SISTER MACKENZIE BOSHARD

Oh You Betcha Transfers!!! :(

2012-02-13T09:05:00.001-07:00

What up fam!!!

Okay, so my hands are like freaking out right now and i am going to have diarrhea of the mouth, well diarrhea of the fingers in this case today.. We got our transfer calls and i am leaving Maderia.. I am SO SAD.. This island is like home for me. I love the people, my recent converts, my new investigators, the members. I can´t believe this!!! Wow.. so we got the transfer call today and i am going back to Almada, weird.. I was only there for one transfer and now i get to go back. You wanna know why.. because we are receiving 13 new irmãs and i am training!!!!! WHAT I KNOW.. I am tripping over here. I guess Heavenly Father trusts me, because i am still not confident in the language but i will just be guided by the spirit. Wow. I am nervous. Training. really?? I do have to say i am so excited and can´t wait but man, i have to step it up this transfer. Training.. a newbie.. I am going to be a mom.. in the mission field. so i hit my 9 month mark this week.. crazy.. I guess this whole time on my mish i have had a little irmã in my belly.. ha ha wow that sounds weird, but if you know the mission lingo it would make sense. ha ha i´ll explain later.

It was a great week, we had interviews with President and they went really well. He is SO inspired it is sick. Seriously. He taught us that the mission is like a university. We pretty much only have one chance to serve, especially at this age and we have to make the most of it while we are here. Everyday we have a class with the Holy Ghost. Every class is different and if we are not being obedient than we missed a really important class that day for the holy ghost to teach us something. He said we need to be in tune at all times. Some classes are repeatable and the spirit will teach us again but we may have to wait for the next time the lord is ready to teach us the same principle again. So it is better to always be prepared for what the Lord has for that day. Sorry it doesn´t come out right in English.. I am translating and it sounds funny..sorry. I hope it makes sense.

ummm Our sweet little family is doing really well.. They are all progressing, reading and praying!! I am soo proud of them and so sad i will not be here for their baptism. Okay, José he is not the uncle. He is the father of the two girls, but anyway he is seriously addicted to wine and we didn´t know how serious it was, but we tried all week to help him and prepare him for baptism, but he couldn´t stop drinking so his baptism fell through yesterday. The rest of the fam came to church yesterday minus the mom and one daughter but I feel so blessed to know this fam. We made them prayer rocks this week to help them remember to pray day and night. They turned out so cute! oh and Manuel, his baptism fell too. His wife didn´t agree with the law of Tithing and said it was too soon and whelp, his baptism fell too. To make the situation better, he leaves this week for the Azores and won´t return until November.. We were pretty bummed yesterday, but I know there are things i have to learn from this and change and do better TODAY, not tomorrow. I´ve gotta go, pack my bags, and maybe catch a flight tonight. I love you all.

XOXO

Com Amor,

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Glowing Faces

2012-02-06T09:40:00.002-07:00

the first pic is with the fam i talked about.. They are amazing.. I love them SO much!!! pray for them. Love you all!!

Package Filled With LOVE!

2012-02-06T09:35:00.002-07:00

Thank you for the package.. Loved every single thing inside..
oh p.s. gma bo sent me a package too but i will print out pics and send them to her.. Let her know so she doesn´t stress :) Thanks

It Can Only Go Up From Here

2012-02-06T09:25:00.001-07:00

Heeelloo faaaamily!

sooo let me start by telling you that transfers are next week and i have never been dreading transfers like i am right now. I am straight up attached to this island.. Because.. Irmã Thayer and i have found the most elect family!!! There is 9 of them that live in a cute little concrete house and we have been teaching 7 out of the 9 and the 7 of them want to be baptized!!! We found them a few weeks ago, but they didn´t seem to truly care about our message so we stopped passing by. Until we were in their area and passed by again and they said hey, we waited for you last week to come back and you never did.. We felt so bad and since then they have been reading in the book of mormon and praying.. One of the young men in the family, his name is Diamontino. He is 17 years old and last week he didn´t believe in God when we talked to him, but he still just hovered over our lessons and was so interested. We talked a little about Heavenly Father with him and invited him to read the introduction of the book of mormon and pray to see if there really is a God. He said he would. So the next day we passed by to follow up the reading and their prayers and we talked to Diamontino about his prayer and he said he hadn´t prayed yet.. so of course we all got down on our knees and prayed with him.. Irmã thayer said a sweet and simple prayer and afterwards we asked Diamontino how he felt, and he had the biggest grin on his face and said, my heart.. oh my gosh.. this feeling in my heart. I feel so warm.. Her had never felt something so powerful in his life.. HE FOUND GOD RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES. I have never had a spiritual experience like that in my life or even here on the mission. I can´t explain to you in words how incredible that moment was.. We told him that he needs to continue to pray and ask God if our message is true and he said he would. He apologized and apologized because he didn´t read or pray but he said i promise i will read and pray tonight.. So once again we returned to their house last night and he was so excited to see us.. We asked how the reading and prayers were going and he said i know your message is true. I know your church is true. He is so excited to come to church with us on sunday and he said he will be baptized! The other members of this family are so attentive when we speak and they are so willing to read the book of mormon and this whole family wants to come to church and be baptized on the same day. whenever we leave their house they ask, what are you going to leave this time for us to read? Hiii elect family right?? So this is the family, i will break it down for you.. We´ve got Marina who is the mom of Mikela and Monica, then José (an uncle) and 3 brothers Diamontino, Arlindo and Cristiano.

If i leave Maderia next week i will not see their baptism and i am freaking out. I cannot believe the lord has blessed me with this amazing family to help them progress and find the right path in life.. Oh i know the Lord has a plan and I will okay with whatever it is, but i am not ready to leave this family yet. I haven´t even known them that long but i feel like i´ve know them my whole life. The Lord can see the big picture and obviously i trust in whatever will happen. Mikel and Monica are twins and they are 14 years old.. They are gems.. Cristiano is 11 and so badly wants to come to church.. He can receive the priesthood next year!!! Arlindo is like 27 and we are helping him to stop smoking and José likes wine but would love to get off it.. José actually came to church with us yesterday and during our lesson about Adam and Eve he got right up and left in a hurry.. Like left church.. We were so worried about him, but when we passed by last night he said that he was so emotionally overwhelmed and so happy that he couldn´t sit in the classroom and cry in front of us. He is so sweet!!!

Thank you for the letters and package! I got it on Tuesday and was so excited! Thanks for the treats and scarf, the necklaces. They are adorable. Also, I got the package Grandma Boshard sent me.. Tell her thank you so much. I am seriously so far behind on thank you letters.. so if any of you have been sending me things i haven´t responded.. I promise it is coming.. soooon. Loved the church news and programs you sent me. Thanks mom.. p.s. you can take off my address here in Madeira on the church Program and just keep the rua jorge barradas on there.. if i leave and people send letters here..well that would just be lame.. thanks :)

I am so grateful for the difficulties i have gone through this transfer. I know that Heavenly Father gave them to me because he knew that i would grow and gain a stronger testimony. This truly is his work and i know that he lives!

I hope i tell you all how much i love you and how grateful i am for you on a regular basis.. I think the world of you and thanks for letting me leave home to take the time to serve our Lord. It is such a blessing for all of us. Have a great week.. Drew and Tanner.. Happy Birthday! I love you.

XOXO

Com Amor,

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

MALTSESERS IN THE VENDING MACHINE!!!!!

2012-01-31T08:16:00.008-07:00

This is what i had for lunch today.. So good! Don´t be jealous. Enjoy the pics!

XOXO Irma Boshard

Pia Celestial Will Never Give Me Something I Can't Handle

2012-01-31T08:12:00.001-07:00

Olá, what a transfer i have had. I only have two more weeks in this transfer and i feel like it just started last week. freak man.. I just have to tell you how amazing it is to serve on an island.. For pday today Irmã and i went to the other side of the island to a little city called Santana.. As we were walking down the streets a lady was standing out side her house and said, come here.. i want to show you my house.. so we walking into her house and she showed us everything.. It was hilarious.. People here are very proud of their homes.. I love it!

So i have come to truly realize here on the mish, that pai celestial (heavenly father) will never give me something i can´t handle.. He only sends me things that i can grow from and use to help other people.. I have really been stressed out of my mind because the work has slowed down and i don´t know what to do with myself.. The last few weeks we haven´t had that many progressing investigators, therefore we haven´t been baptizing.. My favorite thing to see in the mish is when someone is willing to fully come unto Christ, accept his gospel and all his teaching and be baptized the same way he was.. I know i have been able to make a difference here and there in lessons, but ii have just been going crazy.. However.. I got over the stress and met this wonderful family at the end of last week. Remember when we baptized Maria a few weeks ago?? Well, we are now teaching her husband and two sons.. They all need to stop smoking and drinking and they will be ready for baptism.. They are an elect family.. I am so excited for them.. We hike a mountain to get to their house everyday but it is worth the 45 minute walk..

funny story about Maria.. you know how weird i am and how i always said weird things in weird voices.. if you don´t we are obviously not close enough friends.. jk but.. I have started to say things with my voices.. of course in Portuguese and it is hilarious.. but Maria mocks everything i do.. she said Irmã and i are her best friends.. she is 76 years old.. I love her.. She said we have to pray for her for the rest of our lives.. She is the cutest lady..

Our branch is doing so much better. Timóteo is a great branch mission leader and has helped us a lot with the work.. We can really see a change in attitude and they seem more welcoming to our investigators..

Do you remember that investigator that made me cry when i first arrived to Madeira?? He said our church was mask and had signs of the devil on our temples?? Yeah i said i would never go back, but Irmã Thayer made me go with her.. It is amazing how the spirit works.. We have been teaching him almost everyday this last week and he said he will be baptized if we can explain the symbols on the temple.. He has done so much research on anti mormon websites.. it is ridiculous.. He has been praying to sincerely know if the book of Mormon is true and if Joseph was a prophet.. oh and when the lord wants him to be baptized.. He´s been a tough cookie and we keep asking why heavenly father is sending us there, but there is a reason. He will be a huge asset to our branch.. We just need to keep praying that he will accept the gospel... like today.

I hope you all have a great week. Love you!!! XOXO

Com Amor,

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Life Is Beautiful & Eternal!

2012-01-23T13:54:00.002-07:00

Bom Dia!!!

Olá.. Minha querida família! Mom- Thank you for sending me the church news and thank you Boomer and Hannah for sending me your letters. Your lives sounds so busy.. I hope you enjoy this time as teenagers because it goes by so fast..

Boomer- Use this time right now to prepare for your mission. I am not even lying when i say i regret all the time i wasted to prepare to be a missionary. When i say prepare.. I mean, Tell yourself you want to go on a mission because it is what the lords wants and you obviously love the lord and want to obey him.. Don´t do it for anyone else.. but have the desire to serve. It is a privilege. Read your scriptures, attend seminary, be faithful to the teachings and commandments of God.

Hannah- Be good to mom and dad.. This goes for you too Boomer. Be a happy teenager. Respect what mom and dad say. They know best because they have learned from experience. Be an example to all your friends. Speak kinds words and be a good student. Hannah, read your scriptures daily. Love the word of god and soak it all in.

I am telling you this because last night I wasn´t expecting to get the response we did from a man as we were knocking doors. I wish i would´ve been more prepared with words but i know the spirit was guiding me. As Irmã Thayer and i were knocking doors a man walked out and said, no no no.. You are wrong! (he was speaking English by they way) He said, you´re wrong, your religion is wrong.. your book is wrong.. If you are preaching of Christ why is your book called Mormon?? He whipped out his bible and started reading all these scriptures.. and we just sat and listened to him blab.. I was praying my heart out because i felt like this was probably going to be my first experience with someone trying to prove us wrong with just the bible. Thankfully i have the spirit of the lord and thankfully Heavenly Father has forgiven me for not going to institute (because he knows i will go after the mish) however, all i could do was bear testimony of the book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We showed him a few scriptures but he wasn´t listening too carefully.. It was our testimony that was going to touch his heart.. After we stayed in his front door for an hour we knew we had to leave and he wasn´t budging so we said see ya.. and he said when you find out your are wrong come back and see me.. oookay.. not. Some people just aren´t quite prepared for our message yet. But Heavenly Father continues to guide us to those that are ready for our message.

Oh mom- I talked to the office about why i had to pay 30€ for my package and it was because you wrote RX on the outside of the box.. Portugal doesn´t like when people use medications and medical stuff from other countries.. they want us to buy products here, so if they see that prescriptions are written on the box they will search it and charge you. It´s ridiculous.. so I was told that if you send me my pills, just write nutritional supplement on the outside of the box.. It´s been fine for other missionaries.

Last week was a little bumpy and rough.. I have been extremely blessed to see success every week thus far in my mission. This last week was my first week with hardly any success. I feel like the work has really slowed down. We don´t have any progressing investigators and one of our recent converts said he is not coming back to church. I was dumbfounded sitting in his house. I was not expecting to hear that come out of his mouth. He said I have faith in God, I am a good person, I know i am breaking some of the commandments but God still loves me. First of all, he was baptized, he knows the covenants he made with god, he knows keeping the sabbath day is a commandment but yet he is still not willing to go to church. I don´t understand the mind of some of these people. He said we can still be Friends and chat on the phone.. I said no. We are representatives of Christ. He said, we are all children of god. I said yes but that is not what i mean. We are hear to help you repent and you are not willing to repent. He laughed and we left his house so sad. How do you help someone repent if they know what they are doing is wrong and aren´t willing to continue to make changes?? It doesn´t make any sense to me. Blahhhh so I am just grateful to have a new week to go find new investigators and bring the gospel into their lives.

I love this gospel. I know the book of Mormon is proof that god and his son Jesus Christ lives. I know that the book of Mormon is proof that Joseph Smith was a prophet of god. I know that we have the commandments to protect us from the temptations of evil. I love you all!!! XOXO

Com Amor,

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

A Green Hill Far Away....

2012-01-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

sorry i don´t have many pics to send.. One is me by the beach last pday.. It´s is super rocky as you can clearly see.. and the other is a view of my sweet area.. Love the green fields!

CHEEEESSSSE!

2012-01-16T14:10:00.004-07:00

So these are some random pics of course.. One we went to lunch as a district after district meetingin Caniço. Another, was the day Irmã Thayer arrived in Madeira and Irmã Dias was leaving.. and the rest.. i bet you can figure it out.. Love you all XOXO

Kenz

Miracle at 10PM

2012-01-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hi There fam..

Dad.. Thank you for your email this week! It was great to get an update on the fam and to hear how you are doing since i didn´t hear from annny offf youuuu.. not that i am bitter or anything you know.. i kid. I hope Hannah had a great Birthday.

Let´s just jump right into what happened to Irmã Thayer and i yesterday.. Craziest day. oh my.. So we have our investigator marked to be baptized yesterday.. maria, and she didn´t come to church.. We couldn´t get a hold of her and we couldn´t leave Church to go get her because we were teaching the classes.. So.. we just kinda left it and we were so sad.. Well, president torgan always tells us that repentance brings forgiveness... so we repented of everything thing we had done wrong this week. Church was over and we went home to eat lunch and pray some more.. We felt that we should visit Maria in her house.. but it was kinda sketchy because she has asked us not to pass by her house because of her neighbors.. it´s a long story.. so felt that the spirit told us to go see her so we did.. obviously we are missionaries.. Well we got to her house we talked to her about the importance of attending church and that she could still be baptized because she had attended church a few times.. she said i can´t be baptized today.. That is impossible, i am tired i have things to do.. we need to do this another day.. after of talking for an hour we finally were able to pray with her and ask the lord when he wanted her to be baptized. This is the lords work and all, and we felt that she should be baptized yesterday so we wanted to confirm with the lord.. In the middle of the prayer she gasped and said, i need to be baptized.. she ended her prayer, got up and left the room.. Irmã and i looked at each other and i said what is going on?? We were so confused.. Maria came back into the room and said lets go.. We said, WHAT? where?? She said i am going to be baptized! It was about 6:30 last night we need to catch an hour long bus ride to Funchal, we called the elders they filled up the font, call our members and no one would come.. so we called another set of elders to be witnesses and help us baptize, and we had a baptism last night at 10pm with 4 elders, 2 Irmãs and our sweet little investigator.. When Maria entered the font she tried to go swimming and dunk her head under the water ha ha, i wish we could have recorded it.. It was hilarious. She was acting like she was taking a bath.. However, the spirit was incredible. Maria is someone with some much faith and confidence in the lord. I love her! She can´t wait to receive the holy ghost next week. There is always opposition when we are preparing someone to be baptized and.. you know who.. satan.. did not want her to be baptized.. It always blows my mind the way he works.. I should never be surprised but yet i always am.. He will even work through members.. yeah.. i know.. So the pictures i attached are of her cute little baptism last night. i have never had a baptism so late and without members.. but this is truly the work of the lord and she needed to be baptized last night.. and she was.. Don´t ever doubt the lord or his will.. just do.. There is a reason and in no time we will see the long term effects.

I think i have the greatest family in the world.. I love you.. and don´t be afraid to invite someone to church or to read the book of mormon. Be firm in your testimony and what you know is true.. We are here to bless the lives of our brothers and sisters.. We told them in the pre-existence we would come to earth and find them! We have been blessed with the truth and it is our responsibility to share it. So just do it. XOXO

Com Amor,

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

One more Picture

2012-01-09T16:48:00.004-07:00

PICTURES!

2012-01-09T10:51:00.009-07:00

Me and a seal at the airport waiting for my new comp..

Irmã Dias and i loved our mormon channel shirts! Thanks so much! Our zone here on Madeira.. We are so cute and small..

Me and Irmã Thayer.. We hit a really cold day here in Machico this week.. We pulled out the winter stuff.. ha ha

The Late Christmas Package That Mom Cried About For Days!

2012-01-09T10:44:00.003-07:00

Time For The Old Winter Coat!

2012-01-09T10:42:00.001-07:00

Heeelllllo,

Soo, Madeira has hit cold season.. I pulled out the winter coat and i look like a freak because no one else has a coat as big as mine ha ha.. Irmã Thayer arrived on Tuesday and Irmã Dias left that night.. It blows my mind how fast transfers fly by.. I feel like i just arrived here in Portugal but i am almost half way through my mission.. NOOOOO...

So it has been a rough few weeks with out baptisms.. I was complaining to Irmã Thayer about this yesterday.. Poor thing.. she has to sit and listen to me 24-7.. ha ha I was talking about how i just want to baptize to fulfil my purpose on the mission.. Irmã Thayer is so wise and has had wise companions. One of them was going through the same motions as me and her dad sent her an email saying.. Christs apostles rejected him.. was he a failure? Wicked people crucified Christ.. was he a failure? Joseph Smith was tared and feathered.. was he a failure? and then she went off on a rant about this topic about wonderful people in the gospel who haven´t always seen the success right away but later on we see the blessings of our work.. (my mind is flooding with words but i can seem to type them.. sorry if this doesn´t make any sense) So yesterday we had a chat about how wonderful the mission is, and how this mission is to teach, help others come unto Christ, yes- baptize them but to enjoy the process of the work.. sometimes i get really caught up in baptizing.. with good intentions duh.. it is my purpose, but sometimes i forget to be happy and patient.. So in the end of this rant, i am so grateful to have this opportunity to learn and grow and teach about Christ in this amazing process, i am grateful for every companion i have had thus far.. They have each taught me so much about the gospel and missionary work, with every transfer i change and learn how to be a better instrument in the lords hands.

It is Hannah´s Birthday this week!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I love you so much and i hope you have a great birthday darling! I got the video of Isla and i looove it.. She is a riot..

I am sorry this email is short.. I am out of time but i love you all and enjoy the pictures! Have a great week! XOXO

Com Amor,

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

2012-01-02T14:45:00.001-07:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR.. Is it already 2012?? What happened to 2011.. There is no keeping track of time in the mission field.. It just flies right by.. This week was great, slow, but great.. For new years President Torgan gave Irmã Dias and i to go to Funchal with some recent converts to watch the firework show.. It was amazing and one of a kind.. you should youtube videos of this show..

On Thursday my Christmas Package came!!!!!!!!!!! Irmã and i were doing our morning studies and i saw the mail van.. I saw the mail man get out of his car with a USPS box in his hands.. I screamed.. i was jumping up and down.. i couldn´t believe how big the box was.. Then our buzzer rang.. I screamed even louder.. We ran downstairs and I got my package... but it came with a price.. I had to pay 30€ for this puppy.. So i guess when packages come to the European Union or something like that, every shipment is scanned.. well my box needed a search (that is why it took so long to get to me) and well, because of the search i had to pay 30€.. It think it might be because of the liquids but i am going to call the mission office and ask about this so for a future reference this doesn´t happen again.. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for everything you sent me.. I fell to my knees crying because i was so happy my box came.. I have many pictures to send you.
Also, Grandma Jacobs sent me a Christmas box.. but she sent it to Odivelas.. and the Irmãs there forwarded the shipment to me.. Tell her thank you and give her the mission office address please.. Thank you! Oh and thank Spencer for his gift in your box too, that was really nice of him to send me something. I will make sure to get out thank you cards but i don´t know when that will be.. so to everyone this is a thank you in advance :)

This week Irmã Dias and i were walking in Machico and this man yelled at me and said, your religion is nothing.. nothing.. He scowled at me and i said good afternoon and kept walking... he continued to yell at me as we walked away.. I don´t understand why people are so bitter sometimes.. It makes me sad they don´t know any better and they don´t care to know.. BUT, I love when we find the elect. elect investigators that is.. We met Duarte on a bench the other night and he just looked like he is supposed to be a member ya know.. so we talked to him, prayed with him and marked another appointment.. So our first lesson with him was great.. He is catholic but not practising.. He is not super super elect but he has potential. We invited him to be baptized and he said he needed to pray about it.. Bahhh we are still waiting on his response.. he is reading the book of mormon... good boy.. and we have an appointment with him tonight.. we are so excited.. We are hoping he will be baptized in two weeks.. I have finally come to realize the meaning of baptism.. What a blessing to make a convent with God and in return he will bless us without end if we follow his commandments.. Hiii.. all of you should want that.. right??

Oh duh.. today is transfer day.. I am staying here in Machico.. Irmã Dias is leaving.. to the Azores!!!! She is really excited.. I will miss her.. My new companion is Irmã Thayer and she will arrive tomorrow morning.. I am excited to meet her and i am excited for this new transfer.. It´s a fresh start to make goals and make changes in the work.. I hope it goes well.

Mom.. i have the address for the Dantas Family.. You can write them in English and their kids will translate.. they all speak English.. So please do write them a thank you card.. they will love it.. such a sweet family.. I love them!

Okay.. my time is running out.. I love you all.. I hope you all know how much i love this gospel and how much i love my Savior Jesus Christ.. I know with out any doubts he established this church.. It is the only true church on the earth and it is a blessing to teach about the restoration of his gospel. I love the Book of Mormon and i know it is the word of God.. If your looking for answers.. say a prayer and open the book. Be patient and kind to one another.. I love you!!!!! XOXO

Irmã Boshard

2011-12-28T13:55:00.002-07:00

December 27, 2011

HEEELLLLOOOOO-

I was so glad to see you all on skype on Sunday. What a blessing to have technology and be in Portugal on an island and be able to talk to my family in America. Whoa. Thank you Heavenly Father. Isn´t the Dantes Family incredible?? I am so grateful for them. They fed us SO well and let us just hang out with their family all day. Mom- I will ask for their address and get the info to you. The mom is Fatima Dantes. You can probably find her on facebook, but she doesn´t speak English. Her son Timóteo Dantes speaks English (obviously, because you talked to him) but i am sure you can find him on facebook. That family is incredible and it is such a blessing to know them. Irmã Dias and i don´t know how we will thank them for everything they do for us. Every Sunday they feed us too mom. They always bring food to church for us and we take it home and eat it for a week. ha ha Irmã Dantes is a really good cook.

So- Sunday after church was incredible because we had two baptisms at the beach in Caniçal. It is really close to Machico. No one was there, it was calm, kinda cloudy, not too cold, a little windy, but a perfect day for baptisms in the ocean!!!!! Oh you will love the pictures. I am so happy for these people who have a desire to change their lives. We baptized Fabio a few weeks ago.. do you remember me telling you all about him?? Well, yesterday we baptized his dad, José! It was kinda a battle to get José to stop drinking wine, but finally on Saturday he committed to live the word of wisdom. Yeah- we cut it close. The other baptism was Maria José. She is the mom i told you about last week that should´ve been baptized with her daughter, but her daughter would not commit. She is kinda agnostic and has been difficult to meet with. So.. We just need to continue to pray and find the elect. They are here, we just have to be diligent in finding them.

I loved all of your faces when i said i have bed bugs.. yep. It sucks. Irmã Dias has it too, but mine is bad. It looks like i have a disease on my hands, arms and legs. ha ha ha ha I´ll have to take some pictures and send them to you.. you´ll laugh.

Wow- I can´t think of much to say because we chatted so much on Christmas. I am grateful for all of you. You are all looking SO good. I hope you have a great New Years. Take Care my loved ones :) Make it a goal this next year to never miss a day of reading your scriptures and saying your prayers NIGHT AND DAY. okay.. i love you, i love you.

XOXO

Irmã Kenzie Boshard

2011-12-28T13:55:00.001-07:00

December 19, 2011

Christmas is this week?? No seriously.. How?? It was just summer.. oh wait.. it still is summer here on Madeira.. kinda.. Jelous? You should be. I am a missionary and i love my calling.
I am so glad to hear all of you are doing well, and your Christmas plans sound great because we GET TO SKYPE!!!! Yeah... i know. I am really excited to see all your faces because i thought i would just hear voices, but noooo. Okay. so Christmas day we have Sacrament meeting at 10am.. then afterwards a member is bringing a computer to the chapel for Irmã and i to skype. We don´t have Christmas plans with anyone in our ward so it might just be irmã and i chillin on Christmas.. Time for our chat, probably 45 minutes.. I will most likely be calling you before your sacrament meeting because when i call from here it will be about 5 or 6 am your time. most likely 6am.. I am sorry this is not set in stone, but you can all just roll out of bed.. OR is it better if i call after church.. aww man, i don´t know.

Last week i went to Lisboa for my residency card and i got to hang out with my MTC buds.. it was such a fun surprise.. I had no idea we would be doing our cards together.. While i was there i got my Christmas package from Grandma Boshard, cards and treats from all my wonderful friends and family.. The Nylunds sent me amazing chocolate from Sweden. Thank you.. I will make sure to get thank you cards out.. don´t worry, but I wanted to make sure they know i got their packages.. Mom.. I am still waiting on the Christmas package, but i hope it will come sometime this week.

The work this last week was full of opposition and our two baptisms fell. It was the mom and daughter we found last week or the week before. Anyway, I am kinda impatient with Satan.. He really works hard on the people out here.. The mom returned to smoking, the daughter didn´t really want to talk to us and they said it is too soon, we can´t do this, it hasn´t been enough time, yadda yadda.. Satan Satan Satan.. The moment we start teaching people about the gospel or we mark someone to be baptized, Satan is ticked and puts doubts in their mind and well, we just have to work a little harder.. We always warn our investigators about opposition and Satan and the doubts and all the rest.. but we are really in the last days and need to more firm in all that we do. We need to pray for all the people in the world to have an open heart and mind. To recognize the voice of the lord when we show up on the door step. We need to pray to help these sweet investigators fight off the temptation of Satan. My heart breaks when baptisms fall. Obviously, you all know i am a cry baby and so sensitive to the spirit, i had a difficult week with the opposition. I love seeing the change in peoples life, the light of Christ and the desire to follow the teachings of our savior. I should have no need to worry because we are going to try and get them baptized again this week.

Never be afraid to open your mouth and share the gospel. Internalize the basics of the doctrine and the spirit will guide you to the rest. I cannot express my gratitude enough to Heavenly Father for the knowledge of the gospel and the have the opportunity to leave you all and share the gospel with the Portuguese people. I never took thought to be diligent in studying the Scriptures before my mission. I read them because everyone said, read your scriptures.. Well now that i am here in the mission i know why we read the scriptures. I know why we pray before and after studies, i know why it is a commandment to read, pray and go to church.. We are learning of eternal principals, we will only take our knowledge with us after this life. Start now, don´t wait until tomorrow when you have an extra 5 minutes. Act today. You will see the blessings pour out in your life. I see them everyday in mine. I say this all the time, i need this mission more than this mission needs me. I have gained some much more than i feel like i can offer someone else.. but yet i have been blessed to bless the lives of others.

I love you all so very much.. I hope you all have a great week and i will see you on Sunday.. It´s a date :) LOVE YOU XOXO

Irmã Boshard

2011-12-28T13:09:00.026-07:00

Me and Irma Dias

Irma's at the beach

Beautiful Christmas day at the beach

Baptisms on Christmas day

There is nothing better than being at a baptism on Christmas day!

Irma Dias and me

"Ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill and cannot be hid..."

This is a beautiful family

Christmas Eve dinner at our apartment in Madeira

Merry Christmas

Sitting on my bed with this beautiful, colorful wrap that was a gift from Irma Dias' mom. She also sent me a Portugal pen!

This is my district, yes they are goobs! The finger M's are for Madeira

2011-12-19T16:46:00.008-07:00

2011-12-13T17:04:00.004-07:00

Happy Holidays

2011-12-12T09:55:00.003-07:00

Hi there,

I got your letter Hannah and your stickers mom from Thanksgiving.. Loved it.. I will save them for next year.. ha ha Thanks for always thinking of me and sending me thoughtful cards and gifts.. I love you!

SOO.. clearly i am emailing you and i am not in Lisboa.. So sad.. We were all so excited to go to Lisboa today.. I had talked to 3 different people about the chirtsmas party and it was all planned that we would fly to Lisboa today, but this last week they changed it and President and Irmã Torgan flew to Madeira and we had our own little christmas party here. Funny Story.. The office Elders forgot to call the Zone Leaders and tell us we were having a christmas party here and on Wednesday Irmã and i were getting ready to leave our house for some appointments and we got a call from the district leaders saying.. you will never believe what is going on right now.. President and Irmã Torgan are in Funchal and a member had made a feast for us and they are wondering where are the missionaries.. ha ha We hopped on a bus and arrived and hour and a half later, we had a christmas party and feasted.. ha ha President and Irmã were in the chapel forever waiting for us.. I felt so bad.. ooops those poor elders that forgot to call us.. How do you forget to call an island and say.. hey your mission president is flying out to see you.. Any way, we sang christmas songs, ate good food, President gave inspiration and it was nice..

This mission is full of miracles and i am so grateful for all the things President Torgan is teaching us.. one thing that we have to remember everyday is, be humble, repent EVERYDAY and do the will of the lord.. So one night this week Irmã and i were doing some contacting and it wasn´t going super well, so we stopped at a corner to pray and repent for whatever it was we did wrong and fix it so we can find investigators.. right as we were going to pray Irmã Dias saw a woman sitting on a bech and said we should talk to her.. I said let´s pray and talk to her after.. Right as we were starting to pray this woman got up and was walking towards us. She said excuse me, i am sorry.. I would love to talk to you.. She began to cry and was explaining how hard her life is right now and needs a change.. we sat on a bench and talked with her forever.. in the end we made an appointment to meet with her again and she said can i bring my daughter? She is 19 and i think she would love your message.. so We met with them this week and everything went smoothly and we marked them to be baptized next sunday!!! We are so excited.. A cute little family.. Every time i have a baptism.. i think, my mission is complete.. I´ve found they elect.. but then the week after Heavenly Father places someone else in my path and the cycle starts over again.. This work is such a blessing!!!

That is crazy Lauren will be home next week.. I don´t want that to be me.. Bahhh one year.. I pray that is goes extremely SLOW.. (sorry mom). What about Amy.. I know she leaves in a month or so right?

Until next week!!! XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Happy Holidays From Madeira!

2011-12-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Holidays!!! On the island of Madeira.. It feels like summer to me. It is sunny most days and when it rains it is not too cold. It definitely does not feel like December.. I feel like it should be snowing any day now.. This is weird..

So- sorry Drew i didn´t get the chance to respond about the missionary in your ward from Portugal.. What is his name again and where did he live in Portugal?? Details.. Thanks :) oh yeah.. my zone leaders have a package for me and i think it might be the one you send me.. They said i can get it this week.. We´ll see, but thanks for being so thoughtful.. I love you!

This week was a week of miracles.. seriously. My mind is blown at how the Lord works with missionaries. Saturday night last week we met a drunk on the side of the road and invited him to church.. well he came to church last week and brought a friend with him.. The friend is Fabio.. Fabio had some questions after church.. said he loved the feeling of peace during the meetings and would like to return.. He talked about his mom that passed away and it has been rough, so we talked about eternal families, you know the routine and well we instantly made an appointment to teach him and the following Tuesday we taught him and marked him to be baptized on Sunday (yesterday). Tuesday night, he gave up drinking, smoking and coffee, cold turkey people.. and never returned to it this week.. It wasn´t even a temptation for him. He is SO elect.. and was baptized yesterday.. He actually received the Holy Ghost yesterday too because on Friday he is moving to England for work and won´t be returning to Madeira for a while. He can´t wait to meet the members in England start his new life there.. Seriously.. I was so grateful to be and instrument in the Lords hands to help change Fabio´s life.
Yesterday we also baptized João.. yay!! 2 baptisms!! João has been in depression for the last 6 months and it was a blessing to find him in the road last Sunday night.. He had attend church years ago with the Elders and was excited to find us and return to church with us this week. João is quiet and timid but truly loves the lord and wants a new path in life. Right after he was baptized he walked out of the font, he slipped and fell and hit is head on the stairs.. His head started bleeding, i gasped extremely loud and was so worried. He was starting to feel pain but said he was fine. Thankfully our Zone leaders were there to help us and they cleaned up his head and said it was deep and that he should be okay but we should go to the hospital because we don´t want anything bad to happen if he goes to sleep. So- after the baptism we drove to the hospital and waited for an hour and a half and thank heavens João was alright and his cut wasn´t seriously deep.

I will never stop talking about how grateful i am for this mission. It is such a blessing in my life to be of service in the Lords hands and teach others about his message. What if i extend my mission and stay here forever??
I love Irmã Dias.. She and i have a blast doing this work together.. We have the same vision and purpose here, the work comes easy.. (some days.. Of course you know it is not perfect out here in the mission field) but She and i are ment to be serving together in this time. I have so much to learn from her.

Okay- a few questions and favors...

Mom and Drew- can you find Alyssa Mortensen on facebook for me and get her address? She and i were companions in Odivelas and i need to write her and send her some pictures... Will you check on her too.. Make sure she is doing alright for me.. She returned home just a few weeks ago from the field i need an update on her. But not that i am a creep.. She´ll understand :)

Did you get my postcards? I hope so.. I thought they were so cool.. the material of cork.. I found then at Cristo Rei in Almada.

I love you all.. as always.. you are my family and all! I hope you are all having fun prepping for the holidays.. We get to chat soon.. Already.. Man.. Okay.. apostasy.. I can´t think about that..

Take care! XOXO

Irmã Boshard

P.s... I may or may not email you next week because we are flying to Lisboa for our Mission Christmas Party and i don´t know if i will have time to shoot you all an email.. so... be patient.

p.s.s My new favorite scripture is Alma 12: 35 Read it. Love it. Live by it.

okay.. i re-read this email and i need to clarify that João´s cut was NOT deep when the Elders looked at it the first time.. man.. sometimes i type so fast.. sorry..
What is it with me and hospitals.. man, i am curse aren´t i??

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Information Overload!

2011-11-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

The Lords creation is without words. The Island of Madeira is incredible. You can see the ocean from every angle of the island. The island isn´t super big. I went to Funchal for a zone meeting and it was and hour long bus ride of beauty.. freak. I love it all. Our zone has 8 missionaries and we have all heard what a privilege it is to serve here.. We are so grateful to represent Christ here.

This week i had my first run in with someone who has done research about the Mormons online.. and he speaks English so it made things worse because i could understand what he said. He is an investigator the missionaries have been teaching for about 4 or 5 weeks and he is not very intelligent because he said that we are preaching a false Christ and our church is built on sand and not a rock because God changes his mind. For example when the black people couldn´t hold the priesthood.. yadda yadda.. this guy said our church is a mask and the devil is behind it.. and i cried and cried and we left his house. I felt so sick to my stomach. It was awful and i never want to feel that way again.. But we returned to his house because we feel like he needs to be baptized.. so we returned and he said i am sorry for yesterday.. I am not the first person to say these things to you am i? and i said.. yep.. he said, welcome to Madeira.. ha ha ha We found 26 new investigators this week and had over 40 other lessons with investigators.. it was incredible.. We are planning on baptizing them all.. don´t worry.

Yesterday i met our ward of maybe 10 or 13 active members.. It was kind of a shock for me. Heavenly Father has send me here to truly help with the Less Actives and baptisms. I love the ward though.. They are so welcoming. I will be speaking and teaching many classes this transfer.. I feel bad for those who have to listen to my Portuguese.. ha ha I met a young man who just returned home from his mission last week from Manchester England.. I said, oh my gosh.. do you know Elder Rodgerson? He freaked and said YES.. I was his zone leader this last transfer.. He loves Trace and said he the hardest working missionary in the field.. Doesn´t surprise me.. Trace is a machine.. So you should tell the Rodgersons that Trace is very loved in England.. but that is no surprise.. The Elder i met is Elder Dandast.. i hope i spelled is name right.. Small world right???

Our contacts were interesting this last week.. we did find 26 new investigators.. But One night Irmã Dias and i were walking on the sidewalk and a man says.. Hey. I see you around all the time i want to know your message.. (he was drunk) and we talked to him and prayed and testified of course.. and then he saw his friend Fransisco, and called him over (he was drunk too) and we prayed with him and taught him on the street.. and right after we said the prayer and i opened my eyes there was a man standing right in front of me, nose to nose (he was drunk too) and said, hey, i want to come to church with you.. where is your church? and bam.. we found 3 drunk men wanting to know the message of Christ. It was fantastic. I love doing this everyday of my life.

Saturday night Irmã and i found a new investigator, her name is Conceição on our way home for the night and we invited her to church and she said she would come, but everyone says they will come so we didn´t expect to see her in church... but she came and we were thrilled. During sacrament meeting she saw two investigators receive the Holy Ghost and she said i want that.. Can those men put their hands on my head today? I said not today but after you are baptized you can receive the holy ghost and i explained to her baptism and everything about it.. and she said i want to be baptized.. when can i be baptized and we said next Sunday.. she said okay.. I am being baptized next Sunday.. WHAT THE HECK.. i was speechless.. She is elect and a miracle that was put right into our hands.. I love Conceição.. She is incredible and will be an incredible member..

My companion is Portuguese, clearly, and we would love to eat like Americans on Christmas. Can you send us some American chocolate?? Like Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.. She would love to try them.. I speak very highly of this treat some times.

I hope you all enjoy the pictures.. that is just a small fraction of what i have on my camera.. I am sorry i slacked in this area for you all.. but no worries.. I will send more next week and for the rest of the mish.. I got a message dad´s email couldn´t receive my 3rd transfer pictures.. so please forward that to him for me.. I am out of time or else i would try to fix it.. I love you all and i hope you have a great week. I am off to eat lunch by the ocean..

Happy Holidays!

XOXO

Irmã Boshard

p.s. i hope this email makes sense because i wrote it super fast. mkay. bye.

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Transfers!

2011-11-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Today is transfer day...and...............I am serving in the Land of MADEIRA!!!!! OH MY GOSH IT IS GORGEOUS HERE!!!! It is surreal. Last night at 10pm i got a call from the Office Elders and they told me i needed to pack my bags and be ready to catch a flight to Madeira this morning. So i packed and couldn´t sleep, obviously, and then i caught a flight, alone, flew for an hour and a half and now... I am here in Madeira. I cannot believe this is where Heavenly Father needs me to serve. I am so so grateful to be here. It is a privilege to serve on the Islands. WOW. It is warm and humid and GREEN. Yeah- I am at a lost for words. I am so happy.

My companion is Irmã Dias. She is from Portugal and yes, she speaks Portuguese. I am going to help her learn English! I helped Irmã Dos Santos last transfer with English and she was making incredible progress. I have realized i should never teach English because i don´t even know English myself. ha ha All the missionaries who don´t speak English have the opportunity to learn English in the mission. It is a great place to learn because as we all know through the spirit we will have the gift of tongues.

We didn´t have any baptisms last week, unfortunately. Admilson was marked to be baptized yesterday but he said that he is too afraid to leave the catholic church. We have been teaching him for 2 and a half, maybe 3 weeks. He is 22 years old and has a testimony but won´t act on it. It is so frustrating at times to see progress, yet someone won´t take the next step and be baptized. He asked if he could still come to church and if we can still teach him.. so hopefully he will be baptized soon. I am sad i won´t be in Almada to see it. One day, opposition will leave the earth and i can´t wait! until then, we will continue on, right?

Irmã Dos Santos and i found an ELECT investigator last night at like 9:20pm right before we were going home. She has already been to church, she was taught by the missionaries and asked if she could still be baptized.. OH MY YES!!!!! With transfers and other missionaries she must have been forgotten, but what a blessing we found her and should probably be baptized this week. But i won´t be there.. i have work to do here in this land of paradise!!!

So funny story.. last night when i was packing, i found my camera cable in my suit case.. What the?? Where did it come from because i am pretty sure i do not remember packing it ha ha However, i am very sorry i didn´t bring it with me today. I have not unpacked my suitcase yet. SOOO.. next week, i will email you pictures! YAY!!

Okay i finally have the email address for Leonardo Carvalho. He was a missionary when Brother Meeks was the Mission President in Porto. Can you give it to Brother Meeks for me?? Thanks!!! xico335@gmail.com

I hope you are all well and I love you.. Stay strong. I will pray for Grandma Jacobs.. I am hoping for the best.. you must let me know how the surgery goes and what happens. Tell her i love her and i am thinking about her.

XOXO

Irmã Boshard

WARNING.. This email will be super boring

2011-11-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

HI THERE!

WARNING.. This email will be super boring. I don´t have much to report on. So- I am thrilled this last week has past and we have a new week ahead of us. There was too much drama and other things this week i can only tell you about when i come home. ha ha Last Monday Irmã Dos Santos and i went to Cristo Rei.. It was pretty dang cool. I have lots of pictures i need to send. By the way sorry i never send pictures.. I will work on printing some either today or next week. Irmã and i found a guy at Cristo Rei, he spoke English and yes, I contacted him at Cristo Rei. It was awkward talking about the gospel in English. I felt like i didn´t know what to say. I am more comfortable teaching in Portuguese ha ha. Well, Long story short this guy lives in Lisboa which is not our area, but he loved the first lesson and i made sure the Elders will pass by.

This week will be my 6th month mark in the mission. Have a i been gone 6 months?? I have no sense of time. It feels like i just left home.
This is the last week of the transfer and i am pretty sure i will stay.. My area has a lot of work to do and i need to help strengthen my ward. I don´t know how though. I pray everyday to do what the lord needs me to do, yet i still struggle to find ways to do exactly what he needs of me.

Today I went to the hospital again.. ha ha so fun. I love Lisboa so it is not a problem. When i had the ear infection weeks back, the doctors put me on a medication that i shouldn´t have been on so i had to go in for a physical exam and a blood test today. I am TOTALLY fine, we´ll get the results this week.. i am telling you this because i am filling space in this email ha ha... and we left our house at 10am this morning and returned to our area at 3pm. Oh the joy of hospitals. So in the end of the story, no worries..

We didn´t baptize this week, probably because of all the drama we dealt with.. actually- no it definitely was our fault we didn´t baptize because we didn´t try harder to dunk people in the water. Remember Ian? I talked about him last week.. we tried to baptize him again this week but his mom will not give permission and Irmã Dos Santos kinda gave her a chat about his salvation and yet she won´t budge. It is so hard when we get attached to special people who we know the lord has prepared for us, yet people still have agency and that affects salvation.

To end this very boring email i will leave you with my favorite scripture i found this week. John 14: 26-27. It is about the Holy ghost and the peace we feel because of it´s companionship. It is not peace from the world but peace from our Lord. Which is SO much more important than anything else. I am glad to hear everyone is doing well. I love you all so much and HAPPY HOLIDAYS.. I can´t believe it is already this time of year. I feel like it should still be summer. p.s. Transfers are next Monday so i will try to still email you if i have time. mkay?

I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!!!!
XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Not Much To Tell...

2011-11-07T16:24:00.001-07:00

Hellllo my eternal family,

So this week, honestly i don´t even have that much to say.. sorry. For starters I had a baptism yesterday. yay.. Her name is Joana.. a mom of 3 and she is from cape Verde.. i think.. Her baptism was set for 6pm last night and she wasn´t at the chapel and she wasn´t answering her phone.. so we obviously left everyone at the chapel to go find her.. we went to her house, she was there with her daughter and said i can´t be baptized because i just got home from the hospital. my daughter is sick and needs to stay inside, blah blah blah... We prayed, got her ready and her daughter ready and She was baptized at 9pm last night.. I am learning patience for reals out here.. Wow.. waiting on people.. well you all know.. just isn´t my thing.. BUT the lord is teaching me that this is his time and not mine and things will happen according to his will. So the baptism was great, i baked an incredible cake and had to leave it in the oven while we went to look for Joana and Yes.. i knew this would happen.,. the elders ruined it!!! my poor little cake. It was depressing but still SO good.. It was like a Brownie cake. yeah.. yum.

Yesterday we were supposed to have 2 baptisms.. but one fell because of the young mans mom. UGH. So we met Ian last Sunday at church. He was there with a friend and said he loved church.. so we thought... OH yeah, baptism. We tried to call him during the week and his phone was turned off. we didn´t have his address and we had no idea what to do. Magically through the power of prayer ANYTHING is possible and we got his address through the vine and went to his house on Saturday to teach him the first lesson and invite him to be baptized the next day.. this is the life of missionary work. I love it. BAPTIZE. When we invited him he said yes instantly. The mom said yes and everyone was agreeable. So- yesterday morning we got a call from a friend of Ian and they said you need to call Ian because his mom won´t let him be baptized today.. We called she said, no it is too soon. After a 15 minute long phone call she still said no. She we tried everything.. we passed by house and she was sleeping and couldn´t talk to us.. we talked to ian at church and he still wanted to be baptized but not with out the permission of his mom.. clearly. duh. SO long story short.. He will probably be baptized this next week.

Other than this, i´ve got nothing.. I am sorry.. Today for Pday we are going to Cristo Rei.. It should be pretty amazing. I am sure. It was zone pday but then it was cancelled.. So It will be just Irmã and me.
The weather is getting pretty cold and i still need to buy warm clothes.. like everything.. boots, coat, scarfs.. i should have just brought this stuff with me. I don´t know what i was thinking. Oh man.. Remember i talked about that guy Leonardo Cavalho.. He served a mission when President Meeks was in Porto.. Well Leonardo gave me his email but i forgot it today. shoot. I am sorry. Tell Brother Meeks he wants to get in contact with him and next Monday i will remember to bring his email with me.

I am so grateful for all of you. I love you, i love this gospel. It is true. I know it with all my heart. I am grateful for the simplicity of the gospel. It is not complicated. We have commandments for a reason. Keep them! Read the scriptures.. We teach so many people about OLÁ. Orar- pray, Ler- Read, Assistir na Igreja( I bet i spelled that wrong. Sorry)- Go to church! We have to do all three of these things to stay close to the Lord. It is so simple.. so do it. We are working towards eternal life people. Take Care my loved ones!

XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Ear ache... Biting kids... Baptism!!!

2011-10-31T09:47:00.004-06:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

I can´t stop singing ´This is Halloween, This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween...´ oh how i miss Halloween in the states. I am SURE my comp thinks i am crazy.. ha ha We both love Halloween and can´t stop talking about how amazing Halloween is in the united states. In Brazil they don´t celebrate it and she wishes they did.

Mom.. Thank you for the package. Loved the plates, napkins, treats, letters from all of you and the ward. The pictures from the primary. I have so many to thank. Tell everyone thank you for me! Oh the peanut butter and chocolate stuff is amazing. The peanut butter here isn´t bad.. it just isn´t American peanut butter. But i will enjoy while i am here in Portugal. It won´t last forever. I also loved the church news. Thank you for being so thoughtful mom. I was actually at the mission office this week and that is why i got your package. Otherwise i would have had to wait until our zone conference in the next few weeks. I got your package because I went to the hospital twice in Lisboa and it is right by the mission office.. but it wasn´t serious. i promise. chill mom.

SO- i´ve got a lot to chat about this week. For reals. Last Monday morning i started to have an ear ache but i didn´t think much of it. By lunch time i was having a hard time chewing and opening my mouth. The pain in my ear was down in my jaw and slightly in my neck. My ear was starting to swell up and then it shut completely. The pain was indescribable. I took some meds to help and i thought the pain would pass. Well.. guess what? It didn´t. By Wednesday i couldn´t handle the pain anymore so i went to the hospital with one of the mission couples here and I got some meds and the doctor said if i needed to come back i could but the meds should help with the pain. For the next few days i didn´t sleep. I couldn´t think, let alone in Portuguese, it was hard for me to focus during lessons and my face started to go numb (weird), so we returned to the hospital on Friday. There the doctor stook at vacuum in my ear, sucked the nasty stuff, i screamed and left the hospital with 4 new prescriptions. ha ha By about Saturday the pain was going away and i was feeling much better. Through all of this last week we still baptized!!!!!! YAY!!!!

Yesterday we had a baptism for Atanasio. He is 18 years old and lives with his mom and sisters. He works to help bring money into the home and he is just a good kid. His baptism was at 9pm because he had to work.. but we will baptize at any hour for peoples salvation here. We are trying to teach his mom and sisters this week, we´ll see what the lord has in store for them but we are really excited.

Umm... During a lesson this week a little boy bit my finger and i screamed.. obviously because it HURT.. and you know what... yeah, the mom did NOTHING about it.. The parenting here is so different than in the united states. I just had to laugh it off because what else am i supposed to do with this amazing name tag on my chest.. oh wait.. wanna know why he bit me? So we were praying, and the little boy was trying to get into my backpack. So i held my hand on the zipper to wait until after the prayer to help him and he decided he would bite me because he wasn´t getting his way.. He is probably 2. Man..

Question- Has Amy received her call yet? What the news with her??? Fill. me.in. I am so excited for her!

I feel like i have so much more to say, but the brain has put a hault on my thoughts. Sorry. So mom.. i am fine. i promise. I am still on the meds until this ear ache completely passes but i am definitely being taken care of. The mission is the best place to be. I think i will just stay out here forever. mkay?

oh yeah.. I am still not fluent. in case you are wondering. One of our investigators asked me to say the closing prayer with him because it is funny when i talk. ha ha shame shame shame. I neeed to be fluent.

I love you all.. i hope you have a fun night tonight! Take pictures. I am off to shopping!

XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

The Greatest Calling

2011-10-24T09:31:00.000-06:00

Heeelllloo..

Just in case you all didn´t know i have the greatest calling in the world right now. THE GREATEST CALLING!! Everyday i see miracles. Miracles that only come from a loving heavenly father. There was one day this week Irmã Dos Santos and i were contacting in the street, we contacted 4 people in a row that didn´t believe in god nor cared to hear about our message.. We asked to pray with all of them and only one let us pray with them but wouldn´t meet with us another time. It was a really hard morning. I thought to myself.. did we do something wrong? Did we not pray on time? Did we not talk to someone on the road that heavenly father put in our path? I know.. i am nurotic. ha ha sooo.. Later that night we were about ready to go home and we contacted this cute pregnant lady. She is Joseph Smith.. Seriously.. ha ha but her name is Sonia. She said every church she attends she feels like there is more out there. She wants to find a church with everything but there are too many churchs to look into. OH MY GOSH.. Heavenly Father was just testing our patience that morning and he was preparing us to meet Sonia. We have an appointment to meet with her tonight and i am pretty sure she is elect.

Yesterday we had a baptism!!!! His name is Arlindo and he was a battle to get into the water. ha ha Last Sunday he came with us to stake conference and loved it, but then this week when we tried to meet with him he never had time. Finally on Thursday we had our first lesson with him and invited him to be baptized on Sunday. He was shocked and said i really need to think about this. We said great, but we should probably pray about this right now and ask Heavenly Father. So we did and then he said yes. PRAY IS AMAZING. If there is one thing President Torgan is teaching us right now it is the power of prayer. It is so real. so so real and we are entitled to revelation. All of us.. obviously for different situations but we have the opportunity to communicate with heavenly father. He will only help us if we ask for it. So- Arlindo.. his baptism was yesterday and pretty much it is a guarantee for something to not run smoothly. Irmã Dos Santos and i started to fill up the baptismal font an hour before the baptism and it was about 15 before the baptism was going to start and the font was not filling up. I realized we forgot to use the drain stopper. ha ha whoops! So i ran to get the other Elders (because in our chapel we have 2 other wards and 2 sets of Elders) so i ran to grab the ZL´s to help us and there was no way the font would fill in 15 minutes.. so Elder Hope, me and Irmã Dos Santos started to fill up pans in the kitchen and bathroom and we filled the font right up.. but the baptism had to start 30 minutes late unfortunately. ha ha it was hilarious.

oh- this week Irmã and i witnessed a drug bust on the street. We were sitting on the curb making phone calls and all of a sudden two big guys in black shirts grabbed this guy.. threw him against a building and they took drugs right out of his pockets. He was escorted in a car with some other big guys and that was it. Everyone went back to minding their own business.

o i have so much i want to say about this week but so little time. This drunk guy contacted us in the road the other day. He was riding his bike and we watched him almost get hit by 2 cars. He said good afternoon he strated to blab about nothing.. eating meat and christmas and santa clause. we were trying to leave but he kept asking us questions. Finally, i said can we pray with you. We want to bless your day. He set his bike down and got really serious. I said is there anything you need in your life right now? he said i really need to stop drinking. His eyes filled with tears, he kissed our hands and called us angels. It was marvelous. We are going to start teaching him and help him get his life in order.

This work is a privilege. Absolute privilege. I am so grateful to be here. to help others straighten their lives. Oh testimony is overwhelming BIG!!! We are so lucky to have this gospel in our hands. Do not take it for granted. DO NOT! I did before the mission and i am eternally grateful for the gospel. Stay strong. I love you all!

XOXO
Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Rolling Right Along

2011-10-17T08:30:00.001-06:00

Happy Fall!! It really should be fall, but it is still so hot here. We are in summer... I like it but i want it to chill down for a bit. We live right by the coast and the smell of the ocean is divine every morning. We live close to Cristo Rei and the bridge that looks like San Fransisco. kinda.. This last week flew by.. flew right on by. I love my companion Irmã Dos Santos. Did i mention last week she is in her second transfer!!! ha ha and hello, there is me.. in my third transfer! Our zone is young in the field. Our ZL´s have been out 4 transfers and 5 transfers. youngans.. and i think this is the first time being ZL´s..Others in our zone have 3, 4, 6 transfers under their belt. It´s amazing the miracles Heavenly Father puts in our path when we are so humble and relying on the spirit 24/7.

Sweet Irmã Dos Santos does not know the area and feels the exact same way i did, when i stayed in Odivelas and had to show my new comp around, but we saw miracles this week!! We marked 3 people for baptism in the next 2 weeks. One of our investigators name is Nelson.. He has been taught by the Irmãs for some time and should have been baptized a few weeks ago, but he bailed on the Irmãs. So Irmã and i felt like we needed to pass by this week and visit him. We taught him about the gospel of Christ, faith, baptism so on and so forth. After the lesson we invited him to be baptized with a date.. He said no, no.. I need to think about this and get back to you later. I said can we kneel right now and pray about this? You need to know from Heavenly Father this is what he wants from you.. Nelson said. yes.. of course... So we knelt down and one at a time each of us prayed.. Irmã prayed, then me and Nelson. When i prayed.. i paused for like 20 seconds.. I wanted Nelson to feel the power of the holy ghost.. right after Nelson prayed.. Nelson said, okay.. I say yes.. he felt so good and knew this is what he needs to do! It was incredible.. He is marked for baptism on the 30th of this month. The spirit is truly amazing and indescribable.. People need to learn how to feel.. We can teach all day and preach all day, but it does nothing if you can´t feel the power of the holy ghost. Man, I love this work!

We marked another young man Atanasio. He is 17 years old and so ready for this.. He loves church and youth center we have. He can meet other youth and hang out and play games.. The mission couple also teaches lessons during the week. He will be baptized next sunday on the 23rd. The other guy we marked is older and his name is João. He knows all of this is true.. he just needs to act.. and he now he is.. He will be baptized on the 30th too.

This week we ate with a member in our ward. The couple served in Porto and i immediately asked who their mission president was and they said President Meeks and Sister Meeks. they were so excited when i told them i knew him.. the couple is Leandro and Marina Cavalio... Marina´s dad died while she was on her mission and she said The Meeks will for sure remember her.. They told me to send Brother and sister meeks their love and i took a picture with them and i will try to send it home soon.

Yesterday was Stake Conference and we had the opportunity to hear from President and Irmã Torgan.. I cannot tell you enough how incredible he is.. He just talks like a general authority.. I have no doubts he will be a general authority. He knows exactly how to lead this work simply and powerfully. He makes everything seem like cake.. You all know my love for him. He is a machine. for reals.

So quickly.. this week i was studying of course in the bible and i was reading Romans 15.. This should be the new relief society thing.. ha ha Service of course. in verse 1 and 2 this is our calling.. serve serve serve.. Also in Acts 20:35 it talks about giving and then receiving.. I wish i could explain better but my time is running out. Go read it and study it. I hope you learn something to help others in this life.

I love you all! I am so grateful for you. Hang in there. Keep strong with scripture study, prayer and temple attendance.. You´re all fantastic. XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

TRANSFERRED!

2011-10-10T18:02:00.002-06:00

I was transferred today!!! My first transfer leaving the only area i know.. It is weird.. Irmã Mortensen and i were at a bakery just taking our time, looking around this morning because usually transfer calls come later in the afternoon so we just dilly dallied around Odivelas.. Well The secretaries called at 11am and said I needed to pack my bags NOW and it would be great if i was done by noon.. WHAT!!!! We ran home.. I packed in 45 minutes and now i am in Almada.. Weird.. I was so sad to leave Irmã Mortensen.. I LOVE her.. She and i had the best time together.. She helped me throw everything in my suit cases, pack up and leave. I LOVED Odivelas.. I will miss that area SO MUCH!!! Now i am serving with Irmã Dos Santos. She is from Brazil and do not worry.. she only speaks like 2 words of English. ha ha This transfer i will definitely be learning the language. I have been praying and praying to learn this language and whelp, Heavenly Father sent me to the best companion to learn from, soo.. It´s going to be great. Almada is a big city (from what i can tell) and pretty close to the ocean.. I think i am going to love it here.

Last week.. where to begin?? We had two baptisms yesterday! It was fantastic! We baptized Mariano who is from Guinea. We found him as we were contacting in the streets. He was pretty much elect from the moment we met him and heavenly father has been preparing him for a really long time.. His baptism was right after sacrament meeting and then Danny the 13 year old boy was baptized too, but his story is kinda confusing.. His mom lives in Odivelas but on the weekend he stays with is aunt and uncle in Alverca and goes to church with them because his mom works... So Irmã and i taught him during the week in Odivelas because he was home and didn´t work as much. Anyway.. moving on, we got to leave our area yesterday and go to Alverca for the baptism.. Another set of Elders from Povoá had a baptism too for a young boy.. It was wonderful! Side note: Danny´s baptism almost didn´t happen because his aunt said he wasn´t ready and tried to convince his mom, us and the bishop that he can´t be baptized. She called us and was furious and said there is no way.. I do not authorize this baptism.. It was a fight, but in the end.. the spirit won her over and Danny was baptized.. Satan finds any opportunity to stop baptisms.. It gets really old and we just have to prepare ourselves every time. Ugh.

We also passed by Buneca´s house to see how she was doing, because the spirit told us to (obviously) and Freak, She opened the door, rolled her eyes.. then gave us a hug, smiled and was thrilled to see us.. ummmmm yeah.. bipolar.. ha ha i have NO idea what goes through that mind of hers. I am sad i am not in that area anymore to help her get baptized but some day in the future she will be baptized! She has to get the devil out of her. like now. We had 7 or so investigators progressing last week, it was great.. Irmã Mortensen will baptize them all.. I have no worries.

I am glad you are doing well, getting ready for Halloween.. I wish they celebrated Halloween here.. They just take a lot of holidays, close up shop and go to the beach.. ha ha So the work is still growing and i love it. I love seeing the change in peoples lives when they find happiness.. It is sad to leave the people i helped baptize but i just have more work to do here in Portugal. I am excited for what it to come. Family- pray and ready diligently every day.. Helaman 5:12... always rely on our savior. Turn to him for EVERYTHING! I need this mission more than it needs me. I am learning so many little things that make the biggest difference in my life. Don´t take the gospel for granted. Use it in everything you do. I love you all!
XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Best Conference Ever!

2011-10-03T11:08:00.001-06:00

Family!

Hello! Wasn´t this the best conference weekend ever! The general authroities don´t beet around the bush anymore.. It´s good for us and the youth. We need directness in these days. Half of my zone went to Benfica at the mission office to watch conference.. there is a chapel right next door where our investigators could watch too. I missed the Saturday session because we were working on having a baptism Saturday night, which ended up falling. But our investigator Marcello is working on gaining a testimony of Joesph Smith.. that is the only thing he is struggling with. We are trying to pray for him and help him with what he needs.. We had another baptism planned for Saturday which fell too. We have been teaching this young man Danny. he is 13 years old and has been taught by the missionaries for about 2 years.. he still doesn´t feel ready for baptism and wants to wait until November or something like that.. it is frustrating.. We will just wait and see what the lord has in store for him coming up.. So again this last week, no baptisms but we have other progressing investigators which is great!!!

Confrenece.. okay.. Being a missionary and watching conference is so much better than being home.. I feel like this was the first time i actually was excited, had a desire to watched and learned something from every talk. My favorite talk was by Tad R. Callister about the bible and book of mormon. Irmã and i have so many investigators that needed this talk.. He made it so simple as to why we use them together. I can´t wait to print that talk out and give it to our investigators.. I also loved President Monson.. he was so animated with the rolling eyes and long pauses this conference.. He is right when he talked about people thinking it is the 10 suggestions from God and not really commandments anymore. For some reason people just don´t take them seriously or they think it is okay to live this one and not the other.. NOT TRUE.. So many slackers in this world unfortunately. I like how he said the storms will always beat on our doors, but we will be better equipped if we have the gospel in our core. We must always pray.. I can´t tell you how many times i pray every day.. every moment. We will never make it through this life if we don´t communicate with Heavenly Father and rely on our savior.

I liked the talk from Randall K. Benett about having only 2 choices.. we follow Christ or we follow the world.. it is that simple. We need to make the decision now.. There is no gray area.. Man- i wish we could chat about this all day. I hope you all got answers and learned something from Conference.. I am so excited for Provo 2 temple.. How lucky are we to live in Utah and be so close to the temples. Take advantage of it. It is the greatest blessing we have on this earth. I miss it so much.

Sorry i don´t have much else to report on.. Transfers are next Monday. Not sure what is going to happen.. eeekkk.. I love you all dearly!!!!

Take Care XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

The Power Of Good And Evil

2011-09-27T11:33:00.000-06:00

Olá.. September is pretty much.. What the?? I can´t even believe it. It is almost October which means conference!!!! YAY!!! Out in the field here we LOVE conference. Irmã and i have had a countdown for the last 25 days.. We are so excited.. For the Saturday session we are probably going to a members house to watch conference and then on Sunday we are going to Benfica with our zone to watch conference at the chapel there.

Last week i meant to mention that i got your letters from Park City. Thank you so much. I loved hearing from the whole fam! I am glad you all had fun.. It sounded like a blast.
This past week was long and crazy of course because there is not a normal day out here. Irmã Mortensen and i went to another church.. it was weird and different and i definitely didn´t like it. Everyone prays out loud and they all sounded whiny. We went because our bishop met a girl from this church and invited him to hear their message.. he said i will listen if you listen to my message and then he sent us to go meet them.. ha ha We tried to have a lesson with the church afterwards but it led to them not letting us read from the book of mormon and fighting us with scriptures from the bible. sooo yeah.

Yesterday at church was definitely an adventure. Randomly Buneca showed up and then tried to leave because she said she didn´t feel good inside the chapel. So she went outside and started talking to herself. So Irmã went to talk to her and said are you okay.. she said i am talking to the devil. He said i shouldn´t go inside. I don´t want to be here.. long story short, Buneca said the devil told her to break the chairs in her house and all the dishes too.. so she did.. We tried to give her, well not we.. but a priesthood holder tried to give her a blessing and she wouldn´t have it.. we couldn´t force her to do anything so she left and still have the devil in her.. looopy.. I honestly cannot comprehend being so low that Satan has that much influence in your life.. This week i have been reading in Moses.. The story of Moses walking with God face to face.. when God leaves, Satan tries to tell Moses to worship him.. Moses knows better not to follow him, but the second he has just the slightest doubt he sees the gates of hell open.. The powers of Satan are SO real. It is insane. Sometimes i really miss the Utah bubble. Culture shock is sinking in for reals.

There is a family in our ward who was baptized at the beginning of the year who´s daughter was taken away from them because of their living conditions. They have 3 girls total but only one was taken away and the government is saying that they have to wait at least 6 months until they can talk about her returning back to their home.. It is so sad. The poor mom just cries and cries whenever we go visit her. I done blame her so i cry with her. They are trying to stay humble and rely on the lord. They said ever since they were baptized they have dealt with a lot of opposition. But they are strong and can make it through this. It is hard to watch the situations people have to go through. I want to help so badly, but all i can do is pray from them.

We didn´t have a baptism this week. We worked so hard, had so many appointments, tried to baptize two people.. one didn´t show up for church and the other still said he wasn´t prepared. Irmã and i met with him in our chapel until 10:45 last night hoping we would have an 11pm baptism(it has happened before), but our investigator said when God tells him he is prepared, he will be baptized. sooo.. we are just going to continue to pray.

President Torgan is doing big things in this mission and other missions are hearing about it.. they want to know what the secret is.. We had a huge conference with 4 other zones this week in Benfica. I am extremely blessed to be able to serve here with President and Irmã Torgan. They are very special people. They know exactly what they are doing and how to do it with the help of the lord. I know the revelation he is getting is from God. There is no way the things here could be done by man. no way. Sorry this is a little shorter than usual. I am out of time. I love you all. Take care.

XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

The work is growing more & more

2011-09-20T15:52:00.002-06:00

How is it kickin in Utah fam?? Ohhhh i love you all.. Thanks for the updates on life. Life here in Odivelas is great. I love this city so much. It is getting chilly here and i am about ready to start buying my winter clothes. weird.. Today I forgot my list of things i wanted to tell you in my apartment so i am sorry if i forget things and leave out details..
Oh, one thing there is a member in my ward who was an Elder in Porto when Brother Meeks was the mission President.. His name would be Elder Viera to brother meeks.. He told me to tell brother meeks hi for him.. Small world isn´t it??

Yesterday we had a baptism!! It was a wonderful woman named Irene. She is the mom of 4 kids and two of her kids have already been baptized.. one of which i was able to see.. Her son is Bruno.. he is 9yrs old.. This mom has been through a lot in her life and seriously needs this gospel. She has quit smoking and drinking cafe. She told us the other day that is a blessing from god that she has more money to buy food for her kinds instead of buying cigarettes. I love this girl..

We had another investigator marked to be baptized yesterday but it fell because of SATAN.. ughh.. This boys name is tomas.. He is 12 years old and came to church with us last week. He loved it. He got a duty to god book and was already working on it during the week. He was so excited to go to church again with us and to be baptized, but one day we showed up on his door step and he was a completely different person. He was not excited to see us and said i don´t want to be baptized anymore. I don´t want to got to church.. It is too early.. blah blah blah.. I sat in his living room and cried. his mom was all for signing the papers for him to be baptized but tomas just doesn´t want this right now.. My heart breaks for these people. I want them to feel the love of the savior and the happiness i feel from this gospel.

We have a bajillion new investigator this week. The work is growing more and more everyday. President Torgan has an incredible vision for Portugal. I love it! these next few weeks are going to really pick up..

I have officially had my culture shock with the gypsy culture. One new investigator we have she is 18 years old, has two kids, is homeless and lives in a car with her boy friend. Wow.. i was just speechless. What a sad life.. She and her boy friend and kids came to church yesterday and loved it!! We want to invite them to be baptized but they need to get married first. so the plan this week is to figure out how to get all this done asap. Everyday i thank heavenly father for blessing me to be born into the gospel, born in america and born into an incredible family. I don´t know how i would function any way else.

My companion is a rock star.. I love her.. She helps me all the time with the language and we just laugh and laugh together. Heavenly Father truly knew who i would need out here in this work. Irmã Mortensen is a doll.. mom- Irmã is from Miami.. But long story short her family lives in Texas now. I will try to send you more pictures of us and our investigators.

The language is still hard and i am not fluent, maybe next week.. ha ha or in a few months. I learn things everyday and i am always making improvement, but with patience and time some day i will speak fluently. I hope you are all doing well. I love you all so much. Later :)

XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

HA HA HA....

2011-09-12T10:57:00.000-06:00

Hiii-

It´s me again.. I feel like i was just here emailing you about last week.. Man.. The missionaries say time picks up every transfer and they are so right! I am already in my 3rd week of my 2nd transfer... AHHHHHH.. I honestly don´t even know where to start with this last week. My sweet fossil bag broke and i died! I was so sad. Remember how much i loved that bag? Now i use the cute bag carol gave me from Nordstrom and i love it. Thank you Carol.. Don´t worry Tanner, I am not using a backpack.. Never will.

Monday the zone leaders called an emergency zone meeting on pday! We went to the office in Benfica and talked about love for our investigators.. It was sad because obviously it is a big deal if we are having a meeting about this subject. One of the zone leaders thinks i have this immense amount of love for the people here (which i do) but he asked me to talk for a bit at our meeting (in Portuguese..gahh) why i love them and how we can all better love our investigators.. It went better than i thought, but dang.. I am still struggling with the language.. At the office i found some lovely packages! Mom.. thank you for the package from Whitney´s wedding. I loved it. Loved the pictures and the letters and candies.. Those jelly beans were amazing.. What are they?? Good job whoever picked those for the wedding. mom.. I cannot believe you took that twilight poster to her wedding!!! oh my gosh.. ha ha you should´ve cut out jacob and edward. ha ha ha Whit´s wedding was beautiful. You are glowing whit! I am so happy for you. Drew. thanks for the picks of Isla.. She is adorable.. She has this smile that looks suspicious. ha ha i can´t quite describe it. ha ha My dear XANGO friends.. You are too kind to send me that package. Oh my gosh.. You are all so thoughtful. The toys are amazing.. treats.. delish and thanks for the letters. I cannot believe how much fun we all had working together.. It just was not normal. ha ha

Okay- so this week.. Our zone leaders felt like everyone in our zone could have at least one baptism. So everyday they called to see how we were doing and who we were going to mark. It was kinda overwhelming because everyone we were trying to invite to be baptized, it was´t going so smoothly. We were teaching a girl Alina. She is 12 and is also taking lessons from the Jehovah's Witnesses. We have been teaching her for the last 3 weeks and wouldn´t come to church with us until she talked with her JW professor. So we went to her house on Saturday and she said i talked to my professor yesterday. I have my religion and i am staying with it. I don´t want to take you lessons anymore.. They way she was talking was so scripted.. It was sad. I testified and testified and Irmã testified but she wants to be a Jehovah's Witness.., Yuck! I am so sad for her.. but we warned her.. it´s on her now and we did our part to invite her to come unto Christ. So- we lost an investigator which was really sad.

Also this week we tried to meet with 2 investigators we wanted to baptize on Sunday. Everything we did wasn´t working. I have never worked so hard out here and felt like i was doing nothing to fulfill my purpose. We could never meet with one named Ari because her dad doesn´t like the church.. and the other, Gardet, never had time. It was so frustrating. So Irmã and i fasted. We were in some need of extra help. Finally we met with Gardet on Friday and invited him to be baptized on Sunday.. (yes i know that was fast.. but if it´s the lords will, we will do it!) Gardet said, i don´t know.. that is too soon.. and the recent convert teaching with us said, no.. it´s late.. you should´ve been baptized yesterday.. It was awesome! I love the recent converts here. Long story short, Gardet avoided us after that, didn´t showe up to our appointment and didn´t come to church Sunday and wouldn´t meet with us again.

It was Saturday nightish and we had an appointment with and investigator who was a reference from the elders in Lapa.. So we met with this guy Manuel. He was telling us that he went to church like 10 years ago in Cape Verde and has a book of mormon and wants to go to church on Sunday with us.. Irmã and i felt the exact same thing.. all week we were looking for someone who could be baptized and wha la, Here he is.. so we invited him to be baptized the first time we met him, in the first lesson for the next day! He said yes! we were thrilled and so grateful to heavenly father.. It was amazing.. It was like one of the stories you only hear about but no one knows the person who actually baptized someone that fast. ha ha So Sunday morning comes, and Manuel isn´t in church. We called him and he won´t answer. We called him like 7 times in 2 hours. Finally he picked up the phone, yelled at me not to call back and then he turned off his phone. Sacrament meeting was starting and i had to speak. I cried throughout my entire talk. I was so sad and frustrated we were given this amazing miracle to baptize someone and then.. he doesn´t want it anymore. Church was over and that was it.. We didn´t have anyone baptized for this last week. I felt like the biggest failure and i didn´t fulfill my purpose. I know i was extremely blessed to baptize my first 7 weeks here. But to go one week without.. broke my heart. It was so sad. I haven´t felt this yet.. I´ve never not seen sucess.. but i just have to keep moving forward and do better this week.

I am glad to hear Park City was fun. Mom- I am sorry you lost your ring.. I hope you find it.. You need to just take off all your stuff in one place and leave it so you don´t lose your nice jewelry. man.. that's rough mom. Boomer, how is high school? I want to hear all about it. Hannah how is your tooth and Seminary? dad, I am glad you are well and happy.. Your hair is completely white.. what the heck happened.. and i stressing you out too much?? ha ha Mom.. How are you? How is JetBlue? Drew you sound happy and well.. don´t be having any more kids yet.. Tanner.. you are great and i love you. I am sorry you are so busy all the time.. Isla is a beautiful baby.. Oh i love you all. Thanks for your support. Take Care my fam..

XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Pictures!

2011-09-08T08:17:00.009-06:00

August 2011 They city of Loures, it's a part of my area and Odivelaf and lots of apartments here. I took this as we were going to teach a family.

August 2011 Zone P-day we went to Alemeda to play frizbee at the park with the Lisboa zone, not everyone in the zone could make it but we still had fun playing in the rain. Elder Dacosta, Olson, Walter, me, Chrtste, Irma Joslin, Spurlock, Roundy, Rose, Rodriguez, James, Fillerup.

August 2011 Luciano's baptism (left to right) Diamontino, Luciano, me, Irma Joslin Luciano is the one we had a hard time getting a hold of and taught him one lesson over the phone and then the night before his baptismal interview we found out where he lived and taught him on his doorstep all of the commandments.

August 2011 Ivo's baptism (left to right) Bruno, me, Ivo, Irma Joslin, Marlane, Sofia. Marlane was baptized 2 weeks before, Bruno was baptized the next week. Sofia is 7 years old, all cousins

July 2011 Doris & Bruno baptism – It was windy and really sunny outside

July 2011 Irma Jolslin and I at a church in Campo Paqueno for a district meeting. These are hand painted tiles and this is funny because this is on the side of the LDS Church

August 2011 Edson's Baptism! He was elect. Me, Tenda (a member) Edson & Irma Joslin

July 2011 First District Meeting Elder James, Me, Irma Joslin, Elder Fillerup – We are the coolest district ever! We have a lot of fun together

"I don't know why Heavenly Father blesses me so much"

2011-09-08T08:11:00.001-06:00

Olá! My wonderful family.. I adore you and i am so grateful for your emails. This week was crazy! I didn´t get to meet my new companion until like 11pm on Monday night.. i waited to meet her ALL day. It was the longest day.. Her name is Irmã Mortensen. She has been serving in Porto for the last year and now finally came to Lisboa! She is incredible. I don´t know why Heavenly Father blesses me so much. Irmã Mortensen is from Florida and goes home in November. She has got this language down, and i am learning a lot from her. She is calm, cool and collective.. Just what i need. She and i have been stuck in some fun situations this week. We couldn´t find the bus one night after a lesson and we needed to get home so we walked in the rain for an hour and walked through an Afrian village where some guy was making fun my my accent and awful Portuguese. He laughed at me the whole time i was trying to contact him.

I never remember what i tell you the week before so sorry if i repeat anything.. Weeks go Irmã Joslin and i met a girl named Inês. She is dating a less active in our area and has come to church a few times. We taught her for the first time last Sunday, Marked her for baptism on Tuesday and she was baptized on Saturday!!! She was elect! She had already been reading a little bit of the book of mormon and knew most of the commandments. When i gave her the invite to be baptized she wouldn´t even let me finish and she said yes! She cried all throughout her baptism. She was happy. I love the happiness the gospel brings to peoples lives. How could you ever not want this gospel in your life. It makes sense, it´s true.. and well, it is just true!

We had another baptism marked for yesterday, but it fell. It was sad. The lady that was supposed to be baptized it like 40 years old living in a 5 year old body.She makes no sense. She has a major fear of water and we were working with her all week to help her overcome this fear. She even told us she didn´t believe in god, just so she didn´t have to go through with the baptism. We showed her exactly how the baptism would go and she was so excited. It´s like night and day with Madlena. The next day was her interview for the baptism and we didn´t feel like she was going to come, so we walked to pick her up and she rolled her eyes when she saw us. ha ha she said sorry i can´t make it to the interview. My cousin is coming to pick some things up and i need to wait for him. We said, no problem.. We can wait.. Oh that made her mad so she walked down the street, threw a tantrum and came back and said, my shoe broke. I can´t be baptized. ha ha she then walked in her apartment building and we waited for her for 25 minutes and then decided to go knock on her door. She wasn´t there and every other door we knocked on looking for her, she wasn´t there either. I am pretty sure people were lying for her so we just left. We went back to her apartment the next day and asked if she would come to church and she said yes.. I will be there. I am sorry about yesterday.. I still want to be baptized.. yadda yadda.. well, yesterday was church.. and she didn´t come. She has only been to church once and she needed to go to church again before she could be baptized. It was sad. We did everything we could to help her and prepare her, but in the end she used her agency and decided not to be baptized. My heart aches and hurts when people skip out on this amazing experience. She needs to be baptized. Everyone needs to be baptized! Gahh

To make yesterday even better.. Irmã Mortensen and i were walking under a metro and yes, we got pooped on!!!!! IT was SO GROSS.. I dry heaved forever. ha ha ha ha It was in Irmãs hair and on our shirts and skirts.. it even got on my bag.. I was so grossed out. Never did i think that would happen. And we got on a bus to go visit a member and well, we found out that we were out of our area because we got on the wrong bus. Ooops.

Right now we have 10 new investigators. It is incredible We are teaching a mom of 2 kids we have already baptized. She wants to stop smoking so badly.. She was down to only one cigarette yesterday. It was incredible. We are also teaching a mom and her two boys. They were taught years ago by The Elders but were never baptized. Two members of our ward each brought a friend that wants to hear more about the gospel. Can you say miracles are happening right before my eyes.. oh my gosh! I still love it here and that is why i didn´t get transferred. There is still more work for me to do.

I am off to go do some grocery shopping and then Zone Meeting tonight. I hope you are all having fun in Park City. Tell everyone hello.. I hope you got my letter and pictures.. I will have more for you later.

Stay Well my family XOXO

Love, Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Transfers

2011-08-29T14:59:00.000-06:00

Family!

Transfers are today and...... I am staying in Odivelas. Irmã Joslin is leaving me and i am freaking out! Irmã Joslin only has one more transfer left and then she is going home to St. George. It´s funny to see missionaries getting close to going home.. They are not ready! I have always thought missionaries can´t wait to get out.. but nope.. a lot of them love it in the field.. I can know see why.. but anyway.. I am staying another transfer here in Odivelas and I hardly know this area and i am getting a new companion from the Porto mission. I think her name is Irmã, ugh i can´t remember. I am so nervous to get around this city. Heavenly Father is going to have to help me in overtime this transfer.

This last week was crazy with one investigator.. His name is Lucio. He has a problem with smoking and depression. I can´t remember if i started talking about him last week but i´ll tell you again.. He is miserable in this life and he thinks that by smoking it will kill him. He wants to die and get out of the situation with his ex. As we taught him, we made many promises to him that the lord will help him if he comes close to Christ and is baptized. Yet everyday he would still smoke and tell us how hard it is to stop. We fasted, the Elders gave him a blessing, Irmã and i would pray with him on the phone when we couldn´t meet with him and long story short... He was baptized yesterday!! It was amazing. The service was small and so spiritual. It was just what Lucio needed. He was happy and all smiles yesterday. I loved every moment of watching his life change in the last 2ish weeks. Irmã and i tried to mark our investigator Alexandro this week, but he just insn´t sure if he should really be baptized twice.. It´s frustrating to testify and try to help others gain a testimony and they don´t really want to work for their own testimony. Then we did actually mark another investigator Madelena for baptism this Sunday.. She has a fear of water because she almost drown once, but we are working with her and she wants to be baptized. This work is growing insanely fast. So many blessings from the lord.

Last night Irmã and i met a girl who is dating a less active in our area.. We gave her the first lesson, she already has a book of mormon and is going to pray about what we taught to see if it is true. She loves everything about the gospel and i think she already has somewhat of a testimony of the book of mormon. Tonight we are going to meet with her and invite her to be baptized.

So- I have some answers for your questions fam.. My flat.. is incredible. I have heard that it is the nicest flat in the mission. it´s pretty big for the apartments here in Portugal.. or at least what i have seen so far. It is in the perfect location too. Right in the city by the Metro, Bus stations, Mini market, fruit market, the church is a 2 minute walk.. So you want to know what we eat.. hmmm everything! ha ha Mom- they have a lion bar cereal and it is delish! I thought of you and bought it. The Yogurt is a million times better here.. The juices are divine.. i love the walffle things we use to buy at the London Market, pastries are to die for, oh i could go on forever about the food.
Last night at a Recent Converts house i tried goat.. It was yummy.

oh this is my address in Odivelas.. the other address from last week is the mission office in Benfica.. send packages and other stuff there.. but send letters here for the next 6 weeks until i tell you if i am transferred again.

RUA ALFREDO ROQUE GAMEIRO
Nº5 3D
ODIVELAS 2675-279
PORTUGAL

One thing i really miss is being able to go to the temple. I love talking about the temple that will be built here though. People get so excited! Yet we still don´t have news about ground breaking or things of that sort.. Have you read anything about it? The stake president and President Torgan are very hush hush on this topic.. so you probably know as much as i do.. nothing. ha ha

I still love it out here. Yes, the work is tough but i am here for the Lord. I am ever so grateful to be serving.
I´ve gotta go and wait for my new comp. I love you. Take Care.

XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Last Week As A Greenie!

2011-08-23T07:28:00.000-06:00

OOOOOLAAAAAAAÀ-

Family- you are all so incredibly wonderful. Just so you know i have an hour to email every week.. I love hearing from you since i only get your letters twice a transfer. This is my last week as a greenie! My first transfer is almost over! OH MY.. sorry President sent you a letter about sending letters to the mission home. I didn´t know that was the mission home address.. Send letters here until i get you my residence address.
RUA JORGE BARRADAS Nº14C
1500 LISBOA, PORTUGAL

This week i went to Benfica again for Zone Conference. My mission president is THE MAN. I love him so much. He knows things that blow me out of the water. He told us we need to always be walking with Christ. If we are not seeing success in the mission.. It is because we are not walking with Christ.. He said many other things.. I just don´t have time to give you a run down of our 8 hour meeting.

Remember Rolsalino i told you about last week?? He is seriously lacking faith. He didn´t go to church last week, and we kinda dropped him because he wanted to go back to his life before he met us. He wasn´t willing to pay 10% for tithing. He thinks God shouldn´t tell us how much to pay.. we should be able to pay what we want.. Whatever Rosalino.. so- He´s not elect and we moved on very quickly. It is sad but i cannot dwell on those not willing to be baptized. I have to find the elect!

this weekend we had 4 baptisms. two little girls and two men in their 30´s. It was a CRAZY week. I can´t even tell you how busy we were and how much Satan tried to influence all of our lives. He did not want these baptisms to happen. Sandro smokes and drinks coffee. We tried all week to help with stop and the day of his interview with the DL he had a cup of coffee but didn´t tell Irmã and i. So Elder James said he needed to meet with him again before he was baptized. Long story short.. Sandro was baptized. Diamontino was impossible to meet with this week. People here are SO FLAKY!!!!! They don´t care about time or appointments. I get so annoyed.

Yesterday at church 2 people didn´t show up to receive the holy ghost and 1 man didn´t show up to receive the priesthood. We called them and one was out of town and forgot about church. the other was at her dads house and the other guy who needs the priesthood... well, Irmã and i tracked him down. During church we went to his house and told him how important it is to go to church. It is a commandment. I told him we won´t always be here to help you.. He said his head hurt and he couldn´t walk to church.. BAH!! I know i can´t make anyone do anything but i so badly want people to realize what this gospel will do for them!

Yesterday Irmã and i went to the Stake Presidents house for lunch.They made the best Portuguese food. President said that when you look out the window of his living room, you can see where the temple is going to be built! He won´t tell us when or where, but amazzzing riiight! I am so excited for these elect people out here. What a blessing.

We have a new investigator and we committed him to baptism this Sunday. His name is Lucio. He is Brazilian and has a miserable life right now. He is divorced, has two daughters and his ex wants him in prison.. She sounds crazy. Lucio smokes like 40 cigarettes a day and he has gotten down to about 10 or less a day. The spirit is amazing and he is being blessed. Everyday we see a change in him. He came to church with his daughter yesterday and he felt so good. He has read a lot of the book of mormon and has that desire to be closer to Christ. It is humbling to be apart of this process. I see miracles everyday.

The language is getting better and it is easier to stop people on the streets. I´ve kind of had a hard time stopping someone in their tracks. but with the help of the Lord, the work is becoming more natural for me.

Thank you for your support! I have pictures to send to you. They´ll be off this week. You are are amazing and i am so blessed to have you as my family. There is a reason for everything and this grand plan god has for us is indescribable. It is a privilege for me to serve these people and bring them unto Christ. There isn´t a better calling in this world.

I love you all!! XOXO

Take Care,

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

This Work Is Unreal

2011-08-15T10:56:00.000-06:00

Hi There Fam-

I can´t believe how the time flies out here in the mission field. It goes by quicker than the MTC. I never thought that was possible. This last week was full of opposition and many blessings. First off- i went to the mission office in Benfica for a zone meeting and there i found many wonderful letters from my family and friends. Thank you, Thank you! I love the pictures!!!!! ISLA is beautiful and so big! I love her smiles and TEETH! OH MY. Drew and Tanner- you made a good looking baby. Drew you´re just beautiful and Boomer.. Dude you´re a giant. How tall are you now? Mom- You still are just beautiful and grandma jake is looking good too.

The members here are superb! We get to eat with them a few times every week and I LOVE the food. I´ve had African food, Brazilian and Portuguese so far. Mom- I have some great recipes for you when i come home! Everyone here eats rice and french fries with everything. It´s hilarious and i love it. annd the Juice.. is to die for. I wish they juice like this in America.

Okay- if you want to know what my days are like contacting here in Odivelas.. they go like this.. We get creepy stares from old men, whistles from apartment windows, we get honked at AND Irmã and i tired to contact a guy the other day and he wanted to go buy us a cup of coffee. ha ha It sometimes get frustrating when we have contacted someone and then they ended up just only wanting to talk to us and they want nothing to do with the church.

There are a bajillion Jehova´s Witness here. They always bash the church and make people think the missionaries here are preaching false doctrines. One of our investigators, Edson was stopped by the Jehova´s Witnesses and he said oh i am already being baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ. They said how long have you been taking the discussions? He said about a week and a half.. they said that is too soon.. you have to wait 7 months. They said he was praying wrong and he shouldn´t be joining the church and it left Edson feeling really sad. He called us right away and said, Irmãs... i need to meet with you right now. I am feeling sad because the Jehova´s witnesses told me i was making a bad decision and i just need to talk about what they said. So we ran to the chapel to meet him. We prayed and read the scriptures with him. He felt much better and was Baptized yesterday! It was such a special experience. He has been prepared for a LONG time now. Yesterday Edson said he really wants to go to the temple and do work for his brother who died some time ago. When we taught him about the plan of salvation and temples of course i cried. ha ha It was tender.

This last week we had 4 people marked to be baptized for next weekend. Two of them did´t show up at church yesterday which means they can´t be baptized until the week after. Rosalino is a young man we marked last week and he has loved the lesson and commandments except the law of tithing. Saturday night we sat on the steps of his apartment for and hour and a half talking about why he is not willing to pay 10%. He said he should be able to pay what he wants and God shouldn´t establish an amount. Irmã Joslin told him he was prideful and God is God. He established this Law. We should´t doubt what he says. Rosalino said, well i just want to go back to the way i was living before i met you. Maybe later i will want to join the church. Irmã then laid it all out there. She said we are the ONLY ones who have the authority right now, in Odivleas to bring you closer to Christ and be baptized. I tried so hard to bear my testimony and tell him the importance of the commandments and how happy his life will be if he follows Christ.. He didn´t say anything and finally we left because it was like talking to a wall. That morning i was reading in Preach My Gospel and there is a quote by Elder Holland that says, these are real people you are talking to. They are not robots or a Baptismal statistic. We are dealing with their salvation. I so badly want to fulfill the Lords will and accomplish my purpose as a missionary. I haven´t had to deal with much opposition in my first few weeks here and now that is it starting to happen it´s like... ahhh what do i do? ha ha But i know there is purpose for EVERYTHING. If i am being obedient and doing what the Lord wants me to do.. Everything will work out according to his will.

This upcoming saturday we hav 3 baptisms planed and 1 for Sunday.. but since 2 of our investigators didn´t come to church i am not sure what will happen this week. It is in the Lords hands. I am just grateful to one of his tools and preach here in Portugal. It´s hard but worth every second. All is well.. All is well.

I hope you are all doing well. I Love you!

XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Olá minha bonita família!

2011-08-05T21:36:00.000-06:00

I don´t know if that is said correctly above, but i continue to butcher my way through Portuguese. The city of Odivelas is wonderful. The members here are incredible. Our ward just took the recent converts on a trip to the Madrid Spain Temple. They make huge sacrifices to catch a bus and drive there for just one day. We are so blessed to have a bajillion temples in Utah. You don´t understand or realize until you are actually gone. I miss going to the temple. I can´t wait to get back! If the temple was built here in Odivelas that would be amazing! The elders here think the temple will be built in Benfica.. Right next to the soccer stadium. I asked President Torgan about it, and he isn´t saying much. ha ha He said we have to wait.

This last week has been incredible. Actually- as Irmã Joslin and i were on our way to emailing you we marked someone for baptism this Sunday!!!!!! We are extremely happy right now! Also, yesterday we baptized a little boy named Ivo. He couldn´t stop smiling. Right now we are teaching a guy named Edson. We found him on the street contacting last week and he is elect!! Seriously. while we were contacting him he said, there are so many churches.. i don´t know which one is true. My parents are catholic and i just don´t know where to go. We gave him the first lesson right then and there, prayed with him and made an appointment to meet with him again. When we met with him again we talked about the Book of Mormon and more about Joseph Smith. He committed to reading and praying about. The next day he called and said Irmãs.. It´s true. I know it is true. I started crying and couldn´t believe it. It was an incredible experience. I can´t put into words right now how i feel.

There are days when i get so frustrated because i can only speak in the most broken Portuguese and it is difficult for me to express how i am truly feeling. One day i just started crying in the middle of the sidewalk. I was like Heavenly Father- Why is this so hard? Let me just communicate with someone.. then- all of a sudden Irmã joslin stops someone and i prayed with them. ha ha it´s funny how Heavenly Father works. He always knows how to humble me and then lift my spirits again. I knew this wasn´t going to be easy.. but i have realized how much i love communicating. Line upon line, precept upon precept.. I know it will eventually come. I get anxiety sitting in church because i can´t understand anyone. It´s hard to because some of them have a Brazilian accent and it´s slightly different from the Portuguese accent.

My Trainer slash companion is great! She has been here for 1 year and 3 months. She knows a lot and teaches me everyday. I am very grateful for her. We have fun all the time and we make sure to stop in the pastry shop every once in a while. The other day we needed a pick me up and we stopped to get a pastry- they had a deal going on.. 5 pastries for 3 euros! It was incredible and we ate half of everything at the bus stop. It was picture perfect moment.

sorry this is being cut short today- It is zone pday and we are going to lunch and then play ultimate Frisbee in another area. I love you all so so much! All is well here in Portugal and i hope all is well with you my amazing family! Take care!

Irmã Boshard

XOXO

*Posted By The Boshard Family

First Week In Portugal!

2011-07-27T17:18:00.002-06:00

HIIIIIIIIIII

My family.. I cannot even begin to tell you how happy i am in Portugal. I LOVE it here. It is beautiful. There are palm trees here (which i never expected) and the bread and cheese is divine. I am serving in a city called Odivelas. It is in Lisbon and not too far from the Mission Office. My first week here has been insane. I have so much to tell you. When we first arrived at in Portugal we were greeted by President Torgan and Irma Torgan with two Elders. Elder Walter and Elder Olsen. We went to the mission office to drop off our luggage and then President Torgan took us to lunch at Chili's.. I love not eating MTC food :) At Chilis i got to meet some Elders that work in the mission office. They have all been here for over a year, so they were able to give us good advice and help us settle in to the mission field. Portugal is full of amazing missionaries. seriously. After lunch we went back to the mission office to have our interviews with President Torgan and we found out where we would be serving. President Torgan told me i would be walking into a baptism my first week here and spoke very highly of my companion! WHAT!!! I know.. He is an incredible and inspired man. When i shake his hand i can feel his spirit overwhelm mine. He is wonderful. After our interviews we had to go get our visas taken care of with some elders and that took forever. We were exhausted. I still have bags under my eyes. I know i will never catch up on sleep. For dinner we ate at the mission home and then had a testimony meeting and went to bed. The mission home is beautiful and clean and just like a temple. I love love love the mission home. We woke up the next morning and ate breakfast with President Torgan then we were off to meet our trainers at the mission office. My new colega is Irma Joslin. She is the greatest trainer! I was worried at first because Elder Walter told me she was Japanese and did not speak English. I was thinking.. okay.. i will just be immersed in the language and this will be hard, but it will be okay. So, when i met Irma Joslin and she started speaking English to me. I freaked out. ha ha Missionaries say and play jokes ALL the time. Irma Joslin is hilarious though. We will get along really well. We trained for the rest of the morning and then we were dropped off in our new areas. I unpacked and got right to work. Irmas usually just do contacting. We do not have to knock on doors or buzz apartments. This country is full off apartments. There are no houses unless your have lots of dinero. I actually stopped someone on my first and introduced myself and Irma Joslin.. then when the person started talking to me i freaked because i could not understand one word they were saying. Then I said a prayer right there on the street to bless this persons life. It was a rush. But i did it in my little broken Portuguese. So.. everyday since i have been here, that is what we do. We stop people on the street and ask them if we can say a prayer with them to bless their life. Then after the prayer we ask if we can come teach them about a principle we believe in. It is incredible. There are miracles here.

I also got to teach the first vision to an investigator this week. I was so excited. He was listening and we gave him a book of Mormon and invited him to church. He said he would come, but then he didn´t show up. So Irma Joslin and i went to pick him and we could hear him tell his sister to say he was sleeping. She got mad at him and said i am not going to lie to these people. It´s hard to get excited and hope they will accept the gospel and then they shut down. II didn´t leave everything behind just for kicks and giggles. If i didn´t believe in the gospel i would have stayed home. And that is what i told and person on the street the other day. I want others to feel what i feel. You know!!!

So.. I am sure you are wondering about this baptism. The little boy´s name is Bruno he is 9 years old and has been taking the discussions with Irma Joslin for the last 2 weeks. He was baptized yesterday and then on Tuesday the day before i got here Irma Joslin committed another girl to baptism. Her name is Doris and she is from Guinea. (can´t spell. Sorry) She was also baptized yesterday. SO i saw 2 baptisms my first week here. I got to bear my testimony at the baptism and i felt so much excitement for these two choice individuals. Heavenly Father has big plans in store for them. This week we are hoping to commit two more people to baptism. They are ready- they just need to say.. Yes, i will be baptized! I love it.. I love the work and i love the people. Almost every person i walk past looks so sad and the moment i say, hello- good afternoon.. they light up. I know they can sense our spirits. We get stared at a lot too. It´s funny. and most people think we are Jehovah's Witnesses. It´s annoying.

Portugal is getting ready for summer.. It is not tooo hot.. but each day gets warmer. And we walk a lot. I don´t like sweating in church clothes that i have to wear every week. Seriously.. The drivers here speed and cut you off like no one´s business. Cops don´t do anything about it. It´s strange. The cars are so small. They fit like 2 people. ha ha I live right by a market and pastry shop and we pick up fresh fruit every other day and bread for sandwiches. I love the different foods and treats here. They are so yummy. The other day i had this chocolate filled croissant. The chocolate here is like Nutella and i could live off nutella. I took the metro the other day.. Loved it. Mom- this is everything i imagined. I love it here. Europe is different but i haven´t really had culture shock. I thought maybe i would be freaking out by now, but it has not hit me yet. Yeah, it is really hard for me to be able to communicate.. but some day.. some day i can actually have a conversation with someone. I know i will be blessed. I just need to have MORE patience. and i am working on it. Heavenly Father blesses his missionaries and i bear my testimony, the spirit just fills my mouth. It is something i can´t describe.

I hope you are all doing well. I don´t know the postal code for my area.. so continue to send my letters to the mission office and i will be there in 2 weeks for zone conference and that is when i can pick up my letters. I will let you know my personal address when i get it.

Also.. My teachers from the MTC wanted you to forward my emails to them every week. I forgot to bring their email address with me to the cafe, but can you do that for me mom? Both of my teachers served in Portugal and wanted to read about where were were serving. I was so blessed with 2 great guys who taught me in the MTC. I was definitely spiritually prepared for this. I always continue to ask Heavenly Father why me.. Why am i so blessed. He never forgets about me and small things that i go through. I don´t know what i would do without this gospel.

I can´t wait to share more with you next week. Thank you for your love! I feel it everyday.

Sorry if this is all jumbled. I can´t seem to get all my thoughts out in order. I LOVE YOU!!

Take Care,

Irmã Boshard

XOXO

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Hi there my wonderful family!!!

2011-07-13T09:11:00.000-06:00

I love you all so much! thank you for your letters and emails. The MTC is still grand. I love it here! I leave one week from today!!!!!! OH MY GOSH!! Can you believe it?! I can't. I have major butterflies when i think of leaving this place. I got my travel plans on friday.. Wanna know where i am flying?? On Tuesday morning the 19th i am leaving the MTC at 5am and leaving the SLC airport at 8:30am. I will try to call you at SLC in the morning if i have time. From SLC i am flying to Atlanta, Georgia... then..... PARIS!!! In Paris i will have a 3 hour layover and that might be where i call you. It will be like 11pm so answer the phone if i call :)

Sorry for the random message on our answering machine about me going to physical therapy. I had no idea i would have to call and tell you. My knee pain is not severe i am just paranoid and my companions and branch presidency made me go to the health clinic. There a doctor sent me to an orthopedic to have my knee looked at. He said i need to ice it twice a day, elevate and wein off the naproxen. Yesterday i went to physical therapy for about an hour and i should be good to go by next week.

Isla's bday is tomorrow!!!! OH MY!!! Wish her a happy birthday for me and give her a million kisses. What are you all going to do? Family party at the park? Send me pics too!

This last week was hard on our district. Elder Williams went home early. It was good for him because he has things he needs to take care of. My heart breaks for him and his family, but i know Heavenly Father has a plan for him and will help him get back to where he needs to be. someone from the branch presidency came tto talk to us and tell us to stay close to heavenly father. Satan takes this opportunity to make you re-evaluate why you're here. He is truly a master at pushing our buttons, but with the power of prayer and the scriptures i am doing just fine. I am truly grateful to be here. I can't imagine being anywhere else. I feel no where near ready to be speaking in Portugal but the blessings of being a missionary are never ending. I will be just fine with the language in time. I need to just have more faith and rely on the holy ghost so i can stop feeling so nervous.

Thank you mom for sending me Lauren's information! I have been thinking i so badly need to write her! I hope she is doing well and please send her my emails. If you can- will you send me hers too?? I am so grateful for all of you. I am thankful for your love and support. You mean the world to me and i truly appreciate you more and more as the days pass. It wasn't until i actually moved out and lost daily contact with you all. I sorry that i ever took you for granted! I am so blessed to have you as my eternal family. That is the one thing i constantly bear my testimony of here in English and Portuguese. It is so important to me and i know this central to God's plan.

Keep doing what is right. Make the right decision. I never want to lose the feeling i have as a missionary. I want to stay like this forever. What will i ever be like when i get home?? ha ha definitely not the same person.. But in a good way :)

Whitney's wedding is coming up soon. Take pictures for me and congratulate her for me. I am so happy for her.

Since i leave so early next Tuesday i don't think i will be able to email you until i am in Portugal. So- don't be alarmed.. However- you will get a phone call from me!! I can't wait to talk to you and hear your voices.

How is Boomer's driving skills? Is he so happy to be 16? Who is his first date? Tell me details!!

I've gotta go.. Time is up.. Take care my dear family!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love Always,

Irma Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Hi There Family-

2011-07-06T15:28:00.000-06:00

Oh how i love you all so much! Dad- i am sorry about your TV. I can't believe that happened and i hope you're coping well without a TV downstairs. I will be the first one to tell you, you can so this. I have gone 7 weeks without TV and it feels amazing. No joke. Thank you for the Christlike Attributes. I can't believe there were 89!! I read that whole thing in teo days. I even read it to my companions and they loved it. I am going to make them a copy if that's okay. It was inspiring and so uplifting.

Mom- Thank you for the package and treats. YUM! you are so wonderful. We ate the treats as a district in TWO days. Gross i know, but they were so good :) One of my instructors always calls us "porcus" But i can't spell it in portuguese. Sorry.. It means pigs. ha ha we eat all the time in our classroom. ha ha

Hannah- Thank you for your letters! You're a gem and i love you. How are you sweetie? What are you up to this summer?

Boomer- Happy Birthday tomorrow!!!!!!!! I can't believe you will be 16 years old. WHOLY COW! Be safe and make the right decisions. I love you.

Drew/Tanner/Isla- What is new with all of you! Update me! Serio!

On Saturday one of my mock investigators was baptized. AHH so cool. We've been teaching him for the last 7 weeks and he finally was ready! I can't wait until i get to Portugal and that actually happens! It will be an incredible experience.

It was crazy to see Aunt Jenny and Molly Jane as i was crossing the street last week. I was just leaving the field from gym and i was shocked to see them! I didn't know what to do. I'm not use to giving hugs (weird i know).. so the last minute before the light was green i ran to molly's window and gave her a hug. Tell Jenny i am sorry i didn't get to give her a hug. In 16 months she'll get a big one!

We were able to celebrate the 4th of July here! It was fun and on Saturday we had a special devotional. We were able to hear from one of the Branch Presidents here at the MTC who use to work in the white house with presidents of the US. His name is Stephen studdard and he has written many books and he is very knowledgeable about our country history. We had men with bag pipes play for us and flags from all over the world were carried into the special devotional. We then got to go outside and they had Haagendaz ice cream bars for us as we watched the stadium of fire firework show. VERY COOL!

Sunday night at our fireside Jenny Oaks Baker spoke to us and played the violin. She is Incredible!! Please go buy her CDs. she has major talent. Of course she is the daughter of Elder Oaks and is a spiritual giant. I have been so blessed to hear from amazing servants of the Lord. Jenny has an amazing talent with the violin. she went to Julliard and has a masters in music or something like that. She also played in the national symphony. she's got experience. Serio... Go buy her CDs.

Last week Gma Bo sent me and my district a 4th of July package with sparklers and carmel, chocolate covered pretzels. they were amazing!! Tell her Thank you for me! That was so thoughtful of her.
Gma Jake writes me every week without fail. She is so wonderful and thoughtful. Tell her thank you for me too! I have received a lot of support here. Thank you to all of you!!

Can you do me a favor. I need to write sister Lauren Schmidt. But i do not have her address. Her sister has a blog for her and i am pretty sure her address is on there. Can you send me her address?? Is it pouch mail too?? I'm not sure/ Her blog is I-mtheboss.blogspot.com Thank you so much!

Last night we did a FHE with our district and it was the first time we've done that here. We each got to give a 5-7 minute lesson on something we learned from Mormon.org. It was really sweet and i watched a video on this boy named Paris. Go watch it. It's called Hi, I'm paris. I cried listening to his story but it's amazing what the gospel brings into peoples lives.

I got Whitney's wedding announcement this week!!! It's here!! she is getting married!! OH WOW! I am so happy for you Whit. you will be an amazing wife. I hope the wedding planning is going well. I'm there in spirit!!

I love you all!

I only have two weeks from today unitl i leave the MTC.. EEEkkkkk I get butterflies thinking of leaving but i am so excited!! Stay strong family. Remember who we are representing at all times. You are all so wonderful and i hope you can feel the bessings of me being on a mission because i feel them everyday.

LOVE,

Irma Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

óla minha família :)

2011-07-01T15:03:00.000-06:00

How is everyone?!! Thank you for bringing my prescription mom!!! You are so wonderful and how cool you got to see Elder Oaks. I saw him a lot this week. He was all over the campus. We just wrapped up Mission President week and it was amazing but such a catotic week here. Lines to eat in the cafeteria were awful. But, There was such a sweet spirit here with all the general authorities and mission presidents. On Friday night last week Elder Bednar spoke to us at a special devotional. Elder Oaks, Elder Holland, Elder Ballard, Elder Scott and Elder Anderson were all presiding. It was pretty neat. Elder Bednar IS INSPIRED. His talk was about becoming Preach My Gospel missionaries. He spoke with passion and such an indescribable spirit. He talked about 5 basic requirements that will helps us become PMG missionaries. i wish i could share all my notes with you right now. I'll have to send you a letter about it later. At the very end of his talk he began to cry and said, "You can do this! The savior knows you can do this. You will have his help. As his servant, i promise you'll have his help. In his help and strength you can do this!" He then bore his apostolic witness (thanks for teaching me that dad) and i can't even tell you how i felt after listening to him. I was giddy and on cloud 9. What an opportunity for me to listen to him. He also said before he closed, i evoke upon you every spiritual capacity, when you become what he wants you to become. Sweet!

Last week was crazy. We finally have a new branch and presidency. Some how with my old branch president being released. He was recalled to the new branch i am in. It is such a blessing. The missionaries in my branch are going to Brazil, Angola Africa, and Mozambique. We are all speaking Portuguese.

Today was my last going to the temple for 17 months. The Provo temple is being closed for cleaning and i will be gone when they reopen it. However- i may have the opportunity to clean the temple on my pday. Tomorrow i get to host the new missionaries. I am so excited. I hope i get to see Erin Nelson! But i am sure i'll see her in the next three weeks before i leave. Weird.. I leave in 3 weeks! OH MY!!! I leave sometime around July 19th. I received a letter from a friend who i met here and he is already in Portugal and he said get ready to work. He said it is so different speaking Portuguese in Portugal, but he loves out there. I am so excited to finally get out and share this amazing message that i have. We are so blessed to have this knowledge. I am so happy to be serving. I know i tell you every week, but i am truly called to serve and so grateful to be a disciple of Christ.

Mom- so, i have been craving some fruity pebble rice crispy treats, minus the rice crispy. ha ha can you make me some? Also, Before i leave the US i am thinking i might need a refill of my prescriptions. Do you think you will be able to send me a refill before July 19th? I just don't want to make you send me my pills to Portugal. thank you!!

To all my XANGO friends- Thank you for the package you sent me. I laughed so hard at the pictures and pom poms (can't spell, sorry). I loved you letters, treats and everything in the box. You are all so incredible and i am truly blessed to know all of you. You are so good to me. Thank you!

Drew and Tanner- How was Mexico? what did you do down there?
Fam- How is life? What are you all doing this summer? What's going on in the Boshard house?

This week in Class we watched a Mormon message with Elder Wirthlin and he talked about come what may and love it. Trust the Lord. We can Endure our trials. We should do our best and leave the rest to him. WE CAN DO THIS! God doesn't give us more than we can handle. I know this to be true. Satan has really been working on me, but i get on my knees and pray. We are never alone. Have faith and now we can endure to the end.

I love you all and i am so grateful to have you as my family for eternity!!!! Ahh i can't wait to tell other families about this plan. It is such a blessing for me to be a missionary.

XOXO
Love you,

Irma Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

"OOOLAAA"

2011-06-24T16:46:00.001-06:00

OOOLAA!!!

Minha Familia (my family)... My wonderful family! How are you? Thank you so much the package you sent me yesterday. Drew also sent me one last week, and i literally yelled and jumped up and down in the mail room. ha ha everyone thinks i am crazy already, so i have no shame. I LOVE the shade shirts. THAAAANKS! Love love love the treats too, most importantly thank you for the letters. I get so eager to read your letters. They make me so happy.

I can't even begin to tell you the love i have received being here in the MTC. I have met eternal friends here and i have received many letters from all my wonderful friends and family back home. I love you all!! Thank you!

Also, Thank you for sending me Bo's obituary and the comments people have said about him. It breaks me heart for his family. I hope they are doing okay.

My schedule changed here at the MTC. Hence, i am emailing you on a Tuesday. On Sunday my branch was dissolved because there was only 7 of us in our branch. It was really sad. I'll be getting my third Branch President while being here for only 6 weeks. Weird huh? On Sunday i spoke in sacrament in PORTUGUESE! It was awesome. and i gave the closing prayer in Portuguese. The language is starting to pick up and i am feeling better about the progress.
Pdays are wonderful but i feel like i never have enough time to get things done. I can never write everyone back so it takes weeks to catch up! I'm sorry if i haven't written any of you back. Desculp (sorry).

This week is mission president week at the MTC. It's insane here. General Authorities are in the main building so everything is blocked off. I can't wait to see who is speaking tonight at our fireside, and on Sunday at the devotional. I have been blessed with incredible speakers while being here. It is so uplifting and rejuvenating to hear servants of the Lord give us advice for the mission field.

Have i told you enough how much i love my companions? ha ha Well, my little Irma Young has this incredible talent she has been hiding. She is a writer. An incredible writer. She writes me poems of things she has been observing. ahh she makes me so happy! How did i get so lucky with 2 companions. I am so blessed.

Loved the emails today! Thanks :) I love the quotes dad. They lift my spirits. Mom, you are so wonderful in sending me all the letters! I am grateful to have you in my life. This week i have realized how blunt people think i am. I never considered myself as a blunt person ha ha but i am surrounded by sheltered people. ha ha However, I wouldn't change a thing about myself. ha ha i would rather be the way i am than sheltered. You are all so wonderful and i am glad you had a good time on Trek. Boomer and Hannah, I will forever remember trek. It changed my perspective of the pioneers and showed me how blessed i am to be living in this dispensation today.

Keep praying everyday, read your scriptures! Counsel with the Lord in ALL thy doings. He loves us! He wants to hear from us. He is our loving Heavenly Father who knows you! Boom, start now preparing for you mission. There is so much to prepare for. Be knowledgeable in the Book of Mormon. It makes me sad to get on a mission and realize how truly important the Scriptures are. I know this is the Lords work. I am one of his many messengers to bring souls unto Christ. It is the best calling in the church.

Mom dad, thank you for supporting me while i am on this mission. I know you will be blessed and i hope all is well right now. I am grateful to be your daughter! I will be here for only less than a month!!! I leave sometime around July 19th. Time is flying! It flies because i am so focused on the work and the week is gone before i know it.

I LOVE YOU ALL XOXO

You are incredible!

Love always,

Irma Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

"Ahhhh Missionary work is incredible!!"

2011-06-15T18:08:00.001-06:00

Family!!

Hello,

I always look forward to my pdays so i can write you. It's been a crazy week for me. I feel like so much is going on here at the MTC and so much going on in my life. Currently there is an intestinal virus going around and we are not able to make ANY contact with anyone here at the MTC. We can't shake hands, not hugs (with the same sex of course) and we have to make sure we are constantly washing our hands. I've heard this virus is pretty bad NO ONE wants it.

This week i had an experience teaching my instructor about committing to baptism. We started the lesson by committing the investigator to baptism and he was supposed to say no so i could ask why and then try to figure out how to commit him. This was clearly done in portuguese but it was all broken portuguese. Irma Walker and me were trying our hardest to get all the broken portuguese we could out. Our investigator kept saying no. Not yet. I am not ready. We were bearing our testimonies and he couldn't understand a word Irma Walker was saying. I was praying so hard in my heart that the spirit would help us. Let me know what to say!! I was struggling and getting so frustrated. All of a sudden our investigator says, " Quando." I was thinking... What, Quando? What is that.. Bah ha ha Quando means When and he couldn't stand it any longer and committed to baptism. He said the spirit testified to him SO strongly he couldn't say no anymore. His eyes welled up with tears and i know he felt the holy ghost. I felt it too. Ahhhh Missionary work is incredible!! It makes me so happy to know i can be saying nothing in portuguese but someone can feel exactly what i am feeling. I can never deny the holy ghost. It is too powerful!

Irmão (brother) Sorensen, my instructor said my companionship has, "jeito." That means skill. He said the Irmãs and me compliment eachother and work well together. We are able to bounce off of eachothers testimonies and teach from our hearts. What a compliment. I love our instructors! We've started reading from O Livro de Mormon in portuguese. It's been fun to see the potential of understanding what the scrpitures say. I love it.

Yesterday was an adventure. Irma Young has had an ingrown toenail and we finally had it looked at and they said she needed to go to the doctor right away. So we hopped on a shuttle and went the foot doctor. It was quite the adventure. I watched the whole procedure and man it was gross. They way they kill the root of the toenail is gross. yuck. but i am really happy for her because she is out of pain. It was weird leaving the MTC yesterday. I was thinking.. oh yeah, there is life outside the MTC. ha ha it's like i've forgetten what it is like.

On Sunday i watched music and the spoken word. The first hymn they sang was how firm a foundation and i instantly thought of you dad! I know that is your favorite hymn. I got a little emotional. I miss you all but i am not home sick. I am so happy here! I know this is what i need to be doing.

I received the letter on Monday about Bo. I was shocked. I didn't know how to feel and then all of a sudden i was overwhelemed with emotion. My heart aches for the Pennington family. My heart is broken to know he was so miserable and sad that he made the decision to take his life. The last two days i have been thinking of all the fun memories i have of him from high school. He is a good kid and a good friend. He is a very loved boy and will be surely missed. Man- i don't even know how to express my feelings about it. I'm just so sad for him and his family.

Thank you for the quotes mom. They are so uplifting. You are so wonderful to always email me. Thank you! I can't believe Jack will be a puppy daddy. cuuute! And dad, Happy Birthday on the 19th! I hope you all do something fun! and i hope you got my fathers day card. I have a card for Tanner, i just need his address. Did you get my letter and pictures? I sure hope so! Let me know how Trek was! I want to hear all about it! It was one of the best experiences for me. I wish i could go again.

You are the best family and i love you so much! It's weird i will only be here for another 4 weeks and then i am off to Portugal. Time flies here at the MTC. I am truly doing the lords work and being prepared to spread this gospel. I happy to be a servant of our Lord and i know this work is true! Thank you for raising me in the gospel adn letting me have the opportunity to leave home for 18 months so i can help other families be together for eternity. You're all so special to me!! I LOVE YOU!!!
Have a great week :)

XOXO

Irma Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Crazy Week

2011-06-01T17:51:00.000-06:00

HELLO!!!

It has been a crazy week. I feel like i have so much to say but i only have 23 minutes and counting. Thank you for the emails and letter. I love them like no ones business. This Sunday we had Susan Tanner and her husband speak in Relief Society on Sunday and then a managing director from the missionary department came to speak to us too. On Tuesday for our fireside Elder Packer of the seventy and his wife came to speak to us. They gave us lots of insight. It is an incredible feeling to always have the spirit with you, except for when i start singing songs that are not from the hymn book. ha ha i always catch myself singing when i shouldn't.

This last week has been really hard. My roommate Sister Ratigan is not doing well. It has been an overwhleming task to take care of her. I am drained and i will spare you the details. I have spent many hours in President Bertasso's office. He is in the MTC district Presidency. He is helping Sister Ratigan get through this hard time but he is also teaching me and my companions how to help her too. This has been a challenging experience for me on top of trying to learn a language and principles of this gospel. However, the Lord is humbling me. I am learning patience and as you know i have a hard time with that. I am learning to rely on the Lord more than i ever have in my entire life. But i am still being so blessed. I am so lucky to be where i am. He never said it would be easy... but it will be worth it!

Isla can say Jack!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!!! Oh my gosh. I can't wait for the day when i can hear her talk. I miss you all so much.

My District is great. There are 5 of us. 2 Elders and 3 sisters. We get along so well. I am growing to love my companions more and more everyday. They are wonderful and we were meant to be together through this expereince.

I have not received your package, but hopefully it will be here soon! Thank you!!!!

Did you tell gma jake thank you for me? Gma boshard sent me a package with her home made toffee. My district loved it! She sent me so much! Will you tell her thank you for me too. I have been so blessed with packages and letters. It is wonderful being a missionary.

Yesterday I was sitting with my district eating lunch and guess who came to sit with us?!! President Brown. He is the President of the MTC. Ahhhh.. he is a wonderful man. He told us about when he was a mission president in Chigao and he talked about his family, and we each got to talk about ours. We all talked about why we were on a mission too. It was so neat to get to sit with him for 20 minutes.

So, Portuguese. It is hard! I know i have only been here two weeks, but the language is coming slowly. I can read better than i can speak Portuguese. It is a mix of spanish and italian, so when i hear other missionaries speak i can pick up on words that they are saying. It is really cool. Brasilian Portuguese is just about the same as Portugal Portuguese, but the pronunciation is different. We speak more formally than Brasil.

What's new with the family? Has Boomer wrecked a car yet? ha ha just kidding. Dad, what new at the church head quarters? Mom- eat all my food that i left for you! It's yours :) Hannah, how's school!! Drew- what have you been doing? Tanner- how's swift pro?! Isla- oh i cry when i think about her. I miss you all so much, but it's amazing how strong i am and not even homesick. I love it here. I am truly doing the Lords work.

I'll have to write you a letter later this week and tell you more about what has been going on here at the MTC and in my lessons. The spirit is always there and it always testifies. Even if it is Portuguese. I love missionary work. I have pictures to send you too! You can finally meet my district and zone! We have the greatest branch in the MTC.

Oh, on sunday in Sacrament meeting i had to give the closing prayer in PORTUGUESE! I had to write down my prayer so i didn't mess up. ha ha I have the greates teachers who are so patient. They both served in Portugal. They tell us crazy stories all the time about gypsies. ha ha I need to watch out for them.

My time is up! I love you i love you i love you!

XOXO

Irmã Boshard

*Posted By The Boshard Family

Loving The MTC

2011-05-26T10:57:00.002-06:00

Minha Familiá!!!!

I love it here in the MTC. It is the greatest blesssing being a missionary. I can't believe i have been here for a week. The days seem to blend together and i can never remember what happened the previous day. ha ha Sunday night we had Robert P. Swensen (director of Missionary Services) come speak to us. He talked about shunning temptation and don't forget to serve the Lord. He was wonderful. He based most of his talk from Alma 37. Go read it! It is incredible how i understand the scriputres now that i am so focused in the Lords work.

I saw Riley Mackay and Conner Delhin here. It is so nice to see familiar faces here. People are always smiling. I love it. You make friends so easily too. I talk to everyone at lunch. ha ha it's great.

Last night was our devotional and Russell M. Nelson came to speak to us!!!!!!! Ahh i love him. His wife Wendy also spoke and she talked about obedience. She said,"why are you here?" Then she responded by saying we made a covenant in the premortal life that we would serve thee. Serve a worthy mission. Elder Nelson spoke after her and he said be ready to tell your message to people on the streets in one sentence. "We follow Jesus Christ." It's so true. Our purpose as missionaries is to bring others unto Christ. So that should be the first thing that comes out of our mouths. Elder Nelson also said that we are missionaries to teach people, not lessons. We don't memorize lessons and just give them. We get to know the doctorine and let the spirit help us teach. There will never be a lesson taught the same. Everyone's circumstances are different. The spirit will always testify though.

The spirit here is like nothing i've felt before. Every one here is so happy and willing to help at any moment. I LOVE my companions. I am so blessed to be with Irmã Walker and Irmã Young. They are wonderful sisters. Sister Walker and i are made for eachother. She and i have the same personality. I love it.

The language is hard and frustrating. I know i have only been here a week, But we have already given the first two discussions in Portuguese. It is SO hard! I have had to rely on the Lord and spirit so much. I know words here and there, but by next week i'll be able to pray and bear my testimony in Portuguese without my notes. It's amazing what the Lord has done for me.

Yesterday in class my teacher, Brother De Groot acted as a missionary and i was the investigator. He taught me the first vision in Portuguese. I could understand words here and there, but the spirit testified to me so strongly that what he was saying was true, i began to bawl in class. He asked me how the lesson made me feel and i couldn't even talk. I was overwhelemd with emotions. This just means, no matter what language we are speaking in, when we tesify of what we know is true, the spirit will also testify. This gospel is amazing and i am very grateful to be a servant of our Lord.

Today is my p day and we went to the temple and i also did some laundry. There is SO much food here. It's insane. I eat salads and wraps everyday. Any other day i am usually in the classroom studying the scrpitures and the language or we have instrution with our teachers. We are in class by 7am and in bed by 10:30pm. I am exhausted every morning when i wake up but once i am up getting the Lords work done, I have the best day.This church is true! I am doing the lords work and he loves us.

Love, Sister Boshard XOXO

*Posted By The Boshard Family

1 WEEK!!!!

2011-05-10T17:46:00.002-06:00

Update: We didn't make it to all the temples in Utah. Whomp whomp. However, we tried. I guess. ha ha

Anyway, I enter the MTC in one week! It's insane. Time went by so slowly the last 4 and a half months, now i feel like i don't have enough time to get out the door. I am almost packed and ready to head out the door. I feel great! I can't wait to become a missionary! I never thought I would be a missionary, but the Lord works in his mysterious ways and well, now i'm going! Write me if you have a second! I would love to hear from you.

I can't wait to see you all in 18 months!! XOXO

Temple Check List

2011-03-01T11:25:00.008-07:00

Draper Temple, Check

Jordan River Temple, Check

Oquirrh Mountain Temple, Check

Timpanogos Temple, Check check

Provo Temple, Check

Salt Lake Temple, Check

6 temples down.. 7 to go. We're half way there!

TEACH ME HOW TO JIMMER

2011-02-15T15:04:00.003-07:00

Isla Nielson

2011-02-09T11:13:00.005-07:00

This post is solely dedicated to the most adorable little girl in my life. Isla Michelle Nielson. She is about 8 months old and giggles at everything. Her smile melts my heart and her beautiful blue eyes get me every time. I get to see Isla all the time and i get so emotional thinking about her growing up while i am gone for the next 18 months. It breaks my heart but i know by the time she is almost 3 years old, i can take her on play dates! I want to hear her talk so badly and see her crawl.

Isla has made a huge difference in my life and i am so grateful for her. She is going to grow up and be one of the most amazing people in this world. I just know it!

Draper Temple

2011-02-07T12:18:00.002-07:00

I received my temple endowment January 28th in the Draper Temple and it was beautiful. Words can't express the feelings i felt as i sat in the temple listening to the spirit.

To help time pass more quickly in the next 3 months, my friends and i have set a goal of going to every temple in Utah before i leave in May. I feel so blessed to be able to have so many temples within driving distance. There are 13 in Utah!!

This experience will help me so much because i will be in Lisbon during the building of the new temple!!!! Isn't that so exciting! The Lisbon temple was announced during the October 2010 conference. I can't wait to share the amazing things you feel when you go to the temple. The closest temple to Lisbon is in Madrid, Spain which is 400 and some odd miles away. The members are so dedicated because they travel that far just to go to the temple. They are very special people and i get to serve them!! I cannot wait.

I have exactly 100 days until i enter the MTC!

Mission Call

2011-02-03T17:30:00.005-07:00

Wholy Moly!! I cannot believe how long it has been since i have updated this blog.

Update: I'm going on a mission!! Crazy right? I never thought this day would come, but i turned in my mission papers December 14,2010. It took only a handful of people to open my eyes and get my priorities straight in life. I felt the strongest impression to read my patriarchal blessing one night. So i went home, read my blessing and realized i need to change some things in my life and i knew i was supposed to go on a mission. So, my papers were submitted a month later, i got my call a week and a half later.. and now, i am going to Lisbon, Portugal!!!!! I get to speak Portuguese and i enter the MTC on May 18th. It is about a 4 and half month wait, however i know Heavenly Father is making we wait so long for a reason. I am definitely being taught patience. Every day seems so long and i am just dragging.. But i have a lot of good prepping time.

Heavenly Father has used a couple of people in my life as instruments for him to help me get to this point. I am grateful to be a part of this gospel and share my testimony with the people of Portugal.. Ahhhhh.. It still hasn't hit me yet.

I'll make sure to update this more before i leave. I've got a trip planned with my best friends to visit every temple in Utah in the next 2 months. Yahoo :)

Here are some places i will go to in Lisbon!!!

Halloween Time

2010-09-14T16:55:00.002-06:00

Can you believe it's fall? I can't!! Halloween is here in one month.. One month! I'm so excited. My sister Drew loves Halloween and she has gotten me in to the spirit. Can't wait for many things to come this fall.

Camping in Mona

2010-08-05T19:39:00.004-06:00

Last night was incredible. My best friend Cassidi, Adam and I went to Mona, Utah for an over night camping trip. The weather was insane. It was pouring rain, then cleared up, then lots of lightning and thunderstorms. It was the most beautiful view and regular camping will never be the same or even measure up.

We didn't get to the camp site until about 10pm and had to set everything up in the dark. HA HA It was pretty much pitch black and raining. Adam was the smartest one of the crew and brought a lighter for the fire that didn't work. We didn't eat dinner over a campfire.We sat in the tent eating crackers and fruit and played Uno. BUT, It was so much fun. I was freaking myself out because the wind was blowing and the cover on the tent would hit the windows and i seriously thought someone was creeping on us. We didn't get to bed until it was pretty late. AND Adam decided to wake up at 7am (butt crack of dawn!!) and drive to Nephi to buy matches. We had hot dogs and marshmallows for breakfast. It was yummy. Then, we went to the lake/ pond with a rope swing and hung out for about 2 seconds and left.

The next camping trip is going to be just as amazing!

Baby Isla

2010-07-15T11:56:00.003-06:00

SHE IS HERE... ISLA FINALLY CAME.. She was born in July 13, 2010 at 7:50pm. She weighs 6lbs and 14oz. She has dark black hair, big lips, I'm sure she'll have blue eyes, and she is gorgeous. I'll post more pictures soon, but this is what i have for now. I'm such a proud auntie.

Oh The Car Shopping

2010-05-18T23:29:00.002-06:00

Car shopping is ridiculous.. I have been searching for 2 weeeeeeks. WHY!!! The only thing that has gone right.. Is the fact i could get the car sales man to take down the price of a car from $15,000 to $10,000. Amazing right? I thought so.. But i am going to make him wait all night and until tomorrow because i have a few more cars i need to check out and test drive. I would love a Nissan Altima or a Maxima.. But only the 2005 to 2007 models. I hate that i lean towards the expensive cars, when i know i can never drive them. Ha ha Like a Range Rover, Audi, Infiniti, BMW. Life is just oh so hard. May has been a month full of adventures and spectacular stories.. I'll make sure to post all about it when i have time. Love to you all.

xo

Muse Concert

2010-04-17T11:15:00.007-06:00

I LOVE MUSE!!! They were killer in concert and i have been listening to them and only them for the past 2 weeks. They definitely put on one amazing show. I heart them.

21st Birthday

2010-04-17T11:01:00.005-06:00

I had the most wonderful 21st birthday. I don't know how i have been so blessed with so many amazing people in my life. My birthday was celebrated all weekend because my actual birthday fell on a Monday, which is kind of lame. Saturday night i went to dinner with a bunch of girl friends at Porcupine Grill. I met a new friend and his name is Nathan. He's a Brit and so cool. I adore him and loved his accent. I met him through a mutual friend.. Kind of a long story.. We hung out all night and i showed him pretty much the entire Salt Lake Valley. It was so nice to meet him. Then on my actual birthday I went to school, then work and on my desk was the best surprise. My co workers bought a twilight poster and put my face over Bella's. Ha ha It's only funny because i don't care for Twilight as much as i used to. It's a faded stage in my life now. Ha ha It made me laugh. My sweet CB (cubical buddy) had some roses on my desk and she gave different guys roses through out the day to bring to me. I was sang to in French, kisses on the cheek, hugs, a birthday rap and even old friends came and got me for lunch. It was so sweet. After work i met up with Drew and Tanner and we went to the Muse concert. IT WAS SO FREAKING AWESOME! They were great live. It was like i was listening to their album. Muse and Coldplay are tied at the number one spot for best concert ever.

Adventure to Mexico

2010-03-24T12:55:00.010-06:00

FYI: This could be a record for longest post in the world. Sorry for the long stories. I had to soak in the entire experience. I need to talk about every moment. You'll know why after reading all of this :) Spring Break this year was the best week of my life! I couldn't believe i was actually going on a super last minute trip to Mexico. I found out i was going like two days before we left. We definitely made it a road trip because we drove all the way to Mexico!

Friday March 12th:I drove down to Cedar City to meet up with Lauren. On the way to Cedar i stopped off at the Mav, put some gas in my car and bought girl scout cookies. Yum, they were so good! Once i got to Lauren's house in Cedar she helped me depack. ha ha i had no idea what to take to Mexico so she helped me make the final decision on what to wear. After depacking, we went to the gas station where they were giving out free frazzles! It was amazing.. We decided to be a wee bit greedy and take two each. ha ha Then, we went to Panda for dinner and the guy who rung up Lauren totally had a crush on her and gave her the employee discount! It was so funny because he didn't even give me the discount. To thank him Lauren left a thank you note on the receipt and left it on the table. i think the guy thought he was getting a number. We left and Lauren took me on a tour of SUU. I loved it. I think i could actually go to school there. Then we went to Lauren's house and we painted our nails and watched the movie Adam.

Saturday March 13th: Lauren and i woke up and we went to McDonald's for breakfast. We made it just in time before lunch started. We took our breakfast to an apartment complex where we went tanning. It was totally free and i loved it. We needed a little bit of a tan before Mexico. ha ha but the tanning bed did nothing for us. As soon as we were done, we went to load up the car and picked up Alayna. She is a doll and i adore her. She has the most beautiful blond curly hair, and it is so thick.. I envy her. Once Alayna jumped in the car, we were off to St. George to meet up with Cody. Cody was gracious enough to drive all the way to San Diego and he had only 4 hours of sleep the night before. Sounds awful, i know! On the way to San Diego we stopped off at a gas station to eat some hot dogs and corn dogs. I kind of put too many jalapenos on my hot dog.. I love them so much. My mouth was seriously on fire.. I had to buy a DP asap. We got back in the car and watched an episodes of The Office and we watched Tommy Boy. It helped time to pass. As we were driving we honestly didn't know where we were going to stay for the night. Cody packed a tent just in case we were going to have to camp somewhere. Thankfully Lauren got a hold of her Uncle Dave and Aunt Donna and asked if we could stay at their house for the night. Of course they let us stay and they fed us Swiss bread, Swiss cheese and a yummy salad with sparkling cider. It was so fun. We were exhausted from driving all day because that took a lot of effort you know.. ha ha but we unpacked and got ready for bead.. I had packed mousse for my frizzy, curly hair, and guess what?.. It exploded in mine and Lauren's backpack. ha ha I felt so bad. Everything was sticky but smelt good. Don't worry, i took care of it.

Sunday March 14th: Lauren and i woke up a little early and went outside to read our books. We were in awe of the most beautiful view. Uncle Dave and Aunt Donna have THE most gorgeous view i have ever seen. It was green and hills were surrounding the house. Once Cody and Alayna woke up, we went on a little adventure up the hill in the backyard. We found avocado trees and some citrus trees. I'm not sure if we distinguished what kind of citrus it was. ha ha Uncle Dave came home from church and made us lunch.. We had some salad and Mickey mouse chicken nuggets. They were awesome. We chatted for a bit and then headed off to Old Town to meet up with the rest of the group. There, I met Kirk, Preston, Kelsi, Shaye, Joe and Cameron. We walked through the Mormon Battalion visitors center. After, We drove to the airport to pick up the Van and stopped at the gas station for a potty break and bought treats. The cash register guy was creepin bad and liked my jacket. He kept calling me sweetheart and staring at me funny. I wanted out of the gas station asap. After that experience, we jumped in the van and headed down to Mexico. The sun was setting and it was getting dark as we crossed the border. Crossing the border was nothing like what i thought.. They just let us drive right through.. Weird.. As we were driving down the freeway we would see Mexicans just hopping the median and running across the freeway. It was insane. It took maybe 40 minutes to drive to the beach house from the border.. We unpacked and set up the beach house and went to bed..

Monday March 15th: Today was the day we went to the beach! I burned like crazy because i was smart enough to be in the sun for 5 hours and no sunscreen. ha ha but it was the first burn of the summer and i'm pretty happy about it. At the beach, we made a sand castle and it was freaking sweet. A little boy and his mom came by and asked if they could take a picture of our sandcastle, so of course we let them. The little boy whipped out his blue shovel and was acting like he built the castle while the mom took the picture.. It was so funny i couldn't stop laughing. Kirk, Joe and i buried Preston as a mermaid and dang did he look good. ha ha After a day in the sun, we drove to Rosorito and switched some of our money into pesos and went to Tacos el Yaki.. It was pretty yummy and the people working there thought it would be funny to tell us it was dog meat we were eating and then pretend there was a dog in the back of the stand and they would make a barking sounds like they were killing the dog.. It was awful but so funny at the same time.. If that even makes any sense.. We needed to head to the store to get some groceries for the week and it was quite the adventure. We bought lots of tortillas and stuff for toastadas.. They even had the most interesting and delicious Pepsi made with ginseng. We went home and made cheeseburgers while watching Jackass and the car repo show. ha ha It was so funny. Honestly Jackass is so entertaining. I love it.

Tuesday March 16th: Today i woke up to Mexicans banging on Mine and Laurens window!!! It freaking creeped me out and i thought it was Cody trying to be funny.. Since the beach house is under construction right now, the workers would come every morning early to work but decided to bang on the windows.. My heart stopped for two seconds. Lauren was a doll and got out of the bed to make sure no one was breaking in.. ha ha I got out of bed and ate a bowl of cereal and walked outside to the beach and watched for dolphins. It wasn't the right timing because they were no where to be seen. Everyone kind of layed around all morning and then decided to drive to Ensenada. We walked around and looked at the shops, walked to La Bufadora and the men stood outside their shops and seriously wouldn't leave us alone until we walked into their shop. They said,"Be nice to the Mexicans, you promised you would buy something" They were crazy! We ate at a yummy taco stand and i had a fish taco.. I am not even joking.. It was the best taco i have ever had! I miss it so much, probably because it was deep fried. At La Bufadora we watched the water splash up against the rocks.. It was fun. We left La Bufadora to go to another taco stand. I swear, we ate tacos every day. I loved it! and none of us even got sick.. That i know of. Ha ha We ate at Taco El Original. They had lamb tacos and yummy coke and fanta. As we were leaving the cutest dad, daughter and son came up to the taco stand and started singing for pesos.. They were adorable. We had to make another run to the store to buy some tennis balls but not all of us could go in because we would be stuck in there forever. So only a few people went in the store and the rest of us stayed in the parking lot to play football and Frisbee. We went back to the beach house to cook dinner and watched some March Madness. We ate chicken tostadas and looked at the stars. It was beautiful!

Wednesday March 17th: I woke up and ate a bowl of cereal. It was cheerios to be exact. Afterwards i went outside to play some killer tennis. I took a break and decided to sit out and Kirk totally hit a tennis ball my way and whacked me in the boob. Ha ha It hurt so bad it made my eyes water.. and NO I was not crying. He didn't even realize that where he hit me but it was so hilarious. We went back inside the house and watched some ESPN, Drove to the beach, I caught some waves boogie boarding. Cody taught me some tricks and now i am a pro.. Watch out! I layed out on my stomach because the front of my body was so burnt and i needed some sun on the back of my legs. I got a little more burnt because i fell asleep. While i was sleeping Cody started to build an octopus. It was the most amazing sand object i have ever seen. Pure talent. But it took some effort to make. Just look at the picture. It's uber cool. For dinner we had leftovers and watched more sports. I was loving watching all this basketball. Kirk, Alayna and i decided to put together a Jesus puzzle and it took all night and all the next morning.. Alayna and I quit half way through. Kirk seriously made me laugh every second of the trip. He kept making "appropriate" Jesus jokes. My tummy hurt from laughing so hard! Anyway, we had to give up. The puzzle was so hard. We sat on the couch and watched Casino Royal and then went to bed. Right when i layed down, the friction between the bed and the back of my knees was awful. ha ha I was completely burnt. I wish i would have worn more sunscreen but i honestly put sunscreen on three times!

Thursday March 18th: Today i woke up to the construction workers being super loud and banging on the walls. I don't think they understood we were on "vacation" and trying to sleep in.. They made me laugh though. Today was the guys day, and they went golfing, while the girls just did what we wanted. We played some tennis, I read outside by the beach for a few hours, we played some ping pong, layed on the couch ha ha it was a really good day. After all that, of course we went to another taco stand! I ate a fish taco and a shrimp taco. It was pretty yummy. I could eat tacos every day for the rest of my life. We drove to a little mini mart and bought some groceries, got some snacks, drove home, made steak for dinner and watched Mission Impossible. So, there was this crazy lady that lived next door to Preston's beach house. She came over while we were standing outside to complain about the construction in Preston's back yard. She said "it's against the rules" to have anything blocking the view of the waves. She was really frustrated and her face wouldn't move because she has had so much plastic surgery. Her face was smooshed and sick looking. I felt bad for this lady. She kept repeating herself and it was really annoying. She finally went away and CAME BACK! She complained about baby diapers in her yard, tequila was missing and someone stole her $100 champagne bottle. She gave us a sob story about wanting to officially move into the house because they are currently renting but they were considering never coming back because everything had gone wrong. I felt somewhat bad for her.. but she seems like the complaining type. She bugged me. After all the drama was over, Lauren and i got ready for bed. We did some laundry and had a nice pillow talk. I miss her like crazy.. Our talks were pretty funny and nothing i can share on here. ha ha

Friday March 19th: This morning i layed in bed for the longest time listening to Coldplay on my ipod. I wasn't ready to get up because today was the day we were going home. I'm so sad. I love Mexico and this has been the best vacation. I got out of bed and played ping pong with Lauren. We packed most of our stuff and loaded up the van. Only Cody, Me and Lauren packed up our stuff because we had to be back home by Saturday. Driving to the border is insane. The Mexicans stand in the middle of the freeway selling anything you can think of. Cody would look out the window and stare someone down who is trying to sell something and he would act interested and then the guy would chase us down in the car trying to convince us to buy something. ha ha it was hilarious and so sad at the same time. One guy walked up to our car window and was trying to sell us a bag of weed. He told us it was $20, so cheap and almost free. Cody would freak out and yell ALMOST FREE, ALMOST FREE, ALMOST FREE. The guy probably thought we were already high. ha ha jk Getting across the border wasn't even a problem. I thought they would make us get out of the car and they would search us, but no. They just check our passports and we were on our way to San Diego. Everyone dropped us off at Cody's car at the airport. We took a potty break and last minute pictures. Then, we stopped to get gas, drinks and ice cream. I drank a 44 oz DP super fast and had to pee WAY BAD within an hour. We kind of got lost for 30 minutes on the free way and couldn't find I-15. We were headed in the wrong direction. Soon enough we turned around and found our way. Don't worry, i still had to pee and it was so hard to hold it. Cody and Lauren kept making me laugh and it sucked. Cody wouldn't let me pee on his seat and drove by a million gas stations before he actually stopped at one! Right as we stopped the car i ran out, ran all the way to the bathroom, and peed for a minute straight ha ha. On the road again, we were headed for Las Vegas. We stopped at Jack in the Box, took another potty break and watch Yes Man in the car. Once we arrived in St. George we unpacked Cody's car, loaded up Lauren's car and headed to Cedar City. BUT, Lauren and i HAD to stop at Nielson's Frozen Custard. We both ate our entire concrete (sick i know) but it was so yummy! Afterwards, we finally got to Cedar and decided to watch Couples Retreat and paint our nails. We weren't even tired when the movie started. But I of course fell asleep (because i always do) and then had to wake up a few hours later at 6am to drive to Provo for my grandma's presentation.

This was the best trip ever! I don't think you can top this!!! Thank you so much Preston for letting us stay at your beach house and i am so glad i met all of you on spring break. I love you all. xo

Mexico Bebe

2010-03-10T19:49:00.002-07:00

I am going on an uber short notice trip to Mexico! Last night my friend Lauren(whom i just adore) invited me to go to Mexico for a whole week. It's spring break and i honestly need to get away. I'm leaving Friday morning to meet up with Lauren in Cedar City then we are off to Mexico! The drive is probably going to suck.. But i can't even wait to get out of here!!! I'll make sure to tell you all about it when i get back :)

Serial Killers are Freaking Creeps

2010-02-22T19:32:00.005-07:00

My oh my. I cannot believe i chose the topic "Serial Killers" for my research paper. As i have been looking up info about Ted Bundy, i have been more paranoid about where i go alone and who is surrounding me. It's quite sad. Did you know 85% of the worlds serial killers are located in America? SICK! Most serial killers suffer from Antisocial Personality Disorder. APD is a chronic mental illness in which your ways of thinking, perceiving situations and relating to others are dysfunctional. You don't know right from wrong. Violate the law, and land yourself in frequent trouble. (mayoclinic.com)
Ted Bundy is one of the most famous serial killers in America. He was a dashing young man and would lure woman to his car, then beat them and do all sorts of nasty stuff i can't even comprehend. Sometimes he would pretend he was a police officer or a fireman. He would even pretend to wear a sling and ask girl to carry his books at school. Then he would get them in his car and that was the last they were ever seen.
Yesterday i was at my friend Lexi's house, and she told me her mom went on a date with Ted Bundy!!!!! FREAKY. She didn't even know it was Ted Bundy at the time. He just was flirting with her at work one day and she left with him. They went to the Great Salt Lake alone. Some how she managed to get away and is still alive. She wrote a book about it and all i can say, is there are angels watching over her. He was a sick man and would do anything for a kill. He murdered over 30 woman. Ugh, my heart feels sick and i cannot imagine what those poor families went through. I've got a lot of info, so i am hoping this paper goes well.. We'll see.

Blah Blah Blah

2010-02-10T19:34:00.004-07:00

I have been on this Muse fix lately.. Probably because they are coming to Utah in what.. less than 2 months!!!! I am so excited I can hardly wait!

The only thing I am worried about, Drew will be about 6 months pregnant AND we will be standing on the floor.. But this concert will be so flippin worth it. I love Coldplay SO SO much but I really hope this concert blows me away! Time is just going by so slow.. I don't have anything to look forward to until April 5th. My 21st birthday and Muse! UGH, best day of my life!!!! HURRY UP!!!

Pretty Good Timing

2010-02-03T18:46:00.006-07:00

For me, timing is everything. Everything in my life right now, has come at a really good time. I feel so lucky to be where i am. Including friends, life, school, work.. It just all fits together so well. I have the most amazing friends and people in my life at this moment. Over the weekend i went to girls night at my dear friend Lexi's house. We made THE cutest headbands. I mean THE CUTEST! and yes, we made them. Lexi is so creative, she gave me some of the best ideas. After our headband making party, we went to The Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe which has some fantastic cupcakes. They are HUGE too! Look at how yummy :)

We had about 14 girls in this cute little cafe and it was so fun. They only had two flavors left for the day which were Better Than Whatever and Grasshopper. Delish! These girls were so much fun and i just love them. I have come to terms with friends coming and going in my life. It always seems to happen to me. But there are a few who i have always stayed close to, and i am so grateful for them. Like Cassidi Smith. I LOVE HER. She's moved out of state a couple of times and i missed her SO much but we would still talk and i would visit her whenever i could. She is having a little boy in 2 weeks! It is crazy. I can't believe how fast time flies! We have been best friends since the 5th grade. How awesome is that?! Cass, you're the best and i know you have always and will continue to be here for me. You are a doll! Lex, we couldn't have become the best of friends at a better time! I adore you and think you are amazing! I am so grateful to have such a special relationship with my sister Drew. Drew is prego and i am so excited for her and Tanner. I love you Drew and thanks for everything you do for me. I couldn't ask for a better older sister and example! xoxo Lauren, this is for you.. I LOVE YOU!!! and i am so sad you live SO far away but we also couldn't have become best friends at a better time! You always have the best things to say and i want to be you! You complete me ha ha. All of you girls have impacted my life and i will never forget what you do for me! How did i get so lucky!

Who Knew I Would Train For A Half Marathon

2010-01-27T17:33:00.003-07:00

Seriously, I am going to run a half marathon. I never thought i could ever do anything like this. I am super nervous but so ready to start training. This is pretty much what my schedule will look like for the next 2 months.. Fun stuff.. NOT. I kid.. This will be an adventure.

The half-marathon schedule

WEEK 1
Toughie No. 1: Three 10-minute intervals at 10-K pace, with 5- minute recoveries
Toughie No. 2: Three miles at PHMP
Toughie No. 3: A 5-K race or time trial

WEEK 2
Toughie No. 1: Four 6-minute intervals at 10-K pace, with 1- to 2-minute recoveries
Toughie No. 2: Four miles at PHMP

WEEK 3
Toughie No. 1: 3.5 continuous miles at LTRV (10 to 12 seconds per mile slower than your current 10-K PB)
Toughie No. 2: Repeat 800s at a pace which is 6 seconds per 800 faster than current 5-K pace
Toughie No. 3: Six miles at PHMP

WEEK 4
Toughie No. 1: 10-K fartlek session (alternate 2- to 3-minute bursts at 10-K speed with one minute or so of easy jogging over a 10-K distance)
Toughie No. 2: Seven miles at PHMP

WEEK 5
Toughie No. 1: Moderate hill session (on a tough, steep hill, do six or more repeats, but not enough repetitions to induce soreness)
Toughie No. 2: Three 10-minute intervals at 10-K pace, with 5-minute recoveries
Toughie No. 3: 5-K race or time trial

WEEK 6
Toughie No. 1: Nine miles at PHMP (early in the week)
Toughie No. 2: 5-minute intervals at 5-K pace, with 3- to 5-minute recoveries. Leave the workout feeling fresh and charged-up, not mentally and physically drained.

Banksy in Utah

2010-01-25T17:27:00.004-07:00

For any of you who know me, know that i love Banksy! I think he is so amazing and talented! He is here in Utah during the Sundance film festival. He was at the Java Cow and shared his talents with the rest of us :) I have to get up there and take this picture myself!!! I heard the owner of the Java Cow is going to paint over his work after Sundance is over. If she does, she is lame! DON'T TOUCH IT!!!!!

My Love

2010-01-22T19:15:00.004-07:00

You're going to love this guy. I'm in love.. I don't know why i'm posting so many youtube videos lately, but i am.. So deal it!

Ellie Goulding

2010-01-20T19:44:00.005-07:00

I love this girl so much, I think every should too.

SNL Digital Short Shy Ronnie

2010-01-05T09:50:00.002-07:00

This is one of my favorite SNL Digital Short videos. I'm not going to lie, i love them all but Andy Samburg is hilarious and Rihanna isn't so bad. Loves it!

My Latest Obsession

2009-12-25T19:43:00.002-07:00

via The Insider

I'm Going To Be An Auntie

2009-12-20T19:24:00.002-07:00

My sister Drew is PREGO!!!!! I am so excited, words cannot even comprehend how thrilled i am. Drew is about 9 or maybe 10 weeks along. She has been a little sick, but for the most part she is doing quite well. Her first doctors appointment is the week after Christmas. I think it is a boy but most of my family thinks it will be a girl. I guess we'll just have to wait and see in February or Marchish... Drew and i are only 14 months apart and i still feel like i am getting used to her being married and it has been almost 2 years. ha ha I am so excited to meet the newest member of our family!

XanGo Christmas Party

2009-12-18T17:29:00.005-07:00

Last night was one of the best nights EVERRRRRR. XanGo had their employee Christmas Party at the Thanksgiving Point Barn. Jason Hewlett was the main entertainment for the night and he was hysterical. My friend Brea and i were crying we were laughing so hard. After he entertained for about an hour, the founders of XanGo did the prize giveaways, which was taking the money from a founders pocket. There were six people call up to get the money from the founders, then they called a name to take the money from the President of XanGo's wallet. Guess what?! It was ME!!! I was in complete shock and i was so freaking excited! Craig (The President of XanGo) pulled out $200 cash and a coupon to Sharon's Diner in Holiday. Gordon (one of the founders of XanGo) wanted to pay me $50 for the coupon to Sharon's Diner. I laughed and thought he was joking, but after i got off the stage he took the microphone and asked where the girl was that got the coupon and said, "I will seriously pay you $50 for the coupon." So, he came down and got the coupon and i received an extra $50! Best night of my life! Oh, and earlier that day, at the XanGo Christmas breakfast, there was a $25 gift card to Target!!!! XanGo is such a wonderful company and i feel so lucky to be apart of it.

Here is a picture of Me, Vanessa and Brea at the Christmas Party. We dressed up as Christmas Ornaments. ha ha it was hilarious!

Time Waits For No One

2009-12-14T16:47:00.002-07:00

The other day my mom sent me this email and it really made me think of how i waste so much time. Seriously i do. I just go in and out of the day hoping for the next day to end, and it is just an on going process. It is quite sad. I take some many things for granted. I am grateful i have a brother and sisters and a mom and dad, and i am extremely grateful i have never failed a final exam. (knock on wood)I have so many wonderful people in my life, and i am so grateful for my friends and family. I love you all. I will never take you for granted again. xoxo

-To realize the value of a sister/brother

Ask someone who doesn't have one .

-To realize the value of ten years:

Ask a newly divorced couple.

-To realize the value of four years:

Ask a graduate.

-To realize the value of one year:

Ask a student who has failed a final exam.

-To realize the value of nine months:

Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

-To realize the value of one month:

Ask a mother who has given birth to

a premature baby .

-To realize the value of one week:

Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

-To realize the value of one minute:

Ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane.

-To realize the value of one-second:

Ask a person who has survived an accident.

-To realize the value of a friend or family member:

LOSE ONE.

Time waits for no one.

Treasure every moment you have.

You will treasure it even more when

you can share it with someone special.

Real Salt Lake

2009-12-10T15:16:00.002-07:00

Today at XanGo (where i work) Some players from RSL came to show off their new 2009 MLS cup!!!!!!!!!! It is the most amazing feeling to be apart of a company who represents RSL. They played a great game as the underdog in Seattle and won against LA Galaxy. I am not going to lie, i wasn't a big soccer fan until now. I am in love with soccer!

Disturbing 911 Call

2009-12-07T16:31:00.008-07:00

As i was driving to school today, i was stuck in traffic for about an hour and a half, and as i was listening to the Morning Zoo on 97.1zht, they played a disturbing 911 call. Donna Jackson is a 56 year old woman who was home alone on December 4, 2009. Donna's dog was barking very loudly at 1am. Donna walked down her stairs to find a man pounding on her sliding glass door. He was trying to break into her home. Donna's husband was at work and she couldn't go to her neighbors home because they are all older than 80. Donna called 911 right away to get help. The man eventually broke into her home and she shot him in the chest with her shot gun and killed him. Click on the link and listen to the call. Donna is so calm and kept composure through most of the call. I applaud her for how amazing she is!

http://newsok.com/woman-shoots-and-kills-intruder-in-lincoln-county/article/3422498?custom_click=rss

Life can be so Frustrating

2009-12-04T15:01:00.002-07:00

I have finally come to realize, things change, plans don't work out and life is just so darn frustrating. I thought i had everything figured out for 2010. I was going to work full time and not go to school January through April to save up for an amazing and once in a life time trip to Europe!!!! Then, when i got back from Europe i would move to Provo and just see what path my life is going in. Well, pretty much Europe has fallen through :( which i am so sad about. But, hey, there is going to be plenty of time for me to save up and go some other time; and now i am second guessing myself moving out. I am so close to being done with my associates, i don't want to just take a year off of school.. When i planned all of this, it felt like a good idea and now, i'm just not sure. We'll see what happens. Everything happens for a reason, and we will see what the reason is for this situation. It better be good!

Lily's Cleaners (THE WORST PLACE EVER)

2009-11-23T20:40:00.004-07:00

I had the craziest experience as i went to the dry cleaners tonight. My friend Brea took her brand new jacket to the dry cleaners because there was a baby print with spit up on the back of her coat. It wasn't a big spot and shouldn't be very hard to get out. Well, when Brea went to pick up her jacket, it was completely ruined. The press has flattened the pockets and you could see all the lining on the outside. The cleaners did an awful, awful job. Brea came to work upset about what happened to her jacket so i decided i would go back with her to the cleaners to see what they could do to help fix her jacket. As we walked in the door and explained the situation, Lily (the owner) automatically became defensive and started yelling at the two of us. She said it was the fabric that made the jacket look like crap. Then Lily proceeded to tell Brea her coat was cheap and poor quality. I chimed into tell Lily she had the worst customer service i have ever seen. She told me to shut up and i am not apart of the situation. WHOLLY MOLLY!!!! Who says that to a customer? Brea went on to ask for her jacket to go through the cleaners again and if it does not look the way it should, she would like her monies worth for the jacket. Lily went on to say sue me! Brea and i were in shock. No one should ever be treated poorly because a worker screwed up and wouldn't own up to their mistake. Come on!! I don't even know how it escalated into a yelling fight. It was insane. An owner of a company should NEVER EVER treat their customer like that. Lily's cleaner is located in Saratoga Springs. Don't ever go their and give her your business.

Get On With It

2009-11-18T09:39:00.003-07:00

I've decided to get on with it! I found an appartment and i am moving out in April!! I'm freaking out. For so long everyone has told me to get out of my parents house and go live in Provo.. Well, that is exactly what i am doing. My mom was really sad when i told her last night. She wants me to stay home forever. Ha ha I'm pretty sure i will finish my generals at UVU and then hopefully transfer to the University of Utah. I just love that school and i am a total city girl. Life will be completely different, but i need that change. Where i am at in my life just isn't working. I'm not as close with people as i thought and other people seem to be moving on with their life faster than i can get my life started. It just seems like a good time to go for change.

5 Tips for a Woman

2009-10-29T09:57:00.005-06:00

1. It is important for a man to help you around the house and has a job.

2. It is important that a man makes you laugh.

3. It is important to find a man you can count on and doesn't lie to you.

4. It is important that a man loves you and spoils you.

5. It is important that these four men don't know each other.

My mom sent this to me. ha ha

California Vacay

2009-10-28T20:04:00.018-06:00

Last week I went to Californ-I-A for a little vacay with the fam. It was so fun and such a long week. We went to Universal Studios on Monday, Disneyland on Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday we drove to Newport Beach/San Diego, Friday we went to the San Diego Zoo (which was amazing) and Saturday we went to Sea World, then on Sunday we came home. I loved every second of being in the happiest place on earth. It was only a week long vacation and i couldn't seem to put the camera away. I have over 350 pictures ha ha.

People of Walmart round 2 & 3.. I couldn't find round 1

2009-10-07T17:42:00.026-06:00

I keep receiving these emails titled.. "People of Walmart round 2.. or round 3" I have never laughed SO HARD in my life.. Just look at these pictures..

Utah State Weekend

2009-09-28T10:30:00.008-06:00

Boy did i have a pretty good weekend. I drove up to Utah State with my friend Lauren and her roommate Kestry and then we met up with Lauren's friend Alicia. We went to the Utah State football game and painted all those chests you see below. It was crazy and chaotic but we got it all taken care of and under control. Those chests ended up looking real good. The boys from Utah State wanted to break the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest chest painting ever. It said something like, "Utah State Hey Aggies all they way Go Aggies Go Aggies hey hey hey Utah State all the way!!" I'm pretty sure they broke the record because they had over 65 people with their chest painted. Isn't that insane? The girls and i sat on the 2nd row behind all those crazy boys and it was such a good game. Utah State ended up winning 53 to 34.. or something like that. I don't remember the actual score.

After the game was over we went to a dance party up on campus which didn't last very long. It was over right when we got there so we made our own dance party in the parking lot which became quite popular. ha ha After the dance party we went to another party up the canyon where i have never been around so many guys who were wasted. ha ha This one guy would not leave me alone. He kept rubbing my back and telling me i had dark ass hair with white ass teeth and blue eyes. He has never met a girl with dark hair and blues eyes. ha ha He took me around to all his drunk friends and told them how sexy i was. WEIRD!!!!!!!!! Then after the party it was about 2am and this guy was trying to get to go in his car to go to another party! I was thinking it's 2am and why the heck would there be another party. Go to bed! But, i don't live the college life like they do. I still live at home. ha ha Anyway, this guy said i have a BMW and i will take you home in the morning. UGH NO FREAKING WAY. Jeez, like i want to go hang out with someone who won't even remember me the next day. ha ha We got back to Alicia's around 2:30am and went to bed. Lauren, Kestry and i had to get up at 7:30am to drive home the next morning. I was so tired but what a weekend.

The Mav

2009-09-23T09:27:00.004-06:00

I love Maverik the gas station. There is a Mav right by my work and i seriously go there every single day. Gross, i know! Anyway, I was at the Mav last night chatting with an old friend whom i have not seen in forever and as we were chatting away a guy drove off in his truck with the gas pump in his gas tank! ha ha ha ha it was such a loud noise and the guy was so embarrassed. I felt so bad for him but i could not stop laughing!!!!!! Hopefully it didn't do any damage to the car but what a great experience to witness.

The leaves are finally changing

2009-09-18T20:35:00.004-06:00

I was up in Park City a few weeks ago, and i cannot even begin to explain how excited i am for this fall weather. I am too excited for the month of October because i LOVE Halloween. Can you tell? ha ha i already have a Halloween background. Oh and, this is the creepiest time to go walk through cemeteries. There is a cemetery in Park City right by the Alpine Slide, and the latest burial there was in the 1800's and early 1900's... Oh it gives me the chills thinking about it. One night while we were in Park City, my cousins and i decided to walk through the cemetery. They were telling us about this shed at the top of the cemetery that has a book of all the people that were buried there and how they died and where they are from. I have never felt so uneasy in my life!!!! As soon i walked through the gate, into the cemetery i had a pit in my stomach the whole time and i seriously felt like i was being watched. If you are up in Park City go to this cemetery.

Blog Backgrounds

2009-09-02T09:47:00.004-06:00

If you want a SUPER CUTE background for your blog i know the exact place to go!

http://summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/

http://aquapoppydesigns2.blogspot.com/

You'll love it!
xoxo

Scratch That

2009-09-02T09:39:00.004-06:00

Scratch the post below... I am taking 3 freaking classes worth 13 credits.. Man, I feel a little overwhelmed but that is part of growing up and going to school and working full time... Right? I signed up at the last minute for a Business Stats class. If you took that class and have a book i could buy i would love you forever.. and/or if you or anyone wants to tutor me.. that would be fabulous.. ha ha i know this will be a challenge but i am ready for it.. with a bit of help. I'm really enjoying my Writing class and Film class. I think i can learn a lot from them, and i know i will learn even more in stats.. Oh jeez.. Wish me luck!

Life is just a bowl of cherries

2009-08-27T17:07:00.004-06:00

Today i changed my blog background probably 15 times, and i ended up with the same background as the one i started with. Ha ha School started on Wednesday and i cannot tell you how excited i am to get my generals finished and onto to subjects i actually enjoy. The first day of school is always a little rough, especially when you go to a new campus and you are lost for 30 minutes. I felt so ridiculous when i couldn't find my way around. I almost just skipped the class and said screw it. I'm done. Ugh, any way i decided to be boring and only take 2 classes this semester; English and Film. Woopdeedoo it is going to be so HARD this semester... NOT! ha ha
I decided i am in love with men who play soccer. Not that i wasn't before.. it's just going to soccer games has changed my life. I want to go see an insane soccer game in Europe where the fans are out of control. I went to a Real Salt Lake soccer game last night and we had THE BEST seats ever... (kudos to my boss TJ) We sat right in the middle of the field on i think row N.. It may not sound too good, but i am telling you those seats were freaking amazing. Those boys who can run and run and run and score goal after goal.. They are something else. The score ended up being 4-0 and Real totally kicked butt. I see the Real players practice every day because they practice on the field right next to XanGo.. but it is not the same feeling as being at the game. Then we sent some solid time in the Real store shopping around and you know what?.. They had man capris.. They are the coolest things i have ever seen and i would have made the purchase but they didn't have my size. I'll be back to get some and you'll all want a pair! I guess they are huge over in Europe but i haven't heard my talk about it. Oh good old Europe.. It is an amazing place.

Girls Camp

2009-07-23T13:48:00.005-06:00

To sum up girls camp in a few words.. All i have to say is it was quite the experience. Our young women's president locked her keys in her car and she wasn't even at the campsite for an hour, so i told her we could go get her spare key.. lo and behold i got a flat tire on the freeway and we were only 10 minutes away from our campsite! It sucked and i was so mad because the owners manual doesn't explain how to change a tire. I had to call my dad and ask him to google how to change a tire and then he read me the directions over the phone. ha ha As we were trying to get the spare from under my car AAA drove up and SAVED MY LIFE!!! oh how i love AAA!!!!! So, on with girls camp.. I don't know if i have ever been around a bunch of young women who were so unappreciative of what all the leaders have done for them! I mean come on! It is not like we were paid to go up to girls camp and babysit. One girl told all the young women about how much she hated all the leaders except for the prego ones (mind you, who were not at camp). Another girl said she wanted to stab my mom with a knife! A KNIFE!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!! The entire time my mom had to remind the girls of their manners. She had to remind them to say please and thank you. HELLO, your parents should be teaching you that.. not your leaders! Some girls were complaining about how we were sleeping in tents and not in cabins, some complained about the crafts and food, and the fact that we were not going boating! UGH!!!!! I felt awful when i heard all these things but i know the girls had an AMAZING experience whether they admit it or not! The General Young Women's President Sister Dalton came to speak to our stake on the last night we were at camp. She is the most amazing women i have ever met. She made sure the girls knew they had a purpose here in this life and we need to be 100%. Being 100% means reading your scriptures 5 minutes a day.. Praying morning and night.. and smiling. If we can do all 3 things we are doing just fine. After we had the privilege to listen to Sister Dalton we had our ward testimony meeting. The Young Women in our ward have so much to say and they were pouring their hearts out. After all the bad feelings i felt for these young women my heart was softened and i may not understand why they felt the way they did but i still love them so much and i am so glad i was able to be their leader this year.

You know it is summer time when...

2009-07-13T15:16:00.003-06:00

You know it is summer time when your face is so burnt, then your forehead is peeling and the skin is bright pink... my toes have split open and i super glued them together.. ha ha how lame is that and to top it off i have a blister on my eye! MY EYE!!! How the hell does that even happen! My eye has been red for days and i just found the blister.. it is super small and it stings.

I am heading off to girls camp tomorrow which i am so excited for. We had our final meeting last night which ended up lasting 5 hours... but it was so much fun and we accomplished so much in that short period of time. ha ha I have so much to do tonight to prepare to leave tomorrow. I feel like we have the most special girls in our ward and i get to share all these wonderful and spiritual experiences with them at camp. I look forward to the day when i can come home to a shower and clean clothes.. oh that will be the day... but until then, i will make the best of every second at camp!

Things change, you just move on

2009-07-08T17:11:00.005-06:00

So life is changing, things change, people come and go but i cannot tell you how excited i am for the future.. I'm planing on moving out this fall (but we'll see.. it may not happen) with a friend I haven't seen in forev!!!!! I am super excited...School starts in a month, which I am not thrilled about but it just has to happen. I am off that crazy diet and it feels so good to eat good food occasionally.. I had some rolls from Texas Road House.. I tried the best cookies.. It is called Ben's cookies and the chocolate is imported from Belgium.. They are YUMMY.. I went to the Pie up by the University of Utah.. Crazy delicious.. Next week I am leaving for Girls Camp and I am stoked.. We are going to be gone all week and I am not a camper AT ALL.. but I can do this.. Being a part of the camp committee has been so wonderful, and I love talking to the cute girls in my ward. My friend Dan and I have started going to Institute and I really like our teacher. He is so nice and he teaches in way we all can relate and we won't fall asleep in the class (which i used to sleep in seminary all the time). I am so glad I signed up for institute because I've always had a bad attitude towards it; only because of past experiences. I am ready for whatever comes in the future because change can be good.

My new favorite website

2009-06-26T15:36:00.005-06:00

I am guessing i think about food every second of the day because i can't have the good stuff at the moment, BUT... I have found my new favorite website. I have spent all day looking at it, and i now want to open my own bakery and bake all the time.

http://www.marthastewart.com/

I loved the cupcakes and the cute toppings, the pies, cookies, drinks, even the peppermint eggnog... SO CUTE!!!! Also, i found a recipe for a Boston Cream Pie cupcake.. Delish.. Don't worry, i will slowly eat my desserts when i see them. I WILL NOT rush into eating sugar because it would make me sick and i would gain EVERYTHING i just lost. Plus i feel so lucky to be dieting with my friends at work. We are all in this together and we are a support group, we can't let each other go crazy after we are done dieting.. ha ha i heart you all!!!! xoxo

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

2009-06-25T16:44:00.004-06:00

This is so sad. I cannot believe how unexpected this was. Michael Jackson Died today due to Cardiac Arrest. Wow.. I am so shocked. Michael lived his life in the spot and he has had so much success in this life time. His music will live on forever. I'll never forget the south park episode with Michael Jackson.. That is how I'll remember him for the rest of my life. R.I.P.

My first meal

2009-06-25T15:18:00.006-06:00

All i can think about is food. I live for food!!!! I breathe for food and I've been thinking about where i want my first meal to be since i haven't had anything that great for the past month. I was thinking i should have sushi!!!!! I usually get the Vegas roll and O. M. G. it is the best one i have ever had. Then, i was thinking maybe i should go to Texas Road House. I'm pretty sure i have never been more satisfied while eating one of their rolls with butter. But then, i really want to go to this place called Italian Village to get a Pizza Bendor. The Pizza Bendor is stuffed with mozzarella cheese, ham and peperoni, then you dip it in marinara sauce... and i would want their meatballs and garlic bread.. WOW, i love food.. I've also been craving a subway sandwich. YUM!! Or how about Cafe Rio.. you can never go wrong with Cafe Rio.. oh yeah, and i need to get a dessert too.. So i was thinking about some cake batter from Cold Stone, or homemade brownies, or Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, or a smore or i would love to have a cinnamon roll drizzled with Carmel and nuts, and a delicious cupcake... Ahhh, why do i eat so much! But i have made a decision... i can only eat out once a week, and once on the weekend.. ha ha I don't know why i feel like i have to eat out instead of making something at home, which making it at home is so much better for you! Well, i have learned a lot about counting calories and I'm pretty much on a new path for a healthy diet (except my one to two times a week deal).

Fetish

2009-06-23T14:51:00.010-06:00

So as all of you know, i have this serious fetish with Europe and it all started because my mom went to study abroad in London for 3 months while she was in college.. I have always wanted to do a study abroad in London.. REALLY BAD!!!!! So i have found a few schools and programs where i can study abroad in Europe, and even at Cambridge. Oh i am so excited.. If anyone wants to do it with me let me know! I want to go with people i know.. ha ha a new experience like this alone would kill me.

Lately, since i have been on this gaylord diet, i have been craving these amazing treats from Europe.. They are so good, i could run down to the London Market and stock up on these.. 7 days, 7 days and i am done with this diet!!!! YAY!!!

Cheater

2009-06-22T15:51:00.004-06:00

Okay, okay.. I totally cheated on my diet this weekend.. How could i not, it was Fathers Day and it was my dad's birthday! We had cake and yummy treat EVERYWHERE!!!! I have never loved food so much in my life, then when i was eating at my Grandma's house, I had THE most amazing cupcake with vanilla frosting and a fresh strawberry on top.. mmmm, and some 7 layer bean dip, and baked beans, and a croissant sandwich, and jelly bellies, and chocolate birthday cake.. and pasta salad and a pear salad. AHHHHH i love all of it but i know i can't eat that all the time.. that is why you go crazy for one day and then... back to reality.. i am trying to lose weight.. Soooo, i need to stick with the healthy diet and lose a few more pounds.. Then eventually add in the good stuff.

Dieting

2009-06-19T13:02:00.004-06:00

So my cute and wonderful friend has told me there are two types of diets. First, a healthy diet and second, an unhealthy diet. I have decided to live a healthy diet. It has been SUPER hard but i am down 12 pounds! Can you believe it? I sure can't.. This dieting experience has lasted me about 3 weeks so far and i have 2 weeks to go. I have realized i don't need to eat out everyday of my life.. it wastes so much money and it makes you fat! ha ha i have bought only fresh fruits, veggies and protein. I have cut out all carbs, sugars, fries, anything deep fried, dairy, soda, ice cream, sushi and pretty much anything else that tastes good. I miss ALL of it but.. i know OCCASIONALLY i can eat all of the bad stuff! There is nothing more rewarding than knowing that you have lost weight and your clothes don't fit you so you have to go buy more.. Well who doesn't love shopping more than me?.. I don't know, but i am pretty excited. Hopefully i can maintain this weight loss and i never want to gain it back. It definitely takes some dedication.. but it's so worth it!

Jackson Hole/ Yellowstone Vaca

2009-06-10T15:28:00.008-06:00

A few weekends ago the whole fam went to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. It was so much fun but i swear we were in the car FOREVER!!! We stayed in Idaho Falls the first night which we went to dinner, swimming and bed.. ha ha we couldn't find much to do. The next morning we woke up and went to the Titanic Exhibit. That was so amazing to see artifacts and utensils the people used while sailing on the Titanic. After the exhibit we headed up to Jackson hole.. We did some shopping, we went to the best Chinese restaurant...IT was so yummy.. Then the hot tub broke at the motel so we couldn't even enjoy that.. the next morning we headed up to Yellowstone where it rained and it was kind of chilly but awesome! We saw 2 buffalo (which i guess isn't that many, we just went at the wrong time). Anyway, It was wonderful and great family time!