Homecoming

I will be having my home coming talk this Sunday June 16th 2013. It will be at the Lakeview Stake Center at 1 pm and there will be a lunch potluck at 11 before the meeting! All are welcome to come. Let me know if you can make it!

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ENDURE TO THE END!!!

This is it, the last day in the field. 

I feel weird. 

I think that I will stop thinking about it and worry about it tomorrow. . . ;) Yup, that sounds great!

I have had a beautiful week. there was a baptism of Smitty and he also got confirmed this last Sunday! I'm so happy for him! 

This last Sunday was so special. I was sitting in the audience and the Bishop stood up and said, "I'm going to change the program a little bit because we usually don't get an opportunity like this. . ." He called me up to give my testimony and I gave my testimony in Zone Meeting and there was the mission wide phone call last night. In each testimony I shared my mission scripture. 2 Ne 31:20. Everyone in the ward has been super sweet to me and some have even called me their daughter. I love the church. I'm am so blessed to be a member and to be a missionary. Now and Forever!

I will miss all the people that I'm leaving behind, but I know that I will be doing the Lords work in a different capacity. I love you all and I love the Lord. 

See you soonish. . . 

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My Last Days. . .

I gave my testimony this last Sunday, my last fast Sunday on the mission. . .  but I didn't say that it was my last one. I couldn't bring myself to say the words. . . My companion has been telling everyone though! So we also have dinner appointments! ;) I will be going home the same time as my MTC companion, but she is in the Alabama mission. Crazy! 

 

I am so excited for this week, we are going to have a baptism! Yes! and we are going to have class and we are going to invite more people to baptism! It will be wonderful. It is always wonderful when we are fulfilling our purpose!

My companion Sister Montgomery is training a new sister! We are going to be moving this next week and Elders are coming into the area so, we are going to have a crazy time in my last few day! I love it!

I am excited for what the future holds for missionary work. I remember how you use to tell the experience where an apostle said that people will line up at the church waiting to be baptized! YES!! That is so great! It is happening. The Lord is preparing the teachers for the students to come!

I love you all!

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This week we have been working on contacting people and we have contacted a lot! We saw so many miracles and we were able to make a lot of referrals and we were able to have a lot of lessons. I was so surprised.This really is a great area, but I also feel like with a good hard working companion we are seeing miracles. The number of contacts that we wanted to receive and contact this last Sunday is we wanted to receive 1 and contact 4 we did 3 and 5! it was so amazing! I love how Heavenly Father blesses us when we set goals and then go out and work for it!

 

I love it!

 

I know that we are being guided and that we are working in the way that we are suppose to when I get re-energised after been so tire that I thought I couldn't move. It happen each time I teach and see that people understand the Gospel.

 

We had conference this week and we learned how to teach repentance and the atonement.

 

I loved learning things at the zone conference and I have to say, I love pamphlets! They are the best!

 

Have a good week!

 

 

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:)

So, I have had a wonderful week and I ahve been teaching and serving and testifiyign and meeting new people and I'm sure that it will never stop! I am so happy to be here. 

We are working with these wonderful girls and they say that my nick-name is cabbage patch! I love nick-names! They are so great. One has even started come to church and is planning to come to girls camp! I'm so happy and I hope she has a blast! 

We are also working with some other amazing people, Smitty and Charlie! 

Love ya'll!!

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Weeks still left!

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Pictures

I wasn't at a computer before that we could plug our camera's into, but now we are.

we went to Alligator Lake for lunch and walked around the lake. this is my turtle shell picture.

Sister Montgomery and I have a new companion for a few more days, her companion is coming to the mission this week. The new sister had to wait for a visa. It is sister Ashcraft!

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Mothers day!

I was so happy to see all the people that were over at my mom's house! Such a wonderful time! I had a wonderful week too full of finding peopleto teach and finding people that truly want to change their lives and are willing to work and do something about we have been meeting with a man named Charlie, he doesn't have full use of his muscles so he is in a wheel chair and he still came to church! I was super happy and I was excited to see how many people cam up and greeted him. He is so smart and he knows where he wants to be heading!

 

This morning we went out running around a pond. It was so beautiful that I couldn't help, but enjoy it, but in the very last part of our time, we were stretching and there were these two ducks fighting, it was crazy! They keep going at it wrestling it was kind of funny to watch and they hardly noticed people who walked right next to them and it made me think, how often do we focus on the things that happen to us or on what other people to do to the point that we forget to look around us and listen to the angles or the friends who really love us and don't want us to get hurt. In this case one of the ducks broke free and ran aways into the water. I hope to run from the animosity and hurt feeling that might come into my life.

 

I know that I may only have a few weeks left out in the mission field of Florida, but like the sign that I spotted as we pulled out of a church building, "You are now entering the mission field" I will continue to be a missionary now and forever! :D

 

I love you all and I'm exctied to be seeing you and catching up with you!

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A Wonderful Sunday!

HI! I hope that ya'll have had a wonderful week. Lake City is a wonderful place and there is a lot of work being done. I love the people here. 

A sister in the Relief Society started a class that is kind of like weight watchers and it has brought a lot of people to the church for it. Not to mention my companion loves it too (she loves exercising and eating healthy things. She is teaching me a lot, but I'm the one who introduced her to kale. ;)

We were planning one night and we had just about finished when we heard the door creek and be both jumped, then Sister Knickerbocker walked in! She use to live there and since we live in a house that is gated we usually don't lock up until after planning. It was a treat to see her, she said that she will be staying her for the summer in St. Augustine. I remember saying, "You are visiting from the other side of the veil!" :D

I love ya'll, Oh, I almost forgot our recent convert Idell stood and bore her testimony again this fast Sunday and her son did too, they were both happy that her daughter/ his sister came to church too. It was the best Sunday ever!

Have a happy week!

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Staying here

This week we had transfer calls and I will be staying here in Deep Creek this transfer, unless something happens . . .  There are a lot of wonderful sisters coming into the mission and I am so happy to see all the wonderful changes that are coming about. We now have sister leaders and they will be doing trade-offs with all of the sisters. They will also be going to the monthly council. 

I have been having a wonderful time in this area, we have been teaching a lot of people in all different age groups, but Smitty is one that really stands out. He is a really good person and he wants to do what is right and good and with help from a member he works with he has been able to learn a lot and he comes to as many church activities as he can. 

This is a great area to be in and I hope to continue to learn how to be bold, but loving and how to help build the Lord's kingdom because it is one person at a time.  

I love ya'll!

Picture 1: I usually don't expect to get much mail (because most people send it to the mission home) but my companion usually does, so, when we opened the mail box this morning to find a spider, I was shocked.

Picture 2: The tunnel that leads to our apartment. I sing every night when we go in. :)

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Work

This week was really busy and really wonderful! There Sister Idell was baptized and she bore her testimony and it made me cry. 

We have also been able to work with a little girl who is 11 and she is so smart and she has been reading with her father who is a member and she has been taking all the lessons because she is getting baptized this week! 

This is a good area, so I'm interested to see what will happen. Transfer calls are coming this week so I will have to update ya'll on Tuesday next week. 

One day this week we were thinking that we would have to go on splits, but because there were other activities going on with the relief society everyone was too busy, so we rescheduled a few people, but it all worked out in the end and we were able to do what we needed. It has been very busy this week, so wonderful! :) I hope it continues!

http://mormon.org/drew/ 

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Sundays are my Happy day!

This Sunday was amazing. Idell is an investigator who has a son who was baptized last year, and we had told her that he could baptize her, but she hadn't told us who was going to baptize her. during testimony meeting her son stood up and bore his testimony and he is a really wonderful speaker, and he started to cry as he talked about how wonderful it would be to be able to baptize his mother. 

Then we saw her get up and as she bore her testimony she sounded just like the woman who President Uchtdorf spoke of, then she said that she felt so loved here and it was hard to except because she had never really felt loved before and she was so happy that she would be able to be baptized and that she would be getting the greatest gift of all, the Holy Ghost and it would be free. I was bawling. And there was an investigator there for the first time and he said he left wanting more! I loved it!

There is such a great spirit right now and it is covering the entire earth. There is so much that I can do to help that sometimes it can feel like a daunting task, but I know because He has promised me, that I will be able to fulfill the calling that he has given me to be His daughter here at this time. I am so happy that I am continually meeting wonderful people and I am so happy that I can share just a little bit with ya'll. Keep up the good works and let me know if there is something more I can do for you because I want to do all that I can!!!

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Aww, conference, so refreshing!

In answer to the question, "When will you be coming home?" I will be coming home June 13th. CRAZY! I still really don't think it will ever come. ;) 

I have been so excited for conference for the past six months and it never lets me down! I loved all the talks and the order was amazing too! I was able to learn so much and I hope that I will be able to apply all the things that I learned too! 

In between sessions on Sunday, we went to contact this man and while we were talking I was moving the box that I keep my Book of Mormon and pass along cards and pamphlets in and my other hand apparently wasn't ready for it so it fell and great was the fall there of. and All of my stuff came flying out at him. (My companion later said you just wanted to throw the gospel at him all at once!) It would have all be well and good if that had been the end of that moment, but as we said goodbye I took three steps back and ended up falling over his car! Better yet, he had just pointed at that car and we had all looked back to see it! ( Heavenly Father knew that we really needed a laugh, because moments before a lady had been yelling at us for parking with the front part of our car in her yard.) TENDER MERCY! Loved it! We laugh all the way back to the church!

We are doing really great here! There is a wonderful lady who is preparing to be baptized on the 19th and when she came to the church for the last session she brought her daughter and her son's friend! We were so happy, Sister Montgomery was jumping up and down with joy! This is a great time and a great area to be "catching the wave!"

I better start studying conference, only 6 months until the next one!

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April Fools!

Spring time! Sunday was wonderful, full of sunshine and light. I feel like I am finally getting a hold of what missionary life is all about, maybe. I have been so blessed to meet so many people and I have learned that people. This week we have been sharing a lot of pass along cards, but they are all the same, the one with the Savior stepping out of the tomb, we have been sharing an Easter message using 3 Nephi 11 to show that the Saviors is still moving forward and He wants all of His childern to know that they can live with Him. 

I am so excited for conference, I didn't feel like we could talk about it as much because of Easter message, but now we can share it with everyone and let them know how to watch it. I am so excited! The General Young Women Broadcast was on Saturday too! So happy! I loved it.

My Easter was great, I went to church, but there were not many members there and then we went over to a recent convert's house, Sister Hug. She is really great and a wonderful missionary, in fact her sister was baptized on Saturday and she lives in a different State!  

Hope you all are having a wonderful week! 

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No time

Sorry I don't have time to write this week. 

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Tornado anyone?

Picture one: A member's car that had a tree fall on it while they were driving. 

Picture two: Our car and the road behind it. Scary. 

I love my new area, Lake City is still country enough that a man from Miami said, "I'm not use to people coming to check up on me." after we helped him lift the roof of his carport off of his car. 

Oh, I forgot to mention, we had a tornado here. My first one, we were sitting in our car when it happened and while we were okay over 200 large trees right around us where brought down. The houses, fences and other cars were not as lucky. 

We were parked outside someone's house praying before we went in when it stared and by the time we finished praying there was a river running into their back yard. we got out and ran for the house as hale poured down, they opened their door and we ran in, a tsunami came in with us. We spent the next hour cleaning up and watched as a cooler floated around in the back yard--turned into a lake.

Church in our building was cancelled and when we went over to another building and made it through sacrament and the first speaker before the power went out there.  

We have been able to contact a lot this week, with the storm and everything people were out looking to see what damage was done and we were able to help people clean up. I heard many people say the comment, "He is trying to tell everyone something." 

Well, I love ya'll! 

Have a great week. 

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False alarm

Picture one: Top:Sister Carrigan Middle: Sister Clayton and Sister Montgomery Bottom: Me, Sister Barton and Sister Delaplane

Picture two: My dear trainer at her last district meeting. . . :'(

I will not be staying in Macclenny, instead I will be going to Deep Creek. This new area will let me stay in the same stake that is the first time that that has ever happened to me on my mission. In fact I didn't think that it would ever happen while I was on my mission. :) I will be with a new sister Montgomery who is in her 2nd half of training. She is a great sister! 

I have been sad to have to say goodbye to this area because the people here are truly loving and they make sure they get to know you even though they know that you will not be staying long, I have felt so much love here. I know that I will continue to love and serve in Deep Creek, but I will miss the people that I am leaving behind. I feel like I have learned so much about charity here. 

I guess I can mention now, we had Gladys Knight and the Unified Saints Voices Choir come to Orange Park and Sister Knight and her husband Brother Mcdowell bore their testimonies and it was so powerful. The entire choir is full of volunteers and they have been set apart as missionaries, we had over 200 requests for the free gift of a sampler CD, a Book of Mormon and the restoration DVD. I love it! We deliver it to their homes and share the message of the restoration, then ask them if there is someone who they wish would have been there. 

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Interesting week

This was a great week, we saw people and were able to talk to new people, but I feel like the highlight was stake conference. I was able to go to the first adult session of stake conference since I came on my mission and I loved it! The talks were powerful, we had a seventy there, Paul Johnson. I felt my faith build and I felt like I could run for miles with the energy that was there! I loved it!

There will be a big fireside that is happening this weekend in Orange Park and I am super excited for it! There is going to be a major spirit of missionary work and there will be many referrals for the missionaries in this mission afterwards, I am so excited! I can't believe one last thing that happened this week. We received a phone call from President Barry, he asked me and Sister Carrigan to be trainers, but not the normal, "You get a new sister" kind, we are being follow up trainers for sisters who have been out for a transfer because of the 12 week training program that was implemented about 2 yrs ago. So, I will be staying here and Sister Carrigan will be going to learn a new area and train. Wow, amazing. It is all in the Lords hands.

Because of transfers, I will be updating the blog on Tuesday next week. 

I love you! I pray for you and I know the Lord is watching over you.

-Sister Sheffer

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Mission Blog

Pictures-it rained really bad on Sunday and Monday, so we didn't go on the dirt roads very much, but on Tuesday we pulled over on the side of the road to make a few phone calls and when Sister Carrigan started to go forward we were stuck, so, I got out and pushed the car out. This is the aftermath.

http://sistersheffer.wordpress.com/

As a facebook missionary I am also able to have a blog, so, this is my new blog! I am so happy and excited, of course I will be keeping this one up, but I will be posting gospel things on my blog so I can share it with investigators. So happy! 

This week has been good in many ways and strange in others. I feel like I am understanding the atonement more and more everyday. The sacrament has become a true time for renewal. I have been on my mission for months, and I have been studying the lessons in Preach My Gospel everyday, but I feel like I have gotten into a groove of just reading it, so I decide that I would do something different, I would read Preach My Gospel from cover to cover, something that I have started many times, but never finished. So, I have been doing that everyday and as I have been reading I have been noticing things that I have read before that I didn't really apply into my life, I feel like I will start reading it like I do with the Book of Mormon, where I keep reading it over and over again because different things will stand out to me. 

I really hope that I will get better at talking with everyone I see, right now I do alright at it, but I really want to bring it to a new level, where I will really show that I am interested in learning about the people and how they are and what they are doing and what their dreams are. I will keep working and studying for that. 

I love you all and I hope that you are doing well, 

Sister Sheffer

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OH happy day!

So, on Sundays the Yaccrino's have us over for dinner. This is something that is normal, but the night before I went to wash my face and when I came back out to talk more with Christine and sister C I was surprised that they were not where I left them, I followed them and they had been hiding, Christine said that it was nothing and I shouldn't worry about it so I went to bed, but the next day at dinner Christine said, "I lied, there was something, but I didn't want you to be worried all night." They sang Happy 1/2 birthday to me and gave me half of something that I have always wanted. A giant cookie!!! It was amazing! I felt so loved!

We had a very powerful Zone conference this week about short and powerful lessons so that we will have time to read with our investigators and so we will be able to leave strong commitment with them too. I am so excited to start working more. the people are really great here I love this place!

I have been feeling so loved, and I know that ya'll are praying for me and for missionaries. This last Sunday we challenged the Young Women to pray for missionary experiences and then look for them, we will follow up with them next week.  

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HAPPY!

 I have an amazing area to work in up here in Macclenny! There are so many people who are so wonderful to work with, there is such a strong spirit of missionary work! I'm currently living with a member and she is a power house, but she is also very busy. I have learned that busy people get things done.

As a Facebook missionary I am able to also teach people online, it is interesting because mostly what I am doing is helping them to make it to the point where they would like to meet with us in person. I have been able to connect with people even though I am so far away. 

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Transfers

I will miss St. Marys, but I have been transferred to Macclenny FL and I have heard a lot of good things about it.I know that I will have a lot of great things happening there!

 

Andri entered into the waters of baptism and they were cold, but I am so happy that I was able to be here while it happened! We called and got permission to go down into the font with her! It was amazing! I'm so happy!

 

Okay, so you may know that I am a facebook missionary. I am supper excited and I can be friends with everyone! I just can't chat with everyone, but I can invite people to teach with me and I can teach people online and help answer questions that people may have.

 

If you know of anyone who would benefit from talking to a full-time missionary online, send them my way!

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful V-day! I hope you will and I love ya'll!

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Miracle!! :)

Hi,

 

This week has been really great! We had so many miracles in the middle of it and I was so happy to be able to be here! I am so excited for Sister Richard being called as a trainer! She will be so great at it! There are so many changes in the mission that will be happening so soon, I can't believe that it is finally coming! We have been looking forward to this time for so long with all the new sisters coming out and all the new areas that will be opening! I can't wait!

 

There was a wonderful miracle that happened just this morning. Sometimes we get media referrals, in other words people will request us to come on mormon.org and they wanted us to come! We hadn't received one that was sent on the 27^th and so the Elders called and asked us if we had contacted it (kind of what happened a year ago with Kim :D) When we called this morning she said that she was super excited to get our call and she wanted to have us over for dinner so that we could go and teach her and her family! I was supper happy and my companion was freaking out and when we called the Zone Leaders to tell them they were yelling and going crazy! It was so great. I am so happy that I have been able to work in this area and I am excited to see what transfers holds for me.

 

SOO HAPPY!!

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FLORIDA STATE LINE :)

We have been doing trade-offs a lot, well, I feel like I have been doing it most of my mission, I love it! I feel like I have learned a tin from the sisters that we go and see! I am so happy that we are able to do that!

 

This week we have been struggling with finding new investigators and we have been working on getting referrals . . . we are still working on it.

 

I have been so happy because there are a lot of people who are nice here, but sometimes I wonder if they are meeting with us because they are being polite or they really want to change and make covenants? I guess only time will tell, but we hope that they don't have to guess why we are meeting with them. To guide them towards Christ.

 

This week we got a call from the ward secretary and he ended up leaving a message, at the beginning of it he said, "do I have to be on mormon.org the entire time I wait or just part of the time?" We didn't understand what he was saying, but then we realized that in our voice mail box we say who we are and then say, "In the mean time check out mormon.org."

 

So, I guess my question to everyone is, when was the last time you looked at mormon.org? :) As a missionary I have been told to look at it every week. I'm so happy that they up date it so often! I was so happy when they put someone from Japan in the People section!! :D

 

Well, I will keep working strong, I hope you all are doing well! I love you!

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Fwd: SMILES

So I got my hair cut, for real this time, and in the picture my companion had curled it! Isn't it cute!!!

 

I have been having a great time teaching people and coming to understand things better, I but I have to say, I kind of feel out of the loop with ya'll except Katie and Melz and Mom and Dad that is . . . So, I wanted to make sure that everyone has my address so they can write me a little note.

 

8663 Baypine Road, Suite 102

Jacksonville, FL 32256

 

And you can address that to the one and only Sister Sheffer!!! :D

 

Yeah, I also wanted to mention I am better at writing letters when I have someone in mind while I write them/REPLY TO THEM.

 

Okay, so I wanted to mention something that happened this week that made my life! A 12 year old asked me a simply wonderful question, "Are you half Japanese?" Oh, that made my mission!! Maybe even my life!!! He is such a wonderful kid who has read up to 2 Nephi 7 by himself!! He is a friend of a recent convert and he wants to be baptized, but he doesn't have permission from his mom, but she lets him come to church! Oh, he is great!

 

I have met so many wonderful people here, I have also seen a lot of suffering, but I know that it will all be made right and if they continue to make the right choices they will be blessed!

 

Love ya'll!

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Many appointmnet make me happy!!

Picture: I have to explain, the picture is old, because I forgot my camera, so this is a picture from almost a year ago, but I love it. I will sent a new one next week I hope, then you can compare. . .

 

Hi, I have had a pretty great week this week, I have been working on being more organized and focused and what I have come up with is that as I have more understanding of love and Charity and I have more of a sense of that love that comes from Christ I am more focused on what I can do to assure that I am not keeping that to myself. I have been noticing things that I am doing that I can do better because I have been working on getting a better relationship with my God and with others, I have come back to prayer. I love the way that Sister Richards talks about the first principle in lesson one. She says, "We need to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father, and if you want to have a relationship you have to communicate."

I feel like I am mostly a vague person when I communicate and share things. . . I'm working on it, but I have been seeing that I my lack of faith has been affecting people in a negative way, so I hope to turn that around and talk with people more and share my knowledge and testimony. I need to find the people that the Lord has prepare for me and so, I need to talk more.

I have decided that I will play a game (I love games and they get me excited) so, if I see someone I will go and talk to them and see how quickly I get to know their name and how many times I can say their name before I leave. That way will want to continue to talk to them to see. Too often I find myself wanting to walk away after I talk to someone, but I forget to ask for referrals, so, I will play this game and see if I can ask, "So, Tracey, who do you know . . ." I hope it works!!

This week we had a trade-off. I was working in Atlantic Beach with a sister who is new to the mission, Sister Howell, she is great! She came from the Salt Lake Temple Square mission! She is funny and I feel like I have learn from her in the short time I had. She is so smart and organized, I on the other hand am not organized, yes, I learned a lot.

 

We are working with quite a few people and we are finding a lot through the members especially recent converts! It is great! 

 

I hope you are all doing well, I would love to hear fun stories of your life! Those are the best~! If I can do anything let me know!

 

-Love Sister Sheffer

 

P.S. Elder and Sister Sheffer wrote about how they were doing a date night that was mandatory for Senior Couple missionaries, so my companion and I decided that we would make sure we did a date night! We have watched movies, we have played games, oh so fun! Of course we do all these things after planning is all done. :D It is so fun! And we have done it with the other sisters when we do trade-offs! I love it!

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Smiley face

Picture: A member took us to a sandwich shop and it had a giant gorilla coming out of the wall! I loved it!

This was a good week, but also a difficult week, we have been teaching people, but we haven't been finding that many. I feel like I need to master the skill of navigating to the gospel. Our mission has an acronym for CONTACT and the first one is find common ground, I am good at that, then open your mouth, I do that too, but I struggle with the navigating to the gospel. That is where the companion steps in and I wish that I could do better at that.

I also need to improve upon asking for referrals. I always start to say good bye when my companion says whom do you know who could use this message? I'm working on it though and hopefully it will become second nature before I am "transferred" home :) that is what I always say, we never go home we are simply transferred to a new area. :D

My companion and I have been working on getting organized in this area, and updating records, we are teaching people, but if we don't update the records then it is going to be hard for us to remember everything, so we are going to focus on that every night.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR

Matthew was  baptized!! I am so happy! He was able to be baptized while his father was in from the Navy ship! We are so happy! He is excited to get the Holy Ghost next Sunday!

 

Happy New Year everyone! I have to say, I will not be transferred this time, so, I get another 6 weeks in St. Marys! I am so happy that I also get to stay with Sister Richards here! She is super great!

 

This new year will be great, I will be able to spend like half of it out here too!

 

I want to say something things that I am working towards this year, I want to run/jog in a 5 k on July 4th! Sister Richards says she will come with me! I am also wanting to prepare to go out of the country, one way or the other, but more importantly, I want to help the church grow by gaining more faith, hope and charity! I want to be able to help others gain that as well. I have come to realize the first step is being their friends, the second step is being willing to help them when they are having trying times so that their faith can become an action!

 

Well, a new year is good, but I also want to have a new day everyday though the atonement, I love the Gospel!

 

I love all of you! Have a wonderful week!!

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