Eighteen

Hey, y’all! 

Well, 18 months. 18 of the most memorable and cherished months of my life. There aren’t words to describe how I feel. I am forever grateful for these 18 months I have been given to be the Lord’s servant and to love the people of Kentucky and Indiana. My cup runneth over. God is so good. 

See you soon!

❤️ Hermana Boyson

Last P-day together. I love these missionaries

The last lesson with Paisley, Erica, and sweet little Tatum. 

The last supper with our favorite Indiana Italian 🇮🇹

Here lies Hermana Boyson. 18 months and now she’s dead. 💀 

The BEST district in the GKLM. God bless it. 🇺🇸 

One of the blessings of being a missionary is getting to know people like Sister Rebecca and Ed. I got the opportunity to go back to my first area to see my favorite people. 

...and now I’m a dog person. 🐶 ♥️ 

Last exchange 😔 I got to work with Sister Jackson. Man, is she amazing!

My FAVORITE Sister Bolen. She is a 🔥 missionary. 

The traditional Hispanic cake face smashing! 🎂 Happy birthday, Sister Hoyt!

I tear up when I see this picture. These little nuggets will always have a piece of my heart.

Brother and Sister B are the greatest young couple. #familygoals

Going out with a BANG! Love you, Sister Hoyt! 

Keeping Up with the Corydon Sisters

Hey, y’all!

I’ve realized that I don’t know if I can still say “y’all” if I’m in Indiana...any feedback is appreciated.

This week in Corydon...

We are trusted. 

We had MLC on Monday night and Tuesday, and it was SO GOOD. We learned about how much the Lord trusts His missionaries. We got to be trained by Elder Bednar.....I know. I was freaking out too until we were told it was via training videos. Still cool though! The Lord really does trust us because He has given us everything we need to be successful. We have commandments, and we have the Atonement when we fall short. He loves us and has confidence as us as His children. All of us. 

We’re going to hell. 

On Saturday, we were checking out some potential investigators. We were looking for Megan but found her husband, a pastor. When he told us they’re moving to London, we encouraged him to check out mormon.org to find a meetinghouse near him or to talk with the missionaries. This opened the flood gates. He proceeded to tell us that he had met with missionaries a long time ago and rejected the gospel. He gets excited to talk with us because we’re going to hell for not believing in the same Jesus from the Bible. We thanked him for caring about us and said goodbye. As much as we want to teach people about our beliefs, we avoid contentious situations because we can only teach by the Spirit. 

It’s fractured.

About a month ago, I was exercising without shoes on and rolled my foot. No good sounds came from my foot. Well, it was still bothering me so I took measures into my own hands and went to the doctor. A fractured fifth metatarsal. Dag! Lesson learned. Always wear shoes when exercising. And don’t try to be a hero and not go to the doctor when you suspect something’s wrong.

Sister Shumway is AMAZING!

We had exchanges this week, and Sister Shumway from AZ came to Corydon. We had a really cool lesson with Chris, a new investigator we met last week. She is a powerhouse. We were able to set a baptismal date with him! He’s never been baptized and doesn’t know the meaning of baptism....yet. We’re so excited to teach him the gospel!

If there is anything virtuous...we seek after [it].

In my studies this week, I have been focusing on virtue. ​​​​​2 Peter 1:5 “And beside this, giving all ​​​diligence​, add to your faith ​​​virtue​; and to virtue ​​​knowledge​;” When we have faith in Jesus Christ, we know Him, His mission, and how we can become like Him. We are propelled to resist evil and to only do good. We resist the urge to judge harshly, speak unkindly, and to push away the Spirit. It can be a challenge to think, speak, and do good continually, but we can pray for the strength to resist temptation and do what is right and quickly repent of any sins or wrongdoings. 

See you soon! Loves! 

❤️ Hermana Boyson

MLC with some of my favorite people. ✌🏼 

NWAL // New Albany Zone representin’

Exchanges with the Jasper Herms! 

Exchanges with the NWAL 🚲 Sisters. ✌🏼 

🎵 The rains came down and the floods came up 🎵 

Chili and Church Attendance

Hey! Ahem....two weeks until I see you all!

Wow, we had a great week. We were really discouraged about not being able to find people to teach. We committed ourselves and prayed HARD for the Lord to help us with our desires. This week we found SIX new people to teach! SIX! One is a potential family, so we’re really excited about that. 

Okay, here’s the COOLEST thing that has happened lately. We have been teaching Suzanna, a less-active/inactive member. We have really been trying to help build her faith, and we’ve actually been able to see her more than anyone else who we teach. Well, we told her about our ward’s Chili Cookoff on Saturday, and SHE CAME! She was nervous because she didn’t want people making a big fuss out of her, but people were just genuinely happy to see her. Theeeeen, SHE CAME TO CHURCH! Sister Hoyt and I were walking to the front doors to set up Spanish translation, and in walks Suzanna with some of the Spanish members. Holy cannoli! We about died from excitement. We kept our cool, but inside I was like a fan girl seeing her celebrity crush for the first time. It was so neat to see her. We know that Heavenly Father answered her prayers and ours. We know she is trying to do what will bring her more happiness.

On Friday we got our trunky papers aka flight plans. 😉 See you all March 7th!

❤️ Hermana Boyson

We saw this church sign on our way home from a dinner appointment. Hilarious!

We got Valentine’s Day gifts from one of our favorite families...

...and then got heart attacked ❤️ 💜 by our Young Women! 

The Nueva Albany Elders are thee COOLEST. We do language study together twice a week. It’s a party! 

Lice and Listening to the Spirit

Hey y’all! 

What a week. I have had a sinus infection and probably some kind of virus, so I was down for the count for most of the week. On Saturday, I got a new companion! Hermana Hamilton went home for medical reasons and plans to return in six months. Sister Hoyt is my new gal. She’s so great. She grew up all over, but she’s currently from Perry, Utah. Hot dog! We’ve been having a good time together. 

So far we’ve evaded lice, taught a few lessons, and made it out alive from church. I spoke in our ward and while up on the stand, I noticed that the first speaker wasn’t there. At 9:05, he still was MIA. Soooo, I got to speak for 25 minutes on listening to and recognizing the Spirit. Thank goodness for the guidance of the Spirit! 

So Sister Hoyt doesn’t speak Spanish, so she kinda got thrown into the Spanish branch. Our sweet branch president find out she kind of plays piano, so she got to play for sacrament meeting. She was really nervous but did amazing! 

I wish I had more to share. Oh! My homecoming talk will be...

Sunday, March 18 @ 9am at the stake center in South Ogden. 

See you soon, chicos! 

❤️ Hermana Boyson 

At interviews with President and Sister Hughes 

Hermana Hamilton’s goodbye lunch with Bishop and his wife.

We made lots of visits to members so that Hermana Hamilton could say goodbye. 😢 

AMEN 🙌🏾 

Ten Points for Gryffindor!

Hola hola! 

This week in Corydon, IN...

We found Joanna!

We were working in Georgetown and wanted to visit some less-actives. At first she wasn't too jazzed about us coming in, but as we opened our mouths and showed her love, she invited us in. She got baptized when she was 21 and hasn't been to church in 25 years. It was so cool to teach her! We showed her a video about daily spiritual sustenance and how it applies to the Israelites receiving manna, and she paused and said, "This is so weird because I was just reading about this in the Bible. God gave them enough for only one day, and when they tried to store it, it went bad. It's the same thing with reading and praying." Yes! Joanna, you got it! 10 points for Gryffindor! We set up a return appointment. Later in the week, she told us she's doesn't want us to come by because she's having contradicting feelings. Bummer city. But we planted a seed and helped her to feel the Spirit. We know that God will take care of the rest.

We tracted a trailer park and found Mike!

Mike talked with missionaries a couple of years ago, and when we asked if he knew any Mormons, he said he used to work with a guy who turned out to be a member we eat with every Monday. Hooty hoo! We're really excited to go teach him. 

We had a bomb Zone Conference...

...and I gave my departing testimony. How surreal. I couldn't believe that I was one of the missionaries sitting up on the stand talking about how much I have loved this time to be a servant of the Lord. I can't imagine what my life would be like without my mission. I am eternally grateful to all of those who helped me get here. Whether big or small, your influence was for good. God knew that I needed to be refined. He knew my desires, and He knew that He could make more out of me than I could make out of myself.

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life." - Ezra Taft Benson

Love youins!

❤️ Hermana Boyson

We'll see you in a month! 

What do you see? ....the mooooon! 🔎🔍

Wrecks and Responsibility

This week's happenings...(sorry, pictures are all I have time for today!)

Said goodbye to Shelbyville and one of my sweetest friend.

 

The Paris 4 back at it again! The blessings of transfers. 

We helped one of our Spanish members get their car towed!

Spanish missionaries unite! We got to hear from Elder Robbins of the Seventy about being 100% responsible.

Saying 'Goodbye' to Shelbyville

Hey, y'all!

We have been blessed with so many miracles this week. Sandra prayed out loud! And because of technology, she has been able to listen to the Book of Mormon since she has challenges with reading comprehension. Alexi is awesome. He understands the Plan of Salvation and is working to get to church. He works Saturdays and Sundays, and only has 30 minutes for lunch. We know he'll get to church if he works for it. Noemy is amazing. We had a really neat Plan of Salvation lesson which ended in happy tears. Jose is a great help to her. All of these investigators' schedules allow us to meet with them multiple times during the week, and they're ready and willing to meet with us. 

Well, transfer calls came again. I'll be leaving my home for the last 7 months, and I'll be going back to Corydon! I'm so so sad to leave Shelbyville. I have met so many wonderful people and have served with great missionaries. Corydon was one of my most loved areas even though I was only there for 5 weeks. 

My new address is 

2250 Heritage Way NW #4 

Corydon, IN 47112

It's so strange to be going into my last transfer. I don't know how I got here. I remember thinking to myself that I couldn't continue, but God provided a way for me to serve here. My brother shared this with me about the Atonement. "My relationship with the Savior has grown in such a way that I realized that the Atonement isn't just for repenting of sin or to be comforted in hard times, but it's a power that can heal us from our weaknesses. It changes us if we allow it to and if we put the effort into wanting to change. It makes up the difference in our effort to be obedient to things that seem like they're too difficult to live up to." I have seen this work in my life as I have served these 16.5 months. Although I still have a long way to go, I have been able to make changes in my life through the Atonement. I never realized until I read his words that it was the Atonement working in my life. God is good. 

¡Hasta luego!

Hermana Boyson

Our cute district attempting to fight frostbite.

Exchanges with Lex Norte Part II. Love these hermanitas!

Churros auténticos with Noemy. Mmmmm!

Alexi with his Libro de Mormón ❤️ 😢 

Our sweet Sandra. She prayed out loud at the end of our lesson, and we about burst into tears. 

We tried to take a selfie, but a member insisted on taking our picture for us. Should've insisted on the selfie. Mis amados hermanos y hermanas. 💕 

Goodbye dinner with my favorite people. 

Answered Prayers

Hey, y'all!

 We had a really great week! We set three new baptismal dates! It's amazing how many blessings we are seeing as we follow the standards of excellence set by our mission president. 

This week we received a referral from the Elders, Alexi, who is 17 years old and moved here from Honduras less than 6 months ago. We had a Restoration lesson with him, and when we held up the Book of Mormon, he said he had one back in Honduras. He went on to say that he had been meeting with the missionaries there twice a week! AND he was preparing to be baptized but then moved! What?! It was a MIRACLE that the Elders found them. We think he'll progress to baptism very quickly. 

We had another lesson with Sandy. She's amazing. We found her while looking for a potential investigator. She read the Introduction! She didn't understand a lot of it because she has a hard time comprehending when she reads, but she read! We set her up with an audio version of the Book of Mormon so that she can listen instead. She's amazing. She struggles with bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression, so she is nervous about church. Please pray for her that she will be able to be strengthened in her trials. 

We had a lesson with Jose on Saturday. He has been struggling lately due to some anti he found on YouTube. We read the olive tree allegory and helped him to pray with specific questions. Yesterday at church, we had a special stake conference broadcast for our region. Elder Bednar, Sister Marriott, and Bishop (oh, dag. I don't remember his name) spoke to us, and you would think that they we speaking right to Jose. Then last night, we had the opportunity to watch the LDS Devotional for Young Adults, and afterward, Jose said "Wow, that was awesome. My doubts are gone, and I received answers to all of my questions." What an amazing day. God knows His children. 

In my studies this week, I read Jacob chapter 5 about the allegory of the olive tree. Each time it says "It grieveth me that I should lose this tree," I inserted my name in place of "this tree." It grieveth me to lose Sarah. It grieveth me to lose David. It grieveth me to lose Jose or Jacob or Emilee. He nourishes us and stretches out His hand to us so that we won't be lost. He is ALWAYS there, and He will ALWAYS provide us with the things we need in order to return back to Him.

❤️ 

Hermana Boyson

Well, we tried to look cool. 😎 

Exchanges with the Crestwood seesters. 👭👭

We're taking President's commitment to work out every day and eat healthy, and it's already paying off! 💪🏼 

Pizza and The Power of Prayer

Heyo! 

This week has been FREEZING. That's all. That's all there is to report. It's literally freezing here, and I'm pretty sure that I got frost nip on my toes. 

Okay, there's obviously more to tell! We had a great and productive week! We passed our goal for new investigators by 1. I thought we had surpassed it by four people, but our area book miscounted. That was a short lived celebration. But hey, Heavenly Father still blessed us with 8 new people to teach!

Jose went to the temple! And Satan really tried to mess it up. 😡 When we got there, the front desk told us that Thursdays are reservations only. It gets worse. The ward who had scheduled baptisms had 70 active youth. 70. Oh my gatos. "You can come back tomorrow for open baptisms." No way. We were determined to stay until they were finished. Well, because there were so many youth, they staggered them so that a group was coming every hour until close. At this point, Jose had walked out into the waiting room completely discouraged and eyes full of tears. This is when we took Satan by the throat. Hermana Rodriguez turned to me and suggested that we go somewhere to say a prayer. I spotted a couch, and we took off. We sat down and pleaded for heavenly help. When we opened our eyes, Jose was being ushered in to get changed. The bishop of the ward came out and told us that they'd pause and let Jose in. Wow. We wanted to cry! It was a miracle! And he had a really neat experience. 

We had to drop Vilma. It was a really cool lesson. Jose came with another young adult member, and they were both amazing. Jose will be such a powerful missionary one day. Sadly, Vilma's heart wasn't open to our message. She doesn't believe in the Book of Mormon, and she wants to teach us about her Bible. We hope that someday she will be humble and open to accepting the fulness of the gospel. 

We got free pizza! But it was so much more than that. It was a miracle. We met up with the Carrollton Sisters in La Grange for exchanges, and right as we pulled up, we looked over and saw someone waving at us. After I shielded my eyes from the sun, it was the La Grange Elders! The member who was driving them was buying them pizza and offered to buy our two companionships pizza, too! The miraculous part was that we had a 5-7 minute window of that happening. We were meeting up, praying, and then getting on our ways. The other miracle was that it wasn't even dinner time! Only miracle workers buy pizza at 3:30pm. Heavenly Father takes care of His children. 

I have been studying in Doctrine and Covenants in the sections that were revelations given to those who desired to assist the Lord in His work. Wow. Amazing! I learned so much and felt the Spirit testify that these things are true. We need to keep the commandments, beware of pride, have faith, be prayerful, feast upon the words of Christ. If we do these things, we will have "the power of God unto the convincing of men." A member a missionary!

❤️ Hermana Boyson

Free pizza miracle! Thank you, Brother Joe!

Exchanges with Carrollton Tiger. Rawr! 

Our investigator, Karla, gave us tamales auténticos de Guatemala! Bien rico!

The BEST member presents award goes to Danna and Jose. Can't you see future missionary tags on their shirts?

Intercambios with the Hurstbourne Hermanas. They're doing so great especially as new missionaries!

Hot chocolate and cider to cute frost nip. ☕️ 

Music Videos, Mud Masks, & Muchas Bendiciones

Hello from Kentucky!

Oooooweee! This week was so good! This week in Shelbyville. . .

Vilma committed to read 1 Nephi. ALL of it. 

We had another lesson with Vilma on baptism and the Book of Mormon. It's simple that if we truly believe in Christ, we will believe in the Book of Mormon. We know that if Vilma opens up her heart to the Book of Mormon, she will know of its truthfulness. Please pray for her that her heart will be open so that the Spirit can take the message into her heart. 

Jessica had a hard time accepting that Christ established His church.

Wow, this lesson was a good one! We started out teaching Jessica's teenage daughter while we waited for Jessica to get home. It's possible we found Jessica first in order to meet her daughter. She was really open to our message. Jessica couldn't believe that Christ organized a church when during His earthly ministry. She doesn't believe the Bible teaches this doctrine. We challenged her to read a few scriptures from the Bible that teach us that He really did organize His church to help her to understand that His church is restored. We know that we can bring the message unto the heart, but the Spirit can only bring it into the heart if the receiver allows it. 

Carla prayed every day!

We had a lesson with Carla, and although she didn't read from the Book of Mormon, she prayed every day! She is such a sweetheart and has great potential. We talked to her more about how obedience brings forth blessings. We know that she wants to do what God asks, so we will keep working with her to help her see that there are blessings in store. 

We said "adiós" to 2017 and "bienvenido!" to 2018! 

This year has been a gift to me. It's beyond words. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for calling me to serve in Kentucky. The highlight of 2017 was getting to serve with Hermana Fluckiger and seeing my brother, Jose, enter the waters of baptism and then receive the gift of the Holy Ghost as he was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have grown closer to my Savior as I have relied on Him to strengthen me. I have seen my Spanish grow as Heavenly Father has blessed me with the gift of tongues. Although I'm not fluent, God has given me the ability to share my testimony with those who need to hear it in their language. I have learned that the Lord blesses those who desire to assist in His works. As we strive to develop the attributes of Christ, it helps us qualify to do His work. I have been able to love my brothers and sisters and to feel of God's love for them. 

In 2017, how has your personal relationship with the Savior grown? What have you learned that will help you most in your life? What do you want to accomplish in 2018?

Have courage and be kind, 

Hermana Boyson

On our way to Crestwood for exchanges, we got a little lost. Oopsies.

Mud masks with Hermana Foster! 

Ending our exchange in 18 degrees! ❄️ 

The next GKLM Stars ⭐️ 💃🏻 

On Jan 1, 2018, at 2:19 PM, Sarah Boyson