Tuesday, June 25, 2013

This work really is a miracle! June 24, 2013

Hello family!!! Wow are you guys as pumped for missionary work as i am from that broadcast. That had to be one of the coolest things in the world. Wow this work really is a miracle. That was the coolest thing to hear all the apostles and prophets (i love them so so much) talking about missionary. And those videos. The church is so tech savy these days and its so amazing. SO AMAZING all the missionaries singing called to serve. The spirit was so strong and it made me so pumped to be a missionary. This is really is the Work of Salvation and Heavenly Father knows all His children and loves them so now we have to go find them and teach and baptize! how amazing. also when they showed the video with the song i hope they call me on a mission with the little kid and then all the process of growing up until they were set apart as amissionary. wow. i felt like that was exactly me and i was-am so thankful for everything in my life that has prepared me to be a missionary. I am so thankful for amazing parents who raised me in the gospel and taught me so many things and then YW leaders who also taught me so much and gave amazing lessons. and girls camps and treks and my ward and everything. and then i just starting crying in the video when the kids got their mission calls and were set apart and said bye to their families. wow haha i remeber exaclty when all those things happened to me. And now it really feel like we are the army of Helamen, just all over the world telling people about the truh. So amazing. Also my love for the apostles and the prohpet grow everytime i listen to them. They are seriously amazing and men of God. I know they are the prophets and apostles of the Lord. How amazing that we live in a time with the true gospel. and everytime the prophets talk i just can sense the urgency in their voices because they know that the Lord is hastening His work for a reason. I loved every second of it but i estched in spanish so i didnt pick up everything but i cuold still feel the spirit. But if they print all those talks could you maybe print them off and send them to me? But yeah i dont know about you guys but i am pumped to be a missionary. When we left the meeting i contacted the bus and i just was feeling so excited about missionary work and just bore my testimony to the whole bus and was so happy to be a missionary haha.
Okay so also this week Elder Duncan came to our mission! He gave us some great ideas and i also felt the spirit so strong when i got to talk to him and shake his hand. The spirit was so strong and yes learned lots of things to imrove on. 
We didnt make too much progress with any investigaors this week so we are going to work hard this week! And changes are wednesday so i will find out tongiht if i am staying in San Pedro of if i am off to a differtent area of Guatemala!
Thank you so much for all your love and support. When i miss home i can feel your love and prayers. I know i say this every email but i really am just so thankaful for my family. I love you all so so much and am so thankful for you all. This truly is the Work of the Lord. It is up to us to bring the world His truth. I am so thankful to be part of this miracle of missionary work at this time. How amazing it is to be serving at this time. The Lord is in the details of our lives and love us all with perfect love. 
Specail thanks to Sister Palmer, Porter and Larson for the letters! and the HV ward beehives! they were inspiring and i am so thankful for the support!
I love you all so much and have a great week!
Hermana Skousen


Walk fast, contact everyone, be clear, invite, testify, promise blessings, and have confidence. June 18, 2013


Hello family! How are we doing this week? I am glad everyone made it back home safely and had so much fun on the vacation! 
This week was the best! WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM! Her name is Paola and she is 19 and has a little baby Diana and her husband is a member but he is less active! But now they are all members and are going to be a strong family in the church and i am so excited! It was the coolest thing ever to see. She was nervous but excited and it was the best feeling ever. It is like a different kind of happiness that you cant describe because you are just so happy for another person to make these covenants with Heavenly Father. She had a dream Monday night that she was in white and in water and then her uncle had the same dream so that sold her. I am so happy that Heavenly Father prepared her to be baptized and we got to see this miracle. The Patriarch led the baptism and he did amazing and then me and hna garcia and hna Turley and hna Blandino sang the primary song when i am baptized. It was so awesome. So yes i am so happy for her! and i was going to send so many pictures home today but we left the house in a hurry and i forgot to bring my camera so i will send those next week! But yes we are so happy!
On Tuesday i got to do changes with Hermana Alvarado. She is one of the "Training Sisters" (there are 4 in the mission) and we do changes with them so learn how to be better and i learned so much! i was nervous at first because i was going to be starting all the lessons and for some reason that really scares me. But i prayed so hard the night before that the spirit would just fill my mouth with the words and that we would find all of our appointments. And Heavenly Father answered my prayer. It really was a miracle day. We invited like everyone to get baptized and literally all of our appointments were home and accepted our visits! and i learned so much from hna Alvarado. walk fast, contact everyone, be clear and direct, invite everyone to be baptized, testify, promise blessings and have confidence. She is an amazing teacher and i am thankful for the time i got to be with her.
Also we had our last new missionary training meeting! We got put with other new missionaries and had to teach trainers and president and the assistants walked around and watched us teach. haha when president was standing in front of me my mind was racing with everything i have learned but don't worry my legs were glued together with my feet flat on the floor (He is big on how you sit when you teach) and i read a scripture and i think it went pretty well haha. so yes that was great and this is my last week of training! changes are next week!
Lets see what else this week.. We are working hard on trying to find new people to teach. We still have Gladis and her husband who would get baptized today but they still have to get married. and Sara we are still working with her we are aiming for this weekend so we will see what happens!
Yesterday we has pday with the district and saw some cool places in Antigua and took so many pictures and i will send some next week! mom i was looking for Beth but i don't really remember what she looks like.. but i got my sweat shirt THANK YOU SO MUCH! and tell her thank you too! they came a great week because it didn't rain to much and it was BEAUTIFUL all week! I am so excited for you guys to see this place!
And now i think thats all for this week! I hope Brooke you had so much fun in Thailand and Ryan i want to hear from you so send me a quick email! Shelby too! and Meagan keep doing your thing in Provo! and Rachel good luck with your swim and dive meets this week! love you and dad HAPPY FATHERS DAY! i sent a letter so i hope it arrives soon! and mom i love you! okay everyone have a great week! The gospel is true and amazing and changes lives! oh and tomorrow Elder Duncan from the 70 is coming so we are all so excited for that! woo go missions! i love you all so much and i love talking about eternal families in lessons because i think about how i get to live with my best family ever forever! love you all!
Hermana Skousen

"Soaking wet and pretty awesome!!" June 11, 2013


Hello family! How are we doing this week? OKAY YOU ARE ON THE COOLEST VACATION I HAVE EVER HEARD OF! haha that is so awesome that you guys are seeing all those places and having such a fun time! the pictures are beautiful and you all look great. Kyla and Rachel are so old! ahh they are going to be even bigger when i get home! cant believe it! so glad you were all safe and had a great time over there!

This week was so great! WE HAD 14 PEOPLE IN SACRAMENT MEETING!!!! It was such a miracle and the coolest thing ever. We were so grateful and so happy. We found 2 families that live in the same house and they both have like 5 kids so we taught them twice and they all came to church! so awesome! now we are going back today and we are going to invite them to be baptized! woo! I really want to see a baptism so i am praying for a miracle haha.
We have still been teaching Sara and Gladis but we havent made a ton of progress with Gladis because she still has to get married. But Sara is progressing and doing good. We were planning on having her baptism this weekend but she drank coffee yesterday so we have to wait until the next week. I really want her to get baptized and just feel all the blessings of the gospel. The poor girl is awesome and wants to change and repent and i want to help her so bad. I want her to realize how special she is to Heavenly Father and how much He loves her. For me this is what always keeps me moving forward. I just think whatever happens in life everything will be okay because we are sons and daughter of the greatest being in the universe who loves us so very much. This is what always helps me and i just want her to realize the love he has for her and then things like breaking the word of wisdom and law of chastity wont even cross our minds. So yes we are working on that and trying the get her baptized next weekend.
Paola is awesome and so funny and i love her. Her husband is a member and they got married when she was 15. She is now 18 and has a baby. She is so happy that we found her and are teaching her. We are planning to have her get baptized this weekend. We had a FHE at her house last night with one of the missionary families from Antigua. She was so happy to have a real FHE it was to cutest thing ever. The spirit was strong and it was so awesome. 
So yes we are just working hard over here trying to be the best we can. It is SO BEAUTIFUL in San Juan i need to take pictures and send them. It rains everyday at about 4. The other day it was so hard that my rain coat didnt even help and my whole body was soaking wet haha pretty awesome! So yes thats all for this week! i love you all and i am so happy you had a great time on your vacation! Brooke keep having fun in Thailand and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I sang for you and gave you a big hug in my mind! I hope everyone is doing so well! And rach congrats on the 1st places! You are so awesome! Also i was thinking about the Bawdens the other day and tell them that i love them. And shout out the Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma! i love you guys! Love everyone so much! Have a good week!!
Love Hermana Skousen 

"The words just flow out." June 4, 2013


Hola familia! How are we all doing? So great to hear from you all again! I cant wait to hear all about your trip to Pittsburg it sounds so fun! send me pictures when you get back! and Brooke going to Thailand?! that is the coolest thing i have ever heard. We met some poeple on the bus from Japan and they were talking about Thailand for some reason and i had the thought that i should go there sometime in my life haha so Brooke lets go back sometime! Have so much fun and be safe and send me pictures!
This week was great over here in the mission field. We are working hard and i feel in the groove of things. it is so crazy how fast the weeks fly by. So our investigators... sad news Jorge, how was progressing so so good and always came to every activity and church and read the Book of Mormon, went to El Salvador for 22 days for work. We tried so hard to get him to get baptzied last saturday but he didnt feel ready.. so now he is over in El Salvador and we are praying that he keeps reading and finds the church over there. He gets back the week of changes so either hna garcia or i wont see him get baptized. but i have faith in the Lords plan for Jorge. One of us will see him get baptized and it will be a great blessing for him. Gladis is still awesome and progressing. i love her so much. we still havent made much progessing on getting her married so it could still be a while until she gets married. but she comes to church and all the activities and writes on little stickys in her scpritures and marks them like me and hna garcia and it is the cutest thing ever. i cant wait for her to get baptized and then be sealed to her family. she is an amazing lady. Also sara is awesome and i love her. She is nervous to repent of all her sins so today we are going to talk about repentance and the power of the atonement. OKay cool story. Sara and Gladis have been asking for hymn books but we didnt have any big ones and the distribution center is in zona 15 so its too far away.. but we asked hna gainor to bring back 2 the other day when she went to the temple. so we wrote little notes in the cover and gave them to sara and gladis. their faces lite up when they saw them and they were so so happy. it was the best feeling in the world. then when we went to teach Gladis a few days later her kids were all singing put your shoulder to the wheel. cutest thing in the world. Also the motivation for Jose Daniel ( her 8 year old son) so go to school is so he will be able to read the hymns. best thing ever.
Also hna Turley and hna Blandino had another baptism on saturday and i gave a talk on enduring to the end. i am so thankful for the gift of tounges because when i get up there to talk or bear my testimony of teach lessons, the words just flow out. i know with all my heart it is the Lord helping me. i am so thankful for the gift of tounges and his help everyday.
so i have been studying the conference issue ( THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING IT TO ME) and it is so amazing. Elder Hollands talk is just for me. I remember the day when i watched it and i was like a week into the field and i remember the feeling of satan attacking my faith and trying to get in my head and elder holland told me to "hold the ground i have already won and to lean on his faith" when he said that it hit me like bricks. and now looking back my faith has already grown tramendously. my testimony has grown so so much. i am so thankful for prophets and apostles. i lvoe them so much because i know they speak for God. We live in an amazing time when the gospel of Jesus Christ is restored. We have the blessing of the Book of Mormon and prophets and aposltes. Read the ensigns. study the talks and find things to apply in your daily lives. i know it will bless your lives so very much!
i love you all so much! mom dad and rach have so much fun in pittsburg! Brooke have so much fun in Thailand! be so safe! and meagan keep lovin life in Provo and Ryan and Shelby i love you both and hope your doing well too! the gospel is the best! i am so thankful we can be together forever! woo have a GREAT WEEK!!
LOVE YOU ALL!
Hermana Skousen

The Flea stuff is working!!!!! May 28, 2013


Hello family! How are we all doing? Great to hear from you all and i am so happy that everyone is happy and healthy. I pray for you all every morning. I cant believe school is already over and its summer time! Time is flying by. Cant wait to hear all about Rachels races in swim team and dive. You are going to kill it like always! And i am thinking about how tall rach is going to be when i get home and freaking out haha so awesome. And so FUN that you are going to see the Yetters! Send me pictures and tell me all about it!
SO awesome how fast the package got here!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was liike Christmas morning haha. I loved the cookies and Brownies. So genuis to put those in. And yes the shoes are all great! And i am so thankful that you sent them because the rainy season has offically started! rained for 3 days straight! so its a good thing that i have 2 black shoes now. i think i am going to save the brown ones for a couple more months. But they are all so comfy and perfect. Tell Wislynn to buy Clarks before she leaves. and every girl leaving on missions because it is worth it. And yes i think the flee stuff is working! haha i put the lemon spray on everything every morning and night haha i think it is working! and also the coconut and lavendar oil is healing all my scars too! so thank you so much! and all the candy haha i was so happy about everything in the package and so so thankful!
Okay so yesterday we went to Guate because i had to take a picture for my visa so we had to wake up at 4 to get on the bus at 5 but it was fun. i got to see people from the MTC and it feels like i saw them 2 weeks ago but it has already been 2 months! so crazy. But yeah Guate is so crazy. So many people, so many buses, people selling stuff everywhere and yeah very exciting.
So our investigators. We have a lot doing really good. So Sara is 15 and is the sister of Gladis. She is preparing to be baptized on the 8th so i really hope that that happens. We had an amazing lesson with her last night. We were in her little bedroom with the candle lit and the rain outside talking about Jesus Christ and faith. the spirit was so strong. I really felt that Heavenly Father was so aware of us as his daughters and i felt His love for Sara so strong. It was so amazing. It is the coolest thing being a representative of Jesus Christ. Also we have had some good lessons with Gladis. She always reads and has questions and is so awesome. I really hope that she can get married ASAP because i  really want to see her get baptized. I love her more and more each day. Also Jorge is doing good too. For some reason he has it in his head that he wants to be baptized in July so we are still trying to work on that. But yes we are doing good with our investigators. I am getting more and more comfortable and i feel like i can express all my thoughts and feelings pretty well too so i am so thankful for the gift of tounges. I really want to see a baptizm so i know that i just need to have faith and keep working hard. And the next time you guys go to the temple can you put Sara and Gladis Hernandez on the prayers role! thanks!
so yes we are doing great over in San Juan and San Pedro. I feel the help of the Lord everyday and i know that he is aware and loves all his chilren. We are staying busy and i am really happy! Thanks for your love and prays. I know that they help me everyday so thank you so much! Have a good week! and have a fun vacation!
i love you all so so much!
love hermana Skousen

Monday, June 24, 2013

Package!!!!!


There is nothing like a package from home!!!!

We had 8 investigators come to church!!!! May 21, 2013

Hello everyone! How are we this week? Thanks for the emails sound like everyone is doing great! And guess what? The Easter package came!! Thank you so much! And that book with a time line of the Book of Mormon is so perfect. Every one that i read i think, "man i wish i just had a timeline of all this stuff" and now i do! So i think you read my mind mom. Thanks so much! Also dad so fun all those activities for the stake conference that sounds so awesome! And so awesome that you guys are focusing in on missionary work. It is so true that if we love the gospel so much, why wouldn't we share it with everyone who we know and love?! I am grateful for this time because i am learning how easy it actually is to just talk to people about the gospel. It is so amazing and it can bless so many lives. So that is so awesome that you all are focusing in on missionary work. And cant wait to hear about your talk!

We had a great week! WE HAD 8 INVESTIGATORS COME TO CHURCH! We were so thrilled. Gladis came with her whole family this week and they were the cutest thing all just sitting together. And her "husband" is interested in listening now too! The only sad part is it could take 3 months to get them married because her papers are in northern Guatemala. They cant afford to take a bus trip there and it is a difficult process that i dont really understand but i think overall it could take a while to get them married. so we are working on that! But she is so cute and has changed so much. In her prayers she always says please help me understand the hermanas and for my papers to work out so they can baptize me. so cute. she is definitly chosen and ready to be baptized. Also her sister Sara. We first contacted her sister and thats how we found Gladis. Sara is 15 and when we met her she had really dark eye make up, lip peircings and all kinds of stuff. But now she doesnt wear dark make up, she always asks me to braid her hair, she wore nice clothes to church and she took out her lip ring! it is just so awesome! we can see the change in the whole family. 

Last night we went to President Cuburs house for FHE and Gladis and her family came. GUESS WHAT- i talked to Gladis the whole way to the Cuburs house. This is exciting because small talk is a lot harder in spanish then teaching the lessons in spanish, so i was so happy! so yes a lot of success with this family. Also we have Jorge who has come to church 4 times now and he is so ready to be baptized and we are going to set a date today!

Okay i love conference talks. I read Elder Bednars talk again about conversion and how testimonies arent going to be enough to get us through the hard times. We have to be converted to the Lord and His gospel. I think it is really cool especially for the people here in our branch! They really have to be converted because they cant really be converted to the ward, the teachers or the programs of the church because they dont really know  how other wards are. Sorry i hope this is making sense but overall i am just trying to say that i loved the talk and i am working on be more converted everyday haha.

Okay something i learned this week in the scriptures that i took as 3 steps for success from Alma 5:13. 1 Humble yourself 2. Put your trust in God 3. Be faithful until the end. I have seen these things in my time here on the mission how important they are so yes those are my little 3 steps for success from this week!

Tell sister Jensen thank you so much for the cutest letter from the girls in the ward and also sister Johnson for the letter! She said Katie Rauch is filling out her mission papers! i am so happy for her! And i think that is all for this week! Again thank you for the package and mom thank you for all the flee advice haha i will be applying that this week. I have never had to many bites in my life i really should take a picture to show you guys haha. Que bendicion! I love you all so so much and pray for you every morning. I miss you all a lot but all this people need to know about the gospel! have a great week!!
love you all!
hermana skousen

Tired Gal

A little P- Day nap at Sister Gainors home. 


Best Agenda Award!!!!! May, 14 2013

Hello how are you all? 

That was the funnest thing ever to be able to talk to you guys! i am so happy that everyone is doing well and that everyone was able to be in on the phone call. that was very fancy so i am very proud. So so good to hear all your voices and thanks for the encouragment and everything. And please tell Wilsynn i am sorry i didnt talk much to her when she was on the phone. Tell her to email me and tell her i am so excited for her to be in Guatemala with me! i dont think i will be able to see her because the CCM isnt in my mission and we wouldnt be allowed to leave the zone. But tell her to send me an email. i LOVE how many people are going on missions! The church really needs all these missionaries around the world and it is so awesome!

So i mentioned Gladis to you guys when we talked on the phone and she is doing great! We are happy about that. Still working on getting her married, but hopefully we will make progess this week. We had a lady, Poala, tell us that she prayed about the Book of Mormon. She said she felt the peace that we promised she would feel and the next morning when she woke up her first thought was the read the Book of Mormon. woo so awesome. and she came to church so we are so happy about that too. 

Lets see i think i told you guys all about my week on the phone but yeah i am doing great! We had zone training today and me and Hermana Blandino won Best Agenda award and won cookies! I was so proud of my agenda! haha

Okay so i finally figured out what the bus ride to San Lucas or Guate feels like. It is like tubing at lake powell! haha so we are winding though all these mountains and you have to stratigecally hold on to the seat in front of you in order to not fly into the person across the asile. haha so yes just imagine tubing at Lake Powell and then thats how the bus feels. haha so fun i love the crazy buses.

Everything is going good here. Still learning a lot and finding things everyday that i need to improve on. I am so thankful for the Atonement. Again it was so great to talk to everyone on sunday! Rachel how did the election end up? i love you and you are a rock star whether you won or not! Congrats to Jessie for having her baby! Have a great week everyone! i love you all so so much and pray for you all everyday!
Love hermana Skousen

"I promise you that this will change you forever." May, 7 2013

Hello everyone! so glad to here that all is well. 

mom is a tennis champ!! woow way to go mom! so awesome! And yes on sunday we get to talk!! i will be calling from the Ganers house on there phone and it is free to the United States so thats so great! I think we will be calling around 1 or 2 but im not positive.. i will have hna ganer email you and let you know what time exactly. And we have 40 minutes to talk so i am so excited! 

Okay this week was great. President Brough is the coolest mission president in the whole world. We had interviews on Thursday and you just feel the spirit right when you walk into the room. He asked me some questions and gave me some really good advice. I told him i think the thing i have learned the most so far is the need to rely on the Savior. As i have been thinking about this it is so crazy how almost every scripture in the Book of Mormon talks about just that. Put all your trust and confidence in the Lord and He will carry you through everything. I have really been trying to make it a constant effort to always have a pray in my heart.I dont think i ever really understood that before. But now as i am learning that everyday i need the stregth of the Lord, whether it be physical strength to keep walking or emotional strength, He can take care of it all if we are constantly trying to have the spirit and have that prayer in our hearts. The atonement is amazing. I think we can even understand the depth of the Atonement and that is just so amazing.

So this sunday we had stake confernce and it was a historical conference because they split the stake in Chimaltenango. So now we are in stake Antigua. Pretty cool. The church is growing to fast. And guess what Elder Amado came! And when he walked in the back he shook my hand! woow! i love the apostles and prophets so much. And we had 4 invesigators there and so it was cool to tell them "look! everything we are telling you is true! look! there is a member of the 70!". haha. so awesome.

Another thing with President Brough - i told him how i really want this mission experience to strengthen my tesimony and change my life for forever. And he looked at me and said "Sister Skousen, i promise you that this will change you forever". He said "the second i stop worrying about that and just forget myself then i will really be changed forever."  I just felt the spirit so strong when he said that and it was so amazing.

Ana the investigator i have told you guys about is slowly progressing. She always does her reading assignments but she hasnt come to church yet.. so hopefully this sunday she will come. Her and her husband always have really good questions so i love lessons with them. Also one of our other investigators, Galdis told us yesterday that she is feeling the change in her heart and really has desires to pray and make good choices! we were so excited about that!

Brookes graduation annoucment came in the mail and it is THE CUTEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!! Woo congrats again. So awesome! I am only a little nervous to get a wedding annoucment in the mail... but if i do i will be so happy too!! haha.
Okay so yes we get to talk on sunday. im so excited. So happy everyone is happy and healthy! i love you all soo much! The church is true!
love hermana Skousen

I Love the Book of Mormon!! April, 30 2013


Hello family!! how are you all? so great to hear from you! Had a great week here! learning so much its crazy but i am so thankful. So glad to hear that all is well at home i pray for you all everyday. Tell Wilsynn congrats and give her a big hug for me! Okay so we have an investigator and her name is Ana i think i told you about her last week. She is really postivie and always has a lot of questions so it really good. i love the lessons with her. but her family is all really catholic and she doesnt want to go against them so she is hesitant but i can tell that she know its true. Also we have been praying for miracles because we dont have very many investigators that come to church ever.. but this last week we had 3! 2 sisters and Jorge. We had only taught Jorge once and then called him sunday morning to invite him to church and then he walked in right before the sacrament! definitly a miracle. we were so thankful and then we taught him last night and he said he really liked church. We taught about the restoration and then about the word of wisdom and he said he would stop drinking coffee and didnt even ask any questions! i am really excited about him and i really hope that he continues progessing. Also we gave these two sisters Gladis and Sara they both really like everytime we come to teach and when we started teaching about the Book of Mormon sara was like oh i think i have one of those books in my room and she went and grabbed a book of mormon out of her room haha she said it was from her dad. so pilas. But not the problem with Gladis is she lives with her quote esposo but really they arent married so we will be working on that the next few lessons. So yeah we teach lots of lessons all day and walk like 10 miles haha proabably not really but  it feels like that and for our mission we have to contact at least 20 poeple everyday so we are always talking with poeple asking them if we can teach them!
so this week i realized again just how amazing the restoration of the gosel it. sorry i dont want to sound like a weird missionary but the restoation is so amazing and so perfect. I am growing to love the book of mormon more and more. I really learn something every morning when we study. It is so amazing and i cant wait to read the Book of Mormon so many times. Elder Bednar said to get a copy of just a blue book of mormon and right a questyion at the front and then find answers to that question all in the Book of Mormon and he said do it over and over and then you will have a library of books of mormon with all these different questions full of answers. haha i cant wait to do it!
I am learning how evey day we have to rely on the Lord. we cant to anything on our own and the Lord wants us the just turn our lives over to him and trust Him and he will take care of us. So thats what i am trying to do. I already feel a difference and the hand of the Lord everyday. 
This is difinitly a challenge but i am learning so much. I am thanklful for this oppertunity. I am so thankful for my loving family. Dad i am so thankful that you are always a worthy preiesthood holder for our family. I see all these families and everytime they need a blessing they have to call the branch president who lives like 20 minutes away and it just makes me thankful to have grown up with a dad like you. Family i love you all and you are all amazing. So happy to hear about Ryan and Shelbys talks. Sounds like they were so great! Thank you all for your support. The gospel is amazing!
love you all!!!
love hermana Skousen

Hello Family!! April 23rd 2013


Hello!! How are you all? Its so great to read all your emails thank you! Sorry my subject titles are never very creative haha. So glad you made it back safe and had a good time in Hawaii! so fun. congrats again Brooke! This week was good i am starting to get into the swing of things and getting used to the schedule. So my companion and i are both new in the area so its kind of like we are starting from scratch but we do have some investigators who are starting to make some progess. We have taught a girl Ana twice and then for the 3rd lesson her husband was there too so that was a plus. We read Alma 40 and talked about the spirit world and then got into talking about the temple. They had a lot of really good questions and the spirit was so strong when we were talking about families. When i bore my testimony on eternal families i really felt the spirit and was just so thankful that we get to be together forever. I have been missing you guys so much but then i remembered that we get to be together forever and i need to bring the gospel to these families so they can be together forever too. So yeah the spirit was so strong and we are going back tomorrow so i really hope they did the reading and are ready to learn more. 
Okay so i am growing to love the Book of Mormon more and more everyday. I learn so much that i didnt even know was in there. I was reading 2 nephi 28 to 30 and it just makes so much sense why we have the Book of Mormon and how and why we should study it and everything. And also that i am teaching the people of Lehi makes it that much cooler. But yeah every page of the Book of Mormon just has so many cool things and i love it! 
My goal for this week is to not have a narrow focus and really enjoy every moment here. On sunday a counslor in the stake presidency came to our branch and he told us that they are going to assign 2 really strong families to come to our branch to help us out because we need some good leaders and teachers.So that is really exciting!
Okay yesterday we went to Antigua for pday and saw so many cool things and had lunch at this really good crepe place! you all need to save up so you can come here at the end of my mission because i cant wait to show you all these cool `places! Sorry my thought are kind of scattered but also we watched the Joseph Smith movie and the quote at the end of it is should we not go on un such great a cause. That just really hit me and made me think how this work is such a miracle and all these people need to know abnout the truth. So even when days are long and i have bug bites all over my body and i am so tired haha i try to keep that in mind that this mission cant be about me and that i need to bring this message to these poeple.
Okay also i read this talk and it is called the 4th missionary. You all should read it. It is pretty long but its worth it and i think it can apply to everyone in life not just missionaries! And could you maybe print it off and send it to me? sorry i hate to ask for things. 
But yes things are great here. I am glad to hear that everyone is happy and healthy. I cant believe the semester is already over haha time is going by fast! i love you all so much and think and pray about you often. Keep reading and studying the Book of Mormon! My testimony is growing everyday and i feel the help of the Lord. I love you all!!
Love Hermana Skousen

I am catching up on Sister Skousens blog. This post is from April 16 when she had been in her first area for a short time.

Hello everyone! thank you so much for all the pictures! you guys are doing so many fun things! Brooke ahhh congrats. So proud of you. the pic are beautiful you all look great. Rach loved the bunnie ears and the AZ poster. So awesome! Ryano HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! hope it was great! I wish i had more time to really look at all the pictures because they are awesome! i want to see a pic of mom and dad surfing haha. 
Okay lets see this week we had our first zone conference. It was really great President and Sister Brough are really good teachers. and i am starting to understand almost everything so that helps too haha. One thing that president Brough did was had us read Moroni 10 and 2 nephi 33 and then asked us what are we going to be able to tell Nephi and Moroni at the judgment bar that we did with the Book of Mormon. I have been thinking about that so much every since he said that. I have made it a goal to really learn something from the Book of Mormon everyday and then also when i am teaching, share the Book of Mormon and tesifiy of its truth. Its amazing how the Book of Mormon is evidence of everything we believe. I think growing up in the church i never really studied the basic basic doctrine and every time we teach the first lesson it is just amazing how much sense everything makes and how perfect the gospel is. Eveything about the restoration and jose smith and the Book of Mormon just makes so much sense. So the tricky thing is to get the poeple to understand how obviously true it is haha.
We did have a few let downs this week. We had been teaching 2 poeple Omar and Carlos and at the 3rd visit they both told us that they didnt want to learn more about the church and they were satisfied with how their lives were right then. It is hard when poeple say no because we know how important it is for these people. But we did what we can and planted the seed so hopefully they get interested later.
We taught a girl named Gabby how we found on the street. She is the sweetest lady every and i cant really tell if she understands all my spanish or if she is just being nice. But in our last lesson with her she told us that she thinks we are an answer to her prayer. and i think she is absolutly right. It is just amazing how stong the spirit is when we tesifty of truth and share experinces and scriptures and everything. 
Okay so mom you asked about food and laundry. We eat breakfast at the house and then eat lunch with MariaElena a lady in the ward. She makes good food so it has been great. and then when we get home at 9 we just have a little snack and then go to bed because i am so tired every night i feel like i am going to die haha. And then there is a lady who lives right by us and she does our laundry every monday. 
Okay so sunday was an eye opener. We went to church with our little branch with only about 40 people. It was so weird. i led the music and sister turley played the piano and sister turley taught the gospel principals class. It made me so thankful and realized how blessed i am to have grown up in a huge ward with leaders who fulfill their callings and a huge young womens and everything. man it made us even motivated to baptize and try and get the rama a little bigger.
I think about you guys everyday and i miss you guys a lot but i am starting to get into a groove so its getting a little easier. Again the pictures were great and you all look fabulous. Everyday i am so thankful for my amazing family and for being raised in the gospel. Thank you mom and dad for everything you do for me. I love you so much. and i love Ryan Shelby Brooke Meagan and Rachel all so much too. I pray for you guys everyday. The gospel is true and i am so thankful that we are blessed to have it in our lives.
Love you all have a good week!
Hermana Skousen