Remember Your Covenants

I hope everyone is very aware that I am coming home next week (:

Be excited for me! Haha I'm going to need all the help I can get. It will be weird...I'll let you all know now that I will be very awkward and just ask you all laugh at my missionary gospel humor

(btw this is my last email I'm sending out)

2 quotes I'd like to start off with that people have told me and that I've learned during these past 18 months

1.Serve because of your covenants....not because of your callings.  

AND

2. You are never released from your covenants. You'll eventually be released from your callings but never from your covenants.

Good things to live by especailly as my calling as a full time missionary is ending. 

We had the amazing experience with Sister Chang in the Washington D.C. Temple!!!

She is seriously so special to me. It was too cute seeing her in the celestial room. During her endowment she got to wear the headset and listen to the session in Chinese (: The spirit each filled us with so much peace. 

Wanna hear the best miracle of it all??

Reason 327 why I love fasting.

Sister Jolley and I last Sunday both decided we would fast the day before Sister Chang's endowment. Which happened to fall on my birthday but I didn't really care. So Friday comes along and we are already fasting. We call Ssiter Chang that morning to follow up on how she's doing and she said she hadn't gone to her interview with the stake president yet because of the huge snow storm...and was going to get it on Sunday. Which meant she wasn't going to the temple the next day!! As soon as we hung up we texted Sister Diehl and asked her what the plans were for tomorrow and she shared the dilema but was trying everything she could to get it worked out...but that it didnt seem likely that they wouldn't get in for an interview. We contniued fasting and praying that whole day and saw a lot of miracles throughout the day.

Helped someone jump their car and met the nicest girl Tiffany! 

Then about 530 rolls around. Still no word from Sister Diehl...

Sister Jolley and I are on our knees getting ready to break our fast discussing a few things and we hear our phone ring!!! It's a text from Sister Diehl saying that they were scheduled for an interview that night and the temple was still on for tomorrow! I have a huge testimony of fasting(: 

Not only does fasting help us spiritually, but it shows Heavenly Father our faith in things happening. 

Also later that same night around 830 we were getting ready to walk home from our last appointment. Before we get outside, Sister Jolley pulls me aside and shares with me she had an overwhelming feeling that we needed to be very cautious going home and be aware of our surroundings. We say a prayer before we got outside and started walking the 10 blocks home. We get about 2 blocks and we're right next to this ghetto dirty gas station. We kept walking but I saw someone pumping gas into their car and as I turned to look more who it was it none other than Sister Diehl and Sister Chang!!! They had stopped after their interview witht eh stake president to get gas before our big trip the next day. We were like hello!!!! She offered to drive us home and we were so happy! Man it's so humbling and overwhelmingly comforting to know that Heavenly Father answers and hears our prayers and fasts. She was a very direct answer to our prayers and she definitely acted on a spiritual prompting to stop for gas at that gas station right then instead of any 100 different times she could of. Heavely Father uses others to answer our prayers. 

The temple is the greatest place on earth. I plan to make it a weekly occurance when I am home. Mmmm the peace one feels and the spiritual power and strength and promises you recieve from going to the temple are indescribable. Please go to the temple if you don't reguarly. If you are unworthy of going to the temple, make whatever changes nesseccary and get to the temple. 

Heavenly Father's whole work is the temple! The main purpose of the gospel is what we learn in the temple. 

My mission means so much to me. I have never been happier than being out here serving the Lord. Typed words or vocalized thoughts will never be able to accuarately describe how much my mission has changed, blessed, and strengthened my life. Things can never be the same from the experiences and the witness I've felt during these 18 months in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Misson. Elder Holland says it better: "After an encounter with the living

Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before"

Good things are going to happen!

I start up again at BYUI in April, come be my friend(: 

I love you! And am really excited to see you all and give you HUGS

xoxo

Sister Christy Manson

best philly cheese steak

I love M's

masonic temple love 

masonic temple love 

cray snow storm!

Brighten Your Light

These last two weeks I get the great privilege to go the temple twice! 

once with sister Chang which will be indescribably special...for her to get her endowments!!

the next with the group of departing missionaries. YAY. i can't think of anything more powerful than being in the temple with a whole herd of missionaries. 

at MLC (missionary leadership council) president asked me and 2 other sisters to bear our testimonies since that was our last one.

It was really special because when it was my turn to go up, i went and just looked into the eyes of all of these great leaders and realized that most of them were some of my greatest friends.

I thought coming out on my mission the people that would mean the most to me and that I would do the most good for would be investigators.

i never imagined that I would come out and make so many close friends with not only other missionaries and my companions but with ward members and leaders. and that most good was done TO ME from these people.  

Went on exchange with sister handy and sister smith her golden. hahah had way too many adventures. they wanted us to double into their area so we did and just went on exchange there. bless my little sister Jolley she accidentally locked their keys in their apartment! and apparently there is no spare key to be found! so after she called me and sister handy we ran over and assess the scene. we decided to say a kneeling prayer in the grubby dusty crowded staircase floor. and exactly when we finished their neighbor Jon the tennis player comes walking down stairs! He helped us and we were able to unlock the door with his help. aka screwdriver and hammer to jimmy the door. oh man good times. crazy things always happen when you get more than 2 sister missionaries together! 

Last pday we toured the masonic temple(: it was a dream. we got a super good tour guide this time and he answered all of our questions. i was very content. 

i just love love love Philadelphia and am so happy i get to end my mission here. way too lucky. 

I have thought about it for quite sometime now and have decided my future husband and I are going to be moving here (: into the independence ward and it will be the greatest thing ever. 

one of my favorite things about being here serving in a Philadelphia ward is that we have hands down the BEST fast Sunday experience you'll ever experience. I was dying yesterday

here's what went down:

we had a guy get up twice..each time in a different outfit.

a guy for like 22 minutes talking about why its okay for him to respect females

and one girl got up and said a prayer for her testimony 

i was in heaven. also a guy shared how he got shot 3 times, and how he'd been shot before, but never 3 times and how it happened on good Friday, but it didn't seem so good to him. 

i was dying! i love it here. 

GOOD TIMES. i will miss this. I have a feeling YSA's and west coast ward fast Sundays are just not gonna cut it for me now on. 

I read a really good talk called "put of the armour of light" by elder neilsen

read it and write down your thoughts:

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2015/03/put-on-the-armour-of-light?lang=eng

Romans 13:12

"cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light"

I hope that we all understand that we are to reflect the light of Christ to everyone we see. 

Christ says that He is the light of the world, but clearly also states that "YE are the light of the world" With His help, we can become like Him!

Our light can shine in dark places only if we reflect it.

Sister Steadman's favorite scripture is D&C 50:24

24 That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

we can fill our lives with light! leaving no room for darkness.

I invite all of you to put on the armour of light! if you're not sure how exactly, read that talk(: 

continue to do things that will invite light into your life, and put away the things that cause darkness. Even if other people are radiating darkness in your life, and you feel weighed down and cannot see, I testify that light and dark cannot exist together and can promise that darkness will have no room if we are filled with light. Especially with the light of our Savior. This spiritual light has a short shelf life though. we need to be constantly, frequently, and DAILY doing those small and simple things that adds light. 

Some questions I've learned to ask myself throughout my mission is: 

how bright is my light?

Am i a dim light bulb?

or am i like the sun!?

Your light may be on, but i encourage each of you to brighten your lights

and in doing so you'll brighten those around you.  

I love you so much

and will see you soon(:

Sister Manson