"Why are y'all so happy!?" 9-29-14

We were talking to a member who hasn't been to church in a really long
time and after he asked us how we were doing we responded cheerfully
saying everything was amazing! He then responds with this, "Do they
give you guys pills or something? I don't think I have ever met a sad
missionary. Why are ya'll so happy!?"

hahah I have thought a lot about that this week. Why the heck am I so
happy? We have been talking a lot about the "light" that people see or
feel when they are around happy people. Christ is the light of the
world so the closer we get to Him the more His light will shine
through us. I literally can feel that light. It just makes me want to
burst with joy pretty much 24/7. Even when I do feel discouraged or
frustrated it doesn't last long because that light gives me hope. I
don't really know how to explain it, but I have seen it in people who
are already happy, but there is a physical change that takes place as
they add the gospel to their already happy life. It is a whole other
level of happiness! Man, I seriously have THE BEST JOB right now!

Most of you probably know my sweet dad had a heart attack last week,
but even though I was a little nervous I knew without a doubt he was
okay. I truly feel like our family was blessed and I am so grateful to
know that my Heavenly Father loves me enough to make sure that I knew
my dad would be fine. I know that He is so aware of all of us! HE
knows us by name and He loves us! Every single one of us! That right
there is enough to make me smile for days!

I thought I would share some excerpts from my quote book this week:

"SHE'S A WITCH!!!" (Liliana Martinez, 9 yr old girl, after I did a
trick with water and fire for the gospel of Jesus Christ lesson)

"Hey, are you free tomorrow?" -us
"No, but I'm real cheap." -Gordon

"Don't be an Indian giver!" -me to my Native American comp

Haha oops! The first one was so funny! The girl was dead serious!
After I did that trick she now thinks I am a legit witch and won't
talk to me... Lol

Well I love you all so so so much! Don't forget to watch conference
this weekend! Seriously guys. I promise that if you watch all four
sessions of conference there will be a talk that is specifically for
you! Come with a question in mind and then be amazed as it feels like
that person is addressing you and you alone. Without a doubt I know
you will feel the spirit behind their words and you will know they
truly are men and women called by God.

Have an amazing week!

Love, Sister Upshaw

I broke the law and kissed a turtle! 9-22-14

This was a productive week here in Florida! Sister Yellow and I have been
having all kinds of adventures and learning new life skills! For example, I
am proud to say that I can now ride my bike with NO HANDS!!! I know that is
a skill that all the cool kids learned when they were like 10, but Dad
threatened my life every time I move one hand to scratch my nose while
riding a bike so I learned it at 20! haha Adventure number two: I broke the
law and kissed a turtle! That's right, I broke the law as a missionary. -_-
In my defense I didn't know it was a law... They have these huge turtles
here and we were at the park on a P-day and I wanted a picture with this
turtle so I picked it up and kissed it right on the head! Then we showed
the picture to a member and they informed us that those turtles are
endangered and there is some law about touching them. oops...

I also got to drive a train! (It was a miniature train and that was
actually a few weeks ago, but still... brother Carroll said I could make a
living at it! ) pshh who needs school! Oh and today Brother Carroll is
going to let me mow their lawn with the riding lawn mower! Personally I
think he has WAY too much faith in me, but he about fell out of his chair
when I told him I had never mowed a lawn before!

Along with all of these fun excursions sister Yellow and I have been biking
our buns off!  ( I really wish I was speaking literally, but unfortunately
they feed us too well here.) While we were biking we ran into a lot of
people that kept telling us they were saved and that Mormons are trying to
earn their way to heaven. That saying there is still work for us to do is
down playing the sacrifice Christ made for us. I was feeling frustrated
because I didn't really know how to put in to words what I was thinking.
They weren't really interested in hearing my thoughts either. The next
morning sister Yellow shared an article that I love!

It compares the atonement to a Mom paying for a child's piano lesson. I was
about to paraphrase it because I hate quoting things in my emails home
because I don't want to bore anyone to tears, but seriously I love the way
it is said and I can't do it justice when I put it in my own words.

"Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons
for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher. Because Mom pays the debt in
full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it?
Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the
child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is
how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he
takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his
life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in
seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call
for practice, practice, practice.

If the child sees Mom’s requirement of practice as being too overbearing
(“Gosh, Mom, why do I need to practice? None of the other kids have to
practice! I’m just going to be a professional baseball player anyway!”),
perhaps it is because he doesn’t yet see with Mom’s eyes. He doesn’t see
how much better his life could be if he would choose to live on a higher
plane.

In the same way, because Jesus has paid justice, He can now turn to us and
say: “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19 <http://scriptures/nt/matt/4.19>); “Keep my
commandments” (John 14:15 <http://scriptures/nt/john/14.15>). If we see His
requirements as being way too much to ask, maybe it is because we do not
yet see through Christ’s eyes. We have not yet comprehended what He is
trying to make of us."

Perfect right? Christ paid the debt in full. "He is not the light at the
end of the tunnel, He is the light that carries us through the tunnel."

That is how I feel about my mission! I feel like a little kid helping her
dad make a cake. He lets her crack one egg and then when the cake is
finished he says, "What a beautiful cake you made!" Except in my case,
Heavenly father even helps me crack the egg! None of the miracles I have
seen could have happened if I was here on my own. Good thing none of us are
on our own right?


I love you all more than the English language can express!

-Sister Upshaw


p.s. that talk is called "God's grace is sufficient"

I have no brain power today... 9-15-14

My brain has clearly been turned off today because I have no idea what to
write about this week or even how to start my email... This is a sad day
for Sister Upshaw. I am just gonna go ahead and apologize now for the
randomness of this email...

This week was pretty quiet compared to our last two weeks of non stop
teaching, but that's okay because it gave us time to do A LOT of finding!
Finding is when you get all of the hilarious mission stories. Like the time
a man slid off of his couch onto the floor after we already made eye
contact! Another time someone literally dove into bushes to avoid me and my
companion! Then their was this other guy who as soon as he saw us, he threw
is hands in the air and yelled, "HOW DO YOU GUYS KEEP FINDING ME!?!?" haha
I about peed my pants (or skirt I suppose) laughing at that man. Don't get
me wrong, we see miracles from talking to anyone and everyone every single
day, but you also come across a lot of weirdos or just strait up unpleasant
people!

Saturday absolutely everything fell through. So we decided to walk around
this neighborhood and talk to people that were outside. We came across the
sweetest little girl. I said hello and we kept walking, but then the mom
waved to us so we walked up to the house and started a conversation. After
a few minutes we showed her a short video and talked about the Savior. The
first question out of her mouth was how do I get to your church and when
are services? She said she had just moved down to Florida a few weeks ago
with her two kids and had been praying for something, but she didn't know
what. She wasn't able to come yesterday because she had to work, but she
said she would be there next week. :)  We had someone else just come into
church on Sunday. Her name is Hannah and she also has two kids. She said
she looked up the nearest church and after the meeting she was asking us
how she could be baptized!

There definitely is work going on here! Heavenly Father has prepared so
many people and they are just waiting for someone to open their mouth and
make the invitation. I'm definitely not saying it is a walk in the park by
any means, but it is worth it! Moral of the story being a missionary
(weather you have a name tag or not) is AWESOME!

I love you all! Stay safe and have a great week!

Love, Sister Upshaw

Sorry my email was lame today! Promise I will do better next week!

It is what it is" -Purdy family motto 9-8-14

"It is what it is" -Purdy family motto 
 
Saturday was absolutely the most stressful day! We had so many things 
to do before Debbie's baptism and two hours before the baptism the 
pianist said she couldn't make it, the person bringing food was 
delayed, and the programs still weren't finished! Sister Yellow and I 
were running around and had no idea what to do! Thank goodness we have 
awesome Elders in our ward who swung by the church an hour earlier to 
fill the font and set up chairs and tables. Seriously they saved our 
lives! We finally got the programs taken care of and the food arrived 
just in time for us to realize that no one had brought plates! Ahhh I 
was so stressed out! Poor Sister Yellow was just following me as I ran 
from room to room with little idea of what I was doing. Luckily a 
sweet sister showed up and pulled things from the Relief Society 
closet and got table clothes and plates and everything else we needed. 
She made everything look great! Even when we were sitting down ready 
to have the program I was feeling frustrated towards all of the 
things that fell through. Mostly I was frustrated because I 
felt like it made me look bad. We sang the opening hymn and listened 

to a talk and still I was feeling embarrassed and 
frustrated. Bishop then had us move into the room with the baptismal 
font and the second I sat down next to Debbie's daughter and we saw 
Debbie in the water, all my frustration melted. I just thought how 
silly it was that I was fussing over all the little things when the 
actual baptism was all that mattered. Then I heard the words of my 
wonderful aunts and mom, "it is what it is". I am so grateful that 
those words are what our family tries (emphasis on the tries) to live 
by. 
 
That day was filled with such a powerful spirit. Courtney was baptized 
when she was 12 and has waited seven years to see her mom make that 
choice for herself. Neither one of them could stop crying or smiling! 
Sunday night we asked Debbie if she felt different she said she felt 
more love than ever before. Both from those around her and her 
Heavenly Father. 
Sometimes we get so caught up with all the silly little details that 
we forget what really matters. I am so grateful I was able to snap out 
of it before the baptism was over and it would have been too late to 
enjoy the moment! 
 
Another amazing thing that happened this week....Des and Pat got 
married!!! You probably don't remember this Pat, but I am pretty sure 
I gave you strict instructions not to get married until I returned 
home! You already fit in with the Purdy men, they never listen...I can 
forgive you though because you two looked stunning! From what I can 
tell in the pictures Des, the wedding was so you! I loved the colors 
and the cowboy boots! Also I am grateful I have a picture with you and 
the cousins even if it is just my head in a picture frame. Haha 
seriously though, I love you both so much! Congratulations! 
 
All in all this was another wonderful week here in the FTM! Love you mas! 
 
-Sista UpSaw (no one says my name right here...) 
 
P.s. Sister Yellow is so sneaky! She totally let me get in the wrong 
car as we were leaving an appointment and just laughed her head off 
until I realized there was a reason my key wasn't unlocking the door! 
Lol 

Biking misadventures 9-1-14

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! ( I haven't seen that Lego movie, but everyone 
quotes it and it is applicable to this weeks adventures so I'm gonna 
role with it.) 
 
This week was absolutely insane! We were so busy we actually had to 
tell people that we would have to wait until next week to see them 
because our week was so full. Every single person we are working with 
made some kind of progress this week. Oh and on this crazy busy week I 
was asked to give a talk... I literally had ZERO time to prepare! All 
of our meal times were rushed because of the busy schedule and studies 
were full of preparing for lessons. So I was super nervous, but it 
came together really well and let's just hope it's the last talk I 
have to give as a missionary! 
 
Fun fact! Sister Yellow and I were beat with a fly swatter this week! 
Haha we decided to bike to an appointment that was a little far and by 
the time we got there we were dripping sweat! Like clothes soaked and 
all. Sister Carroll kept calling us sweaty little pigs and hitting us 
with "Mr. Swatter". It was so funny! She made us go into the bathroom 
and wash up/ dry off. Then she took us home when it was time to leave 
because there was no way she was letting us bike back. Ah man, I love 
that family!  Oh we also got caught in massive rain storms like 5 
times this week. 
 
There were countless miracles this week, but one in particular stood 
out for me. We have this super amazing investigator, Debbie. Debbie 
has a 19 year old daughter who was baptized when she was 12. My first 
day here Sister Yellow was telling me how quiet Debbie is and how she 
had no desire to be baptized, but at the lesson that night we taught 
about repentance and how much joy we can feel as we try to change for 
the better. Then Sister Yellow invited her to be baptized and she said 
YES! Ahhh then later we were praying about a day for her baptism and 
we were thinking late September, but then Sister Yellow and I both 
felt like that wasn't quite right. So we prayed again and September 
6th came to mind. When we told Debbie she was so excited! That is two 
days before her birthday and the following week they are taking a trip 
to Orlando so now they can go to the temple together! How perfect! Man 
missionary work is the best! Prayer is real and if we listen we 
definitely get our answers! 
 
I hope everyone is doing great! I love you! 
 
-Sister Upshaw 
 
Oh my gosh! We just got to the church and the elders are here too and 
they totally have a dog here. He is sooooo cute! I guess someone left 
him locked in this little gated area of our church. We aren't sure 
what to do with him, but it made me think of how Nae, Shay, and I 
would "find" dogs in the neighborhood and try to convince mom and dad 
to let us keep them. Ahhh good times :) 

                    Pictures of the dog they found 

                                          This is the Chapel  that Rachelle goes to.  The missionaries
                                          meet there every Wednesday for District meetings

Hello Hudson! 8-25-14

That's right! I am now currently living within spitting distance of 
Sonnie and Jason... It is totally weirding me out, but I love it! I 
think President Cusick and Heavenly Father have a twisted sense of 
humor when they decided to put me so close to family. :P Saying 
goodbye to everyone in the U.P. Ward was way hard! I love everyone 
there! The Tadles made us the most delicious dinner! Ken made steaks 
better than any other steak I have ever had in my whole 20 years of 
life and Sister Tadle made this chocolate desert thing that was to die 
for. I love that family so much! I have some pictures, but it was so 
funny trying to get a picture with them. We were all trying to make 
sad faces, but Brother Tadle and I couldn't stop laughing! 
 
At the risk of being labeled a feminist...haha I also have come to the 
conclusion that most men see a twenty year old girl and think she is 
helpless. Remember that puddle in our dinning room that the repair man 
tried to say was just a spill? Well we lifted up the carpet ourselves 
and found 3 inchs of water! We had to drag them back down to look at 
it again and guess what they found? A broken pipe! Hmmmm wish I would 
have thought of that (oh wait, I did!) anyway so they came to fix it 
and said they would be there until 1am so we had to go stay with 
another set of missionaries and sleep on the floor. The best part was 
the next day we saw the original repair man and with a smug little 
smile he asked if our "spill" had dried up yet. I wanted to yell, "no 
ya big dummy it got bigger and now we have holes in our walls and 
sealing along with a splash pool in our dinning room! And a lot of the 
damage would have been avoided if you would have listened to me 3 days 
ago!" Instead I kindly told him the problem was bigger than we had 
originally thought. Blech those words tasted like vinegar coming out 
of my prideful mouth. There was another incident with a homeless man 
that I chose to sit next to at church, but I don't want Daddy flying 
out to Florida lecturing me on stranger danger so I will save that 
story for another day. Anyway the point is, I'm no dummy! I grew up in 
the hood and Daddy taught me well ;P haha 
 
I absolutely LOVE my new area! Sister Yellow is such a stellar 
companion! She is 24, has been out here for 6 weeks, has a wicked cool 
story about how she decided to serve a mission, and she works out like 
a boss! I'm going to lose those ten pounds I have gained in NO TIME! 
Haha seriously though I am way out of shape.... 
 
At church yesterday we talked a lot about Christlike love and the 
scripture "charity never faileth"  was brought up. We were talking 
about how we can be more charitable in our lives, but that scripture 
kept repeating in my mind. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love 
never fails. They love us no matter what. They love us even on those 
days that we may feel we don't deserve it. It is simply always there. 
Strive to remember that and even emulate that love. It's that love 
that can help us have peace even when war is raging all around us. 
Without that love we will lack peace even when everything is calm and 
life seems to be in order. I have seen that love change lives out 
here! I love you all so so so very much. I hope you know that. 

-love always, 
your Floridian Sister Upshaw 

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BESTEST FRIEND THIS SISTER MISH COULD EVER 
ASK FOR!! Kelsey, I love you to the moon and back girlie! I hope you 
have a stellar birthday in Guat! Keep killing it sistah! 

                   Saying Good Bye to friends in Sarasota 

                                      Sleepover with other missionaries due to their flood

                          Playing with a members chicken

                         She was intrigued with the attic