this week--craaaaazy. The elders had a baptism this week of a man who has done a complete 180 in his life. He completely turned his life around. He was living with a former mormon and they were planning on getting married. They went to visit her father and this man recognized something different in him. He asked what it was, the father said in two days you will have two missionaries knock on your door and then you will know. One thing led to another and on Friday this couple got married in the church and Saturday they were baptized members and sunday they were confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In a year from now, they will be sealed as a family for time and all eternity. It was incredible to witness the change in these two individuals. The Gospel Blesses Families. This I know and testify. That was pretty much the highlight of the week--a wedding, baptism and confirmation. pretty cool.

The more I am on my mission, the more I want to stay. I love the people here. I am so grateful for the lessons the Lord is allowing me to learn on this training for life. I love the gospel!! Although being a missionary is not easy, the blessings and testimony I am gaining is worth it. As I consider my future family, I will be forever grateful for this chance I have had to serve Him and learn how to become a more Christlike person. It's opened my eyes to what goals I want to accomplish, especially in terms of my family. There is no greater calling than being a missionary.....and then a mom :)

I just want to bear my simple testimony that I know this is the true church. I know Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. His message is one of hope and peace and enables us to improve our lives. I know people matter and we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. Of all the names recorded for Diety, He asks us to refer to him as "Father." I know as we apply Christ's Atonement and teachings, our lives are blessed in every way. I know I can be with my family forever :) I know Joseph Smith did see God the Father and Jesus Christ. I know through him, the Book of Mormon was brought forth and translated by the power of God. I know it is scripture and I know it is true. I know through Joseph Smith, Christ called 12 apostles to establish and maintain His church. I know this church is the Lord's kingdom once again upon the earth preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah. There is no other name given whereby we can gain exaltation than through our Savior Jesus Christ. He has descended below us all and we are not greater than He. We have hope, we have peace, and we have joy because of Him. We are never alone :) I love you family, hope all is well. Send me some fun letters and I will forgive you for the drought. You are great. Thanks for your support and love.

Love,
  Sister Owens

Happy Valentines Day

Date: Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 12:24 PM
Subject: Happy Valentine's Day!



Hey family,

Those pictures are so cute of Lil' one :) I can't wait to meet him. And Other lil' one who should be coming out the womb as we speak! :) Congrats Colton and Megan! So it's Maddox and Madden? that's not confusing..at.all. Hopefully they don't look too similar :) Anyway, I love it. Our family is growing so quickly and time is going by so fast!

So this next month is MINNESOTA MARCH MADNESS! We are really striving to focus our work on our purpose of bringing souls unto Christ through building their faith, helping them repent, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The process is so simple yet so hard sometimes. We had some great experiences this week. President challenged us to invite someone to be baptized each day which means teaching a restoration lesson each day to someone. We had an experience where we met a man and talked with him, he wanted to make some changes, we explained the Book of Mormon and read with him Alma 7:14-15 and invited him to be baptized. We had a lesson with him a few days ago and he is now getting baptized in April. He came to church, enjoyed it and is excited to learn more. We are really excited to teach him. The Lord is seriously so good and provides so many miracles every day. We had other great things happen this week as well. I have truly come to recognize how important this work is. My goal is to be like the sons of Mosiah and tremble at the thought of my brothers and sisters not accepting this message and being baptized as the Savior directs. There are so many people ready to make that change. It saddens me when people are too prideful to obey the spiritual promptings they feel.

We are working on asking inspired questions this week and really focusing on teaching to people's needs--really getting out that concern. Because everyone we are teaching has a reason for meeting with us, they are searching for something. We had a lesson with two of our investigators last week who we have been teaching for a few months. We've taught them pretty much everything, but they are still studying and trying to receive an answer. We finally asked them, why have you been meeting with us. one of the replied, we didn't know we were searching for something. "it started as an act of kindness to let you in from the cold and now we are here." They have begun a journey. We are giving them some time to study it out and really pray on their own for a while, they weren't really committing to anything. But, we have good feelings they will progress because they are reading and praying and trying to find out the answer. one of them takes notes on the gospel principles book and the Book of Mormon as she reads and prays. Very analytical. I still feel like there is more we can do though! We're hoping to get them to the wedding and baptism of a couple in our ward this weekend. The elders have been teaching them and they are amazing! It should be really great. But, the whole asking inspired questions is amazing! These people matter and they are searching for something they sometimes didn't know was there. We all want greater peace and joy in our life and what we have is what they need. The Atonement is real. The Plan of Salvation is true. It's our choice to accept it.

This last week was really great. We had many miracles happen and we are looking forward to many souls coming unto Christ in March. The ward is great and the mission is growing so much. We had a recently returned missionary speak on Sunday and he mentioned a lot about sacrifice. I have been trying to figure out what it is I can sacrifice to help the work progress more and have decided to give up my pride. It's bad.

We had great conferences this week and I learned so much from them. I love zone conferences. The spirit is so strong! President and Sister Clements are the best people I know (besides you mom and dad). They are such great examples to me and I am so lucky and blessed to have come to this mission with them. I love them. In zone conferences, Sister Clements gave a training on love languages and how we all receive and give love in different ways and how we need to recognize how our investigators, companions, and members feel and receive that love as well so we an let them know how much we care. I am not one to give my love to people easily--it's something I pray for constantly on my mission (charity), but it truly is how the Savior served and sacrificed. He loved and knew perfectly how to reach people. I am so grateful for his example. I love this work, I love this gospel and I am so grateful for the gift of repentance and forgiveness. and the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost. He loves us just as Christ and our Heavenly Father love us. We are all so imperfect, but all He asks is for us to do our best. Thanks for your great examples and love. I hope you know how much I love you and how much I miss you and how much I love you. You are each staples in my life. I could never do this without your support. I want everyone to have a happy family like I do! :) so cheesy, but so true. The Gospel Truly Blesses our Families. It's so simple.

Well gotta run! Love you all!

Sister Owens

Muy Muy Bonita

Kristen Owens	Feb 11 (6 days ago)
to me

Hey Family,

As you can see the title of this letter is in spanish because.....I AM GOING TO BE A SPANISH MISSIONARY NOW!!! Totally kidding. My companion speaks 6 different languages and I think this past week we she used english, german, spanish, and French to speak to people! She is so awesome. I am making her teach me "I am a Child of God" in Albanian :) My only wish is to be a spanish missionary. I want to learn it so badly! Spanish people are so open to the Gospel! We had a neat experience where we were doing some finding and prayed (as usual--it's the best and always works!) we ended up only having about 30 minutes left of our night and we really wanted to teach and find new investigators. After the prayer we found a door with a picture of Christ knocking on it. A sweet Spanish woman opened the door and SIster Topi used her language skills and started talking with her. She let us in and we taught a little about the Restoration and Book of Mormon. she told us she had been worried about her teenage daughter lately and prays every night for her. We told her about the FTSOY and bore testimony of the amazing blessings of the gospel. We scheduled a return appointment and gave the referral to the spanish sisters :) She was the kindest lady and apparently in the closing prayer she thanked (in spanish) Heavenly Father for us knocking on her door and placing us in her path. She was so prepared and ready. And she has the CUTEST children in the world. That family is going to be an eternal one for sure. I love these miracles that happen all the time because it always renews a sense of purpose and faith. There are thousands out there ready to receive this message. I am constantly amazed. The Lord is aware of us.

Something I have been thinking as of late is how our experiences prepare us for more experiences. Our life is like a scaffold (if that is the right word). Our experiences build on each other and the people that are placed in our lives are for a reason. Each companion has come to me and taught me an important lesson at the exact time I needed it. The experiences have been so great. The people we meet each day have taught me a lot as well. I have had awesome experiences and not so awesome experiences, but I have learned from them. It's great.

Anyway, enough about me! I want to tell you about the amazing people we are teaching! We set a date for March 9th for one of our investigators. We had an awesome lesson with him. Our joint teacher and the spirit did all the work, we just sat, listened, bore testimony, and bam! In our last lesson with him we had planned on teaching the Plan of Salvation and focusing on the Atonement. Our joint teacher did an exceptional job talking about repentance and the Atonement and we decided to bring up baptism again. We read from Alma 7: 14-16 and talked about becoming new in Christ. He offers us a second chance, etc. Then Tim looked at us and said, "I've been thinking about March 9th and I think I want to do it." He said the fact it even crossed his mind was an indication to him of what he needs to do. I feel like we did nothing and the Spirit and our joint teacher did everything :) He is recognizing as he prays he is receiving answers. It's neat. We just need to teach him the importance of the commandments and he should be ready by then. We are really excited.He's been to church 5 times and loves it. He brought his 8 year old son twice. From the first time we met him to now, there is a huge difference in his eyes/countenance. He is looking brighter and is seeing the light! I love it! We have really focused on the Atonement with him because he has been through a lot and struggles with depression. But, his faith is increasing and he is recognizing the spirit. We are excited for him.

As for our other investigator (young man Tommy...) we are still trying to pin a date. He is patiently waiting for his older brother to prepare himself to baptize him. Tommy is awesome. He reads every day and sees a difference. We are excited for him :)

Other investigators are doing fairly well. We did a church tour with a couple we have been teaching and then they didn't come to church :( but, we are seeing them tonight and are really having a powerful commitment lesson :) BE LOVINGLY BOLD :) They need to get married and it is a hard thing for them to think about financially.... One of our other investigators has fallen off the face of the earth, we have not seen him in two weeks! we've stopped by, called, texted, had our fellowshipper call.... we're getting nervous... but, it will all work out. He was doing fairly well too! I'm trying to think of other investigators.....no one else is really progressing besides Tommy and the first man we talked about. But, I know this week is going to be a good one! We have New Missionary Training and Zone Conference and we are focusing on our purpose as missionaries! We are really striving to find new investigators and find the elect--those who will be committed and are searching for the truth :)
I read in PMG this morning where it says, "Nothing happens in Missionary work until you find people to teach" or something like that. How true it is :) we need to exert all our efforts to accomplish our goals this week and really strive to work effectively with members and investigators. My goal this week is to go to bed completely exhausted each night (which is usually the case, but even more so than I am now!) because I've exerted all my energies to complete the goals we set with the Lord!

Anyway, this is the Lord's work. My purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Or in other words, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man :) I know there is no other name nor any other way to gain salvation save in and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know as we live the first principles and ordinances of the gospel and continue to make covenants, we can receive "eternal bliss" and the "words of Christ" will "carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise." Alma 37:44-45 don't overlook the easiness of the way. Just "Look and Live" :) I love you my wonderful family :) hope you all have a great week!

Love,
  Sister Owens


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My Companion is from ??????

Kristen Owens	Feb 4 (5 days ago)
to me

Hello Family,

I LOVE BEING AN AUNT! Madden is sooo cute I can't wait to meet him! :) Oh my goodness, thanks for the pictures I really appreciate it. Sister Wilson said you should send her the pictures next time because President Wilson's phone isn't as high tech :) and he's out of town, but thanks for sending them :) That is a crazy story! Nadine barely survived! And I bet Makena is a hoot with Madden. I am proud to be his aunt, he'll be an amazing priesthood holder one day :) The world needs more of them--hence two boys this month in our family :) nice.

So, first things first: my awesome new companion is Sister Topi. And she is from ALBANIA! Crazy no? She is soooooooo cool. She speaks 6 languages: Italian, German, Spanish, English, Albanian, and French. Anytime someone around us is speaking a different language I ask her what they are saying :) it's super great. She is an amazing person. I have never met a more spiritually in tune person before. She is so perceptive. Everything she says and does is so simple. She makes things so easy. She has such a strong testimony of Christ, the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and the Plan of Salvation. I have learned a lot from her already and it has only been 4 days. She joined the church in Albanian when she was 10 with her parents. They were sealed in the temple 5 years later. She has one younger sister. Her accent is great. Often times in lessons she asks me "What do they mean?" or "How do you say...?" She is the cutest. The words she uses are beautiful. She speaks so well from the scriptures and has such faith in the converting power of God's word. She always says, "lets share a scripture to make it convincable." and "this will ponder in their heart." I am so amazed and she has taught me to slow down and really reflect on the power of the Book of Mormon in teaching and relying on the Spirit and not my own knowledge.  She is awesome. She loves giving knuckles--after everything we do or say she smiles and reaches out her hand to do "stones" haha I love it! And she LOVES the people. She has such great faith. I really hope I can serve her well.

Investigators. We are teaching lil' man (12) and he is going to be baptized in the next month :) He is awesome. We are really excited for him. We have been picking up a lot of new investigators and trying to help them progress. It's been good so far. We have an investigator who came to church with his son yesterday. he suffers from a lot of things and we have been trying to help him understand the Atonement and repentance. We are trying to set a date for his baptism this week. We also had a great experience the other day: We had an appointment fall through and decided to knock on some apartment doors. Sister Topi said a prayer for us before we went inside (which was a miracle we got in because it was a lockout) and she asked for us to find 2 people that would let us come back. So we knocked on a few doors and didn't see much success, so we kept going. We found one man named Abiy from Ethiopia who we taught about the Book of Mormon. He seemed genuinely interested in reading and praying about it so we scheduled a return appointment for tonight with him. Then we said another prayer and looked at the names on the call box and one of them stood out to me. So we knocked on it...no one answered...so we knocked again, a little more firmly and a woman answered. At first she was a little hesitant, then we felt prompted to offer a prayer for her family and home (we didn't offer a blessing, just a prayer) but we asked who she would like to include in the prayer and she said her mom and grandma. Her mom had cancer. So we offered a prayer and the spirit really was there. When we finished the prayer we asked her how she felt and she said she felt so good and said "Thank you so much, that really helped." We taught her a little about the Restoration and our purpose as missionaries. She told us to come back and share more with her husband as well. We scheduled a return appointment and will be going back to share more. It was a neat experience to see the spirit work on this woman.

Let's see...what else is new? Just the work is going forth. This transfer we only had 2 sisters, next there will be 17. Crazy. We really are trying to refocus on going back to the basics and our purpose. It's great teaching people, but without inviting them to repent and be baptized, they really are going no where. Something our President said in his weekly letter was this:
   As I write this, we are enjoying the blessing of fasting and praying together as a mission.
   It’s my prayer today that each of us will understand with greater clarity and certainty our
   purpose as missionaries. “The purpose of the gospel is to cleanse people of their sins so
   they can receive the Savior’s mercy at the day of judgment.” 6 PMG. Our purpose as
   missionaries teach people how they can enjoy the Savior’s mercy. We invite, encourage
   and guide God’s children to take those actions that will bring about the cleansing from sin
   so they can receive the Savior’s mercy at the day of judgment. Those actions are faith in
   Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy
   Ghost. That is the process whereby we access the blessings of the atonement. There is no
   other way.
People must repent and be baptized or they will suffer at judgement day. Then he quoted Mosiah 28:3 "Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble." I was taking a look around the library just now and looking at all my brothers and sisters who do have not been baptized and confirmed. OH MY GOODNESS! There is so much work to be done! This is a huge responsibility! I literally want to stand up and start preaching or something. I have been thinking a lot about our calling as missionaries. We have been set apart as personal representatives of Jesus Christ. I am here to do as Christ would do, be as he would be, say as He would say. I must be sanctified and cleansed if I want that same power and authority the Sons of Mosiah have. I know repentance is real. We can be fully healed through the Atonement. The 12 year old boy we are teaching said it best when he said, the Atonement is like a band-aid. It heals us an sometimes scars are left but only to remind us never to make the same mistake again. The pain disappears and we are fully healed. All of the inhabitants of the earth need to be relieved of their burdens. They need this message.

I love you family, hope all is well. Thanks for the advice and prayers. I am so proud to call you my family. Please continue to pray for this area and our investigators. They are awesome.

Love,
  Sister Owens

Transfers....and...

Subject: Transfers...and....
To: carolyn owens <carolyndowens@gmail.com>


Hello Mom and the rest of the family I guess,

So yes, transfer calls came today and guess what??? I. AM. STAYING. whoop whoop! I love Medicine Lake. It really is the greatest :) Sister Taufer is leaving to go to Duluth which is way up north which is where she will freeze (she hates the cold) but she will be on campus working with great people and has a great companion :) I will be staying here and training again. I don't know why the Lord keeps doing this to me... ha I guess I must learn through repetition or something. But, I am really excited to get a new missionary. They are always full of faith and new ideas and we need new ideas here :) I do love this area though. The people are going to be so sick of me by the time I leave haha except several people have said, "You've been here a while now haven't you? 4 months?" ha! more like 8! But, why would I leave if I love it so much? :) Anyway, I am glad and grateful for this experience. I have learned a lot through training other missionaries--mostly what I need to change and each transfer and companion has been a unique experience. These letters are basically my journal so sorry if they get a little dry and are long.

We had a great Sunday yesterday at church! We challenged one of our recent converts to give a Book of Mormon away to his friend and he did then he brought that friend to church :) a youth in our ward brought two of his friends as well. And our part member family we are teaching came (mom-less active, son-non member, and other son who we are teaching). It was a great service as well. Many people brought their family and friends. There were probably about 12 or 13 non members there and most of them came from members inviting their friends! :) It's been cool to see member missionary work really take off. we did a missionary moment with the young women yesterday and challenged them to invite a friend to mutual or something else. So we will be following up this upcoming week and seeing how it is going. They are all so great! Good good examples and I just love them!

So funny story, the past three days we have had about 3 lessons scheduled per day and guess what? ALL of them fell through! It was the saddest thing and Sister Taufer and I just had to laugh--it was awful. haha But, I am so grateful we can still be happy and keep moving forward. The Lord has a plan for us each day and as we include Him and ask Him for direction and help, He provides it. Sharing the gospel is the best. Finding people who are open and willing to accept it is even better. Miracles happen every single day. Our ward is exploding right now with missionary work and it has been so cool to see it take place. The Stake is very good at coordinating the efforts and getting the members excited. We are really focusing on having 60% of our dinners with members include a recent convert, a less active member, or an investigator. It'll really be great to focus on that.

So I have been wanting to ask each of you for your experiences in living the commandments of the gospel. Mom, will you send me a faith building experience you've had with tithing? How did you come to know it's a true commandment? How have you seen it bless your life by living it? Also, I would love to hear your experiences and testimonies of the Plan of Salvation, the Restoration, and how prayer and scripture study have blessed your life? How did you come to know they were true, etc. I am trying to really broaden and increase my ability in teaching and I think sharing personal experiences are great, but also sharing other people's experiences are great as well.

How does missionary work in our stake? I am always so curious about it. We have a member who's daughter is serving in Salt Lake South and I am curious to know how it works there. nearly everyone is a member haha but, that would be a cool experience. I am excited for the babies to come! Lil' cuties. Well, I hope you have noticed a change in me mom, because sometimes I don't feel like I'm changing as quickly as I should be. The refining process is so interesting. But, I am grateful for the things I am learning about the gospel, how true conversion takes place, and more about the Atonement and how it works in my own personal life. If anything, I will come back more converted and ready to punch Satan in the face. I am excited for these next few transfers. We are getting lots and lots of missionaries! Areas are being opened up that haven't had missionaries for a long time!

Sister Wilson is probably getting sick of me staying in her home. She keeps saying, "You really need to experience more of Minnesota" haha I just laugh and ask "WHY?" I love it here. I can't imagine going anywhere else. Sometimes I get a little nervous I am going to get content, but then a curve ball is thrown and it all works out! :) haha I stretch everyday (both literally and spiritually) and grow so much! Please just keep praying for the people here and for us to have the energy and vision that He needs us to have. I know this is His work. I know the gospel is true. I know these things are true and because I know they are true I will keep my covenants and promises and live accordingly. Enduring is the hardest part I think, but if you rely on the Savior it's not so bad :) at all. I am grateful for the abilities and talents He gives to each one of us in order to help us build up His kingdom and consecrate our lives to Him. It's an incredible thing. We have the rest of our lives to learn and grow! wow.

Anyway, Sister Taufer is all done (as usual) and here I am blabbing on. I love you family, I know we can be together forever (cheesy I know) but I really am so grateful and blessed to know that. Keep being my amazing family. You are doing great things!

Love,
  Sister Owens

P.S. if all you boys who served missions could send me some of your most precious things you learned on your mission and also any more advice on how to be a successful missionary that would be great. Reflect and record and send it my way :) I love you!

Temperature is dropping

From: Kristen Owens
Date: Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 11:25 AM
Subject: Temperature is dropping
To: carolyn owens


Hello My dear family,

Well Sister Taufer and I woke up and found out it is -4 degrees outside :) so it's getting pretty chilly here and should be cold the next few weeks--so no, it is no longer balmy and beautiful haha it's freezing. But, we still love it! So I thought I would start by answering your questions because I feel like I never do. So, the senior couple in Crystal and Medicine Lake wards do a lot. They work with all the West Africans and are helping them continue to progress to the temple and preparing them to receive endowments and helping them with any other needs. They are great. They work with less actives and recent converts and are doing a lot with understanding the visa requirements for them. They are a great couple and do so much for us! We love them. They are really amazing people. Second, transfers are next week so in exactly one week we will find out if we are staying or leaving. I dunno what'll happen. There is only one sister coming out this transfer and then next transfer there will be 17! I think I already told you that. Anyway, I will be happy to stay here :) But, wherever He needs me to be is where I will be the most happy. 

So last week was awesome! We had our 12 year old investigator come to church with his less active mom and nonmember brother! That was pretty neat. :) And we had two other people we are teaching come to church as well. Brother Banquandoe bore his testimony in church and Sister Banquandoe did a few weeks ago. Odelle is adorable. I love them and can't wait for them to be sealed! And, we had an incredible miracle last night. We were planning on going to the fireside, but our investigator backed out last minute and we ended up leaving. We had planned on doing some knocking in some apartment buildings that we had been meaning to go to for a while and hadn't ever been able to get there. So we got there and we prayed. Then we chose an apartment building and we prayed again. Then we got to the door and it was locked so we prayed again and right as Sister Taufer finished praying a person walked out and we walked in :) Then we chose a few numbers that felt good and we prayed again. We knocked on the first one and taught a brief restoration to a YSA who seemed not too interested. Then we knocked on the next one and talked with a sweet woman from Liberia. She let us in and we ended up sharing a lesson on the Restoration and invited her to be baptized and to pray and read and she said she would. We also invited her sister to join us in the lesson and they both sat down with us so both of them are going to read and pray about it and we are going back! From this experience, I was amazed as we exercised our faith and acted upon it how the Lord led us to sincere seekers of truth. We had been praying to be able to reach our goal of 3 new investigators and we only had one until last night. It felt so good to talk with the Lord in prayer and let Him know our desires and goals and then to say to Him "Thy will be done", but at least making ourselves available as dedicated diligent servants in His hands. I truly have felt this past transfer has been a trial of my faith. Yesterday was an answer to many prayers. I truly saw the hand of God in our lives--it's every day. He knows what is best for us.

We had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the Shingle Creek Sisters this week aka Sister Mansfield and Sister Tani--I was with Sister Tani. She is a convert (only one in her family) and she is amazing. I learned so much from her! I was reading in Alma chapter 15-17 today and realized how much Amulek had to give up--fortune, friends, family. Sometimes that is how our investigators are. They have to make so many changes in their lives to live the gospel. And how much it helped Amulek to have a friend like Alma by his side. Everyone needs a friend in the church. It makes a major difference! 

This transfer has taught me A LOT! I have had so many things to learn! First, patience...Second, faith....Third, power of obedience. and Fourth, repentance and forgiveness. The Lord is so merciful. I am recommitted to work hard, love, be obedient, and exercise my faith! Holy cow! Being a missionary is training for life! I hope I am becoming who He wants me to become. I have been reflecting recently on the past 9 months and am going to set some goals for the next 9 months. Sometimes I don't feel a change, but other times I look back and recognize how I have changed. It's crazy the refining process of a mission. Anyway, enough about me. 

The investigators are coming along :) slowly but surely. We aren't teaching a lot of Africans right now, but we are teaching some great individuals. The members here are fantastic and do so much for us! It's truly incredible to be a part of this work. We've had some great spiritual experiences and if I have learned anything this past transfer it is to be committed! Keep all my commitments and covenants for FOREVER. I hope in the next 9 months I can say I have learned even more and become who He needs me to become. I love being a missionary. The work is going forth. There is always so much to learn. I have loved my companions and Medicine Lake ward. I looked around last Sunday and realized how much I love these people! They truly are like family! Every single one of them! I don't want to leave! But, change might be a good thing. So many mixed feelings :) haha 

Alright, times up! I love you all and am so glad to hear things are going well! I look forward to meeting my 2 nephews soon! And btw, what are the names of these babes gonna be?!?! I need to know these things! Thanks to Shea for writing me a letter in the mail :) bonus points for you--you'll definitely get a gift from me when I return! ;) I loved it! Makena makes me laugh so hard. Give them all hugs and kisses for me. I LOVE YOU! Thanks for your great examples to me! I couldn't do this without you! 

Love,  

  Sister Owens

Hi:)

From: Kristen Owens <kristen.owens@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 10:39 AM
Subject: Hi:)
To: carolyn owens <carolyndowens@gmail.com>


Hey family,

So, first things first, I got the packages! Thanks soooo much! I loved them :) And Second, I got Grandpa's card! Thank you grandpa, I really do appreciate it! I am keeping it safe don't worry :) Also, Aunt Marsha and Uncle Bill sent a card and I want them to know how grateful I am for that as well. I didn't have a ton of time to read through all the emails sent from the friends, but I do love reading them when I can so if you could keep sending them, that would be great! Thanks mom, you are the best.

This past week was pretty good! Holy cow, the flu is going around like crazy and so many people were sick! Lot's of cancellations, but more time to find and prepare and learn :) We started teaching a young man by the name of....Timmy...he is 12 and comes from a part member family. he wants to be baptized and wants his brother to do it. It's been fun to teach him. His family life isn't the most stable, so we are hoping to help him build good relationships with the ward so they can be his family. Mom, I really enjoyed your letter this week about love and the amazing responsibility we have to be missionaries. What an honor! And especially at this time with so much work to be done and so many missionaries coming out! I am so grateful for this opportunity. Something someone said in sacrament meeting yesterday really hit me. She talked about her mission and how hard it was and different experiences and then said, "It's not about what you can do, it's about who you are." And I will add, who you become. Sometimes I get caught up in the little daily things that we need to do (it's a lot and could drive you crazy.) and the things I struggle being able to do perfectly, but, I never take the time to recognize the progress or see who I am becoming because of these experiences. Wow, I love being a missionary. We get to devote completely 1.5 years of our lives to serve others and bless others lives. There is no greater call.

I am trying to remember what happened this past week that was cool, but I can't really remember so this letter is going to be more reflection than anything. We were driving home one day and as I looked out the window, I realized something. We live near a car dealership and it's kinda funny because on the front of the building it says, "Christ centered!" haha I pass that dealership all the time and have never really taken the time to notice it or internalize it. That is the epitome of MN. They all are believers :) So, I would totally go to a Christ centered dealership to buy a car than any other one. :) totally.

Anyway, we had zone training this week and President came and we had some interviews and such. I always have questions for him when we go in and forget all of them during and remember them after... but, it was still good to talk to him. President and Sister Clements are awesome! He informed Sister Taufer and I that we will most likely be training the rest of our missions. my first thought=ah! you sure you want that to happen? second thought=I got to step it up! third thought=..........it will all work out :) At zone training we talked about repentance. We are all trying to focus on our own personal conversion so we may be more powerful missionaries and we spent a lot of time on faith the past few months and now we are focusing on repentance and conversion. "Conversion is repentance, and repentance is conversion." There are so many things I need to repent of. Here is a quote from PMG that I read this week and it got me motivated again--It's by President Hunter:

“Surely taking the gospel to every kindred, tongue, and people is the single greatest responsibility we have in mortality. … We have been privileged to be born in these last days, as opposed to some earlier dispensation, to help take the gospel to all the earth” (“Walls of the Mind,” Ensign, Sept. 1990, 10).

“What does the Atonement have to do with missionary work? Any time we experience the blessings of the Atonement in our lives, we cannot help but have a concern for the welfare of others. … A great indicator of one’s personal conversion is the desire to share the gospel with others.” (“The Atonement and Missionary Work,” seminar for new mission presidents, June 1994).

I KNOW the Atonement is real. I Know we can be healed completely. I know His sacrifice covers all parts of life. I know He knows how it feels to be discouraged, sad, overwhelmed, disheartened, burdened, confused, happy, peaceful, empty, etc. I know Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. And that is why I chose to serve a mission. To help others realize it. That is the call to each one of us that have felt the Atonement influence our lives. We want to share it and help our other brothers and sisters feel peace, hope, and joy. I hope we can all share the gospel in some way this week. Pray for those opportunities, carry a Book of Mormon around with you. Help those missionaries find people to teach. Have faith in the converting power of the Spirit. Sharing the gospel is easy! Every single person you meet needs what we have---seriously people. I am reminded of Alma 5:26 "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren (and sisters), if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" I hope we are always looking to experience the blessings of the Atonement daily. I don't know where I would be without it. Christ is my Savior, God is my Father, Joseph Smith was a prophet called to restore His church in this last dispensation before His coming again. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know the church is true. I know we are led by a living prophet today named Thomas S. Monson. "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to PREACH MY GOSPEL." -President Joseph Smith

I love you, I love this work, I love this ward here (they do so much for us!), and I love preaching the gospel! :) hope you all have a wonderful week!

btw those pics were adorable! And Cherise has such long hair! What?! I loved that pic! give the children lots of hugs and kisses from me please :) I miss them like crazy! Also, it's funny you mention Great grandma because I was writing in my journal today and as I put the date January 14, 2013, I wrote "I feel like I missed someone's birthday..." HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREAT GRANDMA DODDS! :)

Talk to you next week :) love you all! Thanks for all the support! You have no idea how much it helps.

Love,
  Sister Owens

It's Quite Warm Here

Kristen Owens	11:51 AM (7 minutes ago)
to me

Dear Family,

In response to your "It's Freezing here!" title, I wanted you to know it's quite warm here :) I think it's 32 degrees outside and I am about ready to take my coat off. It's great. Well It's good to hear all the goings ons of the Utahns. We heard about the inversion and the cold weather--man, that is insane. President and Sister Clements came to our ward yesterday and visited which was fun. The Elders had a ton of investigators there...we had 1! haha oh man, I am still trying to figure out how to get our investigators to commit to church--it's been hard the past few months! But, praying and working are the best solutions. Ya last week we had 12 investigators come to sacrament meeting between us and the elders--it was crazy! Super cool! 

Anyway, the new year has been great! I'm not sure what happened with the whole mail issue, but it should be fixed. Thanks for caring enough to call mom :) haha And I miss Kamas so much! I loved Oakcrest! Everytime I talk with the Youth in the ward it brings me back to the good old summer of 2011 :) loved it! It's beautiful there.

This past week was pretty cool. We had 9 member present lessons which was great! I was hoping that would help get our peeps to church, but hey, there is always next week. We are focusing on praying a lot this week and I have been struggling discerning answers to those prayers and deciphering which part is mine and which part is His (does that make any sense?). I know He answers prayers and I know He will lead us and guide us, I just get stuck sometimes. Any suggestions?

Our recent convert Terrence went to visit family in Augusta MN and introduced his friend to  the Book of Mormon out there. he went to church and said it was the exact same as here! Isn't that so great!? The Church is the same anywhere you go. I love it.

We are beginning to teach a member's granddaughter and another less active member's son who wants to learn more. I love youth. They are so strong and smart! And so fun to talk with. They really are wise beyond their years. yesterday I bore my testimony in Relief Society because we were talking about sacred places and I realized how strong each of these wonderful women are and how they made "Medicine Lake" a sacred place for me. I love this ward. Afterwards a member gave me a hug and said, "are you anticipating a transfer?" And then I thought--AH! NO WAY. But, according to sister clements they are going to be opening up a lot of different areas in the future. Some sisters training may have to train 2 sisters at once. It's gonna get crazy real fast. I love this work. I hope all the sisters coming out are ready to give everything they have to the Lord. A mission is one of the hardest things I have ever done--mentally challenging. But, it is the most rewarding. Satan loves attacking my thoughts. and this week it's been a bit hard to not focus on all the inadequacies. Good thing my companion is a champ and keeps me up :) We are striving to find and teach families and really get our investigators to progress. Please pray for us (cause you don't already...ha), but I hope you feel my prayers for each one of you. I love you so so so so so so much! I can't wait to see you and chat it up with you again. But, I do love it here. I love the people and the area. I love the gospel and am so grateful for the challenges He gives us to help us grow. My faith is increasing so much. Anyway, we have an appointment today cuz we are switching our pday to thursday--we are going to the temple as a district!

Bye! Love you,
  SIster Owens

p.s. my gloves are awesome. very warm! good buy! thanks for all the things you do for me!

Happy New Year!

HEY FAMILY,
 It was so much fun to talk to you at Christmas! :) Oh my goodness--seeing you all there (besides Nadine and Makena :() felt so natural and normal! I thought I would be bawling the whole time, but it only happened at the end when I saw dad's face (of all people, dad made me cry..jk) Anyway, I miss you guys and love you a lot. Thanks for being so fun and happy! 40 minutes flew by!

So funny story this week, we were eating dinner with some wonderful members and their son was in town. He sneakily took a pic of Sis T and I and posted it to facebook and asked "does anyone know them?" (apparently he does this with all the missionaries he meets. Well Kade Smith knew him and he actually worked with Kade and Nate out in chicago selling alarms. ha it was a funny connection. he talked to kade on the phone a few minutes so that was fun. Thanks Kade for responding! :)

We had an amazing miracle this week!!! Oh man, it's good. So when I was a young missionary (...about 5 months ago...) serving with Sister Randall, we did a lot of tracting. Well one day we found this random street with about 3 houses on it. We had some great conversations with the few doors we knocked on and we felt really good about it. But, after that night, we couldn't ever find the street on the map again! It was so frustrating because we wanted to go back and try again. Well the whole time since I've been here, I have been searching for that street. One day Sister Taufer and I picked an area to go tracting in. When we were driving down this one road, I looked to the side and saw a "no outlet" sign and a small road--Larch Ln. BAM--found it! So we made a note to self to go back to that street. Last week we did and knocked on the one door that I remember feeling really good about. We met a man named Tim. He looked sooo burdened down and depressed. He mentioned how we were the second set of "religious" people to knock on his door (darn those Jehovah Witnesses), so it must be a sign or something. We talked to him about prayer and God's love for him and made a return appointment the following week. On Thursday we met with him and one of our members was so good to drive over and come with us even though the roads were crazy icy. The lesson was a little crazy (he had a friend over who had met with missionaries before...didn't believe the book of Mormon,etc.) but we ended up teaching about prayer again and our lovely joint teacher expressed to him that God loves him. Then at the end of the lesson we had him say the prayer. We all knelt down and for the first time in a very long time he prayed. He had been losing his faith in God due to recent events and he expressed how bad his life had been growing up without good parents, etc. But, he still prayed. It was a very sincere, heartfelt prayer. He had been use to recited, memorized prayers, but we explained how to pray and he did it! Our joint teacher was in tears, she had felt the spirit so strongly in his prayer. We invited him to church, he wasn't super solid about it. By the time we left, you could see a huge change in his character--those burdens had been lifted. We called him Saturday to see if he would make it on Sunday, he said he'd try--we offered rides, he could follow us, etc--finally he just said call him in the morning to wake him up. So we did, no answer... and we called 3 times....ha. We get to church and are patiently waiting for our investigators and Tim walks in! Our joint teacher talked to him after and he said he really enjoyed the youth talk about friends. he had to leave after sacrament meeting but he said next week he'd stay. and he was smiling so big! He loved it. He told our fellowshipper that he was going to bring his two kids next time too! :) MIRACLE. and we had 3 new investigators and 3 investigators to church! whoo! :) 3+3=1 (President Clements math :)

This past week was great. It really was. We have a few progressing investigators, but no official date sets yet. We have strong vibes it's coming though :) baptize in January! The people here are so great! Our members are so involved in missionary work. They love it and want to share with their friends. We just need to be trusting missionaries so they will see they can trust their friends with us. I have been humbled this week--sometimes I feel like I am not getting any better at becoming a missionary. I often think to myself "why are you on the same shore, doing the same thing..." blah. So we are trying new things! we talked to our ward mission leader about doing a little activity for our investigators. we are planning something on the 5th of Feb--missionary movie night. We show a short clip from a church movie, have a recent convert share a 5 minute testimony, say a prayer, have food and fellowship time ;) it will be great!

We are excited to connect better with the ward. they really are amazing. The work is hastening on! There will be so many new missionaries here next transfer and we have to be better than we were before! I am the lead sister this transfer and must conduct exchanges (ah!) I don't have any idea what I'm doing, but that's okay. He knows whats best I suppose. The sisters here in the mission are AMAZING! Seriously though. they motivate me and help me so much. I love it here. I love the people. I love the work. The gospel is true, it blesses families, prophets are real, Christ lived a perfect life, atoned for us, and died for us, His church has been restored in it's fulness, the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and prayer works! The Holy Ghost is real! I know this is His church. I love you all! I hope you have a fabulous New Year's day! Go Resolutions! :) no regrets either!

Love,
  sister owens

p.s. i forgot to send a card to Brittany (I'm HORRIBLE!) But, tomorrow I'll send it off.
p.s.s. can't wait to meet those lil' ones in our family soon!
AND I LOVE YOU!

Ho Ho HOLA! :) cute.

Well hi family, How is life? MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas Spirit! We sure are! We only had one investigator make it to church this sunday, but that's one more than zero! So that's good :) She is progressing and hopefully we'll get her fiance on board asap as well. There is nothing like being a missionary during the Christmas season. I feel very fortunate and am really excited to deliver some goodies to our members, investigators, and less actives tonight and serve some people! Service is something that I need to do better at. My favorite picture to look at is Christ washing the feet of his disciples. Christ truly had charity. He never thought of himself, He never did anything for himself, everything He did was for the benefit of the world. And He did it all out of His loving kindness and longsuffering for the children of men (us). His whole life was spent in the service of others. There is nothing as rewarding as service. Even the little things go a long way. 

So as far as tomorrow goes (I'm SOOOO excited!!!), we can skype for approximately 40 minutes max! And we will be calling at 1pm here so 12pm your time... we just need to figure out the details of what number we call and such so let me know asap! as in the next 20 minutes.... And it will be skype. So you can see my several chins and all! :) just kidding.

Well this week was pretty good. We taught quite a few lessons and had some good lessons with investigators. We attended seminary with the youth and the elders in our ward had a baptism for a little boy named Henry. He is the son of some of our members from Liberia. They are now a complete baptized family :) We love them! We are really working to baptize in January because that is the goal our zone has set. We are sacrificing and "fasting" for 40 days the things that poke at our spirits (junk food, my pride, etc. I won't go into all the details of what I need to give up). But, it truly is in the sacrifice that brings forth the blessings of Heaven. I don't know who and I don't know how we are going to do it, but the Lord says baptize in january so as it says in 1 Ne 3:7---The Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men, save He shall prepare a way for them to accomplish the thing which He hath commanded them. Miracles happen! I have seen too many of them to deny that and it all starts with our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to work and act and not be acted upon. We are really trying to do new things here in this area to find more people to teach. We are excited for what it brings and we are really going to work hard to help our investigators progress! President is really emphasizing teaching and baptizing families. I know there is a family here in our area who is waiting for this gospel. We just have to find them and I know that will be through working better with our members. 

Any suggestions on finding people to teach? Give it freely please! :) Well folks, it's time to go. I love you and can't wait to talk/see you tomorrow! 12pm! Don't be late!

Love,

  SIster Owens

Christmas Time is upon us

Kristen Owens	11:17 AM (38 minutes ago)
to me

Well hey there family,

This week was pretty good :) we found 3 more new investigators which was great! We met with a mormon.org referral and his father (who we think is a preacher of another church...) it was a crazy lesson full of questions and we totally lost control...anyway, we are meeting with them again after the holidays and they still have lots of questions! Next time we will be more prepared :) it happens. We also had a little miracle. We were bummed because we none of our investigators could attend the Christmas Concert last night so we couldn't go either...we decided to knock on a few houses instead! :) yes! And the second house we knocked on we met this wonderful person named Cindy. She has been married for about a year and we started talking with her. She didn't seem too interested at first--she's catholic--but, then we just decided to keep teaching her as long as she would listen! First rule=teach as you find! We taught her about the Restoration and about receiving answers to prayers.. She accepted a Book of Mormon and we are going back on Saturday to teach her! She seems fairly open and interested. We really felt the spirit as we testified to her on the doorstep in the 20 degree weather (my face was about to fall off, I could hardly speak...). But, it was pretty amazing. We knew we had met her for a reason and we are excited to see what happens! I love all the tender mercies every day. God is aware of us and I have been learning that as we set goals with Him, He provides ways to accomplish them. Setting goals and working for them is a major skill I have been desperately trying to develop while being here. It takes a lot of faith and work and creativity, but He is willing to help us accomplish them if it is right :)

Transfers are this week and I am proud to say I get to stay in the "Promised Land" aka Medicine Lake with my awesome Companion Sister Taufer! 1/2 my mission in the same area--WHOO WHOO!!! The people here are amazing and wonderful :) I love it here. We are really hoping to see some progress with our investigators and get them to really commit to a date. I think I have been blessed with very prepared people here in our area as of late so when people don't commit right away and have this strong desire to be baptized, I don't know what to do! haha It's a learning experience. But, with faith and prayer and their faith and their prayers, I know God will give them an answer. We are shooting for some dates in January. And really trying to establish the expectations of baptizing every month. It is possible because our mission president has told us we can do it and he is inspired. It is from the Lord! He has faith in His missionaries and we have faith in the Spirit :) Thanks mom for your words about how the Holy Ghost loves us just as much as Christ and Heavenly Father. I have never really thought of it that way before. He wants to help us. He has the same goal and purpose. Cool!

I just want you (family) and you (friends) to know how grateful I am for your letters, packages, and prayers. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the Lord for blessing me with amazing people in my life. You all play such a huge part! I am so grateful for the fun packages from Becca, Wanda, the Gottfredsons, the parentals, ect. Seriously. THEY WERE SO FUN AND GREAT!!! I love getting the Christmas card letters from everyone (extended family, ward family, etc.) Thanks for all the support you give. I hope you know how much I love each one of you and how much each one of you has impacted my life.

So it sounds like we're having an epidemic of baby boys in the family! What is this! What happened to all the girls?!? Oh well, Priesthood holders in the making :) love it. It sounds like Makena and Hads are having fun together. Give them a big hug and kiss for me! I miss them so much! And I can't wait to have two nephews born in a few months! Crazy. I hope you accept them in their birthday suit mom haha Hadlee is hilarious. How does she even know that?! Tell the rest of the family not to have too much fun on Christmas without me actually being there, I may be able to skype! So if the boys or someone with some technological talents in the family has skype or knows how to do that send a little email our way :) it will be great. 45 minutes of pure joy! :) we aren't sure the details of when and such, we'll let you know :) when i say "we" i mean "I" sorry...I've had a companion for the past 7.5 months.

I love reading the letters from my friends! They seriously motivate me to be better. Britt and her little trainee! Em and her Spanish! Kim and her awesomeness! Shea and her faith! Heidi and her humor! Oh my goodness she seriously makes me laugh! And because of her we are now trying to do more creative finding through our members :) love it. She is my hero. Can't wait for her to get to Spain and get it done! :)

Okay, this letter is really long and my companion just turned to me and said, "I'm starving, I need food!" she eats a lot, except it just goes straight through her! And it sticks to my chin and hips like glue! Don't judge me when you see me next week...working out inside is much harder than outside. ha. ha. ha.

Anyway, I love you. I hope all is well. The Toolson's will be in my prayers. They are such an amazing family, holy moly. I love them. Tell all the extended family I love them and miss them. Merry Christmas.

Before I send this I just want you all to know the Atonement is real. I have never been homesick before until about a week ago. It was really hard to focus. But, my testimony of the Atonement has increased. My burdens have been lifted, I am no longer homesick and the work is moving right along! Christ is the center of everything. His birth, ministry, and Atonement should be central to everything we do in life. I know that everything that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I was thinking about how our ancestors who crossed the plains had to sacrifice so much and all for what? They would not have done that just for a thrill, but they did it because they had Christ and His sacrifice burned in their hearts. They knew this gospel was true. They knew it, and they were not going to let anyone or anything tell them otherwise. I KNOW this gospel is true. I KNOW Christ is my Savior, Redeemer, and the Son of God. I KNOW Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, called to restore Christ's church to this earth. I KNOW the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I KNOW God has a plan for us and we can return and live with Him and our families forever one day as we keep and cleave to our covenants. I KNOW this is the Lord's Church. It's all true isn't it? Then what else matters? I know all these things, and I know God knows I know it. And I will never deny it. The Spirit has testified to me time and time again of these gospel truths. Nothing will shake my testimony of this work. I love you and merry Christmas! I will talk with you next week! WHOO WHOO!

Love,
  Sister Owens

p.s. shout out to my wonderful trainer--Sister Randall--thanks for the letter! our letters crossed paths in the mail...you answered all my questions pretty much. I love you and hope I can be as good a missionary as you were! Thanks for all you taught me!

Huuuuulo

Kristen Owens	Dec 10 (7 days ago)
to me

Hey Family,

 

Sorry this letter is late and will probably be pretty short. So we had a HUGE snow storm--12 inches or so! And we could not drive anywhere yesterday or today so Sister Taufer and I walked to a members home to get a recording device for a special gift for Pres and Sis Clements.. On the way back we got to help a sweet old man shovel his driveway..HE was a member of the RLDS church--what are the odds--and he let us inside and we talked with his Lutheran wife and they were so sweet. They gave us rootbeer and it was a nice service opportunity :) They really were sweet. I loved it. We walked to the grocery store and back home and now we are writing letters on the Wilson's computer. So the last hour of church was cancelled yesterday :) it was pretty exciting! Yesterday we did lots of service shoveling snow and made some phone calls and such :) we have the best ward ever by the way. I love it here! Last week we found 5 new investigators who are looking really promising! WE are so excited to teach them and we have a referral from mormon.org we are teaching this week as well. super cool! And some members have some friends they want us to meet! whoo whoo. it'll be a good week! And yes I LOVED ALL THE PACKAGES I receieved from you and Becca and Wanda and all the Christmas cards from the extended family are amazing :) I get more letters from extended family than i do my immediate family (hint hint brothers and sisters).

 

Christmas Conference was great! WE all wore ugly sweatesr and bought Presi and Sis Clements one as well :) it was cute :) we also watched October Sky and had some great trainings on Planning and Finding :) I loved it.

 

Our investigators are great... we don't have any date sets as of yet but this week we are really hoping to see some great miracles and get 3 to church on SUnday  (it got moved due to the weather)

 

I don't need anything really other than some thick tights...that might be nice. and some wool socks...its starting to get pretty cold! But, I am SOOO grateful for the nice warm coat and hats and everything you sent me :) they are coming in handy! And Brother and Sister Wilson just got called as mission presidents to an english speaking mission! So crazy! WE will miss them so very much! They leave in July... :( but they will be fabulous! I love them. They amaze me!

 

I love you family so very much! i love being a missionary at this time of the year. Christmas is no better time to truly serve and love those around me. We get to share messages of Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world! He is the reason for everything! There truly is no other greater calling than a missionary at this time of year. Man. I need to keep remembering that. I'm trying to think of some funny things that happened but nothing is really coming to mind... just if you could keep praying for our area and investigators to come unto Christ. And for us.. I love you all! You are amazing examples to me! I seriously could not have asked for a better family! You make me want to be better! I miss you a lot especially now, but I feel right at home here in Minnesota with the members and people :)  I really do love it here. Thanks for all you do! Keepp it up! I pray for you daily! I hope all is well! Partay on!

 

Love,

  Sister Owens

 

The Wilsons say hello :)

 

Sister Taufer is awesome and we are really getting along well :) The work is going! WE got a senior couple in the ward they are fabulous :) Send pics! :)

Well helloooo!

Date: Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 11:05 AM
Subject: well helloooo!
To: carolyn owens <carolyndowens@gmail.com>


Hello Familia,

How goes it? The weather is good there huh? Well it's been pretty good here too! It hasn't snowed all week. It's been chilly, but not cold enough to snow :) thank goodness! But, it is raining outside right now. I love it here. The weather is great! I can't believe it's already DECEMBER! Where in the world has time gone???? I loved getting all the letters from the friends around the world--thanks mom, you are a champ! They all sound fantastic and make me want to be a better missionary. Seriously. Their letters come at good times :) They cheer me up--not that i'm not happy or anything. They just make me even more happy and excited to serve the Lord! The work here is good! We found 3 new investigators this week which we are excited for because not many of our investigators are really progressing.. but one of the came to church on Sunday! which was great because we really had been trying to get him there and finally he came and the ward was great and accepting and everything. We are hoping to find 3 more this week and get 3 to church on Sunday! Being a missionary is mind blowing. There is so much that goes into planning and preparing people for lessons, church, baptism and confirmation, retention efforts, etc. I never realized all the skills I lacked in setting goals and planning until I came on a mission--man from now on I want to set goals for life! They are great! President is really pushing 3 new investigators this week and 3 investigators to church on Sunday. Apparently 1 in every 6 people that attend church get baptized.. hence the push :) we are all trying to baptize monthly. President Clements is amazing. He has such a great vision and confidence in us as missionaries and in increasing the work in Minnesota. There is so much to do and so little time, but we know as we are obedient to his counsel, blessings will come and people will progress. We are really seeking the spirit this week--in everything we do. We have a Christmas Conference on Wednesday and we are excited for it :)

This past week we went on exchanges and Sister Taufer and I went to Dinkytown-aka- on campus with the sisters there. IT was a lot of fun. Basically they contact all day long! That is where my trainer served for about 9 months of her mission before coming to med lake. (I don't think she liked it very much...) but, we talked with so many people and we actually taught a lesson and invited someone to be baptized right outside on campus--she was a sweet chinese girl and it was so cool! then we had a lesson that night with someone and invited him to be baptized--he said yes! It was neat! I love being a missionary at times like that when the spirit is strong and you see people's faces light up when they understand things and it all makes sense! :) ah. the wonderful opportunity we have. Sometimes I think I take things too lightly and other times I take things too seriously. It's easy to get caught up in the little stresses and not to see the bigger picture of how we can help people continue to progress and grow in faith. But, when we really understand the importance of the work and when we are truly converted, talking with everyone and seeking to work becomes so much easier! I want to wear out my life in the service of God especially at this time as a missionary. Acting on those desires is sometimes much harder than you think, but prayer is real and God is aware. (i don't know if that made any sense...)

Anyway, man, everytime I write a letter home I can't help but be so happy and laughy! Sister Taufer is staring me down right now because I am taking too long writing you :) She loves waiting for me :) She's a go getter! and she's reading everything I am saying right now :) hahahahah muahhahaha I am going to keep writing just to bug her :) just kidding. anyway, be good, do good, pray good, serve good, AND CHOOSE THE RIGHT!  This week we got to do a little activity with the mia maid class. they were suppose to invite a friend to the activity and we were going to answer any questions they had and do a short thought. many of them invited friends but there ended up only being one nonmember there :) it was still good. we talked about prayer and how we are daughters of God. I am amazed at the strength of the youth! They are incredible people! oh boy.

I want each one of you to know, I KNOW this church is Christ's church. I know He lives and died for us. I know I can't make it back to God again without Him. I know Heavenly Father is in the details. I know He loves each one of us. I know the Plan of Salvation is true and real. I know we can be together forever as we strive to live the commandments and keep our covenants. I know there is no better place to be in than in the service of your fellowbeings and in the service of God. Sometimes I forget that. Christ is the only person that knows how we feel completely. He loves us fully and everything that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Anything that is unfair whether spiritually, physically, mentally, etc. We can become whole again. I know it because I need to become whole again every day. I know we all have gifts and abilities we are suppose to use to help build up others and His church and to prepare others for His coming. I love this work. I love being a missionary. There is no place I would rather be than on a mission serving the Lord. Thanks for all of your examples and love to me. I think of you often (but not enough to distract obviously;) I pray for you daily and I hope you know I am so proud of each one of you. I love you! :) Have a great week in Utah! Talk to you next week!

Thanks mom for the Christmas package and for all the packages in the past. You really know what I need :) And those bracelets you sent have now become our baptizing bracelets :) everytime we invite or baptize someone we put a bead on haha it's great! And transfers are in a few more weeks and I will most likely stay here again and finish Sister T's training unless for some reason she needs a different companion. But, half my mission in the same place=craziness! I do love it here though :) a change might be nice, however, I will go where He wants me to go. We still have work to do here I guess! :) LOVE YOU ALL! give the kiddoe's lots of love from me!

Love,
 Sister Owens

Gratitude

Date: Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 11:43 AM
Subject: Gratitude
To: carolyn owens <carolyndowens@gmail.com>


Hello Family,

It sounds like it was a great thanksgiving! I'm not gonna lie, it was a little hard being with the Wilson's and their whole family :) it made me miss you (for the first time since leaving)! But, it was so nice of the Wilson's to let us barge in on their Thanksgiving meal with their family. They are so wonderful and so giving and loving. They do so much for us. This week was a bit rough as far as finding new investigators and none of them came to church! The little stinkers! However, this next week is looking up! It was fun to have Thanksgiving here and for the first time the snow actually stayed. It was super good weather in the morning and then by evening it was snowing! it's been a bit chilly ever since. Thanks for sending my big coat though mom! :) It is the best thing ever! And yes I bought some nice warm boots to go along with it. My companion hates the cold hahahahaha and she's here in Minnesota in the winter--super funny. She is so great though. She is super prepared and layers up!

The new counselor in the Mission Presidency knows the Renchers and I met him the other day. It was cool to make that connection. He is a really great guy. It's fun. The church world is so small. I always find random connections to people here. It's fun. So Makade is leaving on Wednesday! Crazy! That is going to be such a great experience for him--and he gets the warm weather too :) I am so excited for him! He will be a great missionary. I can't wait to hear his stories and experiences with the people there. He will love his mission.

I am learning so much since being on my mission. Especially this past week learning about gratitude. I have really been feeling like I've been in a bit of a slump and realized that by expressing gratitude, you are expressing faith. This week I have made it a goal to say a prayer of just gratitude each day. It really helps you see the positive blessings the Lord has given. I am so grateful for this time of year. I am so grateful for a wonderful family who is so willing to live the gospel. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a full time missionary. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It's the hardest and best thing i have ever done. I am so grateful for a loving,patient, and kind Father in Heaven who knows us so well. I am so grateful for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Where would we be without this wonderful message of hope, peace, and joy?!?! I am so grateful for the wonderful plan of salvation and the plan of happiness. I am especially grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ who makes it all possible for each one of us to overcome the effects of the fall--physically and spiritually. I could not do this alone. None of us could. How great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the whole earth!

Our investigators are doing good. We are really trying to set some dates and help them understand they do not need to know everything in order to be baptized, they just need to gain a testimony and continue to develop that faith. We have a missionary senior couple in the ward now and they are wonderful! We love them! They will help the ward so much. We are so excited to work with them.

If you could just keep us in your prayers extra hard this week, that would be great. We are really seeking to find those kingdom builders who will be ready and prepared to receive us. I love you so much! You have no idea the strength that I feel when I read your letters. :) They bring me so much happiness! :) It makes me want to work even harder to find those families that are searching! I love you. Keep being awesome and sharing the light of Christ with those around you. Tell lil' Carter HAPPY BIRTHDAY! He is the cutest! :) I love you all! Thanks for your awesome examples of love and dedication to this gospel.

Love, Sister Owens