Just Look For The Good 12/13/21

Hello everyone!!! I think I jinxed GA weather from last weeks email saying it has been so nice! This week the weather was wack. It was super foggy, had lots of rain and was gloomy. 

Keeping it real right now, this week was rough. We had lots of lessons cancel and a handful of our friends we are teaching have ghosted us BUT looking back I have seen so many miracles. We have been able to find a new friend to teach and we have visited and met some less active and part member families! 

On Tuesday night Sister Johnson and I went and brought cookies to Brother and Sister Montonaro. It was our first time meeting them and it was so good! Brother Montonaro is one of a kind funny (he reminds me of brother Knight from my last area). He has written lots of books and was a writer when he was employed. He also gave us a reading on our hand writing. He can look at someone's handwriting and analyze it, so he can tell about the person. When we were about to leave Sister Montonaro said well why don't you both just stay here forever! We told them we will see them at church and they came! 

This week we went and stopped by one of our friends the Trasenas family. We hadn't seen her in person but we stopped by because we hadn't had any contact with her in a few weeks. When we pulled up to her home she opened the door up and invited us right in! It went pretty well. She has a tiger sitting area and everything was tiger decorated it was interesting! At the end she told us to come on back over any day next week in the morning! We are looking forward to that. 

Saturday night Sister Vaughn invited us over to her home to decorate her Christmas tree because she and her husband physically can't. do ti any more. They enjoyed it so much! So did we:) We got to know her husband pretty well and by the end they were both giving us advice for life. One thing I love that he said is that life is hard and you will go through hard things but there is one thing that will change everything. He paused and then said your attitude. He told us "just look for the good" because there will always be negative things if you are looking with a negative perspective. We have to CHOOSE to be positive. No one can make us feel a certain way, we are able to choose to be positive or negative! I love you all and I hope this week y'all choose to be positive! 

Pictures:

1- The fog in GA

2- Grinch Lunch! The Craig's invited us to their annual Grinch lunch where everything we eat is green! As Sister Craig says "You celebrate the change of heart the Grinch had" 

3- Sister Johnson kept playing tricks on me and messing with me all week

4- Decorating the Christmas tree!

A Limping Sister Missionary 12/06/21

Well to start off with the limping Sister Missionary as I said in the subject line, ya got it right, lol it is me. Georgia has some big gutters and we parked right next to one. I stepped down not realizing how steep it was and I rolled my ankle.  I was in Flat Creek with one of the STLS on exchanges, and sure did had some laughs after I fell. Sister Chickoski has a sprained ankle too so we both were walking funky. Sorry it wasn't a cool story.

We also had interviews with President! We talked about how the area is going and the Spanish as well. He started talking about how training Sister Johnson is going (a lot of fun) and he goes "that's good, because you have the second half of her training together!" It took him a second to realize that I am done training her this transfer, so that was awkward haha! Don't know if that means we get to stay together another transfer period or not, but I would be happy if we did stay together!! We will find out transfer news on Saturday.

We set up Christmas in our apartment!! In missionary apartments there is everything, including Christmas decorations! So we set some up and have a count down going. The weather definitely does not feel like Christmas here in Georgia. Just the other day it was 70 degrees and sunny! 

On Sunday Jesús came to church! Hermano Sanchez gave him a ride and we had a lesson our second hour of church service time together. We talked about the restoration of Christs restored Gospel, and how we have the Book of Mormon. The lesson went really well! 

We are still teaching Riley and Graham before church and it is so much fun! On Sunday we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ, faith, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. We got to explain that when we are baptized we aren't being held under water and that it isn't scary. Clearing that up made them super excited lol.

Light the World!!!!! Every year the church has a service advent calendar leading up to Christmas that starts December 1st. Every day the calendar gives a prompt of some sort of service, and you all are invited to do it too! Sister Johnson and I have loved doing each days event listed on the calendar  and so have some of our friends. It is a super easy way to remember the meaning of Christmas and service! I attached it below for those that haven't heard of this before! 

Pictures: 

-Hiking for Hope with other Sisters (a member started a hiking group some of our friends go to!)

-Sister Chickoski and I

- After exchanges! 

-Light the World Calendar

-District Council!

Una Fiesta 06/24/21

Wow this week was great or in other words "una fiesta"!;) We had the opportunity to have our Zone conference on Tuesday with Elder and Sister Stanfill (of the Seventy) it was awesome! We talked about the power of Holy Ghost, Prayer and the Basics to surviving life. Something I love that was said is that there are 3 things to surviving life, 1. Prayer 2. Reading the Book of Mormon (scripture study) 3. Serving others. If we do these things we will have a constant guide and light in our life!

On Thursday I got to have interviews with President and Sister Needs and it is so good! We talked about how I am doing and received advice and direction. After our interviews in Conyers we (Sister Anderson, McAllister, Saunders and I) took some pictures while we were in downtown Conyers! We had our lunch there and we got to talk to some people that were also there!

Saturday was THEE day! Our District leaders serve in a branch and it is really struggling so the stake threw a fiesta trying to get more people to come to strengthen the branch. (When Hispanics get together EVERYONE comes) so it was a big hit! Some members made tacos for everyone, there was games, a slipping slide for the kids and some sports. It was a plus because we got to use our Spanish all day! One of the girls that came was teaching everyone to dance the salsa as well which was fun to watch! This weeks email is a little shorter but ya know the saying, pictures are worth 1000 words so here are some below!:)

Pics:

1. Sister Anderson and I (yes we are matching, I got ready for the day and she saw the dress and threw hers on lol)

2. Sister McAllister and I!

3. Good ole Coca-Cola pic because its from Georgia:)

4/5. The fiesta with some friends

Good Ole' Southern Cookin' 11/29/21

I don't think I have heard the line "Good Ole Southern Cookin'" more in my life than I did this past week. The Craig Family had us over for Thanksgiving on Thursday and they are all awesome. There are about 6 different Craig families in our ward! On Saturday Grandma Craig invited us over with ALL her family and let me tell ya... It was something! I thought I would educate y'all on 2 things I was told this past week.

1. There is NEVER too much salt on potatoes"

2. If you don't have bacon grease in your fridge you aren't actually from the south (allegedly bacon grease makes everything better)

I have learned that the farther South I go in GA the more interesting information I receive like the above. 

As you will see in the pictures below, I was able to visit with my brothers Peyton and Jackson this past week! They took Sister Johnson and I out to eat! I'm pretty sure I was in shock for 30 minutes that they actually were in front of me!

I also hit 9 MONTHS in the mission! HALF-WAY! Isn't that just crazy? Not quite sure how to feel about that! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve in the capacity as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day Saints for Jesus. It has been hard at times but so worth it! I know that the Lord guides us and I know that only through Jesus Christ can we live with Heavenly Father and our Families forever! I love you all and have a great week!!!!!!

Pictures: 

- The other sister missionaries with Sister Johnson and I walking around Newnan GA during lunch looking at how the town put up Christmas decorations!

- Peyton and Jackson! :)

Happy Thanksgiving:) 11/22/21

Happy early Thanksgiving from your favorite missionary!;) 

We visited an older lady this week who is less active in church attendance and it was so much fun! Once we knocked she let us right in. She was so excited to see us (especially her dog...it was going crazy lol) We sat and visited for a bit and after she invited us to come back over for a luncheon on Sunday! 

Last Saturday we visited Alisha and Anna! Sister Munroe and Alisha are pretty good friends so we all met at Alisha's house and had a lesson! The lesson went really well, we talked about the Bible and how it goes hand in hand with the Book of Mormon. Alisha has such a strong testimony of both the Book of Mormon and Bible. Saturday evening we then went over to Sister Oliver's home and Anna came with us! We all ate dinner together then we had a mini Gospel lesson. Anna is just so awesome, she is the sweetest. Sister Oliver was teach us all about her "Southern Ways" hahahah! I seriously was laughing so hard. After she would say something she would look at Sister Johnson and I and wait for us to repeat in her accent. All of us thought it was the funniest thing ever! (no I will not have an accent by the time I'm back)

This week we also found a new friend to teach! She reached out to us wanting to learn more about prayer. We had a mini lesson getting to know her and it went really well and we set up a return appointment for another lesson! At the end of the encounter we shared the scripture Matthew 7:7-8

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened" 

I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers! Just like this scripture says, we must ask AND seek. We must act in faith. We can't expect to have an answer to a question by sitting on the couch watching TV. We really need to seek in prayer and in scriptures, then will he reveal the answer to unto us. I know that we can have answers to all of our problems if we truly have the desire then seek and act in faith.

 I love you all and so does Heavenly Father. I hope y'all have a great Thanksgiving and I'm sending my love from Georgia! 

Pics:

-Downtown Newnan GA had a community event going on so we stopped by during our dinner hour to check it out

-Downtown with the other sister missionaries

-Sister Johnson and I got locked out of the apartment while walking in the morning

And Then There Were 2 11/08/21

This was one of the longest weeks ever for me! We had transfers and Sister Ginn left our area so now it is just Sister Johnson and I in Summer Grove.  

Thursday night we had dinner with Jesus and Ruby! It was so good, Jesus really opened up and started talking more to us. We have transportation set up for them to get to church regularly now so we are really excited for them. 

We also went and visited a part member family, the Fanias! We stopped by and they let us right in, we got to know them pretty well and they are very kind. Heather Fania was present as we shared a spiritual thought with them and she told us she wants to be taught missionary lessons about  the restored Gospel of Christ too. They love the missionaries and have visited with a lot of different missionaries in the past. We set up a time to go back over on Friday to start teaching her! God really does work in mysterious ways because before we decided to go over to there home, a couple of our lessons were canceled, then Bishop had told us about them so we went and now we have the opportunity to teach Heather! 

Sorry for the short email! I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Pics:

- Taking a picture during lunch time while we walked around

- Hermano Sanchez stopped by to say bye to Sister Ginn and brought us some treats he made lol...

- "Hiking for Hope" a hike we did with our friends we are teaching, some members, and Sisters from a different area

- A house in Downtown Newnan GA was DECKED OUT in Christmas stuff so of course we had to get a picture 

- At transfer meeting I saw Sister Golightly and Sister Watson!!!

   

Side Note: Yes if you look close, I am wearing Sister Johnsons name tag and no it was not on purpose hahaha

The Dynamic Trio 11/01/21

What a week! Lots of things happened. We had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders (STLs) and I stayed in Summer Grove. We went and visited a lady who called us and asked to study the Gospel with her. We went by her house and she wasn't home. Another lady was though and we got to talk to her! We set up a return appointment and it is in Spanish so it was so fun! During exchanges we got a referral (someone replied to a free Bible and Book of Mormon ad) We went to the address they filled out and it was at a different church. Sadly, no one was there so we had to leave it at the door, but it was interesting!

We had interviews this week. It is always so good to talk with President Needs! During interviews President was telling me how we are getting a lot of new missionaries this transfer and how I am one of the oldest missionaries. Our mission is getting really young and I am only 8 months in! Sadly, We already knew that the trio is coming to an end this week on Wednesday. Sister Ginn is leaving the area and then Sister Johnson and I are staying together as companions in the Summer Grove area. The 3 of us have gotten along really well so it will be sad to have us break up but it's a new adventure! 

On Sunday we sang in church. I about pee'd my pants I was so nervous. Don't ask whose ideas it was to sing in Sacrament Meeting because I would be lying if I said it wasn't me. We sang the song called A Child's Prayer. Sister Ginn sang the first verse in English then Sister Johnson and I sang the second verse in Spanish. For the third verse we sang together in English and in Spanish at the same time. Everyone loved it, it threw them for a loop when we started singing in Spanish. Lol.

I love you all and DON'T FORGET TO PRAY! 

Pics:

- Weekly planning with shakes and fries!

- A cool wall in Downtown Newnan 

- Ward Halloween Party

- Hermanita Johnson and I

- The pumpkin I carved!