December 12, 2016 "So Long, Farewell. Adieu to yuh and yuh and yuh"

Well. Here is the email I never thought would come. This is super sad and surreal. It doesn't feel like I will be home this week. Nevertheless, it was a crazy week! As it was the week before I go home I had to take one thousand pictures so please excuse the overload. Or maybe I should say your welcome? only time will tell. 

I always send a thousand pictures of me with animals and there is no shortage of them this week.

We saw a cat. It was super friendly. Not as cool as "that cat" in Mount Vernon but a close second. I'm sure they know each other but I forgot to ask. sorry :/

So a few weeks ago a woman we visit said she had a billion old barbie dolls in her garage still in their packaging and asked us if we wanted some for Christmas. obviously I said yes before she even finished her sentence. She said she would get it to us later because they were going to take some work to get out of the garage so we went this week and guess who got to pick out her very own 90s barbie doll? You can probably guess that the person is me. I picked out a sweet one that lights up. She was born in 1995 just like me! "Rapping Ken" was my next choice though.

Our loot:

We put them to good use. Mine became an angel on our tree. Hark the Herald Angels sing amiright?? 

Breaking News:

It actually snowed this week. Like real snow. We got up in the morning and Sister Plank assumed we probably wouldn't go outside to exercise that morning but I was already in my snow getup so I dragged her out with me and ran to the elementary school where we made a snowman and had a snowball fight.

It was really awesome at first until President told all the missionaries that we couldn't drive all day. We had a fun day planned too so it was a real bummer. We spent the whole day freezing our butts off walking to all our appointments and stuff. As you can see in the picture it wasn't even that much snow so we totally could have driven but I'm not bitter though.

Found this poor girl for sale. They only wanted $75 so I almost splurged but thought that she would probably be better somewhere else. She's in my prayers.

A miracle that I am so grateful for this week was the Arlington nativity festival. I got super lucky to be able to be in Arlington both years they had it. I got to see a bunch of my favorite people from Camano, Stanwood, and Arlington wards. God is Good. 

Flahrity Family:

Sister Axthelm!!(from Mount Vernon):

The Johnsons:

When I was first in Camano ward and gave a talk in sacrament meeting. I said something and then made this face to the congregation and Sister Johnson tells me that all the kids quote me with the face now. I love them.

(Side note) Mary and Joseph showed up.

The other Johnson girls:

A mix of some cool laurels and then there's Matt: love these guys.

​And Sister Tolbert!:

We made some gingerbread houses this week. Sister Plank doesn't really like artsy fartsy stuff so you can maybe guess which one she made lol. Still love her though. 

For my last email I thought this kind of pathetic but sufficient second coming cloud would be a good way to say goodbye.

Goodbye Washington. Goodbye to the rain and the green and the weirdos. I love these weirdos so much.

 Words cannot describe my love for this place and these people. I will miss it with every part of me. There is no better decision I have made than to serve a mission. It has changed my life. I will forever be in debt to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to tend this little part of his vineyard for these eighteen months.

I will leave you all with my testimony:

I know that I am a child of God. He is my Father and I am his daughter. He hears my prayers and he answers them. I love him. I know that Jesus Christ is his son. He is the Christ that all the prophets have testified of. He is my Savior. He is my perfect example and he is a merciful being. I know he lives. I know that God, in his mercy, has given us his gospel to return to live with him again as eternal families. Through another prophet, Jesus Christ's full gospel has been restored.  I know that Joseph Smith is his Prophet. He saw God and Jesus Christ in a pillar of light as an answer to a sincere prayer. I know that everything good in my life is from God. He has been with me in every moment as his missionary. I am proud to be one of his disciples and to tell the world of His love and His Gospel. I know these things are true. In the Name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

Sister Krummenacher

Over and out

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December 5, 2016 "Let it Sleet, Let it Sleet, Let it Sleet"

Hey everyone. The big news of this week happened last night into this morning. It is snowing! (or its more sleet so its not as cool and it doesn't stick here because it's way too wet. Sad day. Still cool though! I'm praying that it will snow a whole bunch so we can play in it. pray for us.

Highlights of the week. This one is more of a low light actually. I went to the mailbox just like any other day and guess what happened again?? No mail. I'm not surprised though because I'm almost home but I laugh so hard because Sister Plank gets a thousand letters. I don't even look anymore lol. 

Here is a great picture of Sister Plank happily running off with a letter in hand. Congrats girl. Congrats.

​The District went out to eat after district meeting on Wednesday and the little asian woman who owned the restaurant wanted to take our picture to put it on the wall. We were so pumped. Check out Mongolian Grill in Arlington, Washington if you wanna see some spicy followers of Christ.

The Christmas season is in full effect and everyone's got some sweet decor all over the place. I love it. I call this one: "Bye Buddy! Hope you find your dad!"

Other than that, not much else happened this week. Let's see.. We had our ward Christmas party/ pajama brunch. I know what you all are wondering.. did I wear my pajamas? No. No I did not. Not allowed. No fun for the missionaries. We did get to sing Christmas songs with everyone and every table got a different day of Christmas in the 12 days of Christmas song. Our table of course had " and a partridge in a pear tree". We got to sing it the whole stinkin song. Lucky us!

We also taught the lesson to all the Young Women this week and it was super fun. We just had them practice with us a bunch of different ways they could share the gospel with their friends. It was a good lesson for this time of year because it's exactly what Christ did his whole life, share the gospel and teach the gospel to everyone. I hope I can help others to feel of His love as I share His message. 

We got to watch the Christmas Devotional last night and I love the messages that were shared. My favorite was Elder Eyering's talk. I love his testimony of the Savior. I love Christmas! I love my Savior! I know he lives! Have a great Christmas-y week! I love you!!

Love,

Sister Krummenacher

November 28, 2016 "From One Stop Pic to Another"

Heyyy

Some things that happened this week:

Sister Moody left us. We took one last stoop pic together before we headed out to transfers on Tuesday. 

Goodbye cell block 8

#StanhoodDreamTeam2k16... Till' we meet again..

Look what brats became companions in our last transfer.. Sister Packer, my favorite MTC comp and Sister Moody. They were companions at the beginning of their missions and now I'm so mad that they are comps again because nobody should get that lucky on their mission. Still love them though. I'll probably see them both because I'm going home with Sister Packer. Lucky me. 

Weirdly enough, this was my first transfers where it was raining! The Lord must love the missionaries and their stuff to make sure it doesn't get destroyed. We called all the surrounding sisters over for a pic. I love them.  

​Now it's Sister P and I takin on Stanhood on our own and we are killin' it! We had a great week of teaching. It seamed like we saw a billion people. We also found some really awesome new investigators. (Its a family too!) There's a miracle with that. All week we have been praying and praying to find new investigators and we still hadn't found anyone by Saturday night and we were losing steam. I felt a prompting to go to a less- active's house in the last hour of the night. It didn't really make sense to me because they lived far away and we had visited them once before and a really grumpy old man answered the door and said that nobody was home then. Despite the fact that it sounded like the worst thing we could be doing, we drove there anyway. We knocked on the door and the less-active dad answered and invited us in! They are a young family with 4 kids and the wife is not a member. They had been living there for 2 years but nobody had ever visited them. We sat with them, got to know them, and shared the message of the restoration. The wife was super engaged in it and asked us a bunch of awesome questions. We invited them to take the lessons as a family and they said yes! We are super excited about them.

As for Thanksgiving, The Flahrity family had us over and we played duck duck goose and some other games with the little girls. They braided my hair and we had a great time. The food was good too. Sadly, I'm a punk and I didn't get any pictures of actual Thanksgiving but it was definitely a good time.

It's also a good time taking stoop pics with my baby. I love Sister Plank. She's hilarious. She's got the funniest Kentucky accent and weird words she uses. She calls a neighborhood a "holler". (it was super windy and it made my hair look like a Garnier Fructis commercial)

 Well, I love ya'll a whole lot. I hope you have a great week! If you haven't seen the new Christmas video on Mormon.org, please go watch it asap! Light the world!

Love,

Sister Stoopenacher

November 21, 2016 "Tears 4 Years"

We got some really depressing and lame news a second ago and I'm gonna cry. Sister Moody is getting transferred and is gettin' booted tomorrow. I'm just mad and we are just so confused but whatever happens is probably the best. It just sucks big time. What is even worse is that we thought for sure that we would be together for my last transfer and we had our District Leader, Elder Semadeni, draw us a sweet pic for our planners. It's the Stanhood dream team. hahaha I love it so much. Now when I look at it every day I'm just gonna cry. Wish me luck. 

Pic from left to right: Sis Plank, Sis K, Sis Moody.

In other sad news, Elder Harmon, our beloved Zone Leader died this week. He will be home today with those who loved him most. He will be dearly missed. Pray for our zone in mourning. 

Not everything was so sad this week. We had a fun Family Home evening and made our own Titles of Liberty like the legend, Moroni! These girls are the cutest and we will be having Thanksgiving dinner with them. I'm so happy. 

I also got a cool face mask. kiss those blemishes goodbye. It actually just burned my face off. Worth it.

This week was kinda slow. Sister Moody has been pukey pukey all week so she needed some rest and relaxation. We did see miracles though! Every time we left the apartment and went out, Sister Moody got pukey again but when we were in lessons, her nausea went away so that we could teach. It's crazy how that happens but I know it was Heavenly Father pulling her through. When I have been sick, or super depressed about something or just not myself, the Lord makes up the difference and he keeps me okay for those very important 30 minutes we are teaching someone about his gospel. He knows us. He knows when we are pukey pukey. He knows when we are trying our best and he always makes up for what we can't do on our own. I love him so much. 

I'm sorry again that this week was so lame but I'm sure these next few weeks will be pretty crazy. Time is tickin' and so is an emotional breakdown. Being a missionary is the biggest emotional roller coaster in the world. I'm getting to the finale of the ride where there's a loop and a fat drop that makes your stomach fly out of your mouth. Pray for Sister Plank and I.

I love you and hope your Thanksgiving days are full of gratitude for everything we have been given by "our loving Heavenly Father who made all of this for us. I know he loves us and I know he wants us to seek the good out of everything." (Seeking What's Good -Ejay Mulitalo)  <get it or regret it.

Love,

Sister Krummenacher

November 15, 2016 "The Week Where Everything Happened"

Hey everyone! It feels like it's been the fastest week ever but then I think about all the things we did and it feels like it was 1000 years rolled into a single week. 

To start the week off, I had the exchange of a lifetime with Sister Leininger and Moody back in good ole Mount Vernon! We had a lesson with my bff Rodger Dodger and got to see a bunch of the ward members that I love. God is the best. Blessings on blessings.

#topbunswag

The STLs ended up sleeping over Tuesday night because they were instructing at our zone meeting the next day. \we carpool with Camano every Wednesday so we ended up having 7 sisters in our apartment made for 2. It was a BLAST. I love all of them.

ZONE MEETING. This was actually our last zone meeting forever because Salt Lake decided that we don't need zone meetings anymore. Instead we will be having interviews and Zone conferences every transfer. Im actually pretty pumped. I love my zone though so Im also pretty bummed. 

I got WRECKED this week. I balled too hard working out in the morning and slid on some rocks. One decided to slip into my knee. lol. The bruise looks like a galaxy now. Pretty cool. Sorry for the explicit photo. 

GEORGE FINISHED READING THE BOOK OF MORMON!! He is seriously amazing. He started reading it a month and a half ago and finished it on Friday. He's my current Book of Mormon hero. 

Most exciting news of the week is probably Grayson's baptism! I love this kid so much and this whole family. They are the greatest. Grayson was so excited (the pic is deceiving).  

His mom ordered the coolest cake of all time and we partied with Lasagna after.

She also made this candy cake for all the kids. She is my favorite person ever. 

​To end this awesome week, we went to the temple today! It's been way too long! I cannot even describe my love for the temple and for the peace and comfort I get within it. 17 months without it has been a long long time. I didn't realize how much I missed it until today. 

 The Camano Sisters and Spanish Elders came with us. Party in the temple cafeteria amiright?? Jello and tapioca pudding flyin' everywhere. 

It looks like I will be spending the rest of my mission here in Stanhood with Sister Moody and Plank. Could it get any better than that? Im pretty sure its the best companionship in the whole mission. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!! Not sure what we will be doing but Im sure there will be Turkey and stuffing. Wish us luck. Love you all!! 

Love,

Sister Krummenlasagna

November 7, 2016, "Baptisms and Bummers"

Sorry this email will be kinda lame but whatevs. Hey guys, nice to see ya. here's whats hip hop happenin':

Halloween!! We carved pumpkins with the district on Monday and just had the most chill day ever. It was super great. I love my zone.

We had to be in by 6 that night so we just watched movies about Jesus on our teeny tiny little dvd player. We thought it was so funny. We felt like we were watching movies on an Iphone.

Spooky stuff happened that night. We tried to change the spot we were at on the movie and this screen just popped up out of nowhere. We all just sat there in silence for a second and then started screaming bloody murder. Must be a glitch or something because we were able to duplicate it a couple times to get a picture. Still freaky though..

The Spanish Elders are helping us build a fence that is taking a year and a half. They are seriously saints for it because we have no clue how to build a fence. 

Goat fence holla

Just calling my mom

"Check Your Speed"

We had FHE with the Flharity family. They are the cutest little girls. We made Gospel of Jesus Christ Muffins- the most delicious muffins of all.

The highlight of my week was Ron and Sue's baptism! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!! I tried to sing at the baptism but I literally couldn't get a note out because they made me cry. It was a joke. Nothing has made me more happy than serving a mission and being a part of people's conversion to the gospel. I don't know how I got so lucky to be able to teach them. 

I am trying to memorize The Living Christ before Christmas and I have the first two paragraphs down! I think I'll type it out for you!

As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice. None other has had so profound an influence upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth. He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator of the earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). Though sinless, He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), yet was despised for it. His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow His example. He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He taught the truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come.

To be honest, I dont have much time left so I just copied and pasted that. Still good though. I love my savior and I know he lives. He is my greatest friend and companion.

I love you all!! Have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Krummenacher