Mischief Managed

Hey, y'all!

I hope December has been merry and bright as you have participated in #LightTheWorld ✨ 

This week was a weeding out the unprepared week. We were able to set up 5-6 appointments with new investigators that we hadn't been in contact with for some time. Even though most of those appointments fell through, we were able to better know who is ready to receive the full gospel. 

Our muchachos were a no show this week. Dang it! We drove out to their trailers only to find that their van wasn't there. We called them and they were on their way home from work. We set up another appointment with them, but we're not sure how much they will progress if at all. Since they are moving back to their country, they are likely not all in it. Bummer city.

We had an interesting lesson with Marcos yesterday. He was as new investigator that Hermana Fluckiger had found on exchanges, so neither Hermana Corona nor I had met him. When we sat down, we met Marcos, his wife, and her brother. Let's just say that her brother was more interested in us than in our message. If anyone asks, sister missionaries who return back to Utah are prohibited to marry. After the fifth time calling us 'mami', we were uncomfortable. Not to mention his scanning us with his eyes and wanting Hermana Corona to take him back home with her. Thankfully he had to take a call and left the room. Mischief managed. 

Marcos was really nice, but he didn't understand that we were there to teach him. The Spirit was frustrated, so when we got to the part of the lesson about Joseph Smith, the Spirit impressed upon us that it wasn't right to share it. We thanked him for his time, prayed, and left. 

Transfer calls came on Saturday. Hermana Corona's next assignment is to find her eternal companion, and mine is to stay in Shelbyville! YAY! I'll be serving here for my fifth transfer with Hermana Rodriguez. She and I served together in Paris. Reunited and it feels so good! 

Mosiah 2:41

"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

God has shown us the way. Through prophets we know the desires of God for His children. By living His commandments, we will receive all of the blessings that He has in store for us. As we live the full gospel of Jesus Christ, we will find ourselves blessed and happy both temporally and spiritually. 

Merry Christmas!

Hermana Boyson

Twinning in our Christmas 🐢 necks

Another bites the polvo.

Squire Boone District will never be the same, but Elder Iglinski's arms will always be long enough for a group selfie.

My wonderful parents sent this coat for our recent convert, Andres. Doesn't he look snazzy in it?! 👀 

Goodbye photo for Hermana Corona's last time at the Bosco's.

Muchachos and Miracles

Hey, y'all!

Wow, this week was amazing! We were blessed with miracle after miracle.

On Monday night, we got a call from Lorenzo. He's an inactive member that has called us a few times before for us to come and read with him. Each time he has called, he has told us that he'll send us his new address but then never does. When he called us this time, I was really skeptical. He told us he wanted us to come and teach his six friends. SIX! What the heck?! After talking with him, it changed to his six sons. Needless to say, we were confused and unsure what to think, but he did give us his address this time. We set up an appointment for Wednesday with doubt that it would happen.

On Tuesday we had exchanges with the Louisville Downtown sisters. I got to work with Sister Cook in her area. It was so fun! We taught their recent convert, Peggy, and helped her with familysearch.org. Oh! I rode a city bus for the first time on my mission! It was great! We couldn't proselyte on the bus, but I'm sneaky so we found spots in front of people and then played the video as if we were just watching it for fun. Heh heh. We missed our last bus of the night, so we walked the two miles home in the dark and had a nice chat about life as a missionary. 

On our way home from exchanges on Wednesday, we decided we would faith it and go to Lorenzo's. We drove out into what felt like the middle of nowhere. When we got to his address, we just looked at each other. Two trailers and a white pedofile van. We made our way down the long driveway and parked. We knocked on the trailer doors. While we were waiting for an answer, we looked over and saw a picnic table stained with blood and atop of it were 10-12 severed deer legs. Yikes. We looked on the ground and saw clumps of animal hair. Yikes again. A couple of minutes later, Lorenzo answered. It was like a parade of muchachos. One by one they came out dressed in their jammies. They all brought out chairs and set them up for us and themselves. Oldest to youngest. Juan, Joel (who turned out to be a friend of his sons), Ricardo, Pedro, and Luis. Manuel emerged later on when we were leaving, but he also was just a friend of Lorenzo's sons. We had a lesson on The Restoration. It actually turned out really good! They had a lot of good questions, and we were able to take time to help them understand everything. We set up a return appointment and left feeling grateful and surprised by what had just happened. Miracle!

On Friday we got to go with Sister D to the temple! She has been waiting for 20 years to go and has been really preparing herself since September. Her health has kept her from going, but this time was her time to go! It was so wonderful. It was so good to be back and to share this experience with her. Miracle!

Saturday was a great day. Shelbyville put on a Christmas parade. We decided to hand out candy canes with our cards stapled to them. We had a good time! We got to talk with a lot people about #LightTheWorld and got to see Santa! After that, we went out looking for potential investigators from our area book. We tried Alvaro, but he was busy. We met his mom, wife, and children. His mom invited us in so that we could share #IluminaElMundo. She was really impressed and grateful that we, being young, would be out sharing the gospel. I felt impressed to ask her if she had ever heard the story of when Christ visited the Americas. She said no, and we went right in to teaching The Restoration. God put the words in our mouths as we taught them. I know it because I felt it. I knew that what I was saying wasn't me. Miracle! And we invited them to be baptized, and they accepted! Miracle again! We were very blessed this week. God is so good.

I invite you all to #LightTheWorld. Start now if you haven't yet. It's not too late! As you participate in this service initiative, your burdens will be made light and you will experience a brighter light of Christ. 

❤️ Hermana Boyson

“You Can't Spell LOUISVILLE without LOVE" . . . And graffiti. 

The Peggy face.

Finishing up exchanges. We tried really hard to take a picture with our eyes open.

Cheeseball! 

Handing out candy canes like it's going out of style.

Our driver to the temple wouldn't let us take a picture with Sister D, so we just 🤳 it. 

Becoming Like Christ

Hey, y'all!

What a wonderful week! We had a really nice Thanksgiving. We ate lunch with a family in the ward here and then played a game called Mafia. We also might've taken a nap before the festivities. A missionary's dream. We headed over to another family who we're really close to for dessert and played a game called Trailer Park Wars. Very fitting for Kentucky!  

We had a really neat lesson with a woman named Erica. We were looking for her husband, but he wasn't home. When we first started talking with her, she wasn't too jazzed about it. As we testified of the Book of Mormon, of God's plan for us and of Jesus Christ, her heart began to soften, and she allowed us to set up a return appointment. I LOVE contacts like that. I love being able to see someone's heart change through the Spirit even if the change is little. We're teaching her tonight, and we're excited! God is so good. 

We had exchanges with the Crestwood Sisters, and I got to work with Sister Bolen again. Yep, she is still amazing! We had a really cool conversation at dinner with one of their member families about what we lose out on when we don't have the gospel. We lose out on knowing what God's plan is for His children, how to follow Christ and not just knowing Him and accepting Him as our Savior, but becoming like Him, and about the Atonement. It strengthened my testimony of the gospel.

I have been thinking and studying a lot about the difference between knowing and accepting Christ and becoming like Him. A lot of people that we come in contact with don't want to hear our message because they have already accepted Christ as their Savior. Through my studies, I found these quotes. 

 "...to be converted, you must not only open your heart to a knowledge of the gospel and the love of God, you must practice the gospel law. You cannot fully understand or appreciate it unless you personally apply it in your life. Jesus said that He came to serve, not to be served. So it must be with you. You must look outward and care about others. You can be compassionate; you can be friendly; you can share; you can help others in a hundred small ways. As you do, the gospel of Jesus Christ will become a part of you." -Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Elder Dallin H. Oaks said "Attaining what the Apostle Paul described as “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13) requires far more than acquiring knowledge. It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the plan of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ challenge us to become something. 

As President Thomas S. Monson taught us:

“Essential to the plan [of salvation] is our Savior, Jesus Christ. Without His atoning sacrifice, all would be lost. It is not enough, however, merely to believe in Him and His mission. We need to work and learn, search and pray, repent and improve. We need to know God’s laws and live them. We need to receive His saving ordinances. Only by so doing will we obtain true, eternal happiness."

I know that as we not only learn about Christ but apply His teachings and live His gospel, we can become something more. We can have lasting happiness. We can serve others and share the light of Christ. 

❤️ Hermana Boyson

Exchanges with Crestwood. 

Ice cream shenanigans. 🍦