CHRISTmas

This week was a blurrrrrrr

We did so many things! We're always running around haha.

Tuesday we had our Christmas conference.

Ah-mazing as expected.

We watched 17 miracles and I pretty much cried the whole time.
If you haven't watched it, watch it!! It's all about the pioneers and
the difficult times they faced as they made their way across the
plains. I felt the spirit really strong as I watched it. Something I
thought about was why Heavenly Father made it so incredibly difficult
for them to come west. He could have made it really easy for them..but
he did not. Only until they had done all they could, and prayed was
when the miracles happened. When they were able to keep moving
forward. I learned a lot about the power of prayer. That's probably
the MOST important and biggest thing I learned from my mission is how
powerful real sincere prayers can be. Also learned how many people are
always with me while I'm out here on my mission. Sister Nielsen
(apostle elder nielson's wife) once said

"there are more people on the other side of the veil ROOTING for you,
than there are on this side"

powerful right??

Right. There's Angels and especially our ancestors and loved ones
who've passed away here with us helping us. Imagine how much we would
change if we could see them all! I'd never be scared or worried again
haha. But that's where faith comes in.

Christmas was good. Loved seeing all you guys! Thank you for all the
letters and fun presents & packages.

We spent most of our time with the members here. And it was very
special and a Christmas I won't forget! A lot of people here don't
have that much, so it was a very sweet spirit we felt as we talked
more about Christ than presents.

Saturday was a very special day as well because we had MLC (mission
leadership council)
Where all the zone leaders, the sister training leaders, come together
with the APs and our mission president and talk about the things going
on in the mission and are trained on what to take back to the
missionaries we're over.
We learned incredible things!! Me and sister Bennett get to train at
zone training this Thursday up in pennypack and 2 sets of the sisters
we cover are in that zone
(Sisters Handy, Gerber, Bailey & Cost)
We'll be talking about the commitment pattern and how we can better
leave commitments in our lessons. We're going to share Peter's account
in Acts 3:1-8
One of my favorites. I'm obsessed with peter
The rest of the zone training will be on our purpose as missionaries
and the doctrine/gospel of Jesus Christ and how they help us use the
atonement. Ahhh so good!!
Faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.
We are pretty close to all the sisters we cover as STLs and some of
them are struggling big time and it breaks me! But good things are
going to happen and this zone training I know will be answers to their
prayers.
I'll be sure to share my notes and thoughts next week.

Speaking of next week....2015!!!?

What the...not sure where 2014 went, feels like it just started, I
still think it's like August over here haha. #missiontimeprobs

I don't have any New Years resolutions other than to keep up all these
great things I'm learning after I go home from my mission.

I love you all so much and hope you'll have a good week and a happy
start to 2015!

Hugs from Sister Manson

Spiritually led

Last week was so good
And this week will be even better!!
Here's what we have planned this week:
Tomorrow we are having our Christmas mission conference and a talent show.
(Me and sister Bennett are sharing a few tricks we've learned from the
streets of philly haha we are going to step dance! Oh it sounds really
cool when we do it, while sister cox songs a Christmas carol. It'll be
great haha)
Then Christmas Thursday--face timing the family! YAY!
Not sure if I'll get to see/talk to frank though
Then we have mission leadership council all day Saturday.
So many good spiritual things happening!
I'm really excited.
But last week: here's what went down

Last Monday we caromed as a stake in the city! So much fun we were
handing out passalong he is the gift cards like crazzzzy.
My study of faith in the Book of Mormon has been amazing, I learn so much!
We saw Tatyana Tuesday. She said the closing prayer and started to cry.
First time she's ever really said a prayer. The spirit was strong.
Sister chang is going through the temple for her endowments January 31!!!
Me and sister Bennett will be going with her :)
The Washington, D.C. Temple. Oh it will be a glorious heavenly day.
I miss the temple and being inside one.

So I had a really cool experience as I was thinking in the car.
I saw a picture of a sister missionary from this mission who just went
home and she posted a picture of her and her brother hugging each
other and they were both crying. It stirred a lot of emotion in me as
I thought about all of you! I really will be so happy to see and give
hugs to everyone. But on another level I thought about how it will be
to go home-home..when we see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and I
felt the spirit so strong! I felt so much love from Heavenly Father as
I sat pondering these thoughts. (That's something sister Bennett has
taught me..to be good at pondering)
THE CHURCH IS TRUE.
Next we were miraculously led to mackenza. She's amazing. We stopped
by to see her brother who's a less active member. He wasn't there but
she was and their grandma. Our thoughts were to share and talk about
Christmas and the true meaning. But randomly during the opening
prayer..I had the thought to thank Heavenly Father for eternal
families and knowing we can be with our loved ones after they die. So
I said it and finished my prayer. A few monuments later, their cute
old grandma shares how mackenza's grandfather on their dads side in
Arizona passed away THAT MORNING. Talk about direct spiritual leading
going on...we were totally led to them.
We bore our testimonies and the spirit was very present. Mackenza is
not a member and we are going to see her again soon!

Super good district meeting all on the Book of Mormon and just how
important it is. Sometimes I think we totally take it for granted and
don't use it to the fullest. My testimony was strengthened in the Book
of Mormon. I know it's true.

It doesn't really feel like Christmas here. It's kinda cold but no snow.
Saturday was freeeeeezing. The windchill makes it like 7degrees it
feels like haha.
We were debating on walking or driving to our next plans. I wanted to
drive...cuz I was so cold but we decided to just walk. Best choice
ever. Saw 2 tender mercy miracles :)
Met Darlene! I had literally said a prayer about 1 minute in my heart
before we saw her just praying to have an opportunity to bear my
testimony and be lead to prepared people.
Darlene was raking her leaves and we stopped and asked if we could
help. She of course said no but we started talking and she had met
missionaries before. Also she shared how it was really funny because
she had been talking with her FAMILY that she wants to find a new
church start of the new year, hahaha DONE!! Check. Here ya go(:

We're seeing her again tomorrow.

Then we met Roselyn later that day. She had met with missionaries a
lot....14 YEARS AGO!
But she moved and lost touch. And then we found her :) as she was
walking home. She wanted to come inside right then and talk to her
more. Haha so we were like SURE!! Showed her henis the gift and gave
her a Book of Mormon. She is looking for peace in her life and we
promised she would find it.

Heavenly Father totally led us to 2 very prepared people. So happy and
excited to be here.
I love philadelphia and being a missionary.

I love you!
MERRY CHRISTMAS
{sister.manson}

Good Things Are Happening

Uhh I am very upset...It's halfway through December? Hahaha what the..
Christmas is like next week then it's 2015!

Sooo i have been starting to have small panic attacks about coming
home..I have like 12 weeks left on my mission. That is NOT okay. I'm
happy to see everyone because I really miss you guys haha....but
that's about all I'm excited for.
When we FaceTime each other on Christmas we need to have a real
serious talk about what I'm gonna do when I get home so I don't freak
out haha...because I am starting to.

My mission seriously means everything to me and I am not ready to go.
But I have been thinking about about these next 2 transfers I have on
my mission and I have some really good goals and plans and things I
want to do. I am going to do another Book of Mormon challenge because
I love it so much. I have a clean mini red Book of Mormon that I am
going to read 11 chapters a day to finish by January 9. I am
highlighting yellow for christ and blue for faith. I really want to
stay more about having faith in Jesus Christ and what that truly
means. I only got to chapter 4 today of 1 nephi....but oh man I have
learned so much already and felt the spirit very strong teaching and
helping me strengthen my faith.
Something that I struggle a lot with is my confidence.
And that is something I have been studying recently along with faith and hope.
Sister Bennett and I always have really good conversations about these topics :)

I found something super sweet in my studies this week.
But remember my #belikethemoon motto? I learned a new meaning for it.
I was studying confidence and I found this scripture
D&C 121:45 "..let they confidence WAX STRONG in the presence of God"
super cool right, but I had no idea what the heck the word "wax"
meant..so I defined it.
it means to increase in size--like how the moon waxes into a full moon!
Something to point out is that when the moon waxes it does it
gradually..not all at once.
🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕
So that is something I am going to remember now when I look at the
moon: to try to wax brighter in my confidence & shine bright. And to
not let myself wane(another moon term for the opposite effect)

#belikethemoon--ah I love it.
Also as we have charity and faith our confidence waxes strong.

A couple weeks ago I wrote about a girl named Tatyana. Do you remember
her? ((We met her and invited her to come to church but we got there
to ride the subway with her and she wasn't there but we were able to
meet dasse at the subway instead miraculously! -That's a brief summary
of her))

Well accidentally we stopped by her house again Saturday. A less
active member used to live there and we forgot to make note of that so
we stopped by again but remembered that's where Tatyana lived so we
were like sweet! We knock on the door and she was there! She is so
sweet and we showed her "he is the gift" and she loved it. Also gave
her the Book of Mormon and she is going to read it and we're meeting
with her again Tuesday.

GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING HERE.

I just love how Heavenly Father works(:
I also have a goal to write in my journal everyday..sooo hold me
accountable to that.

I hope everyone is having a good CHRISTmas season
Don't get caught up in the craziness of it all.
remember He is the gift.

I love you!!
Sister Manson

Spiritual gifts 101

 

Um it's almost Christmas...haha what the.

We had such a good week.

I'm grateful for Heavenly Father allowing me to struggle and feel alittle inadequate because it always helps remind me to turn to him.

That's how I would sum up this past week.

Fast Sunday's are always just what I need. I was also fasting for things I can be doing more or better at. I had the thought to really study and dive into Christ's life and get to really know Him better, I felt like I strayed abit and got caught up in other gospel principles. During relief society the lesson was ALL about christ and how we can better know Him. I was like whoa! Perfect, thanks Heavenly Father for helping me get started.

Sister Bennett is seriously the best. I hope we will be together for her last transfer.

We taught for zone training about spiritual gifts and our hearts. It was awesome. Spirit was strong and a lot of the missionaries came up afterwards and thanked us a lot for it.

We have all been blessed with spiritual gifts!

Here's a tid bit of what we shared.

"Let us review some of these less-conspicuous gifts: the gift of asking; the gift of listening; the gift of hearing and using a still, small voice; the gift of being able to weep; the gift of avoiding contention; the gift of being agreeable; the gift of avoiding vain repetition; the gift of seeking that which is righteous; the gift of not passing judgment; the gift of looking to God for guidance; the gift of being a disciple; the gift of caring for others; the gift of being able to ponder; the gift of offering prayer; the gift of bearing a mighty testimony; and the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost"

The unexamined life is not worth living” (“Apology,” The Dialogues of Plato, trans. Benjamin Jowett, Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1952, p. 210). It is up to each of us to search for and build upon the gifts which God has given us" (Marvin j Ashton)

A prerequisite for seeking after the gifts of the spirit may require that we find out which gifts we already have been given."

Read your patriarchal blessing and identify your spiritual gifts you already have and seek more!

Sis Bennett came up with this goal of inviting seriously 100 people to be baptized this week. About 15 everyday.

At first I was like.....uhhhh okay. But The more she kept talking about it the more excited I got and was able to feel the spirit.

Today is our first day, it's our preparation day and barely 3pm and we already shared alittle about the restoration and invited 4 people to be baptized!!

It's amazing what happens when you're desperate president.

One last thing, my zone leaders in my last area promised us that if we were to bare our testimony about Jesus Christ, we'd find a family to teach. I love "He is the Gift" so much because it is a good reminder to do so. And as we have done that and talked to a lot of people, sister Bennett and I have been able to find 2 families! Work is picking up. I am grateful for the

"he is the gift" many miracles around the world in every mission are happening I bet. We're seeing them later today!

Read this talk of you have time...saved and changed my life.

"What it means to know christ"

September ensign 1974

I love you!

Sister Manson

Ice tea a stranger gave us....hahaha 

It was a long day...haha

I'm grateful for YOU.

Uhh it's December? What the...

Here's my gratitude list I promised. No particular order except the first three:

1 Jesus Christ

2 My mission--Seriously means everything to me & has changed my life

3 Alma 26:27

4 Mountains

5 Family history

6 The restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ

7 Not having to look both ways on a one way streets

8 Chinese food...aka fortune cookies

9 Chinese people

10 Living in the city

11 Riding the subway

12 Gum

13 A companion who knows how to drive in the snow

14 David Archuleta singing "Glorious" from "Meet the Mormons"

15 Companions who help my grammar

16 My mission president

17 Guidance from them Holy Ghost

18 Light

19 General Conference

20 My family

21 Kinder chocolate from Germany

22 Listening to others play the piano & sing

23 Feeling the Spirit because of that

24 Repentance

25 Raking leaves

26 Ugly-thrift-store-below-the-knee missionary skirts

27 Whenever my companions hold me back from stepping into the road when a car's coming

28 Flossers

29 Painting with water colors

30 Salt

31 People sharing their testimonies to me

32 Morrisville, PA

33 Swimming laps in a pool

34 Pretzels

35 Folk style hymns

36 All my missionary buddies: Elder Manson, Hermana Jones, Hermana Harper, Elder Lewis, Sister Steadman, Sister Menlove, Sister Cox, Sister Bailey, Sister Handy, Sister Wright, Sister Holt, Sister Winters, Sister Ririe, Sister Wiser, Sister Cost, Sister Bennett.

37 Chocolate chip cookies

38 Joseph & Emma Smith

39 Sacred experiences with my fellow sister missionaries..the spirit of discernment is real.

40 The Place family

41 The sun

42 The moon

43 The stars

44 THE BOOK OF MORMON

45 Missionary humor

46 Sisters who actually do their visiting teaching

47 Hearing what other people are grateful for

48 Heated seats in the car

49 Water/Amusement parks

50 My nametag

51 The number 100

52 Giraffes

53 Actually..all God's creatures-except spiders

54 Prayers

55 Going to the Chatfields for dinner every single week

56 Sister Chatfield using sour cream in everything

57 How the gospel can make bad men good & good men better #davidomckay

58 Not statues

59 Peter the Apostle

60 Sushi

61 Pottstown, PA

62 Sketchy places to eat

63 Priesthood blessings

64 Pizzapizzapizzapizza

65 Cat jokes---> what do you call a pile of cats??***

66 The many cultures here in Pennsylvania

67 Cemeteries

68 Running shoes

69 Hope

70 Curry

71 Scripture language---> notwithstanding, nevertheless, for behold, and it came to pass

72 The many murals on the sides of buildings

73 Mailmen

74 Sunflowers

75 Mesa, Arizona Temple

76 "Mormon Messages"

77 Trains

78 Balloons

79 Being able to share the gospel on Facebook

80 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Temple

81 BYU-Idaho

82 Preach My Gospel

83 Pretty tape

84 My kazoo

85 Kathie & Carmelina

86 Rainy days

87 The color green

88 The hymn "Ye Who Are Called to Labor" sung to the tune of "If You Could Hie to Kolob"

89 My glasses

90 Bishops & Stake Presidents

91 Oreos

92 Girls Camp

93 Philly slaaaaang "actin outta pocket"

94 Parallel parking

95 Beanies/warm hats

96 Turning out

97 Tithing

98 Sacrifices from previous generations of the church

99 Service

100 Patience from Heavenly Father with me

*** A MEOWntain

Hahah so funny.

Okay weeks just keep getting better and better here in this city.

We washed and vacuumed our car today at a super ghetto car wash place...I applied hand sanitizer immediately following it.

We had a good thanksgiving! Went over to the tabers and made pies and had a brunch, then saw some other Ward members.

 Went on exchanges this week with sister cox and sister winters. It was so cool being with sister cox again, it just felt like we were companions(: we teach really well together and we found this awesome and prepared woman who they are now going to start teaching. We taught the restoration and she shared how we were meant to be there that day because the day before her brother in law passed away, and she felt the spirit so strong! Sister winters is adorable. She is a brand new missionary and is just on fire about sharing the gospel! I felt bad though, it's her frist exchange and 2 people like flat out yelled at us when we tried talking to them...haha whatever though! The church is true and that's all that matters.

I hope you have seen "he is the gift" video that the church has put out. Me and sister Bennett found 4 new investigators last night from showing it and giving them that opportunity to feel the spirit. So incredible too because throughout the whole day we shared it and people were not having it! Didn't want to talk to us and were rude..but then the last people we talk to, these 4 girls Watched and wanted us to come back. <---- this is why I'm here to find those people who need the gospel. There are a lot of crazies here in Philly, but as me and sister Bennett are being literally DESPERATE to share the gospel Heavenly Father guides us to people who need us and need Him.

We had a missionary leadership council and I saw sister steadman, sister menlove, and sister Howard , sister ricks and sister Clark also. Like all of my favorite people :) we talked about really good things! About our hearts how they can be hard, soft, turned, changed, past feeling, how Heavenly Father looks at our hearts and spiritual gifts and some other things like family history and the temple. Me and sister Bennett are going to be training our entire zone about hearts and spiritual gifts. Keep me in your prayers I can teach well to these awesome missionaries haha.

It snowed alittle, but not much. I'm lucky here in the city it's like way behind winter schedule! Haha Heavenly Father loves me. It's like 60 degrees right now. But throughout the week it was like in the 30s..coooooold.

I haven't gotten sick yet! Yay and I don't plan on it

I love you! I'm going on exchange this week with sister Bailey and sister petrick. I'm excited!

I have been praying and studying about the gift of discernment, and Heavenly Father has totally hooked me up, because I am able to say things that are exactly what each of these sisters need to hear. It's quite humbling to see the lord work through and use me, little ol sister Manson.

Have a good week! Go watch he is the gift video! Share it and think of ways how you can better discover, embrace and share that great gift of our savior Jesus Christ.

{sister.manson}

Citylife

Things are going really well.
I've had a lot of sacred experiences with investigators and with the
sisters that we are with.

I am in LOVE with living here in the city. I'm gonna live here in the
future. There are so many stray cats and humans here.

Sorry this email sucks..we're taking some sisters out with us to show
around Philadelphia right now:) so that will be fun.

I have a list I'm working on about all things I'm grateful for, I'll
be sure to share that with you all next week.

I love you!
Promise next week will be better...haha so sorry.
Happy thanksgiving!!!!

{sister.manson}

JOY!

So many good things have happened this week.

First of all I got transferred to my new area Tuesday. Haha.....YOU'LL NEVER GUESS where they sent me

CENTER CITY PHILADELPHIA! I get to see the philly temple being built every single day :)

Here's my new address:

1715 spring garden apt 2F
Philadelphia, pa 19103

It's been such a JOY being here.

My new companion is sister Bennett. She's a combination of mine and sister steadmans personality, sooooooo you know we're just having a great time everyday. I laugh extremely hard everyday.

So as a sister training leader (STL) I go on exchanges with the sisters that we are over/with.

And I am so lucky because I have some of my favorite sisters :)

SISTER COX & SISTER BAILEY!

We are with 6 companionships. So 12 total sisters.

It's getting cold here and has been pouring rain. But I love it!

I had my most sacred experience on my mission this past week.

So like at the beginning of this week we got a letter from missionaries in Australia!!!

Telling us a member in their ward's daughter lives here in Philadelphia and wanted us to deliver her a letter she wrote to help her know she sent the missionaries to her. The mom and daughter are both from China. The woman's name we met is Yunong Zhou. We knocked on her door and she was so happy to see us because her mom told her she would send us. She welcomed us right In. We shared the story of how we have this letter for her and gave it to her and talked about the temple being built here in Philadelphia. And we taught her how to pray! Can't even describe the spirit that was present the whole time. It was so overwhelming I cried like the whole time. So sister Bennett had to explain to Yunong why I was crying. Sister Bennett said a prayer, then I did to show her how and then she did!! That was her very first prayer.

PHILADELPHIA is where I need to be right here.

My first Sunday in the Ward was great! There was only one speaker because the other one couldn't make it. Sooooo the 1st counselor gets up and says:

"Good thing we just got 3 new missionaries in our Ward. We'll turn the time over to sister Manson to come up and talk to us for alittle bit" hahahaha I was like wait.....what the!? So I go up and introduced myself and just started rambling about the gospel(: I love being a missionary, it's the best.

My heart is so full here. It's incredible being here in philly. I am praying this will be my final and last area before I go home in March. Do not worry about my safety, we are very safe here! Our area is nice, a little sketchy and ghetto........butttttt we're fine and loving it.

Love you!

Sister Manson

Isaiah 55:12 my new favorite scripture with the Philadelphia temple :)  

Tender Mercy

The tender mercy I wanted to share this week is pretty long... #longstorylonger:

Saturday afternoon we met a girl named Tatiana while we were looking
for a LA. We had a really sacred conversation with her, prayed
together, and she committed to coming to church with us the next
morning. We agreed to meet at 8:30am at the RiteAid on Broad and then
ride the subway to the church together. We were so, so excited for her
to feel the love of her Father in Heaven and for her to understand how
divine she really is.
Sunday morning we went early to meet Tatiana, but realized that we
didn't have any idea where the RiteAid is... We walk (sprinted) to her
house to try and catch her there, but when her dad answered he told us
that she had gone to her friends. We somewhat frantically explained
who we were, why we were there, and that we needed directions. He was
really cool and asked us to wait for him to change because he wanted
to see if she was around the corner.
I ran over to the corner to see if i could see her down
the street and said, "Sister Bennett! I'm stressin' out!" After
praying on the sidewalk, her dad came back and said she was still
asleep upstairs and had been up really late that night... As we walked
back towards the subway we were pretty bummed...
We then started inviting every living creature to church. We were
determined to find somebody to come to church with us. We were
desperate! Really, We invited every single human being we saw to come.
Every single one! We stopped and prayed and told Heavenly Father that
we would be inviting everyone we saw and asked Him to place somebody
in our path who was prepared and ready to receive us. Well... at this
point we were going to be late to church and nobody wanted to come
with us. We went down to the subway and decided we would find body in
the train.

(pause/rewind)

The night before we had an intense lesson with Dasse. Long story
short, he had committed to pray and ask God if he needed to come to
church the next morning. We had text him Sunday but hadn't heard back
from him.

(play)

When we walked down into the empty subway terminal guess who we saw...
DASSE! Dasse was sitting on the bench waiting for the train. As soon
as I saw him I was warmed by the spirit. Heavenly
Father had answered our prayers! It turns out that Dasse had gotten
off at the wrong stop and wasn't sure why. We also ran into two LA
members getting on the train to come to church with us. It was a ride
full of tender mercies from the Lord. I know He is aware of Sister
Bennett and I. He loves us so much.

Also....I have been quite good at Parallel parking!!! I've done it
like 6 times:)

And I have ridden the subway!

Ahh I'm learning life skills here :)

{sister.manson}

I.think.im.gonna.puke

Hello!!
Uh this week has been crazy.

First of all I am LEAVING morrisville :(
I have loved being here. It's been so good for me.

Second of all....my mission president called me to be a sister training leader!
So I'll be helping other sisters and going on exchanges with them and
training them on things...all on top of my normal missionary work
stuff. I will pray I won't get too stressed!
But it will be good :) just a whole lot of leadership/responsibility #yay

I have felt like throwing up since Thursday till now...I've been so
nervous and anxious About all of this..but my district leader gave me
a priesthood blessing like an hour ago and I'm feeling tons better.
Super peaceful and calm. The power of the priesthood is REAL!!

so grateful for it.

You'll never believe what happened to us last night!
We have only had our car for like a week and as we went to dinner with
a member family in the ward, they were backing up and totally hit our
car. Hahahaha we come outside and the bumper is ON THE GROUND. All I
could do was just laugh. It's actually pretty funny, but poor sister
handy has to now deal with this...good thing I'm outta here! (;

This week has been great, other than those things, we've been working
with new less active members in our Ward so that's been good.

I'll let you know more of everything next week when I find out where
I'm going and who's my comp tomorrow.

But as of now.,mail things to
721 Paxon hollow rd suite B
Broomall, PA 19008

Love you!!

this is karina, our investigator and her son cj. She was so sad I was leaving.
Actually It was really humbling to see just how many tearful eyes have
met mine as I have told members and the people I've been working with
(Kathie and Carmelina) that I was leaving. They were so sad and they
love me! And they all know how much I love them.
That's the best part of being a missionary. The amount of LOVE you
have for the people you meet..it's the best. I love being a
missionary.

Our awesome Book of Mormon class

D&C 121:7-8 and Lesson #22 from Raking Leaves

Know this faces misses you guys!!! :)

This will be a good email because I started back to writing in my journal every night.

I haven't been doing that in a while...but it has helped me TREMENDOUSLY.

When I take the time to write and think about what happened at the end of everyday, I remember all of the good things and crazy and hard things. But mostly the good(: It's interesting as a missionary...I know that I have had really really really tough times on my mission, but honestly I can't remember them. But I remember every single good moment. It's like the bad ones don't even matter, and D&C121:7-8 is TRUE. They are for but a small moment, so endure it well!!

Frank...elder manson leaves the MTC tomorrow! And goes off to californiaaaaaa(: wooo!

First of all..it's FALL! And it's bitter cold over here. Literally I am freezing and it hasn't even snowed...so idk how I'll hold up this winter. I've been layering my clothes like crazy!

Heres what went down this week: we raked some leaves...walked around...raked more leaves..walked around...raked leaves...the end.

Haha but seriously though we raked like 38,927,321 leaves this past week. #somanyleaves

And met some cool people along the way(:

We seriously met a gangster!! In the middle of morrisville (pretty nice area) haha I was dying. So funny. He was so impressed that we wanted to rake leaves for free and suggested that we go to his moms home. So we walked a couple blocks up the road and raked it. A couple mins after we start taking his moms house he shows up on his bike and was like "you girls are serious!?" And gives us water because for some strange reason it was freakishly hot that day..70s.

I love raking leaves!! Maybe it's because I never had to do it growing up so I don't view it as a chore..but it's awesome and I think of so many life analogies from it. This women's yard we raked was so big! I am grateful there's 3 of us or else we would have been there for a long time...I would say it was about 1/2 or a 1/3 of an acre, something along those lines. But it's awesome being able to first look at the yard covered with leaves and then look at it at the end and see how much work you did and how good it looks. It's a lot like life! Life sucks and is hard most of the time..as we start to work hard it's easy to look and see how much we have left! But we keep going and enduring and pressing forward. Then we get to the end of our trial and see how good it has made us(: #lessonsfromrakingleaves good stuff!!

Some sketchy stuff went down as it looked like he was breaking into his "moms house"

Haha hope we didn't witness or enable a crime...apparently he's a 9/11 survivor and almost stripped his clothing to show us some gang signs he has branded onto his shoulder.

Good stuff (:

A member of the Ward gave us this HUGE fruit platter and we kept it in our fridge and pulled it out to eat during the day. Well we only had it for like 2 days and as I putting it back into the fridge....I DROPPED IT! And all the 100 pieces of sticky fruit fell onto the ground...hahahah all I could do was laugh it off so I wouldn't get upset. So sister hall helped me clean it up quickly (sister handy was taking a shower) and I was like don't tell sister handy!!! Haha well like 2 days pass and sister handy's like where's the fruit?? And me and sister hall just look at each other and start laughing and explain what happened....sometimes you just gotta laugh it off.

We had a good lesson with our investigator karina about prophets and she came to church yesterday!! =happiness when that happens.

Sister handy had a random thought to go wash one of the members car one morning. And I was like uhhhh it's freezing!! But we did it anyways and it was so cool what happened.

{Side note:always listen to the spirit and ACT}

We surprised her and she was so happy&tearful and shared that the night before she was wanting to go get her car washed but ran out of time getting everything else done. And then we shows up the next day :) love it when that happens. When the spirit uses US as tools and instruments in helping others exactly when they need it. I've had so many experiences like that on my mission. After we washed her car, we noticed her next door neighbor was standing outside and we asked if we could wash hers too. She was supposed we asked but said yes. She had a U of A sticker on the back of her car which made me so happy seeing because I never see anything about arizona out here. I told her I was from AZ and we talked about that for alittle bit. We washed her car and left her a note quoting mosiah 2:17

Service softens hearts.

We got our car back...finally!!! We were without it for 11 days.....that was a wee bit frustrating and difficult. But we dealt with it and it was "but a small moment" got it back on Halloween. We went to the shop and he said it would be another 30 mins so we were with a member and she decided to go to the dollar store and pick up some stuff. Coolest thing happened. #rightplacerighttime

We were checking out and there was a family in front of us. I noticed on her neck there was this sweet butterfly tattoo. Something I love doing is talking to people about their tattoos :) so I was like hey I really like your tattoo! And she smiled and said thanks and saw my name tag and then looked at me and asked if I was a mormon. I said yes! I'm a missionary. She was so happy and shared that she used to have missionaries in her home but they had gone away and lost contact with her and the church. So I got all her info and am going to get missionaries to go see her (since she lives out of our area) that was such a humbling experience to see Heavenly Father helping and loving her by having us meet and help her find the gospel again. #thechurchistrue

Fast Sunday's are always the best. Whenever I fast I feel the sprint more stronger than I normally do. Here are some quotes from testimony meeting:

"When the unexpected happens, you're still in control. I can still control my thoughts, actions, words, and behavior."

"The Savior IS."

"Sweet is the peace the gospel brings"

Had a good relief society lesson yesterday.

All about the organization of the relief society and the member who taught it-sister Chatfield- used my picture I drew for her :) #small&simplethings and scanned it and made small copies of it for everyone. That was pretty cool. I just love drawing and painting quotes like that. It helps me keep sane in the mission world haha. 

Quote of the week

"The decision to retire, is the decision to die!!"

For Halloween I was a sister missionary :)

Love you!

{sister.manson}

Hardworkworkhard

Hello!
This week has been a little rough...but we keep pressing forward.
I got to see some of my favorite people and eat lunch with them. THE
PLACE FAMILY!!
Leah and her 2 daughters came up and we were able to see each other.
So happy to see her. Made my whole year(: pretty much haha.

This is Allison . She is leaving on her mission this week to spain!!!

THE
PLACE FAMILY!!

#walkingfordayz

Hello!!
We dropped off our car today...and won't be getting it back till next
week. Haha so we'll be a walking alllllllll week. Say a prayer for me
that I won't freeze in the 50degree weather we've been having! No
worries, I'm wearing tights, boots, scarfs and my sweaters.

At least there's no snow like the week me and sister steadman didn't
have a car and bared through blizzards to get to our
appointments...good times being a missionary(: hahaha.

This week was fun! I love being with sister hall and handy. They crack me up.
Even on rough days when people don't want to talk to us or are not
home we still don't get too discouraged and can laugh.

We have been focusing on finding people to teach. And we had cool
experiences following the promptings from the Holy Ghost to be led to
people who are prepared to hear the gospel.

Shout-out to my little big brother Frank.
He is going to the MTC on Wednesday :) I love him way too much, and he
is going to be such a great missionary in riverside, California!
#eldermanson
Represent!

Last week I talked about how I'm reading the Book of Mormon in 2 weeks.
Finished week 1!
I can't ever begin to describe all of the great things that have come from it.
I get so many things out of it!!!
Reading such big chunks of it I really get to see just how often Jesus
Christ really is being talked about in the Book of Mormon. Literally
so much! In every single chapter. It's awesome.
I love the gospel and the Book of Mormon. It's true!

You do more good than you think you do.
"You can count the amount of seeds in an apple, but you never know how
many apples can grow from 1 seed"

Love and miss you all

Sister Manson

Throwing All My Energy

Hellllllo.

I am doing really well over here in the freezing fall weather of Pennsylvania!

The leaves are beautiful.

--Red&orange&purple.

Hot chocolate.

Rain.

I'm freezing but loving wearing my scarfs, hats, and boots.

Fall is the best:)

Arizona has no such thing so it's been cool to experience.

We had the sweetest opportunity to watch "Meet The Mormons" movie last week as a mission.

GO WATCH IT AND TAKE YOUR NONMEMBER FRIENDS.

It's so good and the spirit is present the whole time.

Before my mission I would say I was a pretty emotional...haha and I think my mission has just amplified it even moreeee haha because it made me cry way too much. I am so sensitive when it comes to movies and Music..It was really good and makes me just love being a missionary even more! I like to think of alllll the people who I've been able to teach and who have joined the church and just thinking about their lives like 10 years from now.

.ahh it's pretty overwhelmingly awesome.

The church is true! I can't say that enough.

Like kelly once told me "when you know, you know. And nothing else matters"

AMEN.

I am doing something that is pretty intense but so worth it and good.

I gave myself a goal to start&finish the Book of Mormon in 2 weeks!

I started Saturday and already just have a couple chapters left until I finish 2 Nephi.

37 pages a day(:

It's not even that hard! And I love doing it and it's just a huge spiritual feast for me every morning and night when I read.

This is from "Spiritual Whirlwinds" general conference talk April 2014.

"When President Henry B. Eyring was a teenager, his family moved to a new city. He initially found the move unpleasant and made few friends. He felt like he didn’t fit in with the students in his high school. The whirlwinds were swirling. What did he do? He threw his energy into the Book of Mormon, reading it many times.17 Years later, President Eyring testified: “I [love to] go back to the Book of Mormon and drink deeply and often.”18 “[It] is the most powerful written testimony we have that Jesus is the Christ"

I am throwing all my energy into reading the Book of Mormon just like president Eyring did.

My life has been so incredibly blessed from the Book of Mormon. I am so grateful for it! I know that it is true...all of it. 100% The spirit just pours out of it into your heart as you read and think about its words. I think I took it pretty much for granted before my mission..it is such a special book.

I challenge and invite you to do it with me!

And email and tell me about your experiences with it.

christy.manson@myldsmail.net

And if you think you don't have time..stop watching tv & make time :)

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers about/for me. They are greatly appreciated.

I love you!

{sister.manson}

Good stuff.

Our new companion is sister handy!!

Which is pretty cool because we were companions last year in moorestown, nj :)

We made general conference flyers and handed them out to people. We were at the Delaware River again and the coolest thing happened. We saw Jairon there again! (Meet him like a month ago) he was so happy and excited to see us. (He even took a picture of us to send to his friends haha) we asked if he had read the Book of Mormon and he said no. So we told him we would read it with him now! He said it was in his car so he went and grabbed it and all 4 of us squeezed on this bench facing the Delaware River and read aloud from the Book of Mormon. So awesome! My mission was made right then and there haha. We didn't have a lot of time so we only read alittle but, but he said he would finish the chapter :) I love being a missionary.

So we have a transfer goal of finding and baptizing a family this transfer! We have the faith :)

We called up one of our referrals who wanted a bible and asked him why after we had dropped it off for him. He said he wanted to teach his kids about the bible. So we were like wow that's way cool.....have you heard of the Book of Mormon?? (: haha he said yes and we asked if we could share more about it with him and he said yes! The only time he could meet was this morning so that's where we were this morning. He is so prepared! And very sincere about finding truth. He is excited to read the Book of Mormon and he is Jewish who believes in christ! YAY.

Met some really cool people who also seem prepared for the gospel. We'll see how it turns out.

Met one at a Chinese restaurant. I was so PROUD of sister handy because I had given her a goal to talk to 1 stranger every day about the gospel. While I was ordering my food she had talked to 2 people!! One of them totally knew who we were and wanted to learn more.

We have just been focusing on finding people to teach, so pray for us that we'll find some new investigators!

Please tell me you watched general conference? I DID!

It was so good. So much spiritual goodness. Something I realized as I was watching it was that this general conference was my last one as a missionary! The next one in April I will be homeeee. Craziness...boo.

I think my favorite talk was the one by elder klebingat. Talking about spiritual confidence increasing. I got a lot out of that one. Also elder Scott's about re-prioritizing the things we do in our life. Loved that one!! And is good to remember while we are here and how we should be spending our time.

Love you:)

{sister.manson}

General confernce was the best <3

So Inconvenient

This last week of the transfer has been grrrrrrrrreat ;)

I literally am so happy here in morrisville.

They continue to be too good to me!!

Me and sister hall are staying in the area and we're getting a third companion!

Haha back in a trio again.

Sister hall goes home after this up coming transfer :(

Her 18 months is UP.

we're going to have the most fun this transfer and see 100 miracles :)

Last pday we FLEW A KITE!

On the Delaware River.

I was in heaven, so fun :)

We made homemade PIZZA with Carmelina

(and you all know just how much I LOVE pizza...)

Literally the best pizza I've ever had.

I put so much cheese and these orange little tomatoes grown from her garden.

We've been going BANNER crazy over here.

We made 3 banners this week and making one more today haha.

We made a happy birthday banner for Kathie(she turned 72!) a happy baptism banner for Kathie and Carmelina, and a ROSH HASHANA banner for our Jewish investigator :) we love everyone. And the one we're making today is a welcome banner for our new companion!

We took Kathie to the temple site down in Philadelphia.

I want you to imagine a 72 year old driving us down in center city philly in a sweet red jeep(:

That was us!! Hahaha I love her.

The spirit on the site is so strong and sweet.

She absolutely loved it.

Our district meeting was all about the Book of Mormon. I loved it so much.

The Book of Mormon is so special and important to me.

So grateful to have it in my life.

I used to take it so much for granted..but now I am reading it every.single.day.

And will read it every.single.day even after my mission.

I know we have ALL had spiritual experiences with the Book of Mormon.

Please go pick it up and read it if you haven't on awhile or today yet :)

We cleaned the baptism font to prep for Kathie and Carmelina's baptism!

There were too many spiders....

I've killed 100s of spiders out here in the east coast during this summer....so happy for winter! They will all be deadddddd. That's about the only thing I'm looking forward to the winter haha..

Me and sister hall went running in the pouring RAIN! #heaven

It's starting to get cold over here.....,pulled out a sweater!

The leaves are changing and already falling. Winter is cominggggg

Sooo Kathie and Carmelina's baptism was probably the most sweetest and tenderest baptism on my mission!

Don't get me wrong, I've loved everyone I've helped teach and prep for baptism.

But for Kathie and Carmelina I've been with them from the very beginning!

Seen and taught them for the very first time and saw them all the way to baptism.

That's something really special!

Either I catch the tail end of someone prepping for baptism (like Etta, bradley, kelly, and rebecca and Stan) or start them on the road to baptism and then get transferred before they're baptized (jessi)

So Kathie and Carmelina are the very first I've been able to be here for the whole thing.

Not that that really matters...but it's just cool to be able to see and experience the whole thing from start to finish. And they keep going! On to the temple.

The church is true!

I hope you all enjoyed the women's broadcast! So good :)

Loved the 10 virgin story.

"Daily drops of preparation"

We read this talk called "The Inconvenient Messiah" by Jeffery r holland.

First of all you can already tell how awesome the talk is by the title, and it's by holland!! My favorite apostle <3

Me and sister hall have really been talking about this subject a lot: being convenient verses inconvenient. And boy does this help me understand more of how satan works. It talks about something similar to this in my patriarchal blessing. He is just soooo subtle. If you look and study Christ's life, you will see how inconvenient his life truly was. And elder holland focuses on the story where satan tempts christ during his 40 day fast. It would have been easy for him to turn stone to bread and to do the things satan was tempting him with. But we see from our savior's is life that most of the times we need to be doing the inconvenient.

It's easy to not pay our tithing.

It's easy to sleep in and not go to church.

It's easy to go weeks without opening and reading our scriptures or praying.

It's easy to slack off and be idle.

It's easy to not go to meetings.

It's easy to give into temptations.

This has been a huge thing I've learned on my mission.

I can be a convenient missionary.

Or I can be an inconvenient missionary.

But I am here and we are here to do the inconvenient. To do what's hard so we can grow.

A quote from the talk

"If sometimes the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived"

I really like this quote..don't know who it's by...

"Christ chooses his followers when they're moving, and satan chooses his while they're idle"

Ask yourself if you are being a convenient follower and disciple of Christ or an inconvenient one.

One last quote I want to end with:

"As you labor to know him(christ) and to know that he knows you; as you invest your time-and inconvenience-in quiet unassuming service, you will indeed find that 'his angels [have] charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up'"

I love you!

Sister Manson

my favorite food place

So I'm kinda obsessed with bricks....but here's why!
"Making bricks isn't easy. They are put under intense heat. I learned that people are like bricks..life is a fierce furnace of trials. But we can emerge rock solid, with a testimony strong enough for others to build on."

SAVOR of men

Ahhh hello

it's week 6 already?

(Last week of the transfer)

We'll find out Friday what changes if any are made.

We got flipped off by some hooligans in their car because I almost might of accidentally slightly cut them off...........it was still RUDE of them.

Then we got lost trying to find an apartment complex. I get lost so easily out here it's ridiculous haha.

Cute ole little town of YARDLEY has what they call

"Harvest Day" it's this HUGE event in the town and people come and walk around and look at booths people set up. A cute little crafty welcoming fall fair type thing going on. We wondered around looking for opportunities to do some service and we found this old church/library building. We asked if we could help and she said yes actually, right now! So we handed out cookies and drinks to people coming in. One of the guy workers asked us 100 questions about the church and the Book of Mormon, so that was cool to answer. He said he lives within walking distance of our church building!!! Perfecttttt.

I love being a missionary. Some days are just plain right hard and it's easy to get alittle discouraged, but then you have awesome spiritually high days which make up for it all.

Thinking back on my mission thus far...I've hard some real crappy days, but the thing is I can hardly remember any of the details I just know that I've had them haha. But I do KNOW and REMEMBER all of the great spiritual miracle days. :) so I always remind myself to forget about the bad days and move on to the good ones.

Good note: Kathie and Carmelina are getting baptized saturday(: they both have made so many changes and it's so humbling to see it and hear them talk about it! They are so special and make me want to be better. We are taking Kathie down to the temple site in philly on Friday :) super excited for that.

Me and sister hall are doing this thing where we read a conference talk from any conference issue and read it together :) to prep for conference coming up in October!!! We're so excited.

General conference is like Christmas for us missionaries. I'm not joking. I LOVE IT. <3

One of the talks we read this week was called

"salt of the earth: Savors of men and Saviors of men"

Uhmmm please everybody go and read it.

I'm now obsessed with salt.

Don't wanna ruin the talk, but I'll sum it up mostly.

Quotes the scriptures where it says that we are the salt of the earth, and how it is useless when it looses its savor (taste/flavor)

He pointed out HOW salt looses its savor. And it's NOT by age. It looses it by contamination. By being mixed with other things...

Now I want y'all to think deep and hard and apply that to you(:

Aka..DO NOT LOOSE YOUR SAVOR.

Do not get mixed up in the ways of the ever changing current/flow of the world.

A newly found quote GEM:

"Before my eyes had occurred a metamorphosis--the transformation of a hideous beetle into a gorgeous dragonfly. … I had witnessed … a miracle. Out of the mud had come a beautiful new life. And the thought came to me that if the Creator works such wonders with the lowliest of creatures, what may not be in store for the human spirit!”"

(J. Clarke--The Lord of Life)

Love the last line.

Heavenly Father can change us. "The gospel of Jesus Christ makes bad men good and good men better". I've seen this LIVED and applied in the investigators and members lives as well as my own.

Share the gospel with everyone!

Be desperate to share it.

I love you(:

Sister Manson 

Soul Knowledge

Uhh...craziest week of my mission for sure.

Here's what went dowwwwwwn:
1. Very good and relaxing fun pday
2. Went on exchanges in Philly with our sister training leaders
(We got to handout cookies to the temple workers who are building the temple!)
3. Mission tour(: spiritual boost for dayz
4. District meeting
5. Dropped our investigator Lydia...(stopped meeting and our lessons with her)
6. Sister Wright gets a phone call from the Assistant Presidents and
is given the news of being EMERGENCY TRANSFERRED. Found out Saturday
evening and has to pack and leave Sunday night. (A sister missionary
was going home early so they needed to move sisters around)
7. We attended a funeral
8. Went to a catholic mass with one of our investigators
9. Kathie didn't get baptized
10. Dropped sister wright off :(

#insane.

I am pretty sad about sister wright leaving...
But the transfer is almost over anyways (2 more weeks) and we were
assuming she would be the one to go. She is up in Scranton, PA now (:
#THEOFFICE.
Now it's just me and sister hall running loose in morrisville :)

Our mission tour was sweet. We were the first group of missionaries in
our mission to meet with Elder Willford Andersen. Him and his wife
spoke as well as our mission president, President Anderson and his
wife :) PARTY with the Anderson's haha.

Something elder Andersen said struck me really hard. He was saying how
a lot of people don't really care who he was and what he did in his
life, and wanted us to remember WHO he represents. Jesus Christ. He
also went on to explain how as being called to be in the second quorum
of the 70, he was to be a special witness of Christ.

We talked about 3 different knowledges

1. Head Knowledge
---information, 5 senses, learn while we study etc..
2. Heart Knowledge
---inviting the spirit to teach us, helps us gain a desire and motivation
3. Soul Knowledge
---prACTice. All about becoming and doing.

And how important they all are into leading us to being converted in
the gospel.

A good example of this in the scriptures is Alma 10:4-6
"I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know. Therefore I
went on rebelling"
Amulek has the head knowledge, he KNEW, but he didn't have a desire to
act and do to KNOW.

It's a good self check and also to know this in order to help our
investigators.
True change and conversion comes when all 3 knowledges are present and
happening regularly. I can do all I can to teach and give people
information about let's say for example The Word of Wisdom and what it
is and what it means, but I can't expect them to change and live it if
they have not yet experienced it in their heart and soul by feeling
the spirit.

Gooooooood stuff. Idk if that made sense to you all but it does to me(:

So Kathie is getting baptized on September 27! Same day as Carmelina.

These two are ON FIRE. It's amazing to watch and experience the
changes they go through and the almost IMMEDIATE blessings they
receive from it.

All I can say is the church is true. And will be forever and everrrr.
And nothing will change that. The worlds view and standards seem to
change daily! I love the consistency and the solidness of the church
in my life.


Have a great week(:
Love sister manson

365 Days Later

AYYYO.

Kathie is getting baptized September 14(:

NEXT SUNDAY!

Super happy for her, she is so funny and full of energy. She knows the church is true.

Do you remember Kathie? She was the one who called up the bishop and said she investigated the church years ago and wasn't ready then...but is ready now! We've been meeting with her every week and she is going to be a member of the church! She told us the story of how she got the bishops number. She called the church headquarters in SALT LAKE! Haha and talked to the people there asking them how to find the missionaries here. She doesn't mess around(: I will send pictures of it next pday.

We had a really good zone training and one of our sister training leaders shared one of newest favorite quotes!!

"Some people I have had the privilege of working with over the years have had a hard time reconciling the fact that healing requires suffering and yet is a gift from our Savior. How is it that a loving God would allow us to suffer? I have come to realize that my Savior cares more about my growth than He does about my comfort. One evidence of His love is that He does not spare me from the suffering I need for my development and progression, even when I get mad at Him. As a client once told me, “I used to feel guilty for getting mad at God. Then I realized He can handle it.” - Jonathan G. Sandberg, Healing = Courage + Action + Grace"

MY SAVIOR CARES MORE ABOUT MY GROWTH THAN HE DOES ABOUT MY COMFORT

A.m.a.z.i.n.g. Huh?

Reminds me of another quoteeeeee:

---There's no comfort in the growth zone and theirs no growth in the comfort zone.

I think that pretty much sums up this past year of my mission. 365 days of growinnn.

I have done things this past year that have made me very very very uncomfortable, and nervous and scared, but because of doing those things I've been able to grow so much.

I'm like a plant! Haha

{Its all about our growth}

That's basically what life comes down to. Are we growing? Are we becoming better then who we were yesterday? If yes, continue on! If not..make the uncomfortable changes and start. Look for the areas in your life in which you can improve on and grow in. It could be anything. You are never just stagnant in life--you are either moving forward or slipping backwards.

I love being a missionary way too much, I will probably cry for a couple weeks when I go home...you all will have to help me adjust into the normmm but we can worry about that later(: like in February.

Fast Sundays are always the best. Just what I need(: a spiritual boost for sure.

I know Jesus Christ lives! My testimony of Him deepens of him and Heavenly Father the more I study and the more I pray(:

Have a good week!

We have something pretty awesome coming up this week.

A mission tour!

One of the members of the 2nd quorem of 70, Elder Wilford W. Anderson, will be here for this week and we are all meeting together and going to listen to him speak! I will take good detailed notes and share them with you next pday.

LOVE YOU(:

{sister.manson}

The Power of 3

Giving a warning now that this email will be very short...sorry!

we don't have a lot of time today because we are going to philly(:

TO TAKE A TOUR OF THE MASONIC TEMPLE

I'll fill you in next week how it goes

I just had a really GROSS realization that I only have 6 months left on my mission...

6 months translates to--

not long at all.

Alot of really good things happened this week(:

I'm gonna sum it up though..

I don't remember how much I've been updating you all on Lydia, Carmelina and Kathie?

Buttttt

Kathie is getting baptized September 14

Carmelina is getting baptized September 21

and our investigator Lydia is getting baptized on the 27!

so crazy and so amazing.

The church is true(:

Being in a trio brings miracles!!

3 is my favorite number

This is my third area

Christ was resurrected 3 days later

3 members of the Godhead

-Heavenly Father

-Jesus Christ

-Holy Ghost

I am sorry for the lame email

next week will be better

i promise

I love you(:

sistermanson