Week of 9/22-9/28

Hello my favorites! :)

This week was a little slower then the past ones, but it was a great one!

Monday- We went to the Ostrich Ranch with our district and it was super fun!! Sadly, we didn't get to ride any, but we did get to touch them! 

Haha not much else happened, just did laundry and went grocery shopping for the week!

Tuesday- Sister Smith took us to the LA temple for my birthday! :) It was so much fun, and the biggest temple ever! It was massive and sooo beautiful. It's in Santa Monica, so we walked down the Promenade and ate some lunch after at California Pizza Kitchen with Sister Smith. She is so awesome and so much fun! We love her! The temple brings so much peace in my life and I am so grateful to have had the chance to go there! They have an awesome visitor's center there too! (Reminded me of you mom! :))

Wednesday->Friday- We visited lots of people and almost everyone cancelled or weren't home when they said they would be so it was discouraging. But we had a few lessons and those turned out well! We taught Charles and he was so interested in finding his answers and really looking forward to continuing to meet with us! 

My companion Sister Kay wasn't feeling good at all on Friday, so she got a Priesthood blessing. She has an appointment with the doctor this morning so we will go to that soon. We are hoping she finds out what's going on and starts to feel better! 

Saturday- we brought Cathy, one of the ladies we are teaching, to the Women's Broadcast and that was great! The broadcast was super cool! So many wonderful testimonies of the blessings that come from the temple from women ALL over the world! My favorite-- which brought tears to my eyes-- was the sweet little Korean girls singing about the temple and families being sealed together forever! :) THE BEST. I loved it so much. I'm so grateful to have the chance to tell people that we have a living prophet and apostles today that let us know how we can be happy in this world. I know that they are prophets, seers, and revelators of God because I have received the sweet witness of the Holy Ghost that what they say is true. 

Sunday- Church was great! Sister Kay and I taught the Young Men and Young Women's class about how they can start to share this wonderful blessing of the gospel and prophets and the Book of Mormon with their friends and family! I hope it went as well as I felt it did! Charles and another one of our investigators told us they didn't want us to come anymore for different reasons. It is super hard seeing people push aside the blessings that Heavenly Father is pouring out to us. We are confident that they will come around someday.

We started going to early morning seminary this week! :) Sister Kay joined the church just a year before coming on her mission, so she has never been in seminary or young women's class! So it was super fun for her to be a part of it! We started going because there is a young man who has been attending seminary for the last couple of years and hasn't been able to talk to the missionaries or get baptized because his parents don't want him to. We have been asked to sub next Friday- so that'll be fun! Wish us luck and pray for us haha!

I forgot to tell you that one of the members has a donkey to keep down their weeds-- his name is JoJo and now he is our best friend. :)

Our District:  There are 3 sets of sisters in Tehachapi - one set for each ward.  Our district leaders have to come all the way from East Bakersfield for our meetings.  

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. You are such blessings in my life. I really appreciate all of the love and support that you all send to me through prayers, thoughts, emails, packages, and letters. I can't express how much I love you all and miss you!!! 

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo

Ostrich Farm ~ Week 9/15 - 9/21‏

My 3 month mark is this week! Crazy sauce!!! And it is the last week of the transfer this week! 

This week was a blur! We ended up finding the dome house that we were searching for! We found Josh and Brittany and it was the happiest day ever! We haven't been able to teach them yet, because they have been really busy. But hopefully we can this week.

We currently have 8 investigators that we have picked up in the last 10 days! Faith brings MIRACLES! This area hasn't seen a baptism in a while let alone a new face at church for a LONG time, so 8 people to teach is a wonderful start! 

We are teaching a man named Charles-- he is 1/30th Native American... we aren't really sure how much he has in his blood, but he is white as can be. He has been friends/ neighbors with some people in the ward and he just loves them so much! He has studied a lot about the church and really wants to become Mormon! He just has some concerns since he is practicing as a "pipe-carrier" in a tribe and he doesn't want to go to church as a hypocrite and practice things that are not in line with the commandments. So we are hopefully going to help him resolve those things and help him realize that giving those prestigious things up in his tribe will be okay, because the Lord is ultimately who we want to please and follow. He is a Vietnam vet, and a complete character! Love being able to teach him and learn more about his life experiences!

Joanna is another person we are teaching-- she is such an awesome mother and role model to her kids! She is going to be reading the Book of Mormon and wants to meet with us more. We are super excited to see her progress and her faith increase in Jesus Christ.

The Brunners (pronounced brooner) are some of the ward missionaries and are super awesome! She works for NASA and he is a retired chiropractor and loves spreading the gospel and being a missionary. We took something to their house and when I was in the middle of knocking on his door he swung it open and yelled super loudly, "WHAT?!?" Hahahaha we screamed and i almost had a heart attack, it was the funniest thing ever and he really enjoys scaring us missionaries. 

Sister Smith in the ward is taking us to the temple tomorrow morning! We get to go because it is my birthday month! She is so awesome and helps us out so much!

We are getting to know the ward members more, and it has been awesome. I loooove love love meeting people and getting to know them and their families. The gospel blesses families so much! 

The stake that I am serving in had a change in the presidency, so a member of the quorum of the Seventy came to reorganize the East Bakersfield Stake. We had a Zone Conference with all of the missionaries on this half of the mission and Elder Schwitzer and his wife as well as President & Sister Wilson talked to us on Friday and it was super awesome! We talked about the importance of understanding repentance and baptism. The cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real, and I am so grateful to be spreading this good news to the people in Tehachapi :)

We had to drive up to Bakersfield Friday morning, as well as Saturday evening and we stayed the night at some sister's apartment and then went to the Sunday morning session for Stake Conference. It was amazing and I am so grateful to have been able to be there! The spirit was super peaceful and powerful.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Love you all so much!!!!

xoxo

Sister Loar

PS WE ARE GOING TO AN OSTRICH FARM IN A FEW HOURS--HAPPY DAY.

Week of Craziness (9/8-9/14)‏

This week was probably the craziest of them all.

Monday-- I got a call from the Assistants and they told me they needed me to go to Tehachapi on Tuesday because Sister Kay's companion was going home on Wednesday. This was the saddest news ever. I am sorry if this email is morbid because of my sadness of leaving the people I have grown to love so much! Monday night I said bye to the Evan's family and Letty (who at that time, was getting baptized in 5 days.) The hardest goodbye I have ever said. 

Tuesday-- I packed and got all ready to leave. The Chans had us over for lunch and celebrated my birthday with some delicious cupcakes and karaoke! :) 

Then I went and said goodbye to the Haralson's and Smith's in the ward. The Vickrey's had us over for dinner and they did the sweetest thing ever. They also sang to me and celebrated my birthday early!

I shared my mission scripture 2 Nephi 22:2 and bore my testimony of how much I have grown to love the gospel even more and the people I have served in Palmdale. Tears were flowing and I was just struggling with saying goodbye to these wonderful people. I feel so blessed to have served in that area and to have gotten to know so many wonderful people who have changed my life.

After that we said goodbye to Elder Crandall (District leader) and Elder Billings. I love them both, they are so hilarious and such great missionaries! 

 Then Sister Barney and Sister Nemrow dropped me off in Mojave and Sister Kay (my new companion whom I already knew before this and whom I love dearly) and her comp picked me up and took me away to Tehachapi. 

Wednesday-- We woke up and drove to Bakersfield (about an hour away) to drop off Sister Kay's companion at the Mission Office. We talked to President Wilson briefly and then drove back for a lunch appointment we had with a sweet Sister in the ward. We spent the day meeting the ward and planning for how we were going to attack the work in this area. We are basically white washing this area. This area needs a lot of work and we are super excited to get started. We also stopped by a frozen yogurt shop in town that Sister Smith in the ward owns, and she gave us free frozen yogurt! :) She is great and a really big help with the missionary work in the ward.

Thursday/Friday/Saturday-- There were 2 bears found in town and they were shot... It's alright mom, you don't need to worry about gangsters robbing us, just bears and mountain lions now. ;) hahaha 

We had district meeting and there are all sisters serving in Tehachapi (there are three wards) but our district leader travels from Bakersfield to come to meetings. The elders that were here before left really vague notes on who they had been teaching. 2 of these people's notes said that they lived in dome houses, but didn't have the exact address for them... SO NOW WE ARE ON THE SEARCH FOR ALL OF THE DOME HOUSES. Hahahaha it is actually super hilarious! Sister Kay and I always laugh so hard about the dome houses, but we are super determined to find these people that the other missionaries were talking to.  

Sunday-- It was good to meet everyone at church! I introduced myself and bore my testimony during sacrament meeting. Sister Kay gave the ward an idea to do a 40 Day Fast to help the missionary work start picking up in the ward. I've never done this thing before so I will expound on it--- The goal is to have each family pick a day within the next 40 days and fast and pray to have opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with their friends and family that haven't heard about it. We are really excited for the miracles that will happen because of the faith of the ward. :) We have already seen tiny miracles! We got 4 new investigators this week and are SO excited to reach out to more families and invite them to come closer to Christ.

We went over to the Grier's house for Brother Grier's birthday celebration. He turned 90 years old!!! What a spry little man. He is so amazing and we love him so much. We did service for him and his wife on Saturday to help them get ready for the party. It was fun! :) We had dinner at the Chambers and they had a little mini birthday party for me which was so nice of them :) Sister Kay secretly told them about my birthday and so they made it a really awesome and a very special day! :)

Things are going well and I am excited to work hard in this new area. I will try to attach as many pictures as I can so you can get a better idea of this area. Lots of hills and rural-ness going on here. Definitely different from Palmdale, but I will go where the Lord wants me to go and serve with all of my heart. 

I love this work and the gospel more than anything and am so grateful to be a missionary. 

The world is crazy and always changing, but Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are always constant and true. We can find truth and light in this dark and scary world if we choose to exercise our faith in our Lord and Savior. He will always lead us in the direction we need to go and ultimately lead us back to Him. 

The church is true, I promise.

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER LOAR ~ WE SENT HER SUPPLIES TO MAKE CAKE POPS!!!!!!

Transfer to Tehachapi

Mom,

I am on again.

I got a call from the assistants today while we were at Walmart and I am getting transferred to Tehachapi :( 

I leave tomorrow at 6.

We have to leave to go and I am the saddest human :(

Hello my favorites! :)‏

I can't believe another week has come and gone! Busy times are the best times :)

Monday-- Before going to FHE to teach a lesson with a couple families in the ward, we stopped by a family we have been trying to teach. They have the cutest kids and we ended up teaching them some primary songs to them and singing with them! It was by far a highlight of the week and I absolutely loved it more than anything.

Tuesday-- We were able to do some service for the Vickrey family and help her in the house with some things, which was great. We ate dinner with them and had a New Member Lesson with them at the Martin's (their next door neighbor) and it went well. We taught Letty and her husband later that night too. We dove right into the scriptures and talked about the story of Abinidi the prophet and the covenants we make at baptism found in Mosiah 18 in the Book of Mormon. It was a really good lesson about serving those around us and looking for ways to help. Letty is so solid and really looking forward to her baptism this coming Saturday! :)

Wednesday-- We went to this place called S.A.V.E.S. to volunteer for a couple of ours! We just filed some things for them and helped in the office- it was fun. :)

We had an awesome lesson with Lynn, a less active member who has been coming back to church and definitely so much more happier because of it! We talked about the temple and the blessing that come from preparing and going there for her and for her deceased family members. 

Thursday-- we had scripture study class and it was awesome! The Elders taught it and it was about how we can us the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives to help us through our trials and hard times that we have. Afterwards we gave Letty and her husband a tour of the church and it was really good! We had dinner at Sister Jaggi's-- she served her mission in Bolivia and has THE RADDEST stories ever. She shared just a few of them and the spirit was definitely there. She always talks about how she learned how much Heavenly Father loves His children on her mission and in turn how much He loves her. What a woman. I love her so much, as well as her cooking :)

Sister Loar and Sister Kurtz (MTC Companion)

Friday-- We went to Zone Training Meeting and it was really great! We learned lots about how we can have personal victories in our daily routine and focus on things we need to work on to be completely obedient. Those personal victories will then help us be able to have public victories like being able to reach more people and teach by the spirit. After that we helped set some tables and chairs up for a wedding reception this weekend for a girl in the ward! 

Friday we also did exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders! Sister Welch stayed with Sister Barney and I and Sister Nemrow went with Sister Lazarroto to their area. It was super fun! Sister Welch is amazing, and a really great missionary! I learned a lot and had some awesome experiences. She looks like Rapunzel from Tangled... She could be her. I swear. Haha

Sister Repunzel (Welch) and Sister Loar

Sisters Barney, Welch, and Loar

We got to do some service for some less active members and they took us out for lunch (mind it was just two hours before we had dinner scheduled) Right before heading to dinner, the Evans who were feeding us told us to meet them at Outback! hahaha so we had a lot to eat that day-- but who's complaining ;) it was great, I love the Evans!

After dinner we went and talked to Hannah, and we had a super great lesson with her! We talked to her about its definitely her choice if she wants to be happy. We have the answers and a perfect recipe of how to be happy in this life, she just needs to choose to accept it and act on that recipe! She is super stubborn and it was super hard for her to accept that. BUT SHE PRAYED AT THE END OF THE LESSON FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FRONT OF US AND IT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER AND I AM JUST THE HAPPIEST PERSON BECAUSE OF IT. :)

Saturday-- we taught a few people before meeting the other sisters to exchange back to normal. We went to get some gas in the car and met this awesome and interesting man! He has a Saint Bernard dog and he works for Hollywood? Haha he was hilarious and had a little bun on top of his head and it was just the best ever. Letty had her baptismal interview and passed! :) YAY! We are so excited for her, she is just the best and so happy because of the life she has chosen! The baptism is at 5pm this Saturday, Sept. 13th and she is getting confirmed the 14th (BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER :)) and we are just ecstatic! We are combining the baptism with her mom because she wants to get baptized too! We are practicing a song to sing at the baptism, so hopefully it works out! :)

We taught Hannah while we curled her friends hair and helped them get all ready for the Stake or Regional dance that was that night! :) It was so awesome to see them so excited to go! One of the kids in the ward was taking them to the dance and they were really happy! They seemed to have fun when we talked to them about it!

We taught the Chans that night and it was great! :) They are awesome and I love them. We are really trying to get the ward to help out with fellowshipping them into the ward!

We stopped by at the wedding reception that we helped set the tables and chairs up for and it was the hardest thing not to bust a move and go crazy dancing! Probably the hardest temptation I have while on the mission-- not dancing when I hear good beats... oh boy definitely a big temptation! hahaha ;)

SUNDAY THE BEST DAY EVER-- Free came to church! And so did Letty and her husband! FREE BORE HIS TESTIMONY IN SACRAMENT MEETING AND IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER. He said that he feels like this is his home church and that he feels it is true! HOLLA! PAY DAY FOR THE MISSIONARIES TO HAVE HIM  DO THAT! :) Loved every second and the spirit was super strong. Also Lynn Brant stayed for all three hours and I just love her so much! The ward was soooo helpful today! They definitely welcomed everyone into the ward and it made all the difference. it was so awesome to see everyone step in and become friends with these new faces. Later that evening we went to "Shaved Ice @ the Martin's" which occurs every Sunday evening around 7 and they have a legit shaved ice machine and families from the ward come and enjoy each others company and its great! :) Some members brought Free,

and Hannah came and so did Letty and Alan her husband!! When the ward helps out like this, it makes missionary work go so much smoother and everything is hunky dory :)

Welp sorry I wrote a novel! Love you all so much and miss you all like crazy! :)

Hope you have a good one!

XOXO

Love,

Sister Loar

What a crazy week! :)‏

This week was great, and oh so crazy!

Monday we found out from the other set of sister missionaries that live near us and serve in a ward close by that one of them was going home the following day because of medical things and that we would be taking the other sister under our wings and now we are a tripanionship! We call ourselves the Sister Trio :) People dig it hahaha.

So Tuesday we moved all of our belongings into Sister Nemrow from New Mexico's apartment because it is bigger and we got a car back! Sad day saying bye to Sister Liljenquist-- it was hard for Sister Nemrow, but we love her and hopefully our love will heal the sadness of losing her companion! 

We locked our keys in the apartment the first time we shut the door-- thanks to me :) heehehe so Elder Billings got on the roof so that he could break into the apartment through the sliding door on our baby porch thingy. Funniest thing of my life hahaha! Love the Elders and sisters in my district!

The Great Key Rescue!!!

We helped out with the mutual activity and took Hannah Vickrey with us (she is an investigator and 16 and super cute) She doesn't like social things and isn't too keen on the church, but after that activity she enjoyed it and really opened up :)

We are starting to teach the New Member Lessons with the Vickrey's who have been baptized at member's homes. This week we went over to the Dalton's and it was a good experience! We are excited to continue helping the ward fellowship the Vickrey's as well as continue to help them strengthen their testimonies!

We ate dinner at Letty's on Friday! :) And we got to meet her husband finally! He isn't in any of the pictures but we did meet him and he is awesome! We taught the Restoration to them after eating THE BEST ENCHILADAS I HAVE EVER HAD(Sorry mom, but Virginia-- Letty's mother-- is from Mexico and she is an amazing cook) 

We also played some air hockey and a heated game of foosball.

During the lesson, Letty totally bore her testimony about why she was getting baptized and how she has received answers to her prayers. They went out of town for the long weekend so they weren't able to come to church this week, but they said next week, so we are super super super looking forward to that :)

We finally taught Free!  A 16 year old kid who has been to church a few times but we haven't been able to teach him officially yet! Before the lesson even started he asked when he could be baptized! This never happens hahaha we were all in shock but the happiest little humans you could ever see! He has planned to be baptized November 8th, so not for a while but now we have a goal to work towards and purpose to everything! It is such a blessing and a miracle. Happy day! :)

ALSO WE TAUGHT HANNAH AND ROB VICKREY (the dad) AND SET A BAPTISMAL DATE WITH THEM OF NOV. 15! Oh how joyous was that day! :) Hannah also came to church and wore a DRESS! (This is huge, she never wears dresses to church) It is amazing to see the countenances, attitudes, and everything change in a person because they give space for Jesus Christ to come into their lives!

Sunday is my favorite day of the week for sure. The spirit was so strong and it was just awesome to see families there together. I love this gospel more than anything. These last two months have changed my life forever. I can't wait to see what 16 more do. This church is the true church and I am so grateful to be a part of sharing it with the people of Cali. Love you all so much. Thanks for everything you do in your lives, keep doing what's right and being the best you can be :)

XOXO

-Sister Loar 

PS:  

I SAW SISTER KURTZ TODAY AT THE STAKE CENTER BEFORE PLAYING SOME BBALL WITH MY HOMIES.

I love her so much.

PSS:  

I might have a slight black eye from Elder Duckworth while playing basketball.  But it's fine.  Hahaha!!  But really it is fine, I just thought it was funny to tell you.

PSSS:  It' s not even a black eye.  It is a baby bruise on my cheek bone.   Hahahahaha!

2 MONTHS DOWN---whut?!‏

So um today is my 2 month mark and I am not so sure how that went by so fast!

But all is well in Palmdale and I couldn't be happier serving the Lord in Cali! :)

This week was good! First week on bikes-- so that was an adventure for sure! We have figured out that we bike around 16 miles a day, at the least. BURNING CALORIES HOLLA!  Since the members feed us so well, this whole bike riding thing is going to save me a lot of money buying clothes that would fit! ;)

We live about 4-5 miles outside of our area, so we get to bike those miles uphill every afternoon (about 40 minutes) and bomb down those hills every night! (don't worry mom I will be safe hehe) At least I am wearing my helmet always and I look super awesome. (but we just look soooo ridiculous and it is hilarious hahaha helmets, skirts, bags, the whole shebang and it is so funny)

This week was awesome though! 

Monday-- we bought our bikes and got all situated for the week. We had Family Home Evening at the Vickrey's again and played spoons! They hadn't played before so they loved it!

Tuesday, we lived in fear the whole day because our car was going to be taken at some point throughout the day and we didn't know what time. But we were blessed and got to keep it the whole day! :) That evening we went over to the Evan's home for a lesson with Letty (our ever progressing investigator whom I love so dearly and will forever be friends with) She was taking a big exam the following day to get her Loan license and has a lot of other things in her life that she needed some comfort and guidance in and so we had Brother Evans give her a Priesthood blessing! It was the coolest experience. When we were walking with her back to her house, she was explaining how great that felt and that she felt the spirit and that she has faith that it will all work out.

Wednesday we got to teach a woman who found one of our Family History pass along cards that we put in people's doors if they aren't home with our cell phone number on it just incase they have questions. She called us that morning and wanted us to come over and teach her about family history and how to use it because she is trying to find her father! She doesn't know if he is alive or dead and it is just cool to see her so excited about her genealogy. We took a member, who is awesome, with us to help her out. MIRACLE-- they ended up knowing each other from doing PTA when their kids went to elementary school together! So awesome! :)  

Funny thing-- all day Wednesday we were struggling on our bikes (cause we thought it was the first day and it was just hard) but little did we know that our brakes were hard core rubbing on the rims of our bikes making things so difficult so we were hating our lives. But the elders fixed them and now we love riding our bikes everywhere :) So it is a good thing we had it rough the first day so that we are now forever grateful for functioning bikes :)

Thursday-- we went over to Letty's and she TOLD US SUCH GREAT NEWS! She passed her test and got news of a possible job opportunity that she went to interview for the following day and the other issues she was dealing with in other areas of her life are clearing up and she received SO many answers to her prayers! Also she was struggling with the idea of giving up coffee and caffeine, but she got test results back from the doctors that she could no longer drink coffee or caffeine because it would cause her to develop a condition! She was like, alright that is definitely an answer to my prayers! So awesome! She called us her angels because we showed up to her house at the perfect time she needed the gospel in her life.

Also Thursday evenings (I don't know why I haven't included this in my emails before because we have this every week) we have SCRIPTURE STUDY CLASS! It is the greatest thing. The elders and us that serve in the same ward together alternate teaching each week about a subject or chapter found in the scriptures and we learn with each other and from each other about how the scriptures have everything we need in them! From the Bible to the Book of Mormon we are able to find the fullness of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our investigators and other ward members come each week and participate and learn more about the scriptures in general. It is a really good experience and I really enjoy it :)

 Friday-- we had our District meeting (about 4 sets of missionaries all together) and we got a new District leader this week! He transferred from the Sierra Leone mission in Africa because of that deadly virus that is now spreading in NY I guess!? Crazy stuff! But he is super awesome and from Utah.

Also Friday our dinner appointment didn't work out so Sister Sarabia made us some sammiches and chips and fruitsnacks! :) And we ended up eating it on a member's driveway because we didn't want to bike a million miles and also because the member wasn't home haha. But it was an awesome picnic. :)

Saturday we went over to Letty's again to teach her and let's just say the Lord truly knows each of our individual situations!! MORE OF HER PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED! Seriously anything is possible if we have faith!! :)

She got a job and got a call to start a second job soon as well! And then she told us that she wants to be baptized on September 13th! And she wants to do it with her MOM! :) Her mom only speaks Spanish so she has been learning from the Spanish elders this whole time! HAPPY DAY! It was so awesome! I just can't even contain my joy and happiness!!!!!!!!! :)

We also met a new family-- the Davis family! They seem pretty interested and are willing to learn more! Definitely super stoked to start teaching them more!  

I love this work so much. I would not change my life for anything.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE LOVE AND SUPPORT!

Stay strong and true! Love you all so much and I am so grateful to be surrounded by your virtual and spiritual love ;)

The church is true I promise.

Love,

Sister Loar

PS: We also played basketball again today and it was wonderful and I loved it and we also helped someone move in today so that is one of the pictures. Yay for wearing normal clothes! Haha XOXO