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

6/1/20 - Apparently I'm teaching a prophet?

¡Hola familia y amigos!

I told Sister Coleman I was going to make "Sueños Leche" my subject line and she begged me not to so I almost did it. Until I got a more exciting subject line. But, background on the spanish: I was trying to find out how to say "sweet dreams" in Spanish so I could say "¡Buenos noches! Dulce sueños." (Good night! Sweet dreams.) However, the hint Sister Coleman gave me as I was trying to figure it out was "Think of dulce de leche" so I shout "Sueños Leche!" and she cringed so bad that it stuck ever since. So if you're ever having a bad night, at least you're not stuck with someone who says "Good night, milk dreams" to you in spanish every night. 

Now, about my actual subject line...

So, we made some awesome progress with a friend of ours who was on date for baptism a few months back but fell off date due to a few different hurdles. Well, we put him back on date this week when suddenly one of those hurdles came back up with fury. I just got called to repentance over text because he thinks he's a prophet and is recieving prophetic visions for us... I think I know what our next lesson needs to be about. If any of you have ever had to explain to someone that they're not a prophet, I'd love some tips asap.

We pulled a Preach My Gospel chapter 14 this week, "flirt to convert". We've been working more on Facebook and messaging people to offer the gospel, so this week we friended a bunch of people and both immediately got messages from old divorced men. I offered the gospel to one man who messaged me and got a reply back that just said "I’m looking for companionship I thought u might be so sorry for bothering you" so, after much cringing, I replied with, "Oh, so sorry! No, I'm just trying to share with others how Jesus Christ can be the best companion. Would you be interested in hearing a message about Christ and learning how his companionship can bless your life?"  Anyway, I might have a lesson set up up with him this week. But also, probably not. Sister Coleman was much more successful in her flirt to convert efforts.

Disclaimer: There was no actual flirting that ever occured from our end. Just dodges and a sudden realization that we need to be more careful about not friending divorced old men.

We had a really neat miracle this week that I didn't even get to see because I was on a phone call and looking the other direction. Therefore, I just got to hear Sister Coleman's version of it. We were driving a few days ago and came to a stop sign, when suddenly a car came turning in toward us, going way too fast to slow down before it would hit us. Instead of hitting us, it skidded as it turned and missed us, barely making the turn without hitting us. Sister Coleman has no doubt in her mind that there were angels looking out for us that day because that car should have slammed into us. Hearing this story reminded me of just how much I've learned on my mission that we truly do have angels watching over us and there are miracles that happen all the time that we don't even know about. I could very easily be in the hospital right now and I wouldn't even know about the miracle that occured without Sister Coleman seeing it. I hope you all remember that even when you don't see miracles, they're there 

Speaking of guardian angels, have any of you ever wanted to learn more about Family History or know anyone who does? If so, Sister Coleman and I will be doing a FACEBOOK LIVE this Saturday at 2 pm to do a short intro video to Family History and showing how to search a family member on the family tree app. Then we want to start doing some more fun little live videos about how to do Family History. We're hoping to have some outreach to our neighbors and friends who may not be interested in hearing the gospel right now but would be more than willing to hear about their families.

Do y'all remember when I first got to Miamisburg and talked about having to teach a girl basketball, which was funny because I don't play basketball? So that same girl recently started progressing with the missionary lessons! She's been wanting to video call all through quarantine and we finally had to break it to her that we couldn't just call her every day because we have an important job as missionaries. We said we would love to share the gospel with her but can't just call her if she just wants to chat, so she said she wanted to learn more and we set up a lesson. We're certain she was just trying to get us to keep talking to her, but we felt that we should go with it anyway. But during out first lesson she asked a question about Satan that led into us teaching her about the premortal life and all of The Plan of Salvation and now she wants to learn more! 

That experience made me realize just how many people want to hear that God has a plan for them, but don't know it right now. So, for my spiritual thought tonight I just wanted to share the lyrics to the primary song "I Lived in Heaven". We're so lucky to have the knowledge we have about The Plan of Salvation. As you read these lyrics, think about how special it is that YOU get to know your Heavenly Father's plan for you 

1.I lived in heaven a long time ago, it is true;

Lived there and loved there with people I know. So did you.

Then Heav’nly Father presented a beautiful plan,

All about earth and eternal salvation for man.

2.Father said he needed someone who had enough love

To give his life so we all could return there above.

There was another who sought for the honor divine.

Jesus said, “Father, send me, and the glory be thine.”

3.Jesus was chosen, and as the Messiah he came,

Conquering evil and death through his glorious name,

Giving us hope of a wonderful life yet to be

Home in that heaven where Father is waiting for me.

Quote of the week:

"I am a trainee and I am worthless." -Sister Coleman

To be completely honest I can't remember where that came from or why, but we've been referencing her saying that all week. I've also assured her it's not true, but she she still keeps making the same joke.

Have a great week!

Sister Bliss

PICTURES! 

-Sister Coleman and I getting excited about Family History as always 

-The coolest car EVER

-I am currently sitting and writing this email is the prettiest place ever. I'm in love with Ohio