"If you choose it to be so"

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Mom - I will answer questions first.

I just don't really spend money. I had a little extra on my mission card because of the baggage things but it's like gone.  I ran out this month. I have a little bit of cash...I haven't really bought much. Just food. I bought a couple cute hoodies / sweaters from DC  and Virginia Tech. But yeah as for money... just trying not to spend so much! 

Music... could you send me a CD holder to put them all in.  I'll keep them for the future and send the cases home to take up less space?  That would be nice. Kinda a big one. It really depends on the person.  We can listen to whatever 'Brings you closer to Christ' which in my opinion is approved but others disagree. So whatever! 

Yeah the Insta comment is fine.  That is her thing.  As long as there isn't an actual picture of her! Mostly just be careful about what you post on the blog as far as personal stories go.

Mission conference.  Still no technology. A General Authority came and spoke.  That was cool! It was Elder Gifford Nielson? President spoke as well. Just about goals and such. 

It did snow again here.  Not as bad and it's not very cold today.  We couldn't drive but we didn't have to stay inside.  We went out and worked. 

The Beattys and the Thatchers are awesome! I love them. They are our go to families.  They always feed us and they are so nice and friendly and awesome!! Both of them love us so much. Like SOOO much. It's good. Oh yeah the piano video on Instagram and Facebook??  hahahaha. I don't think I can put it on MY Facebook but I'm glad they put it on (: Brother Beatty is a musical genius and he was like, "here lemme teach ya some stuff!"  So that happened.  Super Great. They are to cool. Glad you liked it! She was excited to post it for you (: Venesa's cousin?? I just know they are originally from STG and I know his niece that lives with them. She went to my High school. So yeah.  Small world.

I'm glad Dad is feeling better too.  I got the package with the blanket and stuff thank you!! 

I love the blanket!! Okay. So that's your response.  

Here's my weeks rundown...

Monday:

We went to DC. It was cool.  We checked out some museums the Metro was the best part though.  Soo.... that is that. OH OH OH... so we are in the 'War Zone' of one of the museum's, Right? Some dude...walks up behind me WHISPERS IN MY EAR 'What's so Civil about The Civil War?"

LIKE WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY???

So he was just creeping hard core.  Like following us! And I started talking to him awkwardly and told him I was a Missionary (as Sister Schramm is just cracking up) and he was like in complete disgust and told me he wasn't in the mood for being converted. OKAY YOU TALKED TO ME.  WHAT ARE YOU IN THE MOOD FOR HOMEBOY??  It was Super Creepy and Violating. Anyways, that was my DC Experience.  We met lots of Mormons and lots of people who asked us about Mormons so it was interesting.  And we had lots of fun!

Tuesday:

It snowed and there was ice.  We went to District meeting and ate at Olive Garden which was fun! We couldn't drive the rest of the day.  We still went out and worked.  We visited some closer people that live in our complex. It was cooolllddd.

Wednesday:

Was still snowy. We went tracting! We met lots of Awesome people.  We went on visits with a Ward Member and met with one of our ladies we've been trying to meet with forever. We cleared up a lot of questions about Cults and Polygamy and stuff.  The usual controversial stuff. We gave her a Book of Mormon.

Thursday:

Tracting again. BUT the Lord rewarded our finding efforts. We found J.!  From Costa Rica!  It was a Crazy experience because he told us in that FIRST little get together that he "felt the Spirit and saw the Light of Christ in our eyes"???  Like who is this guy right? He told us he wants to come to church and would be baptized. If he knew it was true! So we were Super Stoked. We also went to one of our less actives houses that night.  We met her son and he is now on date for baptism for February 21! He is Awesome! 

Friday:

We taught N. who again accepted a conditional baptismal invite. Really people just need to Actually Read and Pray.  Do their part. Which is frustrating.  But they'll get it.  We started talking about marriage and families and K. told me I look like I'll be a "Victoria Beckham" mom walking around in high heels all like 'aight kids lets go'  It was funny. I laughed?  Probably won't happen.  But it never hurts to dream right? ;)  Kidding.  I'm glad somebody thinks I dress halfway decent.  We have no time to get ready!! 

We also visited E.  who actually answered her door!! 

It was super cool because we haven't seen her forever and her brother R. was there. He told us how his wife was reading the Book of Mormon before she died. Crazy Stuff.  So we have another appointment with them. It will be good.  I feel it. They are awesome. They told us about how they heard gunshots the other night and we needed to be safe.  It was late at night so they all but ushered us out their back door and walked us to our car. Such nice people, right? ALSO super sketchy. That neighborhood is an interesting one. But we were so happy to have talked to them and found him!

Saturday:

Mission Conference and we also went to a baptism for Sister Schramms past investigator in Kingstown. We stopped by J. house but he wasn't able to make it to church Sunday because of family problems.  He had to head out to New York.. sadly.

Sunday:

WAS CRAZY we had a GREAT turn out at church.  The best this transfer! Lots of our investigators came including D. and the girls, some less actives and H.  It was WONDERFUL.  Quite a few didn't show though. We have to make a decision to drop some people this week if they don't keep commitments.  We realize we need to be spending our time with people who are willing and ready to repent and change.  It's rough.

We visited the Beattys last night and they made scones.  Which was awesome!! We haven't had those in ages. We also made that video and etc. They are awesome.

We stopped by to visit K. and challenged her and set up a new appointment with T. & S. to give them the First lesson.  Finally. 

It was a busy day.  Crazy stuff happened.

Now for a quick soap opera rant..............

*dun dun dun*

Today I read the article by Elder Holland. "The Miracle of a Mission"

BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN. I love that man. He talked about lots of things.  But one that really stuck out to me was serving your Full Time. I've been seeing and hearing about lots of Missionaries coming home early...... which breaks my heart. 

He talks about how we are engaged in Saving the Human Soul.  Which is the Highest and Holiest Work in the Universe.  It is the thing that GOD HIMSELF said was His Work and His Glory. 18 MONTHS. NOT FIFTEEN, NOT ELEVEN, NOT SIX. 

He says to

start fast

run hard

and to the tape

you can rest later

I LOVE THAT!

He talks about struggles.  His struggles.  Even struggles of Past Prophets. And if the President of the church can struggle, we can struggle. 

Write in your journal and move on, Forget Yourself and Go to Work! 

He also told of an experience when somebody asked if he would die for the church. He said, "that's easy, that is the snap.  What God really needs is somebody who will live for the church. People who are willing to go the distance, in the race and get to the tape."

AH. Holland. That man. Gets me every time. That's huge. It's true. Missions are hard!

We struggle.  But we need people to get to the tape and rest later. I want to be one of those people. Finish strong ya know? I encourage all to do the same.  Mentally prepare yourself.  Get ready for this. 

It's a big deal.

My second shpeel here is personal.  BUT I feel like I can share a couple things. 

About a Patriarchal Blessing. USE IT!  Study it!  Remember it!

I went through mine the other day and I encourage future missionaries to do the same thing. 

1.) Find your catch phrase 

2.) Your Talents 

3.) Warnings 

4.) Motivation. 

 Find those things in Your Blessing and Remember them.  Strive to incorporate them in your Daily lives.

One thing that stuck out in mine was the phrase
"if you choose it to be so...''

It hit me like a ton of bricks. There are so many things that God can bless us with... 

"if we choose it to be so"

You can choose whether you want to be ready to accept responsibilities, leadership and experience.  It is our choice. I also pulled several 'talents' or things he has blessed me with from my blessing. I had to laugh because some of them.....just made me laugh BUT they are things I am going to work on because I know it is inspired by God.  My blessing goes on to give warnings and advice such as being cheerful, humble and prayerful.  Going forward with faith and confidence.  Not fearing. That is huge.

Go forward with faith and confidence in all that you do.

Accept everything cheerfully, humbly, prayerfully and without fear. 

That can apply to everyone and I love it.  It's true.

Also a bit of advice for the future missionary......

sticky. notes. I use them everywhere and for everything. In my scriptures.  In my journals.  In notes.  In letters home. In the front of my planner there is probably thirty sticky notes I peel out and use every single day. Invest in sticky notes.

I think you guys are all great and I love you all so much! Thanks for reading and keeping up with me and sending me lots of love and support and letters. It makes my day every time without fail!!! You guys are the greatest and I love to hear form you all. I'll send pictures via Facebook 

love sister stucki
(via email January 27, 2014)

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The Metro is calling my name...

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I love the families here...

We had 2 baptisms

Lots of food after the baptism

I love it!

Hola,

So today we are heading out to DC. It is a Holiday so a lot of missionaries can't email but we have a clubhouse with computers so we are doing it before we leave real quick.  Cool eh?  I'll send pictures but how did my SD card get damaged?  So I can prevent that from happening again??  Like do I need to put it in a case or something when I send it home?  That's super lame. There was tons of pictures on it :(

Also if any of y'all have good music burn some Cd's and send them my way. Like good stuff.  Like the Lower Lights...David Archuleta (yes. I just said that)  Acoustic stuff ya know? Not weird poppy EFY Cd's...oh and 'The Work' CD. Yeah if possible burn me the good stuff on some Cd's and send em my way and I'll love you forever!

So Monday:

We went to the mall and it just made me really trunky so I'll probably never do that again.  In my life. Terrible idea. I miss music a lot!  But it makes me HAPPY that I still know the songs that are playing in Walmart (:  And one of the member families, the Beattys (who originate from STG) are SUPER talented and play Imagine Dragons and the Lumineers on the piano for us.  So that's good news. 

Anyways we've been doing lots of MEMBER VISITS as you've probably seen on my Facebook. They encourage a.) member visits b.) online proselyting so we've been combining the efforts and getting the members involved, hence the pictures. Its been working pretty nicely!

Tuesday:

We had District Meeting. It was an AWESOME day! We were just super pumped about life and about being BOLD when it comes down to invites and etc.  

We taught the A. and the ..... and planned the baptism and bought gifts and made programs...all for the baptism. We taught one of our investigators who is living with her boyfriend and taught her about marriage and about the temple. We told her about how you can be sealed to your husband and family forever and she said,  "That is a beautiful thought" NO! NOT A THOUGHT, REALITY. Anyways it was bold coming out and telling her she needs to get married she said she'd talk to him about it. 

We also taught D. and .....   They love when we come over and are so sweet. But I don't know about baptism because she doesn't have custody. They would need parental permission. We still teach them though.  They are awesome and we love them. 

We talked to K. and cleared up some confusion she had about Mormons not believing in the bible...that was good stuff as well. K.  texted us the next day and said that she loved us like her own daughters.  Which was touching. We love our families here!

Wednesday:

We checked on J. She was a referral from one of our investigators and she had a recent death in the family. We went over to her house and she had left the Book of Mormon in a bag untouched on her doorstep. We knocked and she told us not to come back and that she couldn't do it because there was ANOTHER death in her family. We felt really bad and confused but we left.  Sadly J. didn't even look into what we had to offer because she took it as a sign... she'll figure it out one day. 

We did Family History with K. she loved it. Family History is so cool.  It's like Facebook for deceased people.  So I encourage all you teenagers to do it! They should make a calling for teenagers to go teach it because the old people have NO idea what they are doing and the family search website has SO much to offer. So look into that dad?  Bring it up with the Stake President or something idk. 

When we were in the clubhouse some Brazilian guy became my friend because he asked me to grade his English paper.  He was learning English. It was funny. He was awesome. He said he had been reading the Book of Mormon. And then he asked me if I wanted to come to Brazil? Thanks but no thanks.  I'm going to UTAH AFTER THIS BABY. (: 

Also we went to Relief Society with N. A. and learned Self Defense....which came in handy this week Because.....

Thursday: 

ATTACKED BY A PIT BULL

DON'T WORRY.

no visible wounds.

It straight up attacked us. The Elders went by later and called animal control on the thing. It was rabid. I think. Idk. I just don't like animals and it was dark and I just left Sister Schramm to get eaten and ran to the car. sorry not sorry?

Also that day we were cleaning K. house...

and I picked up this box....and it said "Sorry for the loss of your pet''

Let that sink in...

Sister Schramm was like "Oh is this FOR your pet?"

and K. was like,  "OH! You FOUND my pet!"

I almost started crying. I picked up a cremated animal. I don't even like living animals let alone obliterated-in-a-box ones?? The blood literally drained from my face. WORST experience!

We also ran into missionaries from another religion, but nothing really happened.  So that's fortunate.

Friday:

We visited lots of people. Brother W.  told us how AWESOME we are.  That we presented ourselves well.  We were confident.  And he really appreciated and admired us which was awesome coming from him. We also did Family History with K. again. 

We had interviews with President! 

President is awesome. He said I have a lot to contribute and a lot of work to do! Also me and Sister Schramm are made fun of ...because we are "The Ideal Little Utah Missionary Mormon Companionship"  ...short...blonde....Mormon....yeah? 

Saturday:

Was the baptism. 

They have requested not to post pictures.  

So don't post any with them in it mom. 

It was a super awesome turnout.  

We ate so much food.  

And it was SUPER SPIRITUAL.  

And they are awesome. 

That night we also went and taught an investigator who had her family there.  Two of which were homosexual.  So that was an interesting lesson. Luckily we just talked about relationships with God. 

So it didn't get...heated? It was a good lesson.

Sunday:

We went to church.  Visited the B. family.  S. and C.  Also S. and T.  

Sunday was a long day....................and now it is Today!  

whoo whoo. 

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY BABY?! 

Think anything grand is going down in DC right now? 

I hope so. 

If you want to send me a dictionary that would be great. I hope all is well at home and I'll send more pictures soon. Keep sending me letters I love them so much!  I miss you all. Missions are kind of REALLY hard. I didn't realize that - but now I get it. 

If you keep busy. You're mostly fine.  But it's hard because everything you do is for others.  There is Never time for yourself. I watch people living their lives.  They just do what they want.  When they want. We can't.....do that? And that is what is somewhat frustrating. You just have to DEAL ya know? 

Yeah. 

That's that. 

YAY CONGRATS TROY!! I love Troy. I really miss Troy. and Kylie. 

Kylie better not get married or I'll...yeah. I want to be a bridesmaid??? That's all.

WHOO ETHAN IS GOING TO HIS FIRST DANCE HOLLA AT YOU BOY. So I take it he didn't ask anyone to Sr ball?  tsk  tsk. Whoever you go to Sr. Ball with.  You'll fall in love with. Look at me.  No I'm kidding. but also I'm not kidding.  So date good girls you doof.

Spencer is doing good from what I hear! Granted, I didn't hear from him today because it is a Holiday.  But I got a letter last week and he loves his new companion. He is in the city now! whoo whoo! Twinners. (:  He likes you all! and misses you! especially ethan and eli i think? playing cod and....being attacked by eli?  He probably misses dylan and ty too but not so much because they always tried to rope us / torture us / ignore us etc. ;) Ya feel my vibe? yeah anyways.... hes great! i miss him alot.  But I'm so proud of him.  HE IS ALMOST AT SIX MONTHS CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??!?! 

February Fourteenth will be his six month mark! Which is Valentines Day. Which means the whole world is going to be celebrating Spencers 6 month in the mission mark.  By kissing their girlfriends because he can't ;) kidding. but not.

Sorry your missionaries are leaving...unfortunate event. I'm gonna miss (where I am)  if the day ever comes I get transferred.  I love these families here they are so good to us! What else is going down back at home? I need the low down.  (in a letter would be preferred)  

Thanks again for updating my blog. I get more emails from lovely human beings asking about missions and life in general.  They are super nice about how lovely my blog is looking? So thanks mom! I hope it encourages ALL to go on Missions because....there is so much work to do! 

The work really is hastening. 

This year is the year!!!!

SPEAKING OF!! 

There is a Mission Wide Conference this weekend...

I'm thinking ipads? 

Who knows though. Elder Nielson of the Seventy is coming to speak. 

Cool stuff. I'll let ya know how it goes down. I would love to share some great advice / quote / story with you to top this off.  

But I left my notebook at home.  

AND the METRO  is CALLING MY NAME!!

I'll figure out something with the SD cards...maybe...anyways love you all.  

Be safe and read your scriptures.

Invite people to learn more about Jesus Christ, because that is a commandment y'all.

K bye!

love sister stucki

(via email January 20, 2014)

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