"Don't go to sleep until you have changed a life." 6-16-14

Remember that big missionary conference I told you about last week? 
Well one of the things Elder Clark told us was don't go to bed until 
you've changed a life. So every night this week at the end of the day 
I took off my name tag, looked at it for a second and then tried to 
think of a life I had changed that day. 
 
Wednesday morning sister Evans, a sweet old lady that I have come to 
love passed away. This women was in her 80's and an absolute crack up! 
Every time we would go visit her in the care facility she would be 
shooting smart remarks to the nurses and sneaking all kinds of goodies 
that she wasn't supposed to have. She even got us to bring her a soda 
one time! Tuesday night we went to see her in the ICU after getting a 
text from her daughter, Sister Tadle, that she wasn't doing very well. 
We just held her hand for a bit and talked with Sister Tadle and her 
husband Ken. I love these people so much. They are my Sarasota family! 
Sister Evans was pretty out of it and we couldn't understand most of 
what she was saying, but she did keep telling all four of us how much 
she loved us. She would point and say, "missionaries! I love them." 
That night as I was looking at my name tag those words came to mind. I 
could feel Sister Evan's love for us and  I knew a life had been 
changed... My own. As corny as that sounds it's true! I changed that 
day. Throughout the week at the end of each day I had a similar 
experience. Each day I saw moments where Heavenly Father had worked 
through me to touch someone else, but truly each day it was me who was 
being changed. 

Have I mentioned that I love being a missionary? This week was pretty 
hard for various reasons, but even after a week of stress and 
frustration I can still look back and see miracles happening in my 
life and the lives of people all around me! It's the coolest! Oh! And 
because I love my Dad here is a wicked awesome video that you all 
should watch! (No worries, it's only 2 minutes long... I think you can 
spare the time ;P ) 
 
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-fath
er?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2013&lang=eng&cid=HPTU061014222 
 
Yesterday at church I was listening to the talks about fathers and one 
lady was listing the things she had learned from her father. As she 
started listing things I thought, "what has my dad taught me?" 
Immediately another question came to mind, "which one?" I realized how 
closely I associated my own dad and my Father in Heaven. I took out my 
journal and started listing things I had learned from both of them. 
Everything I could think of I had learned, one way or another, from 
both of them. Both have taught me that I am important, supported, and 
loved, and how to be strong, confident, and hardworking. I am so 
grateful for my Dad here, because without him I wouldn't fully 
understand my relationship with my Heavenly Father. That is the 
greatest gift you could have ever given me. Happy Father's Day Daddy! 
 
Oh and Dad, you will be proud to know we got a flat tire and I knew 
EXACTLY what to do! ....call a man! Haha We happened to just be 
leaving a members house when we noticed it so we went back and they 
helped us out! In my defense I totally could have figured it out if I 
had to.  Currently our car has a wimpy donut tire. We call it its gimp 
wheel! 
 
 
Love you all have an awesome week! 
 
-Sista U> 

         They got stuck in the rain and decided to make the best 

         of it with this sweet family.