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

Somos Misioneras

Hey everyone!

What a great week! Last Monday we had a zone P-day with President and Sister Wilson!  We played baseball and some other sports and had a pizza party. It was really fun! Last time as a zone with president!  We will all really miss him! I can't believe he leaves next week. He has been such an amazing president and has just made me feel so loved. I'm grateful for all he has done.

This week we also went on exchanges with the Spanish sisters! That was so fun! I got to go do Spanish work! Haha the Spanish sisters took us out for paposas and then we switched and I spoke Spanish all day :) it was hard. I was trying to help, but I really couldn't say much. At one door I was really trying and struggling and then I gave up and said "yo no hablo espanol" the girl laughed and said "that's ok I usually talk in English anyways" haha she was just watching me struggle and was probably so entertained. Actually, all the Spanish people we found spoke English pretty well so that was a miracle. I could help out a little! It was a really fun day. It would be cool to be a Spanish missionary, but it makes finding so much harder! Tracting isn't the same. You have to look for the Spanish people. Also, the stress of learning a language would be hard. I did learn how to say some phrases that might help me when we do run into Spanish people though.

But this week has been really good. We have been finding like crazy! We keep having these really cool miracle finds and great lessons, but then they miss their return appointments and then we can never get in contact with them again.  It's a bit of a bummer.  We just need to keep searching for the prepared people. Those prepared will keep their return appointments. We saw Marie the other day and she has read almost the whole Book of Mormon! She hasn't come to church yet though so she can't be baptized for a little longer, but she really loves all we teach. Hopefully she will be baptized while I'm here! Who knows how much longer that will be though.

Well this next week is the big change! On Friday I will be in DC South! It will be fun. I actually won't be in DC so I don't know why it's called that. My new boundaries just go to the top of Virginia. I won't ever actually leave the state. haha So I will always be a Virginia missionary :) but I'm looking forward to Friday! It should be great. We get to meet the new president and it will be a cool opportunity to see how other missions work. I'm a lot more excited and happy about it now!

Well I love you all!!!

Sister Lawson

Disney fan's house

Zone p-day

Hispanic store with Hispanic drinks

Paposas. They were good!

Sister Wilson!

Strange things are happening to me!

Hey Everyone!

So REALLY big news! I am changing missions. I will now be part of the Washington, D.C. South Mission. I just can't believe it. During zone conference they circled up our chairs and President Wilson started to get emotional as he told us that as of July 1st we will all be part of the DC south mission. I have never been in a room that was so quiet before. We were all in shock. Some of us started crying and it was like my whole world just turned upside down. That means I won't be going to the temple with the group I came out with. I won't be partying in the mission home with all of them my last night. I won't be ending in Bon Air (where the mission home is) and get to see the Harrells like I had planned that last night. I won't fly home with Sister Prach (she is from Colorado). I won't see Sister Olson or any of my friends at meetings. I will have to learn new rules of the mission and new people and areas. It's been a hard thing to take.  So much is going to change. One year out and now I'm basically going to go start my mission again. I've never lied in my emails before and I won't lie now. It's hard. But through it all I know I'm growing. I've been studying Christ's atonement a lot lately and one thing I read really stood out to me. It's from Preach My Gospel, the missionary handbook. It says, "All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." So I'm trying to hold on to that. Give my burdens to Christ. I know there is a reason for this to be happening. And I'm sure it won't be to bad. It's like changing schools. You leave all your old friends behind and are sad, but then you love the new place. And I'm coming from the Virginia Richmond Mission with 7 other amazing sisters and we will do this together. I am just so grateful that at least Sister Bray is coming with me. I couldn't do it without her. It will be an adventure. And if not, well, just more stories to tell when I get home :) how many people get to say that they served in two missions? ;) but that's really the big news.

Ever since the announcement of us leaving the Lord has really blessed us. We saw Marie again and she is SO golden! She's the one whose friend had given her a Book of Mormon and she wants to be baptized on July 2nd! Her friend is coming into town and she wants to surprise her and tell her. Haha it's great. She is just so cool.  We also met this guy who has been to church lots and has met with missionaries for a long time and he said that he is finally ready to be baptized! What!? He is also on date for the 2nd.

We've been finding people like crazy lately. Our teaching pool is HUGE! We've been taking YSAs and kids who just graduated who are preparing to go on a mission out with us and it's amazing the success we've seen with them. We just go tracting with them and it's like everyone is interested. Haha we are being blessed. :)

So that's the story there. Yes I'm sad about everything, but each day gets better and more exciting. Once the change happens it will be hard, but I know that I will learn to love the new mission and the new mission president. There are just people in DC south that I am supposed to meet. Someone over there is waiting for me and thats why I was chosen to switch.  One year in Virginia and 6 months in DC. Did I mention I've been out for 1 year now? Haha I can't believe a year ago I left. How things have changed.

Love you all lots!
Sister Lawson

P.S. Thanks mom and dad for the package and the chocolate strawberries for my year mark!

1 Year photo shoot

Comparison of when these two were together at 5 months and now at 1 year!

Zone conference

Woodbridge Zone

Sisters heading to the Washington, DC South mission

How Abby is feeling about the change

 

Dreaming of the beach.  My tan line is coming along nicely!

For family home evening with the YSAs we played ultimate frisbee on the beach!

And.....we are back.....