Don't Be Stagnant People

I'm definitely learning time efficiency on my mission.

We do soooooo many things before its even 11am!

Before my mission most of the time I wasn't even up by then haha.

So I started my new book of Mormon reading schedule. Finish it in 60 days! piece of cake. 9 pages a day(: DONE. challenge accepted. I really want to read the book of Mormon as many times as I can during my mission. My testimony is the only thing standing in the way of satan..gotta make it strong.

Ahh this week was like brutally h.o.t and it didn't help since our AC decided to die...hahah a few nights we were sleeping in 90 degrees...#sweatyyyymess.

The heat is really wearing me down and makes me more tired..but I'm happy so it doesn't matter.

We had a lesson with this lessactive family. They are hilarious. whenever they see me they say "LUUUUUNAA!" haha because apparently li look like Luna from Harry potter? I don't see it...but I just go with it(: and they call sister cox black hahah. I'm a wizard and she's black! good times...

They shared something interesting with us. Why do we go to a hospital?

BECAUSE WE'RE SICKK

That's why we go to church! none of us are perfect, and we all f.a.l.l. s.h.o.r.t. we all need Christ. and to be healed (spiritually) by Him.

Had an awesome dinner with some members of the ward. She shared her conversion story of having to be baptized 6 TIMES!! since she wasn't completely under the water haha. So funny. She shared how she said she never felt the holy ghost when she was meeting with the missionaries. Later she realized that she was feeling it the w.h.o.l.e time but didn't recognize it. Until she prayed to RECOGNIZE the spirit. Duhhh why didn't I think of that?? It was really helpful because we have an investigator going through the same thing!

and she shared another story about when her husband served his mission in Japan. It made me CRY!!! Felt the spirit so strongggg. When he was a missionary, they had just gotten out of a big meeting talking about noticing people and being more kind. There was a man who was drunk and had thrown up on himself. He gave him a handkerchief with a pass-a-long card with the church info and his name on it and walked away. 9 YEARS LATER.....her husband gets a postcard from an elder in Japan thanking him for what he did because that same exact man and his entire family was getting baptized!!!!!!!!!!!! Who later went on to be a bishop...

Our actions definitely affect people...everyone. Take the time to be kind.

I've been studying humility and the main thing about prideful people, is that they forget God. So I made it a goal throughout the weeks to just take some extra time during the days to think about heavenly father and to remember him. Driving in the car is a good place to do it, since we as missionaries don't have a lot of free time.

We had a cute mini missionary with us! She was from Reading, Pa and wanted to have a mission experience so she was with us for 4 days(: Sister Timothy.

They always bring miracles! We stopped by a potential investigator, but he didn't live there anymore. But we were able to talk to the person living there, and he opened up and actually started to tear up as he shared about his best friend passing away recently. We gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet, bore testimony, and set up a return appointment with him!

And then we were walking to another house, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a man sitting on his porch as we past that was in between two houses. Started talking to him and it was clear he wasn't interested..then his kids (all 5 of them) started to appear from the house and they came up to us and started talking! hahah YES. So we were able to talk for like 10 minutes and he's studying religion and just moved here from texas, and is restoring his house. We offered to help! He said he would like that! so we gave him our number and he said he would call us. And our awesome mini missionary helped us find him on facebook! #soproudofher

As missionaries we are PROFESSIONAL stalkers. like no joke..

We had some really good talks in sacrament. The speaker made a living taking care of pools. He noticed that when the water would be stagnant and just sit, it would become dirty and unclean. But as they started to filter it and get it constantly moving it would prevent that from happening. He made a pretty cool parallel to our lives as members of the church. Don't be stagnant! In our callings. In our scripture studies. In our prayers. In our church attendance.

Don't just stand still and not do anything...we have to be actively participating and doing these things, because they prevent us from becoming like that stagnant filthy water. Willing to ACT.

Living this gospel and making it apart of WHO I am, has seriously made me the most happiest I've ever been. It's awesomeeee

I love you(:

sismanson

caught fireflies!! first time in my whole entire life 

seeing them and catching them(:

kendall is adorable. making faces on our way to the park! haha

makes me miss addy!

a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

a less active member we've been working with, decided she was ready to stop smoking!! :) yay

and i think this week can be summed up by this word:

humility

John 15:5 and Helaman 4:13

look emm uppp.

I've started to read Psalms in the old Testament. it's actually really good, I was surprised haha

Pottstown is stealing my heart everyday I'm here! I just love it here more and more.

We had a really good lesson on fasting and prayer with one of our investigators.

I can't even describe the spirit that was in that room. It was p.o.w.e.r.f.u.l.

Helped me to know and feel the strength and power that comes from fasting and paying tithing.

Me and Sister Cox decided we would fast the next day for him, so we did.

We met someone who used to meet with the missionaries in the 1980's! haha so sweet.

I've been talking to everyone i see about #FAMILYHISTORY. I'm still so obsessed with it.

everybody:

people walking their dog..family history!

workers at walmart...family history!

neighbors...family history!

haha boom. boom. boom.

So do you remember the story from memorial day?? (we went to the cemetary and talked to the people we saw there, and added them as friends on facebook)

welllll, one of them we've been keeping pretty good in touch with. and we asked if we could come over and talk to him and he said he actually would like that because he was really unsure about a lot of things going on in his life right now.

So we went over on saturday with sister bunting (a member of the ward here..she's so cute, shes in her late 60's!) and that lesson was so intense and awesome!!! We were there for 2 hours...and talked about so many different things!!

He opened up a lot to us and explained that he felt so lost and didn't know what to do.

Well....HELLO SIR. we can help you with that (;

We talked all about random different parts from the restoration and the plan of salvation

We suggested to him that he could a Preisthood blessing, and he said he would like that, so we set it up for the next day (sunday).

We brought kelly and brother kuhre to come with us

so ahhh...maz..ing

Brother kuhre gave him a blessing and we talked alot about how the gospel can really bless and change his life. He shared he was having regrets in his life, so Alma 36 popped into my head so I went with it haha verses 17-21. We all read and related it to him and how he can have that same experience as Alma did. Brought up baptism and invited him to be baptized.

he said yes!! July 27 :)))

Then kelly shared moroni 10:4 #perfectwaytoend

oh man..people are just so prepared to hear the gospel! we just gotta find em.

He shared that he knew it was no coincidence that he met us. and we're like YEEEAAAHH!

amen. (:

We could have gone to any cemetery, and talked to the many other people that were there.

We were drawn to him. picked him out of the people who were there and talked to him

THIS IS WHY IM HERE

to find people like him, who's life will change because he now has knowlege of the gospel.

I love being a missionary.

have a good week!

love sismanson

we love the book of mormon!!

yolo and we love the bom!

we love the bom!

went to a german restaurant! #schnitzel 

yolo 

 

yolo and we love the bom!

Mailman and chchchanges

Goooooooood week.

Went to the PAGODA, in Reading last pday.

haha google it.

it's sweet!

I finished the book of mormon june 4!

that was cool

yay

So one thing you might not know about me is that i am obsessed with..

THE MAILMAN

i love em

i point them out all the time when we're driving around town haha

(they make me excited)

but anyways we are pretty good friends with our mailman

and one day we saw him putting our mail in the mailboxes

Flagged/chased him down before he left

and told him to watch the "because of him" video on youtube

and wrote it down on a pass-a-long card with our phone number and asked him to text us after he watched it.

(FYI...my history as being a sis missionary..nobody ever calls or texts us back when we want them too)

WE GOT A TEXT FROM HIM

later that night.

Literally made my entire week.

We're going to teach a mailman

DREAM COME TRUUUUE.

I'm cheesy and opened up my letter I wrote to myself 3 months ago

haha it was pretty funny to read

now I'm working on writing myself another letter to open up 3 months from now

......my YEAR mark..........

ahhh kill me now.

it's going by way too fast.

stoppp it.

So we had some crazyness happen sunday!

Our ward boundaries got changed

so we're loosing a lot of some good members of the ward :/

super sad

then..

on TOP of that

unexpectedly they also annouced that the bishop and all his counslers were getting released as well! so we have a new bishop now!

haha everyone was in tears like the whole day...

c'mon

"pull yourself together!"

(Edna from the Incredibles..probs one of my fav movies..me and sister cox tend to quote this movie pretty much daily lol)

Changes are:

scary

sad

hard

but they can be so

GOOD.

I think that's one important thing my mission

has instilled in me and helped me to realize.

Although I have gone through many changes,

one thing has always been a constant in my life, and that is my Savior Jesus Christ.

Me and sister cox had a really cool experience.

we had an awkward 30 mins before our next appointment

a thought popped into my head to go and see some former investigators the elders had been working with.

We stop by and they shared their story with us

about how their son had met the missionaries and less than a week after that

he had passed away.

So the missionaries had gone over and talked to his parents.

We were able to share with them the because of him video

and that totally created the perfect #spiritualdrop

that we needed.

after we showed them that sister cox started talking to the man and I was talking to the women

#divideandconquer

(one of our favorite things to do)

I was able to share with her about when my step-mom passed away

and how hard that was, but from it i learned so much about heavenly father's plan for us.

As i bore my testimony she started to cry.

The spirit was so strong!!

Best thing about all of this was that it was all happening

as we were standing on their front porch outside!

The spirit can testify anywhere!

Had a lesson with our investigator Bob last night

Got him to agree again in writing to say the closing prayer next lesson haha

Ahh..I just love missionary work

everything about it

it's so hard

but so good!

Nothing else I'd rather be doing right now.

love you!

sistermanson

Salty Lights

For memorial day we did something pretty neat! Our mission president encouraged us to go the cemeteries and talk to people, so we did! We saw this one girl and she was putting pennies on the graves and we were like uhhh what are you doing? haha she explained it was a tradition so we jumped in and helped her! She was really nice and we got the opportunity to talk about the gospel and what we do. We even showed her the because of him video, she really liked it. got her facebook info and we plan to keep in contact and share the gospel to her! After that we went over to a couple who were sitting together and comforting one another. I was alittle nervous to go up and talk to them since they obviously were dealing with some personal things..but we went up anyways and started talking to them. and let me tell you....the SPIRIT was so STRONG as we talked amongst ourselves. He opened up alot about the person he was mourning for and me and sister cox were able to powerfully bear testimony of heavenly fathers PLAN for

every.

single.

one.

of.

us.

Very special and spiritual for all of us. Got their names and added them on facebook too! I love being able to use facebook. people are more willing to add us as friends then give us their numbers. Then we met another women whose parents died and we gave her a book of mormon!

I love being a missionary. I say that everyday!!!!

We had stake conference. Super great *spiritual high*

Someone made a comment quoting the scripture: "ye are the salt of the earth" and when it looses it's savor its good for nothing...yeah yeah yeah, we all know that scripture and that meaning, but she shared some more incite which really struck a cord in me!

Back in the dayyyy...

The hebrews would use SALT to help BRIGHTEN the lights/flame in their lamps (probs some chemical reaction??idk..) so cool huh?

WE ARE THE SALT

we help others people's lights burn brighter as we share our testimony about the gospel to them.

And it ties perfectly to the "ye are the light of the world" scripture. Shining brightly for others.

SALTY LIGHTS! clever huh? (;

Mathew 5:13-16

13 ¶Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see you.

There is this awesome scripture in D&C 123:13 telling us to "waste and WEAR OUT of lives" in sharing the gospel. love that.

Me and Sister cox have been focusing on

p.r.a.y.e.r.s

I read the word prayer in the bible dictionary and this really stood out to me:

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings."

Uhh i couldn't have said it better.

Prayer becomes natural and instinctive ONCE we understand who God is to us.

He is our father! We are His children and He

WANTS to hear from us.

Welllllllllllllllll I've been out for

9 months

h.a.l.f.w.a.y

I guess you can say I've learned a couple of things since serving as a missionary

K..here I go

(in no particular order...just whatever popped into my head lol)

1. I need to be reading out of the book of mormon every. single. day.

2. I can turn and rely on my Heavenly Father literally in every situation

3. Hard work + Faith = Miracles (faith without works is dead James 2:17)

4. Learned to always follow the spiritual promptings I get. #norandomthoughts Thoughts come into our minds for a reason..go find out why.

5.Learned that i truely enjoy reading and spending hours in the scriptures!!

6. You cannot teach without the spirit. REGARDLESS of how well you think you know your stuff. People listen to us with their ears, but the Spirit is the one who can help bring what we say into their hearts.

7. Missions are HARD. very hard. But because of how difficult it is..you just grow grow grow! I've said this before but I mean it. I have felt like my mission has been like an all-you-can-eat buffet of spiritual strength. Constantly filling me up(:

8.Everything always works out! and NEVER the way you want it too. haha. Heavenly Father's will overrides our own, because this His work. Not sister manson's. That took me awhile to figure out..that I can't do everything my way all the time...heavenly father's way!

9. Learned to not stress out or worry when things fall through. Heavenly Father wanted us to do something else that day.

10. #NOCOINCIDENCES

11. Learned to love and care about soooooooooo many people

12. The book of mormon is true.

13. And that this is Christ's church in reality restored back to the earth!!

14. Learned things are going to get rough..people reject us all the time, but I am still not ashamed of the gospel and my testimony

15. I am constantly perfection and tuning my STALKING SKILLZ. on the streets. facebook. texting. calling. yeah..we're pros at finding YOU.

16. Quoting James E. Talmage from his book "Jesus the Christ"

I have learned

"the reality of His death and physical Resurrection..

the literalness of the Atonement..

the certainty of His return"

17. Learned i can and like to quote scriptures

18. Firm believer of KNEELING prayers

19. I have a better understanding of Christ's role in my life, and heavenly fathers plan for me!

20. Learned what type of family I want to have

21. Learned I have a lot of weaknesses...but they can be turned into strenths! (Ether 12:27)

22.Heavenly Father loves ALL of his children

23. I love being called Sister Manson. I probs will refuse to answer to anything else when I get back home..for at least a couple days.....uh Christy? who dat? idk.

24.I learned that i can be really really AWKWARD. But I just go with it

25. Learned how much I truly love running

26. Learned that seriously Sister Steadman is my OTHER HALF.

27. Just like heavenly father, satan too knows us very well and knows exactly what to do to throw me off! Don't listen.

28. Learned I'm obsessed with the apostle Peter. probs naming a son after him..or my dog

29. Learned that the gospel truly makes me so HAPPY

30. Gratitude changes our attitudes

31. We become who/what we think about

32. Learned i can go a couple months without any DP and live. (dr. pepper)

33. So much more important things that the stuff i used to care about and put so much effort into.

34. reality of the priesthood!

35. Learned how much I took the temple for granted...I miss going and seeing it!

36. How lucky I was to have been raised in the Church, thanks to the missionaries who taught my parents

37. Learned to be patient...with myself and others

38. Learned to stop looking back

39. Learned how glad I am to be speaking ENGLISH

40. Learned this is exactly where i need to be right now in my life.

41. Learned my musical talents have not yet developed....waiting on kelly and sister cox to

help me out!

42. Learned everyone deserves to hear about the gospel

43. The struggle is real!!!!!

44. How much I actually love old people..they used to scare me.

45. Learned just how literal heavenly father has been guiding and directing me to where i am today.

46. Learned people just dont get it!! They do not realized how much MORE happier they could be if they had the gospel

47. Some people out there just h/a/t/e on the church..I don't get it

48. FILLS ME

49. Fasting really works

50. Learned that there are more people rooting for us on the other side of the veil.

51. learned I love family history!!!!!

52. "in every change, He faithful will remain"

53. learned I'm obsessed with C.S. Lewis! He was a mormon but just didn't know it.

54. Learned to keep my knees down and my chin up

55. I love applesauce

56. Heavenly Father KNOWS me

57. Elder Holland, Christofferson, and Corbridge are my favorites.

58. I treasure the tender mercies from the Lord! (the other day we were in a store and my all time favorite song in the whole entire world came on!!! "Let Her Go" by Passenger. Literally made me so happy

59. I can be a bit prideful at times...whenever I 100% think I'm right...I'm 100% wrong!...I'm working on it.

60. The type of mom i want to be

61. What heavenly father thinks of me FAR OUTWEIGHS what is popular in the world today

62. I can do hard things

63. I am a finisher

64. I've never been as happy as I am RIGHT now then in my entire life. (2nd place goes to taking marriage prep instead of mission prep in college. lol. #rebel)

65. I love Jesus Christ

66. I'm a scripture nerd. Sometimes I like to think back to my pre-mission life...hahahah I knew SQUAT about the book of Mormon and the bible scriptures. Now in lessons I'm quoting them! Or a verse will just randomly pop into my head and I know exactly where it is at in the scriptures. #SPIRIT

67.I love my mission

68. Learned to stop thinking about myself

cool. I'm done...for now

What have you learned by being a member and living the gospel?

I wanna know!

All of y'all reading this..

email me with your answers

christy.manson@myldsmail.net

Adios and I love you all

sistermanson

p.s. I'm growing sunflowers!!

lets see how long they last before I end up killing them haha #blackthumb