Baptism, spiders, and snakes.....Oh MY!

Momma!!!
It was so nice to read your E-mail! I love hearing about how Sawyer is! Tell him he needs to email me ASAP! I really want to know what is going on with him, the names of the people he has met, and how he is liking school!! Goodness, it sounds like everything is falling right into place! All I had to do was leave! ;) haha
Your Job sounds amazing mom! If you get the chance, tell Bobby that I love him! I am jealous! That sounds like a job I would love to have! I kinda wish I got to do that! That's exactly where you need to be. :)

Jealous! I want to play with snakes! I haven't seen a single snake while I have been here! Only oodles of frogs and lizards everywhere! And some of the most insane bugs I have ever seen! So, A couple weeks before I got here, Elder Sumner and the other elders were driving home, and they saw a snake, they stopped and went to look at it, and it was a Cottonmouth! A really Poisonous snake! So they killed it and took it away from the neighborhood, but now, I am really hoping that I see something like that! Or an alligator! Haha I'll send home a baby whatever I find. :)

This Saturday, we had our baptism for our investigator, M******, And it was amazing! Her Mother drove all the way from Virginia to come see her get Baptized. Unfortunately, her Father didn't want anything to do with it, and her momma didn't want to hear what we had to say, but she was really nice and took lots of pictures! And she talked to Elder Sumner and I for a little bit too! M****** couldn't stop smiling the whole time, and she said she was so excited to take the sacrament for the first time!
Also! She had a goal to read the whole Book of Mormon before she was baptized, and she crushed it! She had it finished by Friday morning! She is so great! I think she knows more about this religion than I do! I won't be surprised if she ends up like relief society president and is giving talks in general conference! :P She was then Confirmed (by me) yesterday on Sunday, and it was great. I was pretty nervous, but the Lord took care of that for me. :) I got to "By the authority of the holy Melchezedek Preisthood" And the microphone stopped working. So it was great. :) It was my first time ever confirming someone, and I felt the spirit so strong it was overwhelming. The whole rest of that day was just amazing! at the end of that Sunday, we went over to check our meal calendar, and M****** practically bounced with excitement over to us to tell us that she signed up for two of the days, that night, and next Monday (Elder Sumners B-day! September 2nd) So I am going to be buying him a present today, I will watch the price though, I promise.

John Glissmeyers wife was visiting her sister, Sister Wisnet (I dont know if I spelled it right) But she was only here for like a week or two.

My X-ray, I finally have an appointment, tomorrow at 9:30 am. I am crossing my fingers!

We weren't able to talk to the Lady with the dog at the clinic because she was so hysterical, but we left her with our number, and we are praying!

M****** and E. Sumner and me

This is the C*** family. they are the best! They are like her adopted

parents! haha Brother C*** is a goofball too! Tell Sawyer he drives us

around all the time if we don't have the car. and this is what we drive in...

CTS Baby! And he is going to trade it in and get a CTSV

 These are our sisters (with Sister B***** at the top middle)

We caught a banana spider....theses things are everywhere! This was

the biggest one they have ever seen in the mission!

  I caught it with my face!

One of the days I wasn't allowed to do anything because of my ankle...

I'm talented when I'm bored! :P

Elder Gundersen & me.

Rain, Bed bugs, and Buddy the injured Wiener dog.‏

Hello Momma! And everyone!
This week has been full of adventure and craziness!!
Yes, My Greenie package got here at the same time as the rest of them! I loved the packages! They made me laugh! A lot of the stuff Y'all sent is very useful though! The little containers are the perfect size for a Book Of Mormon when it is raining. :) So I enjoy that, as well as all the little munchies and stuff! It has been unbelievably rainy lately, so no surprise that the box got ruined! But only one of the notepads had water damage! Everything else was completely fine.

Two days ago, it rained so hard! And it was actually cold. It was very weird to have it be chilly here. But Elder Sumner and I had an Appointment with one of our newest investigators, and we weren't about to cancel. So we got our rain gear, and biked the 4 miles to his house! It was awesome! I loved it! Haha The rain felt so good! It was a little annoying at first, but once everything was wet, it was just funny. I couldn't stop smiling!

The frogs are everywhere!!! I have no idea what kind they are, because there are so many different kinds! But they are everywhere! I am afraid to walk in the grass if it is even a little wet, because I know that I will step on some! Send me a good jar and I will catch a few and get them to you ;)

 I slept in a bedbug infested bed on transfers, and I got eaten! I had to wash and dry all of my everything when I got back! :P My apartment treated me like I had the plague for a while :P Hahaha but it is all taken care of now!

Missionary work has been great! We have picked up a couple new investigators that we are just stoked to teach, and everything is going really well! It seems like everything is finally settling into place. Like It has always been this way. It just feels right. :) I love being a missionary! I love teaching! I am amazed at how well the lessons just flow out of me. The spirit is so strong, and I don't even realize that I am speaking half the time. It is just there. The Lord truly uses us as instruments to teach his word.

Okay, here's a story that it totally me.
So, this week Elder Sumner and I were driving down the road, and I saw a little wiener dog walking down the road, and it looked hurt. So I had Elder Sumner turn around so I could check on it. It was limping really bad and not walking on one of its legs at all. I ended up having to chase it a couple hundred yards and corner it. It turned around and started growling, but then immediately stopped and walked up to me. It was amazing. God calmed him down. He was pretty hurt though. He looked like he had been run over. He had a large open wound on his knee and he leg was sideways. I was pretty sure it was a compound fracture. He was bleeding pretty bad too. I picked him up and carried him over to Elder Sumner, we checked his tags for a name and address, but there wasn't one. There were some vaccination tags, so we called the number on there, gave the lady the I.D. number, and she told us his name was Buddy. She told us she would have to get a hold of his owners and get back to us, because they can't give out info. I think that's dumb. Haha so we took Buddy back to the car, where I got him to drink some water and calm down, and we sat in the car and
waited for a phone call. For about an hour and a half we were getting calls asking specifics on what he looked like and where he was injured. We finally were told that UP THE STREET was where the owner had just been at a vet clinic looking for her dog, so we were told to meet here there. By this time, my shirt had soaked up most of his blood, but I didn't care in the least bit. :P We went to the clinic and waited a little bit and the lady and her son showed up. She was absolutely Hysterical. She started crying, sat down, and wouldn't talk. I just sat there and held Buddy, who was wagging his tail uncontrollably. We finally calmed her down and let her hold him. Her 6 year old son was so cute about it. He walked in and yelled "BUDDY!"
And then sat on the floor and told us a story about how Buddy got out on their way to school. I washed the blood off my arms in the back of the clinic and talked to Buddy's owner for a little while, then we left. We were late for a dinner apt, so we had no time to go back to the apartment to change, so we went to the restaurant, me covered in blood, and met the man there. I ate dinner, with my backpack covering my side, and a napkin hanging out of my pocket.
It was the best day ever. :)
I miss Buddy! Here are some pictures:

One month Y'all!

Hi Y'all
It is so nice to hear all about how everything is back home :) It is weird to think that it has already been just over a month since I entered the MTC! The time is flying by! Thank you for updating me on how Sawyer is; I have missed him so much that I don't even believe it! Can you send him to me? I think they make boxes that big..? :) Hahaha

I am great Momma. :) I don't have to be someone else here. I can be myself. I feel the spirit the strongest when I am being myself. :)

Who is Savannah's teacher? It's kinda funny, because Elder Sumner and I just taught our most Golden investigator about the signs of the second coming just the other day! :P We are baptizing her on the 24th, Elder Sumner is doing the baptism and I am confirming her that Sunday :) I am so excited for her! 

Yes I got the cookbook and the digital frame  :) It is in my bag and I am going to take it shopping so I can eat some real food :P Tell grandma & grandpa thank you for me and that I love them :) The frame is fantastic! I don't think I’ve made it through all the pictures yet though! I love it! There are so many stories to tell behind them as well! Keep sending more so I can update it when there are more for you to send. And maybe send a USB drive too..? That's nice to have out here.

It rained super hard for two days, but my shoes did just fine. :) Elder Sumner loved the tie y'all sent for him. haha he wore it the next day :) He gave me this hideous tie that he called a "Rain tie". Apparently, all missionaries have a tie that it just ugly that they wear when it rains. For fun and so it won't matter if it gets ruined. :P

Alec got a Wiener dog!!!!! I am so jealous!! I've always wanted one! You have to send me a picture! Tell the family that I love them all! And that I miss everyone!

We have been having a lot of luck this week! We went knocking and met a couple new people, J*** is a strict Southern Baptist, but he was interested in the things we were saying, and how similar our beliefs were, so we placed a Book of Mormon and he asked us to come back in two weeks so we could teach him! We also met a young man named D*****. He was really cool. He is Baptist as well, but he had a lot of questions about what we believed, and when we sat down to meet with him, he had more questions than we thought. But the spirit was so strong with us, and every answer came straight to us. :) It was amazing! Being the mouthpiece for the Holy Spirit is something everyone should desire! Truly unforgettable. And it happens all the time. As well as spiritual promptings, you'll see someone on the street, and it'll be like you were just hit by a truck! GO TALK TO THEM! And you'd better listen, because there is a reason we need to talk to that person, right then, right there. :) It doesn't always turn out that they want to talk to us, but we give them a passalong card, tell them a little about us and about Mormon.org, and they go on their way. The rest is Gods hand.
We just help open that door so the spirit can guide that person. :)

When Sawyer gets home and Savannah wakes up, and whenever Alec is there. Hug them all for me and let them all know how much I love them and miss them!

Keep praying for me!!! :)
Love Y'all!!!
Elder Sunshine! :)

Four generation photo!

From left to right.

Elder Cardon, Elder Welty, Elder Sumner, Me. 

Adventures in haircutting...

Hello Family!
Everything is going great! I am falling more and more in love with this mission the longer I am here! Five days and it will be one month down! These two years are going to fly by! No doubt!

I almost forgot that this is the last camp week for them! How is camp going?? Tell SS that he needs to write me a super descriptive letter about what's been going on this summer up there. I really do miss the mountains!

I have been getting your letters, and I am loving each and every one of them! But I think when I write one, I send it off, and get one like the next day. So I think we have like a two letter chain going on :P  Send me lots of letters though! I just got one from Savannah Saturday and Alec and you and dad Friday. I have been getting some from aunt Dawn, and Teya too! I love hearing from everyone! I have been told I'm not allowed to give my direct address. That's a big no no out here. Idk why, but they've included that in like every meeting and conference call we've been a part of.

This week has been pretty good, our whole apartment got sick three or four days ago, and so we've kind been laying low and staying home since then, but that has pretty much blown over enough to where we were able to go visit some families yesterday :)

The ward I am in, there is probably 30 people in sacrament meeting. We have very little members in our area. The other elders have a ton! But everyone is very nice to us :) Southern hospitality is something I will miss after the best two years! The people are just so great, they love having us over, and they love teasing us about being from Utah. Most of the elders are from Utah haha. My comp is from Provo, Elder Welty is from Layton, a couple from Cache Valley and some from Cedar City.
Two wards meet in our bldg. We go to our meetings and then we head back to the apartment to study for a couple of hours, then we eat and go out proselyting ( or proselytizing as Elder Sumner says)
My Training lasts 12 weeks :P We have a book called "Your first 12 weeks" So I'll be with him for 2 transfers. Hahaha :)  Missionary work is amazing! I love it! I'm learning so much from Elder Sumner and he says I'm doing really well. I am starting to take the lead in most of the lessons, so that's good. I was nervous at first, because I didn't think I knew enough to teach a full lesson, but personal study and studying preach my gospel has helped me with that immensely!
The last package I got....was..my ties? I think. Yeah, And I got Savannah's letter about mill hollow, Please tell her that I loved it :)

Sawyer said he was going to send me some music, and I wrote him a letter about what I can listen to. Piano guys are very sought after here, but we only have like half of a cd on his mp3 player, so send those. and basically anything that doesn't take my mind away from the spirit is the guideline. :) Also, I left all my frisbee golf discs at home, you tell Sawyer and Kenny that they had better get used while I'm gone!

Elder Sumner is very good to me, we get along really well. He says I'm a pretty good trainee too :P Apartment life is good, just like a bigger tent at camp :P only with A/C :)
Also, this apartment doesn't do the barber shop. Just clippers. Soooo... this is my first haircut!

It was going great, then.....

I found out how crucial it is that when you think you have a size 5

clipper comb...double check...because a 2 sometimes looks like a 5....

Yeah, it wasn't that bad :P Also it made the whole apartment laugh

reeeaaallly hard. Apparently, they've all been there. haha

It's already almost back :P My hair grows fast. A very humbling experience though ;)

Hair grows back, and I'm not trying to impress anyone.

Elder Barker and Elder Sumner. 

Cyndi~ Joel has ALWAYS wanted to cut his own hair. I asked him why they don't go to a barbershop, his answer-"Because that wastes P-day time!" -Elder Sumner :P