Yep, it was Christmas.

First of all, I would like to tell everyone that I ran over my first animal this week in the car and it was a possum. Opossum? Whatever it is, I hit it. (PS--roadkill is literally EVERYWHERE here so I'm shocked I didn't hit anything ever prior to this.)

It was so AWESOME to talk to y'all on Christmas! Ellie looks like 25 without braces so that's weird and Bailey looks the same (sorry Bai). Can't even imagine what y'all will look like in 14 more months!

Okay Georgia is so weird because in Utah we get HEAPS of snow, but here we get heaps of rain that nearly kill me when we are driving down the roads. It literally comes down in buckets so hard (not an exaggeration), I've never seen anything like it. There were major flood warnings this week!

We officially got to meet Helen Samuel (the Samuel's long lost daughter in Idaho) who we've been told for the last 3 months looks and acts exactly like Sister Russell. They are definitely twins!

Christmas Eve was the BEST! The Cahill's (Snellville Ward Bishop) spoiled us rotten... Actually the Snellville ward in general spoiled us rotten this Christmas. We have an entire 3'x3' cabinet in our kitchen filled to the brim with sweets and treats and candy and now i just want to throw up and pull out all my teeth. 

Christmas Day was killer... Obvi we got to Skype :) and then we went with the Elders and Kate to the hospital to go carol to the patients there! This was by far the most rewarding Christmas activity i think I've ever done. We met so many awesome people who were so grateful to have visitors on Christmas... One man in particular sat and cried at his father's bedside as we sang "Silent Night" to them and afterward he looked up at us with tears streaming down his face and said "Thank you so much, you really have no idea how much this means to us." We had the opportunity to pray with them right there in the room and the spirit was so strong! it was by far one of the most powerful experiences I've had on a mission yet. I'm thankful for the power of song and the power of the spirit!

*Side note: saw the most McDreamy of all McDreamies doctor....not important*

Later Christmas night, we had a lesson  scheduled with a J-Dub (because they are strange and don't celebrate Christmas.. or any holiday for that matter) but unfortunately it fell through :( #classic

Since we have less than 30 miles left for the last 5 days of the month on our car, we trekked it up so much the day after Christmas. it was about 80 degrees and the most humid day I've seen yet THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. It was so hot. But while we were out walking around, we met a young man named Terry who was playing basketball. We stopped to talk to him a little bit about what missionaries do and asked if we could share a message with him. He told us that he's the only Christian in a family full of Muslims and he just moved here a month ago from New Jersey so it's been a tough adjustment. He feels very alone in his family with his Christian beliefs and had so many questions about our purpose here on earth and where we are going after this life. It was so cool to testify to him that we knew the answers to those questions and they could also be answered in the Book of Mormon. We got his number and gave him Alma 34 to read from the Book of Mormon and Sister Russell gave him her Bible so he could cross reference and stuff since he only has the Quran laying around at home. Well we invited him to church, found him a ride and got a solid commitment from him to come the next morning! Buttttt.... when we called to confirm that night, a very VERY unfriendly man answered the phone that was definitely not Terry. So we now have no way to contact Terry and Sister Russell's bible was stolen. :( Moral of the story: don't give away your bibles to rando's off the skreet. 

****Skreet (n): a word used in a Southern English dialect to describe the pavement on which one drives. (Other words used in the same dialect include skrong, axe (ask) and skrengf.)****

Sunday was great! SHENELLE IS OFFICIALLY ON DATE FOR JANUARY 16TH!!!! Prayer works guys.

Okay that's all we got this week... hope y'all had a merry Christmas, and have a happy new year!
Make good resolutions and strive to be better this year than you were last year!

xo,

Sister Lawson

GREENIE BUSTEDDDDDDD / MERRY CHRISTMAS

The best news of the week is that I am officially not a greenie, and I officially DONE with the "12 week training program" for new missionaries. HOLLLAAAA #ChristmasMiracle (that was the worst.)

Lots of good things are happening....

1. Sister Russell and I realized that we are super good at cross-stitching. Don't ask us how we figured this out but we did.

2. Met the nicest J-dubb yet. He was a fun one to talk to...He invited us to Kingdom Hall haha! But yeah, teaching him was interesting because we'd ask him a question and he'd throw all these bible verses at us and then completely contradict his previous statement every time we asked him something. He doesn't believe in second chances and thinks everyone is condemned... that's so sad. #ThankfulForTheRestoredGospel..but yeah, he's a nice guy but keeps bailing on us every time we try to set up something to meet with him again.

3. Santana is considering moving to work overseas because she hates her job so much haha. But she's  also been considering working for CES! That would be SWEET.

4. Sister C STILL really wants to get sealed to her cats.

5. Best news... Shenelle is still doing so good! It's kind of funny though, every time we go over to teach Shenelle, it turns into a lesson for her mom... This week she was like "ya know, I've never fasted before. I probably should because I'm trying to find a more stable job." so we talked to her about it and bore our testimonies and shared experiences we've had from fasting! We're really praying she'll have a good experience. But yeah, it's been crazy watching how much her mom's heart has been softened in the last month! When we first started meeting with Shenelle, her mom was very against us putting her on date for baptism. But now at the rate she's been going, her mom might be getting baptized before Shenelle does haha :) AWESOME.

6. buying a voice recorder was the best decision we've ever made. I can't tell you how many crazy people we meet on the side of the road and how many strange conversations we've recorded in the last week alone. 

7. We had another lesson with this woman I'm going to call J because she's a little strange. We met her a few weeks ago and had a lesson about the Restoration which didn't go so well...she is one confused person. She's one of those "Christians" who believe one thing, but then contradict it in the next sentence, and in the end they actually don't know what they believe, but keep trying to convince you they know absolutely 100% what they are talking about. But to be nice, we invited her to church and she was really pumped for that and actually came!  We just don't know how much longer we are going to keep seeing her though because we're not sure that she's all there actually... also I'm pretty sure she's narcoleptic because she kept randomly falling asleep at church and would snore super loud, then wake up suddenly. It was strange. Also she says she has a website.. she gave me her card. Still not sure what the purpose of her website is, but I'm sure it's great hahaha. She said "Yeah one time i was just surfing the web and this thing popped up asking me if i wanted to create a website so i totally did! And it's a website company from Denmark. I post videos and answer questions from people. You should check it out." So yeah, i have her card and i will definitely check it out when i come home hahahaha. :)

8. In honor of my non-greenie ness, Sister Russell organized a graduation ceremony for me involving an African dress, a princess Santa Claus hat, and peanut butter. I'm not going to try to explain it but just know that it was magical and I am OFFICIALLY no longer a greenie. :) hahaha

I'm sorry that I hardly ever include spiritual things in here... Seriously though, I can't even begin to explain how much my testimony has grown in just 3 short months! It's incredible to see so many miracles happen every day and I know without a doubt that Jesus Christ truly is my Savior, that God loves me and has a plan for me, and that if I follow what he has asked of me, I WILL return to live with my Father and older brother again one day.

I love this gospel so so much, and am so blessed to be able to share my testimony with others around every single day, especially during this christmas season! #cliche

christmas.mormon.org #ASaviorIsBorn SHARE IT!!!!

Peace and blessin's,

Sister Lawson

1. The best district!
2. Classic georgia.
3. My favorite Nigerian, Brother Samuel in astronaut form.

4. Me bein' pasty white and also thuggy.. don't ask how that works.

5. Graduation ceremony... I can't even try to explain.

#ASaviorIsBorn

Can you believe it's almost Christmas!??

I seriously can't. There's no snow!!!!!!!!! and it's 70 degrees!!!!!!!!

First news: no transfers! Sister Russell and i are pumped that we get to spend another transfer together in the best ward on EARTH! Snellville aint ready for this. #hollaaaaa

We saw some major miracles this week, and also some major hardships this week.

Hardships: 

1. Tuesday night, we invited Rainy and Sehaj and Jay to the mutual activity that was going to be AWESOME. It was this whole "caroling" activity where the youth would go door to door and it was pre-arranged that they'd get totally rejected by everyone and at the last house, they show up to, the person would take them around back because they had "no room to let them inside" and there would be this huge nativity set up and they'd have a big fireside about Christ. Wellllll.... there were many problems. Rainy and fam showed up 45 minutes late so they didn't get the full effect, it was FREEZING, there were major technical difficulties, and the spirit just wasn't there. It was heartbreaking and we were so embarrassed! And we haven't seen them since... oh well. We will let you know what happens in the future!

2. Wednesday: This was probably the worst, hardest day of my mission so far. We were so pumped because we had 4 different lessons set up with all of investigators, however, every single person we met with was so hard-hearted and threw us some of the toughest questions I've ever heard. Lesson after lesson after lesson we were completely attacked and torn to shreds haha. It was horrible. After the 3rd bad lesson, sister russell and i just sat in the car and cried our eyes out for a second. We just could not catch a break! But the miracle of this all was that even when these people did everything they could to prove us wrong, we still testified with POWER and AUTHORITY and stood our ground. We know what we believe, and we will defend it til the day we die. I love this gospel and i can firmly say without a shadow of a doubt that I KNOW THIS CHURCH IS TRUE.

Okay, enough sad stuff because this week was literally the best. 

MIRACLES:

1. JOHN. John is the most amazing person. This week we met with him and the spirit was SO STRONG. I can't even explain it.. we just testified so simply and plainly that the gospel and the Book of Mormon will change his life, and you could just see in his eyes that he believed it! After the lesson, i couldn't even remember a word taht was said. That's how you KNOW it was a lesson completely led by the spirit! We love John so much and I'm so excited we get to spend another transfer here teaching him more about how he can receive eternal happiness. WOOOO

2. Sister Russell and I bought voice recorders so that's been a hoot haha.

3. I survived driving on Atlanta highways....this is a big moment for me.

4. ELDER HOLLAND CAME TO ATLANTA. I shook an apostle of the Lord's hand and that is something I will never forget for the rest of my life. Sister Russell and i sat on the 4th row and we could literally see the spit and the fire coming out of his mouth. I think my eyebrows got singed a little bit. :) But for real... it was incredible. Some major things i learned:

-A mission is A high point of my life, not THE high point. Our mission will affect us for the rest of our life and we are NEVER done progressing on the eternal path of the gospel. He said "Seize this opportunity to start the course for the rest of your life." And I'm going to do it. My mission does not stop when i get home, and it will never stop.

-I have finally been taught why a mission is so hard. It's because I signed up to be a representative of Jesus Christ. I have signed up to experience equally hard things like He did, do equally hard things like He did and be equally tested, tempted and tried like He was. The atonement was not easy, so why should a mission be easy if I am His disciple? By accepting the call to serve, i took on the challenge to become more like the Savior than I will ever get the chance to do again in my life and I will not take that lightly. I have been given 15 more months to strengthen my relationship with the Savior as much as I can and I have finally accepted the fact that it will be hard. 

I can't even begin to sum up everything I learned this week. There were a lot of trials and adversities, but also so many miracles and evidences that God loves me and has a plan for me. MISSIONS ARE THE BEST

Well friends, i love you all! Stay good and stuff.

Sistah Lawson 

1. Posin' with Santa at the Ward christmas party

2. Potential Christmas Card

3. Sister Russell and her alpaca spirit animal

4. Georgia sunrises <3

 

BIG NEWS

EVERYONE. I GET TO SHAKE ELDER HOLLAND'S HAND THIS SATURDAY. I AM SHAKING AN APOSTLE OF THE LORD'S HAND. Ask me if I'm dying because I am. He's coming for a mission wide conference this Saturday and it's going to be INCREDIBLE. More details to come next week...

Okay the other best news is that we have met some AWESOME, super prepared people this week and I'm so pumped about it.

1. Rainy(mom), Sehaj (we have no idea how to say this name still)(son) and Jay(other son): This is an Indian family who were former investigators, but we have no idea why the previous missionaries stopped meeting with them. Basically they are the coolest and SO OPEN to what we teach, it's insane. We invited them all to read the Book of Mormon daily and they've been doing it! And they love it! We're meeting with them later this week so to be continued...

2. John: he is THE BEST. We originally met him while he was out having a garage sale to earn money while he's been out of work with a really bad back injury a while back. He's a 10-year recovered meth addict and just wants to strengthen his relationship with Jesus Christ. Sometimes he meets with the J-Dubs (he thinks they're weird), but he's too nice to turn them away. So we go over and read the Book of Mormon with him and he's very appreciative and loves what missionaries do!

3. Carrie: yep, she's back! To help you remember her... she's the one with MS and had breast cancer. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon again and pray about baptism because she doesn't understand why God would want her to be baptized again. #classicGeorgian

4. Ida: we met her when i first got here and it's been SO HARD to find a time to meet with her because she's crazy busy. We finally did and had a lesson with her about the restoration. The spirit was so strong as Sister Russell and I testified to her about how much the Book of Mormon has blessed our lives and why she would need another book on top of the Bible... Hopefully she'll read... we'll see!

We saw a huge miracle with Shenelle this week! Up until this point, her mom (non member, but super christian) has been very supportive of her taking the lessons from us, but hasn't wanted us to put a date on baptism because she wants Shenelle to have "conviction" before getting baptized... Anyway... we were reading the Book of Mormon with her this week and Shauna said "You know, ever since Shenelle has been meeting with you, i've noticed a really huge change in her. She cares a lot more about church and about God than she ever has before. Her prayers are a lot more sincere, and when she answers your questions, they are really deep answers with thought put into them." WHAT/?!? Huge miracle because Shauna is starting to recognize the change happening in Shenelle and her heart is being softened! I can't tell you how long we've been praying about this. We are hoping to put her on date later this week...

Frank has not called us back in about 2 weeks sooo... yep, there's that.

Saturday was the Ward Christmas party! Not much to say there... major stress though because almost nothing was ready to go the morning of... it was a mad dash to get it all done and only started an hour later than it was originally planned for! :) haha.. 

Also the best thing: We found an ALPACA SHACK. with REAL LIFE ALPACAS. We decided that sister russell looks like an alpaca.  And they sell socks made of alpaca fur so i'll probs be buying 298415 pairs of those. 

anyway... sorry this was all over the place. For pictures from the week, check out my comp's blog because i'm the worst and hardly ever take pictures. I promise i'll be better!

Love,

Sister Lawson

Turkey Dayyyy

Hello family and friends!
Unfortunately I am a dingus and forgot to bring my old planner so I don't remember too much about this week, but just know that it was incredibly slow because of the holiday and I'm way sad about it.

Updates on major investigators:

Frank: still going strong-ish... he's having a couple doubts because he keeps talking to his minister friends who hate mormons and it's becoming an issue. Also he's really hard to meet with so that's where we are at.

Shenelle: definitely still going strong!

Franklin: Not much progression... we call him ocassionally, but he's not following through on any comittments. :(

Donna: she is currently in the process of moving and is going through MAJOR family issues.. She called us in hysterics the other day to ask for financial help for her daughter and it was so sad..so we are giving her a little space til everything gets worked out.

Thanksgiving as a missionary is the weirdest thing because it feels just like any other day... you're expected to go out and knock on doors like any other day and talk to people like any other day... it's so weird. Obviously, this would irritate some people on a family oriented holiday, so we spent our time at member's houses and talking to people at the park so that was fun. Also we went to thanksgiving lunch at a member's house where there were 60+ other people crammed in there as well so my anxiety kicked in hard core, and also there was a man dressed like a pirate. apparently, he dresses like a pirate every day, and has dressed this way for the last 10 years so that was really exciting.

Friday was so exciting! WE WITNESSED A CRIME. (I PROMISE I WAS SAFE THE WHOLE TIME). Basically we saw these 2 boys sprinting down the street away from a car spun around with slashed tires. Then we noticed one of them had a gun so that was more exciting. The best part of this all was that we saw all of this happen at the exact time that we were in the middle of leaving a message for our district leaders on the phone so they heard everything and were calling us back frantically asking what was happening! hilarious.

Saturday was also AWESOME. We went to the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in downtown Snellville and became total BFFs with the Mayor! And it turns out he loves mormons so that's really great news. He is the sweetest old man and we got a picture with him!

Sunday, we had dinner with Sister C which was the best dinner appt of all time. Favorite Sister C quotes at dinner included: 

-"You can't get sealed to cats, I've already asked the bishop."

-"I gave one of my cats a lot of cat therapy when she was first born."

-"Oh i have a family tree for all the cats! i can email it to you." (there is a lot of confusion and incest amongst her cats) (sadly i forgot to give her my email)

-"I have 3 cats buried in my back yard."

Good times, friends.

So yeah, that's about all i have this week. 

I'm thankful for all of you and hope you had an awesome thanksgiving! LOVE YOU

xoxo,

Sister Lawson

1. me and Santana!

2. us and the MAYOR OF SNELLVILLE

3. Christmas tree selfieeeee

4. me making Nigerian FuFu (foo foo)

5. us and the Mann's on Thanksgiving

6. me and (one of) sister C's creepy hairless cats