For Unto You is Born this Day... A SAVIOR!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

I hope you all had a great Christmas! I sure did!  This week was full of excitements!  So on Tuesday we had our all-mission Christmas conference! It was so fun!  Everyone in the Richmond Virginia mission came together for a conference.  There were lots of musical numbers (three of my companions sang during it:) ) and little talks on Christ-like attributes.  We all ate lunch and I got to see all my past companions :) that was fun!  It was just a great time.  I really enjoyed it!  

Then on Wednesday we got to sing at the zoo!!!!!!!  YAY!!!!! So the night we were to sing it was POURING.  It's been raining a lot here.  I kind of miss snow actually, but anyway it was pouring so not many people were there.  They didn't cancel it though.  They put everyone in a room and we sang for all those there.  Jeremy came!  It was fun to see him since I wasn't able to say goodbye to him.  We waited for the rain to clear up a bit.  It eventually did stop and then we went outside and saw the Nativity! It was so good!  There was this camel that was just a baby and it started running away from the wise men. Haha oh animals. It was fun to do though! I am so happy that I was able to sing at the zoo since I'll only be here one Christmas :)

Then it was Christmas!!!!! What a fun day!! We opened presents in the morning and I just want to thank everyone for all the gifts and cards!! I love you all so much and miss you!  On Christmas we went and saw this recent convert Jennifer and her family.  We are currently teaching her daughters.  Lauren (the oldest) is getting baptized soon!  We are planning on the 9th :)  Lots of people are actually planning on being baptized on the 9th.  It's so cool! That's going to be a good day!  After seeing them we went to skype home! It was so great to see my family. I loved it!  If you haven't talked to my brother Dylan you should.  He is now taller than me! WHAT!?!?!  Everyone back at home just needs to chill and stop getting older.  Haha they need to stop for just one more year :)  We went to a members for Christmas dinner and it was SO good! So much food!  I wanted to cry I was so full. haha  But it was a really good day.

As you can tell this week was a really great one.  I am loving being out here and can't believe how fast time is going.  We have so many investigators and they are all progressing towards baptism.  The Lord is blessing us so much in this area.  I just love it! 

I love you all so much and wish you all a very Happy New Year!!  I'll see you in 2016!!!!! 

Love you!

Sister Lawson

P.S.  Thanks to the Culebros, Bradys, Barnetts, Evans, Rogers-Peckhams, Tenneys (Ben and Rey), Plumbs, and coach Tracey for the Christmas cards!!!! And thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, Papooh, Aunt Sarah and Uncle John,  Aunt Dee and the Rubster, the Jessens, the Lawsons, ALL the cousins, Dylan, and of course my wonderful Mommy and Daddy for the gifts and cards! I love all of you!!!!!!!!!

All-mission Christmas conference.

Richmond, Virginia mission!

Face-time/Skype with the family.

All together for Christmas.

Christmas morning and cookies for Santa.

Our tree!

Opening presents.  BYU slippers!

Christmas cards from the cousins.

Money from Papooh.

Gift from the Rubster.

Cookbook from Grandma.

I love you all!

All of my companions: 6 months = 6 companions!

Performance at the zoo - Jeremy came!

The Work is Hastening

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to start by wishing you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!  I can't believe that it is already Christmas! Where is the time going?  I have now been out for 6 months too! Like, what?!?!  

So this week was a great one! I managed to fit all my stuff in my suitcases (that was a miracle) and then headed out to transfer meeting.  I love transfer meetings. It's so fun to see everyone.  All my past companions were transferred too so I got to see all of them. :)  My new companion is Sister Garrigues (Pronounced Gar-eeg).  She is the best.  She from Washington state and is an AMAZING singer.  She also is not a newbie at ALL.  I usually forget that I am follow up training.  She has been taking over the area like a pro.  I just love her.  I am just trying to learn all the new people and really get used to this area so that I can help out. I am now in Midlothian in the Bon Air ward and am actually in President Wilsons ward!  That's way fun.

This week we had a baptism!  Her name is Beverly and she is the sweetest lady.  I am so happy that I got to see her be baptized.  I just love going to baptisms.  This is such a great area.  We have so many people that are so close to baptism.  I can't wait to help these people progress more and help them make that decision to be baptized.  It looks like there might be quite a lot in the new year!  I'm excited for them! 

This week we spent a lot of time just having me meet all the people we work with.  We don't share the ward with any elders so we have a lot of area to cover.  It's kind of nice to have the whole ward because then you don't have to worry about being in the elder's area, but I do like having two sets of missionaries in the ward.  Makes the work go even faster!  

We also had the ward Christmas party this week.  That was fun.  I love ward parties.  None of our investigators could make it, but lots of members brought friends and it was a great opportunity for me to really get to know the ward. We also had a really cool miracle.  This lady (Michelle) who was taught by missionaries at the beginning of the year called us and said that things in her life have changed and that she thinks she could be ready to be baptized now.  What?!  She came to US!  It's such a cool miracle when people come to us and we don't have to search for them.  Haha the Lord is blessing us here!

Well I love you all so much!  I am so excited for Christmas and I know that this is going to be the best Christmas yet!  I can't think of a better way to celebrate Christmas than serving the Lord.  This season peoples hearts are softened and I invite you all to share the message of Christs birth with someone.  Let's put Christ back in Christmas!  I love you and wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Love,

Sister Lawson

P.S. thanks to the Evans, the Barnets, the Murris and Sister Kellie Soderberg for the Christmas cards!

My new address is:

715 Boulder Springs Dr

Apt. B6
North Chesterfield, VA 23225

Seeing Sister Kellogg!

Baptism!

Me and President Wilson.

Saying goodbye to Sister Bray. :(

My new comp:  Sister Garrigeus

The miracle of pizza.

Hey everyone!

So lots of big news this week! I am getting transferred! Right before Christmas..... Haha #abbyluck but I'm excited! I'm going to be follow-up training a girl. It should be really fun. I'm REALLY sad to be saying goodbye to Sister Bray though.  She has been the most amazing companion and I'm going to really miss her, but the streak continues. Five transfers=five companions. Haha I just can't keep them for more than six weeks. So I have no idea where I'm going, but president told me that I can still sing at the zoo!! Last week at singing rehearsal I had told him how I will only be here for one Christmas and that I really want to sing at the zoo so when he called he said that no matter where I get transferred he will make sure that I can sing. :) I just love that guy so much! He is the best president out there. So today I get to pack all my stuff and tomorrow I meet my little step daughter (when you train we call it having a baby so because I am follow up training, I'm her new mom) it's a good thing I got new luggage for Christmas (Thanks Grandma!) because I am going to need it to pack everything. Haha

The other even more exciting news is that Jeremy got baptized Sunday!!!!!!!! It was so great and the spirit was so strong! He was crying when he came up from the water and it has just been so wonderful to teach him and see him make this decision. I'm going to miss this kid. His family didn't come to the baptism though (they really hate us) and Jeremy was really sad about it. It broke my heart to see. I just wanted to go yell at his family and tell them to stop being dumb and to support him. Luckily he is joining a great ward and lots of people from it came to support him.  It just made me really grateful for the family that I have. My family who would support me in anything I do.

So cool miracle of the week.  We had a young women (her name is Abbey :)) come out with us last Monday and so we tried to plan a lot so we didn't have to go tracting with her.  We had one lesson and during that lesson the investigator told us that pizza wasn't actually from Italy (mind blowing right?) it came from England.  So we finish his lesson and then tried the other people we had planned.  No one was answering and I hadn't eaten any dinner so all I wanted was pizza and to find someone to teach.  Abbey is really nice but pretty shy and she was just kind of following us around.  We said a prayer to try to know what to do because all of our plans fell through.  In the prayer I mentioned that I would be really grateful if someone would offer us pizza.  So we go to knock on a door and no one answers and then Abbey says, as we are walking back to the car, "My brother is having a little party and my mom ordered pizza and says that we can go over and eat some and also she said that his girlfriend wants to have a lesson and learn about Joseph Smith."  I just about died.  Pizza AND a new investigator.  The Lord really answers prayers. It was the best lesson we have had too.  the spirit was so strong.   I have such a testimony that the Lord will always answer your prayers. So many times on my mission I have prayed for something and then it happens. He is always there for you. I am so happy to be a missionary and am so excited for my new adventure in a new area.  It will be fun :)

I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Lawson

P.S. Thanks to Kaiya, Kenna, Elyse, Myles, Dad, the Jessens, the Brights, and the Murris for the letters and special thanks to the best mom in the WHOLE world for the package and the 12 days of Christmas!  It's so fun opening a little gift each day! I love you so much mommy!!

Abby SINGS!

Last lesson before baptism (the other girl is a cute little young woman

who comes out named Brittany)

Mini stockings mom found for us to decorate.

Pascal and Olaf!

12 days of Christmas - Day 1!

Jeremy's baptism!

We get fed well!

Day 2 gift: 2 sister missionaries!

They look just like us!

Singing for days!

Hey everyone!

Another week gone by. We spent most of the week trying to find all the less actives in the ward. We have a ward roster so we have just been trying to see who still lives here. We have gone to some interesting houses.... Haha three times we have ended up in the back woods at these creepy old houses in the dark, haha its a fun time but we've found a lot of good information for the ward. Lots of these people have moved. One of the addresses took us to a furniture store though. Haha some people just really don't want to be found.

This week was also our ward Christmas party! It was so fun. None of our investigators came which was sad, but it was a great party!  Santa came and I gave him a Book of Mormon ;) He has now been converted. so we are good there :) Sister Bray and I sang with two of the Young Women in the ward.  I know crazy.  Me singing.  Doesnt happen very often... but since I came on my mission my singing voice has been getting better.  I'm not sure if it's just my mission that does this, but we sing at the start of every lesson and sometimes just to random strangers on their doorstep, so I am no longer scared of singing.  I like doing it because music can just bring the spirit in so strongly.  It really helps with teaching and luckily all my companions have been really good singers so I can just kind of follow their lead. haha  Speaking of singing I also went to a choir practice for an event coming up at the zoo!  The zoo in Richmond is owned by members and they put on a live nativity every Christmas and all the missionaries within an hour drive of the zoo get to sing in it!  Currently I'm in an area that gets to sing and go to the zoo, but transfers are next week and I'm scared that I wont get to go.  I just really want to go to the zoo 

Other big news is that Jeremy is getting baptized next Sunday!!!  He has his interview on Wednesday and then will be baptized after church on Sunday! I am so excited!!  It's going to be great! He loves coming to church and can't wait for his baptism.  He went around on Sunday telling everyone that he was being baptized at 1:30 next Sunday and to come.  It was so cute.  Can't wait!

Well I love you all!!!!!  I miss you all so much!! Winter has definitely begun and it is COLD!  But I love that we get to go around showing that great video about Christs birth! #ASaviorIsBorn it's so fun! and it's so great to see all the Christmas lights (makes it so we can actually see at night because Virginia doesn't believe in street lights. haha)  Well I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Lawson

P.S.  Thanks to Kalani, Elle, and Bryce for the letters this week!

"SANTA!  SANTA'S HERE!  I know him."

Selfie's with Santa!

Zone Meeting.  (Sign reads:  "He was born so I....")

SO COLD!!!

I was so tired I fell asleep on the floor after nightly planning time.

Turkey Day!

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  For Thanksgiving here we had our weekly planning (every Thursday we plan for the whole week what we are going to teach) and then made cookies!  We delivered our cookies to a bunch of the people who we work with and then went to two different Thanksgiving dinners.  I  was STUFFED!  I wanted to die I was so full.  The first dinner was really good, the second either wasn't good or I was just too full to enjoy it.  Haha but I made it through.  First Thanksgiving on the mission and I didn't even go into a food coma after we ate :)  I'm a survivor!

This week was a good one though.  We went to the mall for sisters p-day and all the Christmas stuff was there!   It made me so happy.  I am so excited for Christmas.  There was a new video put out by the church called "A Savior is Born" and it's really good.  We have to use it in all our proselyting now and its really cool because we downloaded it on our iPads and now when we knock on doors we just show them the video and it's great.  If you haven't seen it yet you should check it out! It's only 2 minutes long and it just brings the spirit.  

We spent a lot of time this week tracting.  It's been really nice out lately, but I think winter is arriving here shortly.  We are trying to build up our teaching pool.  Most of the people we work with aren't really progressing and we might have to drop them soon.  I hate doing that, but we have to focus on the people who are ready to hear the gospel...like Jeremy.  he came to church again yesterday and is really preparing to be baptized!  I can't wait! 

So now for the weekly cooking disaster with Sister Lawson and Sister Bray.  This week we melted a pot! hahaha So, I guess there is this HUGE chocolate store in Richmond that sells chocolate from all over the world.  Well, a member went there and bought a bunch of chocolate from England.  We came home from lunch and wanted to make soup because it was freezing and so we put the pot on the stove but we got distracted by trying all the chocolate. (Side note: an English Flake bar is the best chocolate in the world. It melts on your tongue!)  Well, we forgot to put the soup in the pot and apparently if you put a pot on the stove and don't put anything in it you can actually melt the pot.  Haha oh man. So we are down a pot.  Oops.  If I have learned one thing since coming on a mission it's that I have to marry someone who knows how to cook! haha

Well I love you all!  Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Lawson

P.S. thanks to Papooh, Grandma and Grandpa, and Dad for the letters this week!

Sister's p-day at the mall!

Happy Thanksgiving!

English chocolate - yummy!

We tracked a whole day so we went to Applebee's for dinner as a reward.

Trying all the chocolate and unaware of the burning pot behind us!

This is what I live with.....

Hey everyone!

This week went so fast! I know I say that a lot, but this was really the fastest week I have ever been through. It was a great week too! We had 14 lessons with investigators, 7 with members, and found 6 new investigators. The work is going well here! We are just seeing so much success. I love it!

This week I hit my 5 month mark! Crazy!! My mission needs to slow down a bit. It's going too fast! We went on exchanges this week and I stayed in my area and two of the sister training leaders came with me. One of them gets sick from the smell of smoke and my apartment ALWAYS smells like smoke... So we got to go sleep at the mission home! It was so cool! That house is just great! The spirit is so strong there and I just love seeing President and Sister Wilson. It was weird being there though because five months ago I was there and was scared to be starting my mission. So much has changed since then. I have seen how much I have grown and changed. I'm happy that I have another year and a month to change a little more! I still have a lot to learn out here!

My time with the Hermanas was great. They don't mess around when it comes to talking to everyone. They were calling to everyone they saw.  I want to be better at that.  I like tracting and knocking on peoples doors, but street contacting scares me.  Funny that I'd rather go to a strangers house then talk to someone on the road, but I just think that walking up to people on the street is so weird.  I'm going to work on it though because we found two new investigators by walking up to people on the street.  so street contacting is what im going to work on this week.  I am going to talk to Everyone I see! No one should miss out on hearing about the gospel!  There is nothing better that we could be spreading!  

So some fun things from this week.  I got a flu shot all on my own and didnt cry :) haha, we got ice cream after to celebrate. A member gave us a Christmas tree and decorations so we put it up and its So PINK! haha All the decorations and lights are pink and purple.  We were laughing so hard at it.  Oh well.  It made me so happy to see a Christmas tree up!  I'm so excited for this time of year! We also met with some really cool less active members in the ward.  We met with this Hawaiian family and they taught us a hula.  It was way fun.  We also visited the oldest lady I have ever met.  She is like 90 something and was so cute and funny and old.  I love old people. haha they are the best.

I also had my most spiritual lesson ever this week.  It was with our investigator Jeremy.  He is the one that came to church the other week and he came again yesterday.  He is getting baptized on December 12th. He is so ready for it too.  We talked all about how God loves all of us and the spirit was just so strong.  We were all crying as we were talking.  Even Jeremy.  It was just so powerful.  I cant wait to see him be baptized!

Well I love you all so much!! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!  I know I will be eating a lot of food!

Love,

Sister Lawson

P.S. Thanks to the Plumb family for the card this week!!

Our pink and purple Christmas tree!

Flu shot and ice cream cones.

Celebrating Mickey Mouse's birthday with Mickey pancakes.

5 months out!

Donuts and planning meeting.

Hawaiian family that taught us to hula.

Cutest lady ever - Sister Worthen!

We found Mexico!