Well Sister Richardson is leaving. Don't ask me how many times I've already cried about it. But... I just might get to see Duluth without any snow!

The only down fall about the weather warming up is that the JW's are coming out of their hibernation. Is it a sin that I steal their pamphlets off of peoples doors?

We had Interviews with President this week. We were his last set of interviews before he goes home. President and Sister Clements are the most inspired and consecrated people I have ever met.  

We had stake conference and it was really good! Sister J came to church yesterday and she is getting baptized on her birthday which is on the 19th! She isn't going to tell her husband until the week before because he is not going to be a happy camper. The only thing that brings me peace about this transfer is that I know that I need to be here to teach A. She is ten and has red hair and plays hockey. Cool? cool!

We taught this lady on her doorstep and we went back for our return appointment and she breeds parrots. The lesson didn't go over so well but the parrots said "okay" when we invited her to be baptized :)

Okay I know all I talk about is the weather here BUT the wind off of the lake is FIERCE! We had to chase down a couple of .org cards that flew out of our hands when we were handing them to people.  Our house was shaking all night and a bunch of the men in the ward had to go hold down a roof that was being lifted from a house of a members neighbor. And just for the record ice storms are CRAZY.

I lost my mittens once again last night and we couldn't find them but when we left this morning they were right on our path to the car. Sister Richardson thinks I dropped them there but I am convinced that the wind blew them back to me.

I need everyone who reads this to do as follows:

1. Go to your room and shut the door.

2. Consider some of the blessings you have received from the gospel

3. Kneel down

4. Thank Heavenly Father

5. Repent and apologize for not sharing the gospel

6. Ask Him for help

7. Ask Him who you can share the gospel with

8. Listen: the first person who comes to mind is the person He wants you to share the gospel with

9. ACT: Share a Mormon message with that person, invite them to church, give them a Book of Mormon.

10. Repeat.

Keep it real people, Heavenly Father is in your life you just have to pay attention.

Love, Sister Szabo

District P-day @ Canal Park #1

 #2

Sister Marsh, Hanson, Richarson

 Sister Clements 

Hey! Hey! Hey!

We are obsessed with the Because of Him video. The Elders put it on a DVD for us and we have been showing EVERYONE! It is soooooooooooooo good! We told a kid named Scotty that it would be the best two minutes of his life and he loved it and even came to church.

I'm pretty sure in my journal I have written "and it snowed again" as many times as it says "and it came to pass" in the BofM.

Funny boot story. The zipper got off line but if I zipped it really slow it would zip up but it would randomly break again and it would make a farting sound. It happened on a door step and the person looks at Sister Richardson and she looks at me and I look down at my boot and we all start laughing. My boots are toast. I will have to send you a picture next week. I was bound and determined to wear those things until my dying day..but the hole in the sole got even bigger and the zipper completely broke and it wouldn't stayed sewed up because I have to take them on and off so many times a day. #missionaryproblems

Can someone tell me what is up with the elderly liking buffets?
Have I told you about Minnesotans and their milk? They love milk. Gas stations advertise their milk prices like they do their gas prices and they drink it at every meal. They don't offer us water they offer us milk. We went to a buffet with a senior who just got back from serving a mission and me and Sister Richardson look around us and start laughing because everyone is drinking milk.

We went to Virgina on exchanges this week. The iron range is up there and there was as many mines as there were lakes. I have been waiting to go there so that me and Jamie could both be in 'Virginia' at the same time but it's not even cool anymore because she is in NC. But it was a great exchange. We taught more lessons in a day then they normally do in a transfer.

I just really love being a missionary. We started teaching A this week. Her mom is a member and her Grandma is the person I told you about last week that we started teaching. She is the cutest little ten year old red head I have ever seen in my life. I wish I could teach ten year olds about the gospel all day. 

But by far the best part of the week was when the Elders investigator showed up to church yesterday with his dog. "well at least he only brought one of them"

Sister Ryker is going to do baptisms this week at the temple! She was SO excited to tell us that they asked her to be a visiting teacher. 

You know what blows my mind every single time is that people that have nothing are always more willing to give.

Easter was great! I ate more candy yesterday than I have on my entire mission. I'm really glad that I'm here. I think I didn't know anything about the atonement before I came out here.

I love you all! Love, Sister Szabo

 Some bunny loves you

We are proud to say that we are true Minnesotans...we went running outside every morning this week. Never thought I would be running through snow banks and Sister Richardson has a couple of injuries from falling on the ice but it has been a good time.

It was almost 60 degrees for a couple of days. If spirit paradise feels anything like a warm day after a winter in Duluth then count me in.

I found out that a guy named Robert that me and Sister Hulet found and gave to the Elders in Andover got baptized. And it made me feel a lot better about my time in that blessed town!

This is one of those things that I usually wouldn't write home about but it was SOOO so funny. We knocked into a full on pot house. We're talking boarded windows, security cameras, the door opens and a wall of smoke hits us. I don't even have to words to describe how funny it was. They thought we were there to buy some goods so they are trying to sell us drugs and we are trying to teach them and I'm pretty sure their cat was higher than everyone in the house and it was just a really funny situation.

Sister Ryker started on her family history this week. She already has ALL of the information she just has to input it so that she can do the temple work. HOLLA! She is going to do baptisms next week!

And no doubt I will be one of those old lady family history groupies. I was looking at my pedigree chart on family search and I didn't want to stop. And I read a really cool story about a lady named Alice who joined the church on mom's side and crossed the plains. It was a really neat story and I've always wanted to name my daughter Alice so it made the whole thing even cooler. (By the way Sam, Jamie, and Drew, that was me calling dibs on the name Alice)

You know your mission is strict when things are loosening up because everything has to go back to white hand book before the new mission president comes :)

So we have been working our butts off and I have more faith than I have on my entire mission and...nothing has been happening. We have been finding like crazy and no one is progressing. Yesterday Sister Ronstad invited us over for her birthday and a LA that has started coming back to church and her non member mom were there who has been taught by a lot of different missionaries and she told us that she has decided to get baptized on her birthday next month!!!! So we are going to start teaching her and the LA's ten year old daughter. "Faith in God includes Faith in His timing"

My favorite part of the week was yesterday at dinner. Izzy  (the blonde girl in the picture we took with the missionary name tag) is my favorite child on this planet. She is SO funny. She always sits by me when we are at their house and she comes and finds us after church. She leaned over to me during dinner and said "So, all you do all day is teach people about Jesus right?" and I said yes. And she said really proudly "Well don't worry about teaching me because I know who Jesus is and I love Him."

I love the sun and I love all of you!

Keep it real people

Worrying gets you know where.

This week flew by. We went to the cities and then we went on exchanges in Askov so we didn't work in our area until Thursday. Askov is quite the place. I felt like I stepped back in time. I was tracting on dirt roads. Well more like mud roads. There was wild life EVERYWHERE. Sometimes I think about how weird northern Minnesotans are and then on second thought I think about how well I fit in here.

I love General Conference. A lot. Our favorite part was seeing the flowers and grass on temple square. It gave us hope that we will someday see spring. We loved Elder Ballard's PMG throw down. Start studying people. I love the prophet. I had an overwhelming sense of gratitude during conference that I am a member of Christ's church and that I have this short time to bring others into His fold. Amanda and Sister Ryker loved General Conference. Amanda was eating up every word. I love that girl.

Yesterday it was 50 degrees and you would have thought it was summer. The lake walk was packed and we even saw a couple of runners in shorts with no shirts. We heard we have gotten over 111 inches of snow this winter. The record is 130 and something so everyone is hoping we will beat the record. There was a nasty storm this week and we were in Superior and going over the bridge was pretty sketchy. Sister Richardson was praying the entire way home. Cars were going all over the place. Good thing we have angels with us cause we made it without even sliding a little bit.

The funniest part of the week was when we were teaching Amanda about our baptismal covenant and we were going over what we promise and what God promises. My mind went blank and for the life of me I couldn't remember what the third promise was. Amanda said "isn't it that we always remember Him?" Funny because she knew it and I didn't and because it's that we are supposed to REMEMBER. Whoops. We had a good laugh.

Oh and I forgot to tell you about our food miracle last week. End of the month. We are out of food and money. A sister in the ward texted us and told us to meet her for lunch the next day. She brought us a huge sack of soup and then the RS gave us all the leftovers from the Woman's Broadcast. God is looking out for us. #payyourfastofferings

Have I told you about the Newtons? Well we love them. Sister Newton and I clicked from the moment we met and I have learned so much from her. I hope I can be like her someday. She is a speech therapist at an elementary school and I pick her brain about it all the time. When I talked to Heavenly Father this morning I got an overwhelming feeling that one of the many reasons I am in Duluth is because I'm supposed to know Sister Newton. And to top it off her son lives in American Fork and she is going to visit them when they have their baby later this year so I will get to see her then!

I love you all. Thanks for the love and support.

 God is real. Christ is your Redeemer. The Church is true. Read the Book of Mormon.

Love, Sister Szabo