February 29,2016

So this was the best week ever. 

We had transfers which are sad bc everyone leaves and it's sad to say goodbye to people bc it's like wow I might never see you again in my entire life, so that's cool. Also some member gave us like a bunch of cheese so we will possibly be making grilled cheese sandwiches for the rest of our lives. But Sister Gifford is my new companion and I love her so much. We have so much fun, and we just laugh all day and we get along so well. She is my favorite, and I am so glad she's my companion! We also had dinner with Mama B and the Elders earlier this week and that was a blast, me and Sis Gifford split a waffle and some sandwich and it was amazing. Plus we got hot chocolate and lots of laughs. We also found a giant trash bag full of popcorn at the church from this youth dance they had and the 2nd ward said we could take it so we did and our room smells like popcorn and it's amazing. Also 2 days ago it was 53 degrees outside and it was so wonderful bc we were tracting kind of a lot that day, but it was so warm so it wasn't even bad at all. Plus we drove around with the windows down bc it felt so nice.(: BUT then it snowed yesterday so that warm wave is over. It's freezing again. Cool. We got a little taste of warmth... hahah. Also while we were tracting there were Jehovah's Witness cards at like everyone's door so we picked them all up and then we stuck them on all the Elders cars. It was hilarious. I love the missionaries in this area. They are so awesome. Ok also N is hilarious. She's that old lady that has dementia. We love her. We were talking to B about doing family history work and taking names to the temple and Norma was just sitting there looking bored so Sis Gifford asked her what her favorite food was and she said "turkey.. but if I had to choose another meat it would have to be... cats." we were like what?? N, you eat cats?? And she was like yeah, you just stick them outside and let them roast a little while! We could not stop laughing. Then a little while later we asked her if she had any pets and she said yes, I have 2 teams. We were like 2 teams of what?? She was like cats. We asked her if she eats them and she looked at us like we were crazy and said of course not! Hahah N is the best. 

Also the Bs are doing so great. They are loving hearing the lessons again and at church yesterday in gospel principles Sister B shared how the gospel helped her when she became a member and how the Holy Ghost impacted her life. It was so cool. They do have to change their baptism date bc S has something for school the weekend we had set.. But we are hoping we can just move it to the week before because we want to have it before April! They are doing so great though, during lessons they all just sit there and smile and it's so cool. It's been so amazing to see them change so much, and to feel the spirit entering their lives even more. I'm so thankful I get to be a part of their journey, I love helping them come closer to Christ. They are such a wonderful family, and I just cannot wait for the kids to be baptized! They are amazing. 

A lot of our investigators are out of town right now which is not too fun, but we have been working hard to find new ones! We have been doing pretty well also, it's been fun. We have been finding lots of people, but also lots of people don't keep appts which is kind of a pain. But oh well, it's all good. (:

Also remember that crazy Korean lady I talked about a few weeks back? We stopped by bc we gave her a Book of Mormon so we just thought we would follow up and she is totally reading it. She loves it! We told her we would get her a Korean BOM and she almost cried she was so happy. So cool. I don't think she could be baptized anytime soon bc she isn't totally there, but hey. We can teach her and she can love the BOM and that's wonderful and we will try to get her there. Super cool. 

Also we got to teach seminary this morning. I applaud those kids for waking up early every morning and going to seminary, that would be hard to do! But they do it. Although during the lesson they were so dead, so that was kind of not the best. But I would have been totally dead all the same if I were sitting there. 

So yeah, that was pretty much my week. It was great. Being a missionary is still the best thing ever and I love Sister Gifford so much. I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week.(: 

Love, Sister Killian

February 22,2016

So transfers are this week! I am staying here thank goodness! And my new companion will be Sister Gifford! She is up in Marquette Michigan right now which is in our zone, so I know her which is good, and I am excited! She is really nice and she has been out I think like a year. It's weird that I will be getting a different companion but I am excited and she has a really good attitude so I am excited for her to be in this area with me! 

This week was super great! We made chicken dumpling soup one day which was super delicious. Also we went to Red Robin to finally use those gift cards and we went with the STL's which was so much fun(: Red Robin is so yummy!! 

We had some super great lessons this week. The Elders were looking for a potential and they met this lady named K and they asked if they could pray with her and she let them in and they said they would send us over and she was really excited about that. When we taught her she said she had prayed to God Wednesday bc she had a car payment she needed to make and she didn't have any money, right after she prayed she checked her bank account and she had gotten her taxes back. So cool, she recognized that God had answered her prayers. She said that night when she got home the Elders knocked on her door and asked to pray and she felt that was a sign from God also! We said yes it was!!! Then we got to teach her on Friday and it was such a spiritual lesson. Seriously lessons like that make everything hard about missionary work just go away. This work is SO rewarding. We taught the restoration and she said it made so much sense, and she was so excited about the fact that we have a living prophet today. I was able to recite the First Vision to her and wow the spirit was so strong and it testified so strongly that I was speaking the truth. That Joseph Smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and that he really was a true prophet. It was so cool. We even got her to pray at the end of the lesson! Usually people do not like to do that, and she was a little hesitant so we explained how we pray and she did it! It was really powerful. We get to teach her again tomorrow night and I am so excited! She has a cute little 1 year old named O and she isn't married but she's living with her boyfriend.. (literally everyone in Wisconsin...ugh) but she is so cool and she is really excited about the things we are teaching her and she really wants this for her life. 

ALSO WE SET A BAPTISM DATE WITH THE B Family!!! We set it with S, T and W!! Oh, I am so excited. My comp did not want to set a date, she didn't think they would say yes and she didn't even want to try. So I just asked them and they all agreed! Bro B had the biggest smile on his face the whole time, he is so excited to baptize his kids. They have all changed so much. It's been a long process, but they have all come so far and they are just so wonderful. I love them so much! I am so excited for their family and for the things to come for them . They are working towards the temple and it's just so amazing. I can't wait. Bro B has to make sure he can get work off for the date we set, but we are planning on March 26, so I hope and pray he will be free that day so we don't have to change it. Oh, I am just so excited for them. Seriously, being a missionary is so amazing. Heavenly Father gives me so much love for these people, it's incredible. I just want to help them so much, and I want them to have the same knowledge that I have. 

We did have one crazy experience this week! Ok, we have lots of crazy experiences, but this one hardcore tops them all.... So the Elders texted us another referral of this older Korean lady named A, they said it was a sad referral but that we should just stop by and meet her. Oh my!! We went by.. and she invited us right in, and got right to talking! She talked so much.. BUT. The first thing she talked about was how she had had 4 surgeries on her stomach and.. well somewhere else. Then she showed us!!! OH MY. It was horrible! Seriously I thought I was going to die. We just sat there traumatized. Bahahah. She just kept talking and talking, and at the end she did accept a BOM but she said her eyesight is really bad so I don't even think she can read it... I don't want to go back there, but I think we will give her a Korean BOM if we can get one and then see if it goes anywhere...

I can't remember what I said about B but we dropped her.. she never kept any appts and then she just stopped answering her phone and she kept lying to us about why she was missing appts, so we could tell she just didn't want it. Maybe she will be more prepared later, but for right now it just wasn't working out. 
We haven't been able to get in contact with A for a while.. she is too busy being a single mom. Poor girl.. I really want to keep teaching her, bc this gospel will bless her life so much so I hope she will find the time to meet with us. 

Ok also coolest thing in the whole universe. We drove up to Oconto Falls to take cookies to less actives and to try and visit with them and that went really well. But then on the drive there we saw a street names St. Killian rd!!! SO COOL. Then we saw a church down the road and I set I bet that's St. Killian's church and guess what! IT IS!! So yes. There is a church here with my last name. Best thing ever, bahahah. It was so great. I took pics of course! Also super cool, on the Personal Progress thing that they put all the names of girls that did personal progress there is one girl named Kimberly Killian in this ward that was on there! SO COOL! So yes, I am just so excited about those things. I thought it was so cool. 

So yeah, it was a good week. It's kinda crazy that my 12 weeks of being trained are over! It went way faster than I ever thought it would. I am just really thankful to be here, and I am so thankful for this gospel!! I love it so much, and I come to love it even more everyday. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you all so much!!!

February 18,2016

So our mission president said that myldsmail wasn't sending a lot of messages on monday, so hopefully you got my email! He wanted us to get on and resend our emails in case you guys didn't get them.. so just in case you didn't get it then here it is again! 

This week was actually super busy, which is always wonderful, and it seriously went by so fast I can't even believe it.. 

Last monday it snowed even more.. hahah, I don't know how we could possibly get anymore snow but it just keeps coming! Last week we had Zone Training Meeting and it was so great, I loved all the training we received. It got me so excited for the things to come. At Stake Conference last week the stake president said he sees so much growth happening soon in the green bay stake and I am so excited to be apart of that, we just need to find those people that are ready to hear and accept the gospel! I know they are out there, we just need to work hard to find them. Also since we had ZTM- Hermana Brian was there and it was so fun to see her! Transfers are this next week so we are hoping both of us stay so we will still be in the same zone bc we will be so sad if we can't see each other ever! She is the greatest(: 

Also there is this sweet lady we get to go visit at the hospital, she was visiting her family here (she lives in Nevada now, but is from Logan, Utah) and she fell and is in the hospital now.. she has been there for I think 3 weeks, and will be there until at least march, but her grand daughter is getting married march 5 so she is hoping to be able to fly to Utah for that! Our bishop has us go visit her, and she is the nicest lady ever! She served a mission in California like way a long time ago when it went from Bakersfield up to Oregon! She loves the gospel so much and it's so cool to talk to her and hear her testimony. Also she is teaching the gospel to everyone in the hospital so that's wonderful! We gave her pass along cards she can hand out(; She is just the nicest. 

Also our investigator B is.... well... we don't know. She hasn't shown up to the past 2 appts we've had set with her but then she will call us later in the day and reschedule and tell us she was in the hospital.. she said that about sunday too, and she keeps changing what she says she went to the hospital for so we are thinking she doesn't want to meet with us but then she reschedules so we have no idea. We will try to meet with her a few more times and see what happens.

The B Family is doing so great, they ALL came to church yesterday!!! It was the best thing ever, they have never come all together so we were so happy.(: We are teaching them again tonight so I hope that goes well, we are planning on setting baptism dates with the kids so I hope they are feeling ready for that, I know they are ready, and I know they can do it. I just hope they have the faith to do it soon! 

We also visited our lovely friends B and N (the ladies that live at the assisted living home) B is a member and N is her wonderfully hilarious friend that thinks we are her daughters. I love visiting B. She shows us all of her family history stuff, and we get to help her sort through it and look at cool old pictures and hear about her life. She has some way cool stories. Then N just sits with us and we have to try not to laugh bc she has no idea what's going on ever.... bahahah. This week she chased us out to our car... That was a little creepy! But she is the nicest and so harmless, and we love her. 

Also we have the greatest ward mission leader. Last week he had us and the elders over monday night for pizza and correlation meeting. Then this saturday for correlation he brought donuts and chocolate milk, yum! And he is just so awesome, and willing to help and he helps the missionary work so much. It's great. This ward is incredible. Everyone is so willing to help and come out with us. I'm so thankful we have such a great ward! 

Oh and we weren't able to see A this last week- but we stopped by and saw her last night and set up an appt to see her thursday. I'm so excited about her. I feel like she is so ready to have the gospel in her life, and she loves the things we teach her, it's so cool to watch her learn and understand and feel the spirit. She is way cool. 

I can't really think of anything else that happened this week but it was a good week(: transfers are next week which is crazy! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week, I love you guys so much!!!(:

Love, Sister Sydney Killian

February 8th, 2016

Well I had another really great week! Last pday we made cookies, and boy were they delicious! We used Sister Cutler's recipe (our mission president's wife) and first off they made a HUGE batch, so we still have frozen cookie dough in the freezer, bahah. And yes, they are delicious. Seriously if you want to taste the yummiest chocolate chip cookies in the universe let me know and I'll send you that recipe(; SO since we made so many cookies and we were having a cookie war with our district, we brought those! BUT we made them into ninja shapes for the Elders and so they were the coolest ever.

At district meeting we decided we needed a district picture and we decided that we should make snow angels since we were in the middle of a huge snowstorm. It was a blast! We were all so snowy and cold after, but it was totally worth it. My district is great. So yeah everyone kept telling us about a huge storm we would have on Tuesday and that we shouldn't be out, but well we can't just stay inside! Luckily it wasn't as bad as everyone said it would be. Well, ok it was that bad, but we were in District meeting the whole time and then the roads were plowed when we were done so it was perfect! We got like another foot of snow.. Our ward mission leader thought I was hilarious when he told us about the storm bc he said we would get another foot and I said what?! But we already have that much! I don't know why, but he thought that was hilarious. Our ward mission leader is awesome! We have correlation at his house tonight and he is getting us all pizza! So nice of him. He brings donuts and chocolate milk sometimes too(: it's great.

So yeah since there was so much snow, there was so much shoveling!! It was crazy. Kind of annoying bc it kept snowing as we were shoveling one day so by the time we finished the driveway it looked like we hadn't even done the first half! Oh well. There is so much snow, I just can't believe it. I love it so much though(: It's so pretty!!!

One day when we were tracting there was a fairytale house and oh man I should have taken a picture of it bc it seriously looked like it came out of a fairytale. It was so adorable.

Oh also we have a less active that lives by Aaron Rodgers so we got a picture of his house(: I'll send that (;

Also wow this week was just so good! We have wonderful investigators right now that I am so excited about!! A (I don't remember if I told you about her last week) but she's a young, single mom and she is so cool. We had a member come with us to a lesson this week (also a single mom) and it was perfect!! The member shared how the gospel brought her so much hope when she found it and A told us that's what she has been looking for and praying for. We read the intro to the BOM with her and she was excited that she could pray about it for herself to find out if it's true. She really loves everything that we teach her, she talks a whole lot so we haven't even fully finished the restoration lesson (in like 3 appts) but that's ok bc she is learning a lot, and the spirit is always there so strong!! She told us she would come to stake conference, but then she didn't so that's a bummer.. but I hope she will come to church this next week!!

We also met another new investigator names J. She has 5 daughters and lives with her less active mom. She has some strange beliefs but she is willing to learn from us! At first when we invited her to read the BOM she said she didn't want to bc the bible says not to add anything onto it, but we testified of the BOM and how it doesn't add or take away from the bible but it goes hand in hand. We told her she could read it and pray about it for herself to know if it was true, and then she said yes she would read it!! So we have another lesson with her next week, and I'm super excited.

Another investigator B is doing good. The lesson with her last week went super well, and she was super excited to come to stake conference, but then when the ride we had for her called her sunday morning to confirm getting her she hung up on him.... so we called her and she said she had to babysit her granddaughter. darn! She said she will come next week, so I will keep praying that she will!
Also oh my. The Bs are doing amazing!!!!!! We had a lesson with them last night about temples and Bro B asked when the ward temple trip is so they can go and walk around the temple grounds as a family, awesome! We showed them pics of the Provo Temple (from the open house) and they loved it, then they looked up pics of temples (the outsides) for the rest of the lesson, and it was really cool. The spirit was so strong, and they really want to make it there. W and S were super excited about them too, and W decided she wants to go to all the temples in the world, bahah. It was the best lesson. I am so excited about them!

We also have the great lady we visit, a widow in our ward. We love her and we go see her about once a week and help her sort through her old photos, that's so much fun. She's from New York so it's cool to see all the pics she has of that! She lives in an assisted living home, so there are lots of old people and one of her friends is HILARIOUS. She has dementia so she has no idea what's going on and she thinks I'm her daughter... bahahah. So I make sure I am really nice to her and she comes in and sorts through pics with us. She had a bowl of popcorn this week and she kept trying to offer me a bite of her "ice cream". Oh my she's great. Then she told me she lost her watch in a pile of sand in the little town she lives in. The member we visit kept getting mad and telling her that she lives here! That doesn't sound as funny in writing, but it was hilarious.

We also had stake conference this week and let me tell you how dumb I am! They had a dinner before the Saturday night session so after I got my food, one lady in our ward told me to come sit by her, so I did, and guess who I sat in front of. Ok I'll tell you in a second. I thought I was just sitting by 2 random guys, whatever. I was starving so I was shoving the soup in my mouth and pretty much ignoring the guys. They were asking me like where I was from and how long I've been out and all that, and I was just trying to not listen bc I wanted to eat my food. Then we got up and left, and my companion looks and me and says do you know who you sat by?? I was like no! I had sat by the stake president and Elder Wilford W. Andersen of the seventy!! And I totally ignored him! How lame is that! I wish I would have known it was him and talked to him, bc how cool would that have been. But nope, I was too busy eating my soup. Bahah, oh well!

Stake conference was amazing!! The spirit was sooooo strong and they showed us a really cool video that you guys should look up on youtube. (just search Gibbons family celebrating 20 years) this family made a video for The Family Proclamation and it was soooo cool. I just felt the spirit so strong. This church is so true, and it's amazing. My testimony grows so much everyday, and I am loving so much being out here. It's wonderful getting to teach people and share the gospel with them and help them change their lives. I am so thankful for this opportunity.

Well I think that's all for now! I hope you guys have a wonderful week, and I love you all tons(: 

February 1st, 2016

This week was wonderful! I think I told you guys last week that we were doing a church tour with one of our investigators. That went so well! She is still nervous about coming to church (she has some deep concern she won't tell us) but she suggested having lessons at the church from now on because she loves the spirit that she feels there! We are so excited about that!! It's another step in the right direction. She is going to florida for like a month and a half soon though which will be hard but someone suggested still calling her and giving her assignments to read and stuff so she can keep progressing. 

We also had a lesson with the B family last week. We kept it short and simple and shared the talk from Elder Wilford W. Andersen The Music of the Gospel from last april's general conference. He is coming to speak at our stake conference next week, so we invited them to read that talk and come to stake conference, and bro b is so excited because it starts at 10 and ends at 12 so he can come the whole time, he won't have to leave early to take his daughter to violin. Awesome! We also have a family home evening set up with them tonight at the Elder's quorum president's house, it's gonna be great! 

We also met a new investigator B and set a baptism date with her for march 5! she is really awesome, and loves what we are teaching her but she didn't come to church... it's so hard to get people to church! oh well, we will keep working with her! 

We also met another new investigator last night named A. She's a young, single mom who is struggling with some things her catholic church does so she wants to learn more about other religions. We are meeting with her again on tuesday! We really think she has a lot of potential. I am so excited to teach her. 

Besides people we are teaching it's been a great week also! It snowed like another foot last week, so we had to spend a lot of time shoveling, but oh well. I'm getting strong muscles. (maybe, I don't really think so) anyways, then yesterday it rained so a lot of the snow melted, but I guess that another big storm is coming in tuesday and the lowest expected inches of snow is 6 and the high is 13. great! oh well, I am just so thankful we have a car!!

Tuesday night we went on exchanges with the STL's and they don't have a car this week, it's getting fixed! So I was in their area for the day with sister Payne, and we had to walk everywhere. I am so thankful we have a car, walking everywhere is a pain and it takes so much time, so I really appreciate all the missionaries that don't get cars-good job to you! Anyways- sis Payne is awesome. We stayed up way too late talking and laughing, it was so much fun. Then we spent the whole next day laughing too. we just got along really well! We met a homeless guy while street contacting and he asked us to pray for him, and we gave him our granola bars. I felt really bad for him, he couldn't find the shelter and we didn't know where it was either and it was really cold and windy out. I hope he ended up finding it!! So yeah, exchanges were awesome. 

Oh and last week Mama B made marshmallow brownies and it was the best day of my life. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. OH and we went to maurices and I got this shirt I had wanted before I left for $6!! Yeah, win. It's way cute, and I took pics wearing it so I will send those. 

My comp never takes pics so I just take selfies now so don't make fun of me!

Also our District leader always makes a treat for District Meeting so this week we said we would make cookies, but he said he would make cookies too, soooo we are gonna have a cookie war in our district and see who makes the best cookies(: I am excited for that! Cookies are so yummy. 

That's all really I can think of, but yeah being a missionary is still wonderful and I am so happy all the time and I just love it here(: I hope you guys are doing so great! I love you all TONS!!

OH also I lost my voice yesterday. So that's fun!