One Week 'Til Christmas!

Hey everyone! 

This has been an AMAZING couple of week!!! Sorry I didn't email yesterday. We had our Christmas zone conference! And this past week we had an amazing 1/2 mission conference. So you'll be getting a few different emails from me with notes from them! So here's what's been going on with me:

Tuesday - 1/2 mission conference! SO powerful! I felt emotionally and spiritually and physically drained! It surely was amazing! After we got our mail, Sis. Bauserman picked us up to go visit Lina and Juan. We were planning on making their baptism program with them. We went through a quick version of all the lessons and they expressed how they didn't have any questions and still really wanted to get baptized.

Wed - During our Mormon.org hour at the library  we received a phone call from Sis. Bauserman. She got a text from Lina that she had talked wit her mom on the phone and her mom asked her if she was ready to make such a big commitment. In the end, she told Sis. Bauserman that she wasn't fully ready to commit yet. So, the baptism was cancelled. But, we're glad she realized it now before she was baptized vs after she got baptized. We know she knows this is the truth...she just needs some time. Both Sis. W8 and I accidentally fell asleep before our DL did our nightly phone call, ending up worrying everyone. (phone was on silent). We woke up Thurs morning with 13 missed calls. Some from our DL (district Leader) some from our ZL's (Zone leaders) and one from our Mission pres's wife, Sis. Griffin...OOPS.....haha.

​ Thurs - we got to go out with the RM Emily McMurry. We ended up caroling / tracting with her. Was a ton of fun! ​We met someone named Provda = musician, very sweet and said we could come back another time. Another house ended up being a Chinese woman. She ended up crying while we were there and said it couldn't have been a better timing with the singing then she thanked us. I love being a missionary!  After tracting we went to the Acre's home. We had promised them before that we would sing Mary Did you Know and Little Drummer Boy. well, Sis w8 the night before got the lyrics for us. Just Mary (the grandma / mom) was home. All three of us sang it to her the best we could. Wasn't too shabby! We talked for a bit, then her daughter Lisa got home from teaching (elementary school teacher). The other two made me do a solo of Mary Did You Know for her! not too bad! :p While I was on the roll of doing solos, and talking about Christ and women of the bible, I brought up the play / musical Savior of the World that I was in of 2012. I sang for them a verse of Who am I? I love that song SO much! Had another great lesson at the Williams that night!

Frid - I woke up wide awake with the alarm, super happy and pumped for the day! It was amazing! It was a GREAT day even though there was weekly plannin! It all depends on your attitude! Sis W8 and I went and heart attacked Lina and Juan's door! As we were leaving, the door opened. She saw us quickly walking away and laughed. We told her we loved her and to look at her door as we ran away. hahaha! Was so exhilarating! LOVED it! We then went caroling with Tiffany (ysa). Someone tried to give us money and was very persistent that we take it. We insisted we couldn't (it's a rule) and wouldn't take it!  While in the car, Sis W8 and I had a blast dancing and singing to the Christmas music we have. so much fun! We're allowed to listen to any Christmas music as long as it's not romantic! 5pm we went and helped set up / decorate for the church Christmas party! Everything was set up by 6:30 which is also the time ppl started showing up. At teh end of the party and pretty much everything was cleaned up, the Elders were in the church building so they popped in to say hi. They were talking to Sis. W8 while I was talk to Sis. Delp. On the way home, Sis W8 told me that one of the Elders called me a Molly Mormon. She asked him what that meant. He expressed how I get excited about everything - happy...or something like that. I took it as a compliment! :p

Sat - I was VERY out of it. I woke up groggy and as we helped Nikki Blevins pack up and move her stuff out of the Atwoods I barely talked and had like...NO energy. Idk why! :p We watched Finding Faith in Christ with her and the Williams. Went really well!

Monday - One month today my comp Sis w8 will be going home! She has become my best friend! I love her so much! Zone conference was AWE-MAZING! If you send me a blank DVD I will send you the skit we did! We did the 12 days of Christmas! It's too long to send on email. you'll never guess what movie we watched.....FROZEN!!! Why? I have NO clue! haha! I got a fun 12 days of Christmas package from my family! It was really funny, bc when we got home, Sis W8 got two packages from her family.  She doesn't' like surprises and was just going to open them last night. When she opened them, her presents were shrink wrapped so she wouldn't open them till Christmas. Was HILARIOUS!

It's already been a great day today! I love and miss you all so very much!! I love my mission so very very much! Talk to you all later! MERRY EARLY CHRISTMAS!

​

Love, Sister Thomas

Elders in Walmart at Christmas

A very Chrismasy Home

Sisters at Zone Conference

Zone Conference

 Zone Conference

 

The missionary purpose in the work of Salvation. The work of missionaries is: finding, teaching, baptizing, retaining, reactivating and serving! The work of salvation does not exclude ANY souls! There is power in teaching the gospel!
Humility is confidence in God.

We should talk with people, not about people.

Desire + belief + action = faith and hope.

the Savior works through your problems with you.

Hard things give great results.

Love,

Sister Thomas

Mission Conference Notes

 

 Some notes I took at Mission Conference:

 

 

  You have the right and obligation to know the truth for yourself. And once you know it, write down your experience.  Jesus Christ LIVES! He is mine and your Savior and Redeemer! He leads this Church! Conversion is to Christ, not to a principal - take upon the name of Christ. When we stumble, Christ is like parents teaching their children how to walk and they fall "look how far you've come! Keep trying!"  We're all Saints if we keep on trying! Start your mission right here and right now! What can I do to make this better / work? It's everyone's responsibility to help! 

What is learned is from an experience which goes into knowledge which makes it very real. Faith = light of Christ = exposed to truth = manifestation of Holy Ghost = starts upward on your faith - only through your own action. You're either progressing or regressing. We are conduits and channels - we are not the light. Be a conduits, not a filter. Continue to do things that invite the Holy Ghost - which will change your nature of who you are (Alma 32) 

 

Act on your faith, for faith without works is dead - just like growing a garden = faith it will grow is one thing, but you have to constantly tend the garden. You have to know  the Gospel is true and be  true to the Gospel. Faith, Holy Ghost and Action = Helix - spiral = slinky . Take a few steps and you'll get a little more and more.  

 Get your feet wet for the miracles to start. Keep your hope! <-- act in faith! A testimony is a gift from God! As your testimony grows, you gain more of a personal accountability!

 Teach and learn by the spirit = seek in faith! We can learn things not even being taught (3 Nephi 26:14) the children knew more than he had taught them. Be exactly obedient and you'll be protected.

No matter who we are or our situation we can pray and talk with God personally and He will answer us. Whatever is important to you, is important to God. What are some things you pray for? (Alma 37) tells us some ideas what we can pray for (37:36-37) pray always about everything. Praise God, give thanks ask for help, etc. We need faith in prayer and sincerity and loyalty and real intent (committed to act upon the answer you receive). Sometimes we're too emotionally involved in a situation to understand the spirit where we'll need to rely on others to guide us.

 We also need humility and gratitude in prayer. Prayer is a form of work. Labor with all your diligence. Speak while on your knees, then work while on your feet! Enos is a great example how to pray in the BOM. When we pray it'll help us recognize the spirit in our lives! If you don't act after your prayer, your prayer was in vain. Prayer is the one thing people can't take away from you. Allow the line of communication to stay open between you and God. (John 14-15) Promises of Holy Ghost. Write down the promptings of the HG you receive. Give of your heart mind and testimony and time.

 The unity and spirit will come through companionship study whether on your mission or married. Weakness is from God, Sin is from Satan (Ether 12:27)  Goal setting is an eternal perspective.

We are all sons and daughters of God, baptized or not. When we choose to act (baptism / confirmation, covenants, etc) shows we want  to be God's children - we become heirs. What is infinite divided by 7? Infinite! God has everything and will give everything if we choose to act. You can always have a sure witness for yourself = it's not priesthood or gender dependent.

Love,

Sister Thomas

Very Slow Week!

Hey everyone!

 This week has gone by SO slow! Most of our appts cancelled on us, plus transfers was this past week...so, it ended up going slower to both my comp and I. Tho it was still a great week!

My companion and I are starting to carol as we tract. We go door to door, carol when someone comes to the door, then ask to share our message. One day this week we were tracting on Wiley St and did the above ending up with a mom and a TON of kids coming to the door to watch us sing. Quite the audience ;) They let us in and we showed them the "He is the Gift" clip. If you have not seen it yet, you should totally watch it! I'll send out another email with all the info! After we talked with them for a bit they said we could come back!

We kept on that street and eventually one guy was pulling out in his car and ran into his trash cans. We ran over and helped clean it up. We gave him a pass along card and he said he was actually looking into the LDS church. No coincidences in life!  His name was Brandon.

Lina and Juan's baptism was supposed to be this past Saturday, but Rex (Lina's husband) is still in town and once again cancelled our appt last Tuesday and pushed their baptism date to the 13th. BUT we are planning on seeing them tomorrow night!

We don't know what's going on with Scott. We hope everything is ok. It's really hard to get ahold of him.

Friday night we went over and decorated Beverly's Christmas tree and ate clam chowder! yum!

We found out that after the mission conference on the 15th....our mission president will be showing all the missionaries there...*drum roll*

FROZEN!!!

yeah...idk....hahaha!

We caroled to Brian and Stacy and talked with them for a while.

We also went and visited a church's handbell choir performance. was AMAZING! Was planning on using it as a finding opportunity, but the performance went longer than we had hoped for and had to leave early to go home. But it was super cool!

Also, there was a cool Christmas parade that we went to!

LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU ALL BUNCHES!
HAPPY EARLY CHRISTMAS!

Love,

Sister Thomas

Sister Thomas and Sister W8 at the Christmas Parade

Sister Thomas joining the carolers at the parade!

Cute companions

Happy Thanksgiving and Christmas month

HEY-O!!! Great week this past week!!!

Last Mon - we went to the mall and took photo booth pictures! WAS AWESOME! (see pics attached)

Tues - 2 weeks earlier we tracted into someone named Justin who told us to come back in two weeks. Well, we went back, and they had completely moved out,....hahaha HILARIOUS!

Wed - had a lesson with the Williams - Taught the Plan of Salvation. They had read and prayed about the BOM and believed they got their answer that it is true!! WONDERFUL! They accepted the baptism date of Dec 27th! WHOOP WHOOP! 6:30pm my comp and I walked the street of Main St. There was no one to be found tho....but randomly I looked behind me and lo and behold there's a woman walking up towards us. We waited for her to catch up and she started passing us by so I caught her attention with, "Aren't you cold?" she said she wasn't then we started up a convo. In the end we found out her name was Dierra (was hard to not say mine was Sierra) loves Christ and would love to learn more! she even accepted a BOM! GREAT!

Thurs - HAPPY TURKEY DAY! I woke up, looked outside...and there was SNOW!!!! I was VERY happy! On our way to the Turkey Bowl we stopped for gas. As I was standing outside waiting for the car to fill up, I played / walked in the snow that was falling. Snowflakes are REAL! I thought they just fell in chunks, but some really do have patterns! was awesome! When we got to the field it was COVERED in snow! (look at pics attached) Everyone had fun playing football with ward members and friends! I hung out with a 15 yr old girl (Pres. McMurry's niece) taking pics and videos. 1pm = thanksgiving linner (lunch / dinner) at the McMurry's. Was GREAT! Delicious! we got to take a plate home and we took a plate to Beverly's house since she wasn't feeling very good. We visted CJ (by Gene) and he gave us some pie! YUM! 8pm - went over to the Newton's house and made cupcakes SO much fun!

Frid - got some AWESOME new pass along cards for Christmas. This is something I would like all of you to go check out! It brought tears to my eyes and gave me goosebumps! go to christmas.mormon.org! And watch the 3 min. clip on the true meaning of Christmas! Then share it with: #sharethegift you'll love it!!! Let me know what you think of it! Sis. W8 and I are practicing our Caroling! So far we have a good harmony for Angels we have heard on high and Silent Night. It's so much fun! Our voices really compliment each other! We went and visted the Delps. he is in the army and so we got to try on his gear! (pics in attachments)

Overalll, we've had a pretty great week! And I'm starting to gain my mission weight! I've gained about 3 lbs! I wonder how much I will have gained by the end of my mission. Most sisters say about 20....YIKES....wish me luck ;)

LOVING my mission!

Love,

From Ms. Southern Virginia,

Sister Thomas

P-Day

P-Day

Me and my companion Sister W8

District

Happy Thanksgiving!

Alright ya'll! Things have been going pretty great around here!!! Here's my update:

Tuesday - After our studies we went tracting. We got out of the car with snow slightly on the ground and our noses practically froze off our faces. TI was SO cold! Sis Weight was NOT prepared for the cold. she ended up pulling her hat down over her face and I guided her to the car. Was HILARIOUS! We were planning on having a lesson with Scott Clark at one at the McMurry's. Scott texted us saying he wouldn't be able to make it to the appt because he was job searching for something local. We were like, "Take a break and learn the gospel with us!" In the end he said the spirit was really telling him he needed to meet with us!So we met up at the McMurry's house with Sis. McMurry. He admitted thath e felt that God told him to do whatever we asked of him.God must trust us a lot! That feels really good! We talked with him a lot then went through the 10 commandments with the hand signals. He LOVED them! After that it led into the baptism. we went over the baptism interview questions with him. HE ACCEPTED A BAPTISM DATE FOR THE 29TH!!!! We were all so excited! all his answers and comments were perfectly aligned with what we believe! At 5pm we had a lesson with Lina and Juan with Sis. Bauserman. We taught pretty much the exact same lesson we taught Scott. (not on purpose). Juan LOVED the hand signals! We extended the baptism invite and THEY TOO ACCEPTED! They wanted to before Dec, so it'll prob be the same date as Scott's! She just has to call her husband Rex and make sure he's ok with it because since he's a truck driver, he's NEVER home and never knows when he'll be home. 7pm we taught Buford and Shanna doss who had their 1 yr old grandson. Buford is the one Sis W8 and sis. Little tracted into at the community college during exchanges. he was the worker blowing leaves int he rain. Well, we visted them with Bro. Gestwitz and ended up teaching the restoration of the church. They opened up a lot to us! We talked about the HG and shanna (Buford's wife) said she felt that we were the "real thing". That was cool! The spirit was so strong. I know He was teaching for me when I felt i wasn't doing a good job. In the end, they asked if we have a prophet today. YAY! Yes in fact we do! President Thomas, S. Monson! Go to LDS.org to hear or read some of his talks! Everything made sense to them! They believed Joseph Smith had that vision! They accepted to read and pray about the BOM and they might have one of their songs over next time for the lesson! SUPER stoked! WHAT A BLESSING! So many souls are coming closer to Christ! I absolutely LOVE being a missionary! and I have an AMAZING companion! 

Wed - in the morning I went outside to the car and saw that Sis. W8's water bottle was frozen solid! WAS HILARIOUS! 

Thurs - A ward member, Sis. Songer crocheted some hats for us. SUPER cute and SUPER sweet! I made dinner for my comp and I - recipe my mom gave me! DELICIOUS! 

Frid - 5 MONTH MARK! I have finally after a year am now able to add one month progress to my mission! How amazing is that?! It really doesn't feel real yet ;) After DM my comp and I met up with our ML and Nikki (just recent returned missionary from NY) and went to an hour away house (still in ward boundaries) - LA = Williams. We went inside and both Sis. and Bro. Williams were really sweet! We got to know them before their 14 yr old son Jonathan got home from school (not member - but interested). we talked with them for a bit, then their 24 yr old widowed daughter, Shasta walked in with her two sons - 6 & 4 yr old. We ended up teaching the restoration. Both  Jonathan and Shasta were intently listening and the whole family said they'd come to the hour away church on Sunday. Now that's a testimony / faith! At our dinner appt, we talked with Scarlett (Rex's sister) and she said she talked to Rex on the phone (Rex is Lina's husband who is LA) and said he cried about Lina and Juan getting baptized!  (happy cry) and he won't make her wait until he's home from truck driving! Sis W8 and I were ecstatic! So...we're thinking of Dec 6 for them, so they can have a Spanish baptism session! On the way home, I was talking to sis W8 and I realized I would be at the mission home right then to go home. As I was thinking about it, I'm NOT ready for marriage .... or college! I'm glad / grateful HF allowed me to still stay on my mission because of my year home! before bed, both my companion and I prayed really hard that HF would allow us to receive 3 new opportunities with new investigators and other lessons. As I was lying in bed, the scripture D&C 782 came into my head. I immediately got up to look it up because I didn't want to forget it by morning. There is no section 782. so I turned to section 7 thinking maybe there was a verse 82.  It only went up to verse 8. So I decided to read both verses 8 & 2. I didn't understand the meaning so I left the scripture open and went back to bed.

Sat - for personal study I went back to the scripture I opened up to the night before. I realized that vs 2 was us turning to God and asking for our goal to be fulfilled and vs 8 was God accepting our request and granting us our wish. I was super excited for the rest of the day! My companion then pointed out to me D&C 78:2 which is practically the exact same thing! how amazing is that!? Well, after our mormon.org hour we went tracting. We originally went to the same street we went to last time, but as we were walking, sis w8 was like, I don't feel this is where we need to be. I felt the same way. We ended up going in the car, pulling out the GPS, and naming and writing down street names. Sis w8 and I prayed about the names we wrote down and got two of the same ones: Palmer and Poplar st. which ended up being right next to each other. We went over and as we parked the car and started walking we saw a man getting into his truck. 1) We yelled hello and started walking up to him. He had to get somewhere so we went up and talked to his wife (Lisa) and his only child / daughter (Phoenix - 18 yrs old). They were really sweet and ended up letting us teach them the first lesson right then and there (Restoration) Phoenix apparently knows Sammy Bauserman (Bishop's son) In the closing prayer, we could tell Lisa felt the spirit because when we opened our eyes at the end, her eyes were filled with tears! 2)As we left we went and knocked on their next door neighbor's house. An older woman named Elizabeth opened the door and we found out about 40 yrs ago she was baptized into the LDS church! She's a member! She ended up loving us and said we could go back and talk with her! She was watching a 92 yr old woman for her job and she lived elsewhere. She actually lives near our ML. 3) After Elizabeth we were going to knock on this one door, but we couldn't figure out how to get to the door, so we continued on to the next house. As we left a little dog just followed us. didn't bark or anything. Walked up to the doors with us and back down. I felt it was God's way of saying we need to talk to his owner; but we didn't know how to get to his door for there was so much stuff blocking it. In the end as we were driving away, we saw a man pull up to that house, so we quickly put the car in park, called after him and quickly ran up to him leaving the car running and the doors open. haha! I surely wonder what he thought when he saw us. But he ended up allowing us to come back and talk with him! 

THAT'S THREE!!!!!! THREE NEW OPPORTUNITIES!!!!!! WHAT A BLESSING!!!!!

Sun - THE WILLIAMS CAME TO CHURCH! SO DID LINA AND JUAN!! WHAT A BLESSING!!!!! so very much grateful!!!!! Unfortunately, Scott wasn't able to make it. Going through a hard time right now. He won't be able to get baptized this Sat, but maybe once he gets back from his truck driving trip = 17 days in a row. He still wants to get baptized and everything, and his testimony is still strong. Just going through a hard time right now is all. We had a great lesson with Hector and watched the Restoration movie. The spirit was VERY strong. He won't be ready by the 13th of Dec, so we'll just wait and see when he'll be ready. But we have one firm baptism now = Lina and Juan = Dec 6th!!! SUPER HAPPY AND EXCITED!!! (got to play the piano in primary! felt right at home!)

Happy THANKSGIVING WEEK!!!

What are you grateful for?

I am grateful for:

1. My amazing companion Sis W8
2. My area - Abingdon, VA
3. The amazing ward (church) Members
4. the scriptures - bible, bom, pearl of great price, d&c
5. my talents
6. my family
7. the ability to be back on my mission
8. my district
9. my mission Pres. and wife

and so much much more!!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! going to the McMurry's for dinner!!! 

Talk to you all again soon!!!

Our homemade soup!

Love,

From Ms. Southern Virginia,

Sister Thomas

Our hats Sis. Songer made for us!

Getting to play for primary!

Second Week!

Can ya'll believe it?! I'm already on my second week! Crazy stuff! And Oh my goodness! I can't believe how amazing my companion, Sis. Weight is! We get along like crazy! I love her soooo much!

Alrighty.....Here's this past week:

     Tuesday - No new investigators or other lessons. (not from lack of trying ;) )Saw Shawn. (LA) He told us that whenever he wants dope, he reads the scriptures (BOM) and goes for a walk; then the urge goes away! GOOD JOB SHAWN! A La family gave us a 4th of July Christmas tree thing...haha. That night I had a dream where my mission president sent me home after being on my mission for a week, because he was triple dog dared to. I was so upset. :p

     Wed - Feeding America. Lunch with Stacey - buffet! yum! She has SUPER long hair. LOVED it! She's a LA (less active in the church). Went tracting on a tiny rd. We found someone named brian. For the past ten years he has been studying Hebrew & Greek. He's been reading the Dead Sea Scrolls. He's read the bible multiple times and kept teaching us bout many things he knew.  We could barely get any words in. He has a cute little 2 year old. His wife wasn't home, so we couldn't go inside. IT WAS FREEZING! We needed up giving him  BOM (which he was really excited about) and scheduled to go back the next day. 2pm - had appt with scott clark at sis. Mcmurry's (stk pres. wife) house. When Scott walked in he was holding a quad (BOM, Bible, (old n new) D&C & pearl of Great Price - in one book) and we were all amazed. He explained how for truck training he went to SLC and walked downtown, eventually leading him to the visitor's center. After going around there for a couple of days he was really interested. In a used Book store he got the quad. Anyways, he's a truck driver, so he's traveling a lot, so the SLC sisters taught him a lot on the phone. He wants to start completely over with the lessons with us.

     Thurs - Weekly planning...SOOO BORING!!! But so neccessary! :p 2:30 went back to Brian's house, but this time with the ML (mission leader - bro. Guestwitz) so we ended up going through a repeat of last time. BUT we got to meet his wife, Stacey! We also found out that he believes the same way we do about the trinity - how they're 3 sepereate beings and one in purpose! sweeeeet! I love seeing the love of Christ in others lives! 6:30 - we went tracting on doors in a trailer park. Everyone there was very sweet, but wasn't open to hearing our message. By the time we were going to start heading back we saw a guy walking his dog. We talked to him and found out his name was Shane and the dog's name was Smokey. About 10-11 years ago Elders were going over to his house a lot. They promised him a BOM but he never got one. They apparently became really close friends. He also admitted to us that he doesn't believe the first vision with Joseph Smith. We ended up giving him a BOM in his house while meeting his wife, Penney. Shane continued on explaining that he believed God to be one person and that man could never see him without dying. He believed ppl could see Christ; but once He put the Glory of God on, no one could see him unless he died. I have to admit, that was the first time I had heard that one, but I lvoe hearing what everyone believes! I personally know Joseph Smith saw 2 personages, HF and Jesus Christ. I know they are 2 seperate beings with one purpose. We weren't going to or even wanted to argue with him. We respected him for his beliefs and shared ours with him. They offered to allow us to come back, so we left them with a prayer, gave hugs and handshakes then went on our way to dinner. For dinner, we ended up helping carve pumpkins and pack up candy bags for the trick or treaters for the next day - halloween. We ended up watching the Restoration while eating pizza. It made me think, Joseph was 14 years old when he had the first vision. If any of you or anyone you know is 14, compare yourself to Joseph Smith. If you were living in his time, and there were so many churches, would you search that diligently for the 'right' one? And if you read James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God" would you go and pray sincerly about it? Then if you received that vision, or that answer, what would you do?! Would you be quiet about it, or would you do what God asked you to do?

     Frid - HALLOWEEN!!!! I had a terrible night sleeping last night! My heart was racing so much and idk why! Around midnight (after I had already taken 2 tranquil sleeps and they weren't helping) I went and made myself some chamomile tea downstairs. Thankfully I never woke up my companion, Sis. Weight. After I drank the tea, I put two drops on each foot of Serenity (Essential Oils - DoTerra). I ended up falling asleep about an hour later. Thank goodness for the tools we have been given! Heavenly Father gave me the energy I needed, since He knew I was doing my best to sleep when I was supposed to. District meeting was good (very spiritual) then we all ate at Five Guys for lunch. I did some OYM-ing. (open your mouth). There was a guy getting a drink the same time I was. I said hello and asked him if he waxs ready for the snow. (Heard there was supposed to be snow for the weekend). He said that he was. I told him I wasn't from around here, but from FL, so I was pretty excited. He then got excited and said that he and his friends were going to FL (near tampa) the next day for the winter. It ended up with me explaining why I was away from home, meeting his friends, (and one guy was named Don Cook - same as my grandpa) and gave them a pass along card. They all looked like they were in their 60's - 70's. Super sweet ppl!  4pm we needed to be inside (bc of halloween - safety) so we met up with the rest of the elders. We helped our ML clean the church, then all played Funny or Die. Was awesome!

     Sat - We woke up and got a text from the Elders about SNOW! I quickly ran downstairs, swung the door open and it was SNOWING!!!! My comp took pics of me the best she could (was still dark outside) I was like a lil kid all day - super excited about the snow! I'm so happy here! We have a great ward, and I have a great companion and the spirit is SO strong!I can't wait to see what else God has in store for the rest of my mission! The snow was gorgeous! We ended up going up North to visit some LA's. The first house was really sweet, and the spirit was so strong while I was saying the closing prayer. The next 3 houses...MAN was the smoke strong in their homes!!! For any of you who smoke, or know someone that smokes, either you or the person you know...PLEEEASSE if you're going to smoke, DON'T smoke in your homes!!! I could barely breathe, gave me a headache, and I could barely concentrate, for the whole time I was concentrating on breathing! Please help us out! My comp and I had dinner at Subway. I can't express how much I love talking and spending time with her! It's like we've known each other for forever!

     Sund - It was as if the snow never happened. thank goodness for pictures! Was sad tho. But man... COLD COLD COLD COLD COOOOLD! By nightfall, it was 29* F! Unfortunetly none of our investigators came to church. Scott chickened out, Brian & Stacy had a sick daughter, Lina and Juan had family that came him so .....nobody. Maybe next week :)
   

     Today - Not much to report. Jack Frost Left his mark during the night. PLEASE write

! Love and miss you all!

Love,

From Ms. Southern Tennessee,

Our first snow!!

Sister Thomas

First snow outside our apt.

A birthday treat

Our district

P-day fun

My birthday dinner

We love Bev our adopted grandma!