Mission: Complete

This month has been a wild ride and went by in a blink of the eye, it was so fly.

okay i done rhyming

Interfaith: holidays here are legit MADNESS but it is the best kind of madness ever! I got to put in LOTS of hours here this past month, working a few long hours to finish normal tasks and projects, and serving some extra days to help out with organizing the mountains of donations, serving thanksgiving eve dinner, and helping be a little elf organizing presents for "Holiday Adopt-A-Family". It has been so amazing and have been able to see once again how generous the community is to those in need!

Habitat for Humanity: My job here shifted and i have loved it. Because they saw how much I was able to help Pam (my BFF here) organize and make the room look nice, I now do that every week! For my last day we had a corporate group come to volunteer and I helped lead half of them in our tasks for the day. And at the end of the day Pam brought cupcakes it was so Sweet!!!

Temple: IT IS OPEN after being closed for some minor renovations (which I got to help clean up after-so cool) it has brought so much peace back into my life being there! 

Family history: all i can say is dark... haha! So it has been raining a lot here lately (a lot for San Diego) and one day the power went out, completely, it was dark. After hearing a scream from the brave sister vargas (haha!) we walked around and the power was out all around the building, so we decided to end early, as it is hard to do Family History with no power.

Institute: my favorite part of this class (besides the amazing teacher and awesome doctrine I learn) has got to be seeing Sister Barnson as this is the only time I get to see her each week. She is the absolute best and we always greet each other by saying "hello my favorite person". She gave me the sweetest necklace as a gift a few weeks ago, and I have worn it every day since.

Old Town: Things have slowed down quite a bit. Casa De Estudillo is closed for renovation putting sister Dotter and I back in the McCoy and trust us we are NOT complaining! It has been so wonderful to be asked so many questions about our name tags, and service missions, and then always refer them to the mormon battalion. 

Camp Wildwood: scrape, brush, paint, repeat. We are continuing to work on the fence and have gotten pretty far! at least that is what I thought until on my last day we took the mule and drove it all the way to the end of the fence. And now i say we have gotten a real solid 1/5 of it done. I am going to miss this place and these people so much! (side note: sister maslin - who is from the south- has this "Y'all need Jesus" shirt that I am obsessed with and finally made it to Walmart to get myself one and wore it on my last day)

Mission Conference: Our December mission conference was so fun! we got to have a little talent show and see all the missionaries talents! I got to sing "Peace in Christ" with some sisters and I made a video of the mission! My personal favorite talents were the elders improv, sister legg on the flute, elder hickmans Christmas jokes, sister vargas' original song, and sister barnsons' poem. This was such a fun, uplifting conference hearing lots of Christmas messages, and being able to have so much joy and laughter with all the missionaries! It was a great last conference!

I cannot even begin to explain the roller coaster of this mission that I have been on. I have experienced some of the hardest times I have ever faced in my life. I have questioned my testimony more than I ever have before. I have never cried more than I ever have. I have prayed more than I ever have. I have received revelation and answers to prayers more than I ever have before. I have felt the spirit, the Saviors love and the peace in knowing that I am a daughter of God, stronger than I ever have in my life. I have been able to meet some of the most Christlike and humble people I have ever met. Who, no matter the different abilities they are given or how much they struggle every day, no matter how big their trials are, they get up and serve. They follow the spirit, they serve without judgement and with a whole lot of love. And because I knew them, I have been changed for good (thx elder wilkinson for the wicked reminder). I will forever be grateful for my Mission. 

I testify that service is the absolute best. It teaches to turn outward, to love everyone, to not judge. It teaches us to become like Christ. I know that Jesus Christ lives! He is our Savior, and He is the Son of God. He lived a life of helping others, and gave his life to help us return to our Father in Heaven. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God at a young age to restore The Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints to the earth. I testify that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by revelation from the Lord, I know it is true by the strength I receive from reading it. I know that eternal families are the center of this Church, and the purpose of the Plan of Salvation is for families to be together forever. I cannot even begin to express my gratitude for my family and the whole lot of patience they have with me, but mostly for the examples they have been.

The testimony I have in the gospel, the Faith and trust I have in my Savior, and the love I have of service I owe all to my mission. I am heartbroken to be leaving the places that I have been serving for the past 18 months that I have grown to love. But sadly as everyone says all callings must come to an end. And although assignments will not be attended and emails will not be sent, what I have learned and my love for service will be apart of me for the rest of my life.

Love you all!

Sister Owsley

p.s. My Homecoming Talk will be on Sunday, December 15th at 9am in the Felicita Ward (2255 Felicita Rd. Escondido, CA 92029) And there will be a yummy brunch after at my house at 11:30 (2071 Habero Dr. Escondido CA 92029) . all are welcomed to come!

 

17/18

Hey awesome people! Happy (3 days after) Spooky day! hope you all had an awesome October!

I am LOVING my mission (still) and learn so much each day and week. I have been so busy with assignments and other mission responsibilities that October seems to have been the fastest month of my life. So here is a recap of all the fun...

Interfaith: With my own desk, comes my own responsibilities. I have been working on a project that has kept me very busy this past month. I have been updating and making sure every volunteer is compliant with all the necessary paperwork. It's a big job but I love it! Also donations are coming in hot and "Santa's" workshop is almost needing a Sister Owsley organization day, which I am stoked about!!!

Habitat for Humanity: The amount of wayfair furniture they get donated is amazing! And I have put together more chairs than I have ever wanted to lol. But last week was a dream! This lady (my new BFF) named Pam came in and part of her job is to go to all the north county Restore locations and reorganize all the furniture, tell them to throw away the old gross stuff and lower prices! It was super fun to help her out and get that place looking nice and organized! 

Family History: For most of this past month we had a few other missionaries (My CWR friends) join us and we planned October Mission Conference. We have also been working on the new data rescue project. It is a little more difficult than clicking yes or no but we are all learning! Sister Hollman is my partner in crime with this project. She types EVERYTHING for me and is awesome at it! (added bonus she sang happy birthday to me this past week)

WEDNESDAY 10/23: Here is a little experience I had that taught me to ALWAYS follow the spirit, and taught me a way the spirit speaks to me!

Okay crazy cool thing that happened this week! A few weeks ago Sister Larson posted that Alexiana (a friend from my ward) was going to be coming home on the 23 and she wanted lots of people to greet her at the airport! My mom and I decided that we should go but forgot about it. My mom and dad went to Idaho to visit my sister. Wednesday afternoon I randomly remembered that Alexiana was going to be coming home that night! I went back and forth deciding if I should go, after my family history assignment I was still undecided so I prayed and kept feeling like I should go! But stubborn me I thought oh but institute is so much closer, I don’t want to pay for all that gas, and drive alone, finally after texting mama owsley she helped push me and said go! So I did! I drove like a mad women (obeying all the laws of course) to the airport and asked where she would come out and I am all ready to go... I don’t see her family anywhere so I just keep waiting and after 15-20 min I text her younger brother and ask if they are close but don’t get a response. 10-15 min. later I see on the board that her plane had landed and she will probably be coming out soon... still I don’t see her family. So I text again and nothing. I look at the passengers coming out and guess who I see! I quickly look around and still no family, I see her looking around for her family and then she sees me and we run to each other and I giver her a big hug!! After I look at her and say “I have no idea where your family is” and we both just start laughing. I am Facebook messaging, texting, calling doing what I can to try to get ahold of them as we go to get her bags. I finally text my parents, my bishop dad of course gets ahold of them and they are 3 lights away! After another 15 minutes her family comes down the escalator with balloons and a cute sign and all is well! It was such a crazy experience and looking back I have never had prompting that was so clear and repetitive that led to me being the only one there. So moral of the story I will never not follow a prompting because who knows you may be the only one who greets a return missionary who spent over 24 hours flying home from Russia.

Institute: It is alllll about families! Last week we studied Elder Hollands talk, "Lord I Believe". Something that my friends and I were talking about totally stood out to me regarding one of my favorite quotes in this talk which says "so if your faith is a little tested in this season or any, I invite you to lean on mine" We were talking and loved how Elder Holland is so compassionate and caring. Sometimes, as we have grown up we get people who tell us that we need to have our own strong unmovable testimony for in good times and bad. I 100% agree that we all need to have a testimony but lets be real, sometimes our faith isn't the strongest and we question things, sometimes it is strong and we really believe and know the beautiful truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, sometimes we just feel like a flat line moving through life and aren't sure where our faith is, and sometimes we feel all of these things in 1 week. And guess what... thats okay! Elder Holland lovingly said that we can lean on his! we can also lean on our leaders, family members, and friends faith when we need some extra help to get back to our own. Lets never forget that we are all in this together my friends!

Old Town: Its getting Hot Hot Hot! And I know that it is November and Summer was forever ago. But for about 2 weeks we had crazy heat in the 90's and 100's and being in 1800 period attire is not super fun. Luckily I have been in "La Casa de Estudillo" and I would just love to personally thank the Estudillo family for building their home out of thick adobe and making a cool tunnel that gives a nice breeze for all of us melting volunteers :) Also I found this large super cute gift shop so RIP to all my money (Its amazing how much you can look at and buy during 10 min breaks:).

Camp Wildwood: Guess what's back, back again! WHOO I am soooooo excited to be back serving up there. We have built many bunkbeds and are helping scrape and paint a county fence that borders the camp! Yesterday we got to have a little party at our morning devotional, for mine and Elder Maslin's birthday! We had donuts (provided by the frosts who EVERY WEEK ask if I brought them donuts because I brought them one time haha), cake and ice cream...breakfast of champions! Also sadly the Kuske's (camp managers) finished their mission and are no longer up there. But luckily I got to go out to dinner with them and catch up (and they gave me lots of dating advice haha).

Other: I got to help plan mission conference for October and it was a total success! Besides almost having to cancel it because of fires it went so well and was tons of fun! we got to scrape/ paint the fence for our service project, then do some awesome team building activities relating all of them back to the gospel and our missions and finished with a delicious lunch! 

I also got to check another temple off my list and on my P-Day with Sister Dotter and Elder Gurr we went up and did a session in the Newport Temple! it was so awesome and beautiful and made me so grateful for the San Diego Temple and how close it is! (only 1 more week until it opens back up!)

Also thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday yesterday! I had a great day with family and friends, serving and celebrating!

You are a trooper if you read this far! Just wanted to say thank you for everyones love and support! I am so grateful to be on a service mission and for every experience I have had and continue to have. I am so grateful for this gospel and the light and hope it brings me always and especially after dark and hard days. 

Love you all,

Sister Owsley

PICTURES - last email i promise :)

1- mission conference! love these sisters

2- Interfaith with sister Dotter

3- Dinner with the Kuskes

4- Elder David Homecoming report

5-6 Birthday fun at CWR (how many people can you fit in an ATV?)

Happy September 30th

Happy September 30th at 10:45 PM 

It has been a great month serving and smiling!

Interfaith: I got my own desk!!! you guys have no idea how excited this made me. okay so it's not "mine" it is an extra one for volunteers but I have room to work and that makes me happy! I have been doing lots of updating paperwork, organizing and beautifying excel sheets. Things are starting to pick up, and you can tell that the holidays are approaching!

NEW ASSIGNMENT 

Habitat for Humanity Restore: YAY I am so happy to be serving with Habitat for Humanity again! this time around I am in their restore in escondido! The first week was mostly me just trying to prove to all the guys that work there that yes I can lift things and yes I know how to use a tape measure but now we are groovy, and this last week they got 2 truckloads of brand new furniture so our job the whole time was to put it all together, and I found it so fun (so call me for all your furniture making needs haha)!

Temple: It has been as beautiful as ever, from clear blue skies to perfect "toy story" clouds I love it. Wednesday was my last day serving there for a while (and sadly got sick and had to leave early) because the temple is going to be closed for the next 6 weeks for some renovations.

Family History: We are in a bit of a waiting game for a short bit, we finished our "yes or no" project and are about to start a new project! 2 Ladies from Salt Lake came and thanked us for what we did and shared with us all about the new one that we will hopefully be starting this week?!

Institute: New semester means new subject and we are studying eternal families. Every week I learn so much and am always inspired to change in one way or another to try to be more like christ! The main thing that we learned the first week of class is that what we learn at institute is all to help and prepare us to be mothers and fathers. And I love remembering that each class, that what I am learning matters to me, and to my family and friends now and in the future.

Old Town: Okay i am starting to look forward to this assignment more and more every week. I love seeing so many people and talking with them. The past few weeks I have been in Casa de Estudillo and Seeley Stables. School groups are back so things are also picking up at this assignment. One thing I love is meeting members of the Church from all over and it is super funny how it ALWAYS happens. They will come up and say something like "oh so they have people from the church in the museums" and i will say "yeah i am a volunteer through the church" then they ask about my name tag, I explain service missions, I ask them where they are from (90% of the time its Utah), and finally I have to ask to confirm  "so are you a member" haha its pretty funny how no one just comes and says that they are a member right off the bat.

Camp Wildwood: YOU GUYS I am having CWW withdrawals. I went from being there 2x a week to not at all this month which makes me super sad. Not really sure why we weren't up there the previous weeks but one week we got to help serve in another way helping clear out furniture in the old San Diego Family History Center making room for the SD mission office. 

Other:

We had mission conference yesterday and it was so fun! we had a couple come and talk to us about the power of hymns and we all went in the choir seats while the sister taught us about notes and symbols in the book/ what they mean, as we learned to sing hymn #128 (which i now love). Not going to lie our mission right now is pretty small, we barely take up 1/5 of the chapel and the opening hymn was quietly sang. But as we learned about the importance of hymns and as about 10 missionaries got to share with us their favorite hymn and we all sang them together, you could feel the strength, power and spirit of all of us being united together as the San Diego Service Mission.

Just wanted ya'll to know that I love this gospel and I love this church! I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and was restored through Joseph Smith. I know that he was a prophet of God just like the prophets in the bible and I know that Russell M. Nelson is the living modern prophet on the earth today, that all of the guidance and council he gives is for all of us directly from God. I am so grateful for prophets and their apostles through time to be able to learn from them. And I cannot wait for General Conference this weekend to hear from our living prophets and apostles on the earth today and hear there sermons on what God wants us to hear! 

If you have no idea what General conference is or have never seen it and want to here a link all about it:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/events/october-2019-general-conference?lang=eng

<3

Sister Owsley

 Don't worry I didn't forget everyones favorite part

1. friendly competition while waiting after moving furniture (clearly see who is cheat i mean winning;)

2. put together all these benches and can now do it without instructions 

3. Sister Dotter experiencing for the first time being surrounded by paparazzi at old town

4. Last Canes run with sister Caudill before she moved

5. temple.....blue skies......perfect (oh and adam)

Let's pretend I sent this in August :)

Hello Friends I finally found the time to write this as I am currently 29,000 miles in the sky and the free movie “luxury” in my basic cheap seat isn’t working but I’m happy eating pretzels and m&m’s going to see my sister. ((UPDATE I totally wrote this a week ago and forgot to send it when i got back oops :))

Okay now let me tell you about my mission… It has BEEN SOOO AMAZING and I am LOVING it!

I am going to go through each assignment because if I went through each day we would be here for a while!

Interfaith:

Okay wow it has been lots of office work, working with files, archiving old volunteers, printing hours, writing receipts, making name badges and the list goes on. I love working with all of the volunteers and hearing their stories and learning how they all serve for a variety of different reasons but we are all coming together to help those in need in any way that we can! This past month I got to help a school group come in and make sack lunches for the people who come in and need a meal! These High Schoolers were so awesome (even though they were from my rival HS haha) and were so willing to do whatever was needed to make and finish the lunches for the homeless.

Camp Wildwood:

About a month ago my stake… the Escondido stake came up for girls camp! I got asked to speak during their Monday night devotional on the topic “angels among us” I talked about my story and the MTC and how I have seen so many angels that have helped me get to where I am in my life. Because the devotional was late and I was going to be up there serving the next morning I stayed the night and it was so fun hanging out with all the girls! And now I am so so so so so sad that the time has come and Tuesday the 13^th was my last full day up there with girls camps! How in the world did the summer go by so fast! I have enjoyed every minute of it and am going to miss it a ton!

Temple:

The Scaffolding came off and the beauty of the top of the temple is brighter (and whiter) than ever. This past week I got to help with a wedding of a couple getting sealed and it was so fun to help the guests and see the excitement in all of their faces! I also got the opportunity to perform sealings for my ancestors and I just felt the spirit, that they were there with me and proud of me, it was an amazing experience.

Family History:

Good ol Family History, we finished the project that Salt Lake gave us “yes or no project” and we are all super happy. Not because we don’t like it but because we love serving and helping the work progress on the other side of the veil. And we are excited to be starting a new project very soon, but in the meantime we will be working on our own family history and indexing!

Old Town:

Summer is hot and being in a time appropriate dress makes it even hotter but don’t you worry I got a $2 fan that I carry around so we are chillin! Cool thing that happened 2 weeks ago I was in the schoolhouse with sister Dotter (A new missionary who is shadowing me and who I love so much) and we saw over 300 people that day! We got lots of people asking about our name badges and when they ask we answer! A mini miracle that happened there was that there was this guy who was trying to communicate with us asking questions and what not, he only spoke Spanish and if you know me you know I do not speak ANY Spanish… like at all but thank goodness heavenly father always watches over his missionaries! Because I was able to understand a little bit of him talking about some of the things in the school house, like how the alphabet in Spanish is different from English and then (a total tender mercy) there was a lady who walked in who totally saw we were struggling and  helped us translate! He was asking us if we were “the Mormon missionaries”, It was so cool and I love it when people know who we are from out name badge!

Other:

New Sister.. Sister Dotter she is from Carlsbad and is so much fun! She is going to be amazing and such a bright light in the mission.

July Mission Conference: was so amazing seeing all the missionaries I got to go and pick up my BFF Sister Barnson and take her. For this mission conference we got to help clean up felicita park it was pretty fun but super-hot so sis Barnson and I went back to the church a little early to get her out of the sun and out of the hot weather.

You guys time flies when you are having fun I only have a little over 3 months left and I definitely have mixed feeelings!

<3

Sister Owsley

1.Speaking at Wildwood

2.Sister Barnson and I enjoying the AC after Conference

3. Sister Lee's Homecoming Talk... we are going to miss her tons in the mission (oh and carter's farewell)

4. Mission Conference July

5. Welcome Sister Dotter!

6. Fun little mission "reunion" with some awesome sisters

7. Running the Zip Line @CWR

8. Sister Hollman and I at FHC 

Welcome to the Jungle- a.k.a Camp Wildwood

Wahoo these emails are getting closer together and I love it! 

These last few weeks have been awesome but this last week i feel like everything just clicked, have you ever felt that?! that everything is working out and although your not perfect and make lots of mistakes you just feel like you are in a good place?!

Anyways let me tell ya about my assignments!

Interfaith: still going strong on my badge project! while also completing other tasks as needed. This past week I only went to a half of a day at interfaith, because the camp Wildwood managers (senior missionary couple) needed some extra help (an senior service missionary Elder who serves up there with his wife had to have open heart surgery so they were short some people) so I went up and helped them out on the zip line which I always love.

Camp Wildwood: Don't tell anyone but this is my favorite assignment! I am now serving up there every Tuesday all day long! I started this about 4 weeks ago when all the girls camps started! It has been so much fun! I get to run the zip line, run errands, check cabins out, restock supplies, Uber the priesthood around on the ATV's to fill waters, and I am trained on all of the trust/ ropes course activities. It is a little different than when I am up there on Saturdays - which i still do- when we usually do more physical projects like building shade structures, raking, etc. But anytime up there I love! The spirit in that camp is amazing and no matter how crazy the day gets everything always works out and I know that it does because the Lord has his hand in all things.

Temple: Had an amazing day there on Wednesday! I have been told this many times and just now listened that when you are going to the temple for a purpose (even if it is as simple and to feel happy or peaceful) then you will get so much more out of it! And all I can say is Amen to that!

Family History: We are killing it on the "Yes or No" project and have only about 900 sections to go before they need to add more haha... it probably means nothing to you, but just know that we have done a lot and have a little to go :)

Old Town: I have a friend that has joined my day! Sister Ward! she is so amazing and is now going to be serving there on Thursdays instead of Fridays which I am so excited about because it is someone to talk to all day and makes time fly by!!! Oh cool thing we were in the McCoy house and an older man walked in and was looking for a specific volunteer (who was not there) and was telling us how he is a descendant of the McCoy's and was telling us some stories it was so cool and just brought everything to life!

Mission Conference: We had our last mission conference as a mission before our mission got split. There is now the riverside mission (which tool all of our missionaries from Temecula up) and the San Diego mission which is the rest of us. We were sad to see so many go but that only means that church wide service missions are getting larger and we love that!

Well this week has been splendid and I don't think that it is also by coincidence that I am getting around to re-reading the Book of Mormon again! I love the power that this book brings! I know it is the word of God like the Bible! I am grateful to be able to feel the power of the Book of Mormon in my life and would encourage all of you if you aren't already to read it! Don't be afraid to start small because "by small and simple means great things are brought to pass".

Love, 

Sister Owsley

1. Shade Structure us young service missionaries have made so many of these we can probably do it with our eyes closed... we have it down to a T

2. Seeing my cousin Charlotte up at girls camp

3. Last mission conference with Sister Snell - she gave all of us these treats and said " thanks for bringing joy into my life" - SO CUTE

4. Last San Diego mission conference with the old boundaries

5. Grateful it was just a gopher snake or I would have left the camp and never go back 

Woah (insert dance move here)

The last time I emailed was the end of march, and I know it has been
killing all of you waiting for my emails and i am so sorry to you (and
myself) Sometimes life is a roller coaster and my mental health has
definitely been a roller coaster, and it has been hard for me to sit
down and write an email.
I have had some fun, hard, exhausting, hilarious, spiritual times over
the past 2 months so here are a few highlights from each assignment to
get you all caught up so I can start doing these emails regularly
again!

Interfaith: I have got my own project that i am in charge of, and that
is name badges! My assignment has been to take pictures and make each
of the over 500 volunteers name badges. It is a lot more fun than it
sounds I promise! and I get to go to HR to make them which is right by
jersey mikes (which means free sandwiches... thanks dad for letting me
use your rewards points:)  Also Mama Owsley and I got to go to
Interfaith's 40th anniversary volunteer appreciation event! It was so
fun, and all the shelters and facilities were open to tour which was
so so cool!

Temple: the temple has been amazing and such a place of peace and love
in my life, even amid all the construction gong on outside the San
Diego Temple.

Family History: I have been working on a time consuming project of my
own. I got all my Papa's old family file cards that were partially
done and have been going through all of them sorting them and seeing
what work still needs to be done. It is a long process but has been
super cool seeing how all of these ancestors of mine have their temple
work done.... its pretty amazing.

Institute: We said goodbye to our teacher brother Peterson who retired
and is moving to Utah and started our summer class with our new
teacher Brother Buhler! We have been studying teachings of the living
prophets through conference talks and I think this may be my favorite
class!!!

Old Town: This place is popping! School is ending - field trips.
Summer is starting - tourists and it has been so fun with lots of
visitors.
*Funny story* I was in the Mason Street Schoolhouse today and we
opened up some windows to get a breeze. After 2 minutes of being in
there by myself a little bird flew in and at first i was like aw cute,
then i realized oh shoot what if he gets stuck in here, then as he was
trying to fly out... you guessed it he crashed right into the window
then flew out he actual window Ha! it was hilarious and i sat there
laughing alone for a solid 3 minutes! it's the little things in life
right ?!?!!

Camp Wildwood: boy has this assignment been all over the place! from
raking to painting, being parking attendants, and being an Uber it has
been so much fun! And i absolutely LOVE this camp! The spirt is like
no other and the fun memories will last a lifetime for the
missionaries that work there to the campers that stay there! A LOT
goes on at this camp just last week there were about 500 people in
camp with 7 groups and one of those groups being a dance recital with
a "fun field day" sort of thing after. My heart burst seeing all the
dancers in their costumes it made me so happy.

Other:
1. I got to go to Utah to my cousins wedding and got to the Salt Lake
and Payson Utah temples.
2. I also got to go and visit the Omaha Nebraska mission as I road
tripped with my best friend to drop her off as she moves to Nebraska
(also got to visit the Tuscon AZ and Omaha NE temple)
3. After institute every week one of my favorite missionaries - Sister
Barnson - gives one special person a poem and a little treat she has
been doing this a for a few months now and it is just the sweetest. I
love seeing how she serves other in many different ways.
4. I got to see my BFF from the MTC who also came home early! She came
to San Diego for a trip and we got to see each other after a whole
year! It was so so so fun to see her and visit!

before pictures I just wanted to say how much all of you mean to me. I
am so grateful for your support and love as I am serving the Lord. I
am so grateful to be a missionary and love every challenging and
rewarding minute of it! Hope you all have a great week!
Until next time (hopefully not in 2 more months lol)

<3
Sister Owsley

Oh hey there

Oh hey haven't wrote an email in quite some time!

These past few weeks I have been chugging along with ups and lots of down, but hey such is life right?!

Oh man where do I begin...

Interfaith has been tons of office work yet fun, thanks to the people I work with there! A few Monday's ago I got to go and serve before my assignment there at the morning soup kitchen it was super fun to be able to interact with those that come into interfaith needing help and to help make and serve them a meal!

The Habitat for Humanity job site that I serve on has been getting built super fast, which is so awesome! But I am no longer serving there as of right now, I am taking a little break to try to help myself get better. So sadly the pink hard hat and tool belt will be put on the shelf for a little while.

The temple, Family History Center and Institute have been just great! The temple is closed for 2 weeks, and I miss it...a lot, the Family history center is oh so fun, and I am loving studying all about church history at institute! 

Old town has been amazing! I absolutely love going every week and meeting so many different people. This is the place where I get the most questions about my name badge and why I volunteer here, and I absolutely love answering all the questions they ask and telling them all about how I am a service missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Just the other day I met a mom an daughter from Japan who were members of the church and another family from Utah and the daughter is just about to leave on a mission. I got to answer questions about why I volunteer there to a man from Tijuana, and I got to share all about the church and BYU schools to worker at the park. It is such an amazing place to volunteer and I love every minute of it!

Camp Wildwood has been super fun! Last week after raking many many leaves, I got to go with one of the managing sisters up there, Sister Frost, and learn how to check groups out and make sure they cleaned everything right. I am glad that I got to help because it was a large group of many different families who came from Arizona, which meant many rooms to check.

Just yesterday we had our March Mission Conference that was at Camp Wildwood ranch. It was so much fun! We started with our opening meetings and watching a video and slideshow about the Camp. We then had instruction from Sister Dyer on how General Conference is coming up, and after hearing her words I am way more excited than I thought I was for it! Then we had instruction from Elder Dyer (Mission Leader) on who we are! After that we got to serving there were missionaries in groups all over raking, clearing volleyball courts and building shade structures. After eating lunch we got to have some fun and anyone who wanted to got to ride the zip line. I got to help them up top get all hooked up and go and it was fun pushing some missionaries down... don't worry it was all with there permission :) All in All it was such a great day and if you haven't heard me say it before here it is, I LOVE MY MISSION.

Lastly today after speaking in sacrament meeting with a member of the High Council in one of the wards in my stake, I got to go to a lunch for Sister Fraser. Today was her homecoming talk and she is now officially done with her mission. She has taught me so much! She is kind, patient, caring, and always so concerned about others. She was my first sister training leader in this mission and since I got called to be a sister training leader, she has been my companion. I am so sad to see her leave but excited to see what the future holds for her at BYUI - and to see her again there in the winter!

These past few weeks have been some of the hardest since coming home, but have been filled with so many tender mercies. I have learned over and over again that God is always there, he will never leave our side and as we turn to him humbly he will help us in ways we never expected!

Until next month when/ if I remember to write an email

Sister Owsley

Oh and one thing I forgot...

I HIT MY HALF WAY MARK!!!! 9 months down, 9 to go! don't ask me how I feel because I have such mixed feelings haha 

1. nailed it

2. half way party sponsored/ forced upon by mama Owsley (love you) <3

3. Mission Conference

4. we will miss sister Fraser!