Fishing using a metal detector

Pday was moved to Tuesday because we had a super cool mission wide
conference yesterday!

I fasted during it and got some really really good insights from
Heavenly Father.
I had very particular questions that I wanted answers and I got them
plus 100 more!
My testimony on fasting has been strengthened 100fold since being on
my mission.Fasting is seriously the best and a huge strength to me.
This Sunday is fast sunday and I invite you all to fast! Specifically
with a question in mind. I know as we are actively seeking answers and
comfort or reassurance and guidance from the lord we will be guided.

This past Sunday we had an amazing lesson on seeking spiritual light
and truth (president uchtdorfs general conference talk) I studied it
the day after too and I'll share a small insight i was taught.
It's normal and natural for us to have questions and for some things
of the gospel to not make sense to us or completely understand. As we
follow the four steps mentioned in his talk
1. Actively seek and search the word of God. Aka scriptures and talks etc..
2. Ponder and mediate on these things
3. Pray and ask Heavenly Father
4. Act!

We need to be using the right resources and tools in order to find the answers.
We cannot expect to successfully go fishing by using a metal detector.
Spiritual truth comes from using spiritual tools.
Those steps mentioned above always work
It only doesn't when we do not put in the proper time and attention to
each of these.

Great news:)
Sister chang our cute little old Chinese friend who we've been working
with to come back to church and to go the temple has her official
temple date! In the Washington, D.C. Temple.
MARCH 7 (day after my birthday) uhh can you saw holy miracle:) I'll
take 100 pictures for you.
I'll be in heeeeeaven that weekend.
Things are going so well here in our area. It's on fire and I'm a
little bitter the transfer is ending so quickly it feels like! There
is a lot of fruit here that has been the product of all of the hard
work done by the previous sisters in this area. Shout out to sister
Bennett and menlove

I went on exchange with sister Bailey and I wasn't having the best of
days and was feeling a little low. I told her this when we were
together and she said she was too alittle. So we said a prayer right
there having full faith that Heavenly Father would help us. And help
us he did!
As she was praying the thought came to my mind something that always
makes me feel better: listening to people sing. So my initial thought
was to just ask her to sing to me haha but then another thought came
that that was pretty selfish. Haha instead of her singing to me, we
can go find a human and both sing and help not only ourselves but
someone else along the way:)
I shared that with her and she was alittle apprehensive but she was a
champion and went along with me. We found a human and I went up to her
and was like:
"Hello! My name is sister manson. And I am not having the best of days
today..can we sing to you? That always makes me feel better"
Hahaha I kid you not that's pretty much what I said...
She said sure, and we sang!  "I need thee every hour"
She was in tears by the time we were done.
We started talking to her about the Book of Mormon and at first she
was having none of it. But after being persistent :) and bearing
personal testimonies and teaching her she accepted a copy and was
really interested by the time we finished.
Even on cruddy low days in my weaknesses Heavenly Father still allows
me to be used as a capable instrument in his hands. I am so grateful
for that.

During weekly planning in our opening prayer I prayed that we would
miraculously get in contact with alan, a recent convert who we haven't
had any contact with since December...and then literally 2 days later
we saw him walking down the street. You best believe I shouted his
name and ran over to him. We had a lesson with him and he's coming to
church Sunday :)

Sister jolley and I are in such good shape(:
We run every morning and walk everywhere during the day
We don't use our car. Literally at all.
We've only gone about 100 miles this whole month
And usually we go like 800-1000 every month in previous areas and transfers.
We walk and use the subway a ton and we are able to talk to so many
more people that way.
Just picture us trekking and derping(; around in the snow negative
degree super windy days every single day. Those are times when I'm the
happiest. Because literally I would never be doing this! But I love
Heavenly Father and know what my purpose is so that's why I'm still
here.
I think it's interesting to think about the why behind everything we do.
Different levels behind everything.
Am I obedient because of president anderson or my companion?
Or am I obedient because I love the lord?
Do I read my scriptures every day because I've been given that hour in
the morning to do so?
Or do I read because I know I'll be uplifted by the spirit?

Knowing our "why" behind everything and making sure we are doing
things for the right reason really makes a huge difference and I know
will make a huge impact when I go home.
These habits and patterns I've established and made here will come
with me when I am home.
I am so grateful for my mission. It literally means the world to me.
And I would be a hot mess without these experiences with the spirit.

Love you!
Sister Manson

Jack Attack (see 25)

I can't get over how much my heart is 100FULL. 

I just 100love it here so much and being a missionary.

Can't really vocalize it, but know I'm 100happy here. 

Here's my "100 Miracle list" for the transfer

This week here's what went down:

15 meeting tev at jimmy g's steak and him meeting us at the temple site for a return appointment! 

16 stopping by Karen. Who came down stairs with her swollen ankle! Showed because of him and got a return appointment:) new investigator! She wants us to teach her!

17 sang "I need thee every hour" to Gary the septa subway worker while waiting for the subway. Softened his heart and got his # 

18 had some sisters emergency/doubled into our area...never ending adventures and craze.

19 finally found a Parking spot after circling the streets and one ways for seriously I kid you not for 45 minutes and many prayers later. 

20 finally found our car where we parked after walking and running around with all their stuff for also 45 minutes the next day many prayers and wandering later. 

21 exchange with sister cox(: met DJ frosty! Aka Mike spiker. He was painting up a mural that got graffitied, and we helped him paint!! YEAH I Tagged a building in Philly :) see picture below. 

22 met pan! AN ASIAN! Return appointment :) one of our goals for the transfer. Teach an Asian. 

23 Melissa (sis Anton's friend) wants us to come have lunch with her. Perfect timing, as were walking out of sister antons home after just talking about how much Melissa would benefit from meeting with us...she's outside! So I run over and I'm like hey Melissa! She was so happy to see us and walked us to our bus stop. She loves us:)

24 met shantell (sister jolley's kindred spirit) on the subway. Way too nice and loves us. 

25 Jack restoration lesson!! So prepared:) with Morgan's. His baptism will be in March!!!!!!!!! 

26 caught the bus just in time...after running like mad To not miss it. 

27 didn't get hit by a bus....it honked and we noticed it. 

28 Jack, joel, tatyana and Terrance were all at church!!! 

29 more than 60% of standards of excellence hit This week 

Referencing 25----->

WHAT A HUGE MIRACLE AND TENDER MERCY. 

Originally we had met him at dunkin donuts and he was so impressed by sister jolley and I by the way we talked and were dressed. #recognizedasrepresentativesofchrist

Then we met with him like 2 days ago. Taught the restoration. He agreed with everything and is getting baptized in March! And he came to church the next day(: I love being a missionary. 

Referencing 23----> 

Perfect timing!

Sister antons friend Melissa is having a really hard time and sister anton before we left told us all about it, and I just felt super prompted and urged that she really needs us to go talk to her. Sister anton assured us she wouldn't like us to go over, so I was praying after we were getting out the door somehow we'd see her or something. And as we walked out I looked over towards where she lives AND THERE SHE WAS!!!!! I like ran over and was like hey Melissa! And she was like hey and was super happy to see us. She even walked us over to our bus stop and waited with us until it came so we were able to talk a little. Then sister Anton like 2 days later called us and told us Melissa wants us to come over! Literally I'm like so happy to help her and that Heavenly Father is just allowing me and sister jolley to be his hands and go around lifting others!

Sister Bennett shout out:

WHETHER YOU'RE THE ONE LIFTING, OR BEING LIFTED, YOU'RE BOTH EQUALLY BLESSED.

Next Week we'll have PDay on Tuesday because Monday we'll be having a mission wide conference!!!! Our entire mission will get together for like the whole day and we'll get 100 good notes/thoughts/spiritual guidance/pep talks/callstorepentance etc...

Stay tuned and I'll share what I learned. 

Had a pretty sacred & reassuring experience while listening to a temple fireside last night.

Super grateful for my Heavenly Father who is mindful of me and all who I love.

Thanks for keeping me in your prayers. 

You're in mine.

LOVE YOU

Sister Manson 

Our graffiti boy

And sister jolley and I 😍😍😍

Sprint To The Finish

HELLO!

So first things first...

My new companion is sister jolley.

And her name totally fits her! 

She is so happy all the time and is really really good for me.

It's impossible to get apathetic or past feeling around her. She lights everything up.

Super grateful for her. 

I am obsessed with the number 100.

So since this is my last transfer, I was thinking about something that I could do 100 times haha.

I decided sister jolley and I are going to see 100 miracles this transfer!

I am keeping track and have a numbered list going:)

We saw 14 this past week:

100 miracles list

1 Met Mark! who had met with pennypack sisters years ago and was going to get baptized. Got a return appointment. 

2 mikel! Met at SAMs house

3 people who are meeting with the elders on the subway 

4 eliminating the non elect

5 we were lost..said a prayer, saw a police man. He directed us where to go and then we 

---> met a guy from Russia. Able to bear testimony and give Book of Mormon. 

6 said a prayer after not knowing what to do next..met hunter! Cried and said she wanted to know her purpose here and that her dad works for a company who is helping build the temple!! 

7 Jack at dunkin donuts(: recognized us as representatives of christ. Going through a hard time with divorce, wanted to meet us again! 

8 definitely meant not to go to stake conference--> ride got food poisoning and our investigator's car wouldn't start. Probably protected from getting into a car accident or something. 

9 tatyana finally opened up and shared her feelings with us about her grandma passing away. 

10 we were made "invisible to danger" like sister jolley's prayer asked. 

11 no car still...riding the subways like crazy & walking 100 miles :) legs ripped. We officially decided to not even use our car anymore when we get it back. We talk to so many people on foot:) and we love the subway too much. 

12 after driving around the blocks searching for a place to park....for seriously 40 minutes we finally found a free, no time limit parking spot!! 

13 tatyana and joel came to church

14 fantastic powerful lesson with pearl and she is coming to church next week #sacrament!!

GOOD WEEK.

I feel like when I take the time to recognize the lords hand throughout the day, it's so much easier for me to see the miracles! I hope each of you will take the time this week to notice the miracles happening. Also take the time to have miracles happen to you as you search and seek for them. Becoming creators of circumstances, not waiting around waiting to be acted upon. 

We had MLC Friday. So good as usual. Talked a lot about trust and learned a lot.

Sister jolley and I trained on what it means to live the gospel and living what we learn.

We had the coolest miracle of the week happen the night before MLC that we were able to share! (See 7)

Okay so we stopped by dunkin donuts before heading in to make our final preparations for our training. First off...we never go inside dunkin donuts but for some reason we decided to go. Got some yummy donuts and hot chocolate:) that was a plus. Then I called elder jones(the person in charge of cars) to update him on our car situation and parking lot issue. So I talked to him and then after I hung up, a guy sitting behind us says "did I hear you say sister? What church are you from?" And he went on to ask 100 more questions and told us how when we first walked in he noticed how we were dressed and just how nice and conservative we looked. 

(white handbook 10 "your appearance is often the first message others receive") he also said he noticed how I was talking on the phone and just how I was very respectful and nice. 

Because sister jolley and I were simply just living the gospel through our actions, he was able to recognize us as representatives of christ!!! He shared how he is going through a divorce right now and wants to meet with us again. Sister jolley bore her testimony and we got his phone number. Good things are happening here in Philly! 

Man I am so grateful to be here.

Sister menlove gave me one of her wooden toothbrushes and she wrote "sprint to the finish"

(& some other things too) but I really love that part. 

I mean I feel like I've been sprinting my whole mission....haha but definitely sprinting even more to the end.

I have been really studying Matthew 11:28-30 this past week like crazy.

It's so good and I have learned a lot. Especially just how easy and light doing things with christ is. Sister jolley is pretty inspired and shared this random fact with me:

A Clydesdale horse can pull 900lbs alone. Which is so much!! Right? 

Guess how much it can pull with another horse yoked with it?

1800? 2000?

WRONG.

Eightthousandpounds!!!

8000??!

Yes. 8000.

I know as we do things on our own we can accomplish a lot. But when we yoke ourselves with christ we can do a heck of a lot more!! Being yoked with Christ is easy because his burden is light. Well how the heck do we yoke ourselves with Christ? Sign me up!

Already done. It's through our covenants we make. Baptism, sacrament, the temple...

Something I'm going to do this week is study my covenants more.

Also I read a scripture everyone is super familiar with 

1 Nephi 8:10

"I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy"

And it really caught my attention and the spirit taught me a lot.

How the fruit's (representing christ) only desire is to make us happy. 

I love that. And I know that's true!

He wants us to be happy more than anything else.

The gospel makes that possible.

I've never been happier my whole life than on my mission, these past 17 months.

Love you!

(Also thanks for all the special prayers and thoughts. I definitely have felt them this past week.)

Sister Manson🌵

Sister jolley <3 i love this girl

and sister zeller! 

at MLC

tatyana and terrance <3 

they are so special to me! 

tatyana and terrance <3 

they are so special to me! 

this sweet graffitii (sp??) thing we found (: 

this sweet graffitii (sp??) thing we found (: