Busy as a Bee

Hey Everyone!

This week was great! We were so busy!  We hit and exceeded all our weekly goals :)  that's always the best! Just means we have to set higher goals this next week ;)  Each week we have a day to plan and we set goals on how many lessons we want to have and how many new people we want to find.  We brought members out with us each day I knew that if we put in the effort and tracted and brought a member out with us tracting that the Lord would bless us and we would see miracles and find people and we did!  We found so many cool people! I'm excited for all our next meetings with them. This next week is going to be great! 

We did a lot of service this week.  We helped this one lady we found clean her back porch.  She was so grateful for the help.  I love when we get to serve.  Any reason to wear pants :)  We also helped a family in the ward move.  We packed up their kitchen.  Man, I will never move, it's SO much work! I can't believe it!  I have a hard enough time packing my three suitcases each time I get transferred and all I have to pack are my clothes.  Packing Everything is the Worst! But they were such a cute family and I'm really sad that they are leaving before I had a chance to get to know them.

We also had English class this week!  That has become my new favorite activity.  I LOVE teaching English class.  It's so fun! We hold it on Tuesday nights and Friday mornings.  It's the best.  We just go over simple words and help them use them in sentences.  We really aren't very good at teaching, but for a free class taught by young adults what more can you do? haha they are progressing in their speech though.  We had a lot more people in class this week.  We are trying to build it up and get more people there.  

It was a really fun week.  We just enjoyed the heat and humidity!  It is very hot here!  I think it might be worst than last summer, but I can't remember. We are just trying to find a lot before August because EVERYONE here leaves for August.  I really don't understand why, but everyone takes that month off.  I guess because it's the last month before school starts?  Idk but we are just working hard and seeing the miracles that come from that!  I love it here in Oakton and this next week is going to be so busy and fun! I'm excited! We have two exchanges and have to present trainings in two zone conferences, so it should be a fun week!  We also might have a baptism this week!  One of our investigators Maddie has been progressing towards baptism for forever.  She is waiting for an answer even though she believes everything we have taught.  Some people just want a pillar of light.  But she is on date to be baptized this Saturday so hopefully all will go well and she will receive her answer by then!  I have full faith that she will!  She is so ready and so prepared.  So pretty crazy week this week!

Love you all!

Sister Lawson

P.S.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the letter and the Jessen kids for the pictures and cards!  Love you!

I don't know if you can see in this pic, but we randomly picked a street to knock and it was like this back woods farm road.  All the houses were SOOOOO far apart!  And there were just barns everywhere.  To bad we can't ride horses on the mish!

All the Virginia trees!

We call this place mini India. Everyone who lives here is from India

and there are just rows of these huge apartment buildings.

We aren't allowed to eat in the car.... So we go around the rules. Haha I'm not eating in the car...

This was someone's doorbell.  You have to push Darth Vader.  haha

Back to the Basics

Hey Everyone!

What a crazy week! So much happened! So much changed! So I was transferred out of Woodbridge.  I am now in Oakton! My new companion is Sister Labrum! She is from Castle dale Utah. She is so sweet and we are going to see miracles this transfer!  Oakton is a VERY wealthy area. Mansions galore! So the ward hasn't had a baptism in quite some time, but I am determined to change that! We are both ready to work and to work hard. I'm excited!

This week was really spent saying goodbye to everyone and packing. Saying bye was sad.  I loved Quantico and I feel like I have finally left the Richmond mission. Saying bye to Sister Bray was even harder. I know she will still kill it in Quantico though! Things are a lot different here. I really spent the week just trying to figure out how things are done here, but I'm slowly learning. I feel like I'm in training all over again though. I'm constantly asking what we can and can't do. Haha greenie round two!  I'm a fast learner though :)

But it's been a good week. We have been just finding a lot lately. I've only been here for four days and we have mostly just tracted and I'm just trying to adjust. We have some really great people that we are working with here and the ward is amazing!  They are so missionary minded! It's great! 

We get to teach an English class twice a week here. That's way fun. A bunch of the missionaries come together and we hold a little class. We pair up with someone and read with them or teach them the ABCs or do little worksheets. It's fun. It's like being a school teacher. :) 

But that's kind of my week.  It's just been crazy.  I'm excited to get more in the swing of things! I hit my 13 month mark! CRAZY! Where has the time gone?!  Well I Love you all SO much!!!

Love,

Sister Lawson

P.S.  My new address is: 3229 Arrowhead Cir., Apt. J  Fairfax, VA 22030

New Companion, Sister Labrum!

Tracting the mansions.  The driveways are SOOO long!!!

I thought this house looked like a house in James Bond movies.

Brother Hatcher used to be a makeup artist for celebrities so he gave
us tips and did our makeup. Haha he is the coolest guy ever!

Transformation Tuesday!

13 months

Heaven on Earth

Hey everyone!

What a crazy week! So much happened! I don't even know where to start! I'll just go through the week. So last Monday was the Fourth of July! We went to President Huntsmans for a BBQ. It was POURING rain the whole day. Haha but here in Virginia you have cold rain and hot rain, and on monday it was hot rain. So we all went outside and played volleyball anyways. We got SOAKED!! And So muddy! It was fun. Just a good time being with the zone. Because of the rain though all the fireworks were cancelled :( that was a bummer. But we go home before any fireworks are shot off anyway so it doesn't matter too much. Haha

Then on Wednesday we went on exchanges! I was with Sister Forbes. She is so cool. She is over a foot taller than me and so people were commenting on that all day. Haha we must have looked funny walking down the street. We taught some amazing lessons that day though. The work is moving forward here!

Then the highlight of the week was Friday! We got to go to the DC temple!!!!!!! Ahhhhh it was SO cool! It's HUGE!!!! As a zone we all went and when I saw it, it didn't look real. It was gorgeous and ginormous! I couldn't believe it! It was like a huge castle :) so pretty. We hurried in and made it just in time for the 11:00 session. It was packed! We barely all fit. There was Just enough seats open. Oh man it was so pretty and the spirit was so strong. I LOVE THE TEMPLE!!!! I finally just felt right and good about everything and all the changes once in the temple. It's where I need to be and I'm just at peace with everything. It's so great! The temple does wonders :)

Then at church on Sunday we had an investigator show up! Haha yay! His name is Anthony and he is awesome. We have been teaching him everyday and it's amazing. He is so prepared and just wants to learn it all! On Sunday Sister Bray and I also had to give talks. I talked on the gift of the Holy Ghost. My streak continues. I have given a talk in every ward I've been in. Haha

Then yesterday (why I'm writing on Tuesday and not Monday) all the leadership had an MLC up in DC! It was cool because I got to meet all the other STLs. They are all really sweet sisters.  There are only 5 other sets of STLs though. Richmond had a set for each zone so that was a bit different, but it's all good.  We went to DC though to meet Senator Hatch. He is the senior senator which means he is third in line to the president. So I basically met the president yesterday. Haha he is a senator from Utah and is just the sweetest old man. He just kept telling us his mission stories and how without his mission he wouldn't be where he is today. That his mission is what taught him to be a leader and influenced his whole life. It was a really fun experience and was fun to just see DC. We just drove through it, but I want to go and see more in DC! So much to do there!

So there you have it. My crazy awesome week :) lots to be excited about. :) tonight we find out about transfers and then Thursday we get transferred. I have no idea what will happen. I just know that Sister Bray and I will be split up. :( I wonder who will stay though. Jess wasn't baptized this weekend because her family couldn't come. :(  But hopefully in the near future she will be! I just hope I can come and see it :)

Well I love you all! Have a great week everyone!

Love,
Sister Lawson

On exchanges with the other sisters who were on bikes for the day...

Sister Bray stayed in that area. I went to ours with the car :) Haha my bike riding was BAD!

We went to Crackle Barrel with a YSA who is preparing to go on a mission 

so he comes out with us a lot and helps us teach.

SO WET!

Sister Forbes! We went on Quantico base and found this cool lake.

Temple visit.

Last time the Woodbridge zone from the 

Virginia Richmond Mission will be together.

A visit with Senator Hatch (not pictured) with the DC South Leadership Council.

Some of the STLs

Welcome to DC South

Hey Everyone!

Wow so much happened and changed this week. I am now officially part of the Washington, DC south mission!  It's.....different.... Haha the rules here are SO different and just the way everything is set up is different.  It's not wrong, just different. I'm trying to just adjust to the new missionary life. In a couple of weeks it will all be normal. Change is good. At least that's what I keep telling myself. Haha

Anyways besides all the change it was a good week! We had sisters Pday and we went to the marine museum. That was fun! It's a really coolnmuseum that has lots of interactive things to do. It's the second time I've been there. First time was almost a year ago! Can you believe that!? Crazy!

We went on exchanges this week. I went to Bristow with cute Sister Tingey. She is so funny. My favorite quote was when we were talking I told her that I can't cook and that I've basically eaten toquitos and chicken nuggets every day for lunch this week and she said, "So basically you have the diet of a toddler" and I just died. Yup. Pretty much. My poor future kids are going to be so malnourished. Hahah but it was a fun exchange we found some really cool people and had some great lessons.

This week we also had MLC! My last one :( We weren't able to have the party bus so just Sister Bray and I drove down to Richmond together. It was a good meeting, but was so sad because it was ours and President Wilson's last one! During lunch at MLC we always play speed, or knockout, or lightning, or whatever you want to call it and I did the best I've ever done! Haha I'm so bad at basketball. Then at the end of the meeting president said bye to each of us and then all the sisters said bye to Sister Bray and me. I felt like a Disney princess. Haha everyone was in line and would come over and take a picture with us and say goodbye. It was funny, but also really sad. It will be weird not seeing any of those sisters for the rest of my mission. After MLC a big group of us went to Cafe Rio for our last dinner. That was fun.

On Friday we had our zone meeting and President Huntsman came. He talked to us and explained some of the rules here in DC south and then we gave our trainings. I trained on how to have a more effective study. Haha something I should really work on.  It went well. It was nerve racking having the new president there, but he seems nice and his wife is so sweet and I already love her.

We had some miracles this week. One being that Jess had her interview and passed! Hopefully she will be baptized this Saturday! I'm so excited :) we also found some cool new investigators that I'm excited about.  Just got to get them progressing! :) miracles are going to be seen here in DC south! I just know it! :)

So that's my life right now. Today we are going to the President's home (this mission is so small that we can just travel anywhere and be there in like 30 minutes) for a bbq and 4th of July party. Love you all!!

Love,
Sister Lawson

P.S. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa and Dad for the letters this week!

My comps.  I will miss these Sisters!

Last Misson Leadership Conference.

Richmond, VA mission STLs

All my buddies! :)

Sister's p-day at the Marine Museum

Sister Tingey

President and Sister Huntsman