Thanksgiving and a little Homesick!

11/28/16

HEY MOM!!! 

So Happy Thanksgiving!! We had a great Thanksgiving with the Thomson Family they are great and we had a lot of yummy food :) I got a little homesick that night and cried for a bit before falling asleep. I'm not sure why I got homesick, probably just remembering being with family this same time last year. I'm SO glad I only have to endure one holiday season on my mission, It's really difficult. 

On Wednesday we visited Sister Norris and she has a 2 year old named Olivia and Olivia has this baby doll that is scary real, i will attach a picture, but it looks like a real baby so Sister Smith and I just had to hold it :) 

On Friday we had dinner with the Brody Family and they are awesome, they have a fifteen year old daughter named Bronwyn who reminds me a lot of Miranda, in the fact that she doesn't really like physical touch especially hugs of any kind. So as a punishment they would set an amount of time that she would have to hug them. And if she didn't do as she was told the first time they would continue to add time until it got to a family group hug :) I suggest doing that with Miranda, see what happens :) 

So we had exchanges this week, which is where two companionships exchange companions for the day. It's super fun and we get to know other sisters in the Zone. 

YUP... I think that's it :) 

Lots of Love, 

Sister Sanofsky

1. Picture I drew for Olivia, It's her and Anna and Elsa :) 

2. LOOK a BABY

3. It's fake!! 

ASKING FOR HELP - NOT AS EASY AS IT SOUNDS!

11/21/16

HEY MOM!

Okay so this past Saturday we attended a funeral for an older lady in the ward who hadn't been able to attend much the past few years because of cancer and other health problems. But she pasted away and the funeral was very well done, not a ton a people there but it was still very good. I don't know if I told you this but about a month ago, we went to another funeral for a young girl who was 21 and died of an asthma attack. She wasn't really active in the church and there were a ton of people there both members who knew her when she was younger and her friends who knew her recently. Both were very sad and at the same time full of hope, because at both funerals the plan of salvation was mentioned and emphasis was made on the life that both of them had lived. In both there was also the comment to look at your own lives and what you have done and how you can make your life better, in memory of the ones you have lost. All very emotional but I realized that no matter who you are, when you die, or what life you have lived the Plan of Salvation is still the same and we will still be able to see our loved ones again.

So last week, Saturday, we (Sister Smith and I) where asked by a member of the bishopric to speak in sacrament meeting this past Sunday. My topic was "Finding answers to your own gospel questions" So long story short I could not come up with anything and it was super stressful and so it's the night before and I am asking Sister Smith what she thinks and she tells me I should pray about it since I want to receive an answer to my question. And me and my prideful self are like "NO I don't wanna" when the rational part of my brain is like, "that's a good idea and could really help this process along." so after going back and forth for a good hour I FINALLY got on my knees and said a prayer. And after that the words came easily and I was able to finish my talk that night. Fast forward to yesterday morning when we are giving our talks in sacrament and I use some of the scriptures from the talk that I had written but all in all I didn't really use my notes at all. It's really cool and really frustrating at the same time. Cool because I know that it was by the spirit because I can't even remember what I said, but frustrating because I can't remember what I said. Oh well at least I made some people cry and I could definitely feel the spirit while Sister Smith and I were speaking. 

Okay so Wednesday was 70 degrees and then Thursday morning it dropped to 30 and started snowing!!!!!!!!!! It's gone now but it was so COLD!!! I stand by my statement that I do not like snow :( 

Nothing much else has happened this week, and since this week will be a holiday week we will be doing a lot of service. Since people don't really like it when we knock on there doors and they are trying to spend time with family and have Thanksgiving dinner :) 

LOVE YOU LOTS, 

Sister Sanofsky :)

COMP FEELING BETTER / LESS ACTIVE WORK IS HARD

11/14/16

HEY MOM!!!! 

I got your letter! We went home last Monday and it was sitting in the mailbox, but I got it!!! 

And Sister Smith is feeling a lot better. It's been great, and I haven't gotten sick yet and probably wont get sick, at least not by her.

Things in Denver are good. It still hasn't clicked in my head that the temple is fifteen minutes away. People talk about going to the temple and I think "Oh, you are going to be gone all day. Stuck in the car for 6 hours" But it's really not and I just can't wrap my brain around that! :P 

SO about our week, the mission has shifted focus to helping the ward and reactivating less active members. So we have been visiting a lot of less active members this past week. It's interesting the different responses that we get, some are "we don't want anything to do with the church, not interested" or they invite us in and tell us how much they love missionaries. It's like they consider themselves Mormon but don't come to church. Which when we teach them is frustrating because they, for some reason, aren't willing to admit to themselves that they aren't actually doing what they are suppose to. 

Also is Miranda doing one of the BYU softball camps this coming summer? I was talking with a member a couple nights ago and one of their daughters wanted to play softball at BYU, and he said the most important thing you could do is go to the camp, because BYU doesn't really do the whole recruiting thing because of the honor code and standards that you have to uphold. They just let players come to them. Anyway, yeah...just so you know. ;) 

But yeah that's all for this week :)

Love you Lots, 

Sister Sanofsky

ARE YOU THERE? AND ARE YOU SEEING WHAT I'M SEEING? SWEET!!!

11/7/16

So I haven't heard from you in awhile, starting to think you don't love me????

please see Alma 60:6

In other news, I forgot to tell you last week, but we got transfer news this past Saturday, I can't believe it's already been six weeks, it has flown by SO fast, it's crazy! But anyway, we got transfer news..and...I'm staying, in Bear Creek, with Sister Smith. YAY!!!! 

Hey I got a letter from Miranda! It was crazy, I opened the mail box and it was weird in the first place, because I don't usually get letters, then I saw the handwriting, and I thought 'that kind of looks like Miranda's handwriting, weird.' And then it turned out it was from her and that she's SUPER serious about serving a mission! That's AWESOME!!!! So I wrote a LONG reply pretty quickly and dropped it in the mail Thursday, I think. So it should be there soon. 

Speaking of letters, did you ever get the letter I sent awhile ago with the pictures of all of us and of Cole at his baptism and the short letter I sent with? Just wondering. 

Also, is there snow yet in Wisconsin?! We haven't gotten snow yet for the past month or so, it's been in the low 60s, sometimes high 60s, super sunny and not a snowflake in sight. The people don't really like it right now because they want to go skiing and it's not even cold enough in the mountains for them to make snow. But as missionaries it's GREAT for tracting! :) 

So I may have said this in my last letter but last Saturday Sister Smith had to go to Urgent Care (so I totally didn't know that these were a thing, are they in Wisconsin too?) and they said she had bronchitis. So we had to stay inside because Sister Smith was REALLY sick and that didn't get over till about Friday evening. She is still coughing and gets tired easily but she is on the mend and we were able to work Saturday and Sunday. We were able to talk to people, although no new investigators as of yet.

Also did you have Regional Conference yesterday, where Elder Rasband spoke and there was a lot of talk about temples? If so we were watching the same thing at the same time!!! SWEET!!!! 

Yup so I think that's everything. This week has been uneventful, but I'm sure I will have more to tell next week.

Lots of Love, 

Sister Sanofsky

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

10/31/16

Hey Mom, 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!! 

So the first part of this week was AMAZING, we were able to contact a lot of less-actives and we found a family of four to teach!!!! YAY!!!!! Her name is Kaylee and she is a single mom with three teenage daughters. We have a return appointment with them tomorrow! 

So then most of this week Sister Smith has been really sick so we went to the doctor on Saturday and it turns out that she has Bronchitis :P so she's on medication that makes her really sleepy and she is really tired and so we haven't been able to do much but that is okay because a plus side to all of this is that the members are being really nice to us. We can definitely feel the love!!! It's AMAZING!!!!! 

So yeah I lot of catching up on paper work and things, just trying to keep busy. :) Other than that not much going on, what about you?

Lots of Love, 

Sister Sanofsky

Maddie Learns a Lesson! (and I have to say Wow!! I'm so impressed by her)

10/24/16

HEY MOM!!!!! 

FIRST: Thank you SO much for the package, it was SO much fun to open! And the salsa didn't break in transit!! YAY!!!!!! And thank you for the gift cards, you didn't need to but they are greatly appreciated :) And you'll be happy to know I've already decorated our apartment, Thank you!!! :) LOVE YOU SO MUCH. (I brag about you all the time to my companions, they all know how amazingly wonderful you are!) I Love You!!!!!

FYI: Sister Smith and I were both wearing jeans/pants because we were going around that day raking people's leaves and we didn't have dinner that night and we were wondering what we were going to do, when Sister Harper opens the door and said because we raked her leaves the least she could do was feed us :) So we helped bake treats and make dinner, it was DELICIOUS!!!! 

So yeah...I have been thinking a lot about school. Well not a lot, a lot but it just kind of kept coming up, So I was really adamant that I would not go back to BYU-Idaho, my fear was that I didn't want to place myself back in that same environment only to get the same results. At fist with Sister Davis I wanted to go to a Washington school, maybe stay with her or family or something but then that really didn't feel right so then I thought, okay what about a Wisconsin school, you know instate tuition and all. That idea was immediately shut down, I know they are good schools but it felt like I was taking a step down. I don't know but the only way I may consider UW schools is for my graduate program. (UW Milwaukee and Madison have #8 and #9 in the top 10 for the Library Sciences Graduate Program that I want, Boston is #1 :) ) anyway, then I'm like, okay I need a church oriented (sort of) school that is not BYU. So then I was thinking Snow or maybe Southern Virginia, or even UVU. After much prayer and fasting (hehehe I sound like the scriptures) :) my answer was basically 'you know where you need to be' and I thought, 'Are you SERIOUS, do you want me to fail! AGAIN!!!' I wasn't very happy. But like I said, I've learned a lot on my mission and it FINALLY hit me. BYU-Idaho is perfect, it was perfect when I first went and it is still the perfect school for me. The thing was that I just wasn't ready yet. And that ultimately if I hadn't of gotten the results that I did I wouldn't be here. I would not have given a mission a second thought, it was not in my plans until it was one of my only options. The Lord knows me and He knows what will make me the most happy and now I finally am willing to accept that the mission has changed me, ALREADY!! I was thinking all the variables were the same but they're not! it is the same school, same major, same campus, same honor code, but it's not the same ME!! I'M NOT THE SAME!! :D So that's were I will go and now I know how to talk to Him and I know He will be there with me every step of the way, I just have to let Him. 

Anyway that's all :) 

LOVE YOU, 

Sister Sanofsky

Fort Collins has a New Temple:)!

10/17/16

Hey Mom, 

Oh! I'm a fire pincher! Hehehe you know when you have an open flame, on a candle or something, and you lick your fingers and put it out? I did that!! It was so cool, and scary :) Anyway yeah...what missionaries do for fun :) 

Fyi...If anyone wants to send me anything and wants to know what i want, say...gift cards!!! :) Specifically to Michaels, King Soopers, Walgreens (for pictures) and Starbucks (not for coffee, I swear :) just hot chocolate, it's going to get cold pretty soon) 

So Yesterday was...Your BIRTHDAY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! And it was also the Fort Collins Colorado Temple Dedication. So Backtracking a bit, Saturday night was the Cultural Celebration, that was really cute and super fun. I kind of went in with high expectations, and so I had to adjust those about ten minutes in :) but it was really good. And then the dedication on Sunday. President Uchtdorf was presiding and offered the dedicatory prayer. There was a choir and speakers, who all in some way or another made me really want to go to the temple :( and I can't! although if I stay Metro Side another transfer I'll be able to go! (missionaries go, once every other transfer) They talked about pitching your tents toward the temple and ultimately that means directing our families towards eternal life. Because it is in these sacred temples that we receive ALL of the covenants and ordinances in order for us to receive eternal life in our Father's Kingdom. To prepare ourselves to make promises regarding the higher law we have been given is something we should readily strive for. "It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance" (D&C 131:6) and that "The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth" (D&C 93:36) so in essence the more we know and learn the better prepared we will be to enter into the Kingdom of God. 

So I have been reading Jesus the Christ for the past two months or so, and I just have to say it is AMAZING! Best Book Ever!!! Anyway I was reading a couple days ago and it mentioned when Christ says 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect' and that always kind of confused me, and so many people have different interpretation, but James E Talmage says this "[This] cannot rationally be construed otherwise than as implying the possibility of such achievement. Plainly, however, man cannot become perfect in mortality in the sense in which God is perfect as a supremely glorified Being." so basically Christ, in the way that he said this statement, implies that it is achievable, but we can't expect to become a perfect supremely glorified Being when we are still mortal. He goes on to say "It is possible, though, for man to be perfect in his sphere in a sense analogous to that in which superior intelligences are perfect in their several spheres; yet the relative perfection of the lower is infinitely inferior to that of the higher." So both may be perfect but because of the difference in intelligence they are different kinds of perfect. Talmage gives a great example "A college student in his freshman or sophmore year may be perfect as a freshman or sophmore; his record may possibly be a hundred per cent on the scale of efficiency and achievement; yet the honors of the upper classman are beyond him, and the attainment of graduation is to him remote, but of assured possibility, if he do but continue faithful and devote to the end." Isn't that so cool! we cannot be expected to be perfect as a supreme glorified Being is perfect, but we can be perfect in our own spheres. And, like the college freshman, as we continue forward, as we continue progressing, we have the opportunity and likely possibility of achieving graduation. As we keep the commandments perfectly and when we mess up, we can sincerely repent, using the Atonement that has been given to us by our loving Heavenly Father and Elder Brother, and our sins WILL be forgiven, we can move forward, continuing our journey 'faithful and devoted to the end'. :) 

Like I said, BEST BOOK EVER!! 

LOVE YOU LOTS, 

Sister Sanofsky

P.S. In the Halloween package, if you haven't sent it yet, I have a request. Red Gold salsa (mild) from Woodmans, Colorado doesn't have the same, wonderful selection as Woodmans. :(