We are no LONGER PART-TIMERS!

(sorry that I have been repeating pictures)

People in Racine were calling us the PART TIME SISTERS!!! Hello! I am A FULL TIME MISSIONARY! President Barrett appreciated that too! He wants us to be FULL TIME! Good thing we have a FULL TIME PRESENCE IN RACINE NOW!

Ok ok… this is going to be a marathon email… I have prepped myself for a typing-fest. Ring off… bracelet set aside… water bottle full… sitting up straight. Like I said last week, I am filling you in on two weeks worth of stuff! It might be the readers digest version, that could be nice for a change. J

On a small side note though, we went outside this morning to run at about 7am and I could see my breath!!! Can you believe it??? UGH. I was so mad! It is AUGUST 31st! I should not be seeing my breath yet, GO AWAY FALL, it’s not time for you yet! I am scared for what this winter is going to be like if I am cold and seeing my breath in AUGUST!!!!

[Mon AUG 17th]
leave racine and drive to milwaukee . email . wal mart . go back to the K’s house and make cookies for elder love [aka papa love as he prefers! Ha he was in my mtc district, now he is in the office. I love him. I made what we now call “pancake cookies” the other day and they came by and ate all of them… so they requested more… those cookies couldn’t be duplicated if I tried… but Tollhouse did the trick] 4:30 dinner at the ducharmes [wml] . then a visit to the mission home to talk to president and sister barrett about the “hot one” as sister barrett called her, a referral, they met at taco bell, Chandra!

[tue AUG 18th]
district meeting . lesson tour at the church with Lauren Squaires a recent convert- it was AmAzing! We taught the 1st lesson using the pictures and the different rooms in the church. We ended with the font and pictures of the temple. I LOVED it, we all felt the spirit so strong. Sister warner did a good job of teaching us how to do those- we’ve been asked to do that more often, it’s powerful and gets our investigators in the building. We then visited Debbie Pruzinski and Helen Gardner. Mtg at bishop Fannons and ended the night at the family history center getting training from sister orne on FH for the Mexican fiesta coming up.

[wed AUG 19th] We were in Racine for the day! We had appts with Christina Davis, Tamika King [lunch at her home too! YUM… she is a good cook!] Cheryl & Ted Johnson and The Sura’s [dinner, fish and burgers, we always have good meals there!] We had a busy busy day in Racine!

[thurs AUG 20th] we went to the zoo with Helen Gardner and her grandson Michael. I love the Milwaukee ZOO! I had a great time… the animals were SO close! It was fun to go with them… I love the zoo, I felt like a little kid, I got so excited. My favorites, the giraffes… they’re mesmerizing! We had dinner and a lesson @ the ducharmes with the menters. It was SO good… and yummy. The elders were there too… I love elder vogan and elder stevens…. They’re both so new and such good elders… they keep me on my toes. We ended the night at institute.

[fri AUG 21st] we went to the barretts at 11am after studying and cleaned the mission home and post-it noted it EVERYWHERE! It was fun, we wrote funny things on the notes, the Barretts were out of town in the UP so we new we had the green light. It was a nice surprise for them and fun service for us to do. On our way home to change we stopped at a SWEET CORN STAND on the side of the road. Dad Kozlosky has been requesting some corn for quite some time! [he always asks us when we go to racine because once we brought him some back from there… now he thinks the best comes from Racine! Ha] They gave us a whole bag for 4 dollars… we had a HUGE thing of corn, like 15 ears! Dad K makes the best corn, he made us some the next day! YUM YUM. At 4p we met Mom and Dad Robertson as we call them, or Paul and Lisa, in Milwaukee on National Ave at a really good Mexican food place that I can’t remember the name of. They were on their way back up to GB from the temple in Chicago and stopped in to see us and take us to dinner. So nice of them. They love sister warner and I, we love them. They are a big part of my mission- like family. She called us the other day just to tell us about the weather… haha like old times in Green Bay. I love her.

[sat AUG 22nd] we played volleyball at the Ornes then we went to Mexican Fiesta on the Lakefront in Milwaukee at the Summerfest Grounds, same place as German Fest, to help in the genealogy tent. It was a blast. I got to use my Spanish quite a bit and eat some really good food! Although, it was quite a different crowd than German Fest, they were all still pretty much drunk, but a different kind of drunk! Haha you know what I mean!

[sun AUG 23rd] I went on splits with Lauren Major, a YSA in Milwaukee. She is so fun. A BYU graduate and now working here at the Kohls corporate office. We went down to Racine, tried to see tina, with no luck, left her a note… my fort¢e… then we had a meeting at Bishop Blake’s, I love him, I love the elders down there and Bro. Hancock, our Ward Mission Leader. We are a great team. It was such a productive meeting… then we headed to CHURCH in Kenosha, there is only 1 building for Kenosha and Racine. After the 6 hours of church, and a short coordination meeting, we headed to Milwaukee because the we had Mexican Fiesta again that night! Good times. I love serving with sister Warner, we have the best times together!!!

[mon AUG 24th] PDAY… the day that I found that the trio was NO MORE! Sad. But good… needed! We went to the Ducharmes and played games for a little while, I was kinda in a lame mood, then we went home and packed. We spent the rest of Pday hanging out at the Kozlosky’s!

[tues AUG 25th] was filled with packing and saying goodbye or SEE YA LATER! We saw Janice, I love her… then Spencer Twilmeyer… I love that boy, it was fun to serve in his ward, talk about worlds colliding. I went to UWM and got a camelback water bottle [my AmAzing PINK nalgene I’ve had for 9 months just bit the dust] this new water bottle fits PERFECTLY in my cute new Hurley bag that the FAM just sent me! I love it. The best part about it is that sister warner bought the same water bottle only green, from UWGB about 6 months ago [after my mom sent me mine, we were trying to drink more water… it worked!] and just RAVED about it to everyone. I got so sick of hearing about it that one day I said, “Why don’t you just take a picture with it and send it HOME!!” haha she did. Now I love it too… she is QUICK to point that out… one of those I told you so moments! Haha I said goodbye to Marilyn at culvers [s.warner and I just had to have our last dinner there- it’s tradition]. I love Marilyn, she is AMAZING… she always makes fun of missionaries for saying, “You’re great.” Haha she says “WHY?” you have to say WHY! Apparently we use that phrase TOO MUCH! Then goodbyes to the MENTERS and DEBBIE PRUZINSKIE and FAM. Sister Behrends has served her for a YEAR…. So we had lots of goodbying to do. I didn’t feel such a big need, only to a few people… I wasn’t hear long enough or consistently enough to get attached to too many people, I did to a few though.

[wed AUG 26th] we met President and Sister Barrett at the mission home and drove with them to Kenosha for district meeting… the last few hours of the trio nation. We went to our new Spanish District Meeting [president calderwood, our branch president in Racine just requested it be formed and Pres. Barrett gave it the thumbs up! So as of this transfer we have district meeting in Spanish! We’ve only gone sometimes when we’re down there on Tuesdays… but now we’ll get it 100%… I am excited] then we went to lunch with the Spanish elders at El Campeon [Spanish elders always know the best places!] while president and sister barrett interviewed the English elders. We then rushed back to Milwaukee to pick up SISTER EARL from the airport. She is a visa waiting sister on her way to Madagascar. We found her with the assistants… TEACHING AWAY in the baggage claim area! She learned French in the MTC and was there for NINE weeks… once you get out of there you are SO HAPPY to see REAL people!! Haha She is on fire… a great missionary. We all four went to the Donnich’s [dj & tracy] for dinner… we almost cancelled… good thing we didn’t… it would have been BAD! Dj Donnich’s dad, President Donnich even called President Orne [who called President Barrett] and said if we didn’t come missionaries weren’t welcome in their home anymore! AHH! So we went… it was good. THEY ARE HILARIOUS and he made the BEST Vinegar Smoked Ribs I’ve ever had… and I usually don’t like ribs… mmm mmm… and Mashed potatoes. MY FAVORITE. We stayed our last night at the Kozlosky’s… all four of us. It was a party, so sad for me to say goodbye to the Kozlosky’s though! Tragic. I love them. They are my family in Wisconsin… they’ve treated me like a daughter. They remind me of my family, my parents. They are good people, some of the best. I will miss them.

[Thurs AUG 27th] breakfast with the Assistants, Office Elders and Milwaukee Sisters & interviews at the mission home before we headed to racine. President is AmAzing. He knows me so well. I told him I was excited to go to a place where I knew I would be for a while… I feel so tossed around since GB… he said, “ Yes but we needed you in Adams, those were 3 crucial weeks, we needed you here too.” I love him. He also knew I was sad to leave my warner girl. It was so refreshing to serve with her for 3 weeks. He told me to work hard, that Racine needed me and to “let the ward do the work” basically not to go in and take over… haha, What is he suggesting??? I think if he has taught me anything on my mission it has been to “Make it their idea!” Get them to do things that need to be done, and let them think they came up with it… ask lots of QUESTIONS! Example “Bishop Nelson, what do you think would be the BEST way to help the Allen family feel more involved? Do you think they might need a calling? Do you think they’d benefit from a dinner at your home?” HA it works! I love him… sometimes it makes me think of when my mom says to me “down girl” haha I just get so excited about things and want them done NOW! I am learning though…. Like a stone in the riverbed… slowly polishing those rough edges… sometimes it’s a little faster on the mission! …We then said bye to Kris Hall and we were off to Racine!

[fri AUG 28th] FIRST DAY IN RACINE FULL-TIME… we taught English in racine with the Spanish elders… visited Hermana Martinez from the branch… then went to the Racine Volunteer Center to sign up for some service. Then… I had a migraine so I went home and went to bed for the rest of the night… I think I was just sleep deprived from the crazy week[s], being in a trio seems to = less sleep. It was just what the doctor ordered. I woke up feeling SO much better!

[sat AUG 29th] we stopped by to see a member, she wasn’t home, but we met her neighbors… “Talk to EVERYONE”… that is straight from Preach My Gospel… I don’t know if we will end up teaching them, but we invited them and talked for a long time… he used to work in Phoenix for a printer, the Lofgreen’s, we have Lofgreen’s in our stake… he had a good experience with Mormon’s, she is interested in genealogy, you never know… I love being a missionary and not feeling awkward to talk to ANYONE… I think I have my grandpa’s blood in me! Grandpa Black is SO good at that… so is Rocky… I learned from the best. We stopped by at LOTs of people’s homes and I even left notes in SPANISH at the homes from the Branch. It was my FIRST time! Haha whew… what a long day… in and out of the car.. lots of people were not home… it was Saturday… understandable! But still LONG. I left lots of STICKY NOTES… my trademark… gotta love POST-ITS… they’re the best!

[sun AUG 30th] We got to go to church together! FIRST TIME IN 2.5 MONTHS! It felt SO good to have my companion there… so much less stressful, we’re in twos for a reason!! President Calderwood called on me to comment in SPANISH SUNDAY SCHOOL… so I answered best I could, with a little English… the language is COMING… I love it. Afterwards we stopped by Tina’s … I am not sure she is ready to change, I love her, but her life is crazy and she blames it on everyone else… but we met her son, he needs the gospel just as bad as she does, I hope to be able to teach him. Then we had dinner at the Sura’s and taught about Temples… actually Abby taught us. I got to share my experience of being sealed to my family… how special was that… I am so thankful for ETERNAL FAMILIES. I love my family. Also, last night sister Hamblin called from GB to let me know that Barbara Bostwick passed away Friday afternoon. So Tragic. My heart hurts for her, more so for her sweet daughter Holly, whom is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. When I left GB Barb sent me a photo she just had taken of Holly and some art she made me, adorable. I would do anything for them, I love them. The Messick’s taught Barb and she was baptized just before they went home, it was a special day. Thank goodness for the knowledge we have of the plan of salvation!!!


I love you all…. Whew… my hand hurts… grandma and grandpa- you are the BEST… thanks for everything… expect mail this week! … Rocky and Britt… good luck in your Second WEEK! I think of you daily! MOM and DAD! HOLD UP! You can do it! No childrens at home to keep you straight! Borrow the Johnson girls! I miss them too! BRADY BLAKE AND ELLIE… I LOVED MY PACKAGE… made my DAY! Love the pics! ThANKs steph! I love you all!

Love, sister pamella jo black

The TRIO NATION... [as s.warner calls us]

… is no MORE!

President Barrett emailed both Sister Warner and I … I was a bit mad about it… this was the email exchange between him and I:

ME to P.Barrett last week:

Hi President!

No, the Menters do not set a high priority for church... Sammy has
been out of town all week with her dad- going to church is out of
the question when she is with him. We're not even allowed to teach
when he is in the home. [Her date is going to have to be moved]
Sister Behrends taught the Menters (kim and zac) when she was on
splits with sister ducharme and said zac expressed that he would be
at church on Sunday. However, yesterday he opted to go to a friends
house instead.

We will make it a point this week to teach what a high priority
church must be. That is essential in conversion. I am not sure what
needs to change, Zac and Sammy have both only been taught once since I've been here. It feels like they think church is a good thing, but
not a high priority like you said. Perhaps their dad plays a big
part in this too, they don't want to deal with his comments and
cynicism.

We went to Racine on Saturday, it was the first time since
transfers. Tina also needs to set a high priority for church, she
didn't come again. Sister Behrends saw her after church, Jeremiah
was there again. She keeps letting him back in to her life. We have
a full day of teaching set up on Wednesday, we may go on splits if
we get anymore appointments.We will see Tina, Janelle and Aaron that
day. We planned which days we will be in Racine and which we will be
here in Milwaukee, just like last transfer... so we can be sure we
are teaching our investigators at least twice a week, if not three.
We are teaching Stefani Aquino's friend from the spanish branch
wednesday, our first appointment [we plan to set a date!]. In the
branch we mostly just do the assignments President Calderwood gives
us. We don't have a lot going on there right now... there is SO much
potential though.

This is his response to me TODAY:

Priority with menters will actually need to start with Kim. A week ago when she was alone she almost didn’t come. No good reason.

As of this week you will be in Racine-Kenosha full time.

Sent from my iPhone

He emailed sister warner saying “surprise” you’re getting a visa- waiting sister… but we didn’t know much beyond that!

… Perhaps you can see why I was a little perturbed. My feathers were ruffled! I thought the little roller coaster I was on in this mission stopped! I thought the ride was over. Apparently not. Apparently I am a roller-coaster kinda girl! And to tell you the truth I wouldn’t have it any other way. So I am keeping my seat-belt buckled and all hands and objects inside the vehicle!

Then while we were still here in the library President Barrett called us…

he basically said this: i am going to racine full time on wednesday... :( no more sister warner. a sister who is coming from the mtc, waiting for her visa to madagascar will be serving here for a while. we will pick her up at the airport with him on wednesday! Her and warner will serve her together... behrends and i will go to racine.

[good thing he called... the email just wasn't doin' it for me]

i am excited and sad... all at the same time.

I do feel gypped of my Milwaukee experience. I have only been half-in here! I have loved living so close to the mission home and to the mission office and to the mission leaders. This mission has the most faithful missionaries and leadership I have ever been associated with. I am so blessed to serve in the Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission. The Lord really does have bigger and better plans for us than we ever could have imagined for ourselves.

I know you all are waiting for the weekly update. . . but I just don’t have time. I want to go play and release some of this pent-up energy. Haha Plus, this is the second time I have written this email. I lOATHE myldsmail. It erased my first email. Just a word to the wise to up and coming missionaries… always write your email FIRST on Microsoft word. Gotta love copy and paste. I promise to give the scoop for this week and last week next week! Scouts honor.

This week I have really loved reading in Alma about Ammon… he’s the man.

I love the story about him chopping off the men’s arms [ugh] and protecting the Kings sheep:

Alma 17:31 “My brethren, be of good cheer and let us go in search of the flocks, and we will gather them together and bring them back unto the place of water; and thus we will preserve the flocks unto the king…”

That is what I have been called to do! I love my calling! I will return the sheep to the king! BE OF GOOD CHEER!

Later on in Alma, Ammon says,

Alma 26:20-22

“20 Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at the thought. Behold, he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls.
21 And now behold, my brethren, what natural man is there that knoweth these things? I say unto you, there is none that knoweth these things, save it be the penitent.
22 Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.”

This is our transfer scripture. We memorize one scripture every six weeks. I love this set of scriptures! My calling is to bring souls to repentance, to help people over the gulf through teaching them about the Savior’s atonement. If we exercize FAITH and GOOD WORKS and PRAY without ceasing… we will KNOW the MYSTERIES OF GOD! Just like it says in verse 22! How amazing. AmAzing! I want that. I know you want that.

I love you all. I pray for each of you! Be safe!

Love, sister pamella jo black

PS…

Good luck to Brittany AND Rocky on their first day of school today at EA! How Exciting! I love you both!

Milwaukee/ Racine/ Kenosha/ Spanish Sisters

¡Buenos Días!

Life is good here in the WMM!

This has been our first full week of the newly organized trio- I LOVE IT! (I am not sure all parties feel the same, but I love it!:)
The first week of a new transfer is always a bit crazy filled with zone conference, transfer planning and in our case: getting established in BOTH areas we serve in and helping S. Warner to get to know everyone. We’ve set a lot of goals this transfer and I am really excited to see the work grow in both areas. I feel like last transfer, we did do a lot of good- yes, but there is SO much more we can do… and now being in a trio we have the added energy needed to accomplish all that is at hand… I can’t wait! This work is always changing and we are always learning about different tools we can use to enhance the work we do everyday. I love love love being a missionary.

Here is a glimpse into our week:

[mon] pday! We had lunch with Julieanne and met her brother (one of the triplets) Brian. Oh how I love Julieanne. We had our usual, pb&j, salt and vinegar chips and some strawberries with whipped cream…. Yum. I am going to miss her when she goes back up to school at UWGB. We then went and played baseball with the elders at the park. I love to watch baseball, I don’t, however, enjoy playing the game. I have never liked small, hard, round objects flying at my face… no wonder softball wasn’t my thing, I played to be a good sport though, I played pitcher. For dinner we ate at the Donnich’s with President and Sister Donnich and their son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter: DJ, Tracy and Joselyn. I LOVE THE DONNICH FAMILY. They are hilarious… if I ever have a child like DJ Donnich I might die, he’s hilarious, but what a troublemaker he was. They make me laugh ‘til I cry.

[tues] we went to the med school to help with the LDSSA booth there. I can’t believe that I am old enough to have people MY AGE in med school… I am old you know? It was orientation for all the first year students… such smart, bright, happy kids, makes me hopeful for the future of medicine. We then took sister warner to see UWM . It was ALIVE with students again! Woo-hoo. It has been dead all summer. For dinner we went to Beth Schwenker’s! Beth is AmAzing! (reminds me of Amy Brown) She was baptized six months ago. First off, she made us, along with her roommates, the best dinner ever. Seriously. Then she shared her testimony as we taught the restoration to everyone [it was like a mini YSA party, so many people were there]. She said what sparked her interest was the simple phrase, “If ye seek wisdom, ask of God.” How profound, that can be applied to all aspects of our life. She is a great example to me. Her testimony is beautiful, she is a living example of how the gospel can truly change our hearts. I love the YSA!

[wed] we headed to the STATE FAIR with the kozlosky’s! I love the kozlosky family. I feel like one of their daughters and they treat me as such. At the fair I tried an elephant ear [wi version of fry bread, minus the beans, too bad about that], it was really good…. Apparently you go to the fair for the food [it’s in an air conditioned building too!] …. I tried pizza, ice-cream and honey. YUM. After all that, the girls wanted to go on rides, ya I don’t do fair rides. We never went to the fair growing up- my Mom and Dad always said that drunks put the rides together… haha. They always said Disneyland was the only safe place! HA [plus fair rides are sickening anyways, especially after the food we ate and being out in the heat] so I opted to go with mom and dad kozlosky to the only other air-conditioned building… vendors. That was a lot of fun. I love them. We had so many opportunities to teach at the fair and to be seen by people. I can’t even count the number of times people asked me about my teg or why I was in Wisconsin all the way from PHX etc etc. I love being a representative of Jesus Christ. Wisconsin culture is a lot of fun. There was a whole huge tent devoted to MILK and another for CHEESE. Later that day we taught Janice… she is still struggling with smoking, we hoped to get her to addiction recovery, but we compromised and her home teachers are going to teach her the lessons. In the evening sister warner took Brittany’s senior pics at Whitnall park, we got eaten alive by mosquitos! …but the pics were cute.

[thurs] we did weekly planning in the morning and then headed to the temple with Lauren Major, a ysa. It was so nice of her to drive us, it was only her second time going since being endowed. We went early to do an endowment session and then met the Racine Ward in the Baptistry. We took snacks and put them in the kitchen area of the temple so we could eat in-between. I love the Racine ward so much. It was such a blessing to see Cheryl do proxy baptisms in the temple. The spirit was so strong. Nothing is sweeter than finding out a person’s concerns, teaching them, feeling the spirit testify to you that they know it’s true, seeing the spirit work on them, seeing them covenant with their Heavenly Father thru baptism, receive the Holy Ghost and then enter the temple and do that work for someone else…. AmAzing! I can’t wait for her to go in a year to be sealed to Ted and Natalie. She has come so far since the first time we met her and she said something to the effect of, “I can’t be baptized, I just really like dirty movies with lots of swear words!” haha. That was only about a month ago.... Going to the temple always helps refocus me. What a blessing it is to have a House of the Lord so close to us… I love the TEMPLE!

[fri] ZONE CONFERENCE … it was the Milwaukee North and the Milwaukee South Zones combined at the Spanish Branch Building in Milwaukee… the air conditioning was almost non- existent, with 70 elders in a small room, that’s just not pretty. BUT our lunch provided by the sisters in the Branch was AmAzing!

I learned so much at zone conference. This mission has changed so MUCH since I arrived nine months ago. We have so many more tools to use and the trainings we receive keep getting better and better.

Here are the tools in our “tool belt” that we learned how to use better at Zone Conference: Daily Contact ... “What’s your Plan?” centered planning ... Powerful Commitments … Companionship Study ... Members … Prayer ... Receiving Revelation . Family History … Asking Inspired ?’s … Inviting to be Baptized on the First Lesson … How to Begin Teaching ... Media . Faith … Chapel Lesson Tours ... Inviting to Church ... The Book of Mormon … Baptismal Calendar ... Baptismal Interview ?’s … Standard of Excellence … Quadplots….

Seem like a lot? YA… it IS!!! But it has helped so much in making the time we spend teaching more effective. I love Zone Conference… it is the oil in my lamp that I need each transfer.

[sat] was a ridiculous day. We didn’t plan effectively so we ended up doing a lot of driving for no reason… sometimes being in a trio is a treat… 3 people …. 3 different ideas. We determined we need to plan WAY better.

That evening we attended Valerie Risse’s baptism, she’s an AmAzing YSA. Then, we went to the YSA dance for a little bit, then home to Racine. Whew… what a day. How amazing to see Valerie’s baptism be attended by SO many YSA. I love the ward here. I love Bishop Becker. I love Milwaukee. [ps a bonus to the night was to see Spencer Twilmeyer dance in the middle of the dance floor. Ha sister warner looked at him and said… I DANCE LIKE THAT! Wow. I told her our friendship post mish is TBD! Haha jk I love her and I love spencer.]

[sun] church. & lots of it. I went up to the Muskego Lakes ward and to the YSA ward with Sister warner. Sister behrends went to the Spanish Branch and to the Racine ward with Cassidy Blake as her companion. It was fun to spend the day with sister warner, it was like old times. We laughed a lot. That evening we had dinner at the Blake’s in Racine and then went to visit Temika King and her children…. I love that family. (ps I met a family that just moved in to the family ward from Snow Flake! Small world!)

We are so busy here… I love to be busy. I love my mission. I heard this quote the other day and I love it too:

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."
- C.S. Lewis

I feel it happening to me… We are all a living house… embrace the change!

I love you all!

Love, Sister Pamella Jo Black

"dynamically reconfigurable"

... that's what president barrett calls us... We'Re in A tRiO!!! ... i get to serve with two sisters again!

The best part is the 3rd sister is SISTER WARNER [my trainor]. I never knew I would get to serve with her again, I also never knew I could be this excited about it! I love her, it has definitely been a tender mercy [see 1 Nephi 1:20]. We are having a lot of fun... too much fun sometimes! This is going to be a great six weeks.

[mon] PDAY. we ate at the chinese buffet [no msg! woot woot] with elders from both milwaukee zones, there were 14 of us, i got to see elder chapman, i love that kid ... then we played volleyball at the oak creek elders new apt, it was fun... i love to PLAY on pday... it helps me to get out all that pent up energy... it's a good thing! we also played scrabble with the elders at the kozlosky's, i even played, i am starting to like it... sick, i know. sister roth also called me very VERY upset, president blunk [drives the wausau transfer van, i road it once!!! :] accidentally called her to set up transportation for her and sister nichols to be doubled out of Adams and in to RHINELANDER, before anyone told them they were being transferred... poor girl. Rhinelander is a bigger, more spread out area than adams, biggest in the mission i heard! But... after a little talking too she was ok. i love her, obviously she is a great missionary if she's being doubled in there.

[tues] district meeting. i learned we can follow up with people on the commitments we left them the day before with 5 minute doorstep visits, what a concept, i never even thought of that... i am a talker you know. We met Janet at UWM and had a treat... i love her, she is from peru and has an at-ti-tude. She does a lot for her family and for anyone who asks her for help, so reliable, i love that about her.

[wed] taught janice, she is still struggling with smoking. we hate to see that especially since she was baptized a month ago, it kills me. but she can overcome it. we were supposed to have lunch with sister behrends old seminary teacher who is institute teacher out here now... but he forgot so we went to Kopps instead! YUM! I love that place. We taught Sammy Mentor at the Kozlosky's... she is 13 and so smart... she gave this analogy about our church compared to others... "its like i put on lotion and when i go to other churches it doesn't sink in... i go to your church and it does, they're both lotion, just one sinks in." tell me, i know, she is AmAzing. we used the baptismal calendar and reset her date for Aug 29... i can't wait. we had dinner at the kozlosky's with amanda, nikki [friends of their oldest son danny in HS] and nikki's non member husband Kenny... a lot of fun... then we HAD SMORES!! YUM! BEST NIGHT OF MY MISSION... we had smores outside by the campfire, then s. warner called and said she was coming to MIL... i loved life.

[thurs] TRANSFERS... warner came = party. Brittany Lee Kozlosky or BK as i affectionately call her, taught me how because I told her I loved her BF [people were talking ill of him to her] she learned that the people you love most will always lift you up and support you... i had an encounter earlier that day with an elder that was SO rude.... what a lesson she taught me, she helped me to get over it and move on... i love her.

[fri] lunch with katie wenzel at JAPANICA... the man made our food right in front of us with all kinds of tricks... so yummy and entertaining! We then took Sister Warner around to meet all our people [kris & britt, menters, formellas] it feels so surreal that she is here.

[sat] volleyball... we got rained out so we had it in the gym of the church... surprise party for bro. duhacik at the kozloskys- we taught so many people there... then we did transfer planning- we layed out all the work for both areas on the white board... sister warners specialty.

[sun] church... 6 hours worth :) mtgs mtgs mtgs... I thought about how when i was first companions president barrett taught me to have patience not tolerance... to LOVE not TOLERATE... what good advice, always good to remember in a TRIO... 3 girls in a really tight space = need for lots of PATIENCE. it's alot of fun though. Ashley came to church with her cousin katie wenzel... Spencer Twilmeyer gave a talk in the YSA ward [dated my roommate layne @ byu], julieanne brought her friend david from work... my worlds were colliding!!!! i taught the wards about president barretts new idea for dinners [we don't pass a calendar around... it freaks people out to have to make appts... its a good thing though. SISTER ROBERTSON CALLED AND GAVE SISTER WARNER AND I AN UPDATE ON THE WEATHER... like OLD times! She commented yesterday was the first of the nasty summer she promised us... so true!.... Sister Kozlosky had a ? in gospel principles... "How do the missionaries teach that faith relates to baptism?" the teacher said it was a whole lesson worth of info and said he'd teach it next week. i raised my hand and said I could answer her question in one sentance, "we teach faith in jesus christ prepares you for baptism, as you learn about him you want to be baptized like he was." the teacher began to expound, sister K said, sister black answered my question. haha Everyone came up to me afterwards saying that was so good... i was just a bit irritated... i love when people ask questions and get answers.

I am grateful to get to start a new transfer... sister behrends and I had 2 baptisms this transfer... AmAzing what faith can do. We are going to do so much good this transfer. I can remember a time when people told me and I believed them, that I would not baptize on my mission in Wisconsin... [ok ok i know i don't have the priesthood... HAHA] that is SO not true... so many people here are ready! i LOVE being a personal representative of our Savior, Jesus Christ!!!

I love all of you! thanks for everything you do for me! I have the best support system EVER!!!!!!

Love, sister pamella jo black

How can I keep my feet on the GROUND...

...When I was Born TO FLY? ...

yes that's right folks. I love that song. It is a Sara Evans song. More on that to come soon!!

Transfers are this Thursday, the 6th. Saturday We found out that sister behrends and I are staying together. Tuesday we find out where we will be. We are thinking that we will continue doing what we are doing [going back and forth from Racine] and that we might get a third sister (maybe sister warner? :)... we will see tomorrow night. So that is the exciting... transfers is always exciting.

Other good news:

*Jeff and Bonnie were both baptized in Green Bay on Saturday! Sister warner and I found them when we were serving there.. Jeff is Heather Millett's friend and Bonnie we found at Wednesday AM volleyball. SO COOL! It makes me SO happy to see the work of the Lord continue in areas I have served...

*I got a tape from grandpa this week... I love those! Thanks GPA!

*Mom told me Sophie can say my name now "Pam-e-wa"! thanks sarah! that made my day!!!

This past week was a blurr... HERE ARE some HIGHLIGHTS ...

[mon] we played CATCH PHRASE with the elders at the mission home

[tues] cheryl had her interview with elder hutchins for baptism. she passed! YEAH! we had dinner in Racine with the DAVIS'S. I love this family. The spirit is SO STRONG in their home.

[wed] cheryl prank called us with the "I don't want to get baptized" trick. hilarious.. when it was OVER! we studied at the beach in racine and taught tina. dinner with the stollenwerk family and elders vance and vogan in MIL where we clarified a GONDOLA = a MODE OF TRANSPORTATION... i was RIGHT!!!!

[thurs] planning at the church in milwaukee. institute with Katie wenZel, one of my FAV YSA's. Volleyball afterwards in the gym... yes that's right- i played in a skirt. haha

[fri] lunch with elders eastman, kelly, stribling and julian at the crowthers in racine. we practiced the arrangement of "Joseph Smiths First Prayer" we were going to sing at Cheryl's Baptism. MOVIE NIGHT with Cheryl and Ted and Ted's Parents... the JOHNSON'S. We watched a movie about the pioneers and ate movie treats and played with Natalie as a pre-baptism celebration. i love that family. earlier that day cheryl and ted went to the temple and the book store. now hanging in cheryl's home is a big picture of Jesus, the Family Proclamation and The Living Christ. She bought a ctr ring too. About the temple she said, "I just wanted to go inside! the spirit is so strong, even in the parking lot!!" so cool!!! I love her. Did i mention she threw away ALL her rated R movies? I LOVE THAT!!!

[sat] CHERYL'S BAPTISM. It went perfectly. THE SPIRIT WAS SOO STRONG. Sister Christina Davis (baptized Good Friday) spoke as did Sister Crowther (RS President). We sang our song and testimonies were born. Cheryl cried. We all cried. It was SUCH a special day to see her in the water in her beautiful white dress with Ted baptizing her - so cool! What a blessing Cheryl's choice is going to be for her family... Natalie especially. [It made me think of Bobby and Sarah!] I love that little family. President Barrett was so inspired to have us work with them!!! SAT night we went to the Racine COunty Fair with the Sura's after we had dinner with them. We pet a lot of the animals, bunnies especially and then we saw Sara Evans in concert for a while. Their daughter Abby and I skipped thru the whole fair to the parking lot, she's so cute. It was fun.

[sun] i stayed in racine. annette was my companion. Cheryl was confirmed... ted bore his testimony... it was AMAZING. after church sean and madison hansen, twins, were baptized. Sister beherends and her comp for the day, ariel briggs, came back from MIL for that too. we went to the hansens for dinner afterwards and then came back to milwaukee at the end of the night!

WHEW! after my mission i think i will be able to accomplish SO MUCH MORE with my time... It's amazing what you can do if you plan by the 1/2 hour!!!

I am so loving my mission. On the 5th, Wednesday, marks my 9 months out. I can't even believe it. I just want to be able to accomplish all I have been sent here to do. I love this work, I love that it truly is my Heavenly Father's work and that I can rely on Him and upon His Son, Jesus Christ- things go much better when I do that.

I love this work. I am so excited for my little brother... his papers are ALMOST done!!! I can't believe my siblings and I are all on the same playing field now. It's WIERD! We are all at about the same place in life right now!!! They are leaving for college in less than 20 days. so wierd... but exciting and fun!

I love my family. Thanks for all you do for me!!!

Love, sister Pamella Jo BLACK

ps... keep the mail coming. i LOVE mail. i love all of YOU!