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

 

BUSY WEEK

This week has seemed like it's been a year.... haha we have been so busy but it's been good! We taught 22 lessons :) 
I'll just try to pick out some of the highlights though! 
S------ and C------ are great as always. S-------- had her baptismal interview so we are super excited to see her get baptized on Saturday! 
We taught an inactive lady and her non-member husband the first lesson as our "thought" after having dinner in their home. 
We have a recent convert who can't come to church because of her job, but she is interviewing this week for a new job! And we taught her non-member husband and daughter the first lesson! We have been trying to get the husband to listen to us since I got here, and he came to church BY HIMSELF yesterday! 
There is a less active couple we are teaching, the wife has never said a prayer out loud as long as I've been here. I had her promise to say one before I left. Well, we were in gospel essentials yesterday and she was asked to say the prayer AND SHE DID!! I almost jumped up and ran over to hug her- but I constrained myself. 
And we had ward council yesterday- for the first time they really listened to us and put forth the effort to help us! 

We are told as missionaries that we are to leave the areas where we serve, better than when we found them. As I was sitting in church yesterday I felt that confirmation from the Holy Ghost that I have already helped make this area better. The ward members (active and less active) and the yet to be members. I have seen so much change happen here in the people that I am just amazed that the Lord trusted me with this part of His vineyard, to help the work go forth!! 
I love this gospel and I love seeing how it blesses the lives of those who choose to accept it! 
I love you so much! Thank you for all you have taught me and in your efforts to guide me to do what the Lord wants me to do. You have always been one of the greatest examples to me of how Christ wants us to treat others and help the people around us. 
I love you so much!!! 

Love, 
Sister Goodwin 

 Lori and her other missionary peeps hiked straight up this hill.  It's called C-Hill

 Superman Band-aid!

At the Top

This week has been pretty good. Our total was 17 lessons! Despite having zone conference on Wednesday and the superbowl on Sunday! We were trying to make it to 20 lessons but it just didn't happen.
So the exciting news for the week is that C----- is worthy to baptize S-----! Yippee!! So that will be on the 16th :)
And we contacted a less active gal.  She and her boyfriend are getting married by the Bishop soon and the boyfriend is interested in learning about the church! So we are teaching them this week!! (They have a couple of young kids and are trying to put their lives in order to be good examples to them)
And we got in contact with another less active who's husband is not a member. And they offered to feed us this week. SWEET! And we gave him a Book of Mormon and told him that when he is ready we are willing to teach him about the gospel. He said he is trying to get Sundays off of work and as soon as he does he's going to start coming to church!
So exciting things are happening here in Carson!
Love ya!
Have a great week :)
Sister Goodwin

PS we found out that not this transfer (which is in a week) but the next one has about 16 new sister missionaries coming in- right now there are only about 20 of us total. And the transfer after that has about the same amount as well. Not sure how that will work with training... but its AMAZING!

Lori's Taking Off!

 Lori and her new companion she is training

Training Day

This week we have experienced so many miracles. We have 3 people set for baptism. We taught 16 lessons and we already have 16 lessons scheduled for this next week! And we have zone conference so that takes out almost an entire day!

Some of the highlights from the week:
We had some time before our lesson with a less active, so we tracted a few houses. No luck there. But then the lesson we went to was amazing!! She had questions about a reading assignment we had given her and her son about the stripling warriors, so we went through the chapters in Alma and helped them understand it. Then she told us she wants to go through the temple soon!! So she has set a goal for herself!! Plus the ward is just about the start a temple prep class & a lot of the members who are in our gospel essentials class are going to go to that class :)

We had a lesson with G----- and her parents. We were planning on dropping them, but our lesson ended up going so well that we are coming back on Wednesday and they are going to feed us dinner. SWEET!!

Then we met with a family where the father is not a member. And I don't think we are going to have any luck with him at the moment, but they have a son who is a senior but isn't planning on going on a mission right after he graduates. So I was talking to him about how great of an opportunity it is for him to be able to go so soon. So I "BOLDDRANK"-ed him (pretty much it just means you are bold about what you are telling them) and gave him a scripture to read everyday this week and to pray to ask Heavenly Father when he should go on a mission. I felt like I was in the Best Two Years movie  there for a second. But I really felt like he needed encouragement to go on a mission.
And, S------- and C------ came to church Sunday!! S----- is just amazing and pretty much set herself for baptism. She contributed to the lesson in Relief Society and offered her home to another individual who is kind of investigating. He isn't quite ready to meet with us, but he has come to church 3 times already!

There is some CRAZY AMAZING stuff happening here in Carson. And I know that it is not us, it is the Lord's hand here in His work!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!
Oh and I can't forget, I finished reading the Book of Mormon this week! So yesterday I was reading in sacrament meeting and decided to go through the footnotes in 1 Nephi 1:1 and I learned SO MUCH from that one verse. I couldn't believe how much is packed into that first verse!
I love you mom! Have a great week!

Sister Goodwin  

P.S. Mom - Tell the teachers at work that what I am doing is giving up a small portion of the time I have to be with my family so that other families can be together forever! Like the picture I sent. Also, that through sacrifice we are blessed by God. Serving others and forgetting about ourselves is the example Christ gave us to follow. And, that it is my decision to stay here and miss Kara's wedding. No one is forcing me to do anything.

Catch up time!!!

1/14/2013: 

The lessons we had this week went really well. C----- and S------ are continuing to progress. We invited them to live the word of wisdom last night, so they are a bit grumpy today, but we hope that we can provide them with the support they need right now. We also had a lesson with G----- again, finally! We tried to encourage her to make the decision to want to come to church, but she isn't sure. Hopefully she will open back up to us as we continue to teach, she is really shy so it's hard to know what she is thinking. But, her parents tell us we can keep coming, so hopefully we are doing something good for them.

Also, at church there were a few non-members there that members had invited, so we hope to have some new investigators soon. We have also been focusing on the part-member families here. Looking for interest among those families. I feel like the potential in this area is beginning to really show forth.

It is amazing to see the change in people as they accept the gospel, or work on living it better. C------ and S------are really good examples to me in their willingness to listen to us and to change their habits and put their lives more in line with God's will. We also have a less-active who shared with us some of the ways she was blessed last week (how she was protected when driving), and I know that those blessings came from some changes she made in her life just the week before!
This gospel is necessary for each and everyone of us in our lives. Why prevent God from giving us blessings far greater than what we have right now? I am so grateful to be here right now. For the people who have touched my life far more than I could touch theirs. For Heavenly Father's trust in me to give me challenges that are hard, but He knows I can face. We don't always understand in the moment why some things happen, but there is always a reason.
Have a great week! I love you!
Sister Goodwin

P.S. I forgot to mention too that we got to go to a leadership training in Sparks on Thursday. That was pretty sweet! The Spirit was so strong and President H--------- talked about focusing on our purpose and really understanding why we are out here. Another thing we learned was that we are trying to implement, that I have failed to do before, is to take investigators on a church tour before they come to church so they are more familiar with the building. Because one of the hardest things to do is get investigators to come to church.

Love ya!

Sister Goodwin

1/21/2013:

This week was also good because Sister N----- who is one of the traveling sister missionaries now came with us on Wednesday and worked with us on every aspect of finding! And helped us set goals. And it was AWESOME!! We were going through the former investigators and trying to contact some of them and experienced a miracle!! Let me back up first. A week ago Sunday one of our ward missionaries invited a friend to church who is going through a rough time. But we didn't get a chance to meet him. Well, then Wednesday we were trying to find this former but the address didn't have an apartment number that matched the information we had. So we took a guess and knocked on a different apartment. AND GUESS WHAT? It was the same man who had come to church on Sunday, only we didn't know it at the time. He said we could come back and leave a blessing on his home in a couple days. We didn't find this out until that night because the ward missionary called us and asked if we had stopped at that man's home. As of yet we haven't started teaching him yet, but he came to church again yesterday and Sister B--------- and I happened to be teaching the lesson in gospel essentials. And to add to that, the Bishop invited a non-member friend to church yesterday and he came to our class as well and we have an appointment with him and his family tonight!! 
 

I hope you could follow all that! Back again to Wednesday- Sister N--- showed us how to tract, so I did that for the first time. And we set a goal to go tracting for 30 min a week. At first I thought that wasn't very much, but we have tried to do more and we keep having appointments and not having time to tract! I think I like this :)

We already have 10 lessons set up for this next week! That is the most lessons I've have set up in advanced. Our goal is to make it to 20 lessons, so we'll see. 

Things are still hard, but I am enjoying this work more and more everyday :)

I love you! Thanks again for the letter! I think that was the only letter I've gotten in the last couple of weeks... everyone is slackin'! haha! 

Love, 

Sister Goodwin 

Lori is Training!

Hello family!

How is the new year going for you all so far? This week has been a new experience for me! At transfers on Tuesday I met my trainee! Her name is Sister B---------, she is 26 and is from Salt Lake City. Not exactly what I was expecting, but that's what the mission is all about- expect the unexpected. Training is definitely a new experience and requires ALOT of patience. But, it is a rewarding experience.

We had some really good lessons this week. And a new investigator! Her name is S----- and her husband, C------, is a less active member. They were talking to C------'s brother (who is on a mission) and S----- became interested in learning more about the church! SWEET! So we had a really good lesson and are going back tonight to teach about the Restoration.

Also, the day of transfers, Sister G------and I went over to a member's home, she is a member but her husband is not. He has had some not so good experiences with pushy missionaries, I think. But we decided to invite him to read the Book of Mormon, to find out for himself if it is true. We told him that it was his decision and that we wanted him to sincerely read and pray bout it. And he said he would!! I'm not sure if we were more happy or his wife :)

Another experience this week, the Spanish sister missionaries phone stopped working so they had been using ours when we would run into each other. Well, one night the Zone Leaders had finally got a new phone from the mission office for them. So they texted us and said that if we could find the sisters then they could get the phone that night. So we said a prayer that we would be able to find them. I only knew where one Hispanic family lives that they visit, and I knew that they had just visited them a few days before. But, I felt like that was where we should go. So we stopped by the sister's apartment first because we were close and they weren't there. Then, we headed over to this family's home. And there the sisters were! They had just been talking about how they hoped that some way they could find us to use our phone, and right then was when we knocked on the door!! Whoa!

That's all for now! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Goodwin

Happy New Years! 

 

This week has been kinda crazy! It was good to talk to you on Christmas, I was so happy to see y'all!

We went to the Mission Christmas Party in Reno after skyping and had a blast. Well we partied it up as much as missionaries can. It was fun seeing other missionaries, Sister V------ :) and other missionaries from my last zone.

Most of us from Carson ended up staying in Reno overnight because the roads home were too bad. But we made it safe, no worries :) 

 

On Thursday Sister G------ and I got a member ride and headed to Tahoe for B--'s baptism! YAY! I had set him for baptism back when I was in Tahoe, I was so happy to see him- how happy he was and his family!

So this upcoming week is TRANSFERS! AH! So, Sister G------ is being shipped out to Elko! SO far away, where it is even colder than it is here! I will be staying here in Carson for at least another 12 weeks. I am TRAINING a new missionary! There is only one new sister missionary coming in, and I feel very inadequate to be training already, but I know that this is what the Lord wants me to do, so I will.  

 

Yesterday we had a really good day! We contacted a less-active who has a non-member wife and she seems really interested in coming to church! SWEET! So, we are hoping to start teaching her in the near future. And then we went over to G-----'s because she is getting her tonsils out and her dad (less active) really wanted her to get a blessing. So their home teachers gave her the blessing, the best part was seeing how much her dad wanted this for her because he knows that the priesthood power is real! BECAUSE IT IS! I have felt that power in the priesthood blessings I have received since being out here, I have felt my Heavenly Father's love for me as I have listened to the words He says through those priesthood holders. 

 

I love you all! Thanks for your support!

Love, 

Sister Goodwin