Donny Osmond is all over my fridge

Yola!

Before I forget, someone named Jake Harper was really mad I didn't give him a shout out last week for the inspiration of the "Zone Training Quidditch Match". He'll get over it, but I felt like i should shout him out anyway. You 'da man! Thanks for the help. It was a success.

Unfortunately, i am pretty much out of time because i stink and don't know how to use my time wisely still after 13 1/2 months of doing this thing. Sorry this will be short!

Highlights:

1. We definitely bought pumpkins to carve tonight and I'm pumped about it.

2. Our investigator James REALLY REALLY wants to wash my feet because #Respect...I dunno, he's like way into symbolic stuff like that. He is 100% not allowed anywhere near my feet though so he'll have to figure out a different way to show his respect to me haha. (Diet Coke and watermelon sour patch kids are always a sure-fire way to win my heart...*HINT HINT BECAUSE BIRTHDAY COMING UP!*)

3. We spent SOOOOOOOOO much time volunteering at the local Soup Kitchen this week and it was my favorite service I've done of all time ever. Helping people rocks.

4. Some of you might remember me mentioning in my very first email in Carrollton a woman who is OBSESSED with Donny Osmond....if not, that's okay. But! This same woman was super nice and gave us an entire bag full of 400-500 magnets with Donny Osmond's face on them. They are currently plastered to our fridge. She also promised me a plaque with his face on it for my birthday to hang on our wall. (Being a missionary is the best because you get lots of free random hilarious crap from people...this same week, we also got a hilarious Bamboo plant from the local Dollar-A-Scoop Chinese Buffett on Bankhead Highway...#SponsoredTweet. Life is good.)

5. Our first exchange as STL's in the PSS zone was a success! Shout out to Villa Rica for being fun.

6. Sorry this stinks and there is zero spiritual stuff in here...I had some of the best studies of my whole mission this week though, I promise! I'll have to fill ya'll in next week I guess.

I'm out!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Sistah Lawson

 

2. THE FRIDGE!

1. Ward Trunk or Treat!

 

#GETtheSNITCH

Welp, another week in the life of Sister Lawson was a success...

Recap:

1. Our first annual Zone Training as the Powder Springs South Zone happened this week and it was AWESOME. Like I mentioned last week, we played quidditch with a missionary spin on it (don't ask me how it worked because it just did) and the people went nuts.

Comments included "This was the most fun zone training I've ever been to" or "I ACTUALLY LEARNED THINGS!" sooooo.....#Success.

I was mostly just excited because we really helped to set a tone of excitement for the work in our zone and people left feeling really motivated to go out and do stuff.

Our second training was about increasing our faith to find prepared people so we did something called a "Miracle Family". Basically we invited everyone to pray with their companion to envision a very specific person or family they wanted to try to find this transfer. It requires the utmost mucho great big faith of all time, and we all left on a spiritual high and with a goal to "Get the Snitch"....nice. (I think I explained that super terribly but that's alright haha...you get the idea.)

2. After a very long, very frustrating, circular lesson about the Word of Wisdom again with Brenda and her grandkids, we FINALLY got them committed to not drink anymore coffee! (Yes, the 4-year-old included...hahaha. Their life is weird). 

3. I found another new 90 something-year-old best friend this week named Brother Lamb and he's ADORABLE! It was like talking to Mr. EJ all over again...man, I miss that cute man.

4. We've been enlisted to help start up a YSA something-or-other down here in Carrollton so my dreams of serving in a YSA are starting to come true!

5. Our new friend Allison is AWESOME. We had a lesson about prayer this week and she prayed out loud for the first time ever :*) it was so cute. This week we are going to help her quit smoking so PRAY FOR THAT PLEASE!

6. Once upon a time, we found a hidden Christian Bookstore and my life got really happy all of a sudden. A year ago, I never would have thought that I would find the greatest joy in walking down the aisles of a Baptist version of Deseret Book but yeah..I'm really going to miss those stores when I come back.

7. James is FINALLY starting to recognize the Spirit and not be so logical about everything in the gospel. We had a really powerful lesson where he literally felt God TELL HIM to quit smoking right there. The spirit was strong and he couldn't deny it. THE SPIRIT IS SO COOL. (Sorry, I couldn't explain what happened as well as I'd like to but yeah...the spirit is awesome, seriously.)

I think that's all I've got for this week....Life is still SO GOOD. I love Carrollton, my mission, and serving the Lord. I'M NEVER COMING HOME, BYE! (actually yeah I am because I miss you all...)

Sister Lawson

1-2. Zone training and "Getting the Snitch"..(yes, that's our whole zone...it's tiny!)

3. One time the trim fell off our car and it was pitch black on a dirt road so we didn't know what else to do...

4. A cool old building we found in Roopville!

5. Making breakfast for dinner with my compy!

6. A hilarious car we found at Walmart this week.

Praise the Lord!

Ahhh...God is so good.

Unfortunately, I feel like I don't really have all that much exciting stuff to report on to you this week.

The best part of the whole week was getting a new companion named Sister Smith! We both came out together and I've been able to serve around her a ton my whole mission so it was pretty easy to click into place with her. :) 

Fun facts:
1. She's from Layton, UT (every companion I've had except for Sister Russell has been from UT...)

2. She's a DANCER and wants to be a Disney Princess one day.

3. We don't have a picture together because i stink and forgot to take one haha

4. She never drinks water....?

5. Her favorite Book of Mormon 'hero' is the Gadianton Robbers..? She's weird, I know.

6. We laugh our heads off basically every hour of every day and it's awesome.

Transfer meeting was SO WEIRD. I got to see Sister Russell (my trainer) because she went home and that seriously was one of the weirdest times I've had on a mission because I realized how LONG it's actually been and that i'm going home in T-minus 6ish months. Gah. Tears were shed, you betcha. Seeing her sitting up there on the stand gave me a chance to really reflect on all the change that's happened in the last year--in myself, in other missionaries, in my family, in my friends, in my testimony, in my perspective on life...Just everything has changed. 

The night before Sister Freitag left, we had a funny/cute experience where we were driving home from her last dinner appointment. She had made this playlist of songs titled "My Last Day" and we decided to just let it blast and as we pulled into the parking lot of our apartment, we just sat and listened for maybe 20 minutes and didn't say anything and just cried. I kept thinking about my life for the last year, and i was SO OVERWHELMED with how many of the chances the Lord had given me to change into someone better that I took, and the ones I didn't take. I felt a lot of love from God for those few minutes and it was like a fire had been lit inside of me to REALLY make the next 4 transfers count. I'm excited to see what happens!

STL life has been a good life so far. We found out we only have to cover 2 others sets of sisters because our zone is a brand new zone this transfer and it's TINY. The Zone Leaders are in our ward as well and are super skressed because they have no clue what they're doing (newbies..) so Sister Smith and I basically are running the zone right now hahaha. Tomorrow we are giving a zone training in which we'll be playing Quidditch (with a missionary spin on it) and we have a plan to make the Powder Springs South Zone the "cool zone". :)

Ummm...I'm sorry, but I really think that's about all I have for this week. Kind of boring I know, but just fill in the gaps with lots of really nice people asking US for our church's info, teaching some bomb lessons, tripling our teaching pool in 3 days, and a lot of laughing and there you have it. :)

I'm out yall, 

Sister Lawson

Baptism Scandals

Hello family and others that I've had some kind of contact with in the last 20 years of my life! This will be a quick one, sorry!

Transfer news: I will be staying here in Carrollton and will become an STL again! I'm excited. STL life was a fun life. :) Sister Freitag will be heading home to go get MARRIED!!!! (probs)

Welp, it was probably the most stressful, exciting weekend I've had in a long long time. Christine got baptized last minute, as you might remember I talked about last week. Everything was looking all great and ready to roll for the baptism the day before. We got there an hour early, the font was filling, sweet prelude music filled the halls....*sidenote: Christine is a...bigger lady.*

10 minutes till the baptism starts, Christine goes to try on the biggest baptismal clothing we had at the church and....it doesn't fit. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I died. *scrambles*

*REWIND TO 5 DAYS EARLIER: "Hey Christine! Here are some of the biggest suits we have, will you try them on to make sure they fit?"
Christine: "Nah, I'm good. That one looks big enough."
Me: *the spirit nudges me and tells her to try it on anyway* "...are you sure?"
Her: "Yep, I'm good."

Gah.

FAST FORWARD TO THE BAPTISM: *zipper won't go up.* "crap."

Half an hour passes, we run around trying to figure out a solution and literally can't think of ANYTHING. Then Christy gets this idea to tie a tablecloth around her and be all "Greek Goddess" over the top of the suit, while beneath she is hanging out. 

Us: "K let's try it, I'm out of ideas."

The service starts 30 minutes late...

President Foote was there...

8 sets of other missionaries were there...

Christine goes down under the water, comes back up and the TABLECLOTH COMES OFF. *use your imagination* (sorry to be graphic hahaha.) 

Definitely the most scandalous baptism I've ever been to hahaha.

I'm so happy it's over.

SOMETHING ALWAYS HAS TO GO WRONG IN BAPTISMS. WHY?

Ummmmmm...in other news, I got my first REAL taste of Georgia BBQ and it was the most glorious thing I've ever put in my mouth. Thank the heavens for po-dunk Carrollton

LIFE IS GOOD.

Sorry to be short!
Love you, bye!

Sister Lawson

Life is weird...and awesome

Waddupp!

Majorly cool things happened this week.

1. Christine--I don't think I've talked about her yet. The basics of the story is that Christine is one of those friends we have on parole who couldn't progress anymore than she already has and is a woman who's been coming to church for the last 10 months. She's been unable to be baptized until she received permission from the Prophet himself. I'm obviously not going to say what she did but I'm here to tell you that the Atonement is INCREDIBLE. This woman is completely new and born again and has completely turned her life over to God. Anyway, back to the news. ON FRIDAY SHE GOT PERMISSION FROM THE PROPHET TO BE BAPTIZED! The long awaited, long-prayed for, glorious and celestial day for Christine is coming this Saturday and we couldn't be more excited for her. :) God is good!

2. We got to spend one session watching with Brenda and her kids on Sunday morning. The kids LOVED conference and sat there super intently watching quietly the whole time! it was amazing. Conference Bingo came in clutch haha. After the last session of conference was over, we got a call from Brenda. She's like "Okay i'm ready to be baptized. That last guy I watched on the TV--I like what he said. I'm ready for this." Sooooo Brenda and the kids are all on date for Nov. 19th! WOOOooo!

We spent some fun time doing volunteer work at a local horse ranch and it totally threw me back to my weird youth days of loving horse movies and carrying around horse-stuffed animals. IT WAS AWESOME! 

We found some new geriatric best friends this week! The Huckebas they are so adorable and a member of the ward referred us to them. They had us over for a cute lunch and Southern chat. For whatever reason, old people just really love me. Mr. EJ...Brother Lamb....The Huckebas....I think I am just meant to have old-person best friends for the rest of my life and that's it.

Fact about Carrollton: It's the Meth Capital of Georgia! :)

I feel like I'm kind of all over the place today, I'm sorry. Just....distracted. 

And basically out of time.

We all know that conference was awesome so I don't feel like I need to elaborate too much. BUT! I do want to say that God has been so good to me because a lot of what was talked about in Conference went right in tune with what I've been studying in the last few months--Joy, "becoming", and knowing what you REALLY believe through personal revelation, it's okay to have questions, and not backing down when life gets hard. It's good to know I'm on the right track with what God wants me to learn sometimes haha.

Welp, that's all folks!
I'm out.

Sister Lawson

PS--i went to a scary house this week with at LEAST 50 cats walking around on the outside AND inside. I'm not exaggerating.

I AM A DIFFERENCE MAKER!

Hello my friends!

Obviously it was an exciting week because that's just what happens when you live in Carrollton.

To start off with, we got an EXTREMELY interesting phone call from a man in Columbus, GA. For reasons unbeknownst to us, this man had our phone number and decided he wanted to call and "thank us for what we do for humanity." Really sweet right? Then he kind of turned into a freak and told us he was Pagan and that his "God" was the same as our God, but not, and his God was "male and female at the same time"...I dunno. But he said that of all the Christian denominations, we were the most "on point". Then his next words were: "now, if you can just get on point with the Pagans and the Hindus, then you'd have the WHOLE truth." *face palm*. people are weird.

I tried the Southern "delicacy" of boiled peanuts this week and almost barfed.

Brenda is still doing great. Jasen and Angel want to be baptized this Saturday....exciting, but not going to happen because they are still far from ready hahaha. While we were over there this week having a cute lesson about baptism and butterflies (don't ask), Brenda's neighbor walked in the house, saw us sitting there, got ready to say something nasty, and then Brenda was all "Bubbah! Don't talk to them. We're Mormons now." HAHA! nice.

-----------

The bulk of my email will focus on 2 events that had a huge impact on me this week:

#1

Tuesday: We had scheduled to go finding for a solid hour in a giant apartment complex we recently ran into that looked pretty untouched. We prayed to find a new investigator while we were there and went out to follow the Spirit. For whatever reason, I was feeling extremely pumped about finding that day (which is shocking because I hate door-knocking with every fiber of my being). As we knocked on door after door, something miraculous happened: every door opened. Something very sucky also simultaneously happened: every person who answered was a JERK. Every single one of them. It's never been that bad for me before. We met one man in particular who took one look at us, said incredibly rudely "I'm not interested, ladies. I'm baptist." and tried to slam the door. Before the door shut, I blurted out "How do you know the Baptist church is the true church??! Did God tell you that??" He didn't have much of a response. "Ladies...I'm done with you today. Goodbye." *SLAM!* HE COULDN'T EVEN TELL US HE KNEW IT WAS TRUE!!!! 

I was so frustrated. We walked from complex to complex and all of a sudden I just called out "THERE'S GOTTA BE SOMEONE IN HERE!" It was like a movie scene haha. We decided to knock on 4 more doors and be as bold as we possibly could because we had major faith that someone was in there waiting to hear about the gospel. The next 4 doors were TRASH. As we walked back to the car defeated, tears rolled down my cheeks and I thought to myself "After all of that, we didn't make a single difference for one person." I had so much faith that day to find someone--something that I hadn't really felt that strongly while finding before. That was one of the lower points I've had on a mission. 

#2

Exchanges-Friday: While chillin' with my friend Sister Nau for the day up in Douglasville, we pulled up to a small little Southern subdivision and went at it. We knocked on only 4 doors that whole night.

Door #1: nothing

Door #2: nothing

Door #3: *woman looks at us, scoffs SUPER rudely, slams door*.

Door #4: nothing

After door #4, I had memories of earlier in the week of being rejected and I was super not down for that. I said to Sister Nau, "Hey, I think we should go back and see that lady who just slammed on us and tell her that God loves her." (cheesy). Sister Nau laughed at me but then said "Hmm..I actually feel like we should too." It just felt so right!

So we did!

*knock knock knock*

Woman: "You've got a lot of nerve! Why are you back at my door?"

As we proceeded to talk to her, she was SO SHOCKED that we came back especially after her initial reaction. We came to learn that she was just having a really really bad day, had never heard of our church before, and was now incredibly intrigued because no one had ever had the guts to do that to her before. After she shut the door on us, she said that she had gone back to sit on her couch to watch the terrible things happening on the news again and really just felt so much guilt for shutting the door. I know that Heavenly Father had really humbled her in that moment and prepared her for what was coming next.

 

After talking on the porch for a while, she allowed us into her house and said "This is so bizarre, I cannot believe I'm letting you in right now." We then had the most INCREDIBLE lesson I've ever had with someone sitting there in her living room. Sister Nau and I were so bold with her as we testified of the Book of Mormon and this being the true church. I have only cried in 3 total lessons on my mission, and that one took the cake. I literally watched the darkness inside this woman be replaced with light as we sat and taught her about how much God REALLY loved her. She said "I feel like this is the answer I didn't know I was searching for."

It was literally like something out of an Ensign or a movie. 

I've been reflecting back on these 2 experiences a lot.

In one moment, I felt lower than I've ever felt and as if I hadn't made a difference for anyone in the world at all.

In the next, I helped make all the difference for one woman who, if I hadn't followed a prompting, wouldn't have been introduced to the light of joy of the gospel.

It's quite the contrast, really.

Even though it's hard to see it sometimes, I AM A DIFFERENCE MAKER!

Gah. Life is so good.

Annnnnnd I'm out!

Sister Lawson

Song of the week: (how fitting!)
Difference Maker- NeedToBreathe

"RE-focusing"....

Haha sadly, this was a phrase said by Sister Freitag and I wayyyy too many times this week...Seeing as Sister F will be kickin' the bucket in approx. 3.5 weeks, we've been spending a lot of time at the library for her to do the dreaded MyPlan, a program that allows missionaries to evaluate their missionary service over the past year and half to two years and helps them create goals for their future. We've been having a lot of heart-to-hearts to help her figure things out, and what I've concluded is that sometimes I'm really excited to go home. Not because I don't want to be a missionary anymore or because i miss my family too much or I just want to go on a date, but simply because i'm really excited to just go out and use everything I've learned on my REAL mission and to become even more of what Heavenly Father wants me to become. It's just like how most missionaries are super over the MTC by day 5 because they want to go out and apply what they've learned--it's the same thing with the field and real life. It's quite the skruggle.

Needless to say, it has caused a bit of a hindrance to stay focused with our "heart and minds" on the work this week. Hence, "REEEE-focusing.."

Butttttt NEVERTHELESS....still a great week.

First things first, I told Sister Howell I would give her a shout out in my next email so this one's for you bb:

SHOUT OUT TO SISTER HOWELL BECAUSE I SAW HER THIS WEEK AND IT WAS SUPER HAPPY. Thanks for being my bff.

Anyway...exciting things about the week:
1. There was a string of break-ins among members this week...one of which resulted in the incarceration of one of our not-so-progressing-investigators who was the friend of a less-active woman. She has a hard time choosing good friends haha. That was quite fun to find out!

2. We attended the Roopville Homecoming Festival in an attempt to go make some new friends which actually turned out to be really fun. In the past, events like this gave me major anxiety (*cough* PTC 4th of July Parade *cough*) because SO MANY PEOPLE, but this time around, I could really see how much I've progressed as a missionary! We met a lot of cool new people that we are excited to try to see again.

3. COOKIES. Let me explain the backstory to this--Early into training Sister Francom, we received revelation that we needed to make cookies for the entire congregation in an attempt to get to know them better and strengthen our relationships with them because we really just didn't know how to work effectively with the ward. This worked well because 1) dropping off cookies is an easy way to get in the door briefly to let them know you know they exist, 2) everyone loves cookies, 3) easy way to ask for referrals, and 4) MIRACLES HAPPEN. 

So sister Freitag and I have implemented the same tactic here and it's worked loads better than it ever did in PTC. The members love us now, we've been referred to see a lot of their friends, and we've even gotten a bunch of less-actives to start coming back to church! It's been awesome. One of my better ideas, for sure haha. (Shout out to mom for the BOMB cookie recipe!)

4. We explored several new parts of our 500 sq. mi turf this week which was pretty fun. Also I learned that we cover about 8 cities...THAT'S A LOT.

5. I got a new boyfriend who's 6 years old named Skyler. :)

6. For whatever reason, we learned that the Elders have a full-size replica of the Title of Liberty and several weapons such as swords, nun chucks and blow dart guns. Sister Freitag definitely had a fight. (and by fight, I definitely mean that we took pictures holding such weapons).

7. With one of our friends James, we had some ROCK SOLID lessons with him about the Book of Mormon and the Plan of Salvation during which many tears were shed by yours truly because Spirit. He's finally starting to make major progress, wants to quit smoking and we were able to find him a ride to church! Sadly........he's on parole so his future is unsure. :( Everyone loved him and thought he was the coolest. 

8. Lastly, remember Brenda? YEP SHE RULES. We had her and all her grand-kids at church again this week and they are still loving it! Brenda's been telling everyone she's going to our church and they all say "You're nuts! They have 8 wives! They're a cult! BLAH BLAH BLAH"...ya know, the usual stuff. But she's a rock and tells them they're all crazy haha. It's the best. Last night, she called us and said that her grandson Jason told her before going to bed that he wanted to be baptized! WOOOOOO!!!!!!!! We'll be updating you on that next week. :)

In one of the lessons we had with Brenda and the kids this week, we were teaching them about the First Vision. After talking about Heavenly Father's pattern of love all throughout time with calling a prophet, I asked them "do you believe that could have happened? Do you think Joseph Smith really did see God and Jesus Christ?" And then Maggie burst out saying,"If that didn't happen, then GOD ISN'T REAL!" I think those were pretty profound words for a 7 year old! For whatever reason, it's incredibly difficult for people in the South to believe that God's called a prophet in the latter-days. They believe that those days died with Christ Himself. I know for myself that God is not a changeable God--If He loved His children enough to call a prophet in ancient times, why would He love us any less? He continues to follow His patterns because God is the same yesterday, today and FOREVER. He loves us! If it were not so, then "God wouldn't be real". :)

Welp, that's all folks!
I'm out.

Sister Lawson

Fave quotes of the week:
-"I'm really sad this sandwich is almost gone."--me 4 times this week.

-me: "So now it's natural to throw babies?"
sis F: "not BABIES, just children"....k

-sis F: "when i get home, i'm going to wash my goo"

-Sis F: "Sometimes I believe that if you just act like you have a mental illness, everyone will leave you alone"

-Sis F: "It's okay, she's just in the beginning stages of leprosy."

1. the creepy place we had to walk through to get to the bathroom at a grocery store :*(

2. Lawson Street!
3. THE FIGHT OF ALL FIGHTS

4. Bathroom pics with Sister Howell....fun.

5. Sis Howell bein' all "pretty" at zone conference.