Let Us All Press On

Well, it's my last week! I'll be home on Friday, December 3rd. It still doesn't seem real and there are definitely a lot of mixed emotions. I have absolutely loved my mission and Colorado will always have a piece of my heart. 

This week was Thanksgiving and we spent it with our ward mission leader and his family. The food was delicious and they are just super fun people to hang out with! It has been fun to talk about gratitude so much these past few weeks and recognize how much there is to be grateful for.

We also had a Light the World kick off and I'm sad I won't be here for most of it. We're all excited for Christmas over here! There was a Christmas tree lighting in downtown Silt (which is just one street haha) and it was so fun to start off the season with that! 

We went bowling as a district today and I'm going to miss all of them so much!! I've met such good people throughout my mission and it's sad to say goodbye. 

On Saturday, Seth from my last area was baptized!! I'm so proud of him! The people we are teaching here are also doing great! Brianna came to church and is getting ready for her baptism on December 11th.

My mission President's favorite song is "Let Us All Press On" and it has become our mission song. We sing it at the end of every meeting so I thought it would be appropriate to use it for the title of my last email. 

I've learned a lot on my mission in every aspect of my life but most importantly, I have come to know my Savior, Jesus Christ better. I know that this is His work and that if we have faith in Him, we will see miracles. I know that He lived, that He died for us, and that He lives again. I know that He loves every one of us. He has been my light, my support, and my friend throughout hard times on my mission. I know that His church was restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Reading the Book of Mormon has helped me to come closer to the Savior and to feel the peace that only He gives. I know that God hears and answers our prayers, even if it's not in the way we expect. I love this gospel so much and I have loved being a missionary these past 18 months!

I'll see you all soon! 

I will speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday, December 12 at 9:00 am.

Craig Drive Chapel - 3103 Craig Drive, SLC, UT - Please wear a mask.

Webcast: http://mywebcast.churchofjesuschrist.org/Events/saltlakeeastmillcreekstake

You're welcome to come visit at our home following the sacrament meeting.

Young home - 2729 E 3600 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84109

Love, Sister Young

Pictures:

1. Rifle district

2. Silt Christmas tree lighting with Elders Nelson and McLelland (we split a ward)

3-4. Pretty sunsets

5. Thanksgiving district service project

6. Thanksgiving with the Aldridges 

7. Christmas pajamas from Sister DeMordaunt's mom

8. Bowling with the district 

Yaks, Alpacas, And Ranches

Hello hello!

This week I went to my last zone conference :'( It was all about working with members and Sister DeMordaunt and I got to do a training. All of the missionaries that are going home from the Craig and Rifle zones got to give their departing testimonies and I was so nervous to do mine but when I got up there, the words just came to me and it went well!

There's a member who owns a lot of land and they have a pet yak. We were driving past their property one day and we saw the yak outside so we decided to stop and take a picture by it. As we were getting out I said something like, "That would be scary if it charged at us" and Sister Mills said, "we would probably die". We started taking pictures and then the yak started charging at us haha. We all screamed and ran back to the car and drove away as fast as possible. Sister Mills got the whole thing on video haha. 

We also had exchanges with the sisters in Glenwood Springs. Sister Meek came here to Rifle with me and Sister Mills and it was a fun exchange. At the end, we met back up with the other sisters in downtown Glenwood which is so cute at night and we got dinner and ice cream together. Then we all split up and went street contacting which was really fun! It was so cold though!

This week we have been meeting with Brianna a lot! We put her on date for baptism on November 27th but then we found out that her uncle who is going to baptize her has covid so the date had to be pushed back to December 11th. So unfortunately I will miss it, but I'm still happy that she's getting baptized. 

My companions and I sang in church yesterday and the ward loved it!! We've been getting so many compliments from everyone. We've also been sharing a lot of messages with people about gratitude since Thanksgiving is coming up this week. 

Today we went out to one of our member's ranches and she cut my companion's hair. Their house is so cute and they have so many animals! They told us all about their cows and all the work that goes into running a ranch. It was so beautiful! We also went to a cute little Alpaca farm in Silt and got to feed some alpacas. :)

Love, Sister Young

Pictures:

1-2. Raking leaves 

3. The yak

4. The social media sisters stayed with us the night before zone conference

5. Us with Brianna

6. The Rifle zone

7-8. Alpaca farm

Departing Interview

Hello everyone!

Another great week here in Silt, CO! The people that we are teaching are doing awesome and the work is moving forward here! A lot of our members have been sick though so we haven't been able to be with as many of them or have them join in our lessons.

We did 2 exchanges this week and I got to go to 2 Spanish areas! First, I went to the Carbondale branch with Hermana Bopp. It covers the Spanish speakers in a pretty large area (Glenwood, Aspen, Rifle). I also went to Vail with Hermana Holden and Sister Mills came too. That area is so pretty! 

We also had interviews with our mission President and his wife and since this is my last transfer, I had my departing interview with President Rees. He gave me a temple reccomend interview and we talked about what I've learned on my mission and my goals for the future. Before that, I was really sad and nervous to go home but now I'm feeling a lot better about it. I love President and Sister Rees so much and I'm grateful I've been able to serve with them! 

Today we played chair soccer with our district and we had so much fun! I love my district!! 

Love, Sister Young

Pictures:

1. Goats

2. Sheep

3-5. Exchanges with Hermana Bopp

6-7. Exchanges with Hermana Holden and Sister Mills

8. Sister DeMordaunt, Sister Mills, and I

9. Us with Brianna and her daughter Joanna

A Week Of Miracles

Hi everyone!

This week was INCREDIBLE!! It started off with MLC in Highlands Ranch at the mission home! Usually it's in the mountains in Avon but this month we had it at our new mission home that's in one of my old areas (Saddle Ranch) and it was so fun to be back there and the mission home is so nice! I also got to stay in my last apartment with Sister Hult and Sister Wickham. When we were driving through the mountains it was snowing so it felt like Christmas!

We got a referral from my past comp, Sister Rogers for a guy named Fernando so we got to do a pass-off lesson with them and we put him on date for baptism!! We also started teaching the nonmember husband of one of our members and they are the cutest old people and we have to talk really loud for them to hear us haha. When we talked about the First Vision, all of us were crying or on the verge of tears because the Spirit was so strong!

I went on an exchange with Sister Mills and Sister Klingler in Craig, CO this week and it was wild. I thought Rifle was small but I was wrong. There's hardly anything in Craig and the whole time I was wondering why anyone would choose to live there. But I learned a lot and it made me so grateful for my area!! It was a 2 hour drive from Craig and we almost hit a deer and when I got back to Rifle, I was like "Wow! Civilization! And trees!" Even though Rifle is a pretty small town haha.

On Sunday morning we had a church tour with our friend Liz and we told her to invite her sister and she came! Her sister's name is Laura and her cute daughter Valentina came too. They had a great time at church and Liz even bore her testimony in sacrament meeting and made several comments in Sunday school. Our other friend Nancy came too and brought her daughter Riot. After church we had a lesson with them and a member and we taught the Restoration and she told us how she had been searching for a church and she felt like God was leading her to us! She's also going to introduce us to her younger sister! AND Brianna came with her daughter and today we found out that she actually wasn't baptized so we'll be baptizing her soon! At church it was stressful trying to keep track of all our people and show them around and stuff but it was awesome!

We also had combined district council this week with our zone which was awesome and we built a lot of unity. And we had a zone activity today and played volleyball! When we meet as a zone, we meet in Glenwood Springs because it's more central in our zone. It's such a cute little town!

There have been so many times this week when I've just felt the Spirit so much and I know that God is blessing us with miracles! I love being a missionary and serving the Savior every day! 

Love, Sister Young

Pictures:

1-2. MLC at the mission home

3. Snow on the drive

4. Combined District Council

5. Doing service taping a house for paint

6-8. Exchanges in Craig

9. Zone P-day activity

The Mystery Of Brianna

Hello hello!

This week was pretty exciting! We got to go to Grand Junction for new missionary orientation for Sistet Mills. I've never been there so it was cool to see a part of my mission I've heard so much about. It was a great meeting and it was fun to go on a little road trip and see all the missionaries serving in the west!

We also found this lady named Brianna on Facebook and we met up with her. She seemed super interested but she told us she had been baptized into our church. She asked us to give her a church tour and she said she had definitely been there before. We searched our records but we can't find her records anywhere even though she has lived in New Castle her entire life. We have her parents' records but not hers. It's a pretty strange situation but she seems genuine. She came to our ward trunk or treat activity and she came to church with her daughter yesterday. We asked if she was sure she had been baptized and she wasn't exactly sure. It was a long time ago so she couldn't remember. She said she could get baptized again so we'll see what the future holds for her!

We also invited one of our neighbors to the Trunk or treat and she invited her granddaughter. They all ended up coming which was awesome! Our neighbor, Judy, doesn't seem interested in meeting with us but her granddaughter, Nancy, seems really interested! She's 23 and has a daughter of her own. She wants to meet with us and she came to church yesterday as well!

This ward is amazing and all of the members are so welcoming and so good at sharing the gospel with those around them! We were so happy to see so many nonmembers at our ward activity that were invited by the members. We dressed up as Elders for the activity haha. 

Today we get to drive to Highlands Ranch for our MLC meeting tomorrow at the mission home! 

Love, Sister Young

Pictures:

1. Us with some llamas 

2. We found a cute watermelon truck

3. One of the neighborhoods in our area

4. Mist on the road on our way to Grand Junction 

5. Grand Junction!

6. Elders Mills, Young, and DeMordaunt 

7. The 5 Elders serving in the Rifle 2nd ward