Well here I am. 20 and Whatnot

Well happy birthday this week to my Sav. You are beautiful and I hope your wedded life is lovely. Your temple marriage was one of the highlights of my young life so thank you for inviting me to that. Also I miss playing the uke with you every night in St. George and our other adventures... *eyebrow waggle. I love love you! Send me your address so I can send you a birthday card, PLEASE! :) 

And happy baptism to Krew! Being baptized is the best thing you can do. I hope you have an excellent day. 

This week was so wonderful. I can't thank everyone enough for the love and support I felt during my birthday and valentines day. You are some wonderful people! Thank you for the birthday packages and for the letters. I hope you know how much they meant! 

I had a wonderful birthday week. Monday we spent emailing and shopping. We went bowling with the elders for a while and then went to do our laundry at the Shearer's house. We don't have a washer and dryer in our apartment and so usually we take our laundry on exchanges with us and do it that way. But we didn't have an exchange this week and so we needed somewhere to wash our clothes. Plus we'll take any excuse we can make to spend time with the Shearer's. So we played with them during our pday, and then we had a family home evening with them and talked about the atonement. It was wonderful. They're lovely people. Also, Tyler brought his hand cuffs and I cuff'd Sister Jones and that was awesome. Nothing more satisfying than locking your companion up. ;)
Tuesday was excellent, too. I got so many texts from so many wonderful people in the mission and from our ward. It's incredible to think I have so many people who love me. How did I get so spoiled!? :) I just want to thank everyone who took the time to send birthday wishes my way. I can't stop saying thank you!! :D

And for all of you who forgot... I hope you have fun in outer darkness!! 

(Just kidding, of course! Repentance is still real.) 

   The Clarksons were wonderful and took us out to eat for lunch on my birthday. I love spending time. Then we got to do missionary work - my favorite thing!! We tried to pick up a new Spanish investigator, but they weren't interested. I love planting seeds!!  We tried a couple more people, but nothing worked out. We were able to teach one lesson with a Recent Convert. It went really well. She's so cool. She's almost been a member for a year now, and she's got her eyes set on the temple where her and her husband can get sealed. That will be amazing! 

After that, we headed back to the church building where we had dinner as a district. The elders threw me a surprise party! It was so nice. They got me a piggy bank because I love pigs and I snort when I laugh. There were also Twinkies which were delicious. I made them do a twinkie eating contest. It was hilarious. Sister Clarkson made curry and crepes. She's an angel. I love   spending time as a district. 

Then we had Book of Mormon class. There's something so powerful about getting together with a group of wonderful people and reading from the Book of Mormon and discussing it's teachings. The spirit is always so wonderful. 

Wednesday we had district meeting! We met at the church but were asked to leave because there was a gas leak and they were trying to get it fixed. Plus, the heather wasn't working so it was freezing anyway. So we had our meeting at the Clarkson's house. They do so much for us.

We learned about how to use the Book of Mormon to address concerns. It was a good training. Then we all had lunch together. Afterward, we were able to do a lot of area book work and to get things organized and straightened up. Book work is something I've never really been fond of, but I could see that it was taking a lot of stress off of Sister Jones' shoulders, and so we did that. We took a dinner break around 5:30 and then went to visit our ward missionary who has been really sick lately to see if there was anything we could do to help her. She's so upbeat about everything. She always wants to help out with the missionary work. 

We were also able to help the beehives get ready for new beginnings. We got to know some of the youth and helped them practice for the program. It was fun. I'm glad I'm not twelve anymore, though. :) 

Thursday was really awesome. We were able to visit some less actives that no one has seen for a while, and we were able to have some awesome lessons with them. The spirit was amazing. We were also able to go to the Shearer's house for dinner. Nothing better! Tyler decided to skip out to go to some concert, so we got to hang out with Momma and Poppa Shearer. We had a super good conversation. I love talking with them about the gospel. We had a lesson set up after dinner to do a family home evening with a member and our investigators, but the investigators had to cancel last minute. We ended up still going to the members house and having family home evening with them. They were able to help us be aware of some things some of the members are struggling with. Members are so crucial in the work! Also, she made us really delicious cheesecake and that was just a bonus! 

Friday we were able to weekly plan for the first time since I've come to this area. It helped me soooo much. I was so grateful that we finally got to do it. It was a little monotonous, though. So we had to split it up with a Sonic run during happy hour. Sister Jones loves her limeades. We also helped the elders with this project thing that they started. They call it "flamingoing" where you stick a lawn flamingo and some treats with a note on someone's front lawn and then doorbell ditch them. Then they pass the flamingo on to someone who they think needs some cheering up. So we did that with the elders. It was fun. We almost froze to death though.

Saturday it snowed like crazy. Luckily, we were still able to go to Fairview for our sisters' baptism. Three of their investigators got baptized. I don't know if any of you remember, but I actually was able to teach them the other week while we were on exchanges and we really just clicked. So I was so grateful to be there as they got baptized. I cried like a baby. We were also able to help in the program and sing the "As Sisters in Zion" and "Bring the World His Truth" Medley. The spirit was so strong. I feel like I say that all the time but it's always true. 

We drove back and the weather was so bad that we had to call a snow day. We hung out at the Clarksons. I taught Sister Jones how to do the cup song and so we're going to record something in the next couple of weeks. It should be good, so stay posted. 

Sunday was another snow day.  We were able to have sacrament meeting, but because of the weather and the low attendance, they cancelled the other meetings. So... we had studies and then the Shearer's came to pick us up. We spent the evening with them eating tacos and playing games and talking about which of their neighbors we could convert.

I feel like we spend more time at the Shearer's than we do at our own place. We love them so much. 

But as much as I love spending time with the Shearers, I really hope that it warms up soon. I'm sick of snow days. I just want to work hard! 

Well... that was our week this week. It looks like we'll have a pretty crazy week this week and next week. I'm taking over the area on my first exchange, and so I'm really nervous for that! It should be okay, though... I hope! 

I appreciate all the prayers and letters of support and encouragement from each of you. I need all I can get!! :) 

I love you all!! Have a great week. 

Love, 

Hermana Bills