"Go Knock 'Em Dead. Well, Go Knock 'Em Into The Font." - President Rees

Hello everyone! 

This week was pretty wild and had lots of ups and downs. 

First of all, Jake's parents aren't going to give permission for him to get baptized which is super sad. Jake was so excited to get baptized and we had a few really good lessons with him this week and we even gave him a tour of the font. He said the sweetest prayer in one of our lessons. When we got the news last night that he can't get baptized, we were devastated. He will probably just have to wait until he turns 18. We were also planning on having Angie and Audrey at church this week but Audrey got sick so they didn't come :(

On Saturday, we were eating dinner in our apartment and we heard a loud noise and then the fire alarm started going off! We ran outside into the snow and got into our car. We told our zone leaders which wasn't much help because they thought we were joking. Two fire trucks came and the firefighters started going inside our apartment and looking around. Apparently, a sprinkler pipe broke and water was leaking everywhere. The water came into our apartment but they were able to stop it and we just dried it up with some towels and everything is fine. I have no idea why it triggered the fire alarm though. It was a pretty eventful night.

We had a leadership meeting with all the zone leaders, sister training leaders, and district leaders over zoom. It was a great meeting and at the end, President Rees said, "Go knock 'em dead. Well, go knock 'em into the font." Haha. 

We had a cool first lesson this week with Jacklyn about the Restoration. She is the friend of a girl named Abby in the ward. Abby just started the online MTC so she and her MTC companion got to join in our video call lesson with Jacklyn which was so cool! It was weird to think about online MTC again and it's crazy how much has happened since then! 

Today marks 1 year since I received my Endowment in the temple! I feel like that just barely happened! Time is so weird. Also, we are allowed to sing in sacrament meeting now in our ward!

Sister Ray is a super good companion! I've never really talked in my sleep before but like every night this week we have been talking to each other in our sleep. We usually just like start talking about the people we are teaching and do daily planning. Usually after a few minutes one of us realizes it's the middle of the night and tells the other it's not time to plan yet haha. Also, we are super bad at remembering to take pictures together so sorry there aren't very many.

Pictures:

1. Lemons

2. Waffles and ice cream

3. Gelato 

Sub Zero Temperatures And Transfers!

Hello everyone!

We had transfers this week and my companion, Sister Larsen got transferred but I'm still here. My new companion is Sister Ray! She is from Gilbert, Arizona and she is a violin performance major so our zone conferences are about to get an upgrade with both of our skills combined haha. She is super cute and we've had a great time so far. It was super sad to see Sister Larsen leave though and I miss her a lot.

This weekend has been like the coldest of my entire life. When we woke up on Sunday it was -8°F and when we drove to stake conference it was -4°F. I was dying. We also tried heart attacking a family that used to be taught by missionaries last night for Valentine's day and the tape was freezing and it felt like the insides of our noses and lungs were freezing. Anyway, today it has been nice and warm and the temps are back in the 20s haha. Thank goodness for fleece-lined tights and my massive coat.

Luckily, a member's mom just happens to own Minky Couture, the fancy blanket company, so they just gave us both free blankets when we had a lesson with them. Ah I love nice rich people :) 

I also spent Thursday with some other Sisters in the zone while I waited for Sister Ray to get here and that was super fun! Oh yeah, Sister Ray was just serving in Vail which is like a famous ski resort town in our mission in a Spanish ward. She and I came out on our missions at the same time and she was originally called to Argentina so we can practice Spanish together!! We will also hit our 9 months together this transfer which is CRAZY! 

We have officially taught Jake all the lessons and we had a practice baptismal interview with him and he passed! His baptism is scheduled for Sunday but he is still figuring out some things with his parents. We're not sure when he will be baptized but we know it will happen! We just want it to be the right timing for him and his family. Everyone pray for Jake and his parents!

Love, Sister Megan Young 

Pictures:

1. Our last district council before transfers

2. Another sing along for our Goodwill service 

3. Torchy's tacos

4. Jake and his friends and our ward mission leader and his wife

5. Saying bye to Sister Larsen :(

6. Spent the day with Sister Hale and Sister Hogan

7. Proof that it was -8°

8. Sister Ray and I with Chick-fil-a and Crumbl

Making Disciples

Hello everyone! This week was so good!

The most exciting thing was that we put Jake on date for baptism on February 21st!!! He's super solid! He even fasted yesterday! He has been talking with his parents about it and they aren't against him getting baptized but he still needs to work on getting them more on board. 

We also had 3 people we are teaching at church in person yesterday! Jake, Angie, and Audrey all came and it was so good to see all the members welcome them. Another girl in the ward brought a friend so we will hopefully start teaching her and her family this week!! 

On Tuesday, we went up to Avon again for MLC and it was fun to see missionaries from all across the mission! I always love driving to the mountains and luckily this time it was a lot warmer up there :) 

We also had combined district council this week which went super well! We talked a lot about goal setting and planning. Our zone leaders had us think about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and then to picture those we are teaching 5-10 years in the future and how we can help them become lifelong disciples. It was cool to think about making disciples rather than just thinking of baptism as the end goal because in reality, baptism is just the first step.

Our member who owns Costa Vida gave us food again this week and he also gave us food for all the missionaries in our district which was so nice!

We also got to do this cool service thing where we taught a class to some people with special needs over zoom through Goodwill! We taught them the song "Once There Was a Snowman" with the actions and it was so fun! I played the piano and Sister Larsen taught everyone the words and actions.

Today we got pizza and ate it outside the Denver temple which is actually pretty close to where we live. I love the temple!! It was so nice to be there and feel the Spirit of the temple. 

This past week I hit 8 months as a missionary which is so crazy!! Time is going too fast! Transfers are also this week on Thursday and we don't know what's going to happen yet! Sister Larsen is probably getting transferred though since she's been in this area for 7 months. So next week I'll probably have a new companion but we'll see!

Love, Sister Megan Young 

Pictures:

1. Mountains on the way to Avon

2. Goodwill class

3. Costa Vida

4. The Lovejoys (members in the ward)

5. Our zone at combined district council

6. Highlands Ranch

7-8. At the temple

Livin' The Life :)

Hello everyone!

Another great week here in Highlands Ranch, Colorado!!

We went on exchanges again this week and this time Sister Russell came here to the Saddle Ranch area with me. We had lots of fun and it went so quick! It was super fun to do language study with her because she speaks Spanish! So we just talked in Spanish for an hour and it was so fun :)

We also had some great lessons this week! Jake told us he wants to be baptized in February so we are super excited!! Angie and Audrey said they are coming to church in person next week which is huge for them!

We also had zone conference this week which is always the best! They are getting more stressful for me though because now, not only do I do the musical number, but I also have to do a training for the zone. I always love hearing from President and Sister Rees and seeing all the missionaries in person!

So in case you didn't already know, everyone in this area is super rich and they all have huge houses (we are in the richest area of the mission). They are all like so generous though so we love it. This week a youth gave us some mask mist that you spray on your mask before you put it on and it smells really good. He made it and he like has his own business and sells them but he gave it to us for free. Also, another member casually owns Costa Vida so he gave us free Costa Vida for dinner one night and drove up in his huge Costa Vida van. And another member just randomly gave us a box of Crumbl cookies. We always have a lot of extra money on our missionary cards since people give us so much food so we decided to go to Trader Joe's today. We are definitely living a nice life here haha.

Now for a random story... we went on a walk around the apartment complex and this old lady yelled to us to come over and gave us a bunch of old pillows and rugs that she didn't want anymore. She didn't have a mask on and we didn't have ours with us since we usually don't see anyone so we couldn't really talk to her so it was just really weird. We ended up throwing the stuff away though because it smelled like old lady and we didn't want it. 

This past week on January 28th marked one year since I opened my mission call! I can't believe the time has gone by so quick! My mission has been COMPLETELY different than what I expected when I read my letter but I have loved it! I have learned a lot and have met so many amazing people! 

Love, Sister Megan Young 

Pictures:

1. Exchanges with Sister Russell

2. The zone leaders sticky noted our car windows with inside jokes the night before one of them got sent back to his original mission in Chile :(

3. Selfie after 2 fabulous lessons

4. Pillows and rugs from a random old lady

5. Trader Joe's 

6-7. Bracelets from a cute girl in our ward and the bag they came in