December 26, 2016 P-Day #35

Meeeeerrrrrryyy Chrisssssttttmaaaaaaas boys and girls!!

 What a wonderful time of the year!! This week was crazy! We were able to visit a lot of less actives and widows this week and drop off a little Christmas treat and message! It was wonderful! 

Then of course we had lots of Christmas celebrations so I'll tell you about what we did (: 

Christmas Eve we went to the Evans a family in the ward and they pretty much just did stuff for the missionaries! It was SO CUTE! They had all these games and presents for all of 6 of us missionaries in the area! Lots of food and fun! 

Then Sunday we had church and Sandra, our investigator came with us to church then we went to our ward mission leaders house to skype(: (: YUP! I got to see my amazing family!! Wow that was amazing and weird haha! All the little kiddos are so dang grown up! I couldn't even believe it! Some of them will be so different when I get home! Its hard to miss, but worth it! Plus it has made me realize how much I LOVE and appreciate my family! Who knew one day I'd be crying just because I just got to see my mom and talk to her haha! Life! 

Then after skyping I went downstairs and Brittany had made things for Sister Goodsell and I that would remind us of home because she's wonderful and sneaky she had found our moms emails and asked them what would remind us of home and made it for us (: Such a good yummy sweet surprise (: 

Then we had a Christmas lunch with Luanna! SO SO YUMMY!

Then we went to our investigators for a Christmas dinner! She and her family were great! They made us feel right at home! 

Then we went to the senior couples place and hung out, talked and played games for the rest of the evening (: 

Such a fun busy few days! Which made it feel just like home!! 

This time of year sure made me reflect on how truly blessed I am! I have the best family and friends in the world!!!!!! I feel so much love constantly and I know thats because I have all of you praying for me, sending cards, packages, and good thoughts my way all the time!! YOU ARE PHENOMENAL! I LOVE you all so so much!!!

-Sister Hird 

    xoxoxo 

Skyping with the Family!  Best Gift Ever!!

Christmas Festivities

This sweet family, Brittany and Parker Huish, from Utah emailed to find out what some of these Sister’s Christmas traditions were so they could make them feel at home during Christmas!  Brittany Huish made crepes and buttermilk syrup for breakfast and Grandma Buehner’s “Thumb Print” cookies for dessert!  So grateful to those who love and care for my girl

while she is away serving!  

December 19, 2016 P-Day #34

Merry Christmas!!!! 

Wow!!! I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away!!! Time FLIES!! 

I LOVE this time of the year!!! So magical! 

This week has been FREEZING!! We did a Chili stand downtown this week and gave out free chili to homeless people and by the end I was shocked when I took of my shoe and still had all ten toes attached to my foot! It was -20 degrees!! 

Luckily we had lots of lessons this week so we didn't have to freeze all week! 

We met with Sandra this week! Sister Goodsell was able to ask her to be baptized (again) and this time instead of a "NO" it was more of a "no, not yet" which is great haha!! 

She is actually having us over on Christmas for dinner! Which will be so fun and crazy!! 

We had our Christmas devotional this week! Which was too good!! Lots of inspiring talks, a talent show and a white elephant gift exchange! I was the lucky recipient of a B-E-A-utiful deer jacket haha! #blessed sadly enough I had to put up a fight to get that bad boy and some stealing was involved! 

I got some lovely Christmas packages this week! You guys are really THE BEST!!! 

I got this adorable blanket made my adorable grandma lolo!! Sister Missionaries AND Frozen!! I am so lucky! Also featured in the picture...Mocha, my bear given to me by my lovely Sister Dutson❤

Love you all!! Enjoy Christmas with your families (and mine for me haha) 

LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!! 

-Sister Hird xoxo

Papa and Lolo's Christmas Gift!  Sister Missionaries and Frozen! 

Eating a Blizzard in a Blizzard

Mocha from Sister Dutson

The Beautiful White Elephant Prize!  VERY Coveted! 

December 12, 2016 P-Day #33

Ho ho ho!! 

Wow its sure feeling like Christmas around here!!! SO much love and merriness!! I LOVE it!! What a wonderful time of the year to be a missionary!! 

Saying goodbye to my Dutsy was HARD!! But I am so happy she is home with her family right now!! We had some great last memories together! We got the works done at sephora and did some shopping! We even got matching hoodies!! SO mcuh love! I got to go with Sister Dutson and my new comp to the temple the day before she left! Such a cool experience!! I love our tiny little temple here (: 

I LOVE training!! Its such a wonderful experience!! I am learning so much teaching!! My baby is Sister Goodsell!! Shes Canadian!! From Alberta! LOVE HER!! We complete each-other well! We get along great!!! Life is good here in the city (: 

This week has been so crazy and random I can't remember a thing that's happened haha!! So sorry about that!! 

LOVE YOU GUYS!!! Thanks for all the love!! I seriously have the best support system in the world!! 

-Sister Hird 

Me being a happy little missionary with our Christmas decorations

provided by my Papa and Lolo (:

Sister Duston and I both like PLL so obviously we took a dramatic 

picture after our Sephora makeovers haha

Sister Hird's new baby, Sister Goodsell from Alberta, Canada

December 7, 2016 P-Day #32

  Well....its official, I am expecting a baby girl heading my way...TOMORROW!!

I will be training a new missionary this coming transfer!! I don't know much about her yet, but I will fill you all in next week (: I am really excited to be training and to be staying here in Halifax! #blessed

This week flew by and thankfully was much better than last week haha! 

We met with a lot of the recent converts this week! 

We were able to help a less active student who was baptized early this year move! I LOVE HER!! She is from China and seriously the sweetest person EVER!!  She found out last minute that she had to move and during finals! So we were able to help her out. She was getting rid of a ton of nice nice clothes and gave them all too us!! We were some happy little Sisters (: 

We got fed dinner every single night since I last wrote you! Everyone loves Sister Dutson, so they all wanted to be able to spend time with her before she heads home! 

Today is my last day with Sister Dutson 😢 I LOVE her!! I am so grateful for this last transfer I got to spend with her! She is such a great missionary and I am lucky to have been able to learn from her these past 6 weeks. 

We have a fun filled day planned today as a last hurrah! We are doing all the things we love....makeover at Sephora followed by shopping! 😍 (plus lots of packing haha) 

I love you all!! Have a fabulous weeek!! LOVE LOVE YOU!!!

-Sister Hird xoxo

THEIR FLEA-LESS APARTMENT!!!

Sister Hird, Sister Dutson and Sister Street
Awkward Christmas Family Photo :)

Sister Dutson and Sister Hird just before Sister Dutson is heading home

November 26, 2016 P-Day #31

Hey everyone!!

So to start out my email this week I would like to start off with a quote: "When it rains it pours"

Ahhh this week! It was great missionary work wise! We have two new investigators! Dawood and  Clover!

Dawood is a member in the family wards boyfriend. He is from Iraq and started coming to activities and church for his girlfriend but when we met with him he said, "I started to come for her, but when I came to church I never wanted to leave and now I want to be a Mormon." So that was amazing!!

Clover is the friend of a YSA member Joan (who I LOVE) She is from China and is here attending school! She doesn't really have a belief or understanding of God right now so we are starting very simple with her.

Both investigators this week came from members!! Which is just amazing!! I am so blessed to be in an area where the people really understand their role and duty as member missionaries! It helps the work to move along so fast!!

Now for the rain of the week...

Sooo I had an itchy rash (or so I thought) on my feet and legs. I showed the mission nurse and she didn't know what it was so she told me to put some itch cream and give it time. So I did, and it got worse. So I showed a member in the ward, Goldie, who is a nurse.  She told me it looked like flea bites.  Which I was like, " no way! We don't have pets, we're in a new place! Couldn't be!" Haha oh was I wrong! We got home that night and I was putting on my PJ's and saw a little bug on my leg. So I screamed for Sister Dutson and we were like "...it couldn't be" Then it JUMPED off my leg! So we are playing it cool. Just a little bug, not a flea. So we are in the kitchen and I see another on my leg! So I trap it under a tuppperware and I'm lying on the ground watching it jumping around in there when I see another on the ground so I trap it...then another...then another...until we had like ten fleas trapped!!! FLEAS!! Literally we got fleas!! So we alternate between laughing and crying and called everyone and no one really had much advice for us since it was 10pm at night. So we slept in our flea infested apartment and that night and then for a few days until the exterminator came and sprayed.  I slept with flea collars around my ankles....I've never felt more trashy my friends haha but, I did rock them as you can tell from the picture (;

Now I'm sure you're thinking, "this can't get worse" as were we.  That is until Sister Dutson had some tooth pain. So we go to the dentist and find out she needs a root canal!! So we had to deal with that! Poor thing!! It was a rough few days! With many tears, but mostly laughter. Thankfully we both just laughed at our misfortune haha we couldn't believe it!

Whata week I tell you!!! Haha not too sad its over! But with it being over that means this week is my last full week with Sister Dutson!!! :,,,,,( I am SO sad!!!  We are having a blast together!! But, I am so excited for her to be home!! It'll be great!!

We also had a wonderful thanksgiving feast this week with some members that are all young families from Utah up here attending dental school! So never fear! I had a Utahan Thanksgiving even all the way up in Canada (: It was really fun and delicious!!

I LOVE you all!!!! Really don't feel too bad for me! Now that we are over the fleas, I can look back and laugh about it all! Haha!!! AND I have gained some good mission stories, that is for sure!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Thank you for the love and prayers (although I think you must have slacked this week or somethin (; )

-Sister Hird!!!

Flea Collars on her ankles :( 

She's obsessed with her family and friends!

Her Study Area...she loves letter and pictures!!! Keep them coming!

November 21, 2016 P-Day #30

WHAT?! Already Monday again?! Wow how the time is flying!! I feel like I just got here and somehow the transfer is already half over! Which is exciting, because that means Christmas is approaching! But, also sad because that means Sister Dutson and my time together is coming to a close :,( I wouldn't be willing to give her up if it was to anyone but her cute family! But since it is I guess I won't put up too much of a fight haha 

I hit my 7 months yesterday! Which seems crazy because I'm pretty sure I just hit my 6 months last week...or at least that's what it feels like! 

This week has been soo busy! We met with a lot of our recent converts this week and had lots of activities and meetings to attend! 

We met with Helene (the 12 year old investigator who got baptized my first Sunday here) and she has found 30+ names to take to the temple this week for the Young Womens temple night! 

We also got to go and meet with Magen and see how she's doing post baptism and let me tell you..SHE IS AMAZING!!! ❤ She was asking us how soon after she has the baby (she hits 37 weeks tomorrow) she can come back to church! She said, " I'm new! I love church! I don't want to miss anything!!" Then we just talked about what she wants in life and how her ultimate goal is to go to the temple, be sealed there and have a family! 

Its just so amazing how both the people that have been baptized have such a clear understanding that baptism is not the end goal, but that it is the beginning. 

This week I also got to spend a whole two days with my mission mama..SISTA ANDERSON!! Oh my soul how I love her!!! #Blessed As pictured...nothing has changed with us haha

Happy Thanksgiving this week! Don't feel too bad for me, a family from Utah is having us over! Plus I already got Canadian Thanksgiving this year too...So I'd say I'm the real winner here(; 

Thank you all for the constant happiness you send my way every week!! You are all such a blessing to me and I am so grateful that I am lucky enough to call you my family and friends 💕

Happy happy happy ☀

-Sister Hird 

Also fun fact for the week that I just thought was really funny so I'll share...not once, not twice, but THREE times this week I have been asked if I have Japanese in me? Hahah sooo random! All different people on different days! Needless to say...the bangs are now in the process of being grown out haha 

Also second fun fact of the week...a interesting man tricked us into taking a sip of an Alcoholic beverage...don't worry we lived! But its a long story..so I guess you'll just have to wait a few months until I'm home and I'll tell you then (: 

November 14, 2016 P-Day #29

BEST WEEK EVER!! (like every week...but still)

I'm just going to go straight to the highlight:

Magen was Baptized!! WOW!! Talk about perfect baptism!! I don't think it could have gone better! It was seriously perfect!! Sister Dutson and I just cried through the whole thing! Magens nonmember mom, grandma and sister cam to support her and they cried through it all as well! The spirit was tangible in that room! Two guys in the ward did an acoustic "When I am baptized" right before we went to the font for the baptism and it was just so perfect and beautiful! The dunk went great, even with her being 8 months pregnant.  Then when she came up out of the water she just made the cutest noise ever.  It was like a laugh/cry, like she couldn't believe she finally was baptized. That's when the water works started, haha Sister Dutson and I went into the hall and just cried happy tears for a minute!

Then following the baptism, Hugh, her boyfriend and father of the baby spoke about Magens example to him and how he is so excited to take this path with her. He is member and is ready to be fully active in the church with her and do what he needs to so they can be a family(:  I can see them in the temple one day. making their family eternal!! They see it too, which is so great! Magen completely understand that baptism is just the beginning.  I am so excited and blessed to get to be apart of that and see  their journey unfold.

Missions are wonderful! Moments like Magens baptism just fill you right up to the top with real lasting joy.  This is what a mission is all about. I have such a testimony of the joy that Alma preaches about missionary work bringing.

It's not always easy, but it is ALWAYS worth it.

I love it here in Halifax! Being over the family ward and ysa is SO much fun!!

The members here really understand their role as member missionaries and it makes finding people to teach so easy! They make this work progress!

Sister Dutson and I are seriously always laughing...and remember how I said we are pretty similar...I don't think its been quiet once since we met! haha its the BEST!! It's not even like having a companion, its like being a missionary with my best friend! 

We said goodbye to sister Champoux this week! She is headed to Arizona! So I'm not feeling too bad for her (; I'm glad we got to be comps with her for the short time we did! Shes great!! She'll do wonderful things there!

To top this week off...remember Aelia...my 14 year old investigator back in St.Johns??

Well, Aelia is now a member of the church as well!!! She just got baptized!! I even got to skype her this week and talk to her about it!!!

Life is oh so good!

Love love love you all!! Have a wonderful week full of smiles and sunshine (:

xoxo Sista Hird

ps. if you're reading this and contemplating if you should serve a mission...DO IT!! It will be the hardest thing you ever do, but it will also be the best.  I am learning and feeling so many things I wouldn't be able to any other way! 

Sister Hird, Magen, and Sister Dutson

Sister Hird, Sister Champoux and Sister Dutson