Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd

Hello my dear family!

     So sorry this email is a day late. Yesterday our companionship got hit pretty hard with a stomach bug, but never fear! We're up and running again :)

     Transfer calls were this weekend, and Sister Russell and I are both staying in Carlsbad!

Easter on the mission might be my favorite holiday so far :) We were able to share the #Hallelujah message with so many people. I just love those videos! They bring the Spirit so fast, and so simply. I usually don't want to say anything after because I don't want to take away from the Spirit! We had a pretty cool Easter weekend. On Saturday we were out and about ALL DAY LONG. We were exhausted the next day, but it was so worth it! We took around the easter eggs that Mom sent in a package and we had a pretty cool experience. Sister Russell and I both felt strongly that we should take eggs to a certain members' home. They have six little kids and we just love them all to death. So, we pulled up to the house and they saw us! So, we tried to hurry over sneakily, but then a couple of the boys came outside so we said "We have a surprise for you! Go back inside!" So, they turned around right away and went back inside. We hid the eggs in the yard and then knocked on the door. They kids came out and we told them there were 12 eggs hidden in their yard. They were so excited! They searched and searched until they found them all. We didn't find out until later, but they hadn't been able to have an egg hunt that year. It was so special to be able to provide that for them :)

      I was studying yesterday about Christ and how He is the Good Shepherd, and I read a story from James E Faust about a lamb that he had when he was young. One night there was a thunderstorm and although he could hear his lamb bleating outside, because it was scared, he didn't want to go out into the cold, rainy night. The next morning, he found that a dog had heard his lamb too, and it had killed it. He was heartbroken, but he felt even worse when his father said, "Son, couldn't I trust you to take care of just one lamb?" 

        This hit me hard. As a missionary, I've had a few hard times when all I wanted was to be able to spend a Sunday at home with my family, like before, but then I've been reminded that I'm only here for a short time, and there are a whole lot of other people who are like that lamb, lost in the storm. So, we go out. We go out and we search and search until we find them, and then we bring them back home to the fold, to stay--safe and warm. I've enjoyed the light of the gospel for my entire life, it's a privilege to be able to bring it to others. 

I love you all so much! I hope you're as stoked for General Conference as I am! :D

 It's going to be so great.

Love y'all! Have a great week !

Love, Sister Tycksen

St Patrick's day!

Some members took us out for sushi :D

St Patricks Day

Green Jello for RS Activity - everyone LOVED it!

Ekder Minion--he is pretty chill!

Sushi for St. Patricks!

The wonders of the mission

Hello my dear family!

My, how the days fly by!

       This week was a little slow, but fast at the same time. How does that work???

On Monday we went out to the McCutcheon's ranch for a few hours. It was so fun! It was relaxing (well, there were three little boys running around) and the spirit that is in members' homes is amazing. That was the best part for me. 

        We had an investigator drop us Monday night. :( It was really sad, but Sister Russell and I had both been feeling like it was going to happen. He wouldn't keep his commitments and so he just wasn't progressing. She was pretty disheartened that night. She had so much hope for him.

The next morning, I felt motivation to do the work like never before. I strongly felt like we were going to find a new investigator that day. During companion study, Sister Russell shared with me an experience she had during personal study: she was praying about finding new investigators and she saw this house in her mind. It was white and it had a big tree out front. We laughed about it and were like "wouldn't that be crazy if...?"  So we went on our way. We were picking up trash in a field near our apartment when this guy (probably in his late 30s-40s) pulls over and asks us what we're doing. We said "We're picking up trash! We're missionaries and we love to do service." He pulled into a parking lot nearby and we got to talk to him for a little bit. He told us about his family and how they attended church and three of them had just been baptized. We asked if we could come share a message later that day, he said sure. So, we go to the street and we're walking down, talking to people, and I see a white house with a tree out front. We look up his address, and sure enough, it's his house. We were thunderstruck. We met his wife and two of his kids, but we haven't been able to share a message quite yet. I was amazed. Faith and obedience truly work wonders.

        And one more update, Lizeth's baptismal date has been pushed back a couple weeks. We want to make sure that we're not rushing her and that she truly does know that the gospel is true.

Also, I was a little sick this week. No worries, it's nothing serious, just stomach bug type things.

But the miracle is that despite the time we had to take for me to get better, the Lord more than made up for it on the days that we were out and about. :) He takes care of His missionaries.

I love you all and I hope you're having a great day!!

Love, Sister Tycksen

Green jello we made for a Relief Society dinner

Luck ain't got nothin' to do with it

Hello my dear family!!

        How are y'all adjusting to the time change? I just love that the daylight lasts longer. It's such a good feeling when it's 6 and the sun isn't even going down yet, and even more so in missionary work. Tracting in the dark is scary! :Z I'm grateful for longer days :)

       Let's see, this week I ate chorizo for the first time. It was good! Sister Russell and I actually bought some today at the store :) Also, we had interviews with President Heap. I had a concern that I wanted to talk about with him, but I didn't know how to introduce it into the conversation, and (I don't know how he does it) he started talking about the very thing I had trouble with! Interviews with the mission president are a little strange, because there are so many things that you want to talk about, (questions, concerns, etc. ) but his time is limited and the Spirit lets you know what is most important and needs to be addressed. I always leave interviews feeling like I didn't cover everything, but I feel like everything's okay. I guess that goes along with "Put the Lord first and everything will either fall into place or fall out of your life."

          We've been working with an investigator in the Spanish branch named Lizeth, and this week, she accepted the invitation to be baptized! Before the lesson on Friday (when this happened) we weren't too sure about how she was feeling about the Book of Mormon and the gospel and all that, but then during the lesson, she asked us to help her find a scripture that she had read earlier, and she told us about her experience with prayer. She is amazing! She has a new light in her eyes. Her mom sat in on the last half of the lesson too and Lizeth was kind of helping us teach! We are so excited for her :)

            I read something once that said "Missions are 98% hard work, tears, stress, anxiety, and all those things that we don't like, but 2%, 2% is pure joy. And somehow, that 2% makes it all worth it." I know that's true! And it can be applied to almost anything else in life too. Somehow, that 2% makes up all the difference. It reminds me of a scripture that talks about all of our losses and sufferings will be made up a hundred-fold, all we have to do is to endure faithfully to the end. This is hard, I'm learning that now more than ever, but it is possible. It's a whole lot more than just coincidence or luck. We are foreordained to succeed in life, and we've got the best coach and team backing us up. :) As children of a loving Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with so many things to help us, and there are so much more to come!

I love you all soo sooo much!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! and have a great week y'all! ;)
Love, Sister Tycksen

Note from mom:  I am so thankful for the amazing members of Carlsbad, New Mexico.  We have had members bring packages from Kristina and take a package back and others send pictures of them spending their pday with them.  Such a tender mercy!!  Thank you Carlsbad members!!

Spending p-day at the McCutcheon Ranch

Pday haircuts

Celebrating Sister Russells birthday with Sister McCutcheon

Releiving stress :) *last two photos thanks to the Russell's :)

A whole lot of nothing ;)

Hello my dear family!

       So, not a lot happened this week...but at the same time, EVERYTHING happened. We had exchanges and Zone training in Roswell on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was so good to be back there and to see everyone, or at least the scenery :) I have so many wonderful memories from my time there. We were able to stop by and see Paula and Larry. So great! They showed us their new "resident": a roadrunner that roosts on the side-view mirror of their truck! So funny! He's been doing it for a few weeks now, so it looks like he's there to stay. 

       After we got back from Roswell, I got sick :( So we were pretty much inside for Thursday and Friday. But, we had a lesson on Thursday that we really couldn't miss, so we went on splits with some members: I went to the Stewarts' house for a couple hours, just chillin on the couch ;) and Sister Russell went with Sister Standiford to the lesson. It went well! But it was so weird to be in a member's home without my companion. I had a sneak preview of what it will be like after the mission. Yikes! I don't think I'm ready for that!

       We had an investigator drop us yesterday :( He's done that to the missionaries before, and it's really frustrating because he is SO CLOSE but he can't see it himself. Liseth came to church yesterday! She's a Spanish investigator that we've been working with. She is so awesome!

We were able to go to the temple this week as well and I got to see Sister Harvey and Sister Matheson! That was really cool--it was exactly what I needed.

Really sorry y'all, but I'm running out of time! I hope you have a great week!

Love, Sister Tycksen

Road runner

Big Buddah

Our zone

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