Episode 57: The One with Halloween!

Happy Halloween everybody! Sister Bolos and I are dressed up as a lemon and a lime. It's cute!

We have been doing a lot of finding this week, and it has payed off! We have added 10 new people to our teaching pool, one of whom has been coming to church for a few weeks already. We actually thought she was already a member until someone told us she wasn't. 

It is turning into fall here, which means it is really beautiful, with tons of colorful leaves and the perfect temperature. Except when it rains. Then it is just wet.

As has been typical lately, I have been thinking about joy, and I found a great quote about it from General Conference earlier this month:

"Joy is powerful, and focusing on joy brings God's power into our lives. As in all things, Jesus Christ is our ultimate exemplar, "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross." Think of that! In order for Him to endure the most excruciating experience ever endured on earth, our Savior focused on joy!"

I know personally that focusing on the joy that the gospel brings into our lives can get us through the hardest things. And joy comes when we focus on Christ. He is our hope.

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Sister Lemon

Episode 56: The One with Cowboy - Part 2

Hello everyone! This week has been a wet one. It reminds me of when I first got to Washington. It's crazy to think that I have lived here for all 4 seasons now!

So, if you remember back to Episode 52: The One with the Cowboy, before I got transferred, Sister Powell and I were teaching an older man named Delbert who we called cowboy. Well, he got baptized yesterday!!

It was one of the best baptisms I have been to. Cowboy was so excited, he let go of his walker and started dancing! It's amazing to me how much the gospel can change our lives, no matter how much of our life we have already lived, or how much we have left to go. 

We've also been working with a lady named Alyssa, and she has taught me a lot about teaching the way the Savior taught. She told us that she has has tons of missionaries knock on her door, and she has even let a few into her house, but she has never invited them back for another lesson. What made her interested this time is that Sister Bolos used an analogy about her daughter on her doorstep, and that was the first time she really felt like the gospel related to her life. Ever the next few lessons we have taught her, we used a lot of analogies, and she finally asked how we knew she liked analogies so much, because she hadn't told us yet. We explained that we try to teach in a way that fits the individual we are teaching, and that the Spirit is the one who is really touching her heart and making things make sense. That really touched her, and I think she really felt the Savior's love for her through us.

Other than that, Sister Bolos and I are still being goofy and loving life!

We found some funny, fluffy pig slippers at Walmart on Monday. I couldn't convince Sister Bolos to buy them.

Well, that's all for this week! 

Love,

Sister Lemon

Episode 53: The One with Another Excellent General Conference

Hello everyone!I hope you all got a chance to watch General Conference, because it was amazing! I learned so much, and I am definitely inspired to be a better missionary and a better person. Which is good because...

I'm getting transferred! I'm going to Soundview, which is the Sister Training Leader area for the Tacoma part of our mission. For those of you who don't know, a Sister Training Leader (STL) is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. We go on exchanges with 5 or so companionship of sisters to model missionary work for them and to help council them with any questions or concerns they are having. We are getting doubled in, which means that both of the sisters that were in that area are leaving (one is going home because she has finished her 18 months, and the other is getting transferred). My new companion will be Sister Bolos, who trained Sister Powell, and is just an amazing missionary. I'm super excited about it!

This week was a great week, and I can't really put into words why that is, other than that serving God to the best of my ability and loving people with all my heart brings pure joy into my life. I hope that I can share that joy with others, because it is truly an amazing feeling.

This is me and Sister Powell at the mission home for General Conference yesterday. It was a gloomy morning, so I decided to bring the sunshine with my shirt!

We found the most adorable fluffy dog while we were knocking doors. It looked like a teddy bear, but the owner said it likes to bite people!

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Sister Lemon