I can't seem to get the pictures downloaded but they are soon to come.

Sandra from Chile

Hello Friends!

These last couple of weeks have been amazing for my companion and I! We have so much fun together and have been having some wonderful success. This last week we started teaching omeone new. Her name is Sandra and she is a senior in high school from Chile. Sandra lived in Idaho with her parents until she was 4 and her parents got a divorce. Her mom then moved with her back to Chile. Sandra always wanted to come back to Rexburg because she remembere the good feeling it had here. Her mom is a less active member so she had been familiar with the missionaries but didn't really know much about the church. She convinced her mom to let her come back for her last year of school. She lives with a woman in one of our wards who saw in a ward program that there was a girl from Chile that needed somewhere to live. Sister Zollinger saw that and knew she wanted to do it so she talked to her family and it all worked out. Sister Zollingers husband died of brain cancer a week before Sandra arrived. It has been a blessing for both of them to have Sandra here. We have taught Sandra twce and she is very recptive. She is reading the Book of Mormon and attends seminary. We are sooo excited to see what happens. She has defintely been lead to this point from Heavenly Father.

In other news we heard from Antonio. He is the big guy from Detroit who gets transferred a lot for work. He has had a lot of trials thrown at him and is currently on his way to Alaska where he will be for a while. So hopefully that means he will get to come back soon. We talked to him last night and he had another huge trial thrown at him. He was on his way to Alaska when he was rear ended by a drunk driver on the highway. He was going 70 mph and the driver was going 122 mph. He is doing alright but is a little shaken up and really sore. He recognizes it i just Satan at work. Please keep him in your thoughts. I love yall
Sister O

Grateful for a good companion

Antonio

Many of you remember Antonio - He looks like he has a fun personality.  I know he was a pleasure to teach.

Kristen's story

I am still LOVING being in Rexburg! I have way too much fun with my companion and love the people we associate with. In the last couple of weeks I even ran into some of my best buddies KELLE AND QUINN! I love when that happens! It always makes my day. This week we weren't able to teach a lot of lessons because there is some sort of stomach flu going around. So we got to do a lot of service. We helped set up for a carnival at an elementary school and we were able to rake some leaves for an elderly couple. I love that we get to serve like that especially when I feel like it is in my own community.
This is a story about someone I have had the opportunity to meet and teach on my mission. Kristene Rose. When Kristene was younger she got married to Jeremy.  Jeremy is a member of the church, though he wasn't active, his family on the other hand is really active in the church. Throughout various times in their marriage Kristene listened to the missionary's. In January of 2010, Jeremy was working in Hawaii doing construction on the temple, when he was serevely injured in a construction accident. With out knowing all of the details, just that it was critical, Kristene asked for a blessing and headed to Hawaii.
Meanwhile, Kristene's old bishop, who is now in a stake Presidency, President Parkinson, had been struggling with health problems and was in dire need of a liver transplant. Upon arriving to Hawaii, Kristene learned that Jeremy wasn't going to survive through the accident. Eventually she decided to have his organs donated. President Parkinson ended up being the reciepent of Jeremy's liver. Over the past two years he has maintained a close relationship with the Rose family. As well as Bishop Siddoway and the rest of the Hibbard 4th ward. This spring the missionaries started meeting with Kristene and her youngest daughter Brindy. Everything was come and go for a while and taking things at the pace Kristene was most comfortable with. And in April Jeremys family had his temple work done. After the summer calmed down we started going to teach them again with our fellowshipper Sister Winn. The first night back Kristene said she had finally gotten her answer after all of this time! The night before we met with her, instead of watching TV or reading the newspaper, she read the pamplets we had been giving her the last 6 months. And she said her answer came while everything was just calm and quiet. Then we set plans for a baptismal date for her and Brindy. Originally it was for 11/12/11, but through the help of our fellowshipper it was moved up to 10/20/11. It was the most special baptism, and everyone is confident that Jeremy was on the other side just as happy as we were here at the Henry's Fork stake center! Many people from the Hibbard 4th ward were there for support, as well as many from the Rose family, and their old ward. It has been such a great blessing to know her and to feel of the great spirit surrounding her. I know the Lord has definitely been preparing her and she will be able to be sealed to her family forever. I love being on a mission because I get to experience and be a part of these great miracles!
I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!
Love Sister Owens

Just a side note;  Kylee's Great Grandmother is a Rose.  I sent her geneology and we will let you know later if they are related.  It is interesting how in these days the gathering of Israel happens. 

Mom still trying to get this blogging down. Pictures promised by christmas

For some reason I got locked out of the account so that is why the delay this week.  I just thought you all might like to know something kind of interesting about Sister Johnson.  Sister Johnson is a convert to the church of just a few years.  She is from Tampa Florida which is where Kylee's brother Josh served his mission.  She was converted while he was in the mission field so they know some of the same people.  Sister Johnson remembers one of the Elders talking about writing Kylee.  It is a long about connection but is interesting how our lives can cross paths in so many ways.

Life is GOOD!

Life is GOOD! I am loving being Rexburg with my new companion Sister Johnson. We get along so well together and have so much in common. I think that helps us have a lot more success in our missionary efforts. We got some great news from one of our investigators this week. She decide to move up her baptismal date. She was going to be baptized on November 12 but decided she could move it up because she is ready. We had some almost bad news this week as well. We had Antonio (he is the one from the hotel who was getting baptized on the 8th) get transferred to New York unexpectedly. We were so upset that he wasn't going to be able to be here with his friends to be baptized. Then he decided he was just going to fly back here so he could. We were so excited, he had his baptismal interview before he left and we got special permission to call him every once and a while when he is gone. My favorite part of the week was being able to watch general conference. For those who don't know what that is, it happens twice a year. Instead of going to church we get to watch the prophets and apostles speak to us. You can watch it on TV, online, or if you are close to Salt Lake you can got there for it. We got to watch it with all the elders in the area. We made breakfast and all pitched in for lunch on Saturday. It was so nice to be with other missionaries. I loved all of the speakers, but I especially loved when they spoke about the power of repentance. We all have a wonderful opportunity to repent for our sins and come unto Christ, through repentance we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again, the only way we can truly repent is if we are baptized by the power of God.
I LOVE Y'ALL. I hope you are doing well! I would love to hear from you!
Love Sister Owens