6 Months Out!

This week was amazing! Hectic with moving but our new place is sooooo so nice. The couple who rent out their back living quarters (or whatever) are really cool. She's too nice, she like, does our laundry for us! Because it's more convenient for them lol that's the only thing that makes me feel not so bad about it. And she's had sister living here for 7 years. We're the first English speaking ones. SHE HAS A DOG!!!!!!!!!!!! Sparky (: he loves us, and comes to chill all the time. 

So the baptism last week was great. The little boy, D., was 9 and he was baptized by his grandpa. We taught in the middle while he was changing a little bit, and mostly bore our testimony and talked about what a growth we've seen for their family as they all prepared for this for him. We would sit down together every few days and talk about the gospel and and they all grew closer and stronger and turned to the scriptures more and it was great. But.

BUT...

This last Saturday we had a baptism. Technically the Elders did. Do you remember about S. much?? The big blow up that happened a while back with the 15 year old that I love love loved? SOMEONE got really mad at us and didn't want us to come back over and the moment on since I've last seen her, all I've wanted was a big hug and to be her friend again, and especially to be friends with S. I love the kid. The elders came in and took care of him, but it was really devastating to me because I loved them so much. Especially S.,he had been my first progressing investigator I was able to begin with and who I felt a real connection with and love for. I haven't been to see them in weeks. And I saw him at church a couple times and last week he said I was welcome at his baptism. I was so excited just for him because I knew everything was working out in his favor even though my companion and I had messed up. He was really excited when I got there. And you know what?? t was seriously the best day of my mission. His ----- ran up to me and gave me the biggest tightest hug and told me how happy she was that I came! That I had played one of the biggest roles in all of this!! I had just thought she hated me and thought I almost ruined it all, but she said she misses me. It was everything I've been praying for since the last night I saw her. And the spirit of the baptism was so strong, I may or may not have cried the whole time. The elders teased me and said it was really distracting while they taught the restoration actually. I JUST COULDN'T CONTAIN MY JOY OK. S. shared his testimony and it was so powerful. I love this. I love being a missionary!!!! And then right after that I got to go do service for a nonmember by cleaning her house as she was moving out. the fun fun times for him!

And then, HECK YEAH RELIEF SOCIETY BROADCAST! Oh my cute! The little girls all singing teach me to walk in the light was fabulous. There was a lot of music and new things that were a strong testimony of the Savior. What really hit me most was how glad I was for the sisters I have in my life. My blood sisters and My family and the friends I have. My companion for sure. Some people I just couldn't have made it without. And then some random stranger gave us dinner because the broadcast ran through it and we had to run to a lesson (with the most amazing faithful investigators ever btw) and she just let us in because we're missionaries. So many people are so good to us for no reason!! You'd think id be used to it after 6 months! I forgot to celebrate, I'm too busy! Lol I'll do it for my 9 month, I'll like burn something or dye my hair.

Apparently sisters get cooler on their missions

As a missionary, I am really blessed with an abundance of love for people I haven't ever met....especially my family! But also not family. I Love kids too. I keep meeting children who just want us over and then the parents shut them down. It was really sad actually, I think a little boy got in trouble for talking to us. The mom slammed the door in our face because she's Christian. .........lol. Ironic enough for me. I got to shout happily that we are too though before we left. .......once upon a time, I've gotten a lot more sassy on my mission. But we're really dignified so we like to refer to it as being "bold." I talk to strangers all the time and tell them from across the street that prayer will help them fix their motorcycle faster-the conversation was going great until then, and he immediately said goodbye. Oh well. We rock awkward. Apparently sisters get cooler on their missions, though and the guys just get real awkward. How is Emily? Did she get cooler? It seems like it, but I am sort of in a bubble and don't know what's normal and what is weird. We were at lunch with a younger couple that we had just had Sunday school with along with our elders and they were telling us we're normal and they were awkward. It was awesome.....because we totally think they're normal because we don't see other boys that age not on missions. And I assumed that we were the same level of weird. But, we're supposedly fun. To some people. We sort of got all of that normal feeling shot down today as a member was telling us how miserable it was for her to go out with the missionaries because we go do such weird things and it must be so uncomfortable for everywhere we go. .....oh well, we aren't trying to make people uncomfortable, we want them to feel the Spirit!!.......wait. ...well, we will work on it.

Ok!!! LISTEN!! My miracle of the week. ^.^ we had the dreaded empty 20 mins of the night free, where you can't have a lesson but can't go home. So we thought to go find a couple people in the appts and invite them to church but as we were walking, this car turns around the corner and after a second, it stops and then start driving backwards. Out of the car we hear a boy called you are elders right?! .....well. Close! He tells us he wants missionaries to come teach his girlfriend, she has been asking questions and he has been inactive for a while but wants to answer what she's been asking. He thought it was so crazy, he had been talking to his dad about the Holy Ghost just earlier that day and on the road, he had said a prayer, right before he saw us. . :) yeah!! That actually happens! I love being lead by the Spirit so hard! It wasn't anything loud or even what we were really aware of....we just were staying out and working as long as possible and all of the lessons we had before lasted as long exactly as they needed to even if we didn't know. Just do good, and try to listen....I love how it is referred to as the gift of the Holy Ghost. It's a gift… You can't force gifts or else it becomes something that doesn't even matter. I used to try and force it and it was so frustrating because I couldn't speak his language! I just have to be listening, which is hard work, unless you're just being obedient. We got rules like we can't email people back and forth in one day, we can't contact other missionaries other than our leaders without permission, we can't use the iPad, even for the calendar or gospel library without our companions being able to see our screen. And a couple other random things. But it's ok!!! More ways to be obedient, more chances for the Holy Ghost to speak to me and send us to miracles! Ding ding ding.

Another miracle!! We just got transfer news and I get to keep my best friend for another six weeks!!!! AND we're moving in with members!! Sister Smith is great. We work so hard on being better missionaries all the time together and get along and go out and stay out and work all day and she helps me feel like the time we spend is worth my wearing of this name tag. And we just have fun. For weekly planning, we made a fort in our room and hid away. We're basically the only missionaries in our district that are staying the same. I really fun Elder is leaving and our other roommate who is wonderful is getting her visa to Brazil tomorrow. Well she already has it, but she's actually leaving tomorrow (we love her!! She's soooo funny, when she got her visa we celebrated and kept teasing her about leaving the states she was singing my country Tis of thee. I yelled at her and told her that she's not allowed to sing it because it's not her song anymore. She doesn't even go here!!....she quotes things with me. Ew.. So we'll just have to have fun by ourselves with our members. We had a Nerf gun war this morning and I hope that we can continue to do cool things. Never in my life have I been able to behold such miraculous plastic machinery. They were way fancy stuff we borrowed from members. I'm glad nothing broke in our young careless hands. I shot so many people it was grand. I love missionaries. Especially my comp, because things have never been better before her! I have had no problems with my depression the last six weeks except for a couple a times that I quickly got over. It's a big improvement. There was one time though....

Third miracle!! I got the most incredible package of my entire DANG life this week,! Okay, it was this absolute perfect timing. I was having a really hard day… the one hard hard day, I just needed to go to sleep for a little while and then when I woke up, there was a box!! Boxes, de mi familia!! and it was everything I have ever wanted all in one square foot!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I put my jewelry, Irish princess necklace and slippers on immediately and then drank some hot chocolate. I went back out to work and it turned into a great night and I was able to talk to a sister who has been depressed for a while about how much she needed to go to the temple. I understand how hard it is to get up and do something scary and doubt your abilities, but it always turns out better than you expect it to eventually when you're doing things of righteousness. Anyway, thank you for my package(: I didn't think you could send anything better than the last couple of things I've gotten but good job!! You're the best.

Another miracle, we finally had a baptism on Saturday. It is so good for this family and it was great to be with them while he prepared. I love baptism!? I love the church!! I love the GOSPEL. AND I love you. Thank you mama, have a good week!

St. Patrick's Day 2014

Happy birthday to a kid who's coming back to church!!!!!!!!

He's awesome, except he doesn't know yet that he wants to serve a mission.

But he's really good at praying.

Last week He told God to "please bless that Sister Krueger will calm down with all of her energeticness."

Guess who put the frosting on so neatly?

I love hiking!!!!!! Only one sister got stabbed by a cactus. I kept trying to go really fast, but my friends were enjoying slowly and I wanted to be with them, so I scurried ahead and then ran back to them frequently. Sister Fry came!

Um......my District Leader and his companion.

They are goobers.

They call us "Cotton Candy"

This is made with drink bottles.

I LOVE MOLLY AND THE GYM!! What gym do y'all use?

Oh my goodness gracious I love the new temple video too. I just want to go back to the temple all the time, we just don't have the time of course. We did take a family, our investigators, to the Visitor's Center this week. We walked around the temple grounds and they were really soaking it all in about how important the building really is. There was a really beautiful sunset and their fellowshipper talked about his family being sealed in that temple and how it's the closest place on Earth to God. We brought them in the VC and watched God's Plan for Families and everyone cried a little. It makes more sense when you know the importance of how a family doesn't ever have to be separated. (I'm glad we won't be..........................except for right now.......... ................. :P it's not too long though, right?) And then we set down in the room for the art exhibit and talked a lot about the Spirit and how they are going to get their answer of whether this is the true church or not. I was able to share my testimony really strongly about how this church is really Christ's church. (I've always believed it, but I really know it so strongly now) that even their church, which they love dearly, has goodness and leads them to happiness and has much of Christ's teachings and ways of success...but this Church, was organized by the maker of this world Himself, to guide us to real success and to strengthen us with fullness of truth and doctrine necessary for salvation. There's no getting around it. I just love how everything is all starting to make sense to me. All of the things I have learned my whole life and have believe all are meshing together into one concept in my head and it's all like-no duh! The Plan of Salvation is in everything I see and do and think and am! My body is a very precious gift and I am just a Spirit trying to learn how to manage myself in a physical body. And my job in life is to remember God, my Father, and to help other do the same.

We didn't do that much teaching thing week, we only had 19 lessons. Our goal is to have 20 a week, But one day we were in Zone Conference all day, learning to be better teachers. The mission President also then talked about the mission's obedience and how were need to be perfect! He printed out a 3 page list of the mission rules to clarify everything we need to be doing along with the white handbook. I sort of love it. My companion was a little stressed out but it's just because she's really good at doing what's right and was sinking it all in really fast. A lot of the missionaries don't like it and say it's the Law of Moses like it's a bad thing. I am excited that it's written down so there's no confusion but there are some new rules we have to get used to doing more easily. But then our Zone got together to discuss the list and make sure everyone knew the rules and read it and answered any questions.

Sister Smith and I are going to set up our game!! We just want our investigators to progress....A lot of times I know it's their agency, but I wish I were a  better teach so that I could make it all make more sense...Like, if people really understand this stuff they couldn't deny it right????? ......wrong, I know. BUT COME ON!! it's the bomb dot com. I just want to help people understand it better and recognize the Spirit. it just takes practice! .....took me lots, but it's the best thing in the whole world!! ding ding ding

Prayer really works!

Princess Pillow for a Princess

Playing with the iPhone

Roller Skating

 Oh my goodness!! this week really was a superduper week! I hope I can recount all of the stories and wonderful things that happened.

Dinners with members is one of my favorite things about being a missionary. They're always fun. 

Actually there are too many favorite things about being a missionary. Like, I get to attend any ward party or family function that I am not invited to, and people are so excited to see us. We pretty much belong everywhere even if they don't know how I am personally. It's just because I have a cool name tag on. And suddenly where everyone's best friends!  Well, when they're Mormon. It's to balance out for all the people who see your name tags and run away. But yeah, I got to help set up a wedding reception a little bit this week, and then we just dropped in to the party. It was pretty bomb.

I also really like all of the friends it's so easy to make, just with other missionaries. Because… We can't really be left out. You're always invited to things if your companion or if anybody in the district or his own is going and everyone is obligated to be nice. Cause that's what missionaries do! I like nice people. So people have actually gotten a chance to get to know me when normally I just stay to myself. But having lots and lots of fun. I love people. I'm pretty sure God sent me here so that I can make more friends.

I really love the constant companionship of the Spirit as well. I know that I received that at baptism, but on a mission you have no other focus and you're living so obediently that it's hard not to be in tune with him. Pretty much all I've ever wanted in life was to be able to speak His language and I feel like I am finally starting to get a hang of it! He has prompted me to say and do things t hat have really helped people and caused miracles and making everything I testify about feel real and truer than I thought I could ever feel.(it's cool when like I was prompted to park somewhere that would make us walk a certain place and we met a potential investigator, or He stops me from going to see someone and we are led to run into our investigator Jason, who always works and hardly ever gets to see us.) but then He sometimes tells us to do some weird things that we still aren't sure of what purpose they were for, like last night, we drove by a park full of a bunch of hoodlums playing basketball and we were late for a meeting but we really felt like we should go over there....not even to talk, and it didn't feel like just a temptation/desire to hang out with them but we got out and walked over and then felt like we'd fulfilled the purpose. I think someone just needed to see us.......I have no idea what that was about but whatever! Maybe Sister Smith and I are just crazy. Actually I'm pretty sure we are. But we have fun!! I'm just really excited all the time. If I'm ever not, then she takes over. We're a good balance with basically everything. My excitment got me prayed for again. This 17 year old guy we're helping be happy and come back to church actually prayer for me. He was praying and asked for Sister Smith to feel better because she was sick so I guess he thought he had to say something about me and all that came out was..."please bless Sister Krueger....that....she will calm down. With all of her energeticness..." And it's hard not to bust up laughing in the pray (but we know how good I am am holding that back from family pray history) and it also is hard not to be able to hit him because he's a boy and I'm a missionary. Whatevers. I love boys. I got to play some basketball for 10 ,inutes when we saw some little scouts outside as we were driving to an appointment. We inky had ten minutes but we totally beasted.

Oh!! ,y other favorite thing about missionarying. Everyone's  prayers. Not just for me to calm down or for my ears to open, but that even though we come over to people's homes and spare annoying, telling them how to live their lives and crying repentance, they still always say whether they open or close with the prayer that they are grateful that the sister missionaries could come over. Every single time. Sometimes I don't really know if they're actually grateful for us, but it's always been interesting that they say so before they pray for anything else.

One of the biggest things I'm trying to focus on right now is exactly that, having charity for people. I know that that consists of doing service for them, but even though I feel like I have a gift of being able to love everyone easily, I want to have a more Christlike love. Being able to be bold and actually help them change. I just want to fulfill my purpose!!! Lol

Bah!! Favorite story of the week! Actually again with a young man of 17, we were outside and he dropped his ring into the grass. I saw exactly where it landed and ran to go grab it. We all did actually but when we went to that spot, it had disappeared. That happens to me a lot, losing things and whatnot. The kid looked all over the place for it and it was nowhere to be found. I told him that we needed to stop and pray and ask for where it was. I promised him that if we did that then we would find it immediately. He did not want to pray. He is said "no I'm good, I'm just going to retrace my steps and I'm going to find it." I laughed and said "you're not going to find it. " We looked really hard and it was nowhere. Five minutes later, I turned to sister smith and asked "sister are you ready to pray about where this ring is?" She said yes and so we stopped and prayed, this boy even laughed in the prayer because he didn't believe it would work. She finished and I open my eyes and looked down, right in the spot where he had been looking I saw the rain. It was satisfactory. I told him to use his faith. Prayer is super real!

Miiiiiracleeees. How long until the power came back on? I want a power outage! Well, I'd be happy if maybe it just rained again. It makes really cool lakes  cause the ground here doesn't know how to soak up water.

I finally went hiking this morning!! I have been begging people to go hiking my whole mission. I don't think I've gone since I was in Peru. The hike here was a lot nicer because I was actually able to breathe due to lower altitude. But it was still really hard and I felt like I was going to die in many portions of the hike. ..... Worth itGod created such a beautiful world. I never thought that I would be one to enjoy nature but after having gone to the temple I appreciate this world so much more and I'm so grateful for things like mountains and dirt and being outside. He did a really good job making this I can't even imagine how it happened.

The gospel is true, the book is blue. And Moroni is on a ball

To Daddy: I love Fort Bragg!! Well....ya know. It was cool for a little while. I
miss being a youth and randomly wish I could go back to then, yet
still have the knowledge and personality I have now to make back then
even better. I thought about that a lot this weekend, when we got to
watch the cultural celebration  for the Gilbert temple. Ooooooo my
heck! Have you ever seen a cultural celebration?! I know the youth
completely put it on themselves and it was absolutely magnificent!!
And guess what! IT RAINED!! It looked beautiful. The one day it's
rained this year, the youth got to perform in it and they were so
happy and so good and I just love youth so much and I wish I could
have actually been there and I cried just a little and also it was
raining here and I got to wear my rain boots(: everyone was all
like...you brought rain boots to Arizona? And I'm like heck yes!! I
splashed in so many dang puddles and it was the bomb. Everyone did
think they were cute and I wore them a couple of days to get as much
use out of them as possible. They were jelly.(jealous)
I have so many clothes!! All the missionaries give their stuff away,
and I'll do that At the end of my mission too....but that's forever
away....except not really!! 5 months!! What the hecks! I hope I've
changed a lot, because it feels like I have. I mean, I just hope it's
things that will stick with me even when I'm not a missionary. I
wonder what things I've been blessed with specifically as the Lords
servant and what things I've actually developed and get to keep...like
my sense of direction. It's so good when I drive now! And I understand
the scriptures so much better and my prayers get more immediate
answers. I've been lead to so many places at the exact time I am
needed and remember to do important things and feel the Spirit guiding
me all the time. I wish I could always be worthy of that! Anyway. I
like being a missionary. And I like you !! Jk I love you!!

To Madre:

I had a fantastic week for sure!! Well, some of it. I went to a funeral to support a

family and it was sad but beautiful. It was really nice to be there because we've 

gotten pretty close to the family in just 3 visits....music does that. Also we left the 

mission for it. We brought back our district leader and his companion some rocks

 from outer darkness. I think they really appreciated it. Secretly. I really like being 

a missionary because it's so much easier to be friends with people 

(other missionaries) because you can't be left out and everyone is under 

obligation to be Christlike and nice lol

Also when you're a. Missionary and your companion is really sick and sleeps in an hour and things are pushed back a little and by 11 o'clock you're freaking out begging to go somewhere because you've been cooped up in the apartment too long....yup, that's suddenly me. Also, to keep myself sane I was cleaning everything for fun. Lol we made a butt ton of orange juice and lemonade all day today so hopefully the citrus will get us healthy.

The dedication was sooooo good!! ! Well I liked the cultural celebration even more though. I told daddy about it and you can share that together. But the dedication was amazing too. We got ourselves green cards and sat through the very very cold hour and a half dedication. My favorite part was the placing of the mortar. The prophet is so cute!! I love him so much. He makes me want to be goofy like myself my whole life. We went to two sessions (so I had both of my Hankies) to be there with a new member for one and it was just so exciting to see a building suddenly become the Lord's house. And...problem though. secretly there was a less active boy we are working with who asked for the first time when church was. Actually that happened a lot thinks week. A ton of people finally wanted to come to church and regular meetings weren't even being held!! A little boy outside in the neighborhood actually was begging us to be a Mormon asking where and when church was and of course it's like......you're not allowed to come this week!! 

I Love the temple too! We got to go on Thursday. it feels like we go of the time, yet it is never enough period I love how much it strengthens my testimony. It's like it becomes more solidified every time I go to the temple. 

I know that it is been helping me a lot with my communication with the spirit is well. we were lead to many places just exactly where and when we needed to be, this week. We were lead by the spirit multiple times when we are about to go see a couple of families, 

I do miss Zumba. I was not very good at it that it is such good exercise. I really like being able to exercise. But unfortunately I also really like food. Speaking of which I'm about to go make some garlic butter cheese biscuits! Wish me luck :D 

The gospel is true, the book is blue. And Moroni is on a ball!