"And with that I'll have to ask you to leave."

Hey Everyone!

It's been a fun week here in Virginia! The sun has come out and summer is upon us! The humidity is already so intense! Haha being back in Woodbridge with this heat just reminds me of when I first came out. I keep thinking about how I've learned and changed in this past year.  It's just crazy!

Anyway, we had some funny rejection stories from this week. We went to go teach this YSA (Young Single Adult) and he is currently renting out a room from this woman. We come in and she was so nice and loving that we were having a Bible study and went and got us water and was just so kind. She went into the other room and we start having our lesson. We must have mentioned Joseph Smith because the women came back in and starts yelling at us saying we are a cult.  (Really, a cult? I thought we were over that by now.)  Once she is done with her rant she then said, "With that I'll have to ask you to leave" and goes and opens the door for us. Haha it was sad, but also really funny. It was the first time I got kicked out of a house. Usually we just are rejected at the door, but she actually kicked us out. Haha

We also got a call this week from the mission office saying that a lady that we tracted into called Salt Lake and said that missionaries came and knocked on her door at 8 at night and that she would call the police if we ever came back. Hahaha the things people do to complain about us. It kills me.

But even with all the rejection we also had many miracles! We found the coolest lady! She let us right in and we shared the restoration. She loved it and said that she has always wondered why there are so many churches. She also said that her best friend is LDS and that she is actually living with her currently. She is so prepared! Such a miracle find.

This week we also had interviews with President Wilson. Sister Prach and I were the last ones for the day so after our interviews he took us out to dinner. We ate at this really fancy place on the riverside and it was fun to be with President and Sister Wilson. I can't believe that they are leaving soon! I can't imagine having a different mission president.

Well it was a fun week everyone! I love you all! This week is MLC (Mission Leadership Conference) so the party bus is coming back!  I can't wait :) have a great week!

Love,
Sister Lawson

P. S. Thanks dad for the postcard all the way from Italy! :)

Taco Tuesday!

Twining!

Caught!

I found this while tracting.  All I hear is NO these days.  Hahaha!

And the Rain Came Tumbling Down

Hey Everyone!

Another rainy week down!  I didn't even know that clouds could hold so much rain.  It's just non-stop!  But missionary work stops for nothing!  So we have been just tracting in the rain.  Unfortunately, we haven't found anyone.  We tracted for three days straight, I mean from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. for three days and didn't find anyone. Got into a few Bible bashes, but it's still been a fun time.  We like to play games such as "I'm thinking of a movie" and then it's like 20 questions to guess it. We also jam out to Prince of Egypt and Lamb of God in the car and have just been living the missionary life up!

A few of our investigators dropped us this week, but others are going strong.  Davon is really progressing.  He meets with us all the time and has learned a lot.  He just doesn't want to read the Book of Mormon which is really hard.  He has so many friends in the church and loves all that we do, but he just won't read.  It's a bit frustrating.  I got mad at him last night and told him that I didn't give up 18 months of my life and fly to Virginia for a book that wasn't true and that didn't bring me closer to God.  He said "I didn't realize how much this book meant to you.  I promise I will read from it."  So he better read today because we are seeing him tonight. 

We did recieve a great referral from the elders in another ward.  Since we take all the YSA members they passed them to us.  They are these two young adult girls and they are AMAZING!  They don't have much knowledge about religion and they love meeting with us. They are just soaking up all that we teach.  It's great! I'm excited for them!

Also this week we had sisters meeting!  It was so fun!  I love being with all the sisters!  Well, all the sisters up north.  We have 2 sisters meetings: one for the north and one for the south zones.  Anyway it was really good.  We had trainings on faith and charity and obedience.  All the wonderful Christlike attributes.  :)

Well it was a great week everyone!  More tracting is in my future, but that's where the miracles happen!  That's where you get to be an answer to someone's prayer!  I love it!  I love you all!!  Have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Lawson

Look!  I found "Where the Sidewalk Ends"!

Sister's meeting

Woodbridge Zone Sisters

11 Months!

Sorting baby clothes for service.

Our friend Wendi moved!  She was the best!  She came out with us ALL the time! 

It was like being in a trio. The hit was hard.

Never mind, the storm is coming

Hey Everyone!

Another great week in the mission is over.  I really can't think of anything super exciting that happened this week... it was a week spent finding.  We did have a cool tracting miracle though.  We went to this street and the first house we knocked on was this older man.  He said that he wasn't interested, but was nice and told us which of his neighbors might be interested.  So we left and started knocking the rest of the street.  We were walking back towards the car knocking the houses on the other side of the street and we saw him just sitting on his porch step.  We kept knocking waiting for him to go inside so we could go back to our car (we were parked right in front of his house).  But he wasn't going inside and he was just watching us.  We eventually decided that we would just make the awkward walk back, but as we were walking to the car he stood up and called out to us and said that he was very rude to turn us away and that he would love to hear what we had to say.  He was so nice!  He didn't know anything about what we believed and we were able to teach the Restoration.  He was very interested in learning more.  It was so cool!  The spirit was really working on him and he needed to hear what we had to say. 

Other than that, most people haven't answered their doors to us.  We did have a really great dinner at a member's house. They were having a party and they told us to invite all of our investigators over for a meal and so we did.  We had 3 investigators show up and it was so fun.  It was just a big bbq and we had crabs (I, of course, did not eat crab.  I am not ripping apart a crab to eat its nasty fish flesh :) haha) but it was a great party and Jess came and she loved it!  She is still set to get baptized in 2 weeks!  Her interview is this week so we have that to look forward to :)

We also went on exchanges again this week and this time I stayed in our area with Sister Morris.  It was a fun exchange.  We mostly just tracted, but we did teach Davon. He is doing well.  He has finally started reading the Book of Mormon so that's huge progress.  He didn't want to take a copy of the Book of Mormon when we met him. 

Well that's all folks! I really don't have anything else to say.  It's finally sunny today! Virginia just broke their record for the most rainy days in a row.  This is the first time I've seen the sun in 3 weeks. It makes tracting hard when its raining.  People cancel on us because of the weather a lot.  But it's kind of fun to be in the rain.  You just get soaked and live it up. But I am very happy to see the sun :)  Well, I love you all so much!! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Lawson

P.S. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, Sister Zhenya Plumb, and Elder Kalani Enos for the letters this week!

Exchanges with Sister Morris. I want to live in this area. Right on this pretty lake!

We learned how to use duck callers and be duck hunters.

Got stood up at Penera....again...

Crabs, nope, not eating that.

Party Bus!

Hey Everyone!

Happy Mothers Day to all those mothers out there!  It was so fun to get to talk to my family yesterday.  They are all growing up so much ;)  It's crazy that the next time I will see them is when I come home.  That went fast.  Too fast.  But I still have lots to do out here in beautiful Virginia! 

Anyway, this week was super fun!  We got to go to missionary leadership conference (MLC) this week.  It's a big long meeting down in Richmond for all the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders.  We recieve trainings and then we have to give them to the rest of the zone.  But anyway it was so fun because I got to drive a party van.  haha  Since I am at the VERY top of the mission we have to drive the farthest to get to Richmond. So we had to get the mission mini van and drive down to Richmond while picking up other sisters.  Oh man it was so fun.  I got to drive one way and we were just partying in the party van.  The meeting was really great and I learned a lot and then after everyone in the party van went and got food at Cafe Rio.  Who even knew those were in Virginia?  It was great!  We didn't get home until late that night.

Then on Friday we had zone meeting and we had to give trainings on the trainings that we recieved at MLC.  I trained on working with the ward to get referrals.  So all you people out there invite the missionaries over with your friends :)

I also went on exchanges this week!  I got to go to Bristo which is right on the mission boundaries and we may or may not have accidently gone out of the mission.... hahaha welcome to DC South! Haha but it's ok because it happens a lot up there.  The boundaries are not very good and you make one wrong turn and you are gone.  But what was super fun is a went with Sister Styler!!  We were back together for the day!  It was so fun!! We got to teach together again and it was like we were never apart.  I loved it!  

This week we also met a really cool new investigator named DaVon.  We teach a lot of young single adults (YSA) here and so we were just at McDonalds and this YSA kid stops us and starts talking to us.  We have met with him a lot and he even came to church yesterday!  He is being fellowshipped so well by the YSAs in the ward and really loves all that we do.  We also are teaching this lady who after two years of meeting with missionaries has officially quit smoking and now is ready to be baptized! She is being batized on the 28th! So cool!  Also Kendall was baptized on Saturday! I wish I could have been there, but I heard that it was great.

Well I love you all and miss you tons!!! Have a good week!!!!

Love,

Siser Lawson

P.S. Thanks dad for the card this week!!

Mission Learning Conference.  STLs

Best little ice cream shop ever!

Sprinkles!

Lunch at Cafe Rio!

Party Bus group.

Lunch before exchanges.

Exchanges with Sister Styler!

Party Bus video!

Transferred to Hawaii!

Hey Everyone!

So it was a crazy week this week!!  Transfers happened and I am back up in Woodbridge!  I cant believe it. hahaha we were at transfer meeting and slowly President was reading where everyone was going and my name wasn't being called so I knew what that meant.  He reads off the areas starting from the bottom of the mission to the top, so I knew that I would be going back up north.  It's exciting and a bit not.  I love being back up here, but I definitely like the South better. And I wanted to see a new area of the mission, but it is really great to be in this zone again.  I am now in Quantico and that's only like 10 minutes from my first area!  It's a bit surreal being back where I started.  Bringing back all the summer memories. The really sad thing is that they took sisters out of my first ward, so I can't go and see anyone there :(  I was really hoping to be able to go on exchanges with the sisters in my first ward and see Evelyn again!  But I can't. :(  Mabe next transfer they will put sisters back in.  We have a shortage of sisters lately so lots of areas closed, but once summer comes things will pick up again.  But I love being here because I already know so many of the people! I've met lots of the ward on exchanges way back when and I told them that one day I would come back and here I am. Haha it's way fun!

Anyway, transfers were crazy because they forgot to get me a ride up north. Haha oh #AbbyLuck.  I finally made my way to Fredricksburg (about 30 minutes from my area) and then had to hang out at a church there with the STLs in that area and wait for a member to come pick me up.  Oh the adventures!  But I made it!  My new companion is Sister Prach.  Shes from Colorado and only lives like 20 minutes from me there.  We were at all the same dances and stuff.  Crazy that we never knew each other.  But she is so fun and we have been having a blast!

I came to the ward at the right time because on Saturday they had this HUGE Luau!  It was so cool!  Tons of people showed up and they roasted a whole pig (I of course wouldn't eat any of it) but then they went through all the islands and did dances from each place.  I felt like I was in Hawaii! Our ward here has LOTS of Polynesian people so they put it all on and it was sweet.  There was even a fire dancer!  Man I am obsessed with that culture.  I should have been sent there! Haha but it was way fun

Also on Saturday we had a baptism. It was for a little boy. He was way cute and very excited to be baptized.  I'm excited to keep working with him and his family in the upcoming weeks.  Unfortuantly, Kendall wasnt baptized this weekend.  I don't know what happened, something to do with someone in the hospital...?  But she is on date for next Saturday. Unfortunatly I am too far away to go to it, but it's still an exciting thing!

Well thats all I got. It's been fun.  I love being in Quantico.  It's like the dream for missionaries here.  It's just such a cool area and ward is amazing. It should be a fun time!  Love you!

Love,

Sister Lawson

P.S. Thanks to Elder Kalani Enos and Dad for the letters

P.S.S. My new address is: 3303 William Johnston Ln. Apt 14 Dumfries, VA 22026

Luau time!

Spring flowers!

Coats back on.  Is it spring yet or not?

Luau dancers!