"There are so many people in prison they could start a branch in there..." - Sister Gardner

Hey guys! 

Another week down in San Rafael! I love it here! A little background. Our ward is about 1,012 names and only about 60 are active. A couple weeks ago, Sister Gardner showed me this email Sister Free's dad wrote. It was how to become an asset to the bishop of the ward rather than a burden. It also introduced a new method on how to use the ward roster to find new people to teach. This is something he did on his mission and was very successful in and passed it on to Sister Free who gave it to sister Gardner, who showed it to me and the elders in our ward. We decided to give it a try. What did we have to lose? 

There was a binder started by missionaries before us that included the ward roster and notes about all the people they had met or talked to. There were notes on who was interested, who was not, who was less active, who lived in a part member family, who was active, who had moved, who had died...or Sister Gardner's personal favorite...in prison. It was a pretty impressive list. It was about six months old though. So me, Sister Gardner, and the Elders decided to go through the binder using Brother Free's advice. We got a new, updated ward roster with ages, birthdays, and email addresses. Then we said a prayer together and read scriptures about how the Lord feels about His lost sheep and the love and concern He has for them. Then we started down the list and started making notes on the people we knew a little about. We would put stars next to the names that we felt impressed to see or didn't have any information. Several hours, a few headaches, a handful of extra-strength Tylenol, a few Gatorade, and a night of no sleep because of excitement later, the binder of 1,012 names was redone. Now we have a list of about three hundred people we can go see and get information about. You're probably wondering what the purpose was of this. Well one, to clean up the ward list and save time trying to figure out what previous missionaries have already done. Two, to fill our area book with names of less-actives that need to be found and to fill in details. What they are like, what foods they like, who they are friends with, their favorite tv show. Everything. That way we can know how to teach them, who would be a good fellow shipper, etc. We are finding these things out about our members too at dinner and church. Three) referrals. A lot of our starred names are people who are part member families. Our goal is that while we are finding our missing sheep is to glean referrals from them or baptize the rest of the family. It took time, but it is going to help us be super effective with our weeks. Brother Free said once we start doing this, we will find that we are so so busy. Haha! The dream. 

I feel really good about this. It felt worth a try. We are excited to see the changes! 

Also, on fast Sunday during an hour of prayer, I made a list of goals for the area and for myself. Then I read the talk "What Lack I Yet?" And then I started a prayer with the intention of asking Him what I needed to change, and before I had even finished addressing Him, the answer came pretty clearly. I was surprised because it wasn't a direct answer, but I had the really strong impression that if I just work on this one change, everything else will be resolved. I started listing all the impressions that came to mind that I needed to do to carry out this change and when I had finished listing it, I realized everything that needed to do was 100% in my control. So cool. I'm excited to work on this goal. 

Thought of the week: If there was one thing that I would want any given person to know, it's how much potential they have. It sounds cheesy, and cliche, but it's true. Think of a time where you created something. You gathered the materials and as you did, you saw the beautiful potential of the creation to come.  You believed in that potential so much, that you actually made the effort to plan it out, and put energy into its creation. Think of the pride and the love that went into it. That thing you created didn't have to do anything to win your love. It didn't have to prove anything or say anything. You loved it simply because it was yours. Now, imagine as that creation begins to fulfill its purpose and potential. As it does what it's supposed to and fills the measure of its creation, your love for that thing blossoms and grows deeper and stronger than before....which is hard to imagine because that's a lot. As it continues to grow and glories you, its creator, think of how pleased you would feel. People would look at that creation and how it's fulfilling its purpose and say, "Wow. I can see (insert your name here) in that creation." Because your creation knows it's creator. 

That's how Heavenly Father feels about us. He knows every detail and every part of your very soul. How could He not? He saw the potential in your intelligence and He is in His perfect reasoning and wisdom saw that it was worth His time and energy to organize that intelligence into a spirit. And then, of all the relationships to that spirit He could have chosen, He called you His child. He saw the potential you had to become like Him, so much so He gave you an opportunity to choose to follow His Plan of Salvation. Which you did! Here you are! And you have the fullness of the gospel too. His guidebook back home. Thats what He sees in you. As you keep His commandments and do those things that draw you and others closer to Him, that love deepens. 

There is no question in my mind that God, our Heavenly Father, knows you and loves you. And I know you know that too. I also have no question in my mind that He will answer if you ask Him what He loves about you. Because He wants you to know. My companion was telling me about her sister and how she says that when you find out why Heavenly Father loves you, and what He loves about you, and you know with a certainty that it's true, the devil's hold on you is weakened immeasurably. 

My invitation to each of you this week is to ask Heavenly Father why He loves you :) I promise He will tell you. 

Love you all! 

Your happy missionary,

Sister Julander

"The Big Blue."..."What's it like?"... "Uh..big and...blue?"... "I knew it."

Hey guys!! So this week was kind of chillax because my companion was sick. So here are pictures and videos from, the week. Sorry, this isn't very formal. We played football on the beach this morning. I'm so drained from the sun and playing hard. Just know this is the happiest I've been in weeks!! I feel right at home in my ward. It feels like I'm back in Davis. The area is a struggle bus. It's super hard, but I'm up for a challenge. The elders who are serving in my ward are like little brothers. It's like having two Erics and Sister Gardner is literally the same personality as Lily, except an extrovert. She's great. She feels like a little sister.

Welcome to San Rafael!

Hey!

First week in San Rafael down! I feel like this area is bigger than my last three combined. Haha. It's crazy. It took me four nanoseconds to fall in love with this area. Also, my companion is a literal Disney Princess. She is probably the sweetest person I have ever met. Her name is Sister Gardner and she is from Twin Falls! My first Idaho
companion  #Idahomies

We share a ward with Elders. It's actually super fun. Nothing is ever awkward because there is always someone chatting. Dinners are the best. We have some great Elders too. They came out with Sister Gardner, so all three of them just hit their nine month mark! Party
for days.

We had a really cool experience on Saturday! We were walking down the road and this man gets out of his truck and he's walking funny and his eyes are a little glazed. Having just come from Fairfield, my first thought was, "Oop. He's drunk. Let's go." We we start walking a little faster. He calls out to us in Spanish and we kind of wave and tell him we don't speak Spanish. He started asking us more questions, and though I'm wary of this guy, I don't feel in danger. Suddenly he says, "Mormonas?" And we were like, "Si!" "Missionaras?" "Si!" We started talking to him in Spanglish because it turns out his English is pretty
good, just his comprehension is only about 70%. His name is Antonio and he told us he has been looking for a change in his life and his friend recently joined the Mormon church and moved his whole family to Utah. His friend told him that his life had been changed 100%. Antonio looked at us and said, "Is that true?" We promised him that this was the change he was looking for and that it was true. The Gospel will change your life. He knew the address of the church building. He actually told us the exact address and said he had always walked by and waved, but had never gone in. He wants to come next Sunday though. We gave him the Spanish Elders phone number on a Prince of Peace card and then showed him the video. When it got to the part where it showed the pictures of Christ and his titles, he would look at the screen, and then to the picture of Christ on the card in his hand, and then back to the screen. It was like we could see the wires in his mind connecting. It was so cool.

This week was mostly just getting to know the area. Super pumped to be here. I hope you guys have a great week!!

Sister Julander

Good Luck Elder Julander

Lovin' The Cali Weather

Hey Fam!

You've probably heard this from every missionary ever, but can we just talk about Conference? It was sooo good. I loved it. Every single talk. General Conference is definitely the Super Bowl weekend equivalent for missionaries (and members!) One thing I've grown an appreciation for while on my mission is the blessing we have of a living day prophet. Especially now that his health is declining and he can only speak for a few minutes. You know he chooses what he wants to say carefully, so it's important. I was touched that in those few minutes he chose to testify of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph
Smith's calling. I'm not going to let my head hit my pillow at night without making sure I have read out of the Book of Mormon.

I'm in love with California. The weather is beautiful! I walked out of my apartment this morning at 6:45 and it was light out and I didn't need a jacket. We've been in the 70s all week. Makes for perfect evenings and perfect mornings. I'll have to enjoy it now, because it won't last for long...

This week I went on exchanges with Hermana Derr! She came to my area and we had a blast! The weather was beautiful, so we walked through a neighborhood in our area called Green Valley. It's like the green country/vineyard part of our area. It's absolutely gorgeous and has been known to take the average visitor's breath away. Everyone was super friendly that night and we talked to some good people. We even found some people on our list including, a less-active we had been trying to track down for a few weeks. Here's a cool story!

Down in San Rafael, Sister Nelson and Sister Jeffery were working through the ward list to find out who was still in the area and who had moved. They came across Lisa's record, found she had moved, and had the record forwarded. Fast forward to me and Hermana Derr's exchange and we decide to stop in a new record we had received for Lisa. She let us right in and was super cool! She didn't feel at all awkward that the missionaries were there, and we learned a little of her story. I think if she has a friend, she would come to church!
That's our next project!

I told Sister Nelson who we found when we got back in our area, and she recognized the record! It was one she remembered sending just a few weeks ago before she came to Cordelia. After one year, Lisa has been found  it's like the Lord wants her back at church or
something. Haha, so cool.

We are still working with Deb. She is way into family history right now and spends her evenings looking up ancestors and seeing if their ordinances have been done. She wants to do their ordinances for them so bad, but she knows she needs to be baptized first. She is so close. Come one Deb, your ancestors are waiting! 

In other news, we have an exciting week ahead of us! We are going to go help the Military Relations couple tomorrow after district meeting! We are going to go on the Airforce base and make cotton candy for an event they are having! On Thursday we have interviews with President Wright, Friday we are going to Santa Rosa to get our new car 😏 and Saturday our bestest friend Sadie is getting baptized! She is the little seven year old in our we taught the lessons too  her parents wanted her to take the lessons before she got baptized and have a real experience and make the choice herself! Those were some of my favorite
lessons I've ever been apart of. Children are so wise. Sadie is super spunky and so cute. I would rather spend all day with Sadie instead of other adults. Hands down.

I hope you all had a great week! Remember what you learned in conference! Whether it was something the speakers said, or something the spirit taught you. The inspiration you received is your personal scripture! Record it. Ponder it. Treasure it.

Love you guys!!

Sister Julander

Tiny MTC

Hey guys!

This week was awesome! It went by so fast! We started the week in Vacaville to do exchanges with Sister Aiton and Sister Dean! We went with Sister Dean and stayed in Vacaville. She is so funny! I love working with Sister Dean. Sister Aiton is her follow-up trainer. I love greenies! They are the best. We had a lot of fun working in Vacaville. We taught a section in activity days. They had the coolest activity! There were like twelve to fifteen girls who came. They all got a big orange envelope with mission calls! A third of them got called to Rome, Italy, another third got called to the Belgium, Netherlands mission, and the remaining third got called to Paris, France. Their reactions to their mission calls were so genuine. It was
the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life. I tried to catch a picture one of the girls, but I only got the end of her reaction. It doesn't do it justice, but it's still cute.

After they got their mission calls, they got dressed up in skirts and got name tags in their proselyting language. Then they learned different phrases in their respective languages. We sang a verse of Called to Serve. Me and Sister Dean were in the corner like crying, haha! She is all fresh from the MTC and I was feeling all sentimental after just hitting my year mark. The feels were so real. Then we
taught them what missionaries are and what we do. They asked us questions and it was sooooo funny! This  one little girl was like, "If I got called to India, I would not be very thankful! I hate vegetables! I only like corn and green beans and tomatoes!" And the leaders were sitting in the back just dying of laughter.

That was probably the highlight of my week 

On Saturday we went over to the bishops house for dinner and then his wife and daughters invited us to stay to watch the women's conference! It was awesome and the conference was great  then we had huge brownie ice cream sundaes and it was the best.

We are so excited for conference! It's like the Super Bowl for missionaries. Remember to bring a question! We are so blessed to live in this dispensation and to learn from a living prophet. Having a prophet is a sign of our Heavenly Fathers love for us. Even after we have continually rejected them over the centuries, we have been blessed over and over again with a prophet. This dispensation is the most unique because we have the promise that the Gospel will never be taken from the earth again until the Savior returns! That's not small thing. #countyourblessings

As you listen to the prophet and other leaders, treasure their words. I promise you'll find answers to your questions!! I sustain my prophet!

Love you guys! Have a great week!

Sister Julander

General Authorities

Hey guys!

We had an awesome week this week! We got to hear from a member of the Seventy this week! His name is Elder Schwitzer and he works in the missionary department! He is the head physician for missionaries. He and his wife are probably the coolest people ever. Since we are in leadership, me and Sister Nelson got to go to a meeting with them on Monday and then we got to see them again in Zone Conference. Before zone conference, Sister Schwitzer took all of the sisters into another room and we had a sisters-only meeting and talked about spiritual gifts. It was soooo good!

For my year mark on Tuesday, all the sisters went out for Coldstones  it was so good! That's my first time on the mission getting Coldstones. It's been a while. We had a lot of fun.

We have been trying to get Sister Nelson acquainted with the area since we know I'm leaving for sure in four weeks. So I'm trying to give her all of the knowledge I have in my brain  I'm trying to think of other cool things that happened this week, but my brain is fried. Do y remember that crazy lady I told you about? Sister Fox? We sometimes go to dinner with the elders at her house. We had dinner there again. Sister Nelsons first time. It's always fun breaking in a new missionary at her house 

Oh! Funny story!

We were in Vacaville for appointments and we were driving back to Fairfield the back way which takes you passed these huge green fields. We were cruising at a comfortable 55 mph and I see my companion zero in on this group of cows. Before I understand what's happening, the window is being rolled down, my companions seatbelt is being loosened, and she proceeds to stick her head out the window and starts screaming at the cows at the top of her lungs.

"HEY COW! HEEEY COW!! HEEEEYYYY COOWW!!!"

Now, my companion is not a very loud person, but boy, she put those military jets at the nearby Airforce base to shame when it comes to disturbing the air molecules with sound waves. She popped her head back in and readjusted her wind disheveled hair and glasses and looked at me. I was literally dying in my seat it was so funny. I could
hardly see anything through my laughter. She just blinked and asked, "Have you never played that game?"

Enlighten me.

She explained that the way you play 'Hey Cow' is you scream "Hey cow!" And you get a point for every cow that looks at you. But if you get a horse to look at you, that's bad news bear. You lose all of your points. So watch out for those horses.

Sister Nelson scored a 15 by the end of our car ride.

I thought it was the funniest thing I had ever witnessed and we called Vacaville to tell them and they were like, "What, you've never played that game before? You're from Idaho!?"

Come on Sister Julander, get with it.

So now you know what game I will be playing on future car rides to Vacaville. Coincidentally the word 'vaca' means 'cow' in Spanish. Cowville  oh! And Sister Nelson knows the Brainwaites! She loves them  she served in Vacaville for six months.

Spiritual thought of the week.

We are learning about the life of Christ in our gospel principles class and we were talking about the scene in John 21 when the resurrected Savior comes back to call His apostles to His work again.
He asks Peter three times if he loves Him. Peter responds three times that he does love Him. Our GP teacher said that he believes that the Savior of course knew Peter loved Him, but gave him a chance to tell the Savior three times. Just a little earlier, Peter had denied him three times. Don't you think that would stick with someone? Wouldn't you think about how it was prophesied that you would deny Him three times, and then to your deepest anguish it happens? It's another lesson in how loving our Savior is and how He is always willing to give us another chance. He gave Peter a chance to prove himself for Peters own sake. Beautiful.

Love you guys! Have a great week!

Your happy missionary

Sister Julander

Transfers

Hey peeps!

We made it through the last week of the transfer! It was so fun to be in a trio again. Sister James is so funny and we all had a blast.

We got to go to the temple this week! We get to go every six months, so temple trips are precious. There is a member in Cordelia 1st ward who has a big passenger van, so she took our trio, and two sets of elders. It was so fun! After the session, we had a picnic lunch that she had packed for us. It was so sweet. Oakland was clear and sunny and we could even see the Golden Gate Bridge from the temple grounds!
Usually there's lots of smog or fog from the ocean, so we went on a good day 

It was fun working with both wards! We had our last eight-hours-of-meetings Sunday yesterday. I'm going to miss some of the people I've met over there, but at the same time I'm excited to be back in my area full-time. We have a lot of work to do.

We got transfer information on Saturday! I'll be staying in the area and Sister Nelson is goi to come to be my companion! She is super cool and she is going to be in her second to last transfer  she is the fourth companion I've been with in their last two transfers, so I know the drill  it's going to be so good! Sister Aiton is getting transferred to Vacaville to follow up train Sister Dean! We are the STLs over Vacaville so I will get to see her at the Vacaville meetings and for exchanges! She can run, but she can't hide #CantGetRidOfMe

On Saturday we got a text from one of our members and said that there was a less active sister who's car broke down. She wanted us to go over and check to see that she everything she needed. So we drove over and she wasn't home. We got back in the car and were about to leave when I suddenly felt like we needed to tract out her street. She lives in a small court with eight or so houses and wouldn't take very long to knock all the doors. Half of them looked empty. So we jumped out and started at the first house. He was nice, but uninterested. The second house was empty, and the third house sent us away pretty quickly. The rest of the houses looked empty. I felt like we needed to knock the door of the very last house on the street. A man answered. To be honest he looked a little rough and completely uninterested. We started to talk to him and at first he seemed like he was going to brush us off, but the more we talked, the more he softened. His name is Matt, and he told us about how he had a rough past, and how he had been in a car accident ten years ago and shouldn't be alive. After the accident, he cleaned up his life and now he has a little boy and he and his fiancé are getting married at the end of the year. He doesn't know why he is still here. He believes that Christ saved him, but nothing more than that. It was interesting to see him warm up throughout the conversation. He asked for a pamphlet and we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon with a Restoration pamphlet. He said the sisters could drop by later. It was so cool. Heavenly Father is so mindful of each one of His children. He knew Matt needed to talk to us and have a Book of Mormon. I'm so grateful for Heavenly Fathers perfect plan for each of us. You are never lost to Him.

I hope you all have a great week! Love you!

Your happy missionary,

Sister Julander

Three Comps, Two Areas, and One Week Left.....

Hey!

This week has been a blur. I guess time flies when you're having fun. I can only remember back to Thursday, so let's start there...

Thursday we had zone conference. Zone conference is the best. I love any opportunity we get to hear from President and Sister Wright. When we walked through the door, Elder Hatch, one the of APs, handed me an envelope that was exploding with glitter. He was like, "This is the infamous glitter letter. It's just dripping with glitter." That was an understatement. There was a small trail of glitter throughout the room. I can't imagine what the mission office looks like. Thank you for the glitter card!! You know who you are....

After zone conference, Sister VanderSteen left with President and Sister Wright. She went home on Friday, which happened to be her birthday. Sister James joined our companionship and our areas combined! We now have stewardship over all of Cordelia, half of Suisun City, and half of Fairfield. Our area is enormous. It has kept us super busy!I actually really love being in both wards. Plus being in a trio is awesome. #Unstoppable. 

We've been having a blast with Sister James. I love being so busy. We have seen so many miracles. This week we met a girl who wants to come back to young women's. She said she hasn't been active in church for a few years and she misses it. She also wants to go to AR classes to become sober. That's one of her goals. We showed her one of the 12 step videos and she just cried. She is so golden. 

President says that people who join the church between ages 15-25 are more likely to remain active, go through the temple, and produce generations of active Latter-day Saints. I love working with teenagers and young adults. I love learning from them. I know how much the gospel is going to bless their lives and the lives of their future families. 

On Saturday night, we went to go visit Rick at Safeway. When we met up with him he was totally drunk. We tried having a lesson with him, but it was kind of rough. He kept trying to propose to our other friend, Momma D. She turned him down every time. "That's too much work, Rick." Haha! Rough. 

In case you were wondering, he didn't make it to church :( 

Sundays now consist of meetings from 7 in the AM to 4 in the afternoon. We were there forever. After a while the meetings all kind of blend together. It's great. Only one of us fell asleep...you know who you are companion...

Oh! We got to go to Davis on Tuesday! It was seriously the best. I love road trips, plus that was the first time I've been back to Davis in the six and a half months I've been gone. I have missed it so much. I was afraid it was going to feel weird going back, but I felt right at home. I could not stop smiling. After our appointment, Sister Jensen took us out to get ice cream, because she is serving there :) 

Cool story! I'm not sure if you remember the story of Erika from Davis. She was a self-refferal and me and Sister Haefeli taught her the first few lessons and she was golden. Set her own baptismal date and everything. She dropped off the face of the earth after that and we could not get back in touch with her. Last week she sent me a message on Facebook and she said she was ready for a lesson again and wanted me to come over. I told her I had been transferred, but that my good friend Sister Jensen was there :) I called Sister Jensen, set up the appointment and we finished our day. Sister Jensen and her companion called me after the appointment so excited because Erika had set another baptismal date!! I will probably be able to go too! Just waiting to hear from President :) So excited!! 

We have a short pday today because we are going to the temple on Thursday!!! So stoked! I love the temple and I miss it. We are going to the Oakland temple so it will be fun! Hope you all have a great week!! 

Your happy missionary, 

Sister Julander

Eight Days Until Valentine's and I Still Don't Have a Date...

Hi Fam!

Another great week in Cordelia 2nd ward. What can I say? It's golden here. I love it so much 

This week we had a lesson with Deb. She invited us and a member to go to dinner with her at Texas Roadhouse. It was soooo good. The rolls were so good. Why were we celebrating you ask?  Deb is ready to set a baptismal date and wanted to discuss it over steak dinner 

We finished dinner and headed to the stake center where we were going to have our lesson. President and Sister Wright were in town and asked us if they could come to a lesson with us. GULP. Sure President. As it so happens, we are going to extend a baptismal date tonight. Please join our lesson. So we all walk into the building and Deb talked about how we just needed to set a date. Then we get in the lesson, share a scripture, bear our testimonies, extend the date for February 18 and......she declines. We talk about her concerns...again. President and Sister Wright offer their insights, which are absolutely golden.
Naturally. Our member present was...well...she is kind of a loose cannon  doctrine, personal experiences, you name it. Deb invited her or we would have asked someone else. The lesson ended and as we were walking out, Deb talked about how we just needed to look at the calendar and set a date. *sigh* It's a work in progress.

Thursday we had interviews with President. He is the best. I love President so much.

Friday night we went to see Mel Kimsey. He was having a tough day. We haven't brought baptism up in a long while because the past few weeks it's been a somewhat sore topic. The member we brought, Sister Leighton, had also been having a hard week. We were all feeling a bit humble. We shared a poem and then we brought up baptism again and extended a formal invitation to be baptized on February 18th...the
date we had planned for Deb. Brother Kimsey was quiet for a moment, and then he said he wasn't ready to set a date. Our rockstar member stepped in and asked him, "If the Savior was here, and He asked you to be baptized, what would you say?" Without hesitating, Brother Kimsey said, "Yes." Sister Leighton told him to think about it and then asked for a prayer so he wouldn't have time or opportunity to dismiss the
invitation or argue  thank you awesome member present.

That was basically our week. Still loving life. Super excited for this week. Santa Rosa on Saturday!!

Your happy missionary,

Sister Julander

He's seven and he destroyed me at Chess. Dang it Cody. He knew all the tricks...he's been playing for a month. 

Policy Change!

Hi family!

Thanks for all of your emails this week. It was so good to hear from

all of you! Loved seek pictures and everything else.

Last week was transfers and Sister Aiton and I have defied the odds and against President's better judgement (I mean what?) we are serving together for a third transfer! I've only heard of that happening two other times with President Wright and that was over a year ago. Sister Aiton is the best that punk is stuck with me for another six weeks  It's been fun because we went to a meeting in Santa Rosa with some of the other leadership and a bunch of missionaries came up and asked,

"Isn't this your third with Sister Aiton? Okay, that's what I thought! Wow, how lucky!" Even missionaries we haven't served around or that we really know have asked or commented. Right now we are kind of the golden companionship of the mission, lol. It's so funny. Our dads were companions, we get to stay together for three, and our companionship is running smoothly. Everyone we talk to comments on our companionship. It's like a myth. It cracks us up because it's nothing big.

Anyways. Remember the story I told you about Lily? We took the Hermanas to teach her the Restoration? The members in that home are partially less active. Brother Wallin comes almost every Sunday, but his wife is on and off. The experience really touched Sister Wallin. She is so kind and so good to the missionaries. Yesterday we got a text from her and she asked us if we could come to dinner tonight because her less active mother-in-law is in town and she wants us to

meet her!

Wow.

This is the life of a missionary. To get excited over small details like this. Let me break it down.

1) She trusts us enough to have us over and talk to her less active mother-in-law 😱

2) She is consciously seeking out missionary work and creating opportunities.

Guys. This is big. Especially for Sister Wallin. I'm so pumped!!!!

Recently we had a new couple move in with their baby girl. She is a member and her husband isn't...yet. He LOVED the first ward he attended when they were married because they fellowshipped him so well. The second ward they lived in not so much, but Cordelia 2nd ward will fix that. This is the best ward I have ever served in. I LOVE it.

He said is going to get baptized soon, but he wants to be all in because he knows the commitment that the church requires and he wants his whole heart to be there. He's close though. Very close.

Do you hear that? I think the font is being filled...

Speaking of, we talked to our investigator Deb. She has been studying with the missionaries off and on over the last couple years. In the last transfer she has been coming to church more consistently and she has been getting more fellowship! She's much more connected than she's been. She came to church yesterday all on her own. We usually call or text to invite her. After the block we were talking to her and told her we weren't getting transferred. We told her we have til March 7.

She said, "Oh, I need to get baptized before then!" *silent missionary fist pump* Deb saying she's ready to set a date. This is also big. Mel is also close to setting a date. He is another one of our investigators. Lovin' this progress and these miracles

President has asked me and Sister Aiton to be the Sister Training Leaders. That's kind of like Sister version of Zone Leaders it’s a blast. We get to go to a monthly training meeting every month in Santa Rosa with President and Sister Wright and the APs and the tech Elders.

It's pretty much the greatest thing ever. Then we take that training and we teach it to our zones. Sister Aiton and I are the Sister Training Leaders for two zones, so we had to teach in two zone meetings. The way it worked out, both zones would be having their meetings at the same time, so we would have to split up. I happily volunteered to go to Vacaville to teach. What a perfect place to practice teaching. I only have to see them for three hours, so if it crashed and burned, I could escape back to Fairfield and never see Vacaville again I know, I know. Brilliant.

Sister Aiton and the other Cordelia Sisters dropped me off in Vacaville Saturday morning and then drove back for their zone meeting and I trio-ed with the only two sisters in Vacaville.

I'll admit, before the meeting started I looked around at this room filled with Elders and I was like, "What have I gotten myself into?"

There is a strange feeling when you leave your area. You can feel that you don't belong there. It was weird to be in Vacaville and I felt uncomfortable and ready to go home back to my Fairfield family I thought, "I'll teach now, then Sister Aiton can teach here next time. Teach and leave."

I think it took a matter of minutes where the discomfort was slowly replaced by love. I started to teach my segment and I looked out at all of them and I felt this deep peaceful love for all of them.  I loved hearing their comments and their experiences. I saw their struggles and everyone they had overcome and all they were battling right now. I saw their successes, their joys, their sorrows. It was great. By the time I left, they were my elders not the Vacaville elders. I bet that's how Helaman felt when he looked over his stripling warriors....to a much larger degree tho.  Just call me Big-Sister Julander.

Policy Change! Yes!!! This is exciting. And big. Big and exciting. They have left the schedule up to the missionaries. They have told us what is required and how much time to spend on each element of the schedule, but as far as organizing the schedule, it's up to us. Not only that, we have been reduced to four key indicators. We are no longer counting lessons at all. The only things we count are new investigators, baptismal dates, investigators as sacrament, and

investigators baptized and confirmed.

My first reaction to the schedule was panic. After having your life totally structured for ten and a half months you forget how to do things by yourself. I was like, "OH NO. I don't know how to schedule my life. What do we do??" But then I thought about it for thirty seconds and realized everything was going to be okay and I literally just had to do the same things I was doing, but with more intention and planning. Plus this was going to give us a lot more freedom. Plus

two extra hours on PDay is never a bad thing   Phew. Crisis averted.

The key indicators getting cut down was the best thing to ever happen. Seriously I'm so pumped. It's like the Lord was saying, "I don't care how you do it, or when, but all I want to know is how many new investigators you have and when they get baptized. Do it how you know best." It's like that scene in Incredibles where Dash and Violet are running away from the bad guys and Violet tells Dash to run and for the first time he is allowed to run at full speed the best he knows

how. It feels like that. A lot of missionaries here are panicking hardcore because they don't know how else to measure their success. Poor guys. They will come around this is going to increase baptisms by a lot I’m super excited and just ready to go ham.  plus I only have to give my district leaders four numbers at the end of the week and I don't have to stress about getting all the numbers accurate. #blessings

So yeah. We are about to go tour the Jelly Belly Factory. I'll send pics  love you all!

Your happy missionary,

Sister Julander

Making breakfast waiting for transfers.

Sister Aiton stole a picture of me and Cheri our bestest friend in the whole world. She's the less active we helped reactivate. We call her our miracle baby. 

Pictures from the Jelly Belly Factory

No Hable Espanol

Hey Fam!

Look, two emails in a row  I'd file this under 'personal pday success' 

This morning we went to Rio Vista, it's about an hour outside of Cordelia. We went to see all of the windmills and then to see the bridge and the bay  close call tho, there was yet another bridge that would have taken us out of the mission (why are there so many of
those?!) and we almost went over it. Luckily, because of recent experiences, I have developed a sixth sense for the mission boundaries. I've come to the conclusion that if it's a big bridge, it probably leads out of the mission.

Another great week this week! On Wendesday we had a miracle. It was probably the sweetest spirit I have felt on my mission. Here's what happened. We got our dinner calendar and realized we had double scheduled dinners. It was between an active member and a less-active, so we called the member and rescheduled with them, and then went to our less-actives, the Wallins, for dinner. When we got there, we met Lily, a woman who was staying the night before she caught her plane home to Washington the next morning. Sister Wallin said that her friend had called her and asked her if she could help Lily. Lily spoke
mostly Spanish and didn't understand a whole lot of English, but she was very kind and she had a light about her. We learned she had just lost her husband two months earlier. Coincidentally, we had brought a Plan of Salvation puzzle we were going to share for the dinner message since the Wallins have two young girls. We shared a scripture with
her, and Brother Wallin brought out his Spanish Book of Mormon from his mission and showed her the scripture we shared. She said it was beautiful and we asked her if she wanted a Book of Mormon in Spanish.

She said yes! We told her we would be back. We called the Hermanas, but they were in Vacaville, and the other Hermanas didn't answer their phone. We called the YSA elders, and they said they had one, but in the drive there, they called and said they didn't actually have one.
This would be a blessing later. We called the other Hermanas one more time, and they answered! And they happened to be home! We drove to Fairfield and picked up a Libro de Mormon and a pair of Hermanas  the four of us sat around the Wallins table and the Hermanas started to teach Lily the Restoration. The spirit was so strong. Part way through the lesson, I noticed that Lily had tears pouring down her face. All of us were emotional by the end, and our less active member sister Wallin, sat through the whole lesson and she herself started to cry silent tears as she listened. Lily listened all the way to the end
and then she told Hermana Garcia her story. Later, we learned that a lot had happened in her life in the last eight months and some friends had introduced her to some Christians, but nothing was making sense. Everything that the Hermanas said did make sense. At the end of the lesson, Lily cried and hugged each one of us tightly and said over and over again, "Muchos gracias". I don't know a lot of Spanish, but I understood that.

There was such a sweet spirit that I will never forget. The biggest impression I had after that whole experience was how mindful Heavenly Father is of each of His children. He loves Lily so much, and He knew she was hurting and nothing was making sense. He had perfectly timed different events and carefully positioned the Wallins and me and my companion so that we could give her the answers she needed so deeply.
I couldn't help but think that Lily had no idea how her life was going to change when she stepped into the Wallins house that day and helped making dinner for their missionaries who would be coming to dinner that night. We talked to Sister Wallin at church, who seemed a bit brighter than usual , and asked her about Lily. She said she had started reading the Book of Mormon. I'm so grateful that I got to be a part of that. If I had served my whole mission just to be there in that moment, I could go home a happy missionary.

In other news, transfers is coming up! We find out on Saturday what's going on, and then Tuesday is transfers in Rosa  I'm anticipating a period of PAD (Post-Aiton Depression) but I'm glad I've had her for the time I did. We have so many more adventure ahead of us, because she is going to BYU-I and we've decided to room together for a semester before she gets married, lol.

I found a new friend!! Her name is Jayla and she is a miracle! She is a senior in high school and she was in our Areabook as a former. They lost contact with her, so she was dropped. One night while I was on exchanges last transfer, I felt like we needed to drop by. We did and she opened the door and let us in! She said that she was ready to learn more! She couldn't set up an appointment right there though. She was very hesitant because her dad is very against religion in general. Her mom would support whatever she did. Her mom actually was the first one to invite us in. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I gave her our number and trusted the Lord. A couple weeks later she set up and appointment and kept it! She met us at the church and told us she was starting to think that this was true. She is currently writing an LDS missionary, and she wants to find out for herself if this is all true. She feels like she fits in and likes the standards. There are a few things that she's not sure about, but it hasn't stopped her.
She said that she was feeling very alone one day, and she randomly got a text from one of the YW leaders in the other ward inviting her to an activity. Then, the next day, the missionaries showed up at her door. She knew she wasn't forgotten.

After that first lesson, she was still hesitant and wouldn't set up another appointment because she was so worried about her dad and her life is crazy right now. So we let her go again. On Tuesday, I was with Sister Bender and Fairfield was flooding. Roads were closing,
houses were flooding, it was pouring buckets. I wasn't sure if we should be out, but I had this feeling to go out and work and stay close. So we went and saw Matthew, another investigator. He was home and we had a real lesson with him! Miracle! As we were driving away, I got the same feeling I had the first night I met Jayla. We needed to go see her. I was so nervous. I didn't want to get her in trouble if her dad was home. But I knew if the Lord was telling us to go, then everything was going to be all right. I'll admit, I was nervous all the way up to the door, but the spirit told me her dad wasn't home. We knocked and Jayla answered the door! She looked surprised, then excitedly said, "Come in come in!" Her countenance was totally different. We asked her if this was a good time and she said yes! Her dad was at the movies with her mom  what a miracle. The roads were flooding, it was late at night in a school night, and her dad was gone. What are the odds? She started talking to us, and I knew she was holding something back. Suddenly she broke down and told us about something that had happened recently that was bugging her. Her boyfriends companion had made an insensitive comment about her in a video he sent home (he didn't realize it was in the video) and she was so worried she was distracting him from the work. (Wow. She's a nonmember and she gets it. I'm so impressed with this girl. Seriously.) We gave her some counsel and talked her through it. She's actually a super star missionary girlfriend. She laughed and said that every time she starts to doubt, we show up  Sister Bender told her that was a sign  We asked Jayla if there was a time we could come back. I fully expected her to tell us the same thing she did the first two times, but instead she said, "Yes! Drop by anytime."  wow. So so so excited for her. I feel like we can really start moving forward with her now. Keep her in your prayers. She's having lots of faith
promoting experiences! She's going to be a member someday, just wait and see 

Still loving life  love my area, love my companion, and loving the work. No complaints here  also, I hit my ten month mark today. Double digits 😎 Mid-mission crisis is coming in clutch... Time to buckle down and get to work. Any advice for a mission ten months out?

Love you all! Thanks for all of your messages and notes of comfort and love! I love hearing from all of you! I hope you have a great week!

Your happy missionary,

Sister Julander

P.S. Spiritual thought of the week. We were in Gospel Principles and Brother Gillespie brought up a point I had never thought about. We always ask God to be good. "Please bless so and so. Please bless this. Please bless that." God will always be good. We don't have to ask for Him to bless anything, because He already will. It's in His nature. He is already a righteous being. Instead, it might be more effective to pray for ways that we can be good. "How can I bless so and so? How can I help this? How can I bless these people?" Spencer W. Kimball has said that often times, the answers to our prayers come through other people. Here's your challenge for the week. Pray to find a way to bless the people around you. It doesn't have to be big or grand. It can be little. Be an extension of a Gods love 

Lily is the one in the end and Sister Wallin is sitting at the table Lily was so excited, she wanted a picture with her missionaries.