SISTER DeGOOYER - WEEK 12

Goooooood evening, brothers and sisters. 

This week was amazing! Hard, but oh so good! I really wanted to write a long detailed letter today, because so much has happened this week. However, I am left with little time in the day, laundry that still needs to be done, and a stomach that is growling. So, I'd first like to say "Happy Fall!" It's finally, and officially, here!

Quick Snapshot of the Week: 

*We listened to President Nelson's Broadcast and it was so good! "Truth is truth!" 

*We painted with Yoda (We call him that because he is the paint master, his name is actually John) :) The set is really coming together!

*I went on 3 exchanges with Sister Oldroyd. 2 of them were quick exchanges, and the last one was a full day. Sister Coleman likes to say that miracles happen on exchanges, and we definitely saw some. Sister Oldroyd and I found 2 people! Hong and Mandy. 

*We got to go to the temple with our Zone. It was so amazing, the Idaho Falls temple is beautiful! It honestly felt like home. 

*Zone Council was so incredibly good! There are some great things happening in Chubbuck Zone! 

*On Wednesday, Sister Coleman locked our keys in the car. So we walked to dinner- it was a 30 minute walk so we were a little late. It was pretty great! 

*We helped someone move into their home.

*I finally got to drive!!!

*Sister Oldroyd and I got to dogsit our mission president's dog! Poky! 

*Today I played softball for the first time. I'm still unsure on the rules...but it was fun! 

This week was amazing! There were a couple of hard patches, but I prayed my way through them. I am convinced that what President Nelson said was true. Reading from The Book of Mormon and praying will help you get through anything. And if that still doesn't seem to be working remember that reading the Book of Mormon amd praying without the intent to act is worthless. When you get out there and testify your life improves by so much. Testifing feels so good! Try it! Share your testimony as often as you can, bare it honestly, sincerely, and simply. It doesn't always have to be an elaborate story, it often can be the simple, "I know that my Heavenly Father loves me, and I know that he loves you too." I know that, I hope whoever is reading this knows that too.

Love ya bunches, 

Sister DeGooyer

Matching... It wasn't on purpose.

Sister Oldroyd and Poky

We made the same face!  This picture is too good not to share!

Okay... I took quite a few pics of Poky.

Weekly Temple Picture - They put up a retaining wall so now we can't see half of it.

WE GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!

...?

SISTER DeGOOYER - WEEK 11

Hello Everyone! 

This week was a good one, as always, but it went by way too fast! There were a couple highlights! 

One week after her baptism, we got to take Shiloh back up to Idaho Falls to do baptisms for the dead. It was so neat to see how excited she was, she came out of the font smiling. She told Sister Coleman and I over and over how happy she was to "help the people in Spirit Prison!" Since we have begun teaching Shiloh we have had the help of all the Young Women. It has been inspiring to see them rally around her, they did not miss her baptism and they weren't about to miss her first time to the temple either! :) 

Quick Update: 

We did a Blitz in our area this week! It took a lot of preparation, but it was super fun! 

We painted with Yoda.

I have decided that I need to go on a sugar fast as well as Soda- pray for me! 

We talked to a lot of people, who agreed that we could come back! :)

We went to a couple of ward parties that were honestly a lot of fun! We invited a couple of random people and they actually came, which was so exciting!!

This past week I have started reading all of the Conference talks from last April over again so that I can be prepared to hear the prophets speak in a couple of weeks! I especially loved "A Home Where the Spirit of the Lord Dwells" by President Eyring. His pattern of dissent and his remedy is so true! I also loved Elder Hales talk entitled "Answers to Prayer" this quote in particular touched my heart! "When we honor our covenants and strive to be more like our Savior, we are entitled to a constant stream of divine guidance through the influence and inspiration of the Holy Ghost." 

I just want to say that I love this gospel and I know that it is true. Listening to the Spirit is not easy sometimes. Often He calls you to step outside of your comfort zone. However, when we put our faith in God and act on those promptings, we show God that He can trust us. Unfortunately, we make mistakes and life is full of steps that should have been taken, and promptings that have gone unheeded; that is where the second principal of the gospel of Jesus Christ comes to help us. Repentance is key.

I wish you all a wonderful week!

Love, 

Sister DeGooyer  

Friday the 13th and a Full Moon

Temple Pic

Temple Pic at Sunset

Painting at the Palace Playhouse (Me - Sister Coleman - Elder Bishop)

ANOTHER WEEK

It has been an extremely busy week.  I am truly exhausted.  And the weekend wasn't any less hectic.  Work has kept me really busy - I love it - but I'm really tired when I get home.  Thursday was a difficult day at work, but one of my coworkers got me a Diet Coke for the loooong drive home.  It made my day.

Speaking of work... I'm participating in a 30 day challenge where we (everyone at work) has promised to exercise for 30 minutes every day for 30 days.  I've been documenting some of my exercise sessions - and I often walk with my family and friends:

Sunday Walk

Cody, Kiara, Sheila, Karmel and Me

I felt like a Mama Duck with my train of ducklings:

Jelly Bean, Apple Pie, Raisin, Key Lime Pie and Me

Skittles was my walking partner this day.

Wednesday, I got to see my baby brother, Zane!  He came for work... I brought my grandson to introduce him to my brother.  Great Uncle Zane loved his great nephew....  And then I got to tag along for dinner.  (I don't enjoy sushi, but I loved the company!)

My brother and my grandson

Two guys I love a WHOLE lot!

It was fun to share my joy in my grandchild with my little brother!

Zane, Chris, Scott, Scott and Me

Can I just say that I love how my daughter can rock the tiara look?  She wore this to church two weeks ago.  And I had to get a picture:

My Princess Daughter

I forgot to share this picture of my sweet niece, Sheila, and my awesome nephew, Kade, singing in church.  They sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" before Kade left to go home.  It was incredible!  And I was sooooo proud of them!  They sounded like angels!

"I need Thee, Oh, I need Thee!

Every hour I need Thee!

Oh, bless me now my Savior

I come to Thee!"

I still love my YSAs:

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd... more pictures of Skittles - the Many Faces of My Grandson:

"Aren't I cute?"

Raisin was trying to teach Skittles reverence in Primary!

So happy!

Jelly Bean was entertaining Skittles

and he was engrossed in the attention!

"Wha-at?!"

Skittles and Starburst feed off each other sometimes....

Skittles LOVES his binky!

Slyly stealing Grandma's shades!

I'm in love!

SISTER DeGOOYER - WEEK 10

Where to begin? Missionary life goes on as normal, and hopefully you regular people's lives have gone on in the usual way. Although it is great to have some good, albeit unexpected, things happen; then again unprecedented things happen everyday, so maybe that IS normal life.... 

This week went by in a blur, which I was grateful for on multiple accounts. We are doing the soda fast for a whole transfer. For those of you who aren't accustomed to missionary lingo that means 6 weeks. I have made it almost a week and a half. This week during weekly planning Sister Coleman helped me make the goal to not, think, complain, or mention soda. I realize that by typing this, I am breaking all of those rules. It did not help that on Thursday we went to Soda Barn to celebrate Sister Jose's year mark. Guys, I got flavored water. Water with a shot of Kiwi- it tasted like cucumbers... which is not a terrible thing, but it is also not a good one. 

Overview of the week: We started off the week by getting kicked out of a service project by the AP's- it's not like it sounds, but at the same time it is... *30 missionaries, my companion, and I painted a ladies house! It was fun, but as you can probably imagine, crazy! *Sister Coleman and I crashed a funeral, a Luau, and we almost crashed a wedding. We did not do it on purpose. *We DEEP cleaned our fridge, which was the best feeling in the world! *We watched President Nelson's 95th Birthday Broadcast, it was so good! (Fun Fact: It is his Birthday today so Happy Birthday to President Nelson!!!) *The trailer for the Book of Mormon video came out! It looks awesome! They are releasing the video's starting September 20th! 

Shiloh is a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!!! There is too much to remember and write down about the service; the best thing I can say is that she looked so happy. The room was packed and overflowing; all of the young women in the ward came to support her. After the baptism, Sister Coleman and I were excited to turn her from dark green to light blue on our digital area book.   

As I watched her get baptized it struck me how free she is. Shiloh is a little crazy sometimes, but when she got out of the water she looked so peaceful. Freedom enables peace. Shiloh now has the ability to make other covenants with her Heavenly Father which will bind her to him more fully and in turn give her the freedom to be all that she has potential to be. It's a beautiful and wonderful thing- I can't wait to see what she does with her life and all that she becomes.   

Life is good! It was kind of a crazy week, but I am grateful for it nonetheless! I hope y'all a wonderful and distinctive week! 

Muchas Love, 

Sister DeGooyer 

Painting...

Shiloh!!!

We went to the wrong luau

Filling up the font. (It took 2+ hours.)

Idaho Rain

All the sisters who got kicked out of the service project.

We got donuts and served at DI.

SISTER DeGOOYER - WEEK 9

Hello, everyone! I hope your week was a good one! My week was pretty good; it was filled with ups and downs, just like ever other week. Still, God knew I needed more ups than downs this week and for that I can only be thankful. :) 

My theme for this week was service! I have wanted to do a lot of service since I got here, but Highland is full of people who turn you down when you offer service. However, this week we had three golden opportunities to serve!

 1) We helped a lady who is not a member clean up her yard. It was pretty fun, and most importantly it felt like fall! I enjoyed raking up the pine cones in the crisp autumn air. :) 

 2) We finally got to see Yoda again! This time it was in his natural habitat: the Palace Playhouse. We painted a sign for the upcoming fair, so that all of Pocatello can know that The Adam's Family is coming! Yoda said that next week we will start on the actual set!! 

 3) Sister Coleman and I got to help with a marathon, which was so much fun and honestly really inspiring! We woke up at 4 in the morning and drove out into the country to the start. There we helped with "bag drop," after we were done we were reassigned to the aid stations. We held out water to these wonderfully athletic people as they ran past us. Sister Coleman and I worked with a group of older ladies, who were just the best. They reminded me of characters in a movie that I can't name, because the mission veil is thick..... ;) 

SHILOH GETS BAPTIZED IN 5 DAYS!!! Sister Coleman and I are so excited! We had our last lesson with her on Sunday and she is ready! She loves this gospel and when we went over the baptismal interview questions she answered without a doubt that she knows that Jesus Christ is her Savior. I am so excited for her, especially since I get to see up close the happiness that has entered her life. With each lesson she seems to radiate more light. I cannot wait for Saturday!!

So much else happened this week, but for the sake of this email already being too long I will condense the rest for you. :) "It's a Man thing" - The DeMille's are literally my favorite. Area 51. Capreece is awesome, literally golden! Horse training, not riding, training. Zone Council! Valeria made us more Brazilian food! We finished up new member lessons with the Watson's, and in honor of that Sister Watson gave us pearls and lockets to put them in. [["You know, if you put enough pressure on coal it turns into a pearl!" -for Amy]]

We had a guy randomly stop us this week and ask us why sisters serve missions. We were kind of baffled by the question and we started to answer, but he decided to clarify. He asked, "Why do sister missionaries go on missions if they can't baptize?" We were kind of shocked at the question, but then I remembered something that I had read for "Come Follow Me" the past week. 1 Corinthians 1:17 "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel:" He seemed happy with that answer and he went on his way. It was neat to be able to use what I had studied in a simple encounter. Scripture study matters! I encourage you to read the scriptures everyday, find those quiet moments in which you can. I promise, that if you do so, you will find opportunities to share what you have read with others, whether they are members or not. 

I love you all and wish y'all a great week! 

Sister DeGooyer 

Marathon Fun

Warming up in the car at the marathon.

Zone Council/Weekly Temple Update

Our last sodas before our 6 week soda fast.

I didn't think it would be so hard.

A JOURNEY OF 1600+ MILES....

Sometimes I feel so blessed, and this weekend was one of those times.  Scott and I got to share a WONDERFUL trip with our daughter and her family, our niece and our nephew.
We left Friday for Palmyra.  We rented a HUGE vehicle.  And bought lots of snacks. 

Off we go....

With my favorite man!

I absolutely LOVED seeing the bug!

The detail was amazing!

And yellow really does make me happy!

We got to our hotel at midnight and went to bed... a boys room and a girls room.  The girls had a pajama party, complete with  matching pjs.  The poor guys missed out.

These nightgowns are so comfy, cute and have pockets!

I love these two, sweet girls!  (Just missing my baby!)

Saturday we headed to Hill Cumorah, where the golden plates were buried.  It was beautiful!  And the Moroni monument on top of the hill was beautiful!

Before climbing the hill...

Cousins

What a miraculous event - when the plates were finally given to Joseph.

Selfie time!

Lovin' my "adopted" daughter and son....

The Hill!

Silly.

Lookin' up to his daddy!

More silly selfies!

I love this guy so much!

Then we headed to the Smith farm and the Sacred Grove.  This was my favorite part!  The Smith home was humble and typical of the 1800s.  But the Grove was incredible.  It was peaceful and beautiful!  Everything I imagined my entire life when I heard the story of Joseph's First Vision.  At one point, I took my grandson and whispered the entire story to him as we walked through the woods.  It was wonderful!

The Smith home...

Skittles is "walking" where the prophet walked!

The temple view from the farm.

1800's bee hives - with my 2000's Bee Keeper

I loved the fences.

Inside the Grove!

Sharing this sacred experience with some of the people I love best!

I caught Sheila and Scott walking together...

And what a handsome, Kade!

My posterity!  And I truly find joy in them!

These silly kids were walking and doing a kick line at the same time.

I love 'em!

Cousins looking back at the Smith farm from the temple.

Aunt Sheila is teaching Skittles to love flowers!

The Palmyra Temple

Holding my grandson!

Then we decided to head to the Aaronic Priesthood Restoration site.  It was a few hours of driving to get there... but it was also amazing.  Emma's childhood home was extremely extravagant compared to Joseph's upbringing.  It was quite a contrast.  Emma truly was a great woman!

Here we are.

Emma's childhood home.

After a day of seeing ALL the sights, we headed back to the hotel.  It was after midnight, again, when we crashed.
Sunday morning we checked out of our rooms and went to church.  After sacrament meeting we went to Niagra Falls.  We expected the Niagra Falls part of the trip to be about an hour trip - total.  Because of events, Labor Day weekend, and traffic, our short side trip ended up being 4 hours long.  It was still an amazing sight.  God has created such amazing beauty - and the falls are spectacular!

Before seeing it....

WOW!

INCREDIBLE!

GORGEOUS!

EXCITING!

Then it was more driving as we made our way to Kirkland, OH.  We got to see the Newl K. Whitney store and the Kirkland temple.  It was another memorable part of our church's history.  

Touring in the rain...

N.K. Whitney was such a good man!

These two needed to be separated....

Good thing I love both of them so much!

We made it back to Kentucky at 12:40 AM.  We were exhausted, but we were grateful for all the things we got to see...  What an fabulous vacation!
(Sorry for the MANY, MANY pictures!  It was so fun... I had to share everything... well... not quite everything... I had over 300 pictures!)