Newburgh #11

Dearest Family!!

Hello! I am so sorry but I don't have much time this week. It was transfers week so the bulk of my Pday was used to drive, go to transfers and drive back. It was so great though. I got to see lots of missionaries I love and miss. It was so great to hear about how Yonkers is doing! Sandra and Angela are coming to church every week! And both of them are so close to going to the temple! The Alberts (twins from Africa) are progressing and doing well. Mary is coming to church again. It just filled my heart with joy to hear about them doing so well. I think it is so amazing that these individuals have passed through so many missionaries and that each of us were able to help them change, progress and come closer to Christ in the few months that we were there. I have learned that truly with less actives, it takes time and that you only get to be in their life for a short few months but that your efforts do make a difference! 

Well a sad thing that happened this week... my car got towed. And yes mom, if you were wondering why 300 dollars was taken out of my account... this is why. Ahh I feel so dumb. Basically in an effort to not have my car towed, my car was towed. It was a classic example of self fulfilling prophecy. haha. My apartment mangers sent a letter that said your car must be moved by 9am after a big snowfall. SOOO on Saturday night after a big snow fall I decided to be ahead of the game and to move my car right then and to park across the street for the night. Well, it was a no parking zone and I got towed. We saw the tow truck out our window at 1030. we are in our pjs but we throw on our boots and run out there in the snow. He had a hook on our car and he wouldn't take it off. He said he had to tow it. It was a bummer. 

We were grounded twice this week due to snow. Being grounded just means we can't drive the car so there isn't much we can do. We walked around and visited some investigators that were close by. On Saturday we were grounded but a member picked us up so we could use the wifi at their house so we could do our first online lesson. Thank you to everyone who participated! I'm not sure when we will do our next one, but we will send out another invite!

And finally for the most exciting news, Maryellen is being baptized this Saturday!! We are so excited! Thank you everyone who kept her in your prayers! It makes a difference! 

Thank you everyone who has gone out of your way to wish me a Merry Christmas and to send me a quick letter or email. You all are the best! I really appreciate your support and I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

I love you all! 

Love, Sister Emma Lounsbury

Newburgh #10

Hello family!

I had a great week. We went to the New York New York North Christmas devotional where we were able to see everyone from the mission. It was so so fun to see sister Awerkamp, Matthews and sister  Wilkes. We were able to talk, exchange stories, and to enjoy each other's company again. It was a sweet experience. Performing in the choir was such an amazing experience. I felt the spirit so strongly as we sang the last song Joy to the world. Music has always touched my heart in a special way and being able to perform with so many talented singers to create such beautiful music was just so amazing. We had a giant lunch with all of the missionaries. The tables were decorated with stockings on every chair. It kind of felt a little bit like we were in a Harry Potter movie. They played a slideshow of the pictures missionaries submitted. We were spoiled by our mission president and his wife. I love them both so much and feel so blessed to be a part of this wonderful mission.

But that was the really exciting thing that happened this week. We had the ward Christmas party and the relief society Christmas party is coming up as well. Things of been kind of slow it's trying to get used to the iPad. We have to enter in all of the information from the area book into the iPad. It has been taking quite a long time. They also want us to spend an hour or so Facebook every day. We haven't been spending that much time on Facebook but this Saturday we hope to have a Facebook event. The elders in our ward did one and had a great turnout in a really good conversation.

I'm really sorry this is so short. We had a zone activity today and we made gingerbread houses. It was a ton of fun!! It was district against district And our gingerbread house totally won! So I didn't have very much time to email. But I hope that all is well back at home and that you're having a wonderful Christmas season! I love you so much!

Love sister Lounsbury

Sent from my iPad

Newburgh #9

Hello family!

Well this has been a lovely week! Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We did weekly planning and some other things earlier in the day. Later in the evening we went to a member's house for dinner. The Elders and another family came for dinner as well. The Tousley family had a whole room of guitars, a key board and a drum set. I got to have a little jam session while waiting for dinner to b made, so I was in heaven. I miss playing music so much, so I had a blast strumming some beats on the guitar.

This week we have spent a lot of time going to choir practices for our performance in the NY NY N Mission Christmas Devotional that will take place this Friday the 6th. That is actually where I am right now. We are doing a run through of the whole program. I am so glad I get to be a part of it!! The music is so beautiful and I am just trying my best to keep up with all the choir lingo and singing the right notes haha. But it should be a great program! I am so excited to see Sister Awerkamp and Matthews!! And I already get to see sister Wilkes at choir practice. it should be a blast.

So you may have noticed that I am on Facebook now. As a online missionary we are trying to find ways to teach as many people as we can online. One thing that we are going to try to do is to create a Facebook event to have a gospel discussion. Once I create the event (a day and a time to be on FB) , I invite all the members here, all my investigators and all of my family and friends back home to join in a gospel discussion. We want you to invite all of your friend and family to the event as well. Anyone can be a part of our lessons and discussions! Sister Steele and I want to try to do our first Facebook even next Tuesday the 10th. We haven't picked a time yet, but we will keep you posted. Please have the turner ward girls and relief society and ward members add me on Facebook so I can invite them to these Facebook discussions with our less actives and investigators here in NY. In the discussions we will pick a topic such as receiving answers to prayers. Then we will pose some questions and anyone else can pose a question as well. This allows us as missionaries to have the potential to teach multiple people at once. It allows all of you lovely people back at home to be involved with missionary work here in New York! And it is a great opportunity for all of us to answer questions, to share our testimonies and experiences and to strengthen each other.

So please add me on Facebook and be involved with our online lessons! Other missionaries who have done this have had 20 or more people show up on Facebook to talk gospel and the missionaries didn't know most of them. So don't forget to invite your friends to the event as well!

Hmm I can't really think of anything else that was really eventful this week. We were able to help an elderly lady out up some Christmas decorations and she gave us some ornaments to take home to put on our tree. So we decorated our artificial tree and we placed random items under the tree...a soccer ball, tennis rackets weights, some chocolates and cookies, and some empty boxes haha so it looks like we have a ton of gifts under the tree. Oh ps, mom I now you have my current apartment address, but they have asked that we only send mail to the mission office (NY NY N Mission 700 White Plains Rd St. 315 Scarsdale NY 10583) so that they make sure that none of the mail is lost.

Well I love you all so much!

Love Sister Lounsbury

Newburgh #8

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FAMILY!!

Besides all the broken bones, it sounds like you all have had a lovely week! 

Well this week has been a good one. It has been slow lately as far as teaching lessons go. A lot of things have been taking up our time. We have personal study, companionship study, training, language study and then we are suppose to spend some time on facebook and time transferring all the information from the area book to the ipad. And things have been slow with learning all the things on the ipad. But things are good. Oh! One other thing has been taking up our time! Choir practice! I was asked to sing in the NY NY North Christmas Choir :)))))) I was so so so sos so sosososososo happy to be asked to sing in it! There are only 16 people in the choir, so quite honestly I don't know why I was selected.... But I was! And I'm not complaining! Not at all. In fact it is the highlight of my week. I get to see Sister Wilkes and some other missionaries I'm close to who were also asked to sing. And the music is legit. One of the songs was composed by a Elder in our Mission. It has piano and all sorts of string instruments. It is way beyond me... but I'm trying to blend in and act like I know what the heck is going on. It's actually pretty funny because 3 out of the 5 altos, myself included, can't read music. And 1 out of the 5 altos didn't do choir (me). So we are pretty lost most the time. We only know what to sing by listening to the voice next to us... so when none of us know the starting note, we are hopeless. But we recorded our parts on our ipads so we can listen to it at home and practice. It is going to be amazing when it is finished! I can't wait to practice with the orchestra.. that is like a dream of mine! Oh man. I am just so excited. This choir is my Christmas gift :) 

But nothing too exciting happened this week. Oh! Actually I finished cleaning out my facebook, so I will be posting my first official post as a online proselyting missionary today or tomorrow!! So please please please follow my posts and add comments! Like it and share it with friends! We want to have conversations going :)

Well, I haven't written too much about insights that I have had on my mission. But I want to share what I've learned on my mission about gratitude. Before I always thought gratitude was essentially just saying thank you. But I have realized that gratitude is so much more than that. Gratitude is choosing to focus on what you have instead of what you lack. We are told to develop an attitude of gratitude. So what does that even mean? I looked up attitude in the dictionary and it is defined as "a way of looking at things." Have you ever heard about looking at your cup as half full instead of half empty? No matter which way you look at it, the bottom line is that you still have the same amount of water. So you literally get to choose which one it is. Is it half empty? or half full? Having an attitude of gratitude is choosing to look at things in a positive light instead of a negative one. It is choosing to focus on what you have instead of what you lack. True to the faith talks about how gratitude is an uplifting and exalting attribute. So the cool thing is that when you start looking for all the things you have, you realize that you have more and more blessings. More than you ever thought you did. 

Another cool insight that I had is that gratitude for what you have pertains to more than just possessions. It can apply to your thoughts, accomplishments, talents and more. Let me give a few examples:

Do you get easily overwhelmed? Choose to focus on all that you have accomplished instead of all the things you have not yet done.

Do you feel you are not good enough? Choose to focus on all the good you did that day instead of all the ways you lack. 

Do you feel you have no talents? Choose to focus on all your strengths and abilities instead of all your weaknesses and shortcomings. 

Are you overcome with despair because of the evil in the world? Choose to see all the joy, goodness and love instead of the sadness, evil and hate. 

You want to develop Charity? Choose to focus on the goodness of other's instead of only looking at what they lack

You want to gain more knowledge? Cherish all the truths you've been given instead of wishing you had more. As you cherish the revelation you have received, you will be given more.

Gratitude can be applied in so many more ways then I had ever thought before.We get to choose our attitude. Choose to have an attitude of gratitude. 

When you focus on all you do not have and what you lack, it actually slows you down and halts your progression. You become bitter or weighed down. I think this is why gratitude is an uplifting and exalting attribute. Because it pushes you forward in a positive direction. You focus on your blessing, your strengths, your accomplishments instead of what you lack--and that propels you forward. 

Here is two quotes I love about gratitude: 

"We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said that 'gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.'” ⁸

 “The grateful man sees so much in the world to be thankful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil. Love overpowers jealousy, and light drives darkness out of his life.” He continued: “Pride destroys our gratitude and sets up selfishness in its place. How much happier we are in the presence of a grateful and loving soul, and how careful we should be to cultivate, through the medium of a prayerful life, a thankful attitude toward God and man!” ⁹  

-- Taken from President Monson's talk in October 2010 "The Divine Gift of Gratitude"

You all should read the whole talk, it is really good. He gives one example from the Scriptures of Christ feeding the multitude of 4,000. 

The disciples asked "Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?" The disciples only saw what was lacking. 

"And Jesus said unto them, how many loves have ye? And [the disciples] said, Seven, and a few little fishes. And [Jesus] commanded the multitude to sit on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and GAVE THANKS, and brake them and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude". While the disciples saw only what they lacked, Jesus gave thanks for what he had and a miracle followed... they were all filled. 

I believe that when we choose to focus on what we have instead of what we lack, we too will be filled. 

I am so thankful for the wonderful family I have. I am so, so blessed to know each one of you. I can't find the words to express my love and gratitude. Just know that I love you so very much! 

And thank you so much to everyone who has supported me on my mission. You all are so wonderful! I love you all! I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Sister Lounsbury

Newburgh #7

Hello my family!!

Well this has been a crazy two weeks (I didn't get to write much last week because of transfers)

So my last week was Sister Wilkes was so rushed! We had to say goodbye to many people and then packing and preparing to take over the area took up a lot of time as well. I was so sad to have to go, but I have found that the Lord likes to switch things up when I get a little too comfortable. Change pushes me to try harder and to be better. And the call to train a new missionary has definitely done that for me. I still don't know the area too well. But I have been able to manage alright. And sister Steele doesn't know the difference anyway haha fake it til you make it right? 

we've had bad luck with technology... Sister Wilkes dropped the phone in the TOILET! Hhaha so here 2 days before my new companion arrives, she breaks the phone. How am I suppose to set up appointments or plan out the week!?!! But we put it in rice and miraculously it worked! later in the week the phone fell out of my pocket in the parking lot. An old man saw it and put in on our car door... thank goodness for the kind people in the world! Then I ran my ipod through the washer machine... The glass on the screen cracked. I put it in rice and now it kind of works. You just got to be careful that you don't get a glass sliver in your finger. And THEN we got brand new ipads for our mission!!.... And I dropped mine down the stairs the first day!!! .... haha just kidding ;) ... I am trying to be so, so careful with it!! But I'm waiting for something terrible to happen! I don't feel like I should be trusted with it! 

The meeting for the I-pads was so cool. I have been a little reluctant about the whole i-pad thing. You all know me... I am just not so interested on being up to date with the newest gadget. But after this meeting I was greatly humbled at the amazing privilege and opportunity I have to be one of the very first missionaries with an I-pad. We are only the 9th mission to receive an ipad. Technology is the direction that missionary work is going. If this work is going to hasten, we have got to do missionary work in a new way. Elder Perry in the mission President's fireside side that this time is the greatest era in the church's history. It is comparable to the events of the first vision, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and when all worthy men could receive the Priesthood! I have heard that quote several times now and it shoot chills up and down my spine every time! We live in a time when the world is being prepared for the second coming of the Lord. I feel the Spirit so strongly every time they talk about it. The Lord's work is hastening. He is sending out his servants into the vineyard for the last time before His coming. And these new tools have been a long time coming. The Brethern have been preparing for this with the 12 week program for trainers that they put out and with the lowering of the age. Elder Perry said you would have to be blind to not see how the Lord has been working and preparing. Our mission are going to be pioneers in this new age of missionary work. We get to be some of the firsts. There are still some glitches in the system but things are coming along. We have to put EVERYTHING in our areabook onto the ipad. We have an app for the areabook and we can update lessons on the go. We no longer report our key indicators because President Morgan will know exactly who we taught and when and how many lessons we had when he gets a report from our ipads. Things will be a little slow while we get use to it, but once it is up and running, we will see this work take off. 

So Sister Steele is a lot of fun to be with. She is from Russia originally. She lived in and out of orphanages in Russia until she was 10. She was adopted by an American family. Her life story is crazy... it could be a movie--a movie that would make you cry and then feel so happy at the end because things got a lot, a lot better for her. And look where she is now! And I get to train her :) She is most self conscious about her English so we role play a lot to help her feel more confident teaching and explaining. :)  She is still learning the gospel and understanding it. I love teaching and helping her understand. It took me a while to adjust how I teach her. I try to eliminate any words that are too big and I make sure to stop and to ask if she knows what a certain word means. If I don't she won't say anything. I think learning to explain things as simply as possible to her is really going to help me to teach investigators more effectively. Sometimes I think I am explaining things so clearly when in reality it goes over their head. So you have to stop, and try to explain again and again until they get it. 

I have been so humbled by her humility and faith. She knows her weakness and she relys on the Lord to be her help and strength. We've had some really amazing lessons together and then Lord is blessing us with new people to teach! 

This first week together has been really good. We have had some great lessons! Mary-Ellen has a baptism date for Dec 21. Please keep her specifically in your prayers. her husband is a returning less active. She has had several bap dates. I am praying that she will have a spiritual experience praying or reading so her testimony can be strengthened. We got in contact with Steve Valentine finally this week. We answered some of his questions about the 3 degrees of glory. We will see him hopefully next week again. 

So I am singing in the Christmas choir!! I am so sos so sososososososo excited!!! I love Christmas songs! Ah :) I am just so happy they asked me. And Sister Wilkes is in the choir too! So I get to see her for at least 3 times for practices :) 

Well life is good. I hope this email is long enough for you mother ;) I love you all! I hope you have a great week! 

Love Sister Lounsbury

Newburgh #6

So I really don't have much time but I wanted to let you know real quick what's happening with this transfer. Sooo Sister Wilkes has been sent to Stamford. I am staying here in Newburgh to take over the area and I will be training a brand new missionary from the MTC! Her name is Sister Steele. She was born in Russia, lived there for 10 years and then her and her 3 siblings were adopted by an American Family. So around age 10 she moved to the USA. She is so cute and sweet and I am so excited to be serving with her!! I am a little nervous because our area is so big and I am not familiar with everywhere and all the people yet! Also, we are receiving i-pads this Friday! We are no longer going to have an area book or our planners. We won't even report key indicators any more because they will automatically know how many lessons we taught by looking at what we updated on our area book. Everything is all so new and there is a lot of change going on. I hope I can keep up with it all! Well that is about all I have time to write about right now. But I love you all so much! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

Much love, Sister Lounsbury

Newburgh #5

Hello hello family!

So this week was good! It flew by like usual. It is sure getting cold... we are not ready for it!! But we're going to Goodwill today to get some warmer clothes :) This 6 week cycle is almost over... what?? It feels like I just got here! I am praying really hard that Sister Wilkes and I will stay together for at least one more cycle. But I heard there is a huge surplus of sisters coming in the next 2 cycles... some 40 or so sisters I think they said! Which is crazy! And so it is pretty likely that we'll be split up. If not this cycle, then next.

Well this week was Halloween! I had trick or treaters come to the door for the first time ever! So that was kinda fun. We had to be in by 5 on Halloween night to keep safe. I taught a lesson to a less active dressed up as an army Zombie and his daughter had white paint all over her face. It was pretty comical as we were trying to have a spiritual experience and you realize that you're bearing your testimony to a zombie. haha

We did a lot of service this week at members houses so that was fun. My favorite was raking leaves with one of the families and then jumping in the giant pile with their small kids. It was fun but it made me miss the little boys! By the way, happy 5th birthday Enoch!! It sounds like your party was a lot of fun!! :)

So at 8:00pm on Friday night I got a call from the Assistant to the President asking me to speak at a Zone conference the next morning... hahah apparently I was the only one that the forgot to call. So I had to whip together a 15 minutes talk on how to prepare physically and emotionally for a mission. I was pretty nervous but I think it went well. It wasn't a normal Zone conference, it was a mini Zone conference with just 2 zones and the youth in the surrounding stakes who were preparing for a mission. We all grabbed a youth who came and became temporary companions for the day. We listened to the speakers and did some role plays. It was a cool experience!

We had 5 less actives at Church this week! it was awesome!! One young man, Cody, came back to church for the first time in years! We have had some great lessons with him and he loved church. One of the members, Paul, took him under his wing and made him feel so comfortable. After church Paul even took Cody to his house for a big lunch. They ended up hanging out til 6 that night and then Paul took him home. It is so great when members help by being a friend and welcoming new people to the ward. It makes all of the difference of whether or not that less active will feel comfortable to come back again. And it was great to see the other Less actives as well. I really love working with Less Actives and helping them gain a testimony and to start living the gospel in their life.

one girl we've been working with has been struggling with the Word of Wisdom. Since meeting with us she started reading the Book of Mormon daily, and she has noticed the difference it makes in her life! She has an easier time resisting temptations and she feels a spiritual strength in her life. She has read all the way to Mosiah the last time we met! She loves it! She didn't have alcohol, coffee or tea for a week and then she got a Priesthood blessing for extra strength. She thanked us again and again for suggesting for her to get a blessing as she could physically feel power coursing through her body for the rest of the day! She has kept the Word of Wisdom since and she is seeing amazing blessings in her life! I think that is one of the coolest things as a missionary...to get to see first hand how living the gospel can change people's lives.

We had a split this week. I stayed here in Newburgh and sister Wilkes went to Danbury. It made me realize how much I don't know about the area!! It was a wake up call! If Sister Wilkes leaves this cycle and I stay, I am going to have to try to absorb a lot of information!! I rely a lot on her to know where people are and what their story is etc. But the split was a good experience. I know what I need to work on!!

I've been on Facebook a little bit more this week. There is a check off list I have to go through before I can actually start putting up posts. I have to go through and hide all my pictures and organize my friends into lists and delete old posts and comments.... It's gonna take a while. But I'll be on officially soon enough!!

Well that's all the exciting stuff that happened this week! I am off to Middle town today to do some Goodwill shopping with Sister Wilkes and to play soccer with our zone! I am so excited!! I haven't played in so long!! Well family, I love you so much! I hope all is well!!

Love Sister Emma Lounsbury

Newburgh #4

Hey there Fam!

First off, Dad, way to go on your Scouting night. It sounds like you put in so much hard work and that it was a huge success. You've always been such a good example to me of hard work and shooting for high goals. :) 

Well these week has been really great. Soooo We had both a stake conference and a Zone conference this week. Stake conference on Sat night was all about missionary work. It was so awesome. I think it got our stake pumped up and excited about missionary work. I was so thankful for the talks as they clearly stated how missionaries and members can work together. That was so good to hear because I feel like the prophet has made it clear that member missionary work is what we need to do, but we are sure where to start. So this conference was really great. We are excited to meet with the families and to see what there personal family game plan is for missionary work. And it was cool to be reminded of the challenge we received at conference for ever member of the church to reach out to one person before Christmas. 

But even more exciting was the announcement that was made at Zone Conference. The New York New York North Mission has been approved to be an online proselyting mission as of last week! We are now in the process of cleaning up our facebook and adding friends and missionaries in the NY NY North Area. We are approved to do blogs, use email and we will use LDS.org and Mormon.org to chat and answer questions. We are allowed to use skype and Facetime. All these resources will be used only for the purpose of missionary work. And our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. We are just beginning to use this resources. I have already been on FB but will not post an official post until my profile is in harmony with my purpose as a missionary. This process has taken a few weeks for missionaries has we have to go through old pictures and posts. I know that my FB has been used to post updates about my mission, but I ask that you don't log on anymore and that I be the only one making posts. I will not respond to comments just to chat or to see how people are doing. Wednesday is the day that I can be in contact with family and friends to chat and see how things are going. On every other day of my mission I am only to use these online resources to do missionary work.

We've already seen great miracles from missionaries who have had these priviledges longer than the rest of us. One missionary is the only member in his family. His mother saw his post on FB and told him that she wanted to learn more about what he was teaching. He started having the missionary lessons with his family via skype. The missionaries serving near his family were present for these skype lessons. This missionary had the opportunity to teach his own family. When he goes home for his mission in the next few weeks, he will have the opportunity to come home and to baptize his family members. And this is the fruits of his labors here in the NY NY North Mission! The hastening of the work is here. The Gospel is going to all of the world. Missionary work is being done in a way it has never been done before. And this gospel is going to reach people that it has never been able to reach before. It is an exciting time to be a missionary! Currently we are using the church computers but by Nov 16th, we will all have i-pad and i-phones. Our area book, preach my gospel, pamphlets, scriptures and more will now all be on our i-pads. There will be no ineffective use of time. During the dead hours of the day when no one is home, we will continue to teach through FB and other online resources. 

So that is the exciting news!! Once I am up and on facebook I would ask all of you to comment on the scriptures, quotes, videos and other things that I post. A simple "like" on FB can help further this work so that more and more can hear the message of the restored gospel! Please be understanding that I can not chit-chat or catch up with all of you lovely people back home. :) But please do not hesitate to share your testimony, insights, experiences or to simply give an encouraging or uplifting message by commenting on my posts!Everyone can be a missionary! It has never been so easy or convenient! 

Well real quick here, The weather is getting mighty cold!! somehow 50 degrees feels like 20 degrees... so I am terrified to find out what 20 degrees actually feels like! I am going to have to start bundling up! Sister Wilkes and I are hoping to get to Good Will to do some shopping for some warmer clothes. 

Mom, you asked about the Valentine family. They are still in and out of doctor's appointments. We tried twice to see them this week but with no success. I think they are free right after Halloween. They are still very welcoming and since our last lessons we have come over to check up on them a few times. They even invited us over for Thanksgiving! (As well as 5 other families... we don't know how we're gonna do it) Last time they had dinner on the table when we stopped by. We told them that we could come back in 45 minutes after they were done eating. The mom insisted we could talk for "just ten minutes".... an hour and a half later we finally get out of there!! Hahah she is such a talker! But we love her and we have developed a good relationship with her. From what I've last heard they are still reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. Keep them in your prayers!! 

Well family, that is all for now. I love you all so much! Thank you for all your support and love :))

Love Sister Emma Lounsbury

Newburgh Pictures #1

Newburgh #3

Hello my beautiful family!!!

How are you all? It's so great to hear about the boy's track meets, the shed coming up, and the first annual costume dinner :) I wish I was there for all of that! I just have the greatest family and I miss you all!!

This week was a good week. Things are always a little slower when you get a new companion but things are finally picking up. Every day kinda blurs into one here. Time is going by so fast... It feels like it was just Preparation day yesterday!! This week was a good one for me. It can be hard in a new area because you don't know any of the people and it is a struggle getting to know everyone in the ward, investigators and less actives. It is hard to contribute to planning sessions when I don't know anyone's background or progression or what's been taught already etc. but now that I've been here a few weeks, I finally feel like I know most people fairly well. So that has been good.

We do a lot more service in this area. There are just a lot more opportunities to serve and to help the ward members. That has been really fun and it changes up the daily routine. :)

We had a lot of success with Less actives this week. One lady told us earlier this month that she was leaning away from the Mormon belief due to conversations with her Christian friend. She told us we could still come over but that she didn't want to come to church. So we continued coming over just to talk and share a brief scripture at the end from the Book of Mormon about Christ. Then this week she told us that she thought a lot about her belief and prayed about it and she decided to continue with the LDS faith. She said that she realized she shouldn't change her beliefs just to please her friend. I was so happy to hear that! And I had a cool experience where I was able to answer one of her questions using a page from " The Search for Happiness" book that I had just read that morning. I had the thought to put the book in my bag (even though I normally don't bring it) and what I had read that morning answered her concern perfectly. That was a just a small confirmation that God is guiding me and leading me in this work because it is His work, not mine.

We saw another less active and he told us of his conversion story and how he has continued to read the scriptures and to pray every now and again. He is such a good guy. I think he stopped going to church because he simply doesn't understand all the amazing blessing that he can receive and enjoy when he becomes fully emerged in the gospel. He is excited to meet with us and I feel so blessed for the chance to help him back on the path. I think that so many wander not out of rebellion but simply because of a lack of guidance. I hope that we can provide him with the knowledge and tools necessary for him to make a wiser use of his agency. He remembers so clearly his baptism and confirmation and how he felt "an indescribable feeling" of warmth and peace. I just love hearing everyone's story of how the found the gospel and how they felt when they were baptized into the church. It is just a testimony builder to me that this is the true Church upon the earth today. There are so many who have felt of the Spirit and who have had a spiritual witness of the Book of Mormon and of the Prophet Joseph Smith. And the opposition to our church and the saints are so fierce, that it only confirms it more in my heart that this Church is true and that The devil and his angels are fighting so hard against the fullness of truth.

As a missionary I feel that I am at the forefront of the battle between good and evil. It can be scary to see how the devil can trick, deceive, and place doubting and fears into people's hearts. But I take courage and have great hope for the world when I meet together with such faithful Saints who's testimony are strong and firm. The other night we had a dinner at a members home. We were able to join them in Family Home Evening. I was so thankful so the chance to join with them during that sacred time in their home where testimonies were shared and the children were taught the simple principles of the gospel. I was especially touched by the faith of their young children. Their oldest boy who was 7 possibly 8, proudly told us that he has read the Book of Mormon and was on to section 50 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Wow. Truly the rising generation must be prepared and fortified in truth and knowledge ever more than before. Evil has never been so widespread and open but righteousness has never been so strongly established. The fullness of the Gospel is on the earth today! We have modern day prophets who lead, guide, warn and establish pure doctrine! Temples cover the earth! And the Lord's work is hastening! The gospel is going to all of the world! What an amazing time to be alive. What an amazing time to be a missionary.

I am so thankful for the honor that it is to be a missionary--a representative of Jesus Christ. I do not take this calling lightly. I am striving every day to be more like Christ. To love as he loved. To serve as he served. To teach as he taught-- to do what he would if He were here on the earth. Please continue to keep me in your prayers. And continue to do all you can at home to help this work move forward. I love you all so much! Keep safe and have a lovely Halloween celebration!

Much love, Sister Lounsbury

Newburgh #2

Hello lovely family!!

Well it's been another great week. I have limited time... Sister Wilkes and I are off to a bike ride through the country side :))) I'm so excited to be outside and enjoy the nature around us :)

So quick updates:

The family we were teaching got suppppppper sick. We've been in contact, left balloons and a card and let them know we are thinking about them. Hopefully by nest week we can teach them again.

So remember how we helped our neighbor downstairs? We stopped by with cupcakes and to see how they are. Philis didn't recognize us. it turned out that she had a stroke. She is feeling a lot better. Her daughter Robin and Philis were both so, so grateful. She even invited us to Thanksgiving dinner with her family and she wants to teach us how to decorate cakes. 

I got to meet the ward. Everyone seems quite lovely. We are fed well. There are still crazy people here too, so I like it. Craziness keeps everything interesting :))

Well, I really am sorry this is short, but I love you all! Thanks for keeping me in your prayers!

Love Sister Lounsbury

Newburgh #1

Hello Family!!

WOW, wow, wow! Ok sooo much to tell you all! Sorry for the short email last week. Haha ok mom, to put away you're worryings, yes, Newburgh actually has the 9th highest murder rate in the country, but I do not serve in the city. It is too dangerous for the sisters. There were 3 murders just last week! Crazy.... But I serve on the outskirts of Newburgh. It is BEAUTIFUL here. Oh my goodness. I am in heaven. The east coast is SO BEAUTIFUL!! I seriously can not get enough of it! It is breath taking. Trees entirely consume the hillside. It feels like magic when the leaves swirl and blow off of the trees. I just absolutely love it here. Madeline, driving around here makes me miss our country drives together.  We went on a hike today as a district. It was so much fun!

I am serving with sister wilkes. She has been out for 12 weeks so I am follow up training with her. But she is the one who know the area, so I feel like she's training me haha. She is awesome. I love being her companion. She makes me laugh everyday and she is just so sweet. I am learning a lot from her and I am just so excited for the time we get to serve together. OH! And she likes running too. we've started to wake up at 6 so we can get a longer run in. We've been running 4 miles every morning. I am determined to get into shape!! We are gonna keep running til the snow hits.

So I haven't met the ward yet, but I have been over to quite a few houses. We get fed alllll the time... I think I preferred feeding myself in Yonkers. I'm terribly afraid of gaining a ton of weight here...but hopefully the running will help with that. It's just so hard because everyone cooks you a big dinner with dessert. But anyway, everyone seems great!

So something awesome happened this week!!! We were looking up a potential investigator that had been contacted on the street a while back. We knock on their door and they let us in and we have a lesson. The mom Lori had grown up going to a LDS church as a girl. She went with her friend and went to girls camp but never had the lessons.  She also attended a baptist church with her uncle. She attended a catholic school and went to mass for a while. Later in her life she studied with the witnesses. Then she went back to catholic. They have been all over because the church's teaching or the people's behaviors would turn them off. They finally concluded that they could just study in their own house. So that is what they do--family prayer and bible study every day with their two girls. But they felt that something was missing. They wanted to have a church family. So that morning they were praying that they could find some guidance and direction to know what to do and where to go. Then 4 hours later--we knock on their door! What a miracle!!! It was so amazing to see this faithful family praying for guidance and I felt so honored that God trusted us enough to be the ones to help them and to guide them to the fullness of the gospel. We got to know them in the first lesson. In the second lesson we brought a member and taught the Restoration. Lori and Steve really related to the story of Joesph Smith-- because they had been searching so long for truth in their life. She is excited to come to church and Steve wants to make sure he could be a pastor if he joined the church and the girls and so eager to learn. The older one who was 13 was sitting their with her bible, looking up all the questions in the back of the restoration pamphlet. They are so solid.

Sister Wilkes and I are striving to continue to be consecrated. We set a goal for a baptism this Oct. President Morgan told us that in the month of Sept we ended up baptizing 55 people and had over 20 reactivation. We haven't had that kind of number in a long time. He told us that we need to continue forward with the same kind of determination and faith. So we are going to everything we can to have a baptism this October. Keep us in your prayers :) 

Conference was so awesome!! I just soaked it all up! What was your favorite talk? What did you like about it? What new thing did you learn, and what are you going to do with this new piece of knowledge. There is a saying here in the mission. If someone is teaching, someone should be learning. And if someone is learning, someone should be changing. So make sure that you make changes and set goals so you can actually APPLY the truths you learned this week from Modern day prophets. Conference was so cool for me. We were able to watch one session with a less active and another session with a less active family and their non member friend. After conference I was able to bare my testimony to him that the reason he agreed with everything the speakers said was because they are modern day prophets called of God. I testified that they receive revelation from God and that their words will lead us and guide us in this world of chaos and constant change. The Spirit was there strongly. He said he would read the Book of Mormon. It is exciting to be able to work with new people. And I've been able to meet a few investigator in the first meeting with them.

OK one other crazy thing happened this week. So sister Wilkes and I were doing our morning study of the scriptures. It was maybe around 8:20 and we get a knock on the door. It was strange because no one comes to our door. We open up and the neighbor from downstairs is frantic and is crying. She told us that her mom had fallen out of bed and had been on the floor all night. She couldn't lift her and she needed help. I'm glad sister Wilkes was there because she remained so incredibly calm. We got down there and with our first attempt we couldn't get Philis to the chair. But once we thought a little clearer we placed a chair right behind philis and then got under her arms and lifted her up. We were then able to get her on to the chair. Philis was shaky and was super thirsty. Philis's daughter was still so panicked and wasn't sure if she should call 911 or the doctor or what she should do. We sat by Philis and stood as support on either side of her so she wouldn't slip out of the side of the chair. She kept trying to stand up and she was embarrassed. We just talked to her about her kids and grand kids and what she liked to do when she was younger while her daughter made calls. Philis's daughter ended up calling her siblings and then 911. Paramedics came and got her off to the hospital. We met a lot of Philis's daughters who drove over and they all thanked us over and over. Philis's daughter told us that she didn't know what to do when she found her mom on the ground. She thought about knocking on the apartment next to her, but she said the "boys" (they are 25 or older) who lived there smoke pot and she said she needed some real help. She kept feeling like she needed to go upstairs and knock on our door. We were home and able to help. She started crying while thanking us again and again as we hugged her goodbye. She told us to come over any time. It was quite an eventful morning. And it was a really cool missionary opportunity as we were seen by so many and got to share with a few people about what we do.

So it's been an eventful week! I love you all so much! Isaac, I got your letter! You're the best :) The rest of you need to pick it up ;) haha well I hope you all enjoyed your week and conference. If you didn't see all of conference, make time to see it. These men are inspired prophets, seers and revelators. You can not afford to miss their counsel, warnings and teachings. I want to here from you all about your favorite talk or thing you learned, why, and what you're going to so about it. I love you all!!

Love Sister Lounsbury

Westchester #24

Hello my lovely loves

I do not have much time! I will start off by sharing some random events of the week:

1. I stepped on a bee last thursday and it stung me!! It hurt so bad! And now it is really itchy! I don't know how, but some creepy crawlies keep finding a way into our room. We also saw a huge centipede thing the other day. It was sooo fast! But my shoe was faster. ;) 

2. I got on a elevator today with a man who had a little dog. The dog had a leash that was dragging on the floor. So the dog walked into the elevator with the lease dragging behind him. Then the doors closed with the leash still outside of the elevator. We start going up, and I watch in horror as the the dog starts sliding towards the door closed doors!!! It was being tugged towards with doors because of it's leash!! Then the elevator stops and it is jammed! We thought we were going to be stuck in there! But luckily we got the elevator to go back down and the pulled the leash in! But we decided to get out and take the stairs instead!

3. At the grocery store a man looks at my tag and the looks at me with bulging eyes and asks me if I am Jesus Christ... haah I was like "no...I'm sister Lounsbury. I'm a member of the CHURCH of Jesus Christ of Latter-dday saints." it was pretty humorous. 

4. Highlight of this week was that a general authority Elder Bruce R Carlson came and visited our mission. it was AMAZING. And I forgot to tell you all but Sister Matthews and Elder Hurst were asked to perform a musical number. We decided to make our own arrangement of Let Zion in her Beauty rise and hark all ye nations. And I got to help make the arrangement. it was amazing to see it all come together and to hear the final performance. I don't exactly know why but it almost brought tears to my eyes. it was so amazing because I got to see how the Spirit really took over. Sister Matthews played beautifully and Elder Hurst sang better than he ever had... It was amazing. I love it. it was amazing to be taught and instructed by President Morgan and Elder Carlson. I came away feeling truly blessed. I wish I could share all the insights and truths I learned, But there is not enough time :/

 

I learned that becoming a consecrated missionary is a process and becoming a consecrated member and disciple of Christ is a goal I will have for the rest of my life. If we do not have a baptism this Saturday, we were told that is not what is important. What is important is that we changed, we improved and we are more consecrated. I can say that this goal has pushed me to a higher plane and I am a much better missionary because of it. I have learned so much about myself. I am learning more about how hope conquers discouragement and how we need grace each and everyday to empower us so that our capacities can be increased. I know that through the grace of God we can become more than what we naturally are on our own. It is through grace that we can overcome our daily weaknesses.  And I continue to be amazed as I can see that all that I go through is strengthening my faith and shaping me into the person I know my Heavenly Father wants me to become. 

We do not have a baptismal date for this saturday, but we have seen miracles. We have had  our numbers go from in the teens consistently to in the 20's consistently every week. The Lord is trusting us to teach more of his children. We have so many more people we are teaching. I am starting to recognize the hand of God more and more in our work. I talk to way more people on the streets then I have previously. And miracles have happened. There was one lady we stopped and talked to whos name is Memunatu. She is from Africa. We stopped her on the street, introduced ourselves and asked if she'd be interested in meeting. She said yes! We met with her this last Monday and we found out that her daughter in Africa was recently baptized. memunatu said that every time her daughter calls she tell her about the Church and tells her to be baptized! because of her daughter memunatu (who was muslim) decided to follow Jesus Christ! I just felt that it was a miracle that we stopped her and met her. I am sure that her daughter in Africa is praying that her mom can find the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Chirst, and here in new york Sister Matthews and I found her and started teaching her! She is going to pray about being baptized. 

Esther is another real miracle. I met Esther at the lemonade stand APF we had a few months back. She has been impossible to get in contact with. But we finally had a lesson and the spirit was so strong! We were able to clearly teach and she was able to understand the significance of baptism by someone holding the proper Priesthood Authority of God. She said she that she wanted to be baptized! She is not ready to get baptized this month, and we told her that was fine. She said that she would read from the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it truly in the word of God. We had the total of 6 new investigators just this week. Oh! And we had a new referral given to us. We stopped by her house last night and she said that she wants to start meeting with us! 

When God knows that we are really committed to give it our all to this work, then He can trust us. He will place the Elect and those who are prepared in our path. I have seen that. I know that I need to open my mouth to everyone and to share this gospel with all that I see! Fear holds me back sometimes and I pray for the courage. Rejection can be hard, but the joy of finding someone who is seeking for truth and watching them change their lives makes it all worth it. 

I am so thankful for all of you and for all of your prayers. The New York New York North mission has more than doubled the normal amount of baptisms they have every month! And this week there are 55 more scheduled baptisms! I know that the Lord has truly poured out blessing upon us. Thank you, thank you for your faithful prayers.  I love you so much! September is almost over, but we are going to push forward with just as much enthusiasm and faith. I know that as we as a mission continue to consecrate ourselves to this work, we will continue to see miracles happen. I hope all is well!

Love Sister Lounsbury

Westchester #23

Hello my most wonderful family!!

How is everyone?? Boys, thank you so much for the letters from each of you!! That just put a big smile on my face. I wrote you back right away so you should have a letter in the mail soon :) 

Well the weather here is cooling off as well. I suspect there will still be some random days/weeks where is gets hot again. The weather is so sporadic that you really don't know what to expect. But it has been cooler and the wind has picked up as well. Today for P-Day we went shopping because Sister M doesn't have a winter coat or jacket yet...You know how I feel about shopping...but I have to admit it was kinda a little fun. It was probably fun because we were in and out in an hour haha ;) We went to the Burlington Coat factory. I got a  20.00 jacket for fall (because all I had was that massive down feather coat) It was cheap and cute so I was happy with our trip. And Sister M treated me to lunch afterwards. So it was a good day :) 

Oh and we went to a super stop and shop to get groceries. It was HUGE! We tried some new fruits including a Japanese pear and a star fruit. And that was my P-Day :) 

Well, let me tell you about our adventure this week... haha oh man

Ok so on thursday we had an appointment with Albert Sr. It went really well. I forgot what I had told you about the Albert jr and Albert Sr but they are 18 year old twins from Ghana. They are 7th day Adventists and they are very very knowledgeable about the Bible. They've agreed to read the Book of Mormon but they really struggle to accept the idea of continuous revelation. Anyway, we had a lesson with Albert Sr and it went really well. We shared a scripture telling him how he can come to know if what we are teaching is true. (Moroni 7:5;10-19) and then we read scriptures about how the word is like a seed and he has to give place for the seed in his heart in order for it to grow (Alma 32:21;26) and then we bore our testimonies and recommitted him to read. He said he would which was awesome. 

So we left the library to go to our car (that was parked a good mile away) only to find out it was raining out as well as thundering and lightening. We speed walk/jog to our car and take cover under a parking garage for a bit. Albert dropped us off at our car and this is where our adventure really begins. We get in our car and it really starts coming down. We have to get on the freeway to drive all the way up to Sleepy Hollow at the very top of our area. The rain is POURING down. It was as if someone was dumping bucket after bucket on the windshield. We are driving 30 MPH just so we could see where we were going. Lightening is striking right above us. The clouds looked like there was a giant strobe light because the lightening was flashing every few seconds... I have never seen anything like it. It was really quite frightening and it made me realize just how small we are as humans. We truly are at the mercy of God and His power. The rain starts collecting so much that there is a solid inch of standing water on the road. We weren't going to make it on time so we called the lady and let her know due to the storm we would be 15 minutes late..... so we thought. Well, we are driving along and the rain was coming down so hard, and I was so pre-occupied with not dying that I drove right past the exit.... Which just so happened to be the last exit before the Hudson River!!! I'm pretty sure that Sister Awerkamp had done the same thing when she was serving with Sister Johnson. I remember her telling me it took a full hour detour... Sure enough, our GPS informed us that our arrival time would no longer be 8:00 but 9:00... and that was to get back to Sleepy Hollow! It would be an additional 30 mins back to Yonkers. Sister Matthews and I look at each other and I just start screaming as there is no way to turn around and nothing we can do hahah I was half kidding, but really I was rather nervous. First off, we were leaving our area and second off we were in a giant rain storm and I was a little nervous about flooding as well as getting home even latter then the GPS said we would due to road conditions. ON the bridge the lightening was literally directly above our heads. I've never seen lightening like that. After it would flash, you could see what appeared to be sparks or flame dripping off of where the lightening stuck. It was crazy. After we got off the bridge we got really lost. Really, really lost. It was so dark, and I was driving in an unfamiliar area and it was dumping rain. Oh man, Long story short, we ended up driving for a total of 2 and a half hours. It was later reported to me that we may have been out of our mission!!! I'm not really sure where we were...but we definitely missed our dinner appointment. I was so tense from driving that I had a bad head ache and my shoulders and hands felt like they were permanently clenched. haha but we made it home alright. And we got to see a spectacular show in the sky. It was an adventure. :) 

This week we were tracting at night and we heard something rummaging through the garbage can. I looked to see what it was and out pops out a skunk! One look, and we were out of there! Haha it was a close call. 

Also, this week in broad day light we were passing this man. His eyes were buldging out and he looked angry. I said hi to him and passed him by. Sister Matthews was a little behind me (the sidewalks are very narrow) and he grunted and then tried to punch her!! He kept walking, but it freaked us out. I think he was on some drugs or something... 

Well As far as a baptism this September, we were planning on having Chanel baptized, but some issues came up. We are still meeting with her but she is not planning on getting baptized as soon as we thought. It was really hard for me and Sister M, but we both know that this goal is possible! Earlier in District meeting, I had it confirmed to me in my heart that President Morgan does indeed hold the keys for our mission. And he receives revelation for our mission. It was confirmed into my heart that the goal he has presented to our mission to have a baptism this September, is inspired of God. I know it is possible as we put forth our best efforts. At this point, I am unsure of how we will achieve it, but we know it can be done. This week we met with a new investigator Landa and her daughter. We also met with a new investigator Taneasha.  And we finally got in contact with a lady Daisy that we've been trying to see for 2 months. And then there are the Alberts. So that is who we are working with right now. Keep us in your prayers. 

I love you all so much!! I hope all is well!

Love, Sister Lounsbury

Westchester #22

Hello family

Well this week was another good one :) We are working really hard as a companionship to become more consecrated and to put everything on the altar of sacrifice.. all our time, every ounce of energy, every thought--everything we do is focused on the work and helping to bring God's children back into His presence. Personally I have broken down Moroni 7:45 on charity and started picking on or two attribute to practice daily. Please keep our mission in your prayers. Keep Sister Matthews and I in your prayers. We are working so hard to be able to find someone who is prepared to hear the gospel and who will be baptized this September!!

We have continued to work with Sandra. I have worked with Sandra ever since I arrived in New York. She is quite the lady. My love for her has grown so strong over these months. It has been a long journey with her with lots of ups and downs. But this Sunday it finally happen. Sandra finally came to church and stayed for all three hours! This was the Sunday I have been waiting for my whole mission!! I was so happy to see her there :)) We have been working with her a lot more recently. We meet about two times a week. We discuss her reading for the week and if she has any questions. We have been reteaching her the lessons. We talked about the restoration and we are currently on the plan of salvation. She is soaking it up. She is learning so much! And she can see her progress. She recognizes how far away she had drifted and how she can feel more and more of God's presence now. She is has almost quit smoking entirely. She is down to 2 cigarettes a day. She felt amazing at church. She is recognizing more and more the lies and deception of the devil that has pulled her down in the past. It is amazing to be a part of it all. I feel the Spirit so strongly as we teach her. I know for sure that Sandra is a big reason I was sent to serve in this part of New York. I needed to meet her. I feel that it is a great honor to be able to help her come closer to Christ. And every lesson she ends up teaching me something new as well :) It's clicking and coming together. I know her journey and story is not over yet, but she is making amazing progress. She wants to go to the temple soooo badly. She recognizes that the closer and closer that she gets to reaching that goal, the harder and harder satan will work to stop her. She told us last time that she knows that we were sent to her to help her progress so that she can return home to God. She told us she wants us to go to the temple with her when the time comes. I prayed that I will still be in this area when that time comes. I love Sandra Hurley. 

Well this week we were walking down the sidewalk around 8:30 and we saw a group of people gathered outside a shop. There was a man they were holding down while waiting for the police to come. We walked right past them and then saw the cop pull up and hand cuff him. It was crazy. Then we get in the car and start driving and down the same road, in view of the police car there was a fight breaking out between 5-6 guys. We saw this all within 3 minutes...haha it can get a little crazy here sometimes. But the Lord always keeps us safe :) 

We met an older lady named Liz in the parking lot. She stopped us and recognized us a missionaries. She asked if we could donate some clothes for her. We agreed and ended up talking to her for an hour in the parking lot! She is fairly familiar with our faith and has seen a documentary of Joesph Smith on BYUtv channel. We had a lesson with her later at the church. Afterward she treated us to dinner and this yummy Irish shop. This this Sunday she came to church! She says that she isn't interested at all in converting, but she is still attending so we'll see what happens with her. She is very friendly and loves to talk to us. She's a very kind lady.

This week we did some service outside which was really fun but my legs got eaten alive. I have at least  20 bites on my legs alone. Last month, mosquito bites were an on going thing. We would get new bites weekly. We got better at applying bug spray, but if we forgot even once, we'd get bitten up. So that has been fun to deal with. 

Well that's about all for now! I didn't get an email from you this week family, so I expect extra letters and packages to make up for it ;) haha I hope all is well. I love you all and miss you a lot. 

Love Sister Lounsbury

Westchester #21

Hello family!!

Sorry but it's gonna be another short one!

So exciting news this week!! The New York New York Mission is going to be a full online proselyting mission by the end of this cycle! We will each be given a mission facebook account. We will be using blogs. We will be on LDS.org and chats. We will use skype and facetime for lessons! Isn't that awesome? And by the end of this cycle, every companionship will receive a ipad mini!! Ah man, I'm gonna have to get on board with this whole technology thing now I suppose. Haha I've put it off for a while now, but I think I really need to get up to date with all the new technology. 

Also, I wanted all of you to keep our mission in your prayers. As a mission we have set the goal that each companionship will have a baptism in the month of September. Everyone is striving to become more and more consecrated and focusing all of our energy and efforts to missionary work. We want everyone to know about our goal! And we want everyone to keep us in your prayers! We know that with the combine faith and efforts of all of the missionaries, ward leaders, families and friends, that we can all have a baptism for this September! So please, please keep us in our prayers. Pray that people will be prepared and that we will be able to find those people who are ready to receive the gospel in their lives! 

Currently Chanel is scheduled to be baptized on Sept 21! We are working really hard to help prepare her for her date. :) She has a cute 8 year old who we are hoping to baptize as well. :) 

Oh, Also this week at church there was a HUGE thunder and lightening storm! The rain was beating down and the thunder was roaring outside while we stayed safe and warm inside. It made me think about how coming all the way into the gospel--fully immersing yourself in the gospel-- will keep you protected from the coldness and storms that rage on around us in the world. The gospel will keep us safe from the craziness of the world. It was also really cool to partake of the sacrament with the storm raging. It also made me think of how after Christ was crucified how thunder and lightening filled the sky and the earth trembled in despair. It was a really cool church meeting. :) 

Also, on a funnier note I accidentally rolled Sister Matthews finger in the window the other day!! haha... we laugh about it now... but I was really horrified when it first happened. 

Also we are teaching identical twins Albert Sr and Albert Jr. They are both 18 and from Africa. So that has been fun trying to tell them apart! haha

Well I love you all so much!!

Love Sister Lounsbury