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!

Road Trip

(Let’s pretend I sent this email when I wrote it on Friday 🤦🏽‍♀️)

First off 2 Sunday’s ago, I got to go on a mini road trip with my mission leaders, Elder and Sister Dyer, and Elder Baker. We got to go out to El Centro to welcome 2 new missionaries to the San Diego Service mission! It was such a wonderful day meeting the new elder and sister and getting to know the new mission leaders more. Oh and WE SAW SNOW!!!!!!

Interfaith- after a week off for Presidents’ Day, I had a great week this past week catching things up and finishing some projects!

Habitat for Humanity- this week I got to work with a girl about my age from Korea. We helped clean up the job site and put some 2x6s on the sides of the scaffolding to avoid tools falling down and hurting people.

Temple/ Family History/ institute- 2 weeks ago we got to take a little break on our “yes or no” project and we got to do some of our own family history and get names to take to the temple! We got shown this short cut and within a few minutes I found more names than I have in my life... it was awesome!

Old Town- 2 weeks ago I was in the Mccoy again and it was all goooood except it was 48 degrees inside the museum and I was freezing all day until an hour before I was finished one of the workers brought me a jacket (prayers do get answered)!! This past week I got to be in a different museum, Seeley Stables. I loved being in there it is such a cool museum and gets a lot more people coming through than the Mccoy

(280 vs 50 people).

Camp wildwood- last week up there we helped move rocks near a stream by the main road. And I also got to get trained on all of the team building games & activities, which I love doing!!!

Last weekend we also had mission conference! This one was a temple mission conference so we got to all go to the temple together, which is my absolute favorite. I got to do sealings and got to seal some couples and children from my own family out of the names I found at Family History.

Not going to lie these past to weeks have been a little hard mentally for me. But despite my hard days I am so grateful for my mission and all the assignments I have, where I get to be pushed, but also get to be with some amazing people who lift me up and give my the extra push I need!

Love you all!!

<3

Sister Owsley

Pictures!

1-2. El Centro... and we saw SNOW!!

3. Mission conference

4. Old town at Seeley Stables in front of the theatre!

LOVE

Happy Valentine's Day my lovely Friends and Family!

Last Monday after having my interfaith service cut a little short. I got to go and meet with 5 new mission leaders who will be in charge of multiple service missions in different areas in the United States. A few missionaries and I got to  be on a little panel and answers all sorts of different questions they had for us so they could get a better idea of how a service mission should run!

The next day although Habitat for Humanity was canceled again (due to the rain) I went down with Sister Wilkinson to again meet up with these 5 couples, as they were touring many different assignments, and talked to them about what I do there!

Last Wednesday was a great day for all of my assignments, we had an awesome devotional at the Family History Center on Liberty Jail based off of the talk "Lessons from Liberty Jail" by Elder Holland I LOVED reading this talk and the chapters that go along with it D&C 121,122,123 and would encourage all to read them!

Thursday was my first day alone at old town and all dressed up in my new "period attire". I was in the McCoy house and I would say had a pretty successful day! I got almost 50 people that came in and I got a lot of reading and learning done about the McCoy house Museum!

Saturday I got to be back at Camp Wildwood! It was super nice to be back and up in the woods... although we spent all of our time in the bathroom sanding all of the walls.

Saturday Night and Sunday morning we had stake conference, and wow It was so amazing. All of the speakers gave us beautiful messages and I loved the themes that were shared between all of Trusting in our Father in Heaven, Share the gospel by living it and minister to others by loving them!

And to sum up this week:

Interfaith on Monday consisted of archiving old volunteers and going to Chicken Charlie's and eating WAY too much food with some employees and volunteers. 

Actually being able to go to Habitat for humanity, I got to answer some questions about the church and service missions another volunteer had and I learned that blocking and framing is my weakness on Tuesday.

Temple, FHC and Institute where we learned about how we can follow the prophets plead for us to gather Israel in D&C 84:80-88 on Wednesday.

And lastly today (Thursday) getting all dressed and ready to go to old town, and the whole time having my mom tell me she was terrified to have me drive in this crazy weather (rexburg friends cover your ears, by crazy weather she means a lot of rain and its 62 degrees outside), then 2 minutes before I left, I finally listened and made some calls and had everyone said the same thing that driving all the way down to Old Town (45 min drive) was not a good idea. okay fine you were right mom... :)

Love you all more than all the mud on my brothers truck!

<3

Sister Owsley

Pictures!

1. Post Q&A on Monday with ZL & STL

2. Sister Wilkinson and I at Habitat - of Coarse with the pink hard hat and tool belt

3. All ready to go to Old town... but not going (I promise I'm not 500 pounds #itsthecostume)

Change...my favorite thing

Okay so sarcasm may have been intended in that subject.

These past few days have been FULL of change!

First off mission conference:

We got to have a super fun mission conference at Old Town State Park last Saturday. We got to do lots of service, taking down fences, painting fences, raking leaves and such! But we also got to be apart of the Mormon Battalion Commemoration and be in the parade/ march around the park. (And oh yes we got to dress up in good ol trek clothes to look the part;) It was so fun to be apart of it because I remember going to the event as a kid and making biscuits in the fire and seeing people dressed up. 

The sad thing about mission conference was that it was the last mission conference with our mission leader and his wife, Elder and Sister Bramwell. They have served there 3 years and have been called to be mission leaders over service missions throughout the western United States, which they are going to be amazing at! The Bramwell are so loving and kind hearted to everyone, they have a gift of being able to help others find their way and draw nearer to the Savior, they are selfless, charitable, and are such amazing examples to me of Christlike leadership, I am so sad to see them go. But I am so grateful that we get to have Elder and Sister Dyer be our new mission leaders! Although I have only talked to them each briefly I can tell that they have big hearts and are hard workers and are going to be a huge blessing in this mission!

Another Change... this one is to one of my assignments. I am now going to be serving at old town state park, being a docent in the museums. Although this wasn't my first choice of places to serve, as I have gone to meetings, met other people who work there, and have been learning about the history I am starting to love being there and learning about the history (which is big because I hate history #missionblessings).

Last change that has happened (I think) We got a new bishopric in the Palomar YSA ward. I am sad to be bishop Wilson and his bishopric leave, but am super excited for this new bishopric with bishop Bonnet!!

With all of these exciting changes I am grateful that one thing never changes, and that is the Saviors love for me and you. While studying this weeks "Come Follow Me" chapters, this verse and what the handbook says about it really stuck out to me. That the Savior is always by our side and He is there to help us through all of our twists and turns through life. It says: "If something as permanent as a mountain can be flattened, then surely the Lord can help us straighten our own crooked paths (Luke 3:4-5)"

<3

Sister Owsley

Pics:

1-4 Old Town Mission Conference

5 Interfaith's newsletter with a picture of me on it from adopt a family