I'm in Love!

Hey Fam I hope yall are doing great. 

This last week has been amazing. I am seriously in love with Nashville. This last week has been packed full with emotions. The week started off with a going away party at Hermana Whittson's home, and it was the sweetest thing ever. The spanish group all made my favorite Mexican food, they gave me cards, pictures, gifts, and cake. I felt like the most loved person on earth that night. My eyes were filled with tears as I said goodbye to so many people I love. It was so hard saying goodbye to my companion Hermana Reed, my heart was ripped out that night.

That next day was transfer meeting and I had to say goodbye once again to so many people I love. Six hermanas went home and it was so sad to see everyone leave. Hermana Knecht and Schmit already sent me emails telling me that they made it home and that they are doing well. Cute Sister Tricia Gregory and Brother Seng from Lebanon came to the transfer meeting to say goodbye to Hermana Knecht and I.

The new sister is Hermana Warner, and she is from Seattle Washington. She is so cute and excited to do missionary work. She talks with everyone and she has great confidence, she is going to become one of the stronger sister missionaries in our mission. I am obsessed with hermana Torez, she is the nicest person you will every meet, she is so kind hearted and she loves everyone. She has been helping me with my spanish this last week and I have been so grateful for that.

I am so grateful that I am in Nashville, it is the best thing that ever happened to me, haha. There are so many Hispanics to talk with and to teach. The Ward here is packed full with amazing members. Everyone is from different places so it is fun to learn about so many cultures and to hear so many different types of Spanish accents. We are teaching a woman from Buenos Aires and she is amazing. She is a doctor at Vanderbilt and she is a golden investigator. I am also obsessed with her accent. When I speak with her my heart just gets so excited to go to Argentina.

I am so sad that I only have one week left, but I am going to make the very best of it and work my tail end off. I have to go, but I will tell you all my stories in more detail when I see you in person.

Love

Hermana Ayre

Goal...No era penal

So this week has gone by crazy fast. 

Tuesday- we had MLC and it was really good. Elder Meredith, an Area Seventy, gave an awesome training on leadership skills. I took a ton of notes and got some of Elder Meredith's notes too so I can show them to you dad :) It was awesome to see a lot of my past companions at MLC and to say goodbye to a lot of people #sadday

Wednesday- we did a lot of tracking and teaching.  

Thursday- Exchanges with the Clarksville YSA sisters, Sister LaFever and Rokovitz. It was really fun to teach in a YSA area, I love getting to teach people our same age because it is very easy to connect with them and to teach them how the gospel applies to their life :) 

Friday- The 4th of July!!!! When Hermana Reed and I switched back from exchanges we thought it would be a sweet idea to treat ourselves to a nice Waffle House Breakfast haha. I had some nasty hash browns with jalapenos, cheese and gravy on them.... it was quite the southern experience. Along with some biscuits and gravy too. We found a sweet tobacco farm with truck load of men to teach. Tabacco season is starting up so tons of workers from Mexico are starting to arrive :) I don't know how to really describe the place where they live so I will just send some pics. But we go up to this "house" and there are 13 or plus men straight from Mexico cooking some tortillas and beans. They invite us in and we teach them all the restoration. Some of them are receptive and others are not. One of the men told us that we are Catholics, but we just change the name haha. We left them with some pamphlets and a Book of Mormon. We don't really know how to continue to teach them because none of them have cars to get to church or anything... the only transportation they have is when the boss will take them all to Walmart in a bus on Saturday night and then bring them back home to work for the rest of the week. The men that come out here will go back to Mexico at the end of November because they are only here with a working visa. They usually come back every year from July to November. 

Saturday- We had a really good lesson with one of our investigators Fermin. We taught him about Fasting and keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. At the end of the lesson he opened up and told us that he is probably going back to Mexico this next week because his mom is dying. It was a really sad lesson, he was super sad because he knows that he will probably never make it back to America again, and all of his life dreams have come to an end. Fermin has been in the US for 4 years and he has his own painting company. All the money he makes he sends back to his family in Mexico to pay for his mom's medical bills... At the end of the lesson we committed Fermin to fast with us the next day. On Sunday we all broke our fast together and he made us some tacos. 

Sunday- We had a few investigators at church. We had a great lesson with Eliceo and Alejandro. We also had an awesome talk with our next-door neighbor Nick.  Nick and his girl friend Andrea have been our friends for awhile and we have tried teaching them on several occasions and it just has not gone very well. As we were coming back from church Nick stopped us and talked with us for awhile about what we do as missionaries. He told us that he has been watching us missionaries for the last 5 or so months and he opened up about how impressed he is with us and what our beliefs are. At the end of the talk with him he told us that he wanted to make a nice dinner for us to thank us for being good people... it was so cute and nice of him. He and Andrea get deployed this next Friday, so it will be the last time we see them :( 

I am doing great. I hope that all yall are having a good summer and I can't wait to see you in a few weeks :)

 

Love, 

Hermanita Ayre

Aliens 6/30/14

Hey y'all! Happy early 4th of July. Hermana Reed and I have had a very good but busy week :)

So our investigator C has been praying to know if the church is true and asked God to give her a sign. And we go over to see her and she tells us that God gave her a sign. She was watching an alien documentary on the Discovery Channel and she told us that it talked about Joseph Smith. We didn't believe her at first and then she showed us the video and there's a 15 minute section all about Joseph Smith and receiving the Book of Mormon. It was crazy. And then of course it talked about aliens and took God out and put in aliens. But it was kind of cool to see how she took that as an answer. Weird.

In other news, Mexico lost in the World Cup. And yesterday we went to go visit some investigators and they open the doors and they were crying and so upset about Mexico losing. It was kind of funny and also heartbreaking at the same time. But everyone is freaking out about Costa Rica. So that's the World Cup update.

We are making big strides with Fer. He had a church tour on Saturday, he stood and looked at the baptismal font for a long time. He knows he wants to make this step, and we are patiently waiting for him to receive his answer. But, it's been so awesome to see how much he's progressing. Update on E, he's doing great. We found out his
girlfriend told him she'd break up with him if he was baptized. So we are trying to overcome that obstacle. Please keep him in your prayers.

This Saturday we had a Spanish conference and Hermana Reed trained, she did a great job. We had some great speakers come to the meeting as well. President Salazar, aka brother Salazar from Lebanon came and spoke to us about stretching ourselves, it was a great training and it was so nice to see brother and sister Salazar, it made me cry. They also skyped in a Seventy to speak to us. He trained on the pure love of Christ and learn the culture of our investigators. We recently have had trainings about elevating our
vision and helping our investigators prepare for the temple. Elder Nelson recently said this,

“Missionary work should begin and end with our minds focused on the
blessings of the holy temple,“Missionary work is all about gathering
people out of the world, ennobling them, and enabling them eventually
to dwell with God forever,”  “This is His divine desire. Simply
summarized, God wants His children to return home to Him. What else
would you expect from a loving Father? Every missionary can have at
least one convert on a mission: himself! Or herself! Not just a
baptism, not just an attender, not just a name to be remembered—but a
rock-solid, true-blue, through-and-through disciple who will be an
exemplary member and spouse, long after the mission is over. We want
your missionaries to develop faith so steadfast that their
grandchildren will qualify for the blessings of the temple. …
How will we measure your success as mission presidents? Yes, we want
both converted missionaries and many baptisms. But, most of all, we
want the grandchildren of your missionaries, and the grandchildren of
those whom your missionaries baptize, to be endowed and sealed in the
temple. We want multigenerational families of faith. God wants His
children to return to Him, converted, endowed, and sealed as
families."

Amen to all that. My testimony of the temple has increased so much since I have come on the mission and I see too that is what sparked my testimony. I love my family, and I want to be with them forever, and I knew the temple could bring me that

This sweet viejito member from Columbia gave a talk in the Spanish conference. He was so precious, he called us all angelitos y angelitas. I was dying, so cute. I love when people talk in ita. But he talked about our church name and what saint means. A saint is someone holy and of virtue, and that's what the church does, it helps
us become more pure. Oh, the meeting was so fun, but sad because Hermana Knecht and Schmit were there and we all said goodbye because they go home in two weeks😥😩😭

I don't know if I had said much about the ward I am serving in, but most of the members are in the military because there is a base very close. It's super humbling to meet all these families that go through the struggles of deployment. But as we sang the national anthem on Sunday, the spirit was strong, and I felt a deep gratitude for the
members of the ward. I have gained such a deep appreciation for our country while serving in this ward and I have come to realize how blessed we all are to live in this country. It is also awesome to teach so many people who come to this country so they can partake of the blessings America has to offer. The number one thing America has to offer is that we have religious freedom and because of that, the gospel was able to be restored to the earth.

I love being a missionary. I love my calling as a Spanish missionary. I love my Heavenly Father!

Con mucho amor,
Hermanita Ayre

Last Zone Conference 6/23/14

Hello!

I had such a great week. So many things happened. We had zone conference and I gave my departing testimony. Aka cry fest. So weird. We also had exchanges, I went with Sister Gustaveson to Hartford Ky. It was a great exchange.

On the exchange we went out tracking and as we were walking we saw a really cute home with a beautiful front porch and we decided that we should knock that door. A lady answers the door and we complement her on how beautiful her porch is. I then turn to look at the front yard and I hear a shatter. I look back and see that my bag hit a vase as I was turning.. I was soooooooooooooo embarrassed. The lady was way nice and just laughed, she said that the vase was only $2 at a yard sale. She also has three little boys, so she said that things like this happen all the time.


(Words of Hna. Reed)
We have sooo many progressing investigators. People we didn't think were really interested are really reading the Book of Mormon. We set a baptism date with E. Things are just so good. Hermana Ayre and I went to the Jefferson Davis monument. I am just loving my time here. I laugh and laugh so much. We were hit on by so many men this week the best being walking in Russellville, and this dude comes pounding out the door saying, " dannnnnng girl. You be fine. How you doin'"  Hermana Ayre looks at him while talking on the phone and politely replies, "great! Have a good day!" Haha we couldn't stop laughing. 

Best tracting conversation this week:
Hermana Ayre: sir, our message is that heavenly father once again has
called a living day prophet on the earth.
Man: It's not Obama is it?
Me: No sir, it's not Obama. His name is Thomas S. Monson
Man: well, as long as it's not him, because he's the anti christ.
Hermana Ayre: here's this pamphlet, let us know if you have any questions.

Creepiest part of the week was a drunk man watching the World Cup pet our hair and call us guerras lindas. Hispanics seriously love Hermana Ayres hair.

So I just accidentally forwarded y'all my companions email from last week haha....
Her email starts at the third paragraph. I'm still trying to get used
to emailing on this iPad.

But this week was really good and I am getting really really nervous to come home. I gave my departing testimony in zone conference and it was super sad. It is hard to say good bye to all the missionaries in my zone.

This morning in my personal study I was reading in Alma

 34 O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in
bringing them again unto thee in Christ.

35 Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our
brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we
may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee.

 (Alma 31:34-35)

I have read that passage many times on my mission, but today as I read those verses I felt like Alma had stolen my exact thoughts and feelings. I love how the scriptures have really come to life for me while I have been on my mission. I hope that my desire to gain more
knowledge of the gospel will never dim.

I love you family,
Hermana Ayre

The Meal 6/16/14

This has been a good week. We worked really hard this week to keep
this area progressing forward. Hermana Reed and I are still loving
being with each other. We go to bed every night laughing our guts out.

Yesterday was Brianna's baptism and the service went very well.
Brianna is the daughter of a less active family that Elder and Sister
Smith have been working with. We started teaching Brianna about a
month ago and she was very excited when her mom and dad said that she
could be baptized. Brianna's parents are coming back to activity in
the church. We hope when Brianna's little sister turns eight in
January that her dad will be able to baptized her :)

This week we started teaching E again and he is going to be baptized!! E is an amazing guy, but he just needs to let go of some bad habits. The first time when Hermana Hendrickson and I found E he started to cry in his doorway as we taught him the restoration lesson. Later that week Herman Hendrickson and I added E on Facebook and he posted on his Facebook wall, " voy a ser mormón!" I am going to be Mormon. But A lot of his friends posted anti Mormon stuff on his Facebook wall. Two days after that he un-friended us and told us to never talk with him again. Well two weeks ago Hermana Reed and
I felt impressed to go see him. We taught E more about the Book of Mormon and the promise that is given if we will read, ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon. He has been reading now and has started taking the missionary discussions.

Last Tuesday we had a "fun" surprise lunch date with one of our investigators..... So a few weeks ago we get a text from a man named
FM that says, " hey I want to continue learning about y'all's church." We reply and tell him that we can meet at the Hopkinsville park and teach him more. So that day we teach F about baptism and the need to be baptized by the proper authority, just how Jesus Christ was baptized.  We then leave him with a restoration pamphlet and invite him to read it and told him to text us once he has read it and that we then can meet with him again and explain more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Three days after our lesson we get a text from F saying that he read the pamphlet and that he would like to meet with us again.  He asked us if we could meet him at S L, the restaurant he works at, and teach him during his break. We told him that we could do that. That next day we show up to S L to teach F. As we walk in the door F comes to the front and greets us, he then proceeds to escort us to a dinning table and hands us menus. He too sits down and says that we can order whatever we want. The waiter comes up and asks us what we would like to drink, before we say anything F shows us all the alcoholic drinks on the back of the menu and recommends some weird fruity margarita type drink. Hermana Reed and I quickly say water and the waiter leaves. (Oh side note... Hermana Reed and I are the only customers in the whole restaurant, so all of F working buddies are all in the background watching and quietly giggling in the back. We think F was trying to impress his friends by taking out two white girls to lunch.) 

It is now time to order food and once again F tries to flatter us by ordering us the $25 steak. We both reject the offer and order a cheap taco.... At this point Hermana Reed and I are dying and we don't know what to. So I decide to start teaching him the restoration and to recite the first vision to him while he is eating a big steak. He instantly stopped flirting with us. I then proceeded to tell him that our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ through baptism. We ask him if he has a desire to change his life for the better by being baptized... Sadly he didn't accept the baptismal invitation, but he did say that he would like to continue to learn about the church another day:)  F continues to text us and we decided that it would be best to teach him through Facebook for the time being.

Tomorrow we have Zone Conference and I will be giving my departing testimony. I can't believe that my mission is coming to an end. I am super sad about it, but I guess there is nothing I can do except for love every day I have left here.

I am out of time. I love y'all and I hope you have a great week.

Love,
Hermana K Ayre

P.S. Happy Birthday to Grandpa Snow this week! I love you Grandpa,
thanks for all your support.

Awesome & Sad 6/9/14

So this week has been AWESOME!! 

Well there were some sad days in the mix because Hermana Hendrickson went home on Tuesday :( It also takes a little time to learn with a new companion how to teach and how we want to have things go for this new transfer.

I am sooooooo excited to be with Hermana Reed, she is so fun!  We are so much alike in so many ways. It is like I am serving with one of my best friends from home.  This week we had a Zone meeting and I trained on "vision" and setting goals for our transfers. I got a lot of my ideas from the talk Elder Oaks gave in the April 2011 General Conference called "Desire." It was a pretty good zone meeting.

Funny story of the week....  So we've been teaching a referral from a Brother in our ward , and things have been going really good. She is liking the Book of Mormon and she loved the restoration lesson. This last Saturday we planned to bring our own lunch and eat at a near by park. We planned to teach her the plan of salvation. When we showed up she had brought a friend with her. We were really excited that she invited a friend to come listen and learn too.  She introduced us to her "girlfriend".  This girl gave us weird looks and shook our hands very firmly. Then we all sat down and had lunch and we taught the lesson. Things went pretty good and we gave the friend a Book of Mormon and she seemed pretty interested at the end. As Hermana Reed and I were walking back to our car she says.... Interesting.... I said, why? She then says why didn't you tell me that they are a couple? Then I gave her a weird look and said they're not a couple and then I pause and replay the whole last hour in my and head and I realized that they are so dating each other...  I felt so stupid haha. We just laughed and laughed because I was soooo naive. That was also the first time in my mission that I have taught a couple together:)

After that experience I remembered the weekend before I left on my mission and Dad and Kyle pretended to be a couple while Alex Farley and Brent taught them the first discussion. I laughed thinking about that moment, then I wished that I would have remembered how Brent and Alex taught them, so I can be prepared for our next lesson with them.

This week we started teaching a cute couple from Guatemala and we found out they that are related to one of the active members in the ward, Hermana M. They were very welcoming with us and said that we are welcome to come teach them anytime, even though they are very active Catholics.

I am doing so good and I am just trying to live up every minute I have left on my mission. I have felt so blessed for the opportunity I have had to serve a mission at this time in the south states. I hope that y'all have a good week!

Love
Hermana Ayre

Transfer Time 6/3/2014

So this week we received transfer calls and Hermana Hendrickson is getting transferred to her home town of San Diego, California. I am staying in Hop-town and getting Hermana Reed. 

I am pumped to get Hermana Reed she is from Logan, Utah. She is 20 or 21 she left for her mission after the age change was made. Hermana Reed is a very hard worker and a dedicated missionary, she is coming to Hopkinsville to be a Sister Trainer Leader with me. I was her Sister Trainer Leader in the McMinnville Zone, so I have already spent time
with her on exchanges.

Y'all would be proud of me, I have predicted my last two companions before receiving the transfer call. Some call me a prophetess haha just joking. I am so super devastated that Hermana Hendrickson is leaving me :( I am happy for her that she gets to go home and see her family, but I want her stay for me haha. I am still a selfish creature after all this time on my mission, maybe I need to extend....

This last week I had interviews with President Andersen and after counseling with him I am now going to Buenos Aries July 30th. I am excited that I will get to see the family before I go back to college.

This last Saturday we had MLC and Elder Pino of the seventy gave us some training. Elder Pino spoke in Spanish and had one of the AP's translate for him. There would be times when Elder Pino would tell jokes and all the Spanish speaking missionaries would laugh and then Elder Steiner  would translate the joke and all the English missionaries would then laugh. I was grateful that I understood Spanish that day. Elder Pino taught our mission the importance of our studies and especially that we need to be studying the doctrine of Jesus Christ. He wants us to simplify the things we teach.  It was a very spiritual meeting to be in.

On Saturday after the trainings all the sister training leaders surprised sister Andersen with a sisters lunch and a cute notebook we made her with letters from all of us. 

This last Tuesday I was inside sick, so it was a lame day... Monday night one of our Hispanic investigators fed us and she feed us some nasty meat. After we finished eating J. showed us some pictures from a BBQ they had a few days ago with some friends at the lake. As I looked closely I noticed that they were eating the exact same meal we had just eaten. Next thing I hear is J. telling her boyfriend that they forgot to get out the rest of the meat from the car . The meat we ate had been sitting in the car for two or more days cooking in the heat of the day in a cooler. That night I got food poisoning and I was vomiting all the next day. I didn't even lose weight from it either... So it was a double negative haha.

Well we have a lot of things to do to get Hermana Hendrickson ready to go home, but I will write a better letter next week :) 

Love y'all,

Hermana Ayre
P.S. Carisa and the snow family are in my prayers :) I hope all goes
well with the surgery.

Milagros

This weekend was AMAZING!!! 

Hermana Hendrickson and I have done a lot, a lot, a lot of studying, praying and fasting to see some miracles happen in this area and boy has The Lord delivered.
 (Alma 17:2-3)
2 ... they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they
were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures
diligently, that they might know the word of God.
3 But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and
fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of
revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority
of God.

A few weeks back we met a man named E. in the parking lot in front of our apartment. We gave E. a Book of Mormon and he was excited to read it, we got his cellphone number and that was all. A week or so later we felt impressed to call him but we didn't get a
response, so we just left a message. On the morning of Mother's Day we had a missed call from a number that we didn't recognize, we called it back and E. answered and asked if we still have church services this morning at 9. We proceeded to tell him yes and that we would
love to see him this morning at church.  9:00 comes rolling around and we see E. walking with a lady and two children into church.  One of the kids is holding a quad in his hand and Hermana Hendrickson and I become very confused. When they walked inside we find out that E. met and started dating a lady named D. who is actually a member of the church, but lives in Clarksville and they decided to come to church together in Hopkinsville.

E. then told us the story of how he met D. the week after he had met us and their first conversation was about God, D. told him that she's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints.  He knew at that point he knew that God was trying to tell him
something.  E. has come to church the past two weeks and has loved every minute of church. Yesterday we did a family home evening with him and D's kids, also the mother of E. We did a lesson on the restoration and when we went to go show the restoration DVD E's
mom said that she had rented that DVD from the library a few times and has watched it three times. We were sooooooo shocked, E's mom loved the message of the restoration and called Hermana H and I her little angels.  They have started reading the Book of Mormon and both committed to baptism!!

This last Sunday we had 7 investigators come to church and they are all progressing towards baptism. This week my testimony of fasting and prayer has grown so much. I know that as we exercise our faith in Christ we will see miracles come to pass. I know that through Christ all things are possible.

I love being a missionary and I never never never want this time to end!


Have a great week y'all
Love,
Hermana Kenedi Ayre

Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! Go have some tostadas or something today! :)

Wow! This week has been a rewarding week! I feel so extremely blessed!

Monday night we had a lesson with M. and A. They are a mother and son. A. is about to turn 9 years old this week. They are so awesome! They have baptismal dates for May 24th. I am so stoked for them. We had a family home evening lesson with the W's and M.
and A.  Hermana M and her 9 year old son, D., also showed up part way through the family home evening. It turned out wonderful!  Hermana W. and M. hit it off really well and D. and A. by the end became good friends. We had to leave right after the closing prayer for another lesson but M. and A. stayed at the W's house and socialized for a while after we left.  Then they came to the cinco de mayo party on Saturday. It was so awesome! They got to talk with a lot of the Hispanic members from the Clarksville Spanish branch. It was seriously soooo awesome!  Members are ESSENTIAL in missionary work!  It just doesn't really work out as
well when the members are not involved. I love missionary work. It is all about changing lives. Helping people progress.

Another miracle on Tuesday.  First, the back story.  Last sunday we stopped and talked to a man who told us where some Hispanics live. We contacted the house and found E. He didn't seem too interested, but we set up a return appointment with him for Tuesday because he didn't have time right then. We went back Tuesday and to be honest we weren't expecting much. We couldn't go into his house because it was just him and his roommate. So we stood on his porch and taught him the restoration using the pictures in the pamphlet.  We got to the point when we were talking about the priesthood being restored. We asked him if he would be baptized by someone who had that authority. He started crying and told us that he is sick of falling. He told us that he never cries (he is kind of a tough guy). The spirit was so strong as we testified that he can make his life right. He has kind of had a story like Joseph Smith in that he has searched out different churches. He is so wise with the things of god. He is also so humble. He told us he has not found the truth yet and he has just been confused about religion because everyone says something different.  We told him that God is very aware of his situation because God sent us to his house. He cried some more. We asked him to pray right then to know if the things that we are teaching are true. He prayed one of the most heartfelt prayers I have ever heard. He asked if these things are true. The spirit was so strong. It is the coolest feeling to have God work through me. I didn't plan on saying half of the things I did to E. I felt in a real way God filling my mouth with words. It was so powerful! He was so stoked to come to the Cinco de Mayo party too.

Right after we left we ran to get a flier from our car. When we came back to give it to him he told us he had already started contacting some of his friends to see if they wanted to come to the party. It was so awesome! Saturday we stopped by to make sure he had a ride. He said
he did but he would call us if it fell through. A few minutes before 5:30 (when the party was supposed to start) he called us and said his ride fell through. Sergio, the recent convert of 2 months, went and picked him up. He ended up bringing M., (E. friend) M., (his nephew) and D. (a friend of M.). It was so cool!  E. was just eating it all up. M. was the man who told us where E. lived. So awesome! E. told us that memo would like a Book of Mormon. We gave him one at the party. He is interested in turning his life around. After we gave him a Book of Mormon E. took it back and marked a page in it from 3 Nephi. He told M., "you gotta read this
part.".  Soooo cool!!! I asked E. how much of the Book of Mormon he has read. He was kind of bashful and just said I don't know, I just read.  Ahh!  I love being a missionary! These are the moments that make all the hard moments worth it!  

Then to top it all off, last night we get home from the day and check our Facebook and the first thing that pops up on my news feed is E's post. It said "voy a ser Mormon" (I am going to be Mormon). We were freaking out! I started messaging him and he told me that he has been reading the Book of Mormon. We are meeting with him tomorrow. We are sooo stoked for him! Pray for him because he is going to have some things to overcome and has some bad
influences in his life. He is already posting quotes from apostles on his Facebook page. What the heck?!?

Saturday was the cinco de mayo activity! It turned out sooo well!  Hermana M. put so much work into it and it was a success! We had 15 nonmembers there and a handful of less active families show up. It was so awesome! Hispanics know how to and love to party!

And Sunday night...... It was one of the most southern nights of my mission. Last week Hermana Hendrickson and I saw some men in white suits standing outside a church so we decided to drive up and talk to them. We drove up and met a man named W. K.  We also met all of the pastors and deacons of the church.  W. actually owns a quad haha he said that he has a Book of Mormon, doctrine and convenance, and a pearl of great price with is name on it and everything :) W. is also running for mayor in Hopkinsville. We asked if we could go to church with them some time and he invited us to come next Sunday night for music church. Oh and this is a Baptist church by the way. So this Sunday we show up at 6 o'clock to hear the gospel music and hear a little preaching. When Hermana H and I walk in we were literally the only people with fair coloring in the building, I am not lying, it was slightly awkward. There are like 250 plus people all in this church. We found some seats and talked
to some nice women for a while. Then the fun began, everyone started singing songs about Jesus, I don't think a have ever heard the word Jesus said so many times in one hour. The music was so good, it was crazy. I felt like I died and went to music heaven last night. Hermana Hendrickson was going crazy standing and clapping her hands, she
really connected with her inner soul last night. The people were all so kind and loving. Brother W.K. said that we could come back next time and sing for the church in a month, haha I don't think he wants to hear my voice haha. We asked him if we could come and do a
presentation on the Mormons in their church and he said Yes!!!  We are pumped!

I love y'all!! Hope you have a great week, especially all of you moms!

Love
Hermana K Ayre

Oh and I met a woman from Loomis California and she went to Del Oro
high school. We are starting to teach her. Her name is M.
Also I we started teaching a returning member named S. W., her
maiden name is G., ...... Sister to R. G...... Crazy small world.

Staying in Hopkinsville

I am staying in hop-town with Hermana Hendrickson! 

I'm  pumped that I get to stay with hna h for her last transfer in the mission.  She is so sad that this is her last transfer, she wants to get an extension, but her tickets have already been paid for. Being with Hermana H. has pushed me to new levels. We have set some really big goals for this next transfer so keep us in your prayers :) We want to blow this area up with success and miracles.

We have studied the law of consecration a lot and how we can give all of ourselves to God. There is a talk that is called, " the fourth missionary" ( I will try and attach the talk to this email, it applies to everyone not just missionaries) and it has been a great motivation
for me throughout my whole mission, especially now when we are trying to do so much in this area and with the Sisters in our zone.

I am excited to see how I change this next transfer because Hermana Hendrickson wants to leave with a bang and we are going all out.  I my might die before I even get to come home because of exhaustion....

This week we started to teach a lot of new people and they are showing great potential! We had a cool miracle happen this week; so we had been praying all week to find more Hispanic families to teach and meet more Hispanics in general because they are really hard to find here.  So, Friday Hermana H  and I were out and having a real hard time
finding any Hispanics to talk to. This week I  said, "man we need to find the Hispanic party that all these people are at." Ask and ye shall receive. That night we pulled up to visit one of our investigators and there were like a bajillion cars outside her house and the Hispanics were just flowing out of the cars. We hopped on that opportunity. We realized that we knew about two thirds of the people there. There were at least 70 people at this party. It was awesome because we knew just enough people to get into the party and talk to people and still meet some new people. It was so great! It gave us a good vision for the work we have to do here! We are so stoked!

We met with Jazmin this last week! She was a former investigator that had been taught about a year ago. She is 18 years old. It is so hard to catch her. We finally met with her, but she only had a couple minutes to talk. It was a powerful lesson! We talked briefly about the
plan of salvation. We talked about how we can fill our lives with meaningless things that keep us so busy and occupied. However, when we put God first our souls are filled with peace.  She said, "that is where I lack. I need to find God first." It was so powerful! She loves what we are teaching. She told us that she is going to quit cheer because she is just too busy. She does cheer and soccer and is in a ton of AP classes. We are really excited to work with her. She will totally be baptized soon!

Anyways I got to go buy some food for this next week!

Love y'all
Hermana Ayre

Meeting with Dan Clark

I don't have a ton of time today, but this last week was really good. 

The week started off with a huge miracle of teaching a lady named Maria and her son, they both committed to being baptized on May 24th, and this was in the first lesson that they committed to a date :) 

Then on Tuesday we had our big transfer meeting, it was one of the most spiritual meetings I have attended during my mission. The meeting was a big roller coaster of emotions, I was so drained at the end of the day. It was so fun to see all my past companions and mission friends all in one place, the last time our whole mission was together was when President and Sister McKee announced that they were returning home. The meeting started off very spiritual with our mission choir singing, then hearing the departing missionaries advice. This last transfer we lost a lot of amazing missionaries, a few zone leaders, sister training leaders, and Elder King one of the AP's. It was really sad to see them leave. After that, they introduced the new missionaries entering the mission, talk about an intimidating day to enter the mission field. 

Then, the best part of the meeting came... Good Old Brother Dan Clark stood up to the pulpit and gave an amazing amazing inspirational talk. The whole mission was laughing and then crying together as Dan told some very heart felt stories. After Dan spoke we sang called to serve, which brought everyone to tears, especially the departing missionaries. It was heart wrenching to see the departing missionaries weeping because they realized  it was the last time they would sing called to serve as a full-time missionary in the TNM. 

After the meeting I had the privilege to eat lunch with Dan and some other missionaries. Dan was so kind to pay for everyone's lunch :) Thanks Dan!! 

Through out this week I have talked with many missionaries that have been strongly impacted by Brother Clark's words. Many sisters told me that Dan's talk changed their outlook on their mission and has helped them to be more committed to God's work. 

I hope that Y'all have an amazing week (sorry that I didn't have time to write more) 

Love, 

Hermana K Ayre 

PS A big shout out to Nelson soon to be Elder Ayre, I am so proud of you Nelson and the decision you have made to serve a mission. You are an inspiration to us all. Love you. 

Lonnie's Baptism

This week was great because Lonnie got Baptized!!! It was one of the most rewarding days of my mission. Watching Lonnie's life change because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has brought me a renewed love and passion for missionary work.  It is incredible to see the blessings/ changes that come into people's lives because they live the principles of the Gospel.

This weekend has been a spiritual bomb, I have been changed spiritually because of the new understanding I have received. I feel that this weekend my spiritual eyes have become more clear and that more light has poured into my life. It reminds me of the verses in D&C 84: 43-48.

 43 And I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give ^adiligent ^bheed to the words of eternal life.

 44 For you shall ^alive by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.

 45 For the ^aword of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is^blight, and whatsoever is light is ^cSpirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

 46 And the ^aSpirit giveth ^blight to ^cevery man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit.

 47 And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit^acometh unto God, even the Father.

 48 And the Father ^ateacheth him of the covenant which he has^brenewed and confirmed upon you, which is confirmed upon you for your sakes, and not for your sakes only, but for the sake of the^cwhole world.  

I have spent  a lot of time studying chapter 84 and the significance of studying "the words of eternal life." As you continue to read chapter 84 in verse 57 it speaks of "the new covenant even the book of Mormon" I have been trying to wrap my mind around the significance of the Book of Mormon and the power that it has in every persons life who will read it and apply it.  I have learned that the Book of Mormon is the book that  contains the words of eternal life and that it will bring more light into our lives.  We need to cherish the Book of Mormon with all diligence, and then we need to share this knowledge with everyone around us. I have around 10 pages of notes on this topic, so I wont bore yall with the rest of my sermon haha.

I have come to love the scriptures so much on my mission and I don't know if I would have ever gained that love if I hadn't chosen to serve a mission.  Whether you have read the Book of Mormon a million times or if you have never even touched the book I invite you to join with me in a serious study of the Book of Mormon every day for the rest of your life. I promise that the spirit will enter into your life with such great force. There are promises from the Book of Mormon that we cannot afford to live without.  

As for Hopkinsville things have been good and we have been teaching a lot of new people.  A couple weeks ago we met a man named Lucio. We had a strong feeling we needed to visit him and his family. They live quite a ways out of town, but we decided to go anyway. Only his wife, Angelica, and their three kids were home when we stopped by. We read 3 Nephi 11 with Angelica. The spirit was so strong. As we discussed the chapter both Hermana Hendrickson and I were able to make connections that we hadn't made before. "He that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." We felt that! We were all edified. We left a soft commitment for baptism and she said yes! We will be going back on Friday when the whole family will be together.  

Sorry if this email is all over the place haha I hope that yall have a great week!! 

Love, Hermana K Ayre 

P.S. everyone in my mission is getting pumped for Dan to come speak to us at Transfer meeting. President hasn't announced who is speaking, but he has told us that everyone needs to be at transfer meeting on Tuesday the 22. I have heard missionaries speculating that our mission is getting split or that the Prophet is coming to speak haha so the missionaries have some high expectations haha But I know that they are not going to be disappointed when they hear Dan speak and motivate them!