October 31...Happy Halloween!!!

I need to tell you the important things but I'll be writing you all a
letter today to update you more on the week and such. Sister Batemon
is my new companion and she's been in the field less than a week now.
She's from Oklahoma and is the youngest of 6 (all brothers). You'll
never believe it but IM BACK IN DUBLIN HOUSE!!!! Yes I will have spent
10/13 transfers in this house, they may as well put the house in my
name. We're serving in two family wards: Appleby and Grove 2nd. I
already love them and know this is where I'm needed right now for
these next few weeks. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! I will talk with you soon:)

Love, Sister Eaton

PS I'm feeling much better! All the prayers are working:)
PPS I lost my bag with my scriptures, 17 months worth of journal and
my photo album... PLEASE pray that someone finds it and that I'll get
it all back soon!

My last companion Sister Anderson!

My baby girl Sister Batemon!

Aydenn's Baptism! It was Saturday and 

bc I got transferred out I got 

to facetime in!

October 24 - Interview with President and Feeling Better!

Mama! 

I'm glad you were able to go to CA to help Rachelle&Brandon out, what a treat for them! I loved all the pictures you sent me and I can't believe how big Jonathan has gotten! I didn't go to the doctor because Sister Christensen wanted to wait until after transfers in case I moved. (There's a good chance I am) The good news is I feel I have more energy! On Tuesday I decided I would stop eating candy/desserts and I'm drinking lots of water and I did start taking the energy enzymes (I didn't start taking them when I was in Queen Creek because I started to feel better but you know I'm desperate if I'll take supplements...) and a multi-supplement. I had a great interview with President when they came to Yuma! He talked with me about how I was feeling. He and Sister Christensen really care about how I'm doing, I love them! I'm forever grateful to have such a great trust and relationship with both of my mission presidents and their wives. He asked if I thought if going back to the valley would make a difference but I said no. He knows obedience means a lot to me and he appreciates that but he wants me to take care of myself. (Meaning resting when he tells me to is not being disobedient) He really gets it. He shared with me how he just kept working and working when he had mono and his body ended up shutting down and was down for a week so he made me promise if I ever started feeling like a 6 or less on a scale of 1 to 10 I would go lay down for an hour. I've felt frustrated because when I'm feeling fine I start to think I'm just making it up- and when I'm tired it's hard to differentiate what's me tired as a missionary and what's the virus because it's not like a cold where you know "this is a cold" take some medicine, rest and you'll be fine. I think "I'm tired" cool- other people are tired. Keep going. So I'm learning how to read my body because sometimes I can't just keep going. But I think I'm doing just fine and I'm on the mend:) The Lord is definitely watching over me and like I mentioned from the blessing I got there are lessons I need to learn and I'm sure will continue to learn the rest of my life from this virus. 

On a different note I asked President what the chances were of me training my last transfer and he said "Do you want to?" And I said I did and he said "Well if you want to then good!" He had me on the list but knew I wasn't feeling so good so took me off but if I train I would be whitewashing which means I would be leaving Yuma to open an area in the valley. I didn't want to 6 week an area, let alone 6 week my last two areas but I feel excited when I think about training! I really do love Yuma and I would miss it if I left and I'm glad I had the opportunity to serve out of the valley but we'll see where Heavenly Father needs me. 

Thank you for your support mama, I LOVE YOU!!!! Drive safe! I'll talk with you soon😘

Love, your baby girl, Sister Eaton

PS. We went to Old Navy this morning and I bought a few shirts.. I hope that's okay. I'll share when I get home:) 

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October 17 - Epstine Bar Virus but workin hard

You are too cute and the queen of selfies, I love you! I thought I
would share some thoughts with you from the week that I think you
would appreciate. So about the time of the beginning of this transfer
(middle of Septemberish) I was feeling very fatigued. The trick with
epstine bar virus is you can't tell the difference between being tired
and the virus. It was around zone conference that I decided to call
Sister Christensen to see if she had any advice on what I could do to
try and help. She gave me some tips because fortunately she's familiar
with epstine bar. I'm kinda at a loss with this virus because no
amount of sleep seems to help (I only know that from before the
mission, I haven't been sleeping more than the 8 hours at night and
sometimes I'll take a 15 minute nap during lunch) nor have a found any
trick to get rid of it... basically I was feeling pretty hopeless. On
top of it all I was so frustrated because I don't want anything
stopping me from working and it made me tear up thinking I couldn't
work as hard as I wanted to. So I've been taking iron but I haven't
noticed a big difference so I finally resulted to a priesthood
blessing. I was desperate for guidance and so I asked my district
leader. It was a really neat blessing talking about how I'll
understand how this trial will help me etc. but the thing that stood
out to me most is when he said "latent things will be made known unto
you soon". I didn't know what latent meant but it said "Existing but
not yet developed or manifested". I'm not sure exactly what the Lord
has prepared in my future but I'm eager to continue serving with all
my heart might mind and strength even if it's not what I want it to be
because the Lord doesn't expect me to give more than I have. I'm
grateful for you mom because I've never questioned once if you and
even dad have loved me. I've always known you have and that's the
greatest gift you could give a child because I know that's how
Heavenly Father feels about us. I love you to the moon and back. Don't
worry about me I'm doing wonderful.
Side not: I DIDNT KNOW RACHELLE IS PREGNANT!!!!! And Brandon is one
gifted artist. I would be more than willing to go out and help or
spend time with them once I'm home. Do you know if they're planning on
coming for Christmas? I heard from dad that we're going somewhere for
Christmas and it's going to be HUGE. Can I sneak any details? Who's
coming, where we might be going... any of that?:) But have fun with
them and give everyone a hug from me, I LOVE YOU!

Love, your baby, Sister Eaton

October 10 - Last zone conference and Authentic Carne Asada Tacos=muy bien!

This week has been wonderful! This morning we hiked telegraph pass and
it was challenging and rewarding. We're trying to find new
investigators to teach but the Lord has blessed us with a couple
potentials and we had five investigators at church yesterday! This
week was my last zone conference! I can't believe how fast time flies.
They have all the departing missionaries bare their testimonies and I
didn't want to think I was one of them. It was hard but I did it!
Just to answer a couple of your questions: the Mexican food is muy
bueno here🏻Authentic carne asada tacos are heaven on earth for
real. The cooking is pretty similar as home but I do miss eating on my
own terms. Everyone loves there sister missionaries so they feed us
which is sweet of them but not for the bod. I look forward to working
with the elders! I'll do my best to find them some people to teach,
even if they want to take me tracting. I love knocking doors and
meeting new people. Rejections not as fun but it's part of it. I got
the debit card in the mail. Should I cut up the old one? Thanks for
sending it to me! You're the best!
I just want you both to know how grateful I am to have you as my
parents. It means more to me than the world itself that I have parents
who love God and keep their covenants. It's so easy to fall less
active and I can't thank you enough that through all the difficult
times in your lives that you were raising our family you never said
"I'm not feeling like getting ready for church today. Just not today."
or "God has asked too much of us so I'm going to do it my way for a
little while." I'm so so grateful! I see too many broken families that
try to do it "their way" and I promise that it's ALWAYS harder than
just following God's plan for us. I love you both more than words can
say but I'll talk with ya soon!

Love, your baby,
Sister Eaton

Sportin the USA!

President and Sister Christensen

My favorite senior couples I served with in San Tan, President and Sister Gladwell! 

He is also in the mission presidency so they get to come to zone conferences!

October 3 - Yumanian Stats

I just wanted to respond to some of the questions I got from you two.
You can send my new debit card to the Yuma address:) I have had more
chances to sing! I sang in my ward a few weeks ago now back in San Tan
and I'll be singing with another sister Wednesday for zone conference.
Yuma has about 200,000 including the outskirts like where I'm serving.
(In the Foothills) We're in a car because everything's pretty spaced
out. The snow birds should be coming by the end of October which will
quadruple the population here, yay! There a bunch of really old people
or young families because we're right by YPG a marine corps station.
We live in a trailer home, just us which is fun. My comp, Sis.
Anderson, is from Kaysville. As far as my bike I'm going to ship it
home. There's a member in our ward who sends home packages for free
for the missionaries, so sweet of them! And yes even bikes. They say
that they're always blessed with a busy week after sending home a
missionaries bike. We watched conference at our stake center with most
of our zone. Our WML invited us to watch with them Sunday afternoon
because had down to feed us that night. Our investigator Doug did
watch which was so awesome! We were dropped 3 times this week so we're
working super hard to find more people to teach but the Lord has
already blessed us with a couple of potentials. I love it here so so
much! I hope all is going well back home! I love you lots and lots!

Love, Sister Eaton

Sept 26 - General Women's Conference every week? Yes please!

If only we had General Women's Conference every week! It was amazing
and inspiring. I love our dear prophet, he's just the cutest! And the
best part is we still get two more full days of it! Just a couple
thoughts I had from conference is what a blessing it is to have the
light of Christ in our lives to help us become the best we can be. To
be truly converted to gospel truths is the greatest blessing I could
give my future family and then of course to have FAITH. I think
President Uchtdorf has every women in the church talking about how
adorable his and Harriet's love story is.
This week is officially window weather sitting around 90-100 degrees.
We found two new investigators! Our RC Kaylee's younger brother is
sitting in on her recent convert lessons which is a miracle that he's
interested in learning more because he's a very active young boy. The
other one is someone who we knocked on his door because we were
looking for a former investigator that lived next to him. His name is
Joel and his mother and brother recently passed away within a few
weeks of each other so he's very receptive to God's plan for us. He
has a strong desire to strengthen his faith and already recognizes the
Holy Ghost in his life, it's incredible!
Sister Anderson and I have a great time together and it's a great
conversation starter when she's 4'11" and I'm almost a foot taller.
The Lord is truly blessing us and I can't wait for all the snow birds
to come and quadruple the population here in Yuma!

That's so fun Karalyn is headed on her mission! She's beautiful! How
are her siblings doing? Also how is Lynzie doing?? Do you think she'll
be able to come when I get home or even to my welcome home? Also are
gma and gpa still planning on staying with us for a couple weeks? I
heard about the tornado, crazy! Good thing it was huge. So my address
down in Yuma is 13118 E 49 st. Yuma, AZ 85367. Also will you email
Sister Smith (my last comp who still lives in Queen Creek) and give
her my address to forward dad's letter to me? Besides mints which is
typical for me to ask for (yes the bag is gone you sent) would you be
able to send a red refill for the mechanical scripture marker I have?
I don't know if that makes sense and if not no worries:) Thank you so
much for being so wonderful!!! I love you both so much! Happy
conference week!

Love, your baby, Sister Eaton

Sept 19 - YUMA?!?!?!?

YUMA???? I have been shipped out of the valley three hours from
civilization to Yuma, AZ! I didn't see this coming but I LOVE YUMA!!!!
We're three hours from San Diego so fingers crossed we'll get to do a
temple trip there! I'm still learning my area but Sister Anderson has
been patient with me while I learn our wards and investigators. We
just had a baptism on Saturday, her names Kaylee and she's 13. She is
the sweetest thing and I can't wait to be able to teach her the RC
lessons and get to know her better. We have a few others on date for
this transfer so it's going to be exciting! On top of it all General
Conference is in a couple weeks and I'm so excited!!! There's a bunch
of old snow birds coming back into town and I got the privilege of
riding with one of them... I'm still alive! Boy did it spice our ride
up especially when she made a left turn. It was a good turn it was
just on a red light so I was saying extra prayers for the both of us,
bless her. One  thing I was reminded of this week was to pray with
sincerity. One of our RC George says the most genuine prayers! They
start off as such, "Heavenly Father, it's George again..." I wish you
could here the fluctuation in his voice because it's just the best! I
could go on and on but I just wanted to end with the love I have for
this gospel. It brings true joy to my life and I'm so grateful to be
able to share it with all of God's children- well the ones here in
Yuma at least. He does love us unconditionally and it's so sweet to be
able to witness and feel that love for myself. I hope you have the
best week ever! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Love, Sister Eaton

September 12, 2016 Daijah on date, service and PM couple!

Hey fam! So I want to write all of you but this will have to suffice
for now, maybe one day I'll have more time! I have loved everything
about this week! We had a lesson with our investigator Daijah and put
her on date for October 8th!!! We got to do some service for our
investigator Christie and also met a PM couple that are snowbirds and
they're back for the cooler weather! He's not a member but he's a
service missionary for the church... he gets all huffy any time you
bring up baptism so no one knows what his concerns are. Any
suggestions? Our other investigator Roseanna got all her top teeth
extracted and got her denture this week! As you could imagine she's in
quite a bit of pain but it's been amazing to see the ward be there for
her through all of this, they're truly amazing! That's a little update
on the area:) Transfers are Wednesday and we find out tomorrow what
will happen. I'm not sure if I'll stay or go but I love my area and my
companion so a girl could hope! We're still STLs and I love being able
to have such good relationships with tons of sisters you wouldn't
normally get to serve close with.
I SERIOUSLY CANT WAIT TO HAVE YOU 7 MIN AWAY BEN&CAL!!!!! So much
excitement I can't even handle it! How was the first day on the new
job Ben?? Also how fun to have a multi-stake conference! I'm SO
grateful to have such a wonderful family! I LOVE being a missionary
and I learn so much every day. Thank you for your wonderful examples
and have the greatest week ever!

Love, Sister Eaton

We're on egg duty

My cute companion and I before church!

I love you all!!

There's no place I would rather be than here serving in AZ on Labor
Day! I don't have too much time but I wanted to make sure you know how
much I love you! I'm doing great and I'm happy to hear all is well
back home:) That's fun you were able to have a get together with
Austin&Eli. Also that's so cool to hear that Abretia has decided to
serve! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! I can't say it more but it's
seriously is the best thing! Transfers are the 14th so stay posted on
what will happen! I love you both!! Have a great week and I'll talk
with you soon:)

Love, Sister Eaton

Exchanges with Sister Riker and Bob

In honor of football season here is my comp and I sportin our Cardinals shirts. Also, I've not 

been in AZ too long - I'm still happy to hear BYU won U of A!

August 29 - August is over...

Yes I do wish I could stop time for just a minute. I love every minute! It seems you've had a great week! I have to admit it's extremely weird for me to hear about Whit hanging out with my friends.. Everyone seems to be doing well though which is great! I don't think I need anything and I can't think of anything I want. You can save the money to go shopping when I get home though haha I'll write you a letter today, I LOVE YOU MOM!!!! 

Love, your baby girl, Sister Eaton

August 22 - Plans for after the mission??

Such exciting news from everyone! I can't believe how fast time passes.. Next week is already September for goodness sake! It looks like you had a blast at Snowbird! That's good Nicholas still hangs out with y'all! And we got a new bishop! That's nice of him to get my email. And you got a new car! It'll be at least a few months until I get a phone haha Also Brandon's starting school! Laguna would be a great place for us to visit:) Here's what I'm thinking as far as school goes... I won't go until April but I'm thinking of moving to Provo in January or so to live with B&C and nanny for them if they need me or working at Vivint or something. The YSA scene is much better in Provo than having a HS reunion each Sunday. That way I can save some money and be reacquainted with the fam and friends before I leave for school. What are your thoughts? And you're right we'll still be able to talk as much as we want:) I still have to run it by B&C so we'll see what they think. Have fun watching Jonah play! Give everyone a hug for me and let grandma and grandpa let them know how much I love them❤️ I love being a missionary and it seems to just get better and better! I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH!!!! 

Love, your baby girl, Sister Eaton 

Our investigator Roseanna, her son Jonathan and his friend Ethyn. I love them so much!

My cute companion and I after a session!

August 15 - Invests to church, Kate's baptism, monsoon season, exchanges and twins!

Kate's Baptism!!!

#WalmartSpecial#TwinningisWinning

Yesterday Roseanna came to church with her 3 children! I love them so much! I have a new

best friend, Evelyn,  who doesn't go anywhere without holding my hand.

Our exchange with Sister Lungu and Pennington! Fun story: so I trained Sister Berezay

who is not in the picture, who trained sister Lungu (to my left) and she is now training

Sister Pennington (to my right). And my cute companion of course! So fun!

It's monsoon season!! Which means everything floods for a few days after it pours buckets.

We decided to bike for the day... not our brightest idea seeing how rain doesn't come 

without humidity.

August 8 - Adjusted and loving Gilbert :)

I'm staying another transfer! This week has been great and passed too
quickly, I don't know where all the time goes! I loved hearing and
seeing pics from the Island Park trip! I'm also happy to hear gramps
and gram are doing well! I sure love them! It's about killing me not
being able to watch the olympics but sacrifices bring forth great
blessings, right?😉 As far as the weather it's still hotter than Hades
down here but the monsoons cool things off a bit and add humidity that
I don't know how to deal with but they're amazing! We do have some
wonderful people we're teaching but not quite as many as YSA where I
came from which is okay and I knew it would be that way. I've adjusted
nicely to my new area here in Gilbert- a stranger paid for our
groceries today while we were checking out and we got a free car wash!
But it really is a great area and I'm loving every minute! I need to
stop blinking because every time I do another week has passed! Each
week we try to get 20 teaching opportunities, including members
taught, and this week we got 21 which is a huge achievement! I'm
excited for this new transfer and I love you both so much!!! I'll talk
with you soon❤️

Love, Sister Eaton

AUGUST 1ST! - Transfers, Pedis and Staying Busy

Sounds like an exciting week full of family and fun and I GOT A NEW
NEPHEW!!!!! I love how much time you're able to spend with everyone,
especially this summer! Island Park is going to be a blast! I'm
excited for all of you! Okay and I just need to clarify.... Maren my
friend from high school is marrying Aaron Williams?? If so that's
crazy weird! Okay moving on. Transfers are this Wednesday which means
leadership calls are tonight and transfer calls are tomorrow. I have
not a clue what will happen but we'll soon find out! Thank you for
being my #1 fans, I love you both so much! I can't believe how fast
time flys! It's already August! I'm staying hydrated in the crazy
weather, enjoy your 100 degrees pops😉 Our member is takin us to get
pedis! Perks of serving in fancy wards. I LOVE YOU BOTH!!!! Have the
BEST week every!!! But don't have too much fun without me and go down
the river once for me!

Love, Sister Eaton