Heavenly Father is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! Keep up your hard work everyone!!!!! It is so amazing to see the changes in our investigators!!!!!!! It is so fun to teach, and I am learning so much! I love my Savior! Within our district (comprising of 6 elders and sister Cockrell and I) we have 7 individuals set with a baptismal date, 17 others close to being set, and a whole slew of other investigators! Hooray! The Lord is definitely blessing us to teach!!! Success is a blessing! We work so hard, and we just want to bring people closer to Christ. This is our daily goal. We pray over our investigators, I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about them, we fast over them, and we love them to pieces! Remember that there’s one way to know you are on the road to righteousness; it’s uphill. Keep battling and keep strong! No one is perfect! Through the mercy of God by sending his Son Jesus Christ to us, we can be brought back to live with them forever! Hooray! :) Remember to do the small things in life! They matter! Remember in the bible in Numbers, when the children of Israel where inflicted with a plague and all they had to do was simply look at the staff of Moses and they where healed and saved? Well many did not because it seemed to "simple", and they perished. The ones who obeyed the commandment and looked upon the staff where saved. Hum..... Read your scriptures, Go to Church, have family prayer, have personal daily prayer(s), take your neighbors trash cans from the road to their house, visit the elderly, tell your kids a quick I love you..... These may all seem like simple things, but they are not. They are building the Kingdom of God, and you! Remember Nephi Says in the Book of Mormon, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass..." This is how eternal life is gained. By doing the small and great things the Lord commands us. Yoke your burdens with Christ, He saves you from not only your sins, but of your pain and sorrows. Jesus literally saves us from everything. Remember that "Ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." Matthew 5:14. Heavenly Father has put you where you are for a reason, "Let your light so shine before men," Share your testimony often and sing praises onto God forever! :) Share of your talents, time, energy and heart and soul. These are the things the Lord Requires of us. These must be our personal sacrifices for being true believers of Christ. Isn't it wonderful that the Lord says if we loose our life for His sake, we shall find it?? Hum! Ah ha! Terrrrific! Great news DO WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO! SO this morning I made Strawberry Banana Cinnamon Cacao PANCAKES! YUM YUM YUM I thought the day couldn't get any better. Then I realized I was on a MISSION and it did! I also made a Goji Berry Pancake, and a Cayenne pancake!!!! haha So good! and funny! My companion thinks im nuts, but hey, she puts avocado in her hair to make it silky! haha! we both love each other! She leaves and ends her mission in 4 weeks! Well go to go! Love you! BYE!!!! :)

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Heavenly Father loves you and so do I! Will you be my valentine? So Sister Cockrell goes home in 5 weeks! I love her so much!! We always act so funny together, that people giggle. She and I work extremely hard (and need to work harder) for the Lord, yet we are still funny when we are in our apartment by ourselves! You know you love each other when you start beating each other up...right? HAHA I'll be getting in the car, and she'll push me! haha! And then I go and chase her around the church parking lot! We are there for each other when we need to talk, and we love to laugh. Sister Cockrell is amazingly strong, and is so dedicated to the Lord, She LOVES her Savior! Her testimony is so strong and it’s so beautiful. I want to cry when we teach lessons and she bears her testimony of Christ. It’s so awesome.

So I'm SO SAD I already have 2 months GONE of my mission life! I guess I have 16 more months! New investigators: .2 Japanese girls from Japan and they where contacted on the airplane from Japan to Las Vegas... guess who contacted them... A RM! A RETURNED MISSIONARY going straight home for the first time! Haha! So he rocks and he meets with us when we teach them! The singles ward is just so awesome. I love working with them! :) We also have an investigator from India, and she is 19 and is loving the gospel. Both her (Besey) and David, where at a baptism yesterday night, with us, to see what it was like.

We also are teaching a Muslim woman from India, and she has read the Book of Mormon many times. People are popping up out of everywhere! And we have another family we are teaching, and TONS of recent converts, and less actives, mission life is always FULL! We are helping a few families start family home evenings...so we are teaching those...and we have dinner appointments each night and share a spiritual message...and planning for the next day (each night) and zone conferences, and district meetings each Tuesday, and attending church activities to meet new people, and tracking, and praying......feeding our elders in our district because they ran out of food......THIS is what mission life is like!!!! On Sundays we are in meetings and in church from 8:30-5PM 2 wards! Everyone is so kind to us too! :)

I may not be swinging from jungle vines in Jamaica, but now that I have started my mission, I will totally be able to relate to Return Missionaries! We all go through many of the same things across the world, yet no mission is the same. I'm so excited to see where my brother Eric is called! YIPPIE!!!!!

Some yummy things I made this week: Curry cauliflower, coconut Asparagus, cumin coriander quinoa, black bean taco salad, and yesterday I made a coconut Thai cuisine pasta dish with 1 tea of Cayenne for 1 cup of noodles... spicy and delish!

"The Submission of one's will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God's Alter. The many other things he 'gives' are actually the things he has already given or loaned to us." Neal A. Maxwell

Remember that we grow closer to God through our extremities. Sacrifice unites us. Be willing to place your doubts, fears, and worries on the alter of Sacrifice. Give your life to the Lord. See where he takes you!!!! Only when we do this, "ye shall find it," (Your life!) Give 100% to the lord and "cleanse yourself from all ungodliness." If we do this, miracles will take place in our hearts and our lives will change for the ultimate better! Give 100% exact obedience, exceeding faith, heart, focus, and love to God! Give it all, even when you feel you have nothing left, and He will in return open the windows of Heaven to you! Our God, and our Savior Jesus Christ are AMAZING! Take the challenge to know your Savior this year like you never have before. "FEAST upon the words of Christ," follow His example, pour out your soul to him through prayer, and LIVE like you are THANKFUL for his tender mercies and miracles! TRUST Heavenly Father. It is those who believe, who trust. Never back down and fear men or worldly things. Jesus has overcome them all. Be good, and be happy and do all that the prophets have counseled! I promise the windows of Heaven will be opened up to you and that you will receive every needful thing you stand in need of! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Me Ke Aloha Pumehana! (With the warmth of my love!)


Sister Sprouse

"Well, one minute I am teaching a lesson in a mansion, and the next, sitting on the couch in a poor apartment with a family who has moved 28 times and are eating dinner on the floor in front of me. They gave me and my companion the couch to sit on for dinner. Their feet are black from the dirty floor they walk on. Yet, in their state, they are happy. They children are smiling with smudges on their faces. All 6 children and the single mother enjoying the company. You know why they are still happy and why I can see the Light of Christ in the Mother's Eyes? It’s because she is faithful. It’s the only way she could be happy. When all else is at unrest, she goes to church and prays, and has family home evening with her children, home schools them, takes them to church, opens her home as shelter for her neighbor children, and delights in her Savior. She does the best she can. What else could seem bright and cheery, when you sit on the once white, but black floor, with a single light in the room, and dirty chairs but no table? Being thankful for what you have. As it says in 2nephi 31:20 "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the words of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

As President Thomas S. Monson says "Pray for your abilities to match the challenge. Not for the challenges to be easier and you then will be the miracle."

Be grateful for what you have. We are all enduring. But if we stay on the "straight and narrow" the ending will be worth it!!!"

My mission president told me “you radiate a spirit of goodness and love that is very contagious. The mission needs you, and so does the lord. Thank you for your great enthusiasm to do the work"

I MISS ya all and hope you are doing wonderful! You are ALL in my prayers! So, this week has been amazing! Coming out here, I was not to fond of Las Vegas, but now I am extremely thrilled to say "I LOVE MY MISSSSION!! ' Heavenly Father definitely blessed me by serving here! There are SO many people searching to know truth. That’s why Returned Missionaries always say there was no better job then serving a mission! They say that because it is AMAZING and so joyous to see people accept the gospel! You can literally see a light grow within their eyes. Not going to lie, Las Vegas is a Hard Core mission. But with hard core people willing to make hard core changes! It rocks! There's no gray here, either you are black or white!

About my area I am in: I live in a converted garage and live with the Andrews. They are so nice! They have a huge lemon tree in their backyard, so fresh lemons are always on the table! :) My companion and I now drive a Mazda 3. Cute little joy ride! Our "area" that we live in and are assigned to cover is only 2x2 miles, so if we do find people to teach, and they don't live by us, we have to pass them off to the Elders. Which is sad for us, but still a good thing!! When we teach an "investigator" (someone interested in the church) I feel like they are my child! Do you remember that wonderful Hispanic Woman who I got to meet in the Doctors office waiting lounge? She is taking the lessons! My child! Horray! Sister Cockrell and I got to teach her 2 times, and then passed her off to the Elders. Her home is beautiful! She is beautiful! She really loves what we teach her so I have no doubts she will want to be baptized!~ and not only her...her whole family! Look what good can do from opening your mouth??? I feel soo blessed!!!!!!!!!

Also, we have been teaching Roel, he is from the Philippians. His girlfriend is less active in the church, but she wants to come back with him. He is such a great guy! We had to pass him off too…..and we cried! He is SO cool, and he has already made So many changes! He realizes blessings come from God. Anyways, we brought along one of the elders we serve with who is also from the Philippians, to 2 of the lessons with him. (They both speak Tagalog). We watched a church movie with him in Tagalog and it was amazing!!! Such a cool experience..(His English is choppy, but still good). He invited us to his birthday and we had the best Filipino food!

We are meeting with less actives, and going tracking, and just spreading the great news about Jesus Christ! Yippee!!!! Missions have ups and downs. But of course they are mostly ups!!!!!! (The downs are having to wash dishes ha-ha! we eat a lot).

Speaking of food, the people out here are very diverse! so we are eating Filipino food, Indian food, Mexican, French, Asian, the whole yummy works! BUT when we eat dinner with a different ward family each night, they always stuff us full and WITH dessert! That’s why my body is going a little crazy. Now after this month I have put a note on our fridge that sister Cockrell and I both signed stating " I will eat dessert sparingly, and if given any, treat it like a disease!" Ha~! We got a HUGE chocolate cake this week donated to us, and 3 pies, 1-2 dozen cookies, 1 pint ice cream and that might be it...needless to say we donate them to the elders who LOVE US! HAHA! So we are definitely being fed, and the members sometimes give us the leftovers for dinner, or a bag of oranges or apples or bananas, so that is good! The Andrews leave us a bag of fruit on our doorstep each week! SO I don’t think all moths will be like this, but the Lord definitely delivered us! (Our budget is $137 each moth).

The church members are wonderful out here!!!! They are my new family! I have family in Las Vegas, and I can now proudly state that when I see the strip, I don’t say I want to burn it. There are good people all over. Just don’t live by the strip...naughty people and not a safe area (west side is much safer!) ;)

'Transfers' (every 6 weeks) are next week! We are getting 4 new sisters! We shall see what happens! In 2 transfer sister Cockrell leaves and we are getting 5 new sisters! Yikes! I might have to train! Oh, something else that is really cool, and why I know I am supposed to be here: I have connections with EVERYONE that we are teaching.

Maria (the Hispanic)- I needed Spanish help
Casey (recent convert) is a techie in his school...so was I
Burris Family (Less active and investigators) the dad hunts and so do I (he laughs and told all his friends he met a 'vegetarian hunter!' sorry!
Sis Rumel (ward member we visit) is totally into all the health stuff we do....

I love my savior and as Ammon (my hero) States "Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to His Holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever. (26:8) and vs 16 Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel. vs 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my god, for in his strength I can do all things, yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

Be strong everyone and "FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH" (1 Timothy 6:12)

Miracles are possible and I challenge you to have "Exceeding Faith." Exceeding does not merely believe, it knows. Give 100% exact obedience to the Savior and you can expect great miracles to happen. Remember, Success is a Blessing. We owe our whole lives to God, let us worship Him and praise His name and do his good works without complaint or guilt.


"The submission of one's will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on the alter. The many other things we "give" are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us." Neal a Maxwell