Baptism Was the Highlight - April 25, 2016

It has been a really good week. Nothing too excited has happened this week but sometimes that is a good thing. HOWEVER we did have a baptism so that was super exciting! Chris is a super quiet, low key guy so the only people that knew about it were us, the bishops family, and one other family. It was so amazing though! He is so prepared. Him and his wife, Jeri are the best. We stopped by saturday before the baptism to pick up something. Jeri insists on feeding us then chris gets home from work and hands us a bag of donuts. I don't think I have ever left their house empty handed. Anyways his baptism was the highlight of my week. I've got to run but have a great week! I love and miss you lots!

Running Faster Than You Have Strength - April 18, 2016

What a week! 

First off I just want to say thank you for all the prayers and support I get from each one of you. I wouldn't be here without you. I love you all so much!

Monday was missionary Monday at the Dahles house. It was a lot of fun. Sister Dahle is just so cute. Every Monday for dinner and FHE she picks a different country to go to. This week was Liberia so we had Joloff rice. It was delicious. Mom, I'm moving to Liberia. ha, just kidding. They normally use spam but sister dahle is a saint so she just used ham and chicken. We learned about the church there and everything else you wanted to know. It was fun! 

Tuesday we had a lesson with a potential investigator John. He grew up Mennonite but has very very similar beliefs to us. He just needs to make the choice to commit to change. I wish he could see how much the gospel could bless his life. We set up an appointment to see him again friday but he wasn't home so he left us a sign. It made my day. We also met this guy while we were tracting tuesday afternoon. He was so sweet. He has had a couple of really hard months but is so strong in his faith. I love meeting people like him and listening to their testimonies. Just one of the blessings each and every day. He thanked us for our service which always means the world to me. Then he told us of his friend to go talk to. She ended up being a former investigator actually. We went and knocked on her door and a home health care aid answered the door. She told us that the lady wasn't interested in whatever we were selling so we were walking down her drive way when we hear "wait, were those the sister missionaries? Invite them in!" So we talked to her for just a couple minutes. She is so sweet! We are going to try and see her this next week and talk to her more. Such a miracle!

Wednesday was our last district meeting with this district. Had to say goodbye to sister Lunt so that was so hard but I'll see her again probably really soon. I just love her. Met some neat people while tracting. Sister Gerard has definitely taught me to love tracting. I am amazed by all the people I meet everyday. Even if we don't find people through tracting we find them in different areas. For mutual with all the youth they had the stake patriarch come and talk. We invited our Recent Convert Jenny to it and stayed and listened. It was so amazing. After that we met up with the elders to give them the extra mattress in our apartment. Crazy night for sure but all good :) 

Thursday was weekly planning/ mental health day. It was great though! 

Friday we went to coffeyville for the day as usual. There was no school so we took one of the young women tracting with us. We only knocked on like 4 houses but of course with our luck one of them had to be her crush.... It was super awkward for her and we felt so bad! We are close with their whole family so her mom texted us later and was like "I thought I told you not to traumatize Amy." It was so funny and I really hope Amy will forgive us one day. Sorry Amy! 

Saturday was a members funeral. We helped out with that then the Krauses took us to lunch afterward. They are so sweet. We even just had dinner the night before. We don't starve with the krauses :) Drove up to Fall River to meet with a part member family. SO amazing! We answered a lot of Nancy's questions for her. It was incredible to watch and see how things clicked in her head. She has studied many different religions but you could tell this was different for her. 

Church was amazing like always on Sunday. You definitely get out what you put into the gospel. Those sundays where I am more focused and want to learn I am amazed by how strongly I feel the spirit. This week I focused a lot on things I wanted to change but didn't really have a direction so all week I felt like I was running 100mph but also spinning in circles. We talked to Bishop yesterday and I didn't quite feel like he knew how I was feeling. Wasn't feeling very what he was saying but then he talked about the scripture in Mosiah 4 that says we shouldn't run faster than we have strength. I took me a little bit for it to hit me but when it did it was like a ton of bricks. We are supposed to change but it isn't in our time. It was requires patience, diligence, and time. We have to continually evolve to become who Christ wants us to be. I was studying this morning about the spirit and revelation. A reference took me to Our Search For Happiness and it talked about he atonement. The atonement is so wonderful. It allows us to have that change but we must include him in it. This was just one of those weeks I forgot a basic principle of the gospel but it was one I needed to learn. I'm grateful for the experiences that Heavenly Father allows us to have. I'm so grateful for this gospel and I am so grateful for each and everyone of you. 

I hope you all have a great week! Sorry this turned into a novel. 

Love, sister Frederickson

fish, chickens, and ducks. - April 11, 2016

This week was a blast!!! 

Monday we went down to Claremore, Ok to go fishing. It was so much fun. I caught a fish two times. :) It wasn't the smartest fish in the pond but I'm sure the senior couple will enjoy it. We had so much fun! All of the missionaries in the zone were there except for 2 elders. It was sister gerards first time fishing on her mission so she was having a blast too. President Bell (stake president) was hypnotizing one of his chicken for us. It was pretty cool. I got to hold the chicken too :) So many firsts have been accomplished on my mission. We were getting ready to leave to make it back for our dinner appointment and president bell threw the chicken in our car. The chicken was totally fine being in there too. The whole day was just a lot of fun!

Tuesday we had a biking day which turned out a lot better than I thought it would. We had a day full of blessings and found a lot of really neat potential investigators. I was so sore for the next couple of days but it was definitely worth it. We had dinner with one of the three sister milligans. She was asking why we were so sunburned so we told her that we had gone fishing. She had no idea that missionaries could go fishing or she would have taken us every monday!!! She is the best. We are planning a fishing trip in the next couple of weeks. :)

Friday we had our zone training meeting. It was so inspired and amazing. The spirit was there so strongly. I'm grateful that I get to stay in this zone for one more transfer with all these amazing missionaries. Throughout the meeting we were trying to think of a vision for the zone and we weren't having any luck. Lots of suggestions but none of them felt right. Very last part of the meeting Sister Taylor offered up another scripture (D&C 121:45-46). As soon as she read it we just knew it was the one. I'm grateful for the amazing missionaries around me and for the holy ghost in guiding us in this important work.

I love you all so much! 

Love, Sister Frederickson

fastest email ever - April 4, 2016

This week was so amazing but I think that is how all my weeks have been. Mission are just the best! 

Things that have happened this week:

- Dinner with my favorite family :) Jenny, our recent convert. She is the best! 

- saw a high school teacher get duck taped to the wall. 

- red rice and beans is my favorite meal made by the hammerschmidts. I just found out that it is actually Zattarans. They had me fooled :) 

- had an amazing lesson with a Less active and his girlfriend. They are so ready to accept the gospel! 

-Great lessons while tracting! You never know who you will find :) 

-Tried to contact a media referral in Middle of Nowhere, Kansas. Sister Hart came out with us. She is pretty much the best. So we get out there, approach the door, knock and ask by name if this guy is home. The lady who answered the door said that he is out and asked what we wanted. We told her who we are and why we were there and she instantly asked how old our info was because "Well, he died 3 years ago. I don't know how you got that name." Super weird, super fishy. We all had a really odd feeling about all of it, so we left after she promptly closed the door. Weird things happen out in Kansas in the middle of nowhere! It was just a little crazy! 

-Escaped a tornado. A tornado hit Tulsa and Claremore. Everyone is safe and sound. No worries! 

-My new black girl name is Tamika! This is what happens when we tract in Indy! 

- and of course GENERAL CONFERENCE! Basically the mormon superbowl! I had so many wonderful insights! I'll write more about them next week! 

Love you all so much!!!! Miss you! 

Alma 5:12-13

Love, Sister Frederickson

Lions and Tigers and... CHUPACABRAS? - March 28, 2016

HEY EVERYONE! 

I hope you all had an amazing Easter! It has been a great week to reflect on the Saviors last moments on Earth. How grateful I am for that sacrifice

! I know that because he lives I can live again. We were over at the Krauses house for dinner on Friday and as were watching the new Easter Videos with them we were talking about those last moments he had on Earth. The atonement is something I will never fully be able to comprehend while in this life but I am so grateful for those moments. Easter is a wonderful time of the year to think about life. I hope you all had an amazing Easter. 

Also while we were at the Krause's their little girls were playing around so Sister Gerard and asking them "are you a lion" "no" "are you a tiger" "no, we're chupacabras!" HAHAHA they kill me! Best family! 

Tuesday we had AMAZING lesson with a new investigator but she ended up dropping us on Saturday so that was really sad. But I know she will join the church at some point in her life. I don't know when but someday  :) She is in the Lord's hands now. We are still trying to find new people to teach. Always on the look out! 

Wednesday I went down to Tulsa for exchanges! It was so much fun. I was with sister Gibson. She has been out just one month but is killing it in the YSA branch. We had such a great time together! We have to be companions at some point on our missions. Thursday was actually her one month anniversary so we went to panda express and celebrated it right :) Sister Gerard was in Indy with sister larmouth and they found us a ton of potential investigators so hopefully one of them we can start teaching. :)

Had a great day in Coffeyville on friday. This whole week we have been so busy so it has just flown by! 

Womens conference was great on Saturday. If you missed it go check it out! It just made me even more excited for General conference this weekend. Take questions you have to general conference and I know as you pray and search for the answers you will be able to find them. 

Love you all so much! 

Love, Sister Frederickson

2345 N 20th Place #16

Independence, KS 67301

I. Love. Kansas. - March 21, 2016

Holla!

What a week! I feel like I haven't stopped running in days! Monday our preparation day never seemed to end. We had to run from walmart to a farm store and back trying to get straps for our bike rack because the ones we have are broken. Then we drove down to Bartlesville to spend the night with the sisters there. We had a zone conference in Tulsa that we had to be at early tuesday. Getting to the church building was a mess all on its own. Race car driving through Tulsa anyone? 

Zone Conference was AMAZING though. The head guy from the missionary department in Salt Lake came to our mission the week before and looked at how things were going. We talked a lot about getting back to the basics. I know we all try to think about the 'big' things of the gospel and forget about the basics of it. Sister Gerard and I have been focusing a lot on the restoration this past week. It has been really neat to share that with so many people. It is what separates us from everyone else. What a special thing we have  to share. 

We had a great time in Claremore, OK on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was a lot of fun. I met a lot of great people there like the Lopemans. They are this cute old couple that has done everything in life. They found the church right after they met. They were driving down the highway and saw a cute white church (aka the temple) and tried to go in. We learned a lot about life from them. They are full of advice! This a picture of his office. It was really cool to see! 

We had SUPER Busy days after we got back wednesday night. We have been able to contact so many part member families and invite them to church. It has been amazing. We finally were able to have a lesson with a less active Manny on Saturday. He is so ready to come back to church and help his daughter join the church. He is from Puerto Rico and has such amazing life experiences. His testimony is incredible. The best part is that he came to church on Sunday! We were talking about the life of Christ in Gospel Principles and he had so many insights. I have been studying about the atonement and resurrection the past couple of days as Easter is coming up. It is amazing to study Christ and really feel the love he has for each one of us and to see the love he has for Heavenly Father. We are all so truly blessed! 

I love you all so very much! Check out the new easter video Hallelujah! It is amazing. Followhim.mormon.org. 

Happy Easter! 

Love, Sister Frederickson

2345 N 20th place #16

Independence, KS 67301

Rainy for Days - March 14, 2016

This weather has been getting me down! I've decided I need 70-80 degree weather with sunshine all day! It has been cloudy and overcast for a week and it just makes life sad. Luckily the sun came out today so I am so happy about that. Just praying it will stay out for the rest of the day! 

Nothing too exciting has happened this week! We bought bikes on Monday so that was alright. It will be better when it is warmer :) We didn't have a bike rack at the time we bought them so we were in the walmart parking lot trying to shove them in our car. This older guy comes over and offers us some bungee cords. He was really really sweet! We ended up having to use one to get our bikes home with out it Sister Gerard would have been riding her bike home while I followed her in the car. Wednesday we got a bike rack from our District Leaders so that is good. 

The young men and young women did something called a mini mission this week. They are assigned companions and a family. They have to plan a lesson together and teach it to the families house for dinner. We were able to help a little bit with it and it was so much fun! I just love this ward. they are awesome! Two of the best families are moving in July though so that is a bummer! 

Had a bed bug scare. We found a couple of bugs in our apartment. Not sure what they were so we had an exterminator come over. They were bed bugs but we didn't have them luckily! Just came from a different apartment. The exterminator scared us so much though! We come home for lunch and had no idea he was there. Our house was TORN apart! It's been an adventure! 

Tuesday I was reading a talk from conference "What Lack I Yet?" by Larry R. Lawrence. It is so amazing! It made me grateful that we have conference to be able to listen to our leaders and the Prophets & Apostles. I am so excited for conference in a few weeks. After reading that talk I ended up reading like 5 other talks in the conference ensign. As I read "What lack I yet" I thought a lot about what it means to be humble. It has been on my mind a lot this week actually. I always want to feel okay about where I am in life and it is good to do that but we can also look and focus on what more we can do and become. The Atonement is so amazing in many ways but one of the things it allows is for us to grow and to become more Christ-like. I know we will be so blessed as we allow the atonement to work in our lives and really reach out to us. We truly can be who our Savior knows we can be if we just take it one step at a time. I want to invite you to ask for one thing you can improve on and ask for Heavenly Fathers help to you improve on it. 

Friday the ward had their Blue and Gold banquet for scouts. It was a chili cook-off and a cake auction! It was basically the best thing ever. The members made it a party. Brother John Hart held down brother Krause so he would stop raising peoples bids. Brother Krause is like 6'5" and brother hart is like 5'11". It was so funny!! The pink lemonade cheesecake went for $40 but sure was delicious! We went to the harts house the next day for lunch and they shared some of it with us! We came out with a bundle of goodies on our own though. The Hammer bought us cookies that we shared with the Dahles, the Rains gave us a chocolate pie, and the Zoggs gave us a delicious loaf of bread. I have definitely not gone hungry on my mission, that is for sure! It was really fun. I just love everyone in this ward so much! I have been lucky to have such AMAZING areas! 

We'll I'm out of time but I hope you have an amazing week free of bed bugs! 

Love, Sister Freddy

2345 N. 20th Place #16

Independence, KS 67301

And Then There Were Two - March 7, 2016

HEY-O!

After an eventful week Sister Jackson went home for medical reasons on Friday. It was really good to be her companion and I learned a lot from it. I'm thankful for the opportunity I had. Everything with Sister Jackson started and was finalized on Thursday and then she was on a plane friday morning. We took a trip down to Tulsa and met President Loveland there. It was really sad. I'm glad she was able to serve even if it was only 3 months. 

Friday as we were trying to head out to the airport our car had a dead battery. Our GPS fell and hit the hazard lights button so it killed the battery. We called our ward mission leader and jumped our car for us. We still managed to make it on time :) 

We had a lesson with Jenny this week. She just bore testimony of how the Book of Mormon and the Bible complete each other. There spirit was there so strongly! Her mom who is a non member was also there so it was neat to have Jenny share her testimony with us as well as her mom. She is a great example to everyone around her! 

Not sure what else happened this week. It was been a whirlwind. I'm sure next week will be a little more normal. 

Love you all!

Sister Frederickson

2345 N 20th Place #16

Independence, KS 67301

Trio Trio Trio - February 29, 2016

Hello everyone! 

Sorry the church email system has been having problems. Praying it is working today :) 

So here's what has happened the past 2 weeks. 

Last weekend was really great(19-21 Feb)!  Saturday we went down south to Tulsa, OK for a mission conference with our whole mission and the Oklahoma City Mission. So like 400 missionaries plus two general authorities, and... An Apostle! So it was Amazing! Elder Southward and Elder Robbins of the seventy came and Elder D. Todd Christofferson came as well! We were able to shake hands and meet all of them. It was a very humbling spiritual experience full of personal revelation. At the end he opened up the floor to questions. He basically gave a talk instead of simply answering them. I would think of a question in my head and and it would be answered as he was talking about another question. It was a once in a life time opportunity for sure. Then on Sunday Elder Southward and Elder Christofferson came to the Bartlesville Stake conference and spoke. It was so amazing. It was even better because we had a lot of non members come and then a less active family came that hasn't come to church in years! 

We found out transfer calls that night and if you didn't know already I am staying in Independence and am in a trio now. Sister Stirling left and my new companions are Sister Jackson and Sister Gerard. I came out with Sister Gerard so it is really fun to be companions with her now. :) Only sister jackson was supposed to be my companion then President Loveland (our mission president) called me on transfer day in the morning and asked if I had room for a trio in our apartment. Of course I said yes. He told me Sister Gerard was coming to indy and it made my day! It has been really good to have a third person this transfer for a lot of reasons. The Lords timing is perfect. It was hard to say goodbye to Sister Stirling and our Zion Zone but we'll party again one day ;) 

We also found out that Sisters will be biking. Before only Elders rode bikes for safety reasons now everyone will :) We only have to ride for 4-8 hours a week which isn't bad at all and it gives more opportunities to talk to people on the street. If you have any tips for riding a bike in skirt they would be much appreciated. I'm going to try my best stay appropriate while doing so. 

Our week was mostly saying goodbye to people and packing. That is usually how transfer week goes though. All is going well and progressing. We are trying to find more people to teach so we are going to have active member lessons more and get some referrals.

Personal Revelation has been on my mind a lot lately. I am so grateful that we are able to receive revelation as we study are scriptures. Elder Christofferson said "scriptures are revelation and allow more revelation to come to us" individually. We are so blessed for that opportunity. 

I love you all.  Miss you lots!

Love, Sister Frederickson

What. A. Week. - February 22, 2016

What a wonderful crazy week. Wow! 

Wednesday we went to district meeting in Bartlesville then had lunch with the district. It was really fun. After that we headed to claremore to go on exchanges with Sister Taylor and Sister Rish. We met them at the Olive Garden in Owasso because that is where they had their zone lunch. It was really weird being in a city again. I'm just used to small town life. :) We headed to Claremore and spent the night with them and worked in their area. Exchanges used to be where we would exchange companions and on set would work in each area but the church changed it to the missionaries both go to the sister training leaders area. It was different but still good. It is just hard because we have less time in the week to see everyone we need to but things still worked out. We came back to Indy Wednesday afternoon and saw people. 

We had a lesson with Jenny and talked about temples. I just love her to death! Earlier in the week she had a really bad cold so we were worried she wouldn't be able to come to the  Oklahoma City temple on saturday but she pullled through. We were able to go to the temple with her which was AMAZING!!! I have never missed the temple more in my life. I didn't think it would be hard to be so far from a temple and not be able to go. It is such a blessing to be able to go and feel the spirit there. Jenny was able to get rid of her cold but her voice was also gone so that was a bummer. But she absolutely loved it there. We had a huge group of youth with us. There were 15 people in Bishop Hogges big van so that was awesome and a some other families came as well. We talked to Jenny about it on Sunday and she just loved it. She is already planning to get work off so she can go again next month. Sunday we are having a stake conference with D. Todd Christofferson and Elder Southworth of the Seventy. She is coming and going to bring her husband Montie as well. He has been pretty quiet this whole process. I've only seen him a couple times and he just a grumbly guy. Last Saturday after Jennys baptism we had dinner at their house and we were able to talk to him and get to know him better. Jenny said he has been asking questions here and there so that means he is thinking about it. We are praying for him! We had a lesson with Jenny after church and we asked one of the girls Ahjana to say the closing prayer. She is 8 and says the cutest prayers ever. Yesterday she wished Heavenly Father a happy valentines day. It was just so sincere. I love how sincere and heart felt prayers are from Children. They really pray for everything and it is really neat to see. I know I need to have a better relationship with Heavenly Father through my prayers. Kids are the greatest example :)

So many miracles have happened this week. I promise that Heavenly Father does hear and answer prayers. He wants us to feel His love and bless us. I was reading in Moses 7 this morning. The city of Zion was taken up into heaven and Enoch is talking with the Lord. The are looking at the remainder of the people, the ones who didn't obey and weren't part of Zion. I thought these verses were so neat.

28 And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept; and Enoch bore  record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep,and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?       

 and this is what the Lord says in response:

32 The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren;they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I  gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;

God knows us individually. He wants us to be as one and but he knows that we gave us agency to choose how we act. I love the topic of giving our will to the Lord. It is the only thing we can give to Him that he doesn't have. I loves us and weeps when we stray.

I have loved being able to study zion and to be able to feel Gods love. We are all so blessed. 

I hope you have a great week! Love and miss you all!

Love, Sister Frederickson