Go big or go home! Or... Do both? 1-6-15

 In this weeks adventures we saw wolves, got followed by a horse, got
 locked in a jail cell, saw a ton of miracles and tender mercies, and
 completed a bunch of things on my mission bucket list!

 As you may have noticed today is Tuesday and not Monday... Sorry for
 not warning you last week that my P-day was going to be different.
 Actually never mind, I just remembered I didn't know until Tuesday or
 Wednesday. We got to go to the temple today! We had to wake up at 3AM
 so we could leave the house by 4 and be at the mission office in Tampa
 by 5:30. 😵 I am so tired, but it was 200% worth it! It was so
 beautiful and we ran into some of the Orlando missionaries that were
 there working on temple grounds. It was so weird to see missionaries
 that weren't from our mission! The temple was incredible! Definitely
 the highlight of my week. :)

 Let me back track a bit... The wolves were in someone's backyard and
 they were actually a hybrid between a wolf and some dog. They were
 cute, but I was glad there was a fence separating me from them. That
 same day we stopped at another house and they invited us in to come
 look at their backyard that had this old western town built completely
 from scratch. They had a legit jail cell and so of course we had to
 get a picture in it! If this was real then this picture would describe
 our personalities so well. Sister yellow is smiling and saying
 something to the effect of, "it's okay, we will pray and be fine!"
 Then you have sister Blain who is like, "how the heck did we get
 here!? My life is over!" And then there is me who seems to have no
 idea of the severity of the situation and is like, "Hey guys! We are
 in a jail cell! This is awesome!" #ILoveMyCompanions

 Two things we did on my mission bucket list was chase down the ice
 cream man and teach him the restoration lesson. It was awesome! Then
 we bought a bouquet of flowers and took them to the cemetery to give
 to a random stranger. The lady we gave them to was so happy! Service
 is the best! Oh and we had dinner with Jason, Sonnie, shell and Isaac!
 It was so good to spend some time with them!

 I know this email is kind of long, but I just realized this is the
 last email I will send as a full time missionary so I just wanted to
 add a thank you to pretty much everyone who is reading this. There is
 no way I could have had the courage to serve a mission if it wasn't
 for my incredibly supportive family and amazing friends. I've had so
 many church leaders who helped shape me too. You know who you are and
 I love you for that. I am so grateful for all the people here in
 Florida too. My companions, the members and especially all those who
 have literally taken me in as part of their families. The last year
 and a half have been such an incredible experience. I wouldn't change
 a single thing and I would absolutely do it again without a second
 thought.

 I know mission calls are inspired. I know that I was sent here to
 Florida for a reason and a large part of that reason was a blessing
 for me personally and my family. I know we have a loving father in
 Heaven who knows and loves us and who wants us to be happy. We have a
 savior, Jesus Christ, who has made it possible for us to live with
 them both again. I can't believe that in just 6 days I won't be
 wearing this name tag anymore. It seems so unreal. I am going to miss
 this place and these people so much. I am so grateful for the tender
 mercies of God, and me receiving a mission call was definitely a
 tender mercy. :)

 I love you all so so so so much! Have an incredible week.

 Love always,
 Sister Upshaw

 P.s. Sorry for not responding to anyone's emails this week. I only had
 a short time to email and I figured I will see y'all in 6 days so I'll
 respond to your emails in person. :)

                                                      

Trip to Orlando Florida Temple

                                                         Horse at a members house

                                             This is in the backyard of a members house

 

She and her companions had dinner with her brother Jason and his family

                                                            This is just Chelsea

I keep trying to type this email, but the only tho 12-29-14

I keep trying to type this email, but the only thoughts that are 
coming to my mind are "hmmmmmm" and "AHHHHHHHHHHHH" yup that about 
sums up my week and my thoughts. Well I love you all and hope you had 
a wonderful Christmas! 
 
Love always, 
 sister Upshaw 
 
Just kidding, but seriously this last week has been a complete blur 
and I may be having a slight anxiety attack at the thought of coming 
home in two weeks... Is that normal? I promise I love you all and I am 
excited to see you, but.... Ahhhhhhhhh I'm just nuts! 
 
On another note... Christmas was incredible! Skyping our families took 
up a good portion of the day because the church's wifi only allowed 
for one person to Skype at a time. Whenever a second person tried it 
messed up the connection, but that is okay. It was fun to talk to both 
sister Blain's and sister Yellow's families. We spent the rest of the 
day visiting people who we knew were alone on the holiday. It was 
another incredible mission Christmas. :) 
 
Oh and the Welch family came to church! The kids were all crying 
because they had to leave early. How cool is that to have kids be so 
upset about leaving church that they cry!? I seriously love them so 
much! So far everything is still on track for their baptism on January 
10th, but I would absolutely love it if you kept them in your prayers. 
Goodness we seriously have been having so much success lately. 
Yesterday we had no appointments so we literally walked for three 
hours and just talked to people that were outside. Almost everyone 
listened to us and even the people who didn't were still nice about 
it. We had one guy that we gave a card to and he very quickly ended 
any opportunity for a conversation, but as we walked away he called 
after us and said, "ladies, I just want you to know that if God could 
have chosen anyone to represent Him, then He made a wise choice in 
picking you." It just made my day! I guess the spirit of Christmas is 
getting to people, but this has been one of the best transfers of my 
mission! 
 
I absolutely love being a missionary! I love everything about it. Even 
the days that absolutely no one gives you the time of day or when 
adults push their children away from the absolutely 'horrifying girls 
in their 20's that approach their families with a friendly smile.' 
Seriously though sometimes I feel like some people think We are mass 
murderers or something.... The point is I just love everything about 
Florida and the people here. 
 
I love the people in Vegas too! Have a wonderful week and a happy New Year! 
 
Love, 
Sista Upshaw 
 
 
Oh we also got a hug from a Jehovah's Witness! She thought I was one 
too and when she saw the badge she had a look of sheer horror! It was 
a little funny, but we talked for quite a while and I think she left 
the conversation not hating us so that's a plus! 

                                              Teaching the kids how to make ugly faces

                                                               Skyping with family

                                                              Some of the siblings

                                                               Nieces and nephews

                        Playing Qua at a district meeting

🌿 How to properly eat a grasshopper 🐛 12-22-14

Here in the land of bugs-the-size-of-your-head, we have grasshoppers that are large enough to actually provide enough substance to sustain a person! So one of the members here decided to try it out. He and his wife have been collecting giant grasshoppers over the last two weeks to eat and when we came to their house for an appointment he proceeded to show us his collection that he had frozen. I somewhat jokingly told them it would be a fun thing to try out and before I knew it we had a return dinner appointment to eat fried grasshopper... That dinner took place this week and I did in fact eat one. It wasn't that bad actually. The only nasty part was looking into its creepy little eyes, but once I grabbed it by the head and bit off the bottom half it wasn't half bad. :) I only have a picture of them on the plate, but brother Jeans said he posted the ones of us eating them on Facebook. I love that family! 

In other adventures I chopped my hair off and lost my voice all in the same day! The chopping of the hair was kind of spontaneous. I tried to trim it myself and failed miserably so Sister Blain helped out and then we decided that I should probably just go to a salon and after three people "trimming" it my hair is now 6 inches shorter. I actually like it though so that's awesome! Later that same day I came up with the brilliant idea to challenge my companions to see who could scream the loudest. Let's just say I won and because Of that I have spent the last week sounding like Johnny Cash. 

On a more reverent note... We had an incredible experience with a family we are teaching. About a month ago I asked Mom to order me a couple manger scenes that I could give to families we were teaching. I wanted to share our Christmas Eve tradition of reading Luke chapter 2 and setting up the nativity. Well we went over to the family's home and taught them for the first time as an entire family. It was awesome! At the very end we pulled out the box with the nativity and when they opened it the 10 year old girl clasped her hands over her mouth and then ran over and hugged each of us. Apparently it was the first manger scene they have ever had. I have always known Christmas isn't about the presents and what not, but seeing how happy this little girl was over a nativity just melted my heart. 

There are so many people who don't have all the ✨sparkle✨ that comes with the holiday season, but they are just as happy as those who do. Even though I have spent the last two Christmases away from family and with not very much of the glam of Christmas, they have been the most memorable. I know without a doubt it's because they have been so focused on the savior. I think the key to a memorable holiday season is serving others. I hope this is a tradition I can keep up throughout my life. I love you all and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas! 

Love always,

Sister Upshaw

 

 

🎅🎄CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE!!! 12-15-14

 Jamming crickets this was a great week!

 We had our mission Christmas party this week! It was a blast to spend the
 whole day at the beach! We made a sand man, complete with a seaweed scarf
 and seashell eyes and a Mohawk! President just laughed at us... I seriously
 love the beach. I promise my mission isn't a vacation! This was one day out
 of the 365 we have in a year. (Wow I just had to double check that there
 were in fact 365 days in a year) #WhyWontMyBrainWork

 Thursday we had interviews with President Cusick. Interviews with him are
 always the best! He started off our interview by asking,"what can I do for
 you Sister Upshaw? If I had a magic wand or was a genie and you had one
 wish what would it be?" It made me laugh so hard because typically he is a
 pretty stoic man. I can't tell you what I wished for though because then it
 won't come true! Later in the interview he asked me if I could go anywhere
 in the mission where would I want to go... I told him I would want to stay
 exactly where I am with the companions I have because I love my area and my
 companionship, then he just looked at me and said, "you love all your areas
 and every companion..." It's pretty true, but I don't want to change it up
 for the last 4 weeks of my mission! I told him I would be happy wherever he
 decided to send me though, but we received our transfer information Sunday
 night and all three of us are staying! Yay!

 Saturday was Debbie's baptism and it was the most perfect baptism
 ever! We had so many members come out to support her and the talks and
 songs were perfect and she felt so loved! Ahhh it was just the best! One
 year ago her roommate Pat was baptized and Debbie has been meeting
 with missionaries off and on for a year now. At the baptism their third
 roommate came and she absolutely loved it! Her name is Sue and quite
 frankly she was pretty sure Mormons were a cult until she came to the
 baptism. She loved the way the speakers used the Book of Mormon and the
 bible together and how they truly go hand in hand. She said it was
 completely different from anything she had ever felt before. Her heart
 definitely softened and she is interested in learning more. Oh and Debbie's
 favorite song is "Ave Maria" so my incredible companion, Sister Blain, who
 sings like an angel, surprised her with singing that song acapella! It
 was all around just an incredible day!

 So much more happened, but I am going to refrain from making my email long
 and boring. Just know that miracles happen every day! Here in Florida and
 with each of mine and my companions families!

 Something I finally got through my head this week was that the most
 important thing we can do as missionaries and in life in general is to
 develop Christlike attributes. If we are striving to follow His example
 then everything else just falls into place. God doesn't expect perfection.
 He loves each of us so stink'n much! I hope everyone is having an amazing
 Christmas season. Don't get too caught up in all the craziness.

 I love you all!

 -Sister Upshaw

                             Merry Christmas from Sis. Upshaw, Sis. Yellow and Sis. Blain

 

Oh and at the baptism they forgot to pull the plug on the drain as they
 were getting out so Sister Blain had to put on one of the jumpsuits and get
 in to drain the font! IT WAS SO FUNNY!!

                                        Christmas Party on the beach