This is like the Lot's wife of pretzels

I was looking at what we did this week and it was a pretty normal week. Tuesday we had district meeting and then went on exchanges and we had some pretty great lessons the rest of the week. 

We bought pretzels at Aldi last week and I gave Sister Garner one COVERED with salt. She could barely eat it it was so salty. Then she called it Lot's wife.

I went on exchanges with Sister Walton and what a blast we had. We had like 3 lessons in a row scheduled but only one held. We ate dinner at like 4 because we had to go up to a member's house for our Skype lesson with Misha. What a mess that was. We got there like 5:50 and the lesson was for 6. About 5:55 I checked the phone and he asked if we could move it to 6:30 because he was still on a conference call. It was fine but now we were stuck at the member's house because we weren't in our area and we didn't know what to do. They were totally cool with it though and they were so nice. Finally at 6:30 He finished and we Skyped him. We asked him to read Alma 36 so we could talk about repentance and he loved it. We had just started a really good discussion when at 6:37 his boss walked in and he had to leave. It was so frustrating but the members were so cool about it. We have another lesson planned for tomorrow so hopefully we can talk more about repentance. 

Then Sister Walton and I ran over to the church because we (and the elders) were asked to help with mutual. They were learning how to answer questions about the church that their friends might have by studying the Restoration Pamphlet. I was working with Enya and Nilaja (their brother is Carlon who is on the Ensign) who are so cute and I love them (Honestly I just love their whole family). The question they were trying to answer was, "What is the Book of Mormon all about?" They had to try and answer it in under 60 seconds. It was really fun and it was cool to hear what they said because it helped me. We get asked these questions as well and sometimes we have less that 60 seconds to get and hold someone's attention. 

I am not a perfect person. I know that might surprise a lot of you because I am pretty fantastic but I am not. Sometimes, it doesn't happen very often, but sometimes there are people that come into my life that I cannot stand. I have been trying to have a lot of charity this week and it has been so SO hard! Yesterday after a very annoying encounter with this individual I was very very frustrated. I need to calm down before i could be an effective missionary again. I just opened my scriptures to where I was last reading and it was Alma 55. For those of you that don't know, the end of Alma is what is called the war chapters. Now I am not about to wage war on this person but I did find some parallels. First, Moroni is angry. No, I don't have the right to be angry but Moroni wasn't perfect and neither am I. Second, Moroni begins to prepare and make plans. I am not preparing for war but I can make plans to be kinder and more patient towards this individual. Third, Moroni doesn't not delight in bloodshed. I don't want to be contentious and rude but like Moroni, I need to do my part and I cannot control the actions of others. 

I know that as we try, really try to develop charity, Heavenly Father will help us. He will not leave us hanging. It is His goal for us to become like His Son so He will do anything to help us out. I love you all, keep reading the Book of Mormon, and have a great week!

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk

AKA the Mormon church 

They made me run the rocky steps. We already do this every morning. 

Oh whale I love them 

I had to join Sister Nielson because my companion can't do real pushups...

This is Bear. We were waxing our cars in the church parking lot and saw a woman drop him off. So we took him in.

I felt like I was being sautèd

What even happened this week. I'm pretty sure everyday it was like 95 degrees, with 95% humidity, and all 95 people we tried to stop by weren't home. Okay maybe I'm exaggerating a little, there were a few people home. We had a few miracles this week that im excited about so maybe some of you will actually read to the end. 

We had Zone Conference this week. #miracle That means we got to spend the majority of the day out of the heat and I got to see Sister Summers who I love so my day was pretty much made. But then zone conference was actually fantastic. We talked about obedience which we do every zone conference because this mission is obsessed with exact obedience. I mean so am I but some of these missionaries can be insane with it and I started to not like that. But when President Randall talked about obedience he did not use the phrase, "exactly obedient" he used the phrase, "completely obedient" I really liked that. I thought of "exact obedience" as like a triangle or a point to reach. But "complete obedience" is more of a circle. I felt that being completely obedient is more what the Atonement is all about. We are trying to be as obedient as we can in all areas and it's going to take some work and sometimes we fail but we can always come back around and repent. Anyway, rant about obedience over. I love Zone Conference and President and Sister Randall because the PPM is the best mission in the world. 

Our investigator Tom is praying more. #miracle He's not praying everyday but it is more than what it used to be. He's been to church 5 or 6 times now and the ward is really getting to know him well. He still won't set a baptism date but he's still meeting with us and coming to church so that's good. 

We have someone set with a baptismal date. #miracle Last Sunday our less active, Brother Harris, that we are reactivating brought his friend Lila to church and he says to us, "I've got a job for you. Baptized her." We were like okay! Lila has been taught a bunch by missionaries in the past and has had baptism dates in the past but has never really followed through. But we met with her and Brother Harristhis week and we feel like she's really ready this time. And we asked Brother Harris if he will prepare himself to baptize Lila and he said he would. #miracle He also bought us understand for dinner. #miracle 

Our investigator, Syrena, was going to come to church on Sunday but when we woke up that morning she had texted us that she went to bed really late and would be able to come to church. But then a few hours later we get another text saying, "I'm coming to church, God woke me up this morning so I could go" #miracle 

Friday we had another funeral. For those of you counting that's 4 so far on my mission. Let's see how many more Sister Van Buskirk can go to. But actually we had another miracle. We told Sister Taber we would love to clean her house again but it didn't look like we would be able to anytime that day. We had some lessons cancel and then she texted us and asked if we had any plans for dinner. We didn't so we went over, helped her move things around in her cupboards and then she took us to Whole Foods because they have these little restaurant things that are super yummy. But the miracle wasn't dinner (it kinda was because we would've eaten rice and beans) it was the timing. Pretty much right when we walked into her house it started raining. That meant we were effective by serving members but we didn't have to go tracting in the rain because that is the worst. #miracle Also Sister Taber is my favorite person because we are like the same person except she's older and mature and has grandchildren so anytime I get to see her is a miracle. 

That's about it. We had a lot more miracles this week and I know you all experienced some as well. I love the scripture promise in Moroni 7:27-29. Christ lives and His church is on the earth today and miracles have not ceased. Have a great week and I love you all!

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk

P. S. To all of you that read the Ensign the young man on the cover is Carlon Sultan who is in the ward and he is fantastic and now he's famous. 

 Zone Conference with Sister Kurta and Sister Summers

Car selfies are the best

Sister Garner is trying to figure out how she got stuck with me for another transfer 

Her thoughts, "Why is Sister Van Buskirk still my companion?"

Let the Flame

This week was a good one. Pretty uneventful and long but a good one. Probably the highlight of the week was going to a Baha'i devotional. 

For those of you that are not familiar with the Baha'i they essentially believe that all religions are good. Part of their faith is to create spaces for people of all religions to come together and share their beliefs and sing and pray for the community. 

So a week or two ago, Sister Garner and I had just walked out of a lesson and were standing on the corner wondering if it would be better to walk or wait for the bus. Then this guy across the street yells, "hey sisters!" We're like what the heck, how does this guy know who we are, no one knows who we are. Anyway, he's Baha'i not Mormon but he lived north of Philly a few years ago and the sister missionaries came to his Baha'i devotionals so he knows stuff. He asked us to come again so we did. 

It was so interesting. It was us and the guy Vince, another guy who we found out met with missionaries before, 2 girls that were Baha'i, and another girl that was like doing a report thing on the Baha'i religion or something. But we all sat in a circle and took turns reading scriptures (We read from the Book of Mormon) and they sang a few songs. Our favorite is "Let the Flame" Mostly because it is still stuck in our head. It goes like this:

Let the Flame (let the flame)

Of the Love of God (of the love of God)

Burn Brightly Within (burn brightly within)

Our Radiant Hearts (our radiant hearts)

Vince asked us to sing a hymn at the end. During the hour or so we were sharing, Vince would like move around in his chair and go like, "mmm" "mmmhhm" Sister Garner and I talked about it after and he has that desire to feel the spirit. He wants to feel the spirit so bad he will try and create it himself. He told us he loves the "Mormon hymns" but the reason he loves our hymns is because the spirit fills the room while we sing. Not because they were inspiring words but because they talk about Christ and the spirit will be there to testify that Christ is the Son of God. I don't really know if any of this story makes sense but it was a cool experience for me and kinda the only interesting thing that happened. 

Other highlights of the week:

We cleaned our investigator, Syrena's house.

I went to my 3rd funeral on my mission.

Tom finally prayed on his own. 

Brother Harris told us his friend Lila wants to get baptized and we talked to her and she really does this time (she's been taught a lot before) so we are going over on Friday to teach her.

We talked to a lot of people yesterday and not one of them rejected our message. #MIRACLES 

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk

                                                                                 Insomnia Cookies

Sweaty Selfies

We played some sports

The Honorable Judge, Independence Hall, and Michael Jackson

Y'all ready for a two week email in one? These past couple weeks have been crazy so get ready!

We taught Tom about faith and repentance. He wasn't grasping it very well so the Spirit was like, "You need to change this. Who does Tom remind you of?" I thought, "Tom reminds me of my Grandpa Gibb. Grandpa likes baseball, Tom likes baseball. I think I know enough about baseball. Let's compare faith and repentance to baseball." So I did and Tom was like, "There, that's it, I get it now." It was awesome. Tom is so solid. 

So fun fact: We are actually teaching a federal judge. I haven't mentioned him before because last week was the first time I met him. He's so busy that our lessons are super spread out. But we meet with him in his office in the court building place. He's super cool. We brought a senior missionary couple, the Moulders. Elder Moulder is a convert and so he shared his story which Judge Padova liked. He also showed his courtroom and Sister Moulder took some pictures because she's the best. 

Afterward, the Moulders took us out to lunch. They decided to just take us to the Hard Rock Cafe because it was close and we had more appointments later. It was just a funny coincidence because the night before Sister Garner and I had found this gem in the Gospel Library:  https://www.lds.org/ensign/1971/12/satans-thrust-youth?lang=eng

It's a good talk, gotta love Elder Benson!

We did a really cool activity with part of our zone last week. The zone leaders hung out at the stake center across from the temple and us and another companionship walked around and invited as many people as we could to take a chapel tour. Sister Garner and I talked to between 35 and 40 people in like 2 hours. Not too many people took a tour but we gave out our number and hopefully sparked some curiosity in some people. Sometimes miracles don't come to pass till a long time after the initial contact!

We gave our investigator Syrena a church tour on Saturday and we were so excited for it and it was my first one and we just wanted to help her feel the spirit and have a desire to come to church but there was a small problem. The South Philly Branch was having a wedding. Which was so great! Because then she was getting baptized right after. We just wished we would've known so we could've done it at a different time so we didn't have Michael Jackson playing while we were reading the sacrament prayers... But it's all good because Syrena said she's going to come to church. She can't this week because she's going to visit her boyfriend's parents but she will be there next week! 

So I know you all are dying to know how my 4th of July was. It was actually amazing. We had a ward breakfast and us and the West elders made pancakes. At first we only had 2 griddles so the elders were doing all the cooking but then Brother Taber brought in his. Now just imagine a nice, beautiful, new griddle, straight out of the box. Okay now pretend it fell out of your car as you were driving down the freeway, it landed in a river, sat for a couple years, and then some pulled it out and said, "looks good, let's cook some pancakes." I tried to cook some pancakes but they were awful. So Elder Gabiola pulled over the trash can and said, "Here's a container for your pancakes." I couldn't even be mad it was so funny. 

Anyway, after the breakfast we went to Sister Taber's house. Sister Taber is my spirit animal. When I am older like 65, I hope I am like her. Her husband's grandkids had come for the weekend and they had just left so she felt like her house was a disaster. So guess what we did. Brace yourself Mom. We helped her clean. Yup, I told her we would love to clean her house and you know what, I loved cleaning her house. It must be the spirit of service or something. 

After we helped her clean we hung out for a while and then decided to go to old city. We really wanted a pretzel and we heard there was a good pretzel stand at Reading Terminal Market but since it was the 4th it was closed. We found another place and started over there but then we couldn't find it so we were just like oh well. Then we got to the Independence Hall visitors center and Sister Garner was like, "maybe they have pretzels in here" Well we didn't find any pretzels but we found something better. A sign that said, "No tickets required for Independence Hall today." We were like, "Let's go!" We only waited in line for like 20 minutes and they only showed us 2 rooms but it was the best part of the day. The Spirit was strong in the room where they all signed the Declaration of Independence. 

We were still on the hunt for pretzels after that so we went down to the parkway because we heard they had some food trucks. FINALLY, we found some pretzels and we ran into a member family that knew Levi Morse! He was the bishop in his last area. 

We ended our great 4th of July on the rooftop garden at the welcome center next to the Temple. We did basic sister missionary things like read scriptures that talk about the promised land and the constitution. Then we went inside because it started raining so we didn't get to see the fireworks but it was still a great 4TH!!

That's pretty much all the excitement around here. I hope you all are reading the Book of Mormon! I love learning new things every time I read it! Transfers are on Tuesday so we will see what will happen! I love you all and I know Heavenly Father loves you all. Have a blessed day!

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk

                                                                               I love Sista Celeste!

We also love Edgar Allen Poe

The Honorable Judge Padova and his courtroom

The Judge and himself

We love the Hard Rock Cafe

Okay maybe we just love food

Independence Hall!

Another shot of the Hall

We got Chinese and got some trunky fortunes...

Temple today!

Exchanges with Sister Walton :)

A nice family passing through took this picture and sent it to our moms.

No one does the 4th like the ones that did it 1st

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!

All week we have been pumped about today. Last week in district meeting we were talking about how this is like the best holiday of the year. Elder Brown is from Canada and he asks, "The 4th of July is really that big of a deal?" We all looked at him and our district leader was like, "Elder, you are spending the best day of the year in the birthplace of the best country in the world. It's a HUGE deal."

Today's going to be awesome so sorry to everyone if I don't email you today. We moved our pday to Saturday for the temple so I'll email you back then. Sister Garner and I are going to party it up and watch some fireworks. 

I am so grateful for this country and the ability we have to worship how, where, or what we may. There was no where else the Restored Gospel could have come forth. Heavenly Father prepared the whole way and He continues to prepare a way for all of us to find joy and happiness as we keep His commandments. The scripture attached is Ether 2:12 in the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon. Keep reading! I love you all!

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk