Foolish Man

We helped a member in the ward plant her garden and some flowers!

And ahhh

there are so many life lessons and problems that

can be learned from planting and taking care

of a plant!

And its

suuuuuuuuuuper relaxing

Definitely adding that to my list of stuff to do when i get home

#39 Plant a plant!

We had a lesson with a member in the ward's husband

who is not a member

we followed up with his book of mormon reading and praying

He read!!

Then we brought up the

B-word...

BAPTISM

He said its a good idea

So we set him with a DATE!!!

JUNE 22

**tears**

Also he pinky promised us he would say the opening prayer next time

we got it in WRITTING

Literally so happy for him and his family!

(which just looked at my calendar and I went through the Mesa, AZ

temple a year ago that day!!!)

coincidence?

I think not.

That is definitely something my mission has taught me

there are no such things as coincidences or chance.

it all happens for a reason and all according to Heavenly Fathers will.

June 4 is approaching fast!

so crazy

9 months!

after that date I give

FULL PERMISSION

to all my married friends

that they can have a baby now(:

because I will be home in 9 months!

But seriously there is NOTHING I'd rather be doing.

I love love love love love love love love love

love love love love love love love love love

being a missionary.

I have learned so much and still have so much more to learn and to do.

I've been really thinking about my mission experience thus far.

From the things I've learned

to the good times

to the hard times

to the silly times

to the spiritual growth times!

I am going to make a little list for next week's email about all the many things i've learned

and have gained a testimony of

stay tunnnned

but honestly my mission has

CHANGED ME

and continues to do so.

I'm so grateful for it.

Had dinner with our German friend!

a member of the ward

super gut (:

Definitely want to go visit germany when i get back home

add it to the lisssst

#8 Go to Germany

Me and sister cox taught a lesson to our district (a group of missionaries)

about responding to objections by using the bom

I love it so much because it really helped me realize

what the true purpose of the book of mormon is.

If you really want to know if joseph was a TRUE prophet

and if all the things the church claims are "true" and restored

read the book of mormon.

that's where you testimony should lie!

it helps you grow closer to heavenly father and

jesus christ.

We stopped by a really in-active member of the ward

and it just broke my heart

listening to her

she explained that not only did she not

believe in the book of mormon

or Joseph smith but not even in the bible or christ or God!

It was really eye-opening to me

to hear someone be so un-sure about everything.

That's something i really love about this church

there's nothing un-sure about it.

We KNOW there is a God and He sent His son Jesus Christ

to die for us.

So many questions have been answered because we are guided by a living prophet!

We know all of these things and that makes

our foundation

solid

As we listened to this member talk

it was so clear

she was not on a solid foundation

#sandyyy

and she was not as happy as she could be if she would have put some time into building on a stronger foundation

Jesus Christ

The scriptures say He is our rock

3Nephi 18:13

13 But whoso among you shall do more or less than these are not built upon my rock, but are built upon a sandy foundation; and when the rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat upon them, they shall fall, and the gates of hell are ready open to receive them.

We will FALL if our testimonies aren't gained and strengthened DAILY.

Matthew 7 24-27

24 ¶Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, anddoeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

I know these things are true.And the only way I am able to say that

is because I have put in the time to strengthen my testimony and to read the book of mormon and the bible.

I know it because i feel it

We have another investigator

alvin!

We taught him the plan of salvation

he loved it!

when we first started teaching him he didn't even know where we come from!

we fixed that haha

He understood everything!

He is getting baptized

JUNE 29

He is so honest about seeking the truth

he said this the past week

"I just want to know the truth"

woooooo!

you've found it buddy

Yesterday was his birthday so after church me and sister cox dropped off a cake we made him

he face just lit up!

we totally forgot our candle sticks so he went in his apartment and grabbed a lighter

and lit it and we sang happy birthday to him and he just blew the lighter out

hahah so awesome

oh by the way..

I am NOT getting transferred!

6 months in pottstown here i come(:

and another transfer with sister cox

I read this awesome talk by president monson

called

"Finishers Wanted"

i really liked it and it touched me deeply

I have been really focusing on having a vision of myself

of WHO heavenly father wants me to be.

Here is a cool quote:

by sister neilson

(wife of elder neilson, one of the 12 apostles!)

"There are more people on the other side of the veil

rooting for us

than there are on this side"

I love you

have a good week!

love sistermanson

 Pennsylvania is pretty(:

This is Alvin! He is from puerto rico 

and has a super attractive accent lol

it was his birthday yesterday so we made him a cake!

 He is getting baptized June 29 :D

Fun district :)

Fun district :)

this is the Gulasch! (:

it was good!!!

 we made our investigator Bob PROMISE
 us that he would say the openning prayer next time
we meet. haha we got it in WRITTING! 

Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again

This week can be summed up by the lyrics from one of my favorite bands

*The Maine*

"some days feel like razor blades, some days taste like lemonade"

The good and the bad.

yeah this week was

EXPLODING!

with craziness.

Had a lesson with the girl we met at the ice cream store!

it was such a powerful lesson really directed by the spirit.

We're seeing her today to give her a proteguese book of mormon.

She fed us brazilian food!

I love serving in

AMERICA

so many different cultures jam packed over here

She made me cry during the lesson which is something I don't normally do!

She shared how she knew meeting us was

NO COINCIDENCE.

How everything is starting to fall into place for her and her life.

#meltedmyheart

It just made me so happy knowing that she really needed us to share the gospel with her.

And how she was just about to give up hope right before we found her.

Hello.

The church is TRUE.

and can bless

every aspect of our lives

So humbling to see heavenly father working through me and sister cox to help her

when she was in need.

Met with Alvin!

(the guy we found last week while drawing with chalk on the sidewalk)

Taught him the restoration

Invited him to be baptized on

June 22

HE ACCEPTED!!

hollahhhh

He happens to also have a super attractive

Puerto-Rican accent(;

YAY.

hahahhaha

seriously though.

He's prepared and its

awesome.

Ahhh

K

so this is the last week of the transfer!

I may or may not get transferred.

we find out friday so I will let y'all know next monday

what happens

June 4

=

9 month mark!

aka

halfway!!!

nooooooo

which is so weird and gross

because it still feels like i just left!

Got my haircut last week

it's short and

i hate it

but whatevz

it had to be done!!!

it was so dead.

so now it's healthy so its all gooood

Stopped by one of our investigators and she was outside raking her grass

LET US HELP YOUUUU!!

she gives me the rake

and i rake away!!!

my comp knows exactly what to do now.

#divideandconquer

I got the leaves/grass

she has our investigator!

I rake slowly so they can talk longer

Afterwards she invites us inside and we were able to read 3 nephi 11

she shared how she wanted to find and to know the truth

Well you've come to the right place!!!!!

we promised her that she'd find it

HERE.

Because the book of mormon is true.

Sunday was awesome

GREAT speakers and lessons

about

daily discipleship!

and finding truth.

Took like 5 pages of notes...

#nerd

#dontcare

One of the speakers shared the story of an LDS family who vactioned in Malaysia.

Decided to go to church so they took a train to Thailand.

Same day..the huge tsunami hit that resort

We go to church!

Because its who we are.

Doing the simple things over and over and over and over again truly make up all the differences in our lives.

CPR

church

pray

read

(:

So simple

So easy

So important

Picture this:

you have this gigantic solid block of

granite.

Pounding your chisel over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

1000 times over again

what do you get?

the

SALT LAKE TEMPLE.

something so beautiful and complicated was created by doing the simple things

over and over and over again.

remember to do the simple things!

#justdoit

We sang hymn 45 during sacrament and it really touched me

"Father all my heart I give thee"

super good and something i try to do as a missionary

Another awesome lesson during relief society was taught

by my german friend!

(she's having us over for dinner this week...making us german food!)

(mom do you know what gulasch is?"

idk how to spell it

but that's what she's making us

yay(:

Talked about truth!

Truth means in greek vere

aka

very

verily

whenever you see verily verily i say unto you

it's saying truthfully truthfully i say unto you

changes the meaning now huh?

so sweet!

So the more i've been studying and learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ

the more convinced that it is

ME.

It is who I am.

The gospel isn't just something we do for 3 hours on Sunday

its WHO we are.

we are all sons and daughters of God

it's in our nature to serve and follow Him and to do His will and to keep His commandments

Make time for his work and service!

Elaine Bradley's I'm a Mormon video on mormon.org

(shes the drummer for neon trees!! if you havent watched her video go do it now! it's my favorite(:

http://www.mormon.org/elaine

"I feel so much better, and so much more myself when i follow the teaching of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints"

exactly.

Another one of my fav quotes

idk who said it though

"we are not a human being having a spiritual experience.

we are a spiritual being having a human experience!"

have a good week

i love you!

sistermanson

SAVE A CHILD! read the book of mormon (; hahaha

visited the valley forge park with kelly!

saw some cool canons and these log houses where they used to sleep!

(this was before i cut my hair) haha

visited the valley forge park with kelly!

saw some cool canons and these log houses where they used to sleep!

(this was before i cut my hair) haha

The Truth Will Always Be Opposed

The first half of the week was

>so stressful<

..headless chicken..

But heavenly father loves me so much

We had a zone conference

[a super big missionary meeting where we learn stuff]

MUCH NEEDED

The main speakers were Dr./Elder&Sister Dunn

Guess what their talks were about?

}How to deal with stress{

yeah.

#howdidtheyknow??

Heavenly Father is so mindful of me..

I love being able to recognize that.

Literally just what I needed

I took like 5 pages of notes

haha

They talked a lot about the

Comfort Zone

Things feel great in the comfort zone

BUT

no growth takes place there.

Here's a quote for ya

"There is no comfort in the growth zone, and no growth in the comfort zone"

So basically

it's good to be uncomfortable

They also asked us what was the best thing we thought about ourselves

And they said that

the times when it's the hardest is where some of our best qualities

are developed.

If everything was great all the time

we would not rely on heavenly father through prayer and scripture study

But when things get hard

that's the first thing I do!!

A cute little math equation

because I love math so much.

Hard/trying/struggling/uncomfortable times

=

Strengthened testimony

&

Growth.

become RESILIENT

good that word if you don't know what it means

me and sister cox have been talking to

SO

many people

it's insane just how many people there are in our area.

and this is just a smidgen of how many people there are in the WORLD

plus all the people who already passed away

ahh so many people

and heavenly fathers

KNOWS

each of them

personally.

Taught the restoration to one of our investigators.

We then get a message on facebook from his brother a couple days later

saying

that his brother took the book of Mormon we gave him and showed it to his priest

the priest told him to throw the book in the trash

and that you won't get closer to God by reading it

..............

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

-_-

uhh

YO.

not cool

I know the Book of Mormon is true.

I read this awesome talk this morning called "The Prophet Joseph Smith

by Lawrence E Corbridge from this April 2014 general conference.

so sick

"Opposition, criticism and antagonism are companions to the truth"

"The truth will always be opposed"

"There are not many options...He was either pretender or prophet"

and he invites everyone to pray and ask God

"This is not only how you may learn the truth of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith

it is also a pattern to know the truth of all things"

and one of my favorite quotes from Joseph Smith himself

he says:

"Though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart:

Why persecute me for telling the truth?

I have actually seen a vision;

and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does

the world think to make me

deny what I have actually seen?

For I had seen a vision;

I knew it,

and I knew that God knew it,

and

I could not deny it"

Joseph Smith History 1:25

Love this..

I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God.

And that there will always be hatred and opposition towards the truth

You just have to build a strong enough foundation/testimony of Christ (Helaman 5:12) and

know people will reject it..

but that does not change

that you yourself know it is true.

Something I learned recently was found in this scripture:

Proverbs 29:18

"Where there is no vision, the people perish"

My mission has really been focusing on having a vision. and making goals and plans to accomplish this vision. whether it be for ourselves, our investigators, our ward etc...

Strive to have a vision of yourself,

of the person you want to be

and them make goals

and plans to help get you to it.

I did that, and I continue to add to my vision of myself and change my goals of how I can be a better servant of the Lords and

who He wants me to become.

We all have sooo much potential

and with the Lords help we will get there.

Ether 12:27 says the Lord will help turn our weaknesses into strengths.

It's been really cool to see myself change!!

Sunday was the best day ever

Here's what went down:

Woke up at 6am

Met Kelly at the church

then traveled to go to a CATHOLIC church

got sprinkled with holy water......

sang hymns

kneeled

stood

kneeled

stood

yeah.

it was awesome

then we went back to our church

facetimed my family for mothers day!

[you guys are awesome]

they took me on a tour of the new house in NC

laughed at my crazy siblings

dad chillin in pjs(:

saw the pets

after we facetimed we walked to a park and with chalk

wrote on the sidewalks

what doyou love about your mother?"

and as people walked past we would ask them if they wanted to write anything

we got people to!

super cool

Some were nice

others not so much...but whatevz

#brushitoff

We met Alvin through this!

He's from Puerto Rico

We explained what we were doing as missionaries

and he was like

"I really want to know more about being Mormon"

#meltedmyheart

no one ever tells us that!!!

hahaha.

Well Alvin..

#youvecometotherigthpeopletotellyouaboutit

(:

yay

I love you!

have a good week

sistermanson

btw..transfers are coming up at the end of May and most likely I probs will be heading out of Pottstown in like 2 weeks! just a heads up for mail address.

 

FaceTime fam(:

FaceTime fam(:

FaceTime fam(:

FaceTime fam(:

FaceTime fam(:

 

FaceTime fam(:

FaceTime fam(:

Headless But Happy Chickens

It's MAY..
And it's still like 50 degrees here..

-_-

...

#freezing
It's been raining here like all week! It just doesn't stop. But rain = green!
Everywhere I look..GREEN.
Green trees.
Green grass.
Green fields.
Green weeds.
Green.green.green.green.green.green.

Me and sis cox received a referral to go see someone. We pull up and
it's a 3 story apartment building! Our text just gave us her name and
address..

no apartment number

-_-

#cool.
Our plan was to just knock on ALL the doors. We wanted to start on the
3rd flor and work our way down. Just before we get out of the car,
this girl pulls up and gets out of her car and walks into the first
floor. Had a thought: "maybe that's her!!!" So we started on the first
floor instead. About 4 or 5 doors later the same girl we saw answers
the door! We asked if so and so was there and she said: that's me!
#thankyouheavenlyfather #miracle #rightplacerighttime
So that was awesome, spoke to her and she wants us to come back! Yay.

Stan earlier last week CRUSHED his cigs!! Officially done smoking he told us(:

Had dinner with a family of the ward.

Here's what went down:

Craziness happening all over the place
Yelling and arguing
Siblings telling jokes and riddles
Laughz for dayz (don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my lifeee)
Super chill
Everybody running around
Hahahaha it felt like I was at #HOMEEE

I miss all my siblings running around and making me laugh..excited I
get to FaceTime my family for Mother's Day!! So happy to see everyone.

I was superrr overwhelmed Friday morning because we just have so much
to do! So me and sister cox decided
to go get some ice cream so I could calm down because we all know

icecream fixes errything..

We talked to the worker there. AND GET THIS!!
It turns out she's from Brazil. And the missionaries taught and
baptized her sister who's still in Brazil! She has a sister who's a
member of the church! So cool. She wants us to come over and teach
her! So awesome. #icecreaminspired lol.

Have you heard the song 2 years by Carli Barlow? If not...YouTube it
right nowww.

It's so good and was one my fav songs I'd listen to on repeat before I
left on my mission(:
The sister I went in exchanges with had it on cd! I was super happy
listening to it, because it reminded me of some things.
Here are some of the lyrics I really like:

"2 years [18 months] is a long time for me! to be here without you!
it's hard to believe! but I know it's the right thing and I'll miss
you dearly...2 years [18 months] is a time for me to give back for I
owe each breath that I breathe. It's only a small thing, when you look
at eternity"
#meltsmyheart
Then we role around to Sunday

...
Uhh.

...
< best day of my life>

STAN AND REBECCA GOT BAPTIZED!!
So perfect.
We did so many things Sunday..it was pretty hectic and crazy!
-ward council at 745.
-bore my testimony
-taught the relief society lesson
-Rebecca and Stan's baptism!
Ahh it felt like me and sis cox were

running around like chickens with
our heads cut off!! Haha..
> good imagery eh?<

it spells..

c.r.a.z.y

BUT

I felt the Spirit so strong throughout the entire day.

It was much needed and gave me such an upliftment.

We had a cool lesson about fasting and I learned that we need to be

cheerful and happy while we do it.

Yep.

Never knew that one.

But it makes sense.

Actually we can pretty much apply this principle in every aspect of our lives.

Be happy and cheerful in

e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.

It makes such a huge difference.

I looked up the word happy on my iPad dictionary

Some of the things that stood out to me were the words:

Confident, satisfied, pleasure, pleasing, willing to do something, fortunate, smiling!

Ahh 2 of my close best friends are leaving on their missions Wednesday!! So crazy..

Aven leaves to the Mexico MTC to learn Spanish for the people in California

Kalie leaves to the Provo MTC to learn Spanish for the people in Argentina

So happy and excited for them!

Serving a mission has been the best thing I've ever done!!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

#maracas

#sombreros

#chips&salsa

Found a cool scripture this morning

Alma 60:36

"I seek not honor of the world, but for the glory of my God"

I felt prompted while studying this morning to study prayer in PMG.

There are so many promised blessings for <PRAYER>

Promised that:

they WILL be answered

we WILL see God's influence in our lives

He WILL guide us

He WILL bless us

He WILL warn us

He WILL forgive our sins

**We WILL feel closer to Him**

(my personal fav)

Our minds WILL be filled with inspiring and uplifting thoughts, and enlightenment

WILL have feelings of peace, joy and love

WILL want to do good and help others

[PMG 73]

I love that word..

.will.

These are what I like to call

"Will Statements"

I've found a lot of these "will statements" all throughout my patriarchal blessing!

I love them so much because these are the promises to us from Heavenly Father!

And Heavenly Father always keeps his promises.

D&C 82:10

I encourage all of you to look for these "Will Statements"

throughout the scriptures

in your own patriarchal blessing

conference talks

they're errywhere

Have a good week!

Love you

sistermanson

STAN AND REBECCA GOT BAPTIZED!!

 

awesome cake made by one of the members of the ward for the baptism!!

Scripture cake! so sweeeeeeeeet. 

me and aven

yay for missionaries

and me and kalie!

yay for missionaries

we helped sister driscoll perm her hair (: hahaha

oh man I love old people..