Hello!‏

 HELLO HELLO! :) I miss all of you so much! It's been so good to hear from you! Thank you for the emails and love and support! XOXO

I had my birthday this week! One month on the mission! So crazy! We went to Coldstone to celebrate! We call it birthday surprizzle! :)

This week was busy busy busy! We contacted and taught a couple new investigators! A couple of them are moms with lots of children and they are so hopeful and such good people! Cathy has three daughters and she lives with her aunt. Her husband is in rehab for drugs-- so sad. Her daughters are so adorable! SO adorable! One of them really liked us sisters and was talking to us a lot. I think she is 5 or 6 and I asked her if she knew she could pray whenever she wanted to and she didn't! I told her Heavenly Father loves her SO much and wants her to pray to Him. She had the biggest smile on her face and said she would pray. I can't believe how much my life has been influenced by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I grew up always knowing that I had a loving Heavenly Father and that I could always pray to Him for anything. I am so grateful for this opportunity to share these simple divine truths with everyone. How different can this little girls life be knowing she can pray... It just amazes me.

We are also teaching a boy named RJ--he is 11 and has a baptismal date for August 16th! He is super funny and really crazy! We have been reading the Book of Mormon war stories with him and he is enjoying it very much haha he has been taught a lot by other missionaries so he knows his stuff, but never had the desire to get baptized. Now that he does have that desire to follow Christ we are REALLY excited to help him reach his goal! :) We drew out one of our lessons using side walk chalk with him (all of those years coming up with creative things to do for babysitting paid and working for A & R paid off!:)) It worked really well!

One of our Less Active members we visit, Lynn Brant struggles with mental and emotional issues and has a hard time attending all the meetings at church because of anxiety. We went to her house and shared with her the power the Atonement can have in her life, but leaning on Jesus Christ because He suffered for ALL pains and sorrows in this life. It was a really great lesson and we figured out the reason why she doesn't stay for all three meetings is because she doesn't want to get picked on to read during classes because she can't read that well. We told her that she has NOTHING to worry about and that she won't have to read if she doesn't want to! It was a miracle we found that out!

Thursday night we had a big ward Pioneer Day party with cobbler and ice cream! It was super fun and a BUNCH of our investigators showed up! BEST DAY EVER! We had a great time and got to know the ward better. 

Friday night we ate dinner at the Evan's house (I love this family so much!!!) Both parents work for the LAPD so they are super intense and super awesome! I freaking love them. We had quesadillas so it was a great day. hahaha their daughter Emilee and her friend Bianca came out with us sisters to a few lessons and it was super fun! We taught a new investigator named Sonya and it went really well!

We ran into a retired couple cleaning up a house the rent out and they weren't very interested in the message we had to share but were definitely interested about how the whole missionary thing works out and how we get assigned to the different areas and what we actually do on a mission. Towards the end of the conversation the husband was like "we have two sons and my wife has always wanted a blonde and blue-eyed daughter!" hahahahaa so hilarious, we both just laughed!

Both Maren and her companion could be that daughter!!!!

SUNDAY! The greatest day ever! Letty (our investigator we have been teaching and who also came to the activity on Thursday) came to church! So did this new investigatory Free! He is 16 and wants to get involved with the Youth in the church! Happy day! And then Lynn Brant came to all 3 meetings and she was so happy and I just love her so much! She is kind of crazy, but it makes me love her that much more. RJ also came to church! He read an Article of Faith in primary and we got to watch him to that, which I think meant a lot to him! :)

Welp, I love you all so much and I am just loving being a missionary. I know I am in the right place at the right time. Heavenly Father loves each of us and knows us individually! He answers our prayers. THE CHURCH IS TRUE. I PROMISE. :) XOXO

Love,

Sister Loar

Pictures of the Missionary Apartment Life

Oh the Simple Life!!

 Little Bathroom

Big Closet

No Furniture.....

Nice Kitchen!!!

At least the cockroach is dead!!! 

THE MISSION LIFE IS THE LIFE FO MEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a missionary, I'm a straight up M, the mission life is the life fo MEEE!

Hello my favorite humans! How I miss your faces so so so much!

I am probably the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. I just love love LOVE doing the Lord's work!

Palmdale is the windiest place on this earth. Wearing a skirt is a STRUGGLE in the wind....ha ha!! We call each other Sister Monroe and Sister Medusa with our crazy hair and skirts.

We have a new family we are teaching! The Chans, are the funniest and most awesome family ever. They are Filipino (from Manilla--- mom tell Rose! :)) The dad grew up a member of the church and was baptized, but after he turned 19 he stopped going and kind of changed his lifestyle... BUT he wants his family to have what he had when he was growing up, and that is the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Alfredo Jr. (the dad-- hilarious human) has an addiction to cigarettes and wants to stop, so we will be hopefully helping him out with that. His wife, Hilda and his son Alfredo the 3rd had their first lesson with us this week! We taught them the Plan of Salvation because Alfredo Jr.'s mother who was staying with them, just passed away and they are having a hard time with that. Their daughter CJ (She has a disability but the sweetest girl you ever did meet) just loves me and the feelings are mutual. She is so awesome! They came to church yesterday! THE HAPPIEST DAY!!!! So excited to see how the gospel can change their lives! We are teaching them on Tuesday and can't wait for that! I just love their family!!!

Lettie is our other investigator we were teaching this last week and she also came to church! We taught her the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation this week and I invited her to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized!!!! MY FIRST BAPTISMAL DATE! HAPPY DAY! September 27th is the day, because her husband wont be home from a very long business trip so  we might be moving it up as we teach her hopefully. So excited to be teaching her on Tuesday as well.

 Sunday night, last night, we were out contacting some of our potential investigators and we had visited these people's house a lot over the last week and we felt super bad for annoying them.. BUT we decided we needed to go anyways. (This house is directly across from our church building) So Tristain (the husband, who we hadn't met yet answered the door) started to talk to us and was SO NICE. SO NICE. I could tell he was trying to let us off easy and just tell us he didn't need to hear our message because they were already religious. I was totally feeling the Spirit suuuper strong and started to ask him about his family and how our message can help him and his family be SO much happier then they already are. He was super interested and the Spirit was sooo strong that I wasn't even sure how the things that were coming out of my mouth were making sense.. but they did and he was really listening. I told him how his life and his family's lives could be changed by having a knowledge of a prophet of God on the earth today who can help them and guide them! He said that he was super faithful and always searching for answers from God and reading the Bible. He said he believed that if God wanted him to know about Joseph Smith being a prophet and about the Book of Mormon being true, God would have lead him to the Mormon church. WHEN HE SAID THAT I ABOUT DIED. So I told him how we had been prompted to come to his door even though we knew it might be annoying to him and his wife, and that we know that Heavenly Father sent us to give him the opportunity to find out if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was the true church. He told us he would need to pray about it!! We were like alrighty!!!!! That is A-Okay!!!! hahaha so he said we could come back sometime next week to see how they were doing on that. SO YAY! MIRACLES!

I am so sad I don't have enough time to explain all of our experiences, just know that Heavenly Father loves all of us and knows our individual needs!

Every day I am just amazed at the people in this area! I truly do love them and am so happy to be a missionary. I love it so much! I feel so blessed to have this opportunity! Thank you EVERYONE for the support and love. You are the greatest friends and family alive! XOXO

Love all of you!

Love,

Sister Loar

MY FAVORITE HUMANS ~ I'M IN CALI!‏

Hello everyone! 

I made it to Bakersfield on Monday! 

We spent the afternoon at the Mission President's home and I went and knocked doors for my first time with Sister Lords (I know funny, and she is also from Idaho Falls!) She was so awesome! We just did an area in Bakersfield for the afternoon (I DIED IT WAS SO HOT) but it was the best experience ever! 

We stayed at a member's home that night after dinner at the mission home. The next day we went to Transfer Meeting and met our companions and found out where we will be serving for the next six weeks! I am in PALMDALE! It is such a fun area! I love it so so so much! It reminds me a lot of Tempe area in Arizona! There are palm trees everywhere so I love that! And my companion is Sister Barney, from Texas (a little town near Houston, but she doesn't have a southern accent or anything ha ha) She is really nice and a sweet girl! She loves singing. All the time. She especially loves cheesy EFY songs. We get along pretty well! She has only been out for almost 5 months... yeah only 5 months! I think we are both learning a lot right now. President Wilson told me that I need to be ready in like four months to start training! Scary!

This last week was a struggle at the beginning! I WAS AND AM STILL JUST SO READY TO TEACH. But I haven't been able to do that a whole lot cause Sister Barney and I are WHITE WASHING our area! We replaced a set of elders so it has been super hard not knowing anything or any of our investigators in this area. Basically, the first two days here, were meeting the Bishop and Ward Mission Leader and planning and trying to get into contact with our investigators. I really struggled with that, cause I just want to get out there and teach! But it has been a good learning experience!

We have met a lot of people in our ward (our area is half of the Palmdale 5th ward, we share the ward with the Zone Leaders)! I LOVE ALL OF THEM! They are the sweetest people ever and I can't wait to get to know them even more! Church was super fun and the ward is so excited to have sisters finally! They haven't had sisters for like 15 years someone said! So yay! Exciting! Hopefully that means there are a lot of people that we will teach! The ward is awesome though, they feed us every night! WE ARE SO LUCKY! We contacted a lot of Less Active members and have been setting up a lot of appointments for next week. We have tracted for a couple of hours each day to try to get to know the area and get a few more investigators! While we were tracting a couple of days ago, a crazy lady started yelling at us about how Joseph Smith changed the Bible and wrote the Book of Mormon and told us what we believed... It was a challenge not to just yell right back to her about how wrong she was! Hahaha it wasn't too discouraging, just gotta keep going and finding people who have open and soft hearts.

Our apartment is really nice! It isn't technically in our area because there are no apartment buildings where we cover! We have A/C though! HALLELUJIA WE HAVE A/C. Hahaha it isn't as hot here as it is in Bakersfield and it cools down a little at night, so that is nice! I really do love it!! It is super dry here, not humid. Also we have an In n Out, Panera Bread, Jamba Juice, Walmart, Trader Joe's and everything so I am just feeling so lucky! I am making Sister Barney go to In n Out after this because I just need it hahaha. Also our neighbor is the sweetest black woman ever! Her name is Constance and we see her almost every day when we are going in and out of the apartment. She is just so nice and asks us how we are all the time. What a woman. :) Sorry this email is all over the place, it is so hard to remember everything and include as much as possible!

So there is a family in the ward, the Vickrey's, the mom and one of the daughters are recent converts to the church and we are going to be teaching a couple of the kids and hopefully the dad. He seems to have warmed up to us sisters stopping by so hopefully he will be open to hearing more about the gospel! They are having a really hard time with medical problems and other issues, so please pray for them and pray that they will have the faith to keep going! I TAUGHT MY FIRST REAL INVESTIGATOR LESSON YESTERDAY! We got a referral randomly in a text earlier this week, from church headquarters that said to contact this lady named Lettie at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday at her address. So we stopped by but no one answered so we left a Jesus Christ card with our name and number on it hoping she would call us or something. We never heard from her so we stopped by yesterday after dinner (at the Evans family's house, we had pancakes for dinner and it was the best day of my life. I love their family they are crazy and just so fun) haha and LETTIE WAS HOME! she was so confused because she never sent in any requests to see the missionaries... but I know that it was Heavenly Father somehow because she was totally searching for a church to believe in! She is catholic, but doesn't go to church and she believes some of the catholic beliefs but not everything. We asked if we could come and share what our church is about and she totally let us in (kind of hesitant but she let us in!) and we got to teach her the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she is going to pray about the Book of Mormon to see if it is true and I was just ready to bust a move and dance my little heart out after she closed her door! BEST DAY EVER. The spirit was really strong and I am praying she recognizes her answer!

I LOVE TALKING TO PEOPLE. hahaha it is probably the scariest but most exciting thing ever. I love getting to know them and hearing about their lives. But my favorite thing is talking to them about Jesus Christ. I get to testify every day of my life for the next 17.5 months about our Heavenly Father's love for them and that He gave us this beautiful plan to return to live with Him. Jesus Christ is our Savior. I love Him and have come to know Him more and more each day. I learned in the MTC from one of my teachers that sacrifice is the only way we can truly try to repay our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. That is all He asks of us, is to sacrifice a little bit of our time and our efforts to becoming more like our Savior, Jesus Christ and serving those around us. In the eternal perspective of things, this whole "mission, not being able to see family and friends and continue my life" thing is the only thing I want to be doing! I wouldn't change this for anything in the world and I am so grateful for this honor and opportunity to wear Jesus Christ's name on my nametag every day. I can't express how much I have learned and gained from just these last few weeks as a missionary! I can't wait to see what the rest brings.

Sorry this is another novel, there is just so much that happens each and every day and there is no way to include everything! I LOVE YOU ALL!

I am so sorry for not being able to write everyone back! Know that I miss and love all of you beautiful creatures and that I am praying for you!

Love,

Sister Loar

Happy 4th of July

HELLO MY FAVORITE HUMANS ~ I'M ALIVE

Ohhhh my heavens, where do I begin!? I can't believe I made it to P-day finally. Hallelujah, miracles happen! hahaha

Alright, this has been the CRAZIEST and longest week of my entire life... and it hasn't even been a full week yet! I will try my best to remember everything and tell you all of my feelings, but it will most likely come out in a mush of wonderful, craziness.

WEDNESDAY. The first day was so surreal. It was a blur of psycho newness everywhere hahaha. I kept having to remind myself that I was a missionary and that this was real life. I met my companion and I just love her to pieces! She is from upstate NY but only moved there about six months ago, so she is originally from Michigan and kind of all over because her family moved a lot. Her name is Sister Kurtz and she is so awesome. She surprises me everyday, and it makes me laugh inside! hahaha she is a super soft spoken and the sweetest human you will ever meet. But in reality she loves to do exciting things, like her favorite thing to do was to go 95 miles an hour on the deserted high way (that is a 55 mi/hr road) in her Jeep Cherokee named Car-zilla. Hahaha I freaking love her. So funny. Also I am learning a lot about my weaknesses and strengths by having a companion with me at all times which has been such an awesome experience so far. I TALK SO MUCH. Sister Kurtz is a saint for having to deal with me all the time hahaha. She probably thinks I'm absolutely nuts, cause I am! :)

After you guys dropped me off I got my name tag... oh how I love my name tag! It is probably my favorite thing to put on before going out everyday to classes and breakfast and such. Being called Sister Loar has been an adjustment but everyday I like the way it sounds more and more. It is definitely a struggle adjusting to the MTC schedule. Every minute is planned out so we are running around like psycho sisters trying not to be late to everything. It is so fun haha!

My teachers are Brother Gardner and Brother Watkins and they are the best people ever! I love them so much! I have never learned so much and felt the spirit so strong and so constantly in my entire life. Every day I am just so exhausted and all I have done is sit in a class room all day and then teach our "investigators". OH MAN AM I LEARNING SO MUCH ABOUT TEACHING. There is so much more to it than I could have ever imagined. It is so hard. I feel like part of why I am so exhausted is because I am constantly trying to focus SO HARD on everything, especially when you are teaching. 

I know it sounds weird to say this, but I have learned my purpose as a missionary these last few days. I knew before I left what I was going to get myself into, with the help of all of you awesome examples that are now returned missionaries, but boy oh boy, this work just blows my mind. IT IS AMAZING. My purpose is to bring others unto Christ and by doing that we invite them to have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of their sins and mistakes, be baptized and cleansed through the power of the Priesthood (just as Jesus Christ showed us through His example of obedience), receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost (a member of the Godhead that we get as a companion that we can always have with us) and endure to the end (continue in faith and obedience). HOW BEAUTIFUL IS THAT. That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Those 5 things are what the Gospel of Jesus Christ consists of. Heavenly Father has the most beautiful plan laid out for all of us and we just have to choose to follow Him and come unto Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer. I cannot explain how much I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.

Also the last couple of days we have been playing volleyball in the sand volleyball pits at the MTC fields! It's been so much fun! We usually play with our Zone which consists of the best humans ever. I love them! We have the best Zone ever!

My district is hilarious. They are so funny. The elders.. oh the elders. How they make me laugh so hard with all of their quirky ways hahaha! Elder Freeman- from Virginia, is a stud, he came out a little bit later than what usual elders do, he is 20, but he is definitely here for the right reasons. His comp Elder Feller- from Eagle Mountain, UT is a poly! Samoan baby in the house hahaha he just barely graduated from high school and he played rugby. He is pretty cool and he always catches me at my worst moments and just laughs at me all the time. hahaha it is so funny. He always looks at me when another elder in the zone says something (usually Elder Chandler.. who is an interesting person who says interesting things, but is also a child of God and a great person) and he always is laughing at my facial expressions... I probably should work on that. hahaha

Anyways Elder Koch (pronounced Cook... I know weird) anyways he is a ginger and a pretty stellar one too. He is from Texas and Canada and loves hockey and is fun. His comp Elder Heckle.. Heckel...(I cant remember how to spell it... but I call him Elder Pickle... hahahahaha IT CRACKS ME UP EVERY TIME) He is so funny. He says the FUNNIEST things and has the most interesting past and childhood.. he is from Midway, UT and has some interesting/weird life stories which make for a super interesting lunch time. hahaha so funny! The other day he was eating a gluten free chocolate cookie..(he is allergic to gluten.. he said he falls asleep when he eats bread... hahahaha so funny) anyways he ate a couple of bites and throws it on his plate and yells, "This cookie was made by SATAN!" Hahahaha oh my, it was so funny. I'm the only one that thinks he is funny.

The district that just left was so hilarious, some of them leave today too. (THE ONES LEAVING TODAY ARE GOING TO THE BOISE IDAHO MISSION WOOP WOOP I LOVE THEM) A lot of the elders in that district though love to talk about their guns and knives and hunting and their awesome trucks... Hahahaa I laugh every time, so typical.

SUNDAY IS THE BEST DAY EVER HERE.

Yesterday was SO great. We watched Music and the Spoken Word (which was 4th of July edition---so good!) and listened to Sister Marriott, the second counselor in the General YW Presidency. She is a convert to the church and has the cutest southern accent. She was awesome and taught me a lot about what I need to do as a missionary.

Church and meetings were so great! We watched Elder Bednar's talk, "The Character of Christ" and it blew my mind. IT WAS SO GOOD AND I HAVE SO MUCH WORK TO DO. 

We all need to be drawing closer to Christ every single day, but doing what He would do (serving others and always caring about others and never turning inward selfishly) which is only possible by applying the Atonement in our lives. 

I love you all so much and am SO SO SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF YOU! Thanks for the letters and emails everyone, and I am so sorry if I don't write you for a while! We don't have much extra time ever! But anyways I ran into some homies here and it has made life here so much better. I love seeing familiar faces and hearing from all of you! MUCHO LUVO THE GOSPEL IS TRUE. I PROMISE.

Love,

Sister Loar

Sisters going to Cali

P-Day Adventures

The Big Day!!!!! June 25, 2014

The Last Family Picture For 18 Months

Who's going to be taller when Maren gets home?  

HERE WE GO!

It has been completely insane these last six weeks. School ended, went on a couple of trips to see friends before leaving on the mish, my brother came home (yayyyyy so happy!!!!!), my brother and I took a road trip down to see some family and friends in Utah and AZ, then our homecoming and farewell were combined for a glorious weekend with family and friends, and then a family vacation to Cali (we passed by the sign for Bakersfield.... super weird and the whole "leaving on a mission thing" is becoming SO REAL... Bakersfield is actually a real place! Haha), came home, and now preparing to leave! 

It's been a whirlwind of such happy and exciting things, that these last 2 weeks, when I finally have slowed down and really thought about everything, I got super overwhelmed with what is ahead of me. I do not feel prepared whatsoever... well maybe a little, but nothing compared to what I wish I could be. Also I do not feel adequate to become a representative of Jesus Christ. OH MAN. But after giving my farewell talk and leaning SO much on the spirit and its guidance and inspiration, I feel that I will only be able to do this whole missionary thing with the Lord's help. Which in turn, makes me just SO FLIPPING EXCITED TO GO. 

My entire youth I have been so stoked to go on a mission and now that I only have 9 days left before I leave, it is hitting me in the face. Holy crap. Such a mix of emotions, but I know that bottom line, I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am honored and will faithfully spend every minute I am set-apart as a missionary to do what the Lord would have me do and love whoever He puts in my path, how He would love them.

About 2 weeks from today, you all will be hearing from Sister Loar at the Missionary Training Center. Ahhh yay! Haha until then, Hoorah for Israel! I love you all.