Duck Blood--EW!

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

This week was truly amazing! I learned so much and was able to see so many miracles! Heavenly Father is so aware of each of His children! He loves each and everyone of us so much! 

Family, it sounds like you had a busy week--with dad being busy traveling & mom watching the VanderSloot kids. Marissa, I'm so proud of you for all the hard work you put into your school work! Straight A's?! Dang girl! I'm proud of you! I am sorry to hear about Kade's dad. I will for sure add he and his family in my prayers. Keep me updated on all your singing performances. It sounds like you are having a blast! Lachlan, I'm glad you had fun helping mom take care of the VanderSloot kids! I'm glad you are also having a lot of fun at school!! Alexa, I also miss you ssssssssssoooooooooo much and love you sssssssssssssssoooooooooooooooo much :)! Keep having tons of fun at school and at dance!! 

It's crazy how many people are getting married! I'm glad mom and Ｍarissa were able to attend some wedding receptions! 

Bryan, I loved reading your emails! It sounds like you are continuing to work hard in your area. I'm glad you have been able to come up with some ways to work more with members. That is also one of our challenges here in TouFen. I love you!!

As for my week, it went by really fast. 

Our mission has now become a Facebook mission. I had to temporarily deactivate mine from home :( and get one just for Taiwan. Unfortunately, I can only be friends with the people that live in the area I am currently serving in. When we get transferred, we have to delete all of our friends and add the members and investigators in our new area. 

One thing I have really learned this week is that Heavenly Father truly does have a hand in His work. The small miracles I have been able to see and take part in every day this week have truly strengthened my testimony. 

Here is my week:

Monday, we were able to visit a less-active, Lin Yu Xiao. We were able to talk to her about our baptismal covenant and invited her to pick one thing from MSH 18:8-10 to work on. She also had attended Sacrament Meeting the day before so we discussed some of the testimonies borne. Lin Jie Mei also told me that if I want to learn Chinese, I have to speak as much as I can. So...that's been my goal this week...However, I still can't understand like anything or communicate like anything. After Lin JM, we visited some investigators, Rose & Dinosaur. They are mom & son. We did a paper biru with them where you have to cut a normal printer paper to fit your whole body through and the paper has to stay connected. We talked about how each cut of the paper represents like attending church, reading, prayer, etc. 

Tuesday, we had to go up to Taipei. Monday night, we got a call from the AP's and Sister Fisher was asked to be TouFen's English Leader so she had a meeting she had to attend. Sister Lindsay's (MTC companion) was also called for their area so we were able to talk while they were in a meeting. We also helped a Bunde Missionary learn some English :) and well as us study our flashcards. After we got back from Taipei, we had district meeting. There are 8 Missionaries in my district. Sister Fisher and I are the only Sisters. One Elder, Elder Morgan, is from Pocatello, Idaho! He played tennis for Highland and graduated in 2012! He played boys doubles and remembers Spencer and Ryan from Skyline.  He is on his last transfer of his mission so will be heading home in April! District Meeting was really good! We discussed the 'vision' we have for each of our areas. Sister Fisher and I and the Elders who also work in Toufen have some great ideas to further the work here in TouFen. We were then supposed to have a lesson with our new investigators, Feng & Shu Xiao Jie, but when we got to their home, their garage door was closed and they gave us a wrong number...so in the end, they weren't really interested :( BUT, after writing them a note, we got a call from our investigator, Qiu DiXiong, and he was able to meet with us. We discussed who God and Jesus Christ are and invited him to pray and come to know Heavenly Father. The reason why he is interested in meeting with us is because he wants to quit smoking and drinking. He is neat! 

Wednesday, we were able to qiaomen (knock doors) a lot on Wednesday. we went to a xiangzi across a bridge and were able to meet some neat people. Many are not interested because they are Buddhist and they 'by-by their ancestors' but through all those people, we are able to meet those who are willing to listen. We started and we were able to talk to an older man and his sister who were out working in their garden and rice fields. They were really cute but not interested. We knocked several more doors and no one was interested, I was praying so hard in my head that we would find the person Heavenly Father wanted us to find. We knocked on the next door and the lady wasn't interested but told us of a lady who is Christian and would want to listen to our message. We walked to her home and we were invited in and we were able to share about God and prayer. It was amazing and a huge miracle! After that, we came incontact with several more and although we weren't able to have many lessons, we were able to give them a chuandan and talk a little about the church. Mostly, people are just amazed that two white girls can communicate with them in Chinese. haha Wednesday night, we had English class. I am in charge of teaching the highest class. We played some games and I got to know them. Family, the game, Spot It!, you sent for Christmas was a huge success!! They had a lot of fun with it! There was some new people at English class who are somewhat interested in hearing about the church. English class is truly a great finding tool! 

Thursday, we had our Weekly Planning Session and our MM meeting with our Ward Mission Leader, Jeffrey. We also had a meeting with our Branch President, Shu Hui Zhang and his family with the Elders. We shared a lesson and talked with Shu Hui Zhang and his wife about the less actives in our branch and what more we need to do to make our branch into a ward. That is our big goal for this year. Our branch is really close. We need a couple more Melchizedek Priesthood holders and some more tithing payers and we will be able to become a ward and get our own building. Right now, we meet on the second floor of a bus station. 

Friday, after our studies, we went with the Elders on a bus and did service for Zhang Jie Mei. She is a RC in their area. She owns a recycling place and so we normally go there every Friday to help her sort through things or take apart bikes. Today, we spent our whole time taking apart bikes. It is really fun! Also, a huge truck came to pick up all the cardboard and we were able to talk to the two workers! They were interested because Zhang JM told them we help her for free and they said, who would do that?! I was able to give a Book of Mormon to one of them Pong Xian Xiang and he seemed really interested! Of course, they wanted to take a picture with us so I got one too! :) What was really neat and also another miracle this week was before we got on the bus to head to do service, we went to a FamilyMart for Sister Fisher to put money on her yoyo bus card and there was this lady there who recognized Sister Fisher from last transfer who they met on the street! She was preparing to get baptized in a different faith. We were able to talk to her quickly and she wants to meet with us! We exchanged numbers and now have a new potential investigator! We qiaomen Friday night and didn't have much success at all but when we were about to head to Liu JM shop to help her close down, we talked to a guy smoking outside and he gave us a referral! (miracle!)

Saturday, after studies we had a lesson with our baptismal date investigator, Lu Jie Mei!! She is SO prepared! We shared the lesson on the Restoration. She has been reading the book of Mormon and she related Joseph Smith to Nephi! I was shocked! She agreed to come to church on Sunday but called us Saturday night and said that she couldn't come anymore so unfortunately, we are going to have to push her baptism back because she has to come to church at least three times. She has been once. We then had a lesson with Gan Jie Mei. We talked about covenants and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She has a fear with baptism so we invited her to pray about baptism. Hong Jie Mei was able to peike for us and was a great asset to our lesson! Gan Jie Mei is also so prepared! It is so neat to see they way Heavenly Father works in everyone's life. After, we went to the church to use Facebook and the a young girl came in randomly asking if we had a minister and when our church met! We gave her a little tour of the church and she said she would come!! She is from Indonesia. and just moved to Taiwan about a month ago. She moved in with her grandma and is waiting to start school in September. We also had a lesson with Su DX (Less-Active). a member, Lin Jie Mei also came to the church and was so cute. She was trying to teach my Chinese from all these characters on the back of a VCR case. Our lesson with Su DX went well. The Elders peike for us. We talked about Pres. Monson's talk from last general conference about God's will and obedience. Saturday night, we went to go and find some potential investigators homes, but we got lost and ended up taking a long bike ride trying to find our way back...Sis. Fisher always feels so bad when this happens but I just tell her its another bike ride and we are always able to meet people at stop lights and on the side of the roads. 

On a funny note, Saturday night was my first night calling someone to set up an appointment. I called Lin Wu Xiao. I'm glad she is really nice because I asked her how her day was and what she did and she said she went to a funeral. I thought she said work so I told her that was cool and she said wait what? do you know what funeral means and then I figured it out and felt super dumb. She said it was okay and that my Chinese was bad haha. I still got a lot to work on! :)

Sunday was amazing!!!!!! The lady, Chen JM, from Saturday who came to the church building when we were there doing Facebook came to church!!!!!! Before we got to the chapel area, our branch president saw us and ran over to us telling us there is a new person in sacrament meeting. He was so excited! We sat with her and explained Sacrament Meeting to her. She ended up staying for all three hours and is really interested in learning more. She is Christian and has been baptized in another church. She is 20 years old and is such a sweet lady! I am looking forward to meeting with her. We also have a Sister in our branch who can't come to church because she takes care of a lot of old people and can't leave their home who is also from Indonesia. Her name is Akin We went and visited her after church and told her about Chen JM! Akin was really excited and got her number from us and said she would talk to her! We had a lesson with Lin JM (the lin who was trying to teach me characters) and we got to know her a little bit better. She is a convert and SO strong in the gospel! We spent the rest of our Sunday qiaomen. We explored the area and found some more places to go knock doors when we have time. After dinner, we went to go visit a recent convert but she wasn't home so we decided to qiaomen in her area. We needed at least one more lesson to accomplish our required goals for the week. We were praying so hard to be able to teach someone a lesson. We walked to the end of the xiangzi and started knocking. The first couple doors had no interest but then we were able to talk to this teenage girl probably Marissa's age and we were able to teach her a lesson and get a return appointment with her!! Also, on our way back to our bikes, we were walking by these garages and this guy who just pulled up asked if we were missionaries and said he didn't have a religion!! He was also really surprised that we could speak Chinese especially since Sister Fisher has only been here for 5 months and me for two weeks. We exchanged phone numbers and hopefully are going to be able to meet with him this coming week. 

Overall, this week was amazing. I still can't understand or say like anything but slowly, I'm starting to get better. It's sometimes really frustrating but when I exercise my faith, Heavenly Father really blesses me. In the Book of Mormon, I am currently studying in 1 Nephi. 1 Nephi 17:12-13 taught me so much. As Lehi's and Ishmael's families were wandering in the wilderness, the Lord commanded them not to make fires to cook or anything like that. They had to rely strictly on the Lord. They had no idea where they were going or what lay ahead in their lives but they relied on the Lord. Through their obedience in following the commandments, the Lord was able to bless them abundantly. 

I love you all so much! Thanks for all the emails and letters! They truly mean so much!! 

All letters and packages has to go to the mission office and then I pick them up when I go to Taipei. 

LOVE YOU!! 

Sister Haacke

 Here is a picture when we first got to Taiwan. I flew over with all these missionaries.
 

DINNER: YES I  HAD DUCK BLOOD THIS WEEK! Sister Fisher told me to try this black looking thing. It was just really chewy and I told her it didn't taste super gross but definitely not my favorite... During my second bite, she said, "Do you want to know what it is?" I said sure, and she said, "It's duck blood and rice." Yes, I know. Disgusting! I wanted to puke!
 

Places across the bridge while tracting.

 At the recycle place taking apart bikes.
 

Happy in Taiwan

Family & Friends!!

Alexa, I want to wish you HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY again!! I hope you had tons of fun at your party! I love you!!

I'M IN TAIWAN!!!! It is crazy!! I can't believe I am here. I feel like I am living in a dream! I have never been so happy in my life than when I got off the plane, went through immigration, and saw President & Sister Day and the Assistants holding a Taiwan Taipei Mission Banner. 

At the airport, we took a huge group picture of all the missionaries that came in for both missions. President said he would send that out as well as our pictures in front of the temple and our group picture infront of the Grand Hotel. When you get those, will you also forward them to me please? 

So, the airport..after I got off the phone with you we went and boarded our plan from San Fransisco to Taiwan! EVERYONE was down by the gate. There was so many of us. But I still didn't see Sister Lindsay or any of the Sisters' that served in Georgia with her...We boarded our plane. Sister Good and I were sitting next to each other. As we were watching others board, some of the last people on were Sister Lindsay! When we saw each other we had a little freak out from across the plane! It was so good to see her! Sister Good and her switched places for a couple hours about half way through the flight and we were able to catch up on everything! She is doing so good!! The 14 hour plane ride actually went really really fast, surprisingly. I was able to sleep for a few hours and the rest I was talking to missionaries and some flight attendants. Sadly, Sister Good and I sat right across from the flight attendant resting area door (dad, do you get what I mean?) and so there was only two chairs so we didn't really have an opportunity to teach someone. 

When we got to Taiwan, we went through immigration and then got our luggage and headed out to meet our Mission President. We all gathered together, took a group picture and then headed to the bus. On the bus, we had to introduce ourselves in Chinese and President Day told us about the plans we would be doing for the next couple of days. It was the first time I had really used my Chinese in a while! 

The bus took us to the Mission office where they fed us our first Chinese dinner and we got our temporary companions. Sister Hendricks and I were assigned. We then had interviews with President and we got to know each other and we talked about his expectations as a mission president. I already love and appreciate him so much! As a gift, he gave us all character, pinyin, and English side-by-side New Testament and D&C. President Day is truly a man called of God. He is so inspired and is going to be such an amazing Mission President. For the next two nights, we stayed in Temple Patron Housing. They have housing on the second and third floors of the mission office for those working in the temple that live far away. To be honest, I didn't sleep well the first night at all. I layed awake for ever and woke up forever. 

My first full day in Taiwan was amazing!! 

We met downstairs at 6:30 AM and the mission president and AP's ran with us to the Chaing kai Shec Memorial. It was really fun. It is in this gardened area where a lot of people go to "exercise" in the morning. We were given these temple tour pass along cards we were to give out while on our run. The first lady Sister Hendricks and I gave it to was named Tan taitai. She was so sweet to us. We were able to talk to her a little bit and explain the card in the best Chinese we could. She asked where we were from and all of that. The other people we talked to didn't really say much to us other than xie xie or wo zhi dao...haha. We then had breakfast made by the office Elders and the Temple Sisters and got ready for the day. Today, we took a tour of the huge chapel right next to the Temple, filled out some paperwork, got to call home for 60 seconds, and meet some more missionaries in the mission. Towards the evening, we had some meetings with the trainers. We then got randomly paired up with a trainer. I got paired up with Sister Van Tonder. With her, we went out and contacted for 2.5 hours. It was really neat! The first lady we really were able to have a conversation with, we were able to teach her how to pray and the importance of baptism. Contacting here in Taiwan is crazy! What we do, is we go up to a person and tell them who we are and ask them if we can start with a prayer. We explain they should close their eyes and say amen if they agree with the prayer at the end. We then teach them a lesson, invite them to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized, and then close in a prayer. Right on the street. It's crazy!! I was so surprised by the amount of Chinese I was able to say. We were able to talk to several individuals and receive many referrals. Another lady we talked to was from Shanghai, China! I was able to explain to her I lived in Shanghai when I was younger with my family. She is a Christian and we were able to place a Book of Mormon with her. She said she is always seeking for truth. She promised she would sincerely read the Book of Mormon. We gave her the mormon.org site because she was from Shanghai and soon going back home if she had further questions because there are no missionaries in China..yet :). Overall, we were able to place 4 Books of Mormon and handout several chuan dan (flyers/tracts). I loved the time we were able to spend on the streets of Taipei. We even were able to see the Taipei 101 building from a distance. The people here are absolutely amazing!!!!! 

Friday was also a day full of adventures and fun! We had to get up at 5 AM which was really nice because I woke up at 4 AM so I only had to lay in bed for an hour. At 6:15, we all met downstairs and went to the place where Taiwan was dedicated to missionary work. We went with President Day and the AP's. There, we sang Called to Serve in Chinese and read the Dedicatory Prayer. President Day gave us some history and then we were invited to go find our own place with our companion and pray to 'rededicate' ourselves to missionary work and to give all of our time here in Taiwan to serving the Lord. It was a neat experience. Even though it was so loud around us, the Spirit was really strong. One thing I have truly learned on my mission is that Heavenly Father truly hears and answers our prayers. He watches over us day and night. He want us to be happy. 

After, we walked up to the Grand Hotel and took some pictures. The hotel is HUGE and gorgeous! President told us to come and tour it on one of our P-days if we serve in Taipei because it is magnificent..We went back and gathered our things from where we were staying and went over to prepare for transfer meeting. 

Transfer meeting was SO much fun! President and Sister Day make it like a party! At transfer meeting, I was able to see Sister Smith!! She is doing SO good! I was looking all around for her and right when she walked in the door, we saw each other, and I ran over to her and gave her the biggest hug! She has changed so much! It was really good to see her. The first thing they did in transfer meeting was have the new missionaries give a small introduction of who they are in Chinese and then President Day gave said some more things about us and then he announced where we will be serving and who our trainer is! 

I am serving in the TouFen area (Western part of our mission) and my trainer is named Sister Fisher! I absolutely love Sister Fisher. She also was a visa waiter. She visa waited in Salt Lake South. She is a fairly new missionary. She is just starting her 4th transfer in Taiwan. However, her Chinese is really good! She has spent a lot of time studying and memorizing words. She is a great example to me. The mission has a language study plan that requires a lot of memorization and study. The first phase is all these phrases, words, scriptures, and grammar we have to memorize for the 5 lessons. It is in this huge book. It will take a lot of faith to memorize all of it. I am hoping to get it done by the time I am out of training in 12 weeks so I can start Phase 2 but we will see what happens.

After transfer meeting was over, we had a meeting about using family history, took pictures with President, and then we were off to our areas. Sister Lindsay is serving in a neighboring area as me and so we took the same bus back to our areas from Taipei. We first took the high speed train to the Taipei Bus Station and then rode to TouFen. Taiwan is beautiful! When we got to TouFen, the Elders were so kind to come carry my luggage up 4 flights of stairs to our apartment. We live on the 4th floor by ourselves. We spent an hour finishing our WPS (weekly planning session) the parts we didn't finish on the bus, had dinner, and then met with our Ward Mission Leader, Jeffrey, at the church. After, we went to a less actives store, Liu Jie Mei and helped her close up shop. Every night, except for Sunday around 8:45 we head over to her store and help bring in the racks of clothes, teach her a phrase of english, and share with her a scripture. Friday night was really funny. Everyone here asks to see a picture of your family. She was so cute. Everyone also asks how old you are, mom and dad. It's kind of funny. They are also so surprised that you have 5 kids. Then they explain how everyone from America has so many kids..haha. 

Saturday was my first full day in TouFen. We got up and did our morning routine. Since I am in training, we have 4 hours of study in the morning and then we hit the roads. Riding a bike in a skirt is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be! On Saturday, we were supposed to have a lesson with one of our investigators with a baptismal date, but she called and cancelled on us. We actually haven't met her yet. The Elders contacted her and taught her a lesson on the street. She accepted baptism and went to church last week and is reading the Book of Mormon. Hopefully this week we will be able to come in contact with her. We also had a lesson with Gan Jie Mei. She is also an investigator. She is Christian. When we got to her home, her mom's friend was there so it was a little hard to teach her a lesson. We were going to talk to her about the Tree of Life and reading the book of Mormon but we ended up doing a small 'get to know you' and sharing a scripture. Here, I realized I really can't understand anything!!! I just sat there...haha

We spent the rest of the day knocking doors and we spent an hour on the computer. Our mission just became a FaceBook mission so I will be setting that up in the coming week. 

Saturday night we had a huge miracle. We were knocking doors and the first door we knocked in this one area, a lady answered the door and we were able to pray and talk with her about Jesus Christ. Her friend also came to the door and we were able to set up a return appointment with them for Tuesday. We were also able to contact a young man who was just returning home from buying some things. We also set up a return appointment with him to talk about families. We were able to make contact with a lot of individuals most of them said they were Buddhist but talked to us because we are American. 

Sunday was really neat. We share a branch with Elders Marks & Dixon. I wasn't able to understand almost anything but the Branch President asked me to bear my testimony. It talked mostly about families, the plan of salvation, and attending church. After church, I was able to meet some members and we were able to stop by Akin's home. She is a recent convert from indonesia but cant come to church because of her work. She takes care of older people. She is currently in taiwan for a 3 year work agreement. She is so cute! We also had a lesson with Wu xiao jie and talked to her about temples. She is an investigator but really wants her daughter to get baptized because she feels like the church has a good influence on young people. We knocked doors in a couple different areas but didn't find much success. We had dinner tonight with the Elders and the Yang family. Yang Di Xiong is the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency. The food was good but it is definitely going to take some getting used to! :)

I absolutely have loved the last couple of days in Taiwan. Missionary work here is awesome. Another funny thing we do is that when we are waiting for a light to turn green, we stop next to a person on a scooter and start talking to them. Normally, as soon as the light turns green, they head off so we only have a short minute but contact with everyone is really important! I honestly have never been happier in my life! Missionary work is absolutely amazing here. It is SO hard but amazing! 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! 

Thanks so much for all you do!

Love, 

Sister Haacke 

 Sister Good and I on the plane. 

 The group running to Chaing kai Shec Memorial in front of the memorial.

 

 Our first dinner in Taiwan. 

 The missionaries from my district in the MTC that came to Taiwan with me. This is taken right after we got off the plane in Taiwan.

 

 Sister Lindsay and I on the bus headed to the mission office.

 

 Sister Hendricks and I during our morning run our first morning in Taiwan.
 

 Transfer Meeting, us and Sister Jensen (my STL when I entered the MTC).

 Sister Fisher and I and her previous companion. 

Dinner Sunday night with the Yang family.

 Me and the grand hotel.

 Sister Lindsay and I in front of the grand hotel.
 

The grand hotel entrance.
 

 Sister Van Tonder and I. 

 Our bus ride to the dedicatory place and Grand Hotel.
 

Me with this a memorial by the place where the Dedicatory Prayer took place.

Tomorrow is the Big Day--Taiwan Bound!

Family and Friends,

I don't have much time because we are stuck inside (yes, today is the day I am supposed to travel to Colorado Springs)  because of the huge amount of snow we have gotten this weekend and my companions also need to email but my week went great. 

So here is what I know about my travels to TAIWAN tomorrow!!! Today, Monday Feb 23, I will be traveling down to Colorado Springs and meeting with the Mission President and AP's at 4:30 at a SpringHill Suites Hotel. We will be staying there overnight and getting up really early to go to the airport. At the hotel is where I will be getting my passport and flight itinerary. I will call home as much as I can :)

For those of you who I won't be able to talk on the phone with I'll give a quick run down of my week

Tuesday evening we had an appointment with a part member, less active family. We talked about the Good Samaritan from the Bible. We were able to bring Sister Bull, our Primary President, with us. Our lesson went very well. The family we taught are still a little bit iffy about having the desire to read the Book of Mormon and coming to church. But, they keep setting up return appointments so we will keep teaching them and getting to know them. 

Wednesday, Sister Grant was really sick and so we had to stay inside all day to get her better :). We did weekly planning and Sis. Cook went on Splits with a Young Women, Maryn, to teach our nightly appointments while I stayed home with Sis. Grant. Got in some extra studies. 

Thursday, we went to lunch with our investigator, Cami. She took us to this little local restaurant in Palmer Lake called Safeway. It was really good and we had a good conversation with her about our church and her church. We then had an appointment with Sis. Liggett. She is doing really good. She is excited to enter the Temple soon. She set a goal to have everything prepared and be able to get her temple recommend by April 1st!! I am really excited for her. She did explain, in tears, her fears about her family situation. She is the only active member in her family and her husband is a nonmember. But she has decided to go to the temple is a good step for her to take in her life. I hope that day comes soon for her! We also went over to the Allen's. There was a death in their family and Sis. Allen is the ward choir pianist and she asked Sis. Grant to cover for her on Sunday because she would be gone. While we were there getting the music, Bro. Allen showed us the weather report for this weekend….we were estimating to get anywhere from 10-24 inches of snow. It has been so warm and nice and then it turned to FREEZING!! We had a couple stop-bys, dinner with the McEwen's and then we went to this Neighborhood Bible Study with Cami and her husband Stefan. It was interesting…But I'll tell you more about it tomorrow on the phone. 

Friday was a great spiritual uplifting day for me! We were in meetings all day but they were really good! We had Specialized Training with our zone and the East zone. President Rehm talked about the changing mission and what changes are going to be made to this mission. The AP's, Elders Burton, Madsen, and Potter taught about becoming a consecrated missionary. It was really powerful. After Specialized Training, we went to lunch together as a district and a couple other missionaries to Panda Express. We were able to eat lunch outside it was so warm! It was our last day eating lunch as a district. Elder Wasden and Sister Grant go home this transfer (tomorrow) and Elder Diepeveen and I are headed out to Taiwan. After, we had District Meeting back in Monument. Elder Wasden gave a great lesson and we ended up basically sharing our testimonies. The Spirit was so strong and I learned so much from the missionaries I have been able to work with for the last 9 weeks being in Colorado. 

Saturday and Sunday we were stuck inside due to the amount of snow we have. The Mission has had cars parked and they are still parked today. No worries though…I'll get down to Colorado Springs one way or another :) 

AND CHURCH WAS CANCELLED YESTERDAY due to so much snow….how crazy is that?!?!?!?!

I will miss Monument, Colorado so much! I have come to love this area so much! the people here are absolutely amazing! I have come to be really good friends with some members here that I hope to stay in contact with while I continue my mission in Taiwan. 

I can't wait to talk to you tomorrow!! I sure love and miss you like crazy!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Sister Haacke

 All of my district with a couple of extra missionaries after our last district meeting together.

 We were able to also go over to the Castles and teach their kids a lesson. This is Quinn, one of their daughters. She was so cute and came and sat by me. She has red hair and blue eyes just like me :)

 The Monument Elders live just up the street from us and since our cars were parked, we decided to take a walk and meet half way. We were singing Onward Christian Soldier and Come, Come ye Saints as we were walking to meet up with them. We talked for like 5 minutes but it was so cold, we all decided to go our separate ways…this is what we do when we are stuck inside for two days straight :/

Brother Cook and sister Cook. Brother Cook has been our ward mission leader and they were so nice to drive clear over to our house and say good bye to me last night. I will sure miss them.

I am hoping to get together with Bro. Jenson to say goodbye to him today as well. He and his family helped me out so much!

  Sister Liggett and I.

 Our last heart attack was to the Sister Training Leaders, Sister Peters and Sister Fisher.

Taiwan Bound!

Family and friends,

This past week has been incredible!!!! 

1. I got my visa!!! I'M GOING TO TAIWAN!!!!!!!!!!! I leave here on February 25th!!! I am so excited. I honestly thought this day would never come but it's here and I can't wait!!!! I don't have my travel plans yet but as soon as I get them, I will be sure to send you a copy. 

2. CAMI CAME TO CHURCH!!! Cami, our investigator, came to church on Sunday and stayed for ALL 3 hours!!! 

Other than those two things, our week here in Colorado has flown by! 

 

On Tuesday, Feb 10, we had a lesson with Cami. We have started to do Family History with her and it has made her really excited. Tuesday we spent the majority of the time working on Family History. We were able to connect her dad's side of her family to a line that is already complete all the way back to I believe the 1700's. On her dad's side of the family, she basically had no information so it was really exciting for us to find that with her. We had lunch at her home with her and talked more about her Book of Mormon reading. She is currently reading at the end of Mosiah. She always has really good questions for us. I can really tell she is reading the Book of Mormon sincerely and really wanting to come to a knowledge for herself if the Book of Mormon is true. 

 

On Saturday we went with Cami to the Family History Discovery Center in Colorado Springs for her to use ancestry.com and get some help with the volunteers there at the center. I was able to work a little on our family history but I didn't find much so I sat by Cami and helped her.* After, we went with Cami and Maryn Carpenter (a 17 year old in our ward) to Red Robin for lunch. Maryn was so kind and paid for all of us. I really didn't want her to but she insisted. She is so kind and has such a big heart. 

Wednesday, we were busy all day with going to work out with Sister Clay and Weekly Planning. We made "armor" out of cardboard and tin foil for a lesson we are going to start doing with families in our ward. Wednesday night, we had dinner with the Bull family and then went and did some "heart attacks" to some individuals and families in our ward. We wanted to thank some people in our ward for helping us out and so we decorated their door with hearts and doorbell ditched them. One of the heart attacks we did on Friday night, we hid around the corner of their apartment to listen to her and she was shocked. She is a single mom of 3 who went through a nasty divorce. She has no idea it was us and that's what makes it so much better. 

Thursday, we had interviews with our Mission President. They went well. After interviews, we had an appointment with Sis. Liggett. She is looking forward to further prepare to enter the temple. Her husband also joined us with the lesson and we had a good discussion about the Plan of Salvation. We also had an appointment with the O'Brian family. They are potential investigators but are very strong Catholics. We did the Armor of God lesson with their kids and Bro. O'Brian asked us if we had any questions about the Catholic church. We ended up talking mostly about Mass... We had dinner with the Huntzinger family and then went to the Relief Society Activity. Cami came and we were so excited to see her there!! Bro. Ken Jenson was the Priesthood there so that is when I told him about what I heard from you dad and he told me he would be my way of communication :). 

Friday, we had district meeting in the morning which is always amazing and we did some stopbys and had ward correlation with Bro. Cook. Nothing too exciting...We had dinner with the Jones family and did the Armor of God lesson with them. 

Saturday, after we did family history in Colorado Springs with Cami, we went and did service for Sis. Clay. We helped her clean out her garage. We visited Sis. Ruble and had a good conversation with her about Charity and we spent the evening with the Waters family. We made heart shaped pizza's because it was Valentine's day and we played the game, Quelf, with them. It was really fun! They are a really fun family. The Waters just got married about 2 years ago and Bro. Waters and one of his sons got baptized about 1.5 years ago. Ian Waters, Bro. Waters other son is the person we teach almost every Sunday during Sunday School. Since he is deaf, he really has no understanding about God and Jesus Christ. However, Ian loves to build things and so he showed us his room and he has built some amazing things! It was so exciting to see how happy and exciting Ian was to show us his creations. 

Sunday was phenomenal! Cami came to church!!! Bro. Goss is Cami's neighbor and he was speaking in Sacrament Meeting. He invited her and she accepted his invitation. Cami sat with us. The entire Sacrament Meeting was amazing. The Spirit was so strong. The Sacrament was the topic. Cami wasn't planning on staying all three hours but after Sacrament meeting, she turned to us and said, "What's next?" Sis Gearhart and Sis. Goss went with her to Gospel Principles and we ended up joining them because Ian wasn't at church. Sis. Clay sat next to Cami during Relief Society. Overall, I believe Cami had an great time. All she said at the end is that our church is very 'traditional'. She invited us to go to church with her and her family this coming Saturday night. After church, we had ward choir, had some stop bys, and a lesson with the Fitt family. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their family is starting to come back to church more and more which is really cool! We also visited Jenn and had a really good conversation with her about not giving up and relying on our Savior, Jesus Christ. For some reason, this week has been especially hard with her and her ex-husband. If you could, please pray for her and her kids. 

 

We had dinner with the Atkinson's. Dinner was really good and we had a good conversation with Bishop and his family about the ward and what we can do to further help him. It started to snow really bad, our car is horrible in the snow, and we saw several car accidents. It snowed pretty much the entire night and where we live, in Red Rock Ranch, we got probably 5-8 inches of snow. Because of that, Monday, we couldn't drive so we stayed inside pretty much all day for our p-day. The Zone got together in the afternoon and Sis. Fisher and Sis. Peters were so kind to pick us up and drive us around. We played glow in the dark volleyball, scatterball, and chair soccer with our zone for our p-day yesterday. And since all the libraries we closed, due to holiday, we are emailing today. :)

Overall, this week was amazing! We were able to see our investigator progress and continue to see less actives slowly come back to church. This week is the last week I will be in Colorado so I'll continue to work my hardest to see the work progress here in Monument. 

I sure love you all. Please tell Crystal congratulations on getting baptized for me! I am so proud of her! Marissa, it sounds like you gave an amazing talk! Continue to be her friend and help her as she continues to learn more about the Gospel. 

I can't wait to talk to you all on Wednesday!!! 

Love, 

Sister Haacke

 

 The Bull family.

 The Armor of God we made.

 President & Sister Rehm and I.

 

 The Jones family.

 The Jones family.

One of the doors we 'heart attacked'.

 

 The Snow on Monday.

 Wall Sit Challenge at Glow in the Dark Volleyball with Sis. Peters and Sis. Cook.

 The Gonzalez family.

Book of Mormon Challenge

Dear family and friends, 

This week has gone by honestly so fast! I feel like I was emailing home just yesterday! I loved reading through the emails I received from everyone! It sounds like it was a fast week! 

Bryan, sounds like you had a great week in your new area! I loved the pictures you sent home! It sounds like there is a lot of less-active work that can be done there! Holy cow there are so many in just your area! 

Marissa, congrats on passing your driving test! I'm sure proud of you! I'm also sorry to hear about your phone! That's kinda funny though that it is totally smashed! 

Lachlan, it sounds like you are soaking up all the basketball you can get! I'm glad you enjoy going to the high school games with dad! 

Alexa, I loved the picture mom and dad sent us of you dancing! You're so cute! I'm glad you all also had fun while grandma and grandpa H and Sara C. was there!  

Also, I am so excited Crystal is getting baptized this Saturday! It is so special that she has decided to join the church. I remember talking to her about what I was going to do as a missionary at the Ward Party during the summer at the VanderSloot ranch and now she has taken the lessons and found the truthfulness of the Church. Be sure to take tons of pictures and send them to me! Can you also get her email for me? I'd love to send her a email! 

 As for my week, like I said, it went by really fast and I learned a lot! 

I was able to finish the Book of Mormon this past week for the first time on my mission. I started while I was in the MTC. I know without a doubt the Book of Mormon is true. It testifies of Christ and brings so much joy and peace into my life. I am so grateful I live in a time where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been restored to the earth and we have the fullness of the Priesthood. I am so thankful for the prophet Joseph Smith. I am thankful he had a question and after reading James 1:5, taking his question to the Lord. I definitely am humbled by what Joseph went through to restore Christ's Church. Sis. Gearhart in my ward at New Beginnings a couple weeks ago said something along the lines of 'the pioneers gave their lives for the gospel and we just have the live our lives for the gospel.' That quote is so true. God had given us commandments to live by so that we can be happy. 

I challenge you, if you have not yet done so, to read the Book of Mormon and do as Moroni's promise says in Moroni 10:4-5. I know that if you sincerely pray and have a desire to know if the Book of Mormon is true, you can know for yourself, the truthfulness of its' teachings. 

Last Monday, February 2, we had our dinner appointment and FHE with the Taylor family. FHE was really fun. They have 4 kids-the youngest being 6. We split the Plan of Salvation up into 9 different parts and each of us took a part to teach. To mix it up, during your turn to teach, someone else had a white board and marker and wrote words you had to use as you taught your portion. The funnest one probably was their son Cannon, around 15 years old, was teaching about physical death. Sis. Grant had the white board and one of the words she wrote down was 'ginger' So Cannon said, "and yes, gingers have spirits too." It was really funny because Sis. Cook and I are both 'gingers'. So, we all had a good laugh at that. 

Tuesday was an awesome day! It started off with having an appointment with our investigator, Cami. When we got there, her neighbor was there as well! She was interested in what we teach and she stayed for the entire lesson with Cami!! I can't remember if I said this last week but we are now starting Cami on Family History which she is really excited about. This appointment was mostly to help her set up her familysearch.org account and to help her fill in some of her information. We also talked a lot about what she is currently reading in the Book of Mormon. She is currently in Mosiah. The hard thing is is that whenever we talk to her about it, she always brings up the verses that don't make sense and to her, talk about the Trinity. (But, we had an appointment with Bro. and Sis. Goss on Thursday and we talked to them about all the Trinity sounding verses in the Book of Mormon and I learned so much. It all makes sense now! Bro. Goss is a Seminary/Institute Teacher and an EFY director) Colleen, Cami's neighbor, had some really good questions for us! One of them was what our belief was about babies who pass away before being baptized. It was really neat to talk to her!! We gave her a Book of Mormon and she accepted our invitation to read it! We have a return appointment with her too!! I am so excited to be able to talk to her and start teaching her the lessons and what we believe and know to be true! I'm so excited to have a new investigator! 

We also had a door basically slammed in our face Tuesday evening...Looking back, it's all good but I was really sad when it happened. We have been trying to contact a Less-active for months and never had any communication with. Her family is from Utah and she went out to visit them a couple months ago and told them she wanted to become active in the church again. From her family informing missionaries, and us hearing word, we have been looking forward to finally making contact. Well, her husband/boyfriend answered the door and as soon as he saw us, said, "oh, no." before we were even able to say anything and shut and locked the door. He's not prepared yet, but one day, I hope and believe he will be open to hearing the gospel.

Tuesday night we had a FHE with a part-member family. We did the armor of God lesson and had their 7 year-old daughter, Roz, go around the house to find things to represent the breastplate, sword, helmet, etc. We then had nerf guns where each bullet would represent a sin. Sad to say, our lesson was a fail...First of all, I helped Violet, a 6 year old sweet girl adopted from CHINA!! who has down syndrome shoot  3 bullets but then Roz's mom went to shoot, she said, "This is for not eating your broccolli." The pillow was right below her eyes and the helmet was right above her eyes and Roz's mom shot her right in the eye. We all felt so bad. Roz started crying and it took her a while to settle down. Yeah, lets just say that lesson is going to have to be taught a different way...Bro. and Sis. Hyatt just got married July(ish) of last year. Bro. Hyatt's first marriage, he and his previous wife adopted two little children from China. Sadly, I can't remember the city but it sounded really familiar. He adopted Violet at 18 months and Sam when he was 3 years old. Sam was at his mom's when we were there so I couldn't meet him and Violet knows no Chinese but they are so cute! Bro. Hyatt and I talked a lot about China. I guess when you go over there to adopt a child, the agency is very strict on where you can go. He was able to visit the Great Wall of China but he couldn't go to the Terra Cotta Soldiers in Xi'an. It was really neat to be able to talk to him about his experience there. 

Wednesday went by really fast. It was pretty much just a normal day of work other than having weekly planning in the morning. We had dinner with the Jacobs that night and then an appointment with the Jones family. Bro. and Sis. Jones are the ones that both served missions. What I learned is that Sis. Jones was on  the gymnastics team for BYU on a scholarship. We did an object lesson with the 3rd lesson, The Gospel of Jesus Christ. They kids, Kai, Finn, & Bre and so cute and so educated. The oldest one is 7 and knows the answers to every question we ask! 

Thursday we had a great lesson with Sister Liggett. Her husband is a nonmember but Sis. Liggett has decided after being married for 30 years that she wants to go to the temple and take out her endowments. The lesson we had with Sis. Liggett was amazing. We talked about what she needs to do to prepare to enter the temple and we also discussed the first lesson, the Restoration. We had decided to go through all the lessons with her again. I am excited for her to start preparing to enter the temple. Thursday we also helped Sis. Shirk clean her home . We had some stopbys and then had dinner with the Carpenters. After dinner we had appointments with the Boulander family and the Goss family. 

Friday morning we had Zone Training down in Colorado Springs. We talked a lot about using our time wisely especially during the daytime hours. We had lunch with the district. We went to Five Guys and then came back to Monument. it is about a 30 minute drive. We had some time before our service appointment with Sis. Jacobs-we helped her make Relief Society Visiting Teaching handout things. With our extra time, since it was 70 degrees outside (SO NICE!!), we walked around a neighborhood. While we did this, we were able to hand out multiple mormon.org cards and we were able to give a Book of Mormon to a young mom named Shawna. She was at the park with her 1 year old daughter, Piper, and she seemed somewhat interested in learning about the church. She lives in our ward boundaries as well which is a plus! We are hoping to be able to make contact with her sometime this next week. It was definitely a very successful day! We also ran into Ryan, a Priest in our ward, and he was really excited to see us! He came over to us and told us he was able to give a Book of Mormon away to a girl at school and how they have had two conversations about the church and what we believe! We were so excited for him! The work here in Jackson Creek, is starting to hasten very quickly! It is so neat to see and be apart of! 

Saturday we had appointments all day long. It started with a less-active/part-member family. We taught the Plan of Salvation and had a good conversation with them about the life after this. We then had a lesson with Danielle, a 13 year-old less active. She is extremely smart and we are hoping that she comes around and comes to church. She told us she would come to church this Sunday, but she didn't :(. So we will continue working with her. We also went over to the Germano's had continued to help them with their home, they are staining, putting in new carpet, and all of that stuff. I absolutely love Sis. Germano. She is such a neat lady. Saturday night, we had dinner with the Gonzalez family. We played Bananagram with them. It is a really fun game.

Church on Sunday was really good. We sat with Sis. Hyatt's two children, Roz & Landon because she spoke. They were really well behaved. Ian was also there so we were able to talk more about Christ and the Plan of Salvation with him during second hour. Relief Society was also really good. We talked mostly about Agency and the power to choose but recognizing that we must face the consequences of our choices. Our Sunday afternoon was full with Choir and stop-bys. We had a great conversation with Jenn, we were able to make contact with Sis. Hayes and set up an appointment with her this Wednesday, and visit the Castle's who had a baby about 2 weeks ago. They named her Inga and she is the tiniest thing! We had dinner with the Tuft family. Sunday was also Sis. Grant's 21st birthday so we celebrated all that we could. 

This morning we were able to go to a gymnastics place for 1.5 hours! The owners live next to some members in the Monument ward and they are so nice! We had so much fun as a district. I was surprised that I could still do a lot of what I did when I tumbled. But of course, not the backwalkover..Mom, remember that one competition, our very last one, and I did a back walkover and then I could never do it again? haha that was a good day :) 

I sure love you all and am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve. Sadly, there are no updates on my visa. I continue to pray for it to come but I guess it will come when it comes but most importantly when the Lord wants me to go to Taiwan. Please continue to pray for my visa. :) 

Have a great week!! Love you!! 

Love, 

Sister Haacke

Mini-Miracles

Family and Friends!!

Fam: I loved reading the family email this week! Marissa, it looks like you had so much fun in Los Angles with mom and the Voice! I am glad you had a ton of fun and got to visit all over LA...lucky duck! Lachlan, congratulations on winning your basketball game! I'm proud of you! Alexa, I'm glad you had fun at your friends baptism!! 

As for the Superbowl, we couldn't watch it but when we walked in to the Nickol's home, they were watching it and there was 6:32 left in the 4th quarter and the Patriots were down 21-24. We live in their basement and about 20 or 30 minutes later, There was pounding on the floor and we figured the Seahawks lost (the Nickol's are Seahawk fans). I was really excited! haha. This morning, Bro. Nickol's told us how the game ended and he wasn't very happy..haha. It looks like Lachlan, Alexa, and dad had a fun time watching it...well except for the fact that Alexa fell asleep..haha. 

As for a visa update, I got no new information except for an email from Salt Lake basically saying thanks for being patient and faithfully serving in Colorado Springs. 

Speaking of Taiwan...Chinese New Year is coming up...I hope I don't miss it...but if I do, there is always next year...right? :)

Bryan, I'm glad you are already loving your new area! It sounds like you have a lot of work to do--especially with less-actives! Keep us updated on everything! Sure love you! 

As for my week, this week went by extremely fast!! 

We had a less active come to church yesterday! Her name is Sis. Ruble and we have been visiting her weekly for about 3 weeks. I was so excited when Sis. Cook leaned over to me and said Sis. Ruble is sitting over in the corner! I was so happy the rest of Sacrament Meeting. After, I ran over to talk to her and she seemed really happy but said she was going to go get a Priesthood Blessing from Bishop and then was going home because she was in a lot of pain. She is still recovering from some surgeries she has months ago. I have really bonded with Sis. Ruble and I have loved our visits with her. She is a strong woman who I have learned so much from and truly treasure our friendship. 

Another family, the Fitt's, are less active and have started attending church again. Most of them were there yesterday. We were also able to go over to their home Sunday afternoon to teach a lesson. Bro. Fitt served a mission in Finland and told us many experiences he had there. It was neat. 

It was kind of a slower week lesson wise but we were able to see so many miracles. 

Tuesday was New Beginnings in Young Women's. In the morning, we helped the leaders set up and get ready. During the day, we went to Danielle's home and invited her. Danielle is 13. Her family is all active but she is less-active. Danielle came and had a great time. She loved it there and the girls really included her and welcomed her. It was so neat. 

Tuesday, we were also able to come in contact with one of the Melville neighbors we met at their home back in December. Her name is Karen. She is Catholic and her husband past away February of 2014 from cancer. She welcomed us into her home and we were able to talk to her for about an hour! She was so happy and we had a great uplifting conversation. She is very religious and we talked a lot about the Spirit. She told us to come back whenever to talk to her! I think she was also really happy to talk to someone because she lives alone. 

Something really neat about coming in contact with Karen. She just moved here in September-ish and Sis. Cook tracted her door in October and she wasn't interested..After meeting her at the Melville home and being able to talk to her a little there, when she saw us this week, she was so happy we came to stop-by and talk with her. It really strengthened my testimony of Member Missionary Work. It really does work and Karen is now a potential investigator.  

Thursday we had a lesson with Cami. She is doing well but is still not coming to church. She is still reading the Book of Mormon--currently in Mosiah--we have taught her basically everything. We were considering having to drop her as a investigator because she isn't progressing but she told us on Thursday she loved our visits because it holds her accountable to reading the Book of Mormon. She is learning so much and has so many questions. She strongly believes in the Trinity and she has been pointing out scriptures in the Book of Mormon that she believes goes back to the Trinity--such as Mosiah 7:27. We explain that the Godhead is one in purpose...I hope that as she continues to read, she can gain a personal testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. 

Friday was basically a day full of service. Other than service, we were able to come in contact with Bro. Clark--the only High Priest less-active in our ward. This was my first time meeting him and he seems really nice. He was busy so we could talk to him for very long. We also were able to come in contact and set up an appointment with the Beagley's! Michelle Beagley was home but he husband, Mike, was not. Mike is a less-active, and Michelle is a non-member. They have taken the lessons before and are interested in taking them again! We have an appointment with them on Saturday. 

Saturday was also a day full of service but it was also a miracle! We had dinner with the Jenson family earlier this week and their daughter, Annie (10), invited us to her basketball game at the YMCA. Normally, we wouldn't be allowed to go, but her friend who goes to activity days with her plays on her same basketball game and her parents were going to be there. We were able to go and it was the best finding activity we have done! Honestly, we got a lot of weird looks but, we were able to talk to a lot of people and get to know Annie's friend, River, and River's parents. The miracle is that the Germano's were there as well!!!! One of the Germano girls was on the other team playing against Annie and her team! Only Bro. Germano was there when we got there and he was sitting right by the door. He is 100% deaf so we weren't able to talk to him very well but he recognized us and was really happy to see us. We texted Sis. Germano telling her we were watching her daughter. She walked in late and left early so we weren't able to talk to her because we were sitting at the far end. She texted us back and we were able to go over in the afternoon and help them with their basement. They are re-sorting and moving things around in their basement.  The Germano's are nonmembers. They have taken the lessons many times.  Sis. Germano believes the gospel to be true but she is waiting for her husband to believe the same before she gets baptized. We were also able to have dinner with them Saturday night which was really fun. 

Tuesday, I was able to go to lunch with Wendy Conner! Her daughter, Courtney, who is a senior in high school also came! 

Little fun fact, I was able to go to a dentist in the ward here on Wednesday. The end of my permanent retainer on the top was sharp (I thought the glue fell off of it) and it was cutting up my tongue. What it ended up being was the end just came loose for some reason but the glue was still there and the wire was still bonded to my tooth...Bro. Bull just smoothed it out and it made a world of difference. He said he was really impressed by how neat and clean my orthodontist glued on my top and bottom retainers. Tell Dr. Baker thanks! haha

Another little fun fact, there is a lady in our ward, Sis. Clay. We were at her house last night to have a lesson with her and her four boys. Her husband is currently deployed. Well, Sis. Clay is very vocally expressed, for lack of a better description..haha. I love her to death. She cracks me up...but, she hates the question, "Is there anything we can do for you?" She doesn't like it because she says that you should only ask it if you really mean anything. We say at the end of every lesson. What's funny is that my first ever dinner here in Colorado was with her family and I remember her telling me this and so to never ask her. Well, last night, Sis. Grant forgot about how much she dislikes this question, asked her, and this coming Saturday, we get to go back to her house and deep clean her garage. She told us to block out three hours of our day. Yes, three hours! In her garage, it is set up as a gym. It has those extremely heavy mats laid down and all this equipment. So, we get to take all of that out, clean, and then put it all back in. 

However, Sis. Clay's story to becoming a member of the Church is very neat. She is from France and she was going to English Class in France. It is English class where the missionaries teach it. At the time, she was 19. She said it was really weird that all 4 teachers first names were Elder and that kind of sparked her interest. In  the English classes, the missionaries can't talk about the church unless someone asks a question. One day, she was out walking the streets and she saw some of her 'teachers.' She was interested in the gospel and 2 months later was baptized. 

Overall, we had a good week! I have learned and grown so much. It has been a warmer week. Yes, dad, we got some snow but not very much. Not as much as last week. It is pretty much all melted now. The crazy thing about Colorado is that it snows a couple inches but all of it is gone like three days later. The snow never stays.  I love what I am doing. Some days are hard, but they are all worth it! 

I love you all so much! Thank you for all you do for me!! 

Love, 

Sister Haacke

黃姐妹

 Us at Costa with Courtney (Wendy's daughter)

 This house is in our area and I was amazed by the color when we were seeking out a referral on that street.

Oh, we also took a trip to Home Depot. A member in our ward kinda referred us to a lady who works there and we didn't have an appointment one night after dinner and we can't tract or do stopbys in the dark, so we went to seek her out.