My Crazy family, Biking and Ghost Chili Peppers

MOM DAD SHEL SCOTT, TRISH CINDY STAR KRIS AUSTIN BREA NISS MOMMA PAPA DOGS BOYFRIENDS AND OTHER!!! How are you all doing ? So I got the letter Tricia sent me with all the pictures and you are all retarded but oh my heck, they made me laugh so hard!!! THANK YOU, it was so great and they just made my day. You're all the best and I love you all soo much. Tell them all I am doing great and we are going to be doing family stuff ALL THE TIME. You never know how great something is until it is gone. 
So..updates for the week. Christmas ideas - Lots of letters from everyone, photos for sure, food not so much, but oh Toffifay for sure. The Gillette pro glide razor would be cool, socks and ties are great. 
NOW....the week 

Monday was good. I have not eaten a lot of food in awhile, so we went to a buffet and I ate a lot. To the point it hurt so bad, yep very worth it. Then we went to a very cool Halloween store that had very sweet stuff, Niss would have liked it...so I may or may not have bought a gas mask and immediately after wanted to take it back but could not do so. So yea, I have no idea, it was just an impulse buy uggghh..I know. I am like a teenage girl in a clothes store with her first credit card. Well that night, we taught Alicia and her kids, they are a part member, less active family. 

Tuesday I had to do a personal check, so I went through this book called, Missionary Life, and I realized I have been very stressed out, so I took some of the advice in there and I called President Felix for help. I have been very overwhelmed, maybe because of training, I don't know, but Wednesday I met with President and he had me fill out this form. We talked and he gave me a lot of ideas how to control the stress and be happy all the time and I started doing those and already I see a change. 
We have also been biking everywhere and because of my side I could not work out my stress because it hurt. Biking has been a good way to lose the stress and has also been helping me get back in shape. We biked almost everyday this week. 
Tuesday night we went saw a family, the coolest family and for an hour we talked about guns and wars and the army. He is just such a cool dude and that helped me get all happy again. I don't FEEL as stressed now, but it is going to be a work in progress. 

Thursday we had a cool lesson with Doug and a lesson with Wrebel, and we biked some more so today was a good day. 

Friday was cool. We had a really good district meeting focused on the Book of Mormon and for some reason Prez is really stressing that we be prepared for a disaster. So hold on to your hats, but we might just get the big 8.0 earthquake, but it will be good because we will be able to serve everyone. See mom, positives in everything. Friday night we went to the chili cook-off and that was a lot of fun. I got all nice and full on chili and pineapple. 

Then Saturday we saw a less active lady named Sister Howl and she gave Elder Plummer and I ghost chilies. Just so you know, they are the 3 hottest peppers IN THE WORLD (I am eating the second, in like a week or so). They are very hot and I ATE ONE, so ha dad, I like spices more than you know and I ate something hotter hahaha. Oh my heck, though, I don't think my mouth has ever hurt more in my life and I ate so much bread and so milk and it did not do a thing. It is crazy how hot this little thing is. Next I am going to do the Carolina Reaper. I sure wish I could show you all (for Trish, she said no more y'all crap hehe) the video. I am having so much fun and making so many great memories. Painful ones, but good ones hahaha :)

Getting ready to eat
Ghost Chili Pepper

Sunday was a good Sabbath. It was just a good meeting and very fun. We also went to a farewell party for a young man going on his mission and actually, it did not make me trunky, so that was good. 

Well family retarded and awesome. I love you all. Trish, thanks for the photos. You rock and family please don't loose your crazy personalities. Ha, who am I kidding, you will all be the same when I get home hehe. See you all soon (no more y'alls!!)

Name Tags, A Clean Car and A Life Changing Week

HELLO FAMILY!!! 

So the updates for the week. I got my package finally (it took about 3 weeks and made it's way around the SW US lol). I love it, very awesome stuff !!!
Your letter last week was soo crazy and hit me with a lot of power, dang. I am glad I helped but remember when you trust in the Lord you will never fail!!! Tell Sister Armsworthy I got trunky (home sick) and miss our seminary talks. 
This week was a LIFE CHANGING WEEK FOR ME!!!

So Monday was very good. We went to the ocean front, but not on the sand!! (They are not allowed to go on the sand as per the Mission President). I took pictures of it, it is very cool being so close that I can see it almost daily. It was very nice and super calm and the sound is soo great!!!

Tuesday was sooo cool. I was on an exchange with Elder Payne our DL (District Leader). His area covers all the beach homes so we visited a lot of people who live on the beach and we sat in the dining room of this one family and their house is 30 feet from the ocean. We talked and just listened to the waves come in. Soooo cooooool!!!! The ocean is the coolest thing and I am totally coming back to go surfing when I get home. 

Wednesday was cool. We helped a member family move and their daughter just got home from Japan so she prayed in Japanese, so that was cool. After we helped them move a bunch of stuff into a truck, we had lunch with them and she prayed over the food in Japanese. I think I have moved like 20 people in the last 8 months. After lunch we went a gave a new investigator a Book of Mormon in the Philippines language. He speaks English but reads better in his native tongue. He is very cool and knows so much already. We just found him on the street and started talking to him. This evening we met another part member, less active family. 

Thursday we did what? Let's see here, we did service for Fred, the military man and yes, I got a new Russian hunting knife, because, why not and knives are so cool. He is a fun guy to talk to. He has so many powerful stories. After that fun service, we went and met a guy named Doug. He is very ready but he's just waiting for, who knows what. After that we met Wrebel, the Philippian man and then our Ward Mission Leader and talked about people. You know how it is. 

Oatmeal in the trunk 

OKAY FRIDAY!!! I have been dying to tell you this all week. So we had the best zone conference ever!!!! We had President Felix and his wife talk to us, we had our mission car coordinator talk to us, our mission apartment coordinator talk to us and some missionaries talk to us. 

Cleanest Car Award 

The theme of the conference was the Book of Mormon so that was sooo cool. My companion and I also won the cleanest and nicest car award. I tried so hard to win it, and when they asked me how it was soo clean, I said simply, "My dad details cars and he taught me his ways" haha. The funny thing is we had oatmeal all over our trunk, under the floor mat and they thought it was so funny so they gave us the award along with a clean car. They said, "We like your food storage" hahaha. 

Okay the life changing event. So Sister Felix got up to talk and she committed us to read the Book of Mormon EVERYDAY FOR THE REST OF THE MISSION. Oh easy. I said yes, I will totally do that. THEN....she looked at us with tears in her eyes and said, "WILL YOU READ THE BOM EVERDAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES?"!!! I was like, Wow, and I said yes for some reason. But that night I prayed to the Lord Almighty and promised Him I would do it and so I shall, and I have not missed a day yet, nor will I as long as I shall live. It was sooo cool.


The spirit is so strong with me right now and has been since Friday. To keep the spirit, we got flu shots on Saturday. Our Pres. wanted us all to get them, nothing like a spiritual high like a flu shot. It was not that bad at all, and we had a good day. We taught two less active members today and the Spirit was with us like a flame. It was a powerful day. 

Sunday we had a home coming talk and a farewell talk so that was cool. Again a really strong meeting and the Spirit was there. I have had just a power house of a week. It has been a crazy fun week but, yep there is a but, because I have been committed, it is your turn. 

Tammy (mom) and Larry (dad) I AM ASKING YOU BOTH. Will you both read the Book of Mormon everyday until I shall return home, then join me in reading EVERY SINGLE DAY of your LIFE when I get home? Yes ? Okay. Awesome. I know you will feel the difference as your read this amazing word. I want to say I know this church is true and I said yes knowing I would read every day because the LORD wants me to, not because man does. And I know that He loves us and loves our family. You are both great parents and I will just say keep being awesome and tell Shel her boyfriend looks like a stud and because he is from South Africa, I do approve :)

Love you. Talk to you soon. Bye

Elder Routledge

What happens when missionaries
find a roll of bubble wrap !

Samoan BBQ, Army Vet & -5 Celsius

Hello Mother and father and sister and brother and family !!! Updates for the week include a birthday card for dad with some treats inside. 
Today is 8 months !!! (this was Sept. 14th, that he hit his 8 month mark)

Monday - I got 2 more fire patches. I think I have 14 or 15 different fire patches from Cali so that is very cool. 
My comp and I did it. We actually went to a Samoan Bbq on Labour day AND WE ARE STILL ALIVE !!! Seriously, I think I ate at least 20 pounds of food. I had like 2 steaks, ribs and like 8 chicken breasts, a lot of salad and water melons. Yes, I ate some of a foot long water melon. After that we went and got our stomachs pumped at the hospital (not really), and taught a less active family and her two non-member kids that night, so that was cool. 

Tuesday I had an exchange with an Elder I live with. He has autism so sometimes it's a little hard. He teaches fine, but has a hard time listening so he just does his own thing a lot of the time. We get along fine, so not a terrible day at all. 

Wednesday was good. We had service at a food share, which was good, but I was working in the freezer it was only -5 and I was freezing cold!!! I am from CANADA where it peaks at -30 what the heck??!!! I am acclimatized to a point that -5 bothers me, yeah, so that was the fun part of the day. 
Oh and we had Panda for lunch so that was good :)

Thursday was soo fun. We did service for this soldier who served in Afghanistan. He was a referral and needs help moving stuff so we helped him clean out his storage unit and oh my heck !!! He has ALL his stuff from his two tours in the army. He had guns like you would not believe. He had army gear knives, top grade gloves and more stuff. I got army under clothing and over 100 different police patches from all over the US. I got top grade military sun glasses that are ballistic glass and a lot of other cool stuff as well. We are going to be helping for weeks in his house and unit and he said, "oh wait, there is more to come". He said if we want it, we can take it. He is a really cool dude. So the pictures of me in the army stuff, that's from him !!! 

Grill donated 
by a member

Friday we had an awesome district meeting focused on the Book of Mormon. That was cool. Sad to say, I had to go back to Urgent Care for the same pain and they told me what it was. I have an inflamed muscle and I have somehow bruised the muscle around my rib so the doctor said over the next few weeks I will feel pain on and off. Some days will be very bad and others not so bad. They gave me some good meds to help, but he said in 3 weeks it should be back to normal so that is good. Nothing too crazy. I have no idea how I hurt it though, but they told me to take it easy, so I am. 

Saturday was just a long day and all we did was visit less active members. yeah, that's really it. 
 

Helmets donated by Member

Sunday we had church and I had to leave Sacrament because my chest started to hurt. I went home and rested up and it went away that night. After we went to a members house for dinner and their son leaves in 3 weeks for his mission so they asked us a billion questions. She said she has you (mom) on Facebook. Sister Ybanez, so that was cool. 

Well family, I love you. You are the best. The work here is great and I am going to the baptism this up coming Saturday. It may be later, as it might have to be pushed back again, but we'll see. 
I am working hard. I know this is true. I love this gospel and have found so much joy in it. Keep making efforts to follow our Saviour and He will bless you all. Love you. Talk to you soon.

Samoan families, LOTS of food & a hospital visit

I am doing great and... I get to go BACK TO SIMI FOR THE BAPTISM!!!!

Elder Routledge

Monday was good, kinda. Now, I have some news and promise me not to go nuts. Like, sit and take a breath before you read this (NOT something a missionary mom wants to hear!!). So this day was fun. We did all of our shopping, I picked up some Oxnard fire patches (for his dad), we went to Buffalo Wild wings for lunch and had an awesome time playing beach volleyball at the beach park. Not actually on the beach, just a park by it. But I did see the ocean. It was pretty awesome. 
Monday was great and for dinner we ate with a member who is a gun fanatic, it was cool. Okay, so breath...so all Monday I had a sharp pain in my chest on my right side. I called the medical lady and she told me I needed to go to the hospital. So Monday night I spent 4.5 hours in the hospital and they were doing all kinds of tests. They said my heart and x-rays are perfect for someone my age. I am very healthy and above average on my vitals, but they could not find the source of the pain. I AM fine now, but wanted you to know, not to scare you, just to tell you. I AM FINE NOW. I have no idea what it was, but if it comes back I'll go in again, but I think I am good. 

A VERY Dark alley

Tuesday the pain was gone and it was a great day. We met with our Ward mission leader and talked about our pool of people we are teaching and we got some good insight. Lunch, oh my heck. So we have a few Samoan families in our ward and one, Brother Tuitama (the coolest man ever) took us to an all you-can-eat buffet. So I ate all I could hahaha. I had 3 full plates of food and 1 full plate of dessert and Brother Tuitama looked at me and said, "We can make a Samoan out of you yet" hahahaha. 
It was soooooooooo fun, on my heck. Then we had dinner at TGI Fridays with a member and I had a huge whopping half pound burger. Oh my, it was soo fun by the end of that night. 

Wednesday, I woke up.   
Thank gosh I didn't die from all the food I ate :)
We did service at this food bank by washing some of their trucks. This place will be weekly service like the dog shelter in my last area. It is a cool place, with forklifts everywhere, a lot like Miller Supply (one of the places he worked). They gave me a name badge and a hat, it was cool. 

Christmas lights in September !

We also did some stuff on Mormon.org and then we had dinner with another Samoan family. I did not eat that much, but hey, today (Monday) my companion and I are going to a huge Samoan bbq for labour day and I promise you, I will try my best to out eat some of them ;)

Thursday we did our weekly planning and that was good. We talked about our companionship and man, oh man, Elder Plummer is soo easy to get along with. He is just so calm most of the time. He is a BYU SPORTS NUT, but I enjoy him very much. 
We stopped by two less active members houses and got in contact with both of them. They are both pretty nice, but only 1 wants to continue to meet with us. 
So, my second day in Oxnard I got a parking ticket because I can not read signs apparently. 
We had two lessons this night. One was a drop lesson with a guy named Amador and the other was a nice lesson with this guy we met on the street. He knows like EVERYTHING about the Mormons. He is really cool and interested, and even knew Moroni and the promise at the end of the Book of Mormon. 

Elder Routledge & Elder Plummer
In the dark

Friday was pretty good. We had a really awesome zone meeting and got some good reminders about the mission. It was pretty powerful. 
So my first week here, we gave a Book of Mormon to our neighbour across the street and we have tried a few times and had no luck. But this time she said she read and told us to come back. 
Oxnard is a really humble area. 

Saturday was a slow day. No one we tried was home. We did have lunch with this potential investigator the other Elders told us about. He was super awesome. He is a Vet. He has served 2 tours in Afghanistan and has some crazy stories. We set up time to do service work for him this week because he really needs some help. He is moving in with his Mormon brother in Idaho in a year, so we have to get him baptized before then haha. 

Sunday was Fast and Testimony and I had to bear my testimony. I shared Helaman 12:1 and said that I know that the Lord blesses us when we put our trust in him. It is just so cool to know that when we trust the Lord, he blesses us and it comes down to accepting his will, even in hard times. I have come to learn that hard times on my mission is His way of saying, "okay, it is too easy. Here is a boost, here is a testimony builder" but to us, it is a road block, but when we leap that road block with His help, we see salvation up ahead over the wall. 

So, Mom, Dad, Shel, Scott, keep doing awesome. I know this work is truth as I know this Church is true. I love you all and I will talk to you next week. 

PS - General Conference is coming up!!!!