Sushi

This week was awesome! On Monday we had an Active Member lesson planned with our Ward Mission Leader and his family, that quickly turned into a member present FHE with our recent convert --- and her granddaughter --- who we are teaching. --- And our ward mission leader's daughter is the same age. It was great!

On Tuesday we had dinner with some less-actives, the ---, they are awesome! They're starting to come back to church, yay! Earlier in the day Sister --- texted us and asked us if she could come to a lesson with us after dinner! It was like a dream come true! A member asking us when they could come out with us!

On Wednesday we went to the Farmer's Market again and talked to this guy at a popcorn stand, --- the Popcorn Man. He is really awesome, we didn't have any cash, so he gave us a free sample of popcorn and we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon! We had dinner with --- and Brother ---s' sister and brother-in-law, that was fun!

On Saturday we did bread delivery with Sister ---. We tried to find some less-actives we had never met before, none of them were home, but we found their  houses and Sister S and I hadn't been able to find them before, so that was good! Sister --- took us out for dinner. We went to Springfield and she took us to a Chinese buffet, that had, you'll never believe it... SUSHI!!!  I was so happy I could've cried!! I seriously pretty much only had sushi. I. Was. So. Happy.

Sunday was good, we were almost out of miles, so we were a little worried. After church we ate lunch with our ward mission leader, we brought our own food because we felt bad since we're basically going to invite ourselves. After that we drove to a potential investigator who lived really close. We weren't able to have a lesson, but we made contact, so that was good. Then we walked to a member's house that lived nearby. We got a drink, used the bathroom and shared a short message. During this time the District Leader texted us and told us that they would have some extra miles. The member drove us to our car and we drove to dinner. After dinner we had a SUPER AWESOME member present lesson.

During church one of the members, Sister ---, approached us and said that they were having some close friends over for dinner and she (the member) wanted us to come and share a message. So we went over, Brother --- told their friends why they invited us over and that they loved them (their friends) and wanted to share the gospel with them because of how much it has blessed their family. We had everyone say what they loved about families in general or their family specifically. The --- (parents and kids) all ended up bearing testimony of eternal families. Then we talked a little bit about the The Family: A Proclamation to the World (https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation). It was so great, then Brother --- invited them to continue meeting with us! Wow! It was great!

I am so grateful to be a part of a church that values families so much. Our teachings are centered on Jesus Christ, but they also all strengthen families! I know that families are important to Heavenly Father!

I hope you all have a marvelous week!

Love,
Sister Fleck ♥

A Groundbreaking and a Wedding!

This week was super good! We had a lot of fun!

Every Wednesday Ozark has a little Farmer's Market, so we went there and walked around to find people to talk to! We couldn't stay long because our appointment before ran a little long and we had another appointment, we didn't want to be late for, but we still had a lot of fun.

On Thursday we had exchanges, I went to Marshfield with Sister B and Sister S stayed in Ozark with Sister S (our sister training leader). Marshfield was a lot of fun. The Sisters had a couple of members exchanges that day! The members were awesome and, as always, said perfect things. If the missionaries in your area ever approach you and ask you to come to a lesson, especially if they have a specific investigator that they want you to meet, go with them! You will have a good experience and investigators need fellowshippers!

On Friday we did some weekly planning, and then in the evening --- and --- took us to the Russel Stovers store here in town for my birthday and got us ice cream! It was so yummy!!

Saturday was a crazy day!! After we exercise I opened my birthday packages (I definitely only exercised for like 10 minutes!)! Thank you to everyone for the cards and gifts! You are all so nice!! :D Then we got ready, studied and went to.... THE GROUNDBREAKING!!! So, right now the Ozark ward drives to Springfield for church, which isn't that far, but what is kind of weird is that we're in the Springfield South Stake and we meet in the Springfield Stake building. So... awkward... not really, but it worked there. But now we're getting our own building! Yay! The Groundbreaking was awesome and really exciting! The building is going to be on this hill by the freeway, so it will be super easy to see from the freeway! YAY!

After the groundbreaking we saw one of our investigators who we haven't seen in a long time, so long in fact, that I've never met her!

Then, we went to a wedding! One of our investigators got married! Yay! --- (our investigator) got married to one of the members of the ward, Lori! Yay --- and ---!! It was a cute wedding, but the weather caused some problems. The ceremony started almost an hour late because she couldn't get in the car to get to the park where the wedding was going to be because it was raining! It stopped and she got there and it stayed dry just long enough for the ceremony! We all got under a pavilion that was at the park and then it rained off and on for the rest of the reception! Yikes!

Saturday was a lot of fun and by the time we got home we were exhausted!!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Fleck

This one is perfect for this week for a few different reasons!
1. I have decided that Heavenly Father made the fireflies purely to bring people joy.
2. Yesterday we showed our investigator (who is under 12) the I am a Child of God, Mormon Message (https://www.lds.org/pages/i-am-a-child-of-god-mormon-message?lang=eng) and she loved it! She said it almost made her cry and then the rest of the time we were there she kept asking if we could watch it again.

Oh, the pictures!!!
1. Me breaking ground with a tiny shovel!
2. Sister S and I
3. At the wedding! (Left to right) Sister --- (one of the super awesome members in the ward. She gave us a ride to the wedding), Me, Sister S, ---, ---
4. Picture Sister S made for me for my birthday.  That is Ron Weasley in the Tardis as The Doctor :)

10,000,000 Fireflies!

This week has been great! I love Missouri! Here are some things that I love about Missouri:
-It is so pretty here!
-There are so many trees!
-At night there are a lot of fireflies!
  -Fireflies are the coolest!
-The people of Ozark Rock!
-We have a Wal-Mart in Ozark!
-Did I mention that there are a lot of trees here?
-And Fireflies! Did I mention the fireflies?

On Monday we had dinner with ---, they share their home with us. She is so awesome! I love her to death!

On Tuesdays we volunteer at a thrift store called The Christian Foundation. They let us take anything we like, I haven't found anything for myself yet, thank goodness, I don't need any clothes, but I did find a shirt for Tanner. While we were sorting through the clothes we found about 12 shirts from Taco Bell advertising the Dorito Tacos, I know that Tanner likes those, so I grabbed one for him. Then for lunch, Sister S and I decided we needed to try the Dorito Tacos, so we went to Taco Bell for lunch, I also got a Quesoritto, I was a little disgusted by how delicious both of them were. (:

On Wednesday we went out with a member, Sister ---. We go out with her about twice a week and each time we do she makes 10 loaves of bread and we go around and take them to less-actives/her visiting teaching. *Shout out to Sister ---!* We also got a new investigator. Before I came the Sisters got a referral for a less-active who isn't on our records in Ozark, so we have seen him a couple of times. He has a daughter who is 18 and not a member, so we invited her to take the lessons and she accepted!! Woohoo!!

On Thursday we had dinner with this family the ---! They are awesome! Sister --- is Pompeiian and served a mission in the OTM (OTM 4 LYFE!!!!)!!! That is actually how she met Brother ---. Sister ---made us islander food, rice and chicken, it was so good! Sister S was really excited because apparently she loves islander food. She told Sister --- one of her favorite things is SPAM and rice/SPAM Musubi, so Sister --- said she would make it for us sometime. I am so happy about that, that I could cry (only kidding a little bit). I love going to the ---, whenever we ask when they want us to come back Brother --- says "Tommorrow?" Then Sister --- schedules something for a few days/a week out. They have 3 super awesome/cute girls (the oldest one loves Harry Potter and Doctor Who, of course she is awesome!)

On Friday we had Zone Training Meeting in Branson, it was so good! You should all go look up the Commencement Address from University of Texas for this year, we watched it and talked about how the things he talked about apply for missionary work. It was super.

On Saturday we went out with --- again, we didn't have bread this time, but we did have flyers to hand out. "For what?" you may ask. In a groundbreaking, for a church building, in Ozark! That's right! Woohoo! Right now we meet in Springfield and it's hard for a lot of members to get out there. Actually, we're in the Springfield South Stake, and we meet in the Springfield Stake building, so the building isn't even in our stake. Crazy sauce. So, the groundbreaking will be exciting, it's on Saturday, and then in a year and a half (probably less, they always over shoot these kinds of things) Ozark will have a building!

We had dinner with our Ward Mission Leader and his family. They were babysitting for another member in the ward so their kids were there. One of the kids, they were babysitting was this little boy, he's about 3. When --- asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up this little boy said he wanted to be "a cow!" HAHAHAHA!!!!

Our dinner appointment on Saturday fell through, but that's okay, because we had coupons for Wendy's and when we go there this guy started talking to us, he was wearing a Vivint shirt and it turns out that he's a member! He invited us to sit with him and he told us stuff about his mission. It was pretty awesome!

After that we went to help one of the members, she is getting married on Saturday to one of our investigators, and so we helped her get things ready for the wedding. Sister S painted these cute signs that have the menu on them and since I have zero artistic abilities, I punched paper hearts from an old book. I think she is going to put them on the tables. I guess they have been punching hearts out for weeks!

Sunday was cool. We had dinner with the Peaks and shared a message about the Stripling Warrior Fathers for Fathers Day. I kept forgetting that it was Fathers Day all day!
I hope all you Dad's had a wonderful Father's Day though!
Love,
Sister Fleck ♥

Hello Ozark, Missouri!

This week was crazy! Not too much happened in Pawhuska, I feel like all we did the last couple of days there was pack and get the area ready for two new sisters! That was kind of stressful. I am still a little worried that we didn't prepare it well enough and we added more stress to the new sisters! When we were packing I realized that  I had accumulated a lot of stuff because I had to have two extra boxes and a garbage bag with stuff in it, so, before next transfers I will be sending some stuff home! Probably clothes that I won't need until winter.

Thursday was Transfer day. We had to wake up bright and early to get there on time. 3:30 to be exact. We had to leave at 5:00. Normally, if I had to leave at 5 AM I wouldn't wake up until like 4:45, but we had to get ready, make sure we had all of our stuff and make sure that we had all the notes that the new sisters would need. It's kind of unfortunate that we had to get ready because, even though, deep down you don't care what you look like at 3:30, part of you still does on transfer day because you will be meeting your new companion and if you're going to a new area you'll be meeting members and investigators, so you want to make a good impression. So, we left Pawhuska for the last time, and it was very sad. I kind of wanted to cry, but I didn't, I was proud of myself for that. We got the stake center in Tulsa and then got on our vans. Sister S and I were hoping to be on a van together, but we weren't. We were going opposite directions ): so I said goodbye to Sister S and got on the van. After about an hour of being on the van I then had to say goodbye to Oklahoma. ):

But, I got to say hello to Missouri! Soon after we got into Missouri it started to rain like crazy! I've never seen it rain like that in my life! When we got to my stop it was just insane! When we stopped we were in the "meat" (as one of the members called it) of the storm. The Elders were getting our bags off of the trailer and they were all disheveled, some of them had taken their ties off so they wouldn't get ruined and their shirts were coming untucked, it was crazy. So then we (the Sisters) were standing there waiting for our bags or our companions, we looked like we had just gotten out of the shower fully dressed! Elders were, very kindly, handing us umbrella's, but at that point it was kind of useless! After that madness we got into the car with the member who was giving us a ride home.

We live with a member in their basement, it's kind of an interesting situation. Brother F is a member and his wife isn't. She is so nice to us. She kept telling us that if we needed anything food wise we could come up and get stuff out of their fridge. I unpacked a little bit, mostly just my clothes, then we went out. I can't remember everyone we met. I know we met the Ward Mission Leader. It's kind of crazy here, we had a ward mission leader and an assistant ward mission leader. I've never been in an area that has an assistant ward mission leader! We also have ward missionaries, which is very nice because we didn't have any in Pawhuska.
Ozark is really nice. It's a big town/small city. They have a Wal-Mart, which is very exciting!
On Friday we did Weekly Planning, so I got to learn about all of our investigators and the less-actives that we visit. Saturday and Sunday were normal missionary days. I met a lot of people!
I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all!
Love,
Sister Fleck ♥

Transfer calls: I always forget that they happen!

This week was really good, I already told you about Monday, so I'll just pick up with Tuesday! Actually, I won't, because Tuesday was kind of uneventful!

Friday was really good. We had a double day exchange, I guess you could call it, because we were still battling lice we couldn't do a 24 hour exchange with the Sister Training Leader because she couldn't sleep on our beds, and because we had cancelled so many it was the end of the transfer we didn't have time to do it with both of us, so Sister W came to Pawhuska while we were both here and her companion was in their area on splits with members all day. That would make me nervous to not be with another set apart missionary all day!! It went really well! Sister W is such a good example! She's a really hard worker and loves the work so much!

On Saturday we had the Soup Kitchen, have I ever mentioned how much I love the Kitchen (what it's actually called haha), especially on Saturdays? The people we work with are just awesome!!
Man, I was hoping it would take me longer to get to Saturday, I'm already to Transfer calls now! I wanted to keep y'all in suspense longer!

So, Saturday night, there we are waiting for the zone leaders to call us to tell us we're leaving, or text us that we're staying, and our Sister Training Leader, Sister W, calls. She told us that Sister Training Leaders will be doing Transfer calls for Sisters now. Then she told us we were shot gunning out of Pawhuska. She said that I was going to Huntsville Marshallese speaking (which is a thing in our mission) and that Sister S was going to Branson Missouri. My first thought was, 'Sister S loved Huntsville! This will be great!' Then I realized, 'I am going to have to learn Marshallese! I can't do that!!' After I almost started crying Sister W told us that she was kidding!! We talked for a couple of minutes, then hung up. Then the Zone Leaders called us with real information about transfers. We had no idea how close, Sister W was to being right. She had one area completely right, and one state right.

But... She had who was going where flipped! Sister S is going back to Huntsville! She is so excited. She says that Pawhuska and Huntsville are her favorite areas! I am going to an area in Missouri! Any guesses? Anyone? Fine. If no one wants to guess I'll just tell you! I am going to Ozark, Missouri! I'll be in the Springfield, Missouri South Zone/Stake. My companion is going to be Sister S. I am so conflicted!! I am excited to go somewhere new. But I don't want to leave Pawhuska, I love it here so much (even though it doesn't have a Wal-Mart ;))! Sister S and I are doing a lot of preparing so the new sisters coming in will know how Pawhuska works. I hope we do well. It will be good for Pawhuska to start over with two new missionaries, it will be like pressing a reset button.
Sunday was bittersweet, I love going to church here in Pawhuska, but it was sad to know it was the last time! We had two investigators at church, which was pretty exciting because we've had one each week all month!

Yesterday we had a meeting in Tulsa, which is why we're emailing today instead of yesterday. We had dinner with the ---'s when we got back. Sister --- is the member who helped us identify our lice as lice, not fleas. We told her we thought we were still battling the lice, since she is a school teacher, and therefore an expert on lice, she looked at our scalps for us, (what a kind, gracious woman), and said that we were clean! Lice free! She said we were probably just combing out dead skin (yuck!) from using shampoos that dry out our heads (and kill/keep away lice) and combing so aggressively (we really wanted it gone!). We're going to keep treating our heads and clothes and such like we do have lice (combing, cleaning regularly, etc.) until transfers, just to make sure that it is all gone, but it was such a relief to have her tell us that we're lice-free!!

Today has been good, we had lunch with one of the guys from the soup kitchen. It was really sad to say goodbye to him. That's the hardest thing about loving an area, eventually you have to say goodbye to everyone you grow to love.

 I have been getting a lot out of my Book of Mormon studies lately! The other day I read Alma 17:36 (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/17.36) and it got me wondering what kind of stones I could sling at Satan! I thought about the armor of God (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/eph/6.14-18), and I wanted to know what are some stones that you sling at Satan! That's right! I am giving you homework! I've always wanted to, but I never knew what to do!

Well, I hope you all have a marvelous week! I know that, despite a few shed tears, I will!
Love, Sister Fleck♥
1.See! I told you we slept with vegetable oil in our hair!
2. Last picture with long hair
3. Short hair! What???

PS Only Lizzie would think her hair was short when it was still past her shoulders :)   Those who want to respond to the homework please email Sister Fleck at elizabeth.fleck@myldsmail.net.  What a boost that assignment gave me of all the things I do well to fight off Satan and his followers and the things I can do better at :)