COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

I love Thanksgiving!  I love reflecting and being grateful for the many blessings in my life!  I am truly blessed!

US - FAMILY

I'm grateful for my health.  I participated (with my family - including my adopted family) in the First Annual 5K Turkey Trot Fake Race!  One might ask:  What is a fake race?  The answer:  None of us wanted to pay $30-40 for a real race registration, so we paid $9 for Shirts made by Scott and did our own 5K route.  It was sooooo fun!  And it was sooooo cold!  And Cody won with Jacob taking 2nd place.  (BTW, Jacob is now 18 so he can be named....  He used to be Juice here!)  Raisin was a trooper - as she was sick and still participated.  The 5K really worked up our appetite for....

Scott designed the shirt.

And I thought the back was funny too!

And Scott also felt we needed metals for the race...

But we called 'em woodals - since they are made of wood, not metal.

Trying to stay warm at the starting line.

Not pictured: Jelly Bean and Raisin in the middle....

The WINNER!

I'm grateful for food.  I have been doing a modified Keto Diet for the past 3 weeks.  It's making me feel so much better.  But I allowed myself a cheat day.  Yummmmm!  Everything was delicious!  And the friendships/family relationships were exactly how I wanted to spend our holiday!

Breaking Bread for the Stuffing

I loved spending 2 hours with these two BEAUTIFUL girls
making our traditional DeGooyer stuffing!

Scott and Sheila made the turkeys...

They looked up origami turkeys on-line and figured it out.
It made the table look so festive!

Blessed by our family!

Kiara couldn't wait to imbibe!

And Jacob was a bit more civilized about it!

Blessings!

I'm grateful for family!  Katia called.  She is happy.  And she is grateful to be doing the Lord's work.  And my craft project with Amy's kids was a HUGE hit.  Apple Pie even said, "This is the best one!"  We made story and idea discs.  Some people used it for home-made game pieces.  Others created memory games.  It was fun!  And selfies with some of my favorite kids also makes me truly grateful for these children in my life!

Jelly Bean and Raisin

Skittles

#turkeynap

The funny thing about this picture is that Sheila hadn't even had any turkey yet.

They were both completely exhausted after our strenuous 5K!  (Sheila took 3rd!)
I'm grateful for goals.  I finished NaNoWriMo today!  I wrote 90 poems in the month of November.  It wasn't easy.  And some of the poems are pretty pathetic.  But others turned out pretty good.  I love being creative.  And I love this NaNoWriMo tradition that pushes me to grow and do hard things.

Most importantly, I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am excited to participate in #lighttheworld.  I am excited to decorate for Christmas as we celebrate His birth!

Happy Thanksgiving!

SISTER DeGOOYER - WEEK 21

Hello, everyone! It has been a week. It went by WAY too fast! I said goodbye to Highland and hello to my new area, Kimberly (also referred to as Kimbo).

It was hard leaving Highland behind. It became home. I loved the people there, my district, and my companion. Change is good though! Kimberly instantly felt like home. It's a small town, and it is adorable! It's got a little downtown like Shelbyville... but a lot smaller. The people here are so good and sweet. Walking is a struggle in the cold, but we do it and we love it! My comp is a culinary arts major, who is from Utah. She is honestly the sweetest! 

I don't have much time today, so I'll just leave y'all with an invitation to Light the World! Make a plan, and set a goal! Live as Christ did and make the world a little brighter this week. (John 15:13) 

Have a happy Thanksgiving! Lots of love! 

Sister DeGooyer 

Sister Osborne and I 

Me and Eugene

Last pic with Sister Done 

So coooolllld 

Kimberly 

Sister Osborne and I w/ our soda

SISTER DeGOOYER - WEEK 20

So, A LOT has happened this week... I'm not sure where even to start. 

I'm getting transferred over to Kimberly, which is over in the Twin Falls side of the mission. I am excited, but kind of sad to leave my first area behind, especially after the week we've had. Sister Osborne (I think I spelled that right) will be my new companion. Hopefully, next week I can tell y'all more about my companion, my area, and the transition. 

Like I said, it's been a pretty crazy week and while I am excited for a change, I am sorry to leave the work and people of Highland behind. 

This week we finally started having lessons with Andrew and Linda again. The first one was last Monday and it went pretty good. President Southward has been stressing more frequent and shorter lessons with less space in between them. So we had two more lessons with them after that first one. Sister Done really wanted to drop them, but I wasn't completely sold on the idea. So, we decided to go in and if they had kept our previous commitment we would continue with the lesson in the direction of what we had them read and if they hadn't our plan was to figure out why and what they want from meeting with us. Once in there we forged ahead with the latter, and tried to gain a feel for where they are at. It ended up being a really good conversation. Linda expressed the desire to be baptized! I was straight up with her and Andrew and taught them a short and direct lesson on the law of chastity. We left them with the commitment to pray about marriage. It was soooo good! The Spirit was strong and I really hope things go well with them. Our next lesson is this Wednesday and I am eager to see if they've prayed. 

This week one of our wards split, so now we cover 7 instead of 6. Sister Done and I are working on getting all of the boundaries, bishops, and times, straight; so that her and her new companion can hit the ground running!

We had Zone Conference this week. It was, as usual, amazing! There was so much they covered, and I wish I could tell you all that I learned but I will stick with saying that I am super pumped for Light the World! It is going to be great! I invite all of you non missionaries, to invite someone to your home to watch the new "Christ Child" video, and also to sign up for the light the world daily text message ideas. If you don't know what I am talking about on either or one of those things, "ask the missionaries, they can help you!" (Who am I quoting?!) 

We also got our new missionary handbook! It is so good; not too much has changed, but there have been some adjustments. 

I had an exchange in Alameda this week, with Sister Harding- who is amazing! It was so much fun! Alameda is a walking area, and we WALKED. But it was good practice for my new area, which is also a walking area! 

I also got to play racket ball this week for the first time. I think this might be my new hobby when I get home. Just kidding, I was pretty terrible... but, who knows?! A lady who is not a member invited us and the elders, she is in the elders area but we made a good connection with her. It was cool talking to her about her life and what she has been through. 

 

"No missionary should ever fail to understand and appreciate the great price others have paid to establish once again the Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth. No assignment or challenge of any missionary should hold him or her back from boldly declaring the gospel truths that are ours to share." This quote is by President M. Russell Ballard, and I absolutely loved it. I invite y'all to put "member" in the places where it speaks to the missionary. This cause is a joint effort, and it works better as such. "Every member a missionary," this is so immensely true. While reading the talk I quoted above, I realized something. We are promised that if we ask, we will recieve. We can pray for those missiomary opportunities and recieve them, and that is so powerful and true. However, I realized something further, in reading that scripture and studying this talk. God will give us those opportunites, but he will also give us the ability to speak the right words in those instances. If we have the faith that God will give us those missionary chances, we must know that God will also give us the ability to handle them.

I love y'all! Sorry, I didn't write last week! I hope y'all have a good week! 

Sister DeGooyer 

The Highland Group 

For real though

The lights of Poky 

Weekly Temple Pic 

Papa Kelsey's *last district lunch

Dogsitting Poky 

Exchanges with Sister Harding 

IMPROMPTU PHOTO SHOOT

Sooooo... My daughter wanted some family pictures.  I call myself a fake photographer.  I'm better when pictures are cookie-cutter or candid.  But I think these turned out pretty well.  Especially because we had no time to prepare!  :-)

My models are pretty good lookin' if I say so myself.  I was pleased.  So was Kiara!

And what blog would be complete without a few candids?

Raisin and Skittles

Working on his NaNoWriMo project!

Such a smart boy.

Could he be any cuter?

SISTER DeGOOYER - WEEK 19

This week went by way to fast, but all is well here in the Highland of Pocatello!  We've been doing a lot of planning and working with the members this week.  Members are sooo important, y'all!

This has all in all been an interesting week.  I've been delving into Jesus the Christ, the four gospels, and praying a lot.  There have been moments of great understanding and moments where I honestly have been in awe of who my Savior is and what He has done for me.  I do not understand His sacrifice, but I yearn to.  Even though the path to that understanding will be hard, I know that it is through those hard things we can come to truly know our Savior.

I got to listen to Alex Boye this week.  He talked a lot about expectations and believing in oneself.  It is hugely important.  He talked about "Godfidence."  It was truly amazing, and I am so excited to implement some of the things he talked about, including writing down all my expectations for my mission, and making them happen.

I love y'all and hope your weeks are amazing!  Keep on serving others!

Sister DeGooyer

Our little missionary group

We got to tour a castle on P-Day.

Forget the clown car - we have a missionary car...
How many missionaries?!

Weekly temple pic

One of the Elders accidentally broke our windshield.

I got really sick.

I am so grateful for Sister Done's care
and the Elder's giving me a blessing.

I'm driving now.