I don't even get to do this 17 more times. :(

3-30-15

Hello, hello, hello!

This week was quite an interesting one. But it was absolutely amazing at the same time. It's funny how that happens in the missionary life.

So last Monday, we drove to Manchester New Hampshire, which took us about 5 hours. But don't worry, it was totally worth it because Tuesday was New Missionary Training! Which was just pretty much just talks all day on if you're obedient, your heart is consecrated, and you serve with all of your heart, might, mind, and strength, then you're going to be an awesome missionary. If you're not going to do these things, change your attitude. Okay, President Stoker is a lot more eloquent of a speaker, but that was basically the point. So I decided that day that if I'm not going to give my mission 100%, I might as well go home. But don't worry, there's not a chance you'll see me before July 2016. So after all day of meetings we drove back to Skowhegan Tuesday night.

Wednesday was my one month mark. Whaaaaat? I only get to do this 17 more times, so I guess I'd best get to work! So after district meeting we had exchanges. My 24 hour companion's name is Sister Blume and she's one of the Sister Training Leaders over two of the zones in Maine. She's pretty nice. We taught a less active family, the Z's. It was... interesting. I think I got 2 words out of the whole family of 7, and we asked a lot of questions. After that, we went and helped out with the Young Women's Personal Progress night. It was fun, they made pancakes and Sister Blume and I just helped them make game plans to get their medallions in the next few months/year. After that, our appointment cancelled so we went tracting. That was... interesting. It was in the dark, but we had a LED flashlight and listened to the spirit. I found out a few days later Skowhegan is the 3rd most dangerous town in Maine, so we'll probably avoid doing that again.

Thursday morning Sister Blume and I went tracting for a few hours and not a single person answered their door. Not even the people we had appointments with. But that's okay, it gave us time for her to give me golden nuggets of wisdom she's acquired over the last year. Then we went to Bangor so we could get our companions back. After the exchange meeting and the drive back to Skow Town, Sister Davis and I went to the Relief Society dinner. Our 3 investigators that told us they'd come didn't, so it was awkward to be there. But it was free food, and the Relief Society in this ward is awesome, so it's all good. And then our appointment fell through. So we went on an obedience walk! Which is where we just walk the streets until 9pm to show the Lord we're going to be obedient and not go in until it's time. It was cool. We met a less active member that no one has ever heard of, so the Lord definitely blessed us.

Friday was a good day, mainly because I LOVE weekly planning. Which is mostly just because I love Sister Davis and that we fill our planners to the brim. We drove to Fairfield to try to teach some potentials, but one had company over and one told us to never come back again. So we went tracting and found a new potential investigator! Her name is Jean, and she has really pretty blue eyes (am I creepy for saying that?). We had dinner with the Bucks that night, and they have  such cute kids! Aah, how I wish I could hold children!

Saturday was interesting. I woke up feeling like I was going to throw up and I felt like I was getting stabbed every time I took a breath. So after 20 minutes of a failed attempt at studying, I went back to bed. After an hour nap I woke up and the pain was pretty much gone, weird. Sister Davis must have been praying hard for me. :) We taught Aaron O. about the Gospel and read 2 Nephi 32 with him. He really wants to be baptized but hasn't prayed on a date yet. Then we went with Sister Nixon to Bingham to visit Sister Pain-Paradis. Sister Nixon bore her testimony to us on the way up there and it was absolutely amazing! Sister Pain-Paradis is in a nursing home so she was excited for our visit. She's only in her 40's but she has a disorder where her ligaments and bones just snap really easy. She dislocated and broke her foot by pulling a blanket over it. :( Super crazy. But she was pretty chipper and talked our ears off! Then we went and taught a lesson to Aaron R. We did a faith scripture chain and it was super cool, Sister Davis spent a lot of time preparing it and I was just happy to bear my testimony about it. Then we went to Zante's and shared a message with her and then we all headed to the General Women's broadcast which was AWESOME! I loved what President Eyring said on joy coming after sorrow and on serving each other. Everyone needs to watch the Women's session in my opinion. So good! I'm so pumped for General Conference this weekend.

Sunday was great. We had four investigators come to sacrament meeting, and one even brought his girlfriend! :) Woo! It was a mission homecoming, and what he talked on was acting on faith, which is what all of our investigators needed to hear! Wahoo! After church we had lunch with the Blooms and then we tried to see some potentials, but those all fell through. So we went to see Rachel. She just moved in with her sister Sara who is less active. But Rachel sure is active! She just moved here from Provo and is going through Chemo at the moment. She's pretty much the coolest person I have ever met and her testimony is a million miles long. I just absolutely adore that lady! After our awesome visit, we went over to the Cooks and had dinner with them and talked about the Easter initiative! helives.mormon.org Go to it, watch it, share it. It's pretty much amazing. 

This week was amazing! I'm loving the mission more and more every single day. I love you and I miss you, but New England is stealing my heart. 

Sister Stott

we received a text and picture on Sunday night...

Dear Brother Davis and Brother Stott,

We are very much enjoying the company and spirit your daughters are bringing to us! They are a true blessings and we are very thankful that they have touched are lives. The Cook family in Maine😀

Pictures from when she arrived in New hampshire

we received these in the mail today.

"So what are you doing tonight?" "We don't do those things."

3-23-15

So I have decided that New England accents are the halfway accents between Idahoan accents and Australian accents and that is why I have been sent here. haha. I have figured out the purpose of this! As soon as I master this accent, my VISA for Australia will come so I can master that accent too. Just thought you'd want to know. :) 

This last week has been quite the adventure. I have never been so motivated, so inadequate, so freezing, and so warm and fuzzy all at once. Remember that seen in Tangled where Rapunzel is having a roller coaster of emotions and keeps going back and forth between "I am never going home!" and "I am the worst person ever."? Yea, that's pretty much the mission life. Sister Peck (the ward mission leader's wife) actually called me Rapunzel yesterday, so I laughed because this is what came to my head. It's not what she meant, but it's so true. haha. 

Tuesday was a great day. We went tracting, met some less active members, and found a new investigator! Her name is Lori, and I love her. We knocked on her door and she let us in. So we taught her about the Restoration and talked to her a bit about her life. Her mom had just passed away, and she said that when we were talking about the First Vision, she could feel her mom. It was pretty sweet. So we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she'd read it and pray about it. We're going to go see her again later this week so we'll see how it all went! :) We taught Aaron R. about the 10 commandments that day too. It was Bonnie's birthday so we went to get pizza with her and Shyla and we taught them a lesson while we ate. It was a fun time.

Wednesday was Zone Conference! President Stoker, Sister Stoker, President Hawkes, and Sister Hawkes all spoke. I filled up over 4 pages of notes, so that shows you how awesome it was. We also watched the video about John Rowe Moyle, "Only a Stonecutter." I've watched that video probably half a dozen times and every time, I just get all emotional! Such a good video! And such a good motivator! After Zone Conference, Sister Davis and I went to see Sister Nixon. She's a sweet widowed lady in our ward. She is what I'd picture my grandma LaReta like if her mind and body would've held up longer for her. She is such a sweetheart. She was appalled at me walking around in 10 degree weather in rain boots, so she gave me some wool socks. What a cutie.

Thursday was a good day! My coat ripped within 5 minutes of leaving the apartment BUT luckily the Howells got me a sewing kit when I graduated high school and the rip was on the seam, so I sewed it right up! :) Woo! Aaron O. showed up to the library, so we were able to finally teach him! He has a huge desire to get baptized. I just hope that desire is strong enough to help him make the changes in his life to help him grow closer to God. He's a super great kid (I feel like I can call him kid since he's only 19. haha.). After we taught him we went tracting and found a new potential investigator named Stephanie. And Thursday is Soup Kitchen day! The Soup Kitchen is probably one of my favorite parts of the week. That night for dinner we went over to Nancy and Brother Thwing's house. They made us corn chowder and it was amazing. After dinner we read Alma 5 with them. Nancy's daughter, Jasmine, is so cute and asked me to help her read her scriptures. Then she gave me a huge hug. I basically melted. 

Friday was super fun. Shyla wants to serve a mission in a few years, so we picked her up from school so she could serve a 24 hours mini mission with us. We took her tracting and met a man named Dustin. He said he was taking the lessons from the Elders a while back and said we could come back and  teach him and his wife. We followed up with a referral named Corey.He was super nice but he was sick so he didn't let us in. But he took a Book of Mormon and told us he'd read it and we could come back in a week or two. Sister Nixon fed us dinner that night. Oh my gosh, she is such a hoot. She made Lasagna and gluten free bread. And brownies. She feeds us well so we have the strength to bring the wood in for her stove. haha. I love her.

Saturday was the funniest day of my life. After we dropped Shyla off we decided to go tracting. And tracting is always fun because Sister Davis and I are hilarious, but Saturday was a special day. So we were trying to find an address but the GPS tried taking us to the wrong one and we ended up going 5 miles out of our boundaries on accident (Don't tell President Stoker). Then Sister Davis was telling me a story about how a Sister got attacked by a dog and had to be hospitalized and the owners felt so bad that they started taking the discussions. And they eventually got baptized after that! 30 seconds after the story ends we hear this crazy deep barking and we look over and we see the beast. He honestly looked like a bear with a dog face. I like to call the next 5 minutes, "The Sandlot: Missionary edition." We RAN for our lives. Don't worry, we were safe. Then we met Dean Merrill. Oh my gosh, what a hoot. He invited us in so he could teach us about the bible. It was.... Interesting. And then we went tracting some more and that's where we met Nate... This is our conversation. Us: "Would you like to learn about the Restored Gospel?" Nate: "Sure." Us: *pointing to a picture of Jesus holding a lamb* "How do you think this lamb feels?" *Two guys walk out of the house we're by* Nate: "Umm actually, I'm all set.... So what are you doing tonight?" Sister Davis: "Oh we're just tract-" Me: "We're teaching a lesson." Nate: "Oh. So are either of you single?" Sister Davis: "Umm... We don't do those things." Me: "We can't date on our missions." Nate: "Oh, well you're both really attractive." Us: "Thanks" *run away far and fast* We also saw four deer chilling on the road and I looked to Sister Davis and said, "Oh dear." It was really funny at the moment. We taught Aaron R. a lesson on Family History and Temple Work. It was pretty cool. We also taught Zante on Saturday about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she is really looking forward to being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Sunday was great. It was fast and testimony meeting and it was wonderful! The people here are so humble and their testimonies are so powerful! We had lunch with the Blooms and that's always a good time. After that we tried to go tracting, but it was 10 degrees outside and the wind was nuts! So we went to Somerset Residential care and visited Sister Lavoie and Sister Gardiner. A couple of the other residents joined our conversation and we had a party! One of the residents thought the Sister Davis was my mom and that was super funny. But he also told us he was 101 and got married at 100, so maybe his perception of time and age is a little off. ;) After we spent some time there we went over to the Peck's for dinner. The Pecks are awesome, and I just adore them so much. Sister Peck reminds me a lot of Tricia Varvel back home, so naturally it's a riot every time we go over there. 

I love Skowhegan, Sister Davis, I love the people, and I love the work! I love you all, and miss you, but I know that this is where I need to be. 

Sister Danielle Laree Stott.

 

:Sister Davis and I taking a thawing break from tracting in 10 degree weather.

My love for snowcones will not be diminished because of silly blizzards. Too bad they weren't open. :(

"Scout haven? Skow-whattin? Oh, Skowhegan. What's that?"

"Scout haven? Skow-whattin? Oh, Skowhegan. What's that?"

Skowhegan, my dearly beloved friends and family, is a little town in the middle of Maine which happens to be my place of residence for the next 5-11 weeks (at least). 

Last time I wrote I was in the MTC. And even though that was only 12 days ago it feels like a lifetime ago. So much has happened in the last 12 days! 

I finished the MTC and flew out to Manchester, NH last Monday morning at about 3am. Yuck. But the flights weren't too bad and I got to call my parents during my layover in Chicago, so it was worth waking up that early. :) When I arrived in Manchester it was around 5 pm. President and Sister Stoker picked me and the rest of the missionaries up and took us to their home in Bedford. We had dinner, had interviews with President Stoker, I had to fill out a lot of forms since all of mine are in Australia, and then we practiced teaching lessons with the Assistants to the President. After that, it was bedtime! 

Tuesday morning I got ready and we all got in the car and headed to Transfer Meetings! There I met the one, the only... Sister Davis! My new companion. She is from American Fork, UT and has been out on her mission for 7 months. She's super rad. I honestly just adore her and I can't imagine my mission without her. We get along great, and we're always having a blast. After Transfer Meeting we hopped in our car and headed to Skowhegan, Maine, which is not a short drive. Sister Davis and I cover Skowhegan and 15 other towns that are in the general vicinity. If you drove from one end of our area to the other nonstop, it would take 90 minutes. So we rarely knock on the same door twice while tracting. haha. After we got to Skowhegan, we dropped my stuff off and headed to teach Aaron R.! For our lessons with Aaron, we have to take a female member over 18, so we took Lexie Bloom! Aaron is an Army Veteran and super awesome. He's read the Book of Mormon, gone to church, prayed about it, and knows it's all true! Unfortunately, he has really bad migraines. And the only thing he has found that helps with them is drinking coffee. So we're working on that right now. 

Wednesday morning we woke up, got ready, and headed to Dover, Maine for District Meeting. As we pull in, I look over and I think, "Wow. That looks like Morgan Dellasilva from back home." And so I get out of the car and I yell, "Hey Sister Dellasilva!" And she looked at me, we ran to each other, we hugged, and it was super adorable. She's headed back to Idaho Falls after this transfer. Aah, that's so weird that my friends are started to head home. Anyways, after District Meeting we went back to our area and we went to go read in the Book of Mormon with Nancy. Nancy is super sweet and has two kids, Thomas and Jasmine. We read Alma 3 with her and talked about it. She's already taken all of the discussions, but is waiting until after her wedding in August to get baptized. So we're just reading with her for now. :) 

Thursday was a blast. Sister Davis and I walked to the library to teach Aaron O. but he stood us up. So we walked back to our apartment. It's not a terribly long walk, but it's not too fun in 35 degree weather. We did some tracting that day and then we went and taught Brother Steward and Sister White. They're brother and sister, and both super sweet. They're less active, and working on coming back. We taught them 2 Nephi 32: PRO: Pray, Read, Obey. After we taught them we went and volunteered at the Soup Kitchen. Oh. My. Lanta. The Soup Kitchen is AWESOME. The people who run it and the other volunteers are all hoots! After that, Sister Davis and I went and taught Aaron R. again. He's such a good guy. This time we took sweet Sister Kinney with us. Sister Kinney is the Relief Society president here and is such a hoot!

Friday all of our plans fell apart. We had to spend like 5 hours of planning that day anyways, so I guess there weren't a ton of plans to fall apart. We were going to volunteer at an animal shelter but when we got there, it was closed! So we spent the day tracting and trying to visit Less Actives. People in New England don't answer their doors. And if they do, they don't let you in. So Sister Davis and I had plenty of bonding time running through the streets of various towns. hahaha.

Saturday was also a very uneventful but interesting day. Our neighbor, Dr. Ted, took us out to lunch. So we tried talking with him about why we're here and he told us that Jesus Christ had nothing to do with Christianity and that he was just a political radical. And that religion was just so society could have some sort of rules. So we thanked him for lunch and went on our way. Dr. Ted is a super awesome neighbor, not as awesome of an investigator. We spent a lot of the day tracting and I probably saw my life flash before my eyes a dozen times. New England has a plethora of three things: giant dogs, cigarettes, and blizzards. Three things I was NOT prepared for. But that night we taught Zante. Zante has three kids, Rogue, Payton, and Gidion. They are ADORABLE. But the lesson went really well, and Zante is preparing to be baptized in a few weeks. :) 

Sunday we woke up to a blizzard! We drove to church (Aaron R. and Nancy both showed up. Woo!), they held a 45 minute sacrament meeting, and we all drove home before the blizzard got too bad. So after that, Sister Davis and I went around scraping windows and shoveling sidewalks. It was quite the adventure. We also went around and visited some of the widows in the ward that didn't make it to church because of the weather. That night we ate dinner with the Cooks. Brother Cook is a member, his wife is a devout Christian, and their four children are baptized but not necessarily active. They are all AWESOME. Dinner with them was great, and we shared a message about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They're all so sweet. And then we had to go home because the roads were too bad to be out any longer.

This all leads up to today! Well, today hasn't been too exciting. We went grocery shopping, played ping pong with Lexie, and now I'm here, writing this email. Sorry for that anti-climatic ending... Oh but Sister Davis is half Japanese, so she pretty much destroyed me in Ping Pong. Which isn't hard since I have no hand-eye coordination...

Skowhegan is honestly amazing. I love it so much. I am so grateful for Sister Davis and the people that I have met here. It's not Australia, but it's definitely what I need right now. I miss you and I'm sending love your way. But not too much love, I have a set-apart heart. ;) 

NEW ADDRESS FOR NOW

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

 164 Madison Ave. Apt. 6

Skowhegan, ME

04976

Letters are greatly appreciated, and in fact encouraged. :) 

Sister Stott

Picture:

Me and Sister Davis

Hello!

I made it to New Hampshire. President and Sister Stoker are super nice and we are staying at their house tonight. There's a lot of snow here which makes me happy. But it's not on the sidewalks too much so walking without boots won't kill me for a few days. The only sisters that came today are VISA waiters, so Sister Stoker isn't quite sure how to handle us. hahaha. I miss you so much and it was sooooo great talking to you (Mom, dad, and Jordan. Sorry I missed the rest of you. :( )! I wish I could've stayed on the phone for hours! But alas, it could not be. But only 2 months until I can call again. :) I love you so much! I will talk to you next Monday. :)

Love,

Dani

Received from Sister Stott 3-4-15

Dear friends and family,

Hello! Greetings from the MTC. It has been such a crazy week! I feel like the days are never ending but the week just flew by. There is so much to write and I hope I have enough time or enough memory in my head to tell you all about it!

First things first, my fellow missionaries: My companion's name is Sister Drew. She is from Alberta, Canada and is headed to the Australia Perth Mission. She's super sweet and our teaching abilities are extremely different, but once we got over the initial shock of that it ended up working out really well in our lessons. Our district is made of up eight people. Sister Moon is from Rigby, ID and her companion is Sister Nelson from Fresno, CA. They're both headed to the Australia Sydney South Mission with me. Then we have Elder Wilson from Texas and his companion is Elder Frodsham from Portland, OR. Elder Wilson is headed to Birmingham, England and Elder Frodsham is headed to Detroit. And the last companionship is Elder Jeffcoat from Texas and Elder Tuapola from...SYDNEY AUSTRALIA. They're both headed to Detroit. Elder Tuapola is trying to get me to have an accent, it's not working yet. :(

Next item of business: INVESTIGATORS! And you're probably thinking, how do you have investigators after one week? Well we do, and we've taught eight lessons. Super nuts. The first investigator is Don. He is an engineer and has a wife that is a member and a 3 year old daughter. He has been meeting with the missionaries for 10 years but as he puts it is, "afraid of God." So in our lessons with him we focus a lot on the fact that God is our Loving Heavenly Father and that the atonement is for everyone, not just for the people that were alive the day that Christ died (he doesn't understand how that works.). The next investigator is Fabiola. She has two kids and she is currently going through cancer. She was baptized Catholic but feels like there is something more out there. So when we've taught her we've taught her a bit about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. She is reading it and praying about it and I guess we'll see what happens when we meet with her again tomorrow! Our last investigator is Olivia. She is going to college at BYU. She decided she believes in God and wants to learn more about Him, but is a little hesitant since her parents are athiest. But she's super sweet and we've just been teaching about the Priesthood and the Book of Mormon.

Classes are going super great and the food is AWESOME. Apparently waking up at 6:30 am and working all day makes me hungry, because Elder Wilson told me that I'm a "hearty daughter of God." Weird little Texan....

My birthday was awesome, thank you everyone that thought of me. :) We had a mustache/cupcake party in our district, and it was super fun! 

We had a devotional with Elder Evans of the 70 and it was super awesome! He talked about how exact obedience blesses us inside the mission field and outside of it! I couldn't agree more. 

To explain my title: We were teaching a lesson as a district and Sister Moon says, "Hi, I'm Chelsea. Oh wait! I don't have a real name anymore! I'm Sister Moon!" It was super funny.

I don't know what else to write about.

Oh! Next week! That's big news. I'm not flying out to Australia on Monday. I've been reassigned to the Manchester New Hampshire mission. No one headed to Australia got their VISA so we've all been reassigned. So starting Monday my new address is:

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

2 Bedford Farms Ste 208

Bedford, NH 03110-6525

Hopefully in a month or two that'll change to my Australian address. :) 

I love you all so much and I miss you tons! It's so crazy being away from everyone, but I know that this is where I need to be and what I need to be doing. :) I'll talk to you all next week. 

Sister Danielle Laree Stott