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| Companions, even if it was just for a day on exchanges |
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| Seriously pretty sure we are a match made in heaven. |
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| Accidentally twinning !!!! I sure love my companion ❤ |
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| We are FIT FOR THE KINGDOM 😂😂. We figured this would be a good place for our cookie. |
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| Jessica!!! |
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| MIDWEST HAS THE BEST SKIES! |
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| Hermana Gowens ❤ |
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| Some of the STL (Sister Training Leaders) and Sister Griffin. |
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| We might have a little bit too much fun together ... |
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| Aren't they all so precious???? ❤❤❤ these are some of our investigators. |
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| Add caption |
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| We decided to try a new finding idea. We wrote on a chalk board "Honk if you love Jesus, stop if you want a picture of Him". We didn't have much luck with it but we had fun doing it!
I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week (hah more like everyday) and came across this verse and I really liked-- I know what it says is true. I KNOW as we keep the commandments of God we WON'T even have to worry about breaking the laws of man or getting in trouble. It's simple. I'm SO grateful for commandments and rules and guidelines. I know they keep us grounded on a firm foundation.
Mosiah 2:31
31 And now, my brethren, I would that ye should do as ye have hitherto done. As ye have kept my commandments, and also the commandments of my father, and have prospered, and have been kept from falling into the hands of your enemies, even so if ye shall keep the commandments of my son, or the commandments of God which shall be delivered unto you by him, ye shall prosper in the land, and your enemies shall have no power over you.
We really are happier when we do what God asks. I KNOW it. I've seen both sides, and I can promise, you'll be sooooo much happier if you just keep the Lords commandments.
Mosiah 2: 41
And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.
I miss the corn soooo much!!!! Someone please Take me back to the corn. 🌽 I really am enjoying it here, but it's soooo different than the corn people in my other area. Not all, but many people I've met here are soooo stuck up and snotty. Most people don't feel like they need to change or need God in their life. So many are caught up in their ways. The corn people are just so humble and willing to listen. They're so kind. Even in this hardship, I am soooo grateful to have been rejected sooooo much on my mission, because it's helped my testimony grow. It doesn't feel good of course. It does bruise my spirit, but not enough to give up or leave the church. I KNOW this IS the ONE & ONLY true church upon the earth, now and forever. I just miss my corn people, that's all.
Okay Illinois has some interesting weather. It has been sooooo nice! So sunny and bright. And then it'll snow a little. The other night it was dumping buckets of hail in the middle of night. It just needs to make up its mind. Haha! The nice thing is that it hasn't snowed hard for months now. It's soooo nice to walk outside even with a bit of sunshine. I am soaking it all up.
TIC TACS SAVE SISTERS From HANGER
We were driving back from a long MLC (Missionary Leadership Council). It's where, as leaders of the mission, we get to voice things to help our missionaries and mission. It's really cool to be apart of. I still CANNOT believe I'm where i am today. I'm grateful Heavenly Father knows what's best for me. And for all of us. I've really enjoyed training and am very grateful that I've had those opportunities my whole mission. After MLC, we were driving home and realized the GPS took us outside of our area... an hour away the other direction. We didn't have time to eat dinner because of another meeting. Luckily we had a bazillion TicTacs to hold us over. Any flavor...you name it ... we had it. I felt like Violet off of "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" As I ate the different Tic Tacs, I imagined I was eating some wayyyy good food. haha. Tic Tacs do save sisters from hanger. 😂😂😂😂 #DONTMESSWITHHANGRYSISTERS
At MLC we learned Pres Griffin has called two elders to be "specialized training assistants". These elders don't have a set area. They go around the mission on exchanges with elders & help them not only find people to teach but teach people. We've done soooooo well in our mission finding people, but most of those people haven't been going anywhere. Since elders can't go on exchanges with sisters, we STL's were trained @ MLC & now will be going on a second exchange with the sisters. And this exchange will be to simply FOCUS on helping them FIND & TEACH. WE as a mission are working on getting into the TEACHING MODE. I'm super pumped about this. It's gonna be extra stressful I'm sure 😂😂😂 but that's missionary work for ya. I'm just excited to be able to do more for the sisters and help them so much more.
One of the members used this analogy the other day at church ....
Water cup vs. air (empty) cup
The first cup is filled with water. When asked what is in the cup the person says "water". When asked what's in the other cup the person says "nothing". This is, in fact, incorrect, BECAUSE it's filled with air. It's just like Satan. He fills the void with air--pointless stuff in our lives to distract us from having a strong relationship with Heavenly Father. We must fill our lives with pure righteous things.
WHAT WILL YOU DO TO HAVE THE GREATEST RELATIONSHIP W/ HEAVENLY FATHER??? With WHAT WILL YOU FILL YOUR VOID? With WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY FILLING IT? Is it good or bad?
Something I've been thinking a LOT about recently is.... DON'T TAKE the GOSPEL FOR GRANTED. DON'T take ppl for granted. Recently, my GG passed. Phyllis was so fun and sassy. Everyone loved her! JUST SPEND IT WITH THEM. What's 5 more minutes gonna hurt with those you love?
Just as you get excited about the Super Bowl or March Madness, do you think ...."WOW. it's Sunday! I get to take the sacrament!!!!"???? Or do you drag your feet and just go because you know you're supposed to or because someone you love drags you there ? If you're not having a great attitude about church, there's room to change and let go of that toxic attitude. My cousin has a member in her mission who travels 2 1/2 hours to get to church EVERY Sunday! I've met members here in the great land of Lincoln who travel great lengths and make huge sacrifices to get to church and even the temple.
And get this.... some of our members who recently moved here, met people while they were living in temporary housing. They invited them to church AND THEY came and have been coming for a couple weeks. The COOLEST PART is...They told the members they could've slept in yesterday, but they were SOOOOO excited to come to church. They felt they had purpose. They were so excited to get up. Isn't that sooo cool ??? And in Gospel Principles class, the husband was participating left and right. They just soak it up. At the end of class, this member bore his testimony of how he knows this church is true. OH MY GOODNESS, THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG. It was definitely UNDENIABLE-- one of the strongest I've felt on my mission. I am amazed by people's desires to come to church. I wanna be as excited as they were to come every week. I get soooo happy seeing people so happy. This gospel is just amazing !
We went on exchanges with the Frankfort sisters this week. It was so fun. I got to go with Sister Havey. We finally got to be companions, even if it was just for a day. We got to get sushi...fun. Like old Times in the MTC. SHES AWESOME! And its so awesome to see Sister Campbell and all the changes and progress she's made since I trained her 10 months ago or so..... wow time sure flies.
I SAID A PRAYER IN SPANISH THIS WEEK!!!! So basically I'm an Hermana now😂.... so I guess you could say it's getting pretty serious 😂
Miracles:
We were at Walgreens waiting for customer service. A family was sitting there, and we were able to talk to them about the gospel. We started off just talking friendly about stuff, and it lead to the gospel. It's been soooo cool for me to see that really any conversation can lead to the gospel. You just gotta be listening to what will interest people and what they need.
She's a Muslim woman who is one of the kindest I've met on my mission. She let us in and made us these Indian turnover things. She wanted to be a great hostess and was so cute running around trying to do stuff for us, even though we told her not to worry about it. She had Mormon friends growing up who brought her to church. It made a huge impact on her. She's open to learning more and is so awesome. We found her by dropping by a less active. We didn't get to talk to the member and we wanted to figure out why we were in the area. We felt promoted to knock on Jessica's door. Unfortunately, her husband doesn't want her learning. But she is still open to readng the Book of Mormon and will let us know if she has any questions. Even though we are bummed we can't keep teaching her, we see it more as how cool we got the opportunity to find her and be even a small piece in her coming closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She has such a sweet spirit and I KNOW one day she'll join the church. She has an incredible soul. Muslim people really are SO kind!!!!!! So get rid of those prejudices !!!!
We Had a legit Japanese meal from a member from Japan
Seriously I'm tellin y'all, God really is soooo mindful of us. I love my mission. I love the gospel. I just love everything I'm doing. I've never been happier or felt so good on my entire life! I hope y'all each find the happiness I am feeling.
Love Hermana Ällowitz
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