Lori on BIKES!

 Lori and her new bike! Her new mode of transportation

 Cool tire swing she saw while tracting...I'll have to tell her you can get those at Tractor Supply

 Two girls she knew in the MTC

Lori's new companion

Hi mom!  The weather is cool in the mornings but pretty warm in the afternoon probably high 60s low 70s maybe. I got sunburned in sparks on Saturday. My new companion/trainee is Sister F------. She is awesome! She's from Alaska! Grew up pretty much on a dairy farm, she loves sports, is 20 years old, almost got married but decided that a mission was right for her. She reminds me alot of Sydney, and honestly is probably my favorite companion so far. She is also super excited to be on bikes.

OK here's my week:

This last week especially has just been nuts! At transfers on Tuesday I drove our car there and left it :( we all got our new companions and they vanned us back to Carson.... yeah it was crazy going the first 48 hours without a mode of transportation. Luckily two of the sets of sister missionaries here still have cars so that was helpful. And the ward members here are helpful as well. Thursday we had some members drive us to Reno where most of the missionaries are buying their bikes. So my trainee and I were able to get our bikes right then. But my last companion (Sister B) and her trainee had to order them, hopefully they will come in today. Then on Friday all the senior companions (sisters) went to Sparks for a leadership training and then all of us sister missionaries in Carson went to a mini mission in Sparks on Saturday, where we tracted all day, I burned, plus then I was super exhausted yesterday... and so we've hardly had any time to proselyte in our own area! I spent more time in Reno and Sparks this week than in Carson.  And I moved homes last Tuesday as so we are still trying to get all organized. So I feel a little frazzled still. But the work will continue to go forward!

Have a good week! Good luck with the wedding! Don't stress too much! I wish I could give you a massage :)
Love,
Sister Goodwin

Waterfall Hike

Hi mom!

This week has been crazy! President left it up to us to decide where we are going to split the missionary work in this ward. So we had to decide what areas we are now going to cover! That means saying bye to half the people I've been working with! :(

Plus figuring out how we are going to work everything out on bikes! And getting everything we need for our bikes. I don't think I have felt so stressed as I have for the past week. Well, I guess this is our reward for doing a good job here... hah! We found out at the trainer meeting (I told you I'm training again right? My mind is all over the place right now) that we are the first Sister missionaries in this mission to be put on bikes. I'm kinda freaking out just a little bit... My stomach has been fine lately though as long as I stay away from too much sugar and milk as always. A lady in the ward gave me a jar of almond butter so I use that instead of peanut butter.

We taught 20 lessons this week so we reached our goal of 100 lessons for the transfer!!!
One of our less actives was going through a hard time, but instead of turning to a bottle of wine she called us and we went over to help comfort her. That was a great blessing to us, knowing that she was willing to turn to the things that will make her happy, rather than the things that only numb the pain temporarily. And she got a blessing on Sunday!

I'm glad you guys were able to go through the temple with Kara! Good luck with the rest of the preparations for the wedding!

I love you!
Love,
Sister Lori Goodwin

A little Behind on Blogging!

 HUGE porchlight! Sure makes Lori look tiny

 The people who make Pens.

Having fun with Hats on PDay

 More Hats

Sister B and a Sombrero

I missed blogging Lori's email last week so you get two today

3-4-2013:

We had another good week, we taught 20 lessons!
Highlights for this week:
We got in contact with 2 more less active members who we are going to have lessons with next week! One lady, her name is S-----, she graduated from BYU (she'd older so that was quite a while ago) but because of family situations has been inactive for probably many years. But as we talked to her about how much Heavenly Father loves her and how special she is, she started crying. She knows that this gospel is true and that she needs to be at church. I can tell that she is a beloved daughter of our Heavenly Father and that good things are ahead!
We taught P----and she wants to know that this gospel is true so bad because she wants to be with her family forever! The struggle is helping her to understand that she is already feeling the Holy Ghost, she just needs to learn to recognize that for herself.
We've also taught K----, he is pretty much a clean slate and knows nothing and it really frustrates him that it takes so long to learn the gospel and to really understand everything. But, we can see that he has great potential.
Yesterday we taught J---- the plan of salvation. When we talked about the Celestial Kingdom he said "I want to go there." I think he is starting to show great faith. He told us that he usually drinks when he goes golfing, but he's "trying to be good" so this last time he didn't. And he still had fun! I was so excited that he made that decision on his own. As we went along with the lesson he kept saying that he wished he'd learned this earlier in life. Which is a response we have heard quite often recently. So S---- (J----'s wife who is a recent convert) shared the parable of the workers in the field. I helped her a little bit. I was so happy when she shared that because Sister G-------- and I had shared that parable with her when she was feeling the same way a few months ago. AHH! Isn't this gospel just amazing!!  I can't describe how happy I felt when S---- shared that. God has good things in store for this family.

So that was my week! And it was great!
I love you so much! Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Sis LG

3-11-2013: 

Hi mom!

Sounds like a good week, except for Kara getting sick. Not fun! Thanks for sending her wedding announcement.. Everyone just looks so happy! I'm sad to miss out! Transfers are coming up a week from Tuesday so we'll find out soon what's going on. President decided to put another set of missionaries in this ward! I don't know if it will happen this transfer or next. 

Thanks for all your love and support, things do get a bit tough out here! We did have another good week. 22 lessons! Our goal is 100 lessons for the transfer so we'll need to get another 20 this next week to make it. I'm sure we can :) (If God wills it to be so).
I don't have any super highlights from this week. Mostly I feel like I've grown to feel the Savior's love more for these people. We've been working mostly with less actives this week, but it is amazing to see the change that's happened over the time I've been here. And to hear the people tell me that I've made a difference in their lives. And that they care about me as much as I do about them! I know that it isn't me that's having the success here. The Lord has put me in this place because I needed to be the instrument in His hands to allow the spirit to work. I'm not sure what will happen this next week, but I know that I will love these people forever. 

 
 We had a lesson with M-----, she has gone through a ton of struggles in her life, but had alot of deep doctrine questions that blew me away. We taught her the plan of salvation the lesson before, so this time we reviewed it and then watched the Restoration dvd. (Yeah I know the lesson was a little all over the place) But she kept saying that by watching the dvd it just made everything feel so real. She rewound it when we got to the 1st vision to see it again, and when Joseph got the plates from the hill Cumorah, she went back to watch that part again. Afterwards I told her she could keep the movie and she was ecstatic! She has such a good heart, life has just thrown her some hard balls. But, I can see good things happening for her in the future.

I love you so much! I hope that things continue to go smoothly with wedding plans and that Kara gets better soon!
Love,
Sister Goodwin