Choose the SUNNY SIDE

 When Hades dies on you three days in a row so you have to say a not so sad goodbye BECAUSE YOU GET A NEW CAR

Well summer is officially ending here in Gilbert. I've actually started to feel cold and when I step out of the car I don't immediately start sweating.... its awesome. Also now I can actually justify wearing cardigans (although I wore them anyway).

All Sunday we were in the 80s and I was like wow I'm a little chilly and then I realized how crazy that is and how much I'm going to die when I go back to New York/ Utah. Also I just laughed because my fam all just emailed me telling me NY hit a high this week for the summer at 90. I don't even consider that hot anymore!

But this week was probably the week that has stretched me the most during my time out here on the mission. It was a week of growth and faith building. Over and over again I found myself on my knees in prayer as I asked for my Heavenly Fathers guidance and love.

We have the promise from Him "Ask and ye shall receive" and I know it to be true. He answers our prayers. I know it because He answered mine over and over again. On a day I was driven to pray especially hard, I pleaded for His blessings as I strove to qualify myself for them. I set out to truly follow the invitation our leaders had given us and talk with everyone we saw - even if it was hard, weird or just plain awkward (lol at just being a missionary in general). As Sister Garner and I worked to do that 2 of the 5 random people we talked to on the street were native Spanish speakers. That never happens. Never. I also received many of the answers I was looking for in General Woman's Conference. It was amazing to hear the advice and love from the leaders of this divinely led church. I am grateful for prophets and righteous woman in this church. It has blessed my life more than I can say.

One of my favorite things I learned from the conference though was from President Uchtdorf. He talked about three sisters Sad, Mad and Glad. He expressed how it really is just our choice how we want to live our lives. It's easy to be a victim in today's society. It's easy to get mad at the world or at God. And it is just so much harder to be glad. But at the end how do we want to have lived?

As we strive to be glad, we are going to be blessed. It requires work. It requires a lot of stretching and prayers and choice. It is going to be hard but life is just so much better when we are happy isn't it?

Choose the sunny side of life everyone and in the wise words of my very young mother "Make a good day" because really it is YOUR choice.

To the moon and back (and maybe even a little farther)
Hermana Showalter

Add caption

Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration....lives in Queen Creek?

First of all I'm typing this on a smart phone which in and of itself is super weird. I definitely feel a whole lot more connected to the world and I'm not sure I like it.... however if I've learned anything recently with all the training we've received it's that the Lord trusts us and it is an amazing tool to further His work. Not gonna lie I am super pumped for the Gospel Library app (app with all the scriptures and talks and stuff) but being able to use Facebook still kind of weirds me out.

Anyways expect many more selfies and if you see me on Facebook I want you to know I'm not apostate or home.

Anyways where to begin....

Well I got to meet BROTHER MITCHELL THIS WEEK! You may ask who is Brother Mitchell? Well Brother Mitchell is the man who plays Joseph Smith in the Prophet of the Restoration video and Jesus in other videos! It was the best day of my life. I am the BIGGEST FAN of Joseph Smith. Huge Fan. Major Fan. I love him. But I digress. I got to shake his hand and I said "I'm Sister Showalter....ughjhsj" - exactly like that though. Then he taught the most amazing class of my life. His testimony was super powerful and he probably cried three times as he testified about Joseph - not that I could tell as I was crying too.

We also got to help out at a "Messy Fest". We weren't really prepared for it but I was able to be in a food fight (very gross, very fun), be in charge of a color run ( I think more got on me then the children) and run through a mud pit (the funnest). Sister Garner somehow escaped all the carnage and almost didn't let me get back in the car at the end but I promised to sit on as little of the seat as possible and she let me in.

Transfers also happened this week. I have been blessed to stay in the same area for transfer #5. I will officially be in Queen Creek for almost half my mission and couldn't be happier about it! I truly love this area and all our investigators. It will be hard when I finally have to leave.

Jimmy

Sad news of this week includes finding out that Eden and Jesus will be going back to Mexico this week. They have been some of my favorite people that we have had the chance to work with. I have truly seen their faith grow as they went from not wanting to change at all to reading the Book of Mormon (Eden is in Alma!!) and seeing their hearts soften as they felt the Holy Ghost. Jesus has even made a joke about being baptized " Catholic, Christian and then Mormon". We are hoping we can pass off their info to the missionaries in Mexico so they can keep progressing :)

We also picked up a new family to teach and they have been awesome so far. A lot of it is intellectual right now but we are hoping to see that change more as we continue working with them. We had a cool moment with the daughter when she opened the door and we saw she was reading a book... I casually asked what she was reading because I was curious and she told me "The Book of Mormon". I literally almost died. It was amazing.

I have truly seen hearts change as they have read the Book of Mormon. I know there is a power in that book and as we have worked on reading with those we teach, lives have been changed. I am thankful for Joseph Smith and the work he did in restoring this knowledge to the earth and for the ancient prophets that wrote it. They have changed my life.

To the Moon and Back:

Hermana Mallory Showalter​​

White Elephant gifts

it's a Small World After All

So in our weekly English classes Juan, an old inv of mine who the other sisters are teaching, came up to me and was like "Sandra's missionary knows you" (but in Spanish obv) and I was like "como?". Well his wife who I taught as well had gone back to Guadalahara (?) because of her visa and back to the mission of my MTC DL ELDER SHEHEE WHO IS TEACHING HER AND HER FAMILY! The world is the size of a peanut.

In other news for this week. It was Jimmys birthday and HE GLOWED. We didn't know so we took him out for cookies and sang really off key happy birthday songs. It was a highlight of my mission.

Then Gloria called us one night to help with a job application. Fast forward 3 hours later.... I didn't know I could translate tax forms yet there we were. It was a painful experience for all of us. Although she reenacted scenes from a singles dance and it was hilarious. I was literally crying. Her 70 year old man dancing impression was spot on.

I also met a Buffalo Bills fan out here! It was a real bonding moment with one of our less actives sons and I think a step in the right direction. We have focused on just serving her and have seen so many miracles come from that. Service given from the heart really does soften people.

There was more that happened this week but it's kind of been a crazy day. Just know that I love you all and am so grateful for this chance to serve him. Also shoutout to all my college people for surviving the first week at college!

To the Moon and Back!

Hermana Showalter

Autobiography

"What happened to this week?" - What I'm going to title my autobiography because my life is super interesting and I can never remember what happened.

Okay well my life isn't that interesting but....more of a joke? Maddie and I were reflecting on the one time that I tried to do a flip and then accidentally hit myself in the face with my knee and my lip was the size of a small country....ah the memories. Maybe I'll start my autobiography with that story.....well its a work in progress...I'll get back to you all on that.

Oh but my week well I MET ELDER ANDERSON. And not to brag or anything but he shook my hand and we made eye contact like 10 times and he was only like 1 foot away for 2 hours. That now brings it to a total of 2 apostles that I have met AND shaken hands with on my mission. And people still ask me why I think my mission is the best...

But in all seriousness it was awesome to hear from him and learn about what we can change in our missionary work to really help it progress. He focused a lot on working with the youth we have to find new people to teach and helped us see that as a mission we can set our sights higher to really reach the potential we have here. He also left us an invitation to memorize 10 scriptures from the Book of Mormon and 10 from the New Testament - 20 scriptures that really truly embodied our testimonies of Christ and this gospel. 20 scriptures that when you're 80 can share and have the spirit testify through you the truthfulness of it because you KNOW them to be true. It is a challenge that I want to extend to all of you as well. And you don't have to do 20 - just start with 1 or 2 and go from there.

So that was a great way to start off our week. It was also the end of the month so - as sister Garner and I may have unwisely used our miles - we had to bike. So we were biking around and knocking on doors and we stop at this one house. There was a package and so we of course read the name to see if it was hispanic. It said "Evans" and I was like "cool - my brother in laws last name is Evans" and then we see through the window my good friend RILEY EVANS!

Well we didn't actually see him but we saw his cardboard cut out and a picture of him (he's on his mission in Texas) but I was like "Of all the doors to knock!". It was totally what I needed that day and we took some photos as proof :)​

​
But this whole week I had really been praying for opportunites to serve. As missionaries we always look and ask for opportunities to serve others but most people don't let us. Well this week we were blessed with many opportunites to serve and I was so grateful for a Heavenly Father that answers prayers!

We were able to help a family move. They had to be out that day and hadn't packed anything....it took 12 missionaries 4 hours and let me tell you doing it all in that time really was a miracle! We also got to help set up for a wedding (my orange cutting skills are fire) and the bride was so cute! Later that week we tried to help a family set up for their star wars b-day party but they would only let us take photos with the storm trooper...so ya win some and ya lose some.​

​
This week though we got to work a lot with Jimmy. He is progressing really well but Satan is working against him. We were able to get him a blessing and go to the ARP with him though and although it is going to take time I have seen the Lord bless him in his life. The gospel of Jesus Christ has truly changed him. True change is only possible through our Savior. It is through the atonement that we can reach our divine potential.

I love the gospel. I love being a missionary. I love Arizona. I love Spanish. I love Tamales.

To the Moon and Back
Hermana Showalter