I got a new companion my last week on my misson

Okay no that's a joke. Still have my sweet Sister Stubbs but funny story. I'm gonna tell y'all the long version because I can. So a few weeks ago Bishop Harrison found out I was leaving like going home leaving so he asked me to speak. He said 5-7 minutes. I was like cool I can do that. The next week he asked if I could speak for a little longer, 8-10 minutes. No problem! Then Saturday night he left us a voicemail asking if I could speak for 10-12 mintues! Basically in a week the time doubled of what he wanted from me. But it's okay because I love the Dover Ward and I will do anything for them. So I am speaking with Eddie who just got home from his mission like two weeks ago. It's just the two of us and I look at the time and there is like over 40 minutes for the rest of the meeting. I'm freaking out a little inside and I think so was Bishop because before he announced that I would be speaking he asked if Sister Butler would come up and share her testimony. I was a little confused because I had no idea who Sister Butler was. I had never met a Sister Butler in this ward and I was looking at the congregation and I knew everyone that was there and there was no Sister Butler. Then Bishop said her companion was going home and I was like, "Wait, I'm going home. I have a companion but her name is Sister Stubbs. Is he talking about Sister Stubbs?" Anyway, he was and everyone was confused but thought it was funny and teased her about it. Everyone will probably remember her as Sister Butler in this ward now!

Well this is it. It's my last week and my last weekly email (thank goodness). Thank you so much all of y'all that kept up with my adventures and experiences. I hope you learned something these past 18 months. I know I did. 

Here's a little update on our week:

We taught Joseph at the church. (We didn't want anymore bedbug incedents.) We taught the Plan of Salvation and he really liked it! We invited him to be baptized and to pray about it. He said the closing prayer and asked if he should be baptized in -- and then he stopped and asked what the name of our church is again. That's something we hope he learns soon. But he was able to come to church again so that was awesome! (He may or may not have taken a smoke break between classes)

Friday I went to the temple with all the other dying missionaries and had my last interview with President Randall. I'm going to miss him way to much. But he told me his daughter wants to hang out with me when I move to Provo so I'm pumped. 

Had dinner with Sister Francesconi and Sister Burnham and found out Sister F. is moving to Utah and she said we can go have lunch together when I move up there so Utah might not be so bad. 

Went to the Elder's baptism and was asked to lead the music.

Sunday I spoke in church and gave probably the best talk I have ever given in my life. (Just patting myself on the back here)

Taught AJ and Amber and Junior one last time (Aryanna was with her grandma) It was an awesome lesson and it was the first time we had taught Amber and she loved it! Also Junior told me I was his favorite sister missionary so boo-yah

I am so grateful to have been able to spend these 18 months here in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to wear my Savior's name next to mine. I know Christ lives and that the Book of Mormon is true and that ever single page testifies of Him. I invite all of you to set a goal to read the Book of Mormon everyday for the rest of your life because it will change your life. I can promise that because it changed mine. I love you all and hopefully I will see you all in a few days!

-- 

Lots of Love!

Sister Van Buskirk

Rachel is our favorite

Amber, Junior and AJ

My cute comp ♡

Don't let the bed bugs bite!

So I don't have too much to write about because you all just heard from me on Wednesday but here's a fun story:

We received a referral for a man named Joseph and we go with a couple named the Ellsworths to teach him. He lives in a trailer with other people so we had to meet in his room. Not the first time I've done something like that so it wasn't a big deal. Well we had to sit on his bed and as we were looking around it was just dirty. Like filthy and the thought that kept running through my head was, "I have not had bed bugs on my mission. I don't have that much longer. I CAN'T get bed bugs on my mission!" Then I look right in front of my face and there is this nice big can of "Bed Bug spray" Well we teach the lesson like normal and he is actually really cool and wants to know more about God so he can improve his life. He also came to church on Sunday! But as soon as we got in the car we called the mission office to know what we could do to prevent bed bugs from entering our house. We drove straight home and took off all our clothes and threw them in the dryer because that's what kills bed bugs. So all of you out there just know: heat kills bed bugs. That's like the only thing. We don't have bed bugs. Don't worry mom, I won't be bringing them home.

We taught Ercel again this week and he told us a funny story. So a member couple invited him over for dinner and he brought a bottle of sparkling champagne. He was really embaressed but I thought it was so funny! He has been reading the Book of Mormon more and praying a little more and he finally prayed at the end of the lesson! 

Nothing much to write about this week. I just emailed you all on Wednesday and I will see all of you (hopefully) next week. I love you all!

-- 

Lots of Love!

Sister Van Buskirk

We went to the beach today and I love Hawaiian skirts

Drinkin my Bud to get a little Wiser

Exciting stuff around here in Dover Delaware. I feel like I can never just say Dover. I have to say Dover Delaware. Anyway! Here's the low down.

Tuesday we took one of our favorite Young Women out with us, Rachel. She is so awesome and we love her so much. So we didn't have much planned that day. Just a bunch of people to stop by and then later a lesson with Phanord. We really wanted to see a miracle with Rachel so we prayed extra hard. We start out and for about 2 hours we have no luck. No one is home or no one is answering the door. We finally decide to go to a neighborhood that has more people around during the day. Finally people are home! But no one wants to talk to us. Some people are polite though. They tell us they are too drunk to talk about God and we appreciate that a lot. Finally it's time for our lesson. Now Phanord has not been keeping a lot of his commitments so we were going to drop him in this lesson. Before we go in Rachel tells us she's probably not going to say anything. We tell her that's fine. If she feels something, she can say it. We are reading the Book of Mormon with Phanord and he told us he wasn't sure he was going to be able to come to church this Sunday already. As we are reading he stops and says he hasn't been reading because he doesn't understand. All of a sudden Rachel jumps in! She said that that's why we come to church. There are people at church that can help us understand the scriptures and what they mean! She just bore such a beautiful testimony of church and how it has helped her and it made a huge impact on Phanord. He was like, "yeah! I'll come!" And on Sunday, there he was! It was awesome! After the lesson Rachel was like, I don't even know how that happened! Words just started coming out of me! 

We taught our good friend Barbara. She has this crazy dog named Chaz and basically Sister Stubbs and I almost died. Now some of you know how much I love dogs. Those of you that don't know, I love dogs. Well, I hate Chaz. He is literally the devil. Chaz... Taz... Tasmanian devil... devil. Chaz=the devil. 

Friday we had Zone Conference. My last zone conference.... it was weird. But since all my favorite people were there like Sister Stubbs, Sister Summers, Sister Shields, President Randall, Sister Randall, Alli Randall, Elder Brown, Elder West, Elder Nelson it made it so much better. Then after we went on exchanges and I got to go on exchanges with my favorite person ever, Sister Summers! It was a win win kind of day. 

AJ not only brought his kids to church with him on Sunday but their mom! Apparently AJ and Amber (the kid's mom) are going to try and work things out so they can be a family again!  

I held a chicken yesterday. It was scary. Okay wait not scary but interesting. I now know I'm not a farm girl. I am definitely a city slicker. (I love you Philadelphia) So the chicken freaked out a little and then I freaked out a lot and dropped the chicken and it bounced of a 3 year old boy's head and landed in the box. If thats not talent, I don't know what is. 

We went to the temple today and wow it was great. There is just so much peace that comes from the temple. It's amazing being inside the Philadelphia temple because you know on the outside of those walls the world is moving fast. But inside is calm and peaceful and close to God. Please do anything you can to go to the temple regularly. Heavenly Father wants you to visit His house often. It's a gift really to be able to talk with Him in His special house. I love and miss all of y'all! 

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk

 Sista Shields ♡

Fav companion ♡

Da temple

 Philly

More Philly ♡

Best street in Philly

Fly eagles fly

We took advantage of the zone leader's dented car.

We are fine though

BFFs 

Gang Gang

We are serious about missionary work

 Before scrapple

After scrapple

I thought holy water would taste different

Another miracle filled week like always! The miracles started on Tuesday and ended yesterday with 9 new investigators and 2 people with a baptism date!

So Tuesday was so amazing. We taught this girl Denise who had been found by missionaries like a year ago. As we taught the Restoration the spirit was so strong. She said she has been looking for a message all her life that would touch her and help her and so far she is liking this one. Later that afternoon we watched the restoration movie with Sherman and she loves Moroni so much so when it showed him, she gave an audible gasp and was just so excited. She loved it so much she talked her daughter into watching it as well so we are going over tonight to share it with them! The day ended with the Sparks family. Another family that had been found by missionaries over a year ago but nothing ever worked out. First we were just teaching the parents and as we started testifying of prophets the mom stopped us. When someone stops you, you get nervous. Oh no they are going to kick us out of their house. But instead she says, "Can I go get my oldest two daughters?" Oh heck yes! They loved what we taught and were so excited to start reading the Book of Mormon! The mom asked the daughters, "Can we commit to reading this book?" They are on fire!

Wednesday we had a lesson with Jasmine set up. We met Jasmine the week before outside and her daughter who is about 2. We walk up and her daughter opens the door and lets us in. Sitting on the couch is an older woman. She asks who we are and we tell her we are missionaries looking for Jasmine. She introduces herself as, "Samantha, a white girl name. Oh no offense." Then she tells us Jasmine isn't here but the daughter pipes up and says, "Yes she is. She's in the kitchen." Well Jasmine comes out and we teach her and her mom, Samantha and they seem super interested (After Samantha started being nice to us.)

Friday we met with Ercel and he told us baptism is something he feels better about every time we come over. He also told us he has been praying more! He prays while he brushes his teeth! 

Sunday we met with AJ's kids, Aryanna and Junior. They are 10 and 11. Junior has some pretty interesting ideas. They both have been coming to church with AJ for a long time and so Junior tells us (talking about the sacrament), "I thought holy water would taste different but it just tastes like normal water." They are both super funny but they both want to get baptized May 12th! We are so excited for them!

The gospel is so true! I love it so much and I hope all of you find joy in it as well! If you aren't having fun in the gospel, you are doing something wrong! Have a great week and don't forget Sister Van Buskirk loves each and every one of you!

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk

I don't even know

 We are the cutest ♡

I hate these so much

I love being a missionary. I really truly do. But something I hate so much is writing these emails. I know you all love them but I don't think any of you understand the type of procrastination that goes into one email. It is now 5:47pm. I have until 6pm to get this done so here it goes.

We honestly had a fantastic week. We found a couple new investigators. One is Barbara and she's crazy. She told us some things she believes and we were like okay nope that's false. It's so false the bible says it's false and you read the bible. We told her we have a living prophet and she said, "I don't know about that" But she said we can come back and read the Book of Mormon with her so we will be back Barbara! 

The other investigator is Cheri! We have been trying to teach her for a long time and finally we caught her! We started teaching the Restoration and she looked bored out of her mind until we started talking about Joseph Smith. She then was actually listening! It was like the spirit whispered, "hey listen to this" It was really cool to not only see her body language change but to feel the spirit change when we started to testify of Joseph Smith. 

Other cool lessons we had were with Shakyra and Ercel. Shakyra is a young mom that we taught the Plan of Salvation to this week. We told her we lived as spirits before we came to earth. We told we probably knew her up there and she probably knew her daughters as well! Her face just lit up! At the end of the lesson we invited her to be baptized and she said "Yes!" We are so excited for her! Ercel was a very cool experience because of the spiritual guidance we had leading up to it. We decided to teach a less active earlier in the week about prayer. In preach my gospel there is a section about prayer and gives scripture references. Next to those references I had written my own, Alma 53:10-11, 40. I felt those would be good scriptures to share with this less active. Well the lesson never happened but those scriptures were in the back of my head. When we prepared for Ercel' s lesson we decided to teach about prayer and to again use those scriptures. That story is about the stripping warriors and how they prayed before battle and no one died. As we shared that with Ercel we could tell he felt something. He then opened up and shared a similar experience. He said when he was deployed, before they went on missions they would pray before they left. No matter what time it was. And no one ever died from their group. What a testimony that God prepares scriptures to touch people from the beginning.

Well times up! I'll send pics next week! Love you all!

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk

Sooooo maybe the water was a little cold but it's okay right?

AJ GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!! So the baptism was set for 1pm on Saturday. Thursday we get a call from Brother Guy, our ward mission leader. He says, "Sisters, we have some bad news. AJ might have to work on Saturday. But he still wants to get baptized on Saturday no matter what so it might just have to be in the evening." We prayed so hard that he wouldn't have to work but he did. So we moved the baptism to 8pm that evening. We asked the elders how long it takes to fill the font because they had a baptism a few weeks ago. They told us 2-3 HOURS. We were like okay okay we can do this. But Brother Guy was like, "I can fill the font, no worries". There was also a ward activity that night 6-8pm so the baptism was just going to be right after. We get to the church about 6:30 and Sister Stubbs gets the feeling that we should check the font. So we go check on it and it's empty! We never even asked how to turn it on because we didn't need to. So we said a prayer and asked to know how to turn on the font and for the font to fill quickly. As soon as we opened our eyes I saw the lever to turn on the water. Right next to the hot water lever there was a lever for cold water. So maybe the water was a little chilly but at least there was water! 

Sherman is awesome. She told us everytime she picks up the Book of Mormon she can't put it down. However, she still hasn't come to church. We are a little disappointed but hopefully we can bring General Conference to her this week and that will inspire her to come to church. 

We had another lesson with Ercel and it went really well! We invited him to be baptized and he said he would think about it. He really likes having us come over and teach us but he also has not come to church yet! That's what we should focus on especially with General Conference this weekend! 

The air force base is in our area and sometimes we see these HUGE airplanes. They seriously look like whales flying through the sky. It's my favorite thing. There are a lot of members in our ward that work at the base so we are hoping to get on and look at the planes up close!

General Conference is the best time of the year! Just think, select men and women have been chosen to speak to the whole world! If you listen with a purpose. Meaning if you listen with questions in mind I can promise that those questions will be answered. General Conference is a great place to receive personal revelation. There is a quote by Robert D. Hales where he says, "In conferences we can receive the word of the Lord meant just for us." (Thanks for the quote mom) General Conference is for you! I love you all and I hope to be able to hear what you learn from General Conference this weekend! 

-- 

Lots of Love!

Sister Van Buskirk

You sound like a goat. In labor!

So we have this cute old lady in the ward named Sister Temple. Everytime I talk to her she leaves my in tears. The kind of tears that come from laughing not from crying. We were at the Relief Society birthday party and another lady in the ward, Sister Balcena had one of those party things that you blow into and it unrolls. Do you all know what I'm talking about? Anyway, Sister Balcena kept making this weird noise to make it sound like this party favor would make noise. Sister Temple comes up to her and says, "You sound like a goat. In labor." Probably the funniest part of my life.

Not much happened this week. We went to Golden Retraining on Wednesday and then a mission tour on Friday so it made for long days in Broomall. Long but good!

We taught AJ on Thursday and it was awesome as always. He comes straight from work so he is super tired but he soaks it all in and just loves it all. He asked us that night, "I don't think I have to work on Saturday anymore. Can I get baptized then?" We were like we want you to but you still have to get interviewed! He had his interview on Sunday and it went great so he is ready to roll on Saturday! Please keep him in your prayers because we know Satan is going to work hard this week! 

Friday was the mission tour and Elder Brent H. Nielson of the seventy came and it was amazing because he is also head of the Missionary Department so he knows his stuff. It is just amazing to be able to go into meetings like that or even just our normal meetings on Sunday. Answers to questions come if you come prepared. Heavenly Father doesn't just want us to just grin and bear it through all our meetings. He wants to give us answers and the best place to do that is through the scriptures and our church meetings. 

Sunday we met with a couple named the Buzards. They have been less active for years and years. We asked them what steered them away and it was just the fact that Brother Buzard got a job where he had to work on Sundays. They had just recieved their temple recommends when that happened. They just got out of the habit of coming to church. But they do want to come back. They would love to go to the temple. It just has to start with getting back to church and reading the Book of Mormon everyday. That is how we stay anchored to the rod and stay on the path. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week! Get ready for General Conference! It's going to be amazing! (As always)

-- 

Lots of Love!

Sister Van Buskirk

We were trying to measure our couch

The Relief Society Birthday party!

I love my Sister Stubbs

Dover had a St. Patrick's day parade complete with a man and his cart selling souvenirs 

The circle of life

Just pranking the zone leaders

I had to come all the way to Delaware to eat a cactus

What a fun week we had! It's always fun sharing the gospel! NOt much happened but here are some funny stories and updates about our investigators.

AJ is great. We taught him the law of chastity and he's like 27 or something so that was a little awkward... The only other time I have taught it as a missionary was to Lila and she was like 67 so huge difference in what we had to emphezie. But it went great! We were even able to talk about the Word of Wisdom and he was disapointed about the no coffee thing but he said he would do it. Later that night we were on Facebook and he posted something awesome. I attached a screenshot so you all can see it too. The gospel is amazing! Even the law of chastity can relieve stress!

Taught Phanord, Alvin, Ercel, Julien, and Mel. Not at the same time of course but they are doing really well. We wish they would move a little faster but you can't drag someone through the gospel. You have to be patient. Sherman is still stuck in Maryland as far as we know which is sad but again, we will be patient. 

We were teaching one of our investigators who is like 28 or something. All of a sudden he goes, "It's my birthday this weekend" In my head I was like "that's great can we talk about the Book of Mormon some more. Thanks" I know I know. Not very Christlike but I just love the Book of Mormon. Anyway then he starts telling us about the different options he has to celebrate. And then he goes, "Are you guys busy tomorrow?" We told him we were and he was a little sad but then he gave us brownies so that was nice. 

We were over in this apartment complex where actually a lot of our investigators live and we were waiting for this member to join us. All of a sudden we hear yelling and look up and over by a different apartment building we see a FedEx truck and a UPS truck. Yep, you got it kids. The FedEx man and UPS guy are fighting. We just heard the end of the fight but it was probably the best part. The FedEx guy goes, "Whatever man, you don't even got that much stuff!" I promise you all, that is a direct quote.

I hope you all have had a fantastic week and have another even better week this week! I love each and every one of you and I know your Heavenly Father loves you even more. I know He knows each one of you and what you need better than you know yourself. Just remember that there are three people that love you. Heavely Father, Jesus Christ, and Sister Van Buskirk.

-- 

Lots of Love!

Sister Van Buskirk

When all the sisters where floral

Shot, yelled at, and lied to

Once upon a time there was a couple sister missionaries just doing what they do best and then some terrible things happened but also some wonderful miracles. 

First they were shot at. We were stopping by a less active member and this little boy who was probably about 4 or 5 starts shooting us with his stick and yells, "Watcha lookin at?!" We tried to give him a pass along card with a picture of Jesus but then he started sharpening his stick with another stick. I was like, this kid is going to stab us lets go.

Later that week we stopped by another girl and her younger sister answered the door. We asked if she was home and the sister said, "yeah, I'll go get her." When she came down stairs she says to us in a very loud and matter of fact tone, "Jaykeira says, 'bye, bye, bye, I'm not home!' But she is home!" We laughed and then left.

Finally we were lied to, or so we thought. We stopped by this man and we will call him Mr. J Yeager. As we were walking up to the door I noticed his license plate said "JYEAGER". I thought, perfect, he's home. When someone answered I asked if Jordan was home. The man that answered said, "No Jordan lives here" In my head all I could think was, "Please stop lying to me sir, I know he does, I can see his lisence plate." But we polietly said no problem have a nice night. For the rest of the day we were so bugged by the fact that he had lied to us. Later that evening as we were reporting we realized his name wasn't Jordan... It was Jacob........

But are you ready for some miracles! We met with Sherman and she is so fantastic. Aparently after we set her with a baptism date she told her family and they were like, "Oh so you are the only one in this house getting saved" We laughed and we are teaching the whole family tonight so hopefully it goes well! 

We had a record of 7 investigators at church! Sherman wasn't able to come because she had to go to a funeral. She was supposed to be home in time but I guess her family decided to stay longer. But AJ came and brought his kids again and they loved it! When we met with him this past week he just kept saying, " I am so mad I didn't know all this earlier. I wish I would have joined the church earlier" He is so awesome and we are so excited for him!

Yesterday was fast sunday which is normally really hard. However, as a missionary, I have seen so many miracles. We went tracting for a bit and weren't expecting to talk to anyone really. But we were able to meet some really amazing people and share the #BecauseofHim video. I know that as a missionary fasting brings miracles but I also know fasting ALWAYS brings miracles. There is no doubt in my mind that God hears every prayer and answers every single one. Love you all! Have a fantastic week! See some miracles and don't get shot!

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk

We love selfies and each other 

Rita's is open again!

Hung out with the Harrington sisters today

Our new friend Teresa 

Possibly my most favorite people on planet earth. (Besides you mom of course ;) ) 

It's almost March...

Hey Howdy Hey! Not too much happened this week. We had district meeting and interviews with President Randall. I know I have probably said this before but he is literally my favorite person ever and I'm pretty sure the PPM has the BEST mission president ever. After interviews we went on exchanges and Sister Kuta was my companion for the day! And all of our plans cancelled as soon as we started out day! That was super fun. We stumbled upon this sketchy nieghborhood and tried to knock some doors. There was like broken glass in some yards, I felt like I was back in Philly. No one was home and the one guy who did talk to us wasn't the nicest so we just left.

We had dinner with Sister Temple who is the cutest, funniest old lady I have ever met. She was telling us about her Words with Friends games and how she is so bad at it. I told her how I used to play that with my grandma but she would always win. Then she told me when I get home I should get it and play her and I will win and feel good about myself. 

Yesterday when we were knocking this lady that answered wasn't interested. She shut the door and we walked over to the next door. (We were knocking in an apartment complex) Then all of a sudden she opens the door again and says, "come here. I have someone that is interested in talking to you" We walk in and she introduces us to her cousin who is a minister. Sister Stubbs and I braced ourselves to get bashed. But it never came. He told us how he studied with missionaries years before in Florida and how he just loves the Latter-day Saints. He told us he knew about our new president and he was excited to see what President Nelson is going to do. He told us how impressed he was with us going out and preaching the word. I LOVE moments like those. When people of different faiths can talk for a few minutes of what really matters. Jesus Christ and how He brings peace into our lives. That is why I am a missionary. To bring others to that same knowledge. So thank you Brother Banks. Thank you for just talking with us and praying with us.

We had a lesson with Julien this week and it was again awesome. But then we found out something crazy! We were looking through our area book and he's already in there! He was taught by missionaries a couple years ago but then was dropped because they weren't able to contact him anymore. He never even told us he had met missionaries before! We haven't told him that we know yet but we will soon. Just tune in next week for an update.

We met with Sherman!!! We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she was just like yeah okay makes sense. We walked in her house and she was like, "I've been learning about the Melchizedek and Aronic priesthood." Okay Sherman you are so awesome. We set her with a date of March 31 so keep praying for her! 

AJ came to church yesterday and brought his two kids. He has a son that's 10 and a daughter that's 11. They were so cute and they loved church so much! It sounds like the mom was cool with them coming to church so we are hoping to start teaching them soon as well so we can get the whole family baptized! 

"...my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay;" ( Moroni 7:29) I know that we see miracles everyday. God Is always watching out for us. I am so grateful for a Father in Heaven that loves me so much to give me opportunities everyday to be apart of a miracle. I love you all sooo much and please look for miracles in your lives this week because I know they are there.

-- 

Lots of Love!

Sister Van Buskirk

We may or may not have bought 3 packs of Oreos last week...

When your Sunday night dinner appointment cancels...

We love to clean the church! (And where pants)

The gang

Sister Kuta!

Us, Johnny, Julien, and Brother and Sister Siebach at the ward Valentine's day dance.

Sunday Candy

Dover is the Celestial area! That is all I have to say.

But seriously, I could end my email right there and that's all you would need to know. I guess I should give some evidence to WHY Dover is the greatest.

1. We have AJ. So our ward mission leader is Brother Guy. Brother Guy is amazing because he goes out tracting by himself and is always finding people for us to teach. In his mind, he does the finding and we do the teaching and then everyone gets baptized. So AJ is Brother Guy's nephew and he was actually living in the Harrington ward and the sisters down there did a great job teaching him the first lessons and setting him with a baptism date! We are so grateful because he is SO awesome! 

2. We got kicked out of someone's house. Now I know what you all are thinking, "how is that a good thing". Some background. We received this bible referral for a man named Robert. We set up an appointment and find a women to come with us and get everything ready. We get there and someone lets us in and then we here, "Now WHO are YOU?!" We look up and this powerful lady is staring down at us. We respond, "We are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" She replys, "Well I am Pastor Joyce from the CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST". Yes we were a bit intimidated. But she let us come in and she went and got her brother, Robert. Pastor Joyce and some of her other family members were in the other room and while we were talking they were being kind of loud. Then we hear Pastor Joyce say, "shhh, they are having a bible study in there." That was perfect because the spirit was then able to be heard by Robert. We continued to testify of the Book of Mormon and the spirit grew stronger. All of a sudden, Pastor Joyce comes in the room and says, "You do not beleive in the same Jesus we do. You have 10 minutes to finsih and get out of my house." That was scary but we bore our final testimonies and scooted.

3. We have been tracting a lot of apartments and we found a girl named Zinnia and a lady named Sherman. Zinnia doesn't have any belief in God or anything but she is super open to meeting with us and we are super excited. But Sherman is who we are most excited for. We knocked on her door and her daughter actually anwered. We asked if she would be interested in learning more about the Book of Mormon and she said yes but she said she thinks her mom would be more interested and to come back tomorrow at the same time. We came back and that's when Sherman answered the door. She said she couldn't meet but to come back on Saturday. We said okay and we gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it. Saturday comes and we have such an amazing lesson. Sherman says, "Tell me more about Joseph Smith." So we taught the Restoration and she goes, "yes but there's more. A man comes to visit him in his room and gets brighter and brighter" and she goes on to tell us about Moroni who she read about in the beginning of the Book of Mormon. Then we invited her to be baptized and she said, "Yes! I want to be baptized! Come back soon so I can be baptized!" We are SO excited.

4. Johnny and Julien are amazing but they also make my brain hurt. So I think I mentioned Johnny in past emails. So the last time we met with him it felt like he didn't really want to meet with us again but we wanted to keep trying. The ward was having a Valentine's dance Saturday night so Saturday afternoon we went over to invite him. Julien was there as well and we told them were both welcome to come but honestly I didn't think they would show up. But they came! They talked to us and Brother Siebach who is awesome and speaks French and they also speak French and we just talked for like two hours. At one point Johnny stood up to go but Julien was like can we stay for like 10 more minutes. Then they asked us to come over the next day. We came by to have a lesson and let me tell you, it is awesome but also intimidating. Johnny leads some sort of congregation and we think Julien is going to school to be a pastor. Julien was like can we meet everyday and talk about the Bible and the Book of Mormon? They are so fantastic.

I absolutly love being a missionary. I don't want to do anything else. To have this amazing opportunity to testify of Christ everyday and see the joy that comes to people as they read the Book of Mormon is so special. I hope all of you take the chance to be a missionary to others. Find the joy in helping others come to Christ. It doesn't have to be big like giving someone a Book of Mormon. Sometimes it starts with being a good example. I love you all and miss you tons! I hope you all have a week full of sunshine!

-- 

Lots of Love!

Sister Van Buskirk

 Car selfies ♡

 Zone Conference

 

Elizabeth! She's my fav and shoutout to Sister Shields for her dress.

I saw these socks last week (shoutout to the pun master-sis. neuf 

Because I'm falling for ya

Greeting you goosers! 

What a week in Dover. Or should I say what a week not in Dover? On Tuesday we went up to Broomall for transfers. President Randall had called me the night before and had asked me to bring my stuff because I wasn't going to be staying in Dover. I ended up being in Morrisville with the fantastic Sister Gassaway while we waited for our companions. I have been to Morrisville a few times on exchanges so it felt like coming home! And Sister Gassaway is one of my most favorite humans ever so we laughed a lot. I think the best was when we were waiting for President in the chapel of the Broomall building. I went to see if there was a simplified hymn book on the piano. There wasn't so I went to walk down the stairs back to the pew we were sitting at. I didn't do a very good job walking down the stairs because I just fell! I basically fell off the podium and Sister Gassaway fell over from laughing so much! 

Since I was gone for 3 days not much has happened. Wait! My new companion! I almost forgot to introduce her! Sister Stubbs is from Kanab, UT. The land where they stick a dummy in a police car at the edge of town to give you one more heart attack as you are leaving. She said she's never had a speeding ticket or anything though. She is super sweet and I'm so excited to be her companion! We are going to have so much fun!

We taught Johnny yesterday! Well kind of. His friend Julien was there and we brought the Siebachs which was great. They both speak French and Brother Siebach speaks French because he served his mission in Quebec. But Julien just started asking questions. Which was great! But Johnny didn't really say much and we really wanted to invite him to church and to be baptized. 

We had dinner with the Siebachs after our lesson and we started talking about the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost testifies and teaches what we need to know about our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Julien believed a lot of the same things we did but he received that knowledge by studying and finding proof for it. When we brought up a doctrine like living before we came to earth, he did not agree. He did not think that he could have that understanding because there weren't very many scriptures that talk about it. He does not understand what the Holy Ghost's role is. If he takes the time to read the Book of Mormon and pray about this idea that we lived before we came to earth, the Holy Ghost will be able to testify that it is true. That goes for each and every one of us. If we take the time to read the Book of Mormon and pray and LISTEN to what the Holy Ghost is trying to tell us, we will understand. 

Have a great week and enjoy this one picture of Sister Gassaway and I! Love you all and have a terrible Valentine's day without me!

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk

We saw an Amish man riding a scooter

So there are a lot of Amish down here in Dover and sometimes we see them with their horse and buggy but sometimes they ride these super cool scooters! They look like bikes but instead of a seat and pedals, it's just a place for your foot. 

But anyway back to the amazing life of Sister Van Buskirk! First off, Sister Shields is getting transferred! I will miss her but I am excited for her to be in a new area! 

Just a few highlights from the week:

-Lesson with Phanord was good. We were able to find some really great concerns like the fact that he isn't sure if the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. He sees it more of just stories. Also, he doesn't know if Joseph Smith is a prophet. Now we know how to help him so we are excited!

-We had a zone meeting with President and it was fantastic as always. 

-We helped Sister Siebach make some blankets while we talked about some doctrine stuff because she is the seminary teacher out here. 

- We got to clean the church! That's always super fun except a bunch of men from the two wards always play basketball so when we went in the gym after they finished it smelled disgusting.

-We weren't able to meet with Johnny this week but hopefully soon!

-The Eagles won the Super Bowl!!! Take that Jeremy! 

- We got a new ward mission leader, Brother Guy. He is AWESOME. Before he was called he would basically just go tracting by himself. Everyone in his neighborhood has a Book of Mormon. He's really going to help the members of the Dover Ward get moving as far as missionary work. 

That's all kids! Keep reading the Book of Mormon and building your testimony! President Randall challenged us to read the Book of Mormon between Christmas and Easter and as I have been reading and focusing on Jesus Christ, I have come to know more fully that He is my Savior. That there is no way we can get through this mortal life without Him. I love Jesus Christ and I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity I have to bear testimony of Him every single day. I love you all so so so so much!

Lots of Love!
Sister Van Buskirk

Cactus Bend!

We are so excited to clean the church!

High quality zone, low quality pic