Happy late Mother's Day all you Mama's!!

We had a good week last week. On Friday was Zone conference. We got to drive into Charleston, and it was truly lovely. Everything is sooo incredibly green here. And the Charleston Capital building is so cool! It was good to get "re-motivated" in our missionary efforts. The mission has been struggling with finding and teaching lessons with members present, but I am pumped and ready to work hard this week! On Saturday, we went tracting and it was such a pretty day! Sunny and breezy! We tracted one street, and it took us all morning! We talked to sooo many people and found a few potential investigators. I've found that my fear of talking to people has lessened, and I have really been trying hard to start teaching at the doorstep. Its kind of really fun! Ya meet them, and then start telling them about the restoration of the gospel! Everyone was so nice to us that day. It was a true blessing!

Also, last week, we walked to the library and talked to a lot of people. But on the way, we passed 3 ladies, and didn't talk to them (even though we felt like we needed to). So, I was kind of bummed about that, BUT the Lord blessed us, and ALL THREE were there on the way back, about an hour later!!! And we were able to talk to them and give them a card. How cool is that?

At Church yesterday, we had like 10 people come up and talk to us about their friends they want us to teach. BONUS!!! We have a lesson scheduled tonight with a boy named Tanner who is 11. His parents are both members, but he's never been baptized. Victory!!! We were so happy yesterday!

A member of the ward passed away last week, and we went to her funeral. Her name was Kay Ann. How weird is that. I did not like seeing that name on a funeral program!!! :) It was sad for all of her family, but a nice service. Before my mission, I had never been to a funeral before. Now I've been to 4! Crazy!!

PS next P-day is on TUESDAY the 17the because of transfers on the 18th! I can't believe the transfer is almost over!!!

Oh, also the ward had a party and auctioned of desserts for the YW to earn $ for girls camp, it was the most hilarious thing I have seen in a while!! The prices went so high so fast!! I think the most expensive thing was that a coconut cream pie sold for over $60!!! They raised over $500!! Everyone was laughing so hard the whole time!! I love the ward here, they are totally great.

We saw Matt this week, and all seems to be the same with him. We're working on strengthening his testimony of the gospel.

I love being a missionary. I can't wait to call home next week!!

The Church is True,

I love you!!!!

Love, Sister Kayla Gunnell

Easter

Saturday morning we ventured out to Redwings horse sanctuary, which is only about twenty minutes from our home. They had a fun easter egg hunt for the kids, a yummy breakfast, and we took a lovely tour of the sanctuary. It was awesome. They have over 90 equines, that have either been rescued, or neglected, or relocated. It was beautiful and the girls loved looking at the horses and donkeys and ponies. They were also tiny baby bunnies hopping around everywhere. I have decided that I'm going to volunteer at the sanctuary when I can, I'm pretty excited about it! Ava one the prize for finding the most easter eggs, she was very excited. After that we went into town to get some groceries for our Sunday dinner. I invited the missionaries over so I had to be a little fancy. We had ham, asparagus, rolls, cheesy potatoes and delish jello-ie cheesecake desert. They loved it so it was a success. And can I just say that I love looking at the produce we buy and seeing that it was grown in the next town. Everything tastes so much better here. I'm just sayin..

Ahhhh...I'm loving our new home. I love the beautiful area we live in. We went and explored the two local lakes the other day, and they were beautiful! We now wish we had brought our kayaks with us. I love how much family time we have been able to spend together. Stu works in cycles, he does nine days and then has four days off, so it's nice. Also his commute is only a five minute bike ride away. Here's a few photo's from our lake adventure...