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 

Christ and Christmas

Hey, y'all! 

Merriest Christmas! I hope everyone's was merry and BRIGHT. 

We had a great Christmas here in Shelbyville. On Christmas Eve some ward members surprised us with stockings at church. It's humbling to be thought of and that others went out of their way for us. They gave up their time and money for us. I love this ward and the love we feel here. After church we had a really cool lesson with Adán. We had set up this appointment last week, so we weren't sure if it would go through. We showed up, and he was ready! The Spirit was really strong as we taught him about the nature of God and the sacrifice of His Son for all of us. We talked about our purpose here on earth and taught him more about it. It's amazing that people truly don't understand why they are here. We're really excited to go back and teach him more! 

After our lesson, we spent the evening with a family in the ward who took us in because we didn't have a dinner for Christmas Eve. The mom has cancer and still invited us over. Another humbling experience for me. We ate their traditional Christmas Eve meal, clam chowder and biscuits, and then played Telestrations. It was a wonderful Christmas Eve. 

Christmas was so great! We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast at a member's home, and she gave us personalized stockings filled with candy. She even gave us UK pins (even though U of L is the better of the two 😉)! We came home and opened presents and took our Christmas naps. So great. We delivered gifts to our Hispanic members and then headed to the church where I talked to my family. It was a great time. It was weird to know that the next time I see them, I won't be in KY anymore. After my video call, we went to another family in the ward for a steak and potato dinner (yum!). We ended our Christmas with a game of Red Neck Life, and I won! It was a Christmas miracle! ✨ 

Although Christmas can be very commercialized, we have the blessing of knowing, truly and wholeheartedly knowing the real meaning of Christmas. I am blessed to know that God gave us a matchless gift--His Son, Jesus Christ. His birth means to me that I have the ability to live on this earth to experience everlasting happiness. It means that I can repent every day for the mistakes that I make. It means living with my family for eternity. It means knowing who I am and whose I am. It means teaching others about the same thing. It means everything to me. He is the GIFT. 

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son..."

❤️ Hermana Boyson

Exchanges with Hermana Andrew. She's only been out two weeks, and she's killing it with Spanish!

We do exchanges right. 

At the fiesta navideña. This photo booth frame is homemade!

 with the Hurstbourne hermanas

Video chatting with (part of) my cute family. Estoy feliz. ❤️ 

On Dec 26, 2017, at 2:56 PM, 

Adiós, Muchachos

Hey, y'all! 

This week in Shelbyville...

We said 'adiós' to our muchachos on Wednesday. 

They moved back on Saturday, and I was sadder than I thought I'd be! They are good young guys who seemed to be searching for purpose. We hope that they will recognize the missionaries and will have a desire to feel the Spirit again. ¡Adiós, muchachos!

Carla accepted a baptismal date! 

Carla is a young mom who has been in and out of contact with missionaries for the past two years. She recently had a baby and wants him to be raised in a religion. We had a great lesson on The Plan of Salvation with her, and she seemed really open to it. We plan to see her tonight to help her to continue to progress. Please pray that she will see the importance of what we share.

José shared his conversion story!

Wow, this moment was unreal. Each month, our mission hosts a Sunday night fireside for investigators. Converts are selected to share their stories, and we felt like Jose should share his story. He killed it! He was a little hesitant as he walked up to the pulpit, but he spoke with so much confidence. Even though most of the audience spoke English, the Spirit was there. The ironic part was that there were no Hispanic investigators there to hear his story in pure Spanish. We believe that this was a moment for him more than anyone else. 

This transfer, our studies and trainings are focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ. As I was studying this week, I felt an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the ability to repent daily. Because of Christ, we can become closer to God. We don't have to be spiritually separated from him if we make a mistake. We can be forgiven and live His commandments. In turn, He blesses us with what we need. God is good. 

Merriest Christmas 🎄 

❤️ Hermana Boyson 

I guess we worked so hard this week that we didn't get any pictures. This is the best you're gonna get--Giving approval to M for her cute Christmas package. Missionaries live for the gospel and handwritten ANYTHING.