Bathurst.

Beautiful day!!

Well, since p-day happened a long, long time ago, I have lots to tell you. First thing first, I LOVE BATHURST! Honestly, I'm so happy here. Let me tell you about my first week so you can rejoice with me! 

Tuesday (the 19th) after P-day we went and met the Branch President's family. They're so sweet! And the only Samoan family in Bathurst! Which is such a tender mercy for me considering I haven't seen so many white people in like a year! 

Wednesday (the 20th) was great. We started off the morning by doing some service for a Sister in the ward. She's redoing her kitchen so we got to smash some tiles and it was pretty awesome. We also found a new investigator named Belinda! She's so funny but so sweet. She said her first prayer with us and she started crying. It was such a neat experience. Then we met Terry! He is a less active member that lives in a nursing home so we read the Book of Mormon with him every week. I like him. Also, every Wednesday the Branch has an activity night! It's small but cute. It was a nice way to meet a few members before church.

On Thursdays we do service at the Seymour Center. It's this fun place that elderly people can go for socialization. So cute! They are so stinking funny there. Then we met a few less active members. Boy oh boy are they a hoot or what! Then again, the Lord blessed us to find a new investigator! We'll call her C. She's a teen mum but wants to see if this would be a good way to raise her new daughter. Well certainly it is the best way, so we'll see if she's prepared! 

Friday, what a beaut! We have a less active member that is a hoarder so she lets us organize things and read the Book of Mormon with her. I was impressed! She actually let us take stuff to the op shop, which I have never seen a hoarder do. Then we went around and met some of the members of the Branch. Everyone here is so sweet! I'm excited to get to know them better. We also met Kalira, one of our investigators with a baptismal date. She seems pretty cool, so I'm excited to help her progress!

Saturday was another beautiful Bathurst day. We met this INCREDIBLE lady named Tiffany on the street and she made an appointment for us to come back the next day. Then we met this lady named A. She's super religious.... Like she built her own chapel in her yard so she can worship... it was interesting but she's really lovely. We saw a few more of our investigators and everyone here is just so nice! I love it. We also met Sister S. Pretty sure she's going to be me when I'm that old. She went on a huge rant about how awesome musicals are and how Rock of Ages is life. She's so funny. 

Sunday was beautiful! The branch is SO SMALL. There were maybe 15 members in Sacrament meeting? 24 or so if you count the kids. Only 4 in Sunday School. Only 3 in Relief Society. It's so small. But it was great because I have everyone's names memorized. ;) Haha. I spoke in Sacrament and then Sister Kurita and I taught Relief Society. It was fun. We taught on "Behold Thy Mother" by Jeffrey R Holland so I got to brag about my mum. After church we had Branch Council. Once again, so small. I LOVE IT. Remember Tiffany from Saturday? Well, we went and saw her, taught her the restoration, and she accepted to be baptized! Aah, Heavenly Father is the BEST! :) 

Monday we went and did some service for A. She's really nice and actually enjoys reading the Book of Mormon with us. Hopefully she'll start investigating this week. We also saw our girl Tiffany! We went and did some service and read the Book of Mormon with her. She was reading it Sunday night and prayed about it and said she felt like a different person! it's so good to see the Gospel change people's lives.  We also saw two of our investigators, T & C, they're twins! And they accepted to be baptized too! Aah, Heavenly Father, once again, is the best! We also met a really nice potential named Janice that invited us back for later in the week. :)

Tuesday (yesterday) the Zone Leaders came and picked us up at 6am to drive to Sydney. It was so weird being alone in the car with Elders!!!! Don't worry, President Back knew about it and permitted it. But we had a 9 hour meeting with President and Sister Back and the rest of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in Sydney. Being on the Mission Council is quite the experience... I was the driver on the way back to Bathurst. Such a long drive! But I prefer driving through the Blue Mountains rather than being a passenger. It's too much winding and climbing and stop and go for my liking in the back seat. 

So yea, it's been a CRAZY week! But I am so happy here. Honestly, it feels like home to me. I feel like Bathurst is a mix of Idaho Falls, ID, Logan, UT, and Skowhegan, ME. Three of my favorite places. Heavenly Father is the best and He truly has a plan for us! I still miss Woden but I'm just so grateful being there and now being here is part of his plan for me. :)

Love,

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

P.S. Sorry for no pictures... I forgot my camera... And I forgot to take pictures.

P.P.S. Don't write to Sydney for mail, please write directly to me for atleast the next month. :) 

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

2/129 Keppel St

Bathurst, NSW 2795

Australia

Bitter...sweet?

Greetings from New South Wales!

Wow, I haven't been able to type that in 5 months... Let me tell you about how I came to be up here once again.

This week was up and down, up and down, up and down, UP and DOWN. We visited a lot of less active members and a few of our beloved faithful members down in good old Woden. There wasn't much anything of excitement to tell you about. Sorry to be a boring little thing over here. It was just a hard week, there were some good parts too though! I'll tell you something funny that happened. We were visiting a less active part member family with one of the brethren from the ward, right? Well, they have a 13 year old that is just a HANDFUL. He was hitting me the whole time we were there and I just had my arm out so he would be hitting that rather than my face. As we were walking out of the lesson I said, "That's it, I really don't think I can have children." And the Brother that was with us said, "It's okay Sister Stott, all mothers have their strengths. Yours just happen to be your biceps." Haha. I don't believe in hitting children but it was pretty funny. If I've learned one thing on my mission, it's patience. Well, I'm still learning it. Always a work in progress. :)

Saturday night transfer calls came and Sister Swan and I both needed to leave Woden. So we went around saying goodbyes on Saturday and Sunday. It was SO HARD. I love Woden so much. The people there are incredible and they honestly consumed a huge piece of my heart. I think that was the hardest group of goodbyes for me to say, which is something considering how long I was in mourning over leaving Wollongong. I really hope to be able to return some day. Probably not in my mission life, but maybe when they can call me by my first name.

Monday morning we said a few final goodbyes, loaded up the car, picked up the sisters and headed to Sydney! I dropped off Sister Swan and the other Sisters in Sydney and  they were able to meet their new companions, But the Elders bringing our luggage took AGES. Honestly, we sat at the chapel for a few hours waiting, no phone, no nothing. But they finally arrived with the baggage, then I drove to pick up another sister then I drove all the way up to Bathurst. I actually had to leave the mission boundaries on the road I was taking to get all the way up here! So 11 hours later, I was finally in my new area just in time to meet my companion, plan the next day, and go to bed. Haha.

Today has already been exciting. We tried emailing a few hours ago but the Chinese restaurant next to the library caught on fire... Don't worry, no one was hurt.

About my new life: Welcome to BATHURST! A little po-dunk town up in good old Orange Zone. It reminds me of Iona or even downtown Logan by the Blue Bird and such. It's a pretty nice place and I think I will be happy here. My companion is Sister Kurita, she is from Japan. She seems really nice and I'm excited to get to know her. Together we are the Sister Training Leaders, so our purpose is

to help all of the other sisters in the zone. It should be good. I'm excited! My new address is:

2/129 Keppel St

Bathurst, NSW 2795

Australia

I will probably be in Bathurst until I finish my mission. So please write.

Love you! The church is true!

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

I love General Conference!

Well, hello there once again! 

This week wasn't as exciting, no miracle double baptisms fell out of the sky or anything, but it was still a pretty rad week because of the weekend. General Conference is the best. :) But leading up to that....

Monday was alright. I dragged the poor Tuggeranong Sisters and Sister Swan to the Parliament House. It was pretty cool being able to sit in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Unfortunately nothing was in session that day. Which is actually good since I wouldn't have been able to watch it anyways. After P-day we went and tried stopping in on a few families but no one had the time. We did end up meeting a funny older couple. The wife is from China and loves dancing, so when Sister Swan mentioned I used to dance she started trying to dance with me! Haha. It was pretty funny. 

Tuesday was a good day. We met a less active part member family in the morning. They weren't too keen on letting us share a message but they thought we were funny and cute so they let us share a little one then invited us back for dinner and a lesson this next week! Then we went to see some investigators with Sister Barron but these investigators were offended by a different member last week so instead of having a lesson we just did damage control. That's never fun. We ended the night by seeing our beloved Nana Julie. If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times, EVERYONE needs a Nana in their lives. 

Wednesday was Restoration Day! :) 186 years ago on 6 April, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established. Check out: Mormon.org or Lds.org for the full story. ;) The rest of the day was pretty neat. We went and saw Amanda and Peta. They are doing great and are so happy! Then we went and saw a referral that a member gave to us.... Oh I & J.... What a funny couple. That's all I can really say about them.

Thursday was great! We went and did some service for a less active family which was heaps of fun. We also had the quarterly relief society activity and that was fantastic! There were a few nonmembers that came and it was really cool to be able to get to know them and the sisters of the ward in a fun environment. 

Friday we had our district meeting as usual. We visited a potential that we met and started teaching him and his partner the discussions! That was pretty cool. They seem pretty special so it will be neat to see them progress. Then we went over to Nana Julie's and did a little service. :) We're totally capable handy-men if you ever need a desk put together... 

Saturday and Sunday was GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!! Oh it was so good! So many powerful and inspirational messages! My hands hurt from taking so many notes! We even downloaded the Priesthood session and watched it during lunch. Aah, I just can't get over how good it was. I think the message that stuck out most to me was make the temple a priority! Living somewhere that is so far from a temple and only being able to go once in the last year has really put into perspective for me how much I love the temple and how much I need it in my life! It's been pretty humbling to see how dedicated some members are down here by making the 4 hours each way drive to go to the temple regularly when often we have a temple 15 minutes down the road and don't make the time. I'm not trunky, but I am pretty excited in 4 months to be living within walking distance of my beautiful Logan temple once again. 

Have a beautiful week! I may be emailing you from my beloved New South Wales next week, I guess we'll see how the transfer dice roll.  

Love,

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

Picture: House of Representatives, only picture of the week but kind of neat. :)

Happy Tears!

What a crazy week! It was the week of Amanda and Peta. :) Tuesday after we emailed we had to forgo the rest of p-day so we could go teach Amanda and Peta. Which was more than worth it! Then we went over to an elderly sister's home for a visit and worked on Amanda and Peta's baptismal program. 

Wednesday we went over to Amanda's and did a bit of service with some Relief Society sisters. It was a lot of fun and was a good opportunity for her to bond with them. Then we all got cleaned up and had a lesson. After the lesson Amanda and Peta had their baptismal interviews and... THEY PASSED! :) Oh happy day!

Thursday was crazy! We had one final lesson with Amanda and Peta, woo! Then we had a lesson with a part member family all the way on the other side of the area. In the middle of a lesson we got a call from Amanda and we really felt like we needed to leave and go to her immediately. So we did, and there was all of this drama with the family since it wasn't Amanda's weekend for the girls and Peta was upset and AAH! So we called Peta's dad and explained why she needed to be there this weekend and he said he understood and would come watch her be baptized. Crisis averted. :) 

Friday was okay... We saw Amanda and Peta in the morning before we went to our district meeting. Then at our district meeting... Well... It almost became an all Sister district.... The Elders are our District Leader and Zone Leader so they told us that President Back called the night before and the whole mission was going on a car fast starting immediately for the next few days.... But our appointments were all over the area that afternoon so we hurried and called and cancelled them to be courteous and give them notice because we knew we weren't fast enough to walk between 6 suburbs... A few hours later at the end of the meeting they tell us it was all an April Fool's joke.... Which you know, I love jokes and all but it took us a month to set up those appointments... 

Saturday! Amanda and Peta were baptized! They looked so beautiful in white! Aah, so many emotions filled my heart as I saw them walk into the water! :') And then.... CRAZINESS! The Ward Council has been praying and fasting to find and reactivate less active family, the Forbes, since last April when the father passed away and Bishop conducted the funeral.... Well, guess who Peta's father is. D. Forbes, the son of the man who passed away. And guess who was watching the baptism, D. Forbes. The ward has been fasting and praying to find and reactive Peta's dad and grandmother (Amanda's ex and ex in-law) and we just tracted into Amanda and Peta! The Lord is with us in the work, I can testify of that ten fold! This was no coincidence. Heavenly Father knew that the Forbes wouldn't be ready to come back if the ward did find them, but he knew that if we found someone they loved, taught them, and brought them into the fold, that would help them come back. Miracles happen. :) We made the connection after Bishop signed the baptismal record for Peta and so we ran up to D and said, "When were you baptized?!" And Amanda yells, "YOU'RE A MORMON?!" It was incredibly hilarious. The women's broadcast was that night as well. So good. :) I love this Gospel! I'm excited for Conference to be broadcast this upcoming week! 

Sunday was beautiful. Amanda and Peta were confirmed members of the church, I cried bearing my testimony, it was a good day. :) Peta's dad and nan even came to see it happen! 

So yea, it was a week full of Peta and Amanda, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. :) The church is SO true! And God is with us. :) 

All my love (and my hearts about bursting right now),

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

The newest members of the Woden Ward! :') 

Snakes, Electrocution, and "Wait, what?!"

It has been a week. Not sure what adjective to put in that sentence... Let me tell you about it and we can decide together. 

Last Tuesday was pretty intense. We went out to this sweet little po-dunk part of our area to visit a few families. It was an adventure for sure! First, we were taught how to be domestic and make apple sauce since we did service in the garden after the lesson. So that was pretty calm. Then we went down the street and kissed goodbye to the domestic life! The family we went to visit loves reptiles, so we had pythons and lizards and all sorts of things slithering around us. Such a large contrast in such a short drive... 

Wednesday was fantastic! We went and saw a less active member and let me tell you... I am such an awkward human being. I've served around a lot of different cultures in my defense... But our conversation went a bit like this: Sister D: "Do you like Platypus?" Me: "For eating?" Sister D: "No... for looking at." Me: "Oh... Where's Perry?" Yea.... I just invited myself to eat a strange animal again... It happens. But besides that we had a lovely visit with her. Then we went to see our beloved Amanda! She's doing great and is so ready for her baptism on the 2nd of April! :D But we'll talk more of her in a bit. After that we went and cooked dinner for Bishop and his family since his wife just had a baby. It was really nice and fun. Cooking for members is one of my favorite ways of doing service! 

Thursday was really neat! President and Sister Back came down and had a meeting with our district. It was pretty neat and personal. After the meeting President Mahe went with us to Amanda's and cleaned out her gutters! It was great to talk about the Priesthood and Service as the Elders Quorum President was up on the roof getting work done! Talk about an object lesson!

Friday was great! We taught Amanda her final lesson that she needed to have before her baptism with Elder and Sister Clark. We're been stressing so much over it but she handled it great! Then we did a few things and there was a Multi Faith Samoan Good Friday Evening! It was AWESOME! Except we were the only white people, but we represented the church  well and sang for the High Commissioner of Samoa and some ministers of other churches! :) It was a pretty cool experience for a white kid.

Saturday was great! We had the Primary Easter Activity and Amanda and her kids all came and it was so fun! Then we were doing service for a member and I accidentally electrocuted myself.... I was trimming the hedges and I accidentally cut the cord to an electric chain saw with the electric chain saw..... Don't worry though, it charged me for the rest of the day and I only twitch a little. ;) Hahaha. Then we went tracting with our Bishop! Bishop Seumalu is honestly my hero! He actually went out there and knocked on doors with us for a few hours! Now THAT is a consecrated member. It was pretty cool to be out there with him. We sang again for a whole apartment complex that a less active member lives at which was pretty fun.  

Sunday was Easter! Happy Easter! Church was great. We taught Relief Society but we accidentally based our lesson off of a quote that isn't actually a real quote.... So you know, that's awesome. But it wasn't any legit false doctrine so we're not going to get struck down or anything. :) After church the Edwards had us over which was nice and we finished the night with a visit to our dear Nana Julie. 

MONDAY IS THE BEST DAY! P-days are always pushed back for good purposes! We started off the morning by visiting Rosa and then Anna. I just adore them both! We're going to go to Italy together one day... And by one day I mean the day they buy me a ticket. haha. They're great though! Then we went and did some service for Nana Julie which was good fun. Then came the MIRACLES! We had FHE with Amanda and her family at the Hooper family's home. And right before we started the lesson Peta, Amanda's 10 year old daughter, said, "Umm... I want to get baptized with my mum on Saturday. Is it too late?" NO CHILD! It is never too late! So now we have to smash in 5 lessons in about 72 hours so she can get her interview in and everything, but it's going to be awesome! So please, please, PLEASE pray for Amanda and Peta. A lot of trials are about to happen to them this week to try to stop their baptisms, so we need all the prayers we can get! God loves us so much! The church is true! 

That was my wonderful week! Glad we found an adjective. :) Until next time,

Sister Danielle Laree Stott 

Pictures: 1. My new friend the Python. :) 2. The funniest candy to a missionary. Don't worry though, we did not partake. ;) 

And When Our Hearts Were Depressed and We Were About to Turn Back...

Well, hello,

The weeks honestly are just flying by. It also didn't hurt that P-day was a day later last week so I honestly just emailed a few days ago, but even without that the weeks go ridiculously fast. 

Wednesday was really nice. We went and visited one of our investigators in the morning and she is doing well. Sometimes it's hard to know whether or not she invites us over because she likes us or our message. But either way, every time we go she tells us how much it means to her and how she knows God loves her because we always come when she needs us. So we'll keep going back. :) After we visited her we went over to a member's house and spent some time with them. It was really neat though because they invited their niece over who is not a member. We shared a message about Easter and it was really nice and low key. It helped everyone involved and it wasn't that hard. It made me happy knowing that member missionary work can be so simple and can touch so many lives in a matter of 45 minutes. We also taught the mutual activity which was fun. So Canberra had better watch out because the Woden Young Women now know how to make stir fry and no bake cookies. Haha :) 

Thursday was really nice. We went and visited Kate. She is so great! She has so much potential but so little support. It's sad but great things are in store for her! Then we went and visited a less active sister. Oh my goodness, little old less active ladies are one of my favorite parts of missionary work. Maybe it's because it reminds me of the crazy things that would come out of my grandma's mouth when we would visit her, maybe it's because they are happy to have visitors and that makes me happy. Either way, it's the best. :) Then that evening we went with Sister Edwards to visit the Dempsters. It was a really great evening with a fun Easter message. I love Sister Edwards and the Dempsters! It was a great day and great to see members of the ward bond with those who are struggling and who aren't yet members. 

Friday was great. We had our meeting in the morning as usual and then we had a very interesting lesson. A member had invited us over for service but when we got there, she was stressed. So she asked us to sing hymns with her and share scriptures about the hymns. It was a really neat and calming experience. Then we went and saw our beloved Amanda! She's doing great! We reviewed the baptismal interview questions and she seems to be really confident and excited for her baptism in a few weeks! Please keep her in your prayers that her desire will continue to grow and that she'll be able to enter into this covenant! :) 

Saturday was great. We went and saw Yvette and she's doing well. Still keen on learning about the gospel but right now it's more of a search for knowledge rather than a spiritual search. But she's progressing, slowly but surely. :) We also went and visited a family that has had a crazy past few months. They're really great and they mean a lot to me, and I'm so grateful that as we prayerfully prepare lessons to share with them, we always hear the mum say, "Sisters, how did you know?!" It's always a testimony builder that the Lord is here working with us. 

Sunday was quite an adventure. We got yelled at by an angry member, our investigators that we were planning on seeing at church disappeared even though we had been talking to them that morning, Sister Teahe left to go back to Tahiti so I basically sat on the pavement and cried for a good 5 minutes,  so yea, it was looking like a pretty rough day. But when "our hearts were depressed and we were able to turn back" (Alma 26:27), we went back to the chapel after we said goodbye to Sister Teahe and talked to Bishop Seumalu. Well, there is a couple in the ward that has been coming for a while, they're just dating but pretty seriously. He starting coming back to church a few months ago when they started dating... but there's a twist. We all, including himself, thought he was just less active and then started coming back. BUT HE WAS NEVER BAPTIZED. So yea, we're going to hopefully start teaching him the lessons this week. MIRACLE. And then after we talked to him, this less active lady from another ward and her nonmember friend just walked into the chapel and we met them and they invited us over.  So it's okay for days to totally stink, because the silver lining is always thicker than the cloud.

Now, if you will remember my first email from the mission field, not the MTC but the beautiful field of Maine, you will remember me talking about the Cook family! I said, "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." Well, Sister Davis emailed me and guess who is getting baptized! Sister Cook! :D She's getting baptized next week! I'm so excited my heart could explode! 

Being a missionary is the best thing in the world. Sometimes, a lot of times, the struggle is real and being home would be a lot more enjoyable and a lot less exhausting. But it's about ten minutes after those moments that something happens and I realized how blessed I am to be where I am doing what I am doing. Being a member of the church and how I know Christ because of it is the biggest blessing of my life and so it's an honor to be able to try to help others experience the same. Have a beautiful week, endure to the end!

Love,

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

Pictures: 

1. Woden and Tuggeranong District. I know my emails disregard any normality amongst missionaries, but if they didn't already, I'm sure this picture would do it.

2. Saying goodbye to Sister Teahe. :'( 

A Day Late, But Possibly Worth It?

Hello, hello, hello,

It's been an interesting week. Last Tuesday we went and saw two of our investigators. One we've been working with for months and one we've been working with just a few days. It's crazy to see how prepared someone can be. The one that we met just a few days before has been grasping our message far better than the one we've been working with for months, and she was one of the last people we thought would be receptive! That's why you don't judge a book by a cover, or their shelf life. 

Wednesday was great. We were able to see Yvette and she is doing really well and is reading the Book of Mormon. We also saw Amanda and taught "PRO" (Pray, read, obey) and she loved it. Everything we do now is "totally pro." Haha. It's great to see how far she has come and the difference in her we've seen since she decided she wanted to change rather than us deciding for her. We also had dinner with a less active sister and it was so much fun! I now how to make a 3 course meal in 20 minutes in a microwave, you'd all best be prepared. 

Thursday was pretty low key, highlight though: We were teaching Diana the 10 commandments and we use hand signs to help people remember them. So for #6: "Thou Shalt Not Kill" we form our hands into guns and put them in our holsters. Haha. And she went on this HUGE rant about how that is just too American and how Australians only kill each other with knives. Haha. It was so funny because myself, Sister Swan, and Sister Edwards (the member that came with us) are all American and the whole knife statistic just made me think of Crocodile Dundee saying, "That's not a knife, THIS is a knife." I got quite the kick out of it. After that, we went back into the spiritual side of missionary life. Amanda, her children, and Yvette all came with us to see a baptism in the stake. They all really liked it and afterwards said, "You know what, you are all invited to my baptism!" It was pretty cool. Watching a baptism usually makes or breaks an investigator's desire to get baptized, so I'm glad it got her excited. 

Friday we had our zone training meeting which was most excellent. You never know how competitive missionaries are until you put Scripture Jeopardy on the board. You also don't know how strange your sense of humor gets on your mission until you put Scripture Jeopardy on the board... Haha. After our training meeting we went and did some service with Amanda and had a lesson with her. I just wish you could know the love I have for her and her children! We mentioned I'd be out of the area for Saturday and she said, "Umm, can I petition that? You're not leaving!" She was relieved when we said it was only for a day, but when transfers actually do come, oh boy. I'm not the one to tell her. 

Saturday I was on exchanges with my dearest Sister Teahe! She goes home next week so it was fun getting to be together as companions one more day. We went and did service which was quite the adventure. It was pretty fun though to be honest. It was 100 degrees plus, we had to pull every piece of grass on a huge property, and there was rotten fruit everywhere. :P But it was a blast because we got to talk about old times as we worked and the three hours flew by. Then we went and taught the Plan of Salvation to some new investigators, taught a lesson to a recent convert family, and did a bit of tracting.  It was such a fun day. I love Tahidaho! :) 

Sunday wasn't overly exciting. Church was great, most of our investigators were sick, and Sister Swan gave a great talk. That was life. I love Sundays though, the Sabbath is a delight! :)

Monday was quite the adventure. It was Canberra day and missionaries work on holidays, so no p-day. :) Sister Makabenta from the Philippines and I were on exchanges. We went and saw our beloved Nana Julie, did some tracting, and saw some miracles. We went and saw some less actives and part member families, and it seems like God is just really helping people with their desires! Out of no where two of the parents of recent converts decided to give up smoking and drinking. I had to have their eleven year old pinch me to make sure it was true. The Wellings had Amanda and her kids over for FHE and it was fantastic! First off, I love the Wellings! What a great family. And Amanda loved FHE so much that she wants to start doing it every week! Member missionary work at its finest.

It's been a great week (well, whole mission) with lots of laughs and lots of spiritual moments. I know that God loves us and wants us to be happy. It's not easy sometimes, it's not easy a lot of times. But it isn't supposed to be easy! It's supposed to be hard. Trials and hard times don't happen to us, but they happen for us. They give us the opportunity to hit our knees, cry unto the Lord, and use the atonement in our lives. If life were easy, there would be no point for the atonement. And I know that Christ did not suffer and die in vain. He did it for you, He did it for me. The atonement is always there, we just have to use it. I'm so grateful for my loving Father in Heaven and my loving Savior. I'm grateful to be in their service especially coming up to Easter. That's my weekly dose of testimony, but before next week check out: Followhim.Mormon.Org 

All of my love,

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

Picture: Since I was called a stereotypical American with the whole gun fiasco, I thought this picture would suit. :)