$4months$wag$$$$$$

Yep, i've been out 4 months! IT'S FLOWN BYYyyyyyyy.........

I also learned some new Southern slang...

Purple Drank (n): "purple" flavored Koolaid. A classic beverage served alongside fried chicken, grits, baked beans, and canned green beans.

Also something i just noticed this week... literally everyone who feeds us ALWAYS gives us green beans from a can that have been cooked in water filled with bacon fat and bits. Yep, it's strange. 

To be completely honest, this week was insanely eventful, but for reasons i can't explain through email because ward/member confidentiality rules haha... So other than that, it was pretty uneventful. Sister Russell may say otherwise, but i thought it was relatively boring.

Updates on current investigators:

Shenelle: She's getting baptized January 23rd!!! :) super pumped about that.

Barbara: fell off the face of the earth...

Lunjua: still off the face of the earth....

John: AWESOME. Definitely progressing!

This week we picked up a lot of new people that we are hoping to follow up with next week! For whatever reason, the whole world decided to be nice and talk to us. it was strange. One day, almost every door we knocked at opened and they were all really nice and really "I love Jesus"-y so that's good news. But yeah, hopefully something good comes out of that so i'll keep ya posted. :) 

Other miracles:

-At the EXACT moment when Sister Russell and i were about to die from starvation, the DL and comp came in clutch with some Taco Bell for us. Shout out to Elder Solomon and Elder Roper!

-One night we had planned to go see a less-active family in the ward and at the exact same time, the Snellville Elders felt inspired to go see them both as well! So we pull up, the elders pull up, we have some awkward conversation about who gets to go talk to them, and then the family pulls up in the driveway as well! CRAZY. For whatever reason, someone needed to go see this family and the spirit guided us both to go. :) Heavenly Father is awesome!

-Within the course of 2 days, we had 4 team-ups with members scheduled and they all came through. this is huge because we can almost NEVER find people from the ward to come out with us.

-We met the Regional Manager for Krispy Kreme donuts this week and he had the COOLEST dreads. Also he wanted to meet with us again! #DonutsfromHeaven

-One of the recent converts we've been working with a TON got her temple recommend for baptisms on sunday! She's also planning on going through the temple for her endowment in March and we are possibly going to get to go to that. :) we are so excited!!!!!

 

Other than that, that's about all that happened... It's been so so SO rainy and cold. Literally the humidity makes it 109435x worse than Utah cold... i haven't felt warm once in 3 days!

Despite the quiet week, this week i just felt so so grateful that I get to be a missionary. As hard as it sometimes is to set apart these 18 months from life back at home, there really is nothing more rewarding to me. I get to bless a few lives along the way, but more than anything my OWN life is being blessed--present and future. I'm so so thankful for everything God has given me and for the testimony I have that Jesus Christ's full gospel has been restored back onto the earth. The gospel of Jesus Christ truly does fix anything. 

My wise friend Kimber wrote me a letter this week about how understanding the gospel has increased her "spiritual recovery" time. I think that's so cool! Understanding the doctrine of Christ really does change everything--we understand that we must have faith in the plan God has for us, repent so we can become better every day, and remember the covenants we've made and the things we are promised from our Heavenly Father when we hold up our end of the deal. When we understand this, we are able to get back onto our feet faster when something hard comes into our path. I know that to be so true! I feel myself getting stronger and stronger everyday. Things that once bothered me or upset me no longer have the power to tear me down, and getting back on my feet is easier now that I understand how the gospel truly works. I have a purpose in this life, I know who I am, I know the potential I have, and nothing will ever stop me from progressing! I am so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the membership I have in His church!

Be good, be safe, don't do dumb things and REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!

Sistah Lawson

 

1. our matching christmas shirts <3

2. chowin'

3. Taco Bell (lifesaver) Crunchwrappppppp

4. Sister Coble! The cutest old lady of all time. Eatin' some Cheeseburger pringles.