6/30/20 - Facebook Post "Nearer My God to Thee"

Kylie Bliss

 is with 

Lindsey Lamarche

.

June 30  · 

 I love this beautiful song, "Nearer, My God, to Thee." How do you grow nearer to God?

https://www.facebook.com/100035630764892/videos/293022445228779/?extid=vejBjq8QNfGWXFDq

6/29/20 - Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite 🛌💤🐞

 Hello hello! 

Today is day #108 of quarantine for me, but I am still choosing to thrive and enjoy every minute of it!

There's only been 4 days since I last emailed, so not a ton has happened in that time, but I'll give an update in what has! 

The "field trip" version:

We got a mission finding day and a musical fireside; we found a couple cool people through Facebook; why we shouldn't take advantage of our faith; we got a bed bug examination; a crash course all about bed bugs

The full version:

Our mission had a mission-wide finding day in which we had a goal to find 170 new people to teach (1 person per missionary). We ended with a grand total of 3, and our mission got about 140 new friends to teach this last week! Such a blessing, considering how hard it can be to find while in quarantine. Miamisburg was a miracle area for finding, but we've needed these miracles here in Xenia and are so grateful for them 

One woman we texted told us that she had seen God's hand in her life a lot recently as she'd been going through a lot and felt that God had literally lifted her burdens off her back. I was stunned at her faith and the fact that the way she said it almost quoted the Book of Mormon scripture in Mosiah that says:

"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." (Mosiah 24:24 pg 194)

I told her more about the message we share and how the Book of Mormon has helped me have the faith in God to allow him to take my burdens from me. We're now working on setting up a lesson with her 

We had a mission musical fireside this Sunday over Zoom (because we're still not allowed to get together with other missionaries). Sister Lamarche and I sang "Nearer My God to Thee" for it. I'll be posting it on Facebook, so feel free to check it out! And speaking of music, we have an electric piano in our apartment and it's my favorite thing ever 

We have a friend named David who I found on Facebook while I was still in Miamisburg. I kept teaching him when I came to Xenia and he's been progressing so well! You may notice more in my Facebook story recently, and it's because he's been watching my stories and asking questions about stuff and we've been really excited about his desire to learn. I didn't fully realized before my mission how much influence for good the internet can have, and I'm so grateful to be able to help flood the internet with the gospel! 

While messaging David one time, he gave us a list of questions we had and then told us "I do want faith like yours, as you actually live it. Not many people do, and your faith makes me want to know your God." 

I stopped for a moment and pondered on my faith. Faith is something I've been focusing on improving recently (Meaning, I've been doing things such as praying more specifically and studying references to Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon to build my faith). But how often do we look forward to how much more we have to grow and forget to look back on who we have become? How often do we take advantage of the faith we do have and forget to be grateful for the things we know. I know I sure do. So many people around us either don't want to know or simply don't know how to know the simple truths about God and his Plan of Salvation that we hold so dear. Any faith we have is something we should be grateful for and something we should be willing to help share with those who want that same faith, because many people do.

We also had an extermination examination for our bed bug problem. In the process we learned way more about bed bugs than I ever thought I needed to know. If you'd like a crash course, I included one at the end of my email that was written by Sister Lamarche. That also means if anyone is still waiting on a response from me I would like to apologize because we had to spend some time today taking care of bed bugs and taking naps because I've been really tired. But I'll email you back next week, I promise!

Speaking of preparation days, our P-Day has been moved from Monday next week to Thursday because of another rush of missionaries. So I'll talk to you then!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Bliss

P.S. Here is the crash course on bed bugs I promised. Sister Lamarche sent to one of her friends, so I thought I'd grt it from her and include it here as well! Let me know if you learn anything fun from it. It you an skip past it to my pictures because it's not really part of my email 

"I just learned so many new things! Bed bugs dont actually bite you because if they did it would feel like a mosquito bite and would wake you up. They actually stuck your blood so they are like vampires. Because they stuck your blood they will leave blood spots on your sheets or on the wall where they mostly stay. Bed bugs are nocturnal. Bed bugs can go up to 18 months with no feeding. Bed bugs need to have blood to lay eggs so if you cut their supply they will starve out which is why a bed bug cover works for getting rid of them for a bed. There are different kinds of bed bug covers. Bad, okay and good. The bad is self explanatory. The okay is it keeps the bed bugs in and won't let them out but they can still bite through the cover (which is the ones we have....) and the good ones are ones that are bite proof and keep them from coming in and out. (The ones he sells are like 65 dollars yikes!) Also a bed bug cover basically is for if you dont want to get rid of the mattress if you have bed bugs. If they are bite proof it will say it on the cover. Bed bugs can "eat" your dead skin cells and hair that had fallen of your head (it has a hair skin on it that they eat) which means if you move into a different room they may just resort to eating that instead of moving to find you. So get water and if you want a little soap and wipe the base boards down and vacuum and then they may be more motivated to find a blood source but then again can survive for 18 months without feeding because they can go into a hibornative state kind of like what bears do. If you take the outlets off they can get in your walls. Permetherin is more of a prevention for bed bug and when they exterminate they use something like that to flush them out from hiding and something stronger to kill them after the stuff that flushes them out wears off. Bed bugs can hitch hike onto suitcases and so he said to take your clothes out and dry them for an hour and that will kill any and then spray your suitcase with lysol and you should be good. Bed bugs can also hid is non bed things too like couches and any other stuff like that and the most surprising one to me was they can live in the wheels in your bed stand because there is dust in it so they have something to grip and people dont spray there. When you get a bed bug they lay 3 to 5 eggs a day so you dont normally notice you have a problem  to 6 weeks later when you have an infestation. Oh also permetherin only kills bed bugs if it is direct contact. Also for putting permetherin on your clothes there is a specific way you mix it to have it not hurt or irritate your skin and it takes 6 washes for it to lose effect. Bed bugs can live in outlets but mostly prefer the seams of mattresses and small places like that. When the eggs hatch they still can "bite" you but they are still learning so you may just have a random bug bite that doesnt itch but the more they practice the more they itch because they get better at it. Dryer skin is more likely to be more irritated by bed bug bites then not dry skin. And sheets should be washed every week to help prevent bed bugs. Beds that have a metal frame need specifically duck tape to be put over sharp parts so that when and if the bed moves the sharp edges dont tare the bed bug cover. Also when the exterminator comes they basically rate how bad the infestation is and the worst it is the more it costs. But they dont usually exterminate right after because you have to then prep the house. Wash all of the clothes and put them in bags and move them to a garage, vacuum and clean everything, move the beds out and that's just a few of the steps they have you do. Also bed bugs is just one of the bugs the exterminate. There are termites and spiders and rats and mice and ants and lots more! That all I can remember right now." -Sister Lamarche

PICTURES!

*Remember the new Miamisburg mural of movie characters that I sent a picture of awhile back? I got a picture of the final piece before I left last week 

*we had to try iut this little ice cream place near our apartment in Miamisburg before we left. It's the best. 10/10 definitely recommend

*The colorful mural is one from Downtown Dayton that belonged to an art studio and was super cool

*The backyard of our duplex currently. I've decided I want to stay here forever

*A picture of me and Sister Lamarche 

6/25/20 Facebook Post - If reading one book could change your life, would you read it?

https://www.facebook.com/ChurchofJesusChristinDaytonOhio/posts/136938977981152

6/25/20 - Harry Potter ain't got nuttin' on the Book of Mormon 📚

Hello friends and family!

No, I have no story behind my email title other than the fact that I said that this week and Sister Coleman thought I was hilarious. 

But here's one story before I begin:

Sister Coleman likes to mess with me. Like, really mess with me. One time she full on tried to explain to me that her family likes to eat boiled watermelon and I was like "What? No, that's not a thing!" Then a few weeks later we were eating  hotdogs and she looks at me and goes "How are you eating your hotdog?!" I was super confused and looked at her because I was eating it normally. She turned her hotdog toward me and I saw that she'd been eating it sideways. We took a picture and everything, so enjoy! I swear, I can never take anything she says seriously 

This week we had a really neat lesson with a friend of ours and were simply planning on talking about our life on earth and the atonement of Jesus Christ. We started talking about our life on earth when Sister Coleman and I both felt prompted to talk about baptism. As we explained baptism and shared Mosiah 18:8-10 with her the spirit was so strong and she accepted a baptismal date in August! I'm super excited for her! 

It was a wonderful way to spend my LAST DAY IN MIAMISBURG!

Yes, you heard me right. After 6 months I have finally been transferred to a new area! I say finally, when I reality I never want to leave. I originally thought I would leave much sooner than I did, but I'm so glad I stayed as long as I did because it's such a special place to me now. But I'm now serving in Xenia Ohio, which I've heard is an amazing place, and I love it already. We live in a duplex as well, so we have two bedrooms, two other main rooms, two bathrooms, and a backyard. Definitely the best place I've lived during my mission so far. Other than the fact that we have bedbugs that we have to deal with. For those of you who don't know much about bedbugs, as I didn't before my mission, bedbugs are apparently a really bad thing to have and a big deal to get rid of. I'll keep y'all updated on that problem as it continues, but sometime in the next couple of weeks we're going to have to move out for a couple of days as they exterminate the place.

So today I realized that I officially have only about 4 months left of my mission. A short enough amount of time that when I asked an Elder who goes home with me "when do you go home?", his response was "I don't want to talk about it." It's also a short enough time that President Ensign has begun mentioning the end of my mission. Wow, I thought this time would never end I think!

Sorry for the short ramble of an email, but I'll end on a spiritual note by sharing a scripture that I've been really liking lately 

1 Nephi 11:17

"And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the eaning of all things."

We don't know everything, and we're never going to know everything. But what we do know is that God loves us, which can get us through anything that we don't. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon because it has taught me so much about God's love. Nothing has given me hope and a knowledge of that love the same way that the Book of Mormon has, and I'm so grateful to be here serving a mission so that I can share that love with others!

Have a great week! My next Preparation Day will be on Monday again, so I'll be back on schedule for my emails.

Love,

Sister Bliss

PICTURES!

*Pictures of the Wright Brother's museum we visited last week, including a remake of their original house in Dayton

*Sister Coleman and I enjoying Hamburger Wagon for the last time 

*Ice cream to celebrate my last day with Sister Coleman!

*A cute Dayton Sign!

*Which way do YOU eat your hotdog?

*Me and Sister Lamarche!  (my new companion!)

Me and Sister Lamarche!

6/20/20 - Facebook Live!

https://www.facebook.com/kylie.bliss.948/videos/286481765882847

6/20/20 Facebook Post - Profile picture update

1 Nephi 11:17

"And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."

We may not know everything, but if we know God loves us, that's a good start

6/15/20 - Facebook Post - What are YOU grateful for?

Check out this awesome video that friends in our area helped us out with!

What are YOU grateful for?

https://www.facebook.com/ChurchofJesusChristinDaytonOhio/posts/136717714669945

6/15/20 - Facebook Post - Finding Christ

What does is mean to be a missionary? If you've ever wondered what I do each day as a representative of Jesus Christ, this is it, and I love it more than I've ever loved doing anything else! Feel free to send me a message if you'd like to hear more about the message we share and how it can help you

https://www.facebook.com/ChristFinding/posts/265401351559849

6/15/20 - Yo sé qué...

Hola mi familia y mi amigos!

The "field trip version" (see last email if you're confused by this): I helped teach a lesson in Spanish. The Wright Brothers lived in Dayton Ohio, near where I live now. Elder Christofferson had a zoom call with our mission. A funny line in the Book of Mormon. Transfers are happening AGAIN. God is not an author of confusion. P-Day is next Thursday.

I TAUGHT SOMEONE IN SPANISH YESTERDAY AND IT WAS SO COOL!

We've been messaging a lot people on Facebook recently who speak Spanish. Sister Coleman has been super excited. I, on the other hand, have been frantically learning how to pray and say my testimony in Spanish, knowing full well I will have to be a part of any lessons she has with them. So yesterday I studies a few things I'd need to know to say my testimony and a prayer. Then that evening we had an English lesson with our friend Arnolfo, and at the end of the lesson Sister Coleman asked if knew what we taught as missionaries. He was super open and they got talking about the Book of Mormon. So really, it was Sister Coleman doing the teaching, but I did actually get to bear my testimony in Spanish (plus a little bit in English) and I shared a scripture that Sister Coleman has me read in Spanish! And then I said a killer spanglish prayer at the end. Sister Coleman asked me to say the prayer and she didn't actually mean I had to say it in Spanish, but I'd been studying prayers in Spanish that day so I pulled out my notes and went for it. I did have to throw in some English at times, but I was pretty proud of myself. And the best part was I was able to understand most of what Sister Coleman was saying throughout the lesson, so I knew what was happening when I needed to say something. It was so cool!

Fun fact about Ohio!

The first airplane, airport, and permanent flying school, all made by the Wright brothers, were in Dayton Ohio. I currently live in Kettering Ohio (serving in the Miamisburg ward) and Dayton is just a couple miles away from me. We went on a field trip to see a bunch if outdoor historical sites about the Wright brothers and it was so cool! 

This week we got to have a mission zoom devotional with Elder D. Todd Christofferson this week and it was amazing. He told us we were all his companions, which probably all of our favorite part  Elder Christofferson is an especially neat person to have visit our mission because he knows our mission President and his wife personally and talks them up like crazy.

Fun scripture find of the week!

After the prison holding Alma and Amulek fell apart, the people came to see what was happening. When they saw Alma and Amulek they were afraid,

"and [they] fled from the presence of Alma and Amulek even as a goat fleeth with her young from two lions"

I have no interesting revelations or fun facts about that specific line, I just thought the visual that described their running was funny.

So last week we had transfers again (we're currently having them every two weeks) and we got a new district leader, Elder Koudelka, and we have Dayton Elders again after losing them for about a transfer! We also got a new Zone Leader. If you remember about 5 months ago or so I told a story about how the Elders came to do service at the same time we came to visit Georgia (the cute 80-year-old recent convert, the mother of Cheryl who was baptized while I was here). The Elders were on exchanges and Elder Johansen, who has been my Zone Leader in the past, was visiting for the day and Georgia was IN LOVE with him  Yeah, well, he's our Zone Leader and serving in the Miamisburg area now. She's going to be so excited if we're ever let free and she gets to meet him again.

1 Corinthians 14:33 says:

"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace."

This scripture really hit me recently as someone we were teaching kept texting us scriptures to prove that we were wrong about something. In the midst of the scriptures he sent was included this one scripture that reminded me that God doesn't seek to confuse us, which was the only thing this guy was trying to do to us. I also was reminded that The Book of Mormon brings nothing but peace, and the objections I hear against it bring nothing but confusion. I can finally say that I've seen lives change during my mission and it's a wonderful thing to witness. But without fail, the thing that always changes lives is the Book of Mormon. 

Just a heads up, next week our P-Day is being moved AGAIN due to 30 new missionaries coming in, so I'll be sending out an email next Thursday instead of Monday.

Talk to y'all then!

Love,

Sister Bliss

P.S. "Yo sé qué..." is Spanish for "I know that..." so basically, saying your testimony in Spanish is ridiculously easy.

PICTURES!

*We visited "St. Anne's Hill" last Thursday for our P-Day, which seems to be some cute neightborhood with fun German art and buildings in Dayton

*Did I ever mention an old 100-year-old hamburger wagon stand called the "Hamburger Wagon" in downtown Miamisburg? If not, I apologize. Please go visit it one day because it's the bomb and they sell tiny hamburgers with onions and pickles. That's it. No need for anything else.

*The outside of the Wright brothers museum that we couldn't go into because of COVID-19

*A new mural is being painted in downtown Miamisburg of a bunch of famous movie characters. In fact, if you look in the background you can see that the woman was working in the mural as I took the picture. It should be done by now and we'll definitely be heading back to get another picture of the final product.

6/13/20 Facebook Post - Family History & Song "Families Can Be Together Forever"

Today our Family History lesson was on how to add living family members onto your tree so that you can link yourself to deceased family members who may already be in the records. We also introduced how you can look at memories attached to your ancestors, and next week we'll be talking about how to add your own memories to them!

Comment below a fun memory you know about one of your ancestors!

https://www.facebook.com/kylie.bliss.948/videos/281940019670355

6/11/20 - "Kylie did it!" -Carrie

Hello friends and family!

So remember when I said I was going to start having a TL;DR (too long didn't read) at the start of each email and then never did it? Yeah, well now I'm having "the field trip version". This joke started because someone texted us to explain how Jesus Christ created the earth in a field trip form and we were really confused but I was like "No, maybe he means he's giving a quick recap. Like how during a field trip you get brief explanations of a bunch of things rather than going really into one subject. So he's giving the field trip version of that story." Yeah, no, it was just autocorrect  But here's the field trip version of my email today!

The "field trip" version: Our friends are working on reading the Book of Mormon. The atonement truly rids us of guilt from our sins. God is a God of loving ALL of his children 

Our friend Diana is reading the Book of Mormon and asking us questions and we're so excited for her! We met her when she wanted to donate some food, so he got in contact with some other missionaries who referred her to us when they found out she was in our area. We got the food and left a Book of Mormon as a thank you and she called us to tell us how amazing the book was and how she loved the pictures in it. We started teaching her and since then she's been reading and asking questions!

Quick update on Carrie: We linked her to her great grandmother as we hoped we would, which was so amazing. But we also found out that she believes the Book of Mormon is true! Now all we need to do is just get her to actually read it  Also, she blamed something on me this week, but did it by saying "Kylie did it!" and it killed me. Being called by my first name as a missionary always cracks me up.

We had another friend who is working on praying for forgiveness. Interestingly enough, during my mission I've never really had to focus before now on assuring someone that Christ's atonement can take away the shame and guilt of our sins, but it was an amazing feeling to testify of that. Christ was "a sacrifice for sin" (2 Nephi 2:7) and nothing we do will be too much for Christ's atonement as long as we turn to him and seek that forgiveness. I am so grateful for the atonement, and I've really grown to know my Savior Jesus Christ so much more during my mission. 

We had a really neat experience this last week that really strengthened my faith in and gratefulness for how much our Heavenly Father truly loves each and every one of his children. We have some of the absolute best neighbors EVER. They bring us food and chat with us all the time and we love them to pieces. However, they seem to have avoided talking about religion with us because they are a gay couple who have had some bad experiences with other churches in the past. But this last week we were talking to one of the guys as he was out walking their dog and he asked us to give him some spiritual enlightenment on what's going on in the world. We talked about trusting in God and looking for the good in things and explained that we may not know what God's plan is, but he certainly has one. Then, out of the blue, he asked us where he fits in with everything "because [he's] gay so that book ( meaning the scriptures) doesn't really include [him]". I have the strongest testimony that God loves all of his children. Being able to explain to our friend that God gives commandments like marriage between a man and a wife so we can have the blessing of having an eternal family was neat. But being able to tell him that God doesn't love him any less than any of his other children was amazing. We as humans spend too much time comparing ourself to others, being racist, sexist, homophobic, and so much more. But we are all children in God's eyes. In 4th Nephi it talks about the people and how "they were in one, the children of Christ" (4 Nephi 1:17) which is how we should seek to be. I've met so many different types of people on my mission, all with different backgrounds, going through different life experiences, and trying to find God (or choose not to find him) in many different ways. I have felt so much love for each and every one of them. I know that feeling of love wouldn't be coming from Satan, so it has to be coming from our Heavenly Father, who's love is beyond comprehension. That love extends to each and every one of you, even when you may not feel deserving of it or think you "aren't included" in that love the way our neighbor did.

I love you all and hope you're doing amazing and seeing God's hand in your life each day 

Love,

Sister Bliss 

PICTURES!

*I went in exchanges with Sister France (who was in the MTC with me) and we got some cute pictures including us with Greater's, a cute yellow chair at our apartment, and the coolest star wars mailbox

*Sister Coleman and I enjoy just taking dumb pictures sometimes

*a nature picture!

6/6/20 Facebook Live - Finding an ancestor

We did a short demonstration of how to find an ancestor on the Family Tree app! Here's a link to the app so you can find your own ancestors!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.familysearch.mobile

https://www.facebook.com/kylie.bliss.948/videos/277227266808297/

6/3/20 - Facebook Post - Showing love

Right after the first great commandment of loving God, the second great commandment is to "love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matthew 22:39). Who counts as our neighbor? Everyone! Because we are all God's children, we should work together to build each other up! How do you like to show love to those around you?

https://www.facebook.com/ChurchofJesusChrist/posts/10158432235846550

6/1/20 - Facebook Post "I Lived in Heaven" song

Did you know that your Heavenly Father has a plan for YOU? We lived with our father in heaven once before, when he made a plan for all of us. That plan included coming here to earth and it centered on our Savior Jesus Christ!

Feel free to send me a message if you'd like to hear more about your Heavenly Father's plan for you

This song is "I Lived in Heaven", a primary song from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

https://www.facebook.com/kylie.bliss.948/videos/274018627129161