"I'll Have a Blue Christmas... Without You!" (Week 12/8-12/13

So the reason for my subject line is because my companion Sister
Johnsen is leaving!! 😫 we have grown so much these past 12 weeks! And
I am really going to miss her! Oh and of course I will miss my family
too!

Well it's finally the Christmas season!! Where we get to remember our
Savior Jesus Christ. And what better way then to listen to Christmas
music. Ahh! I love Christmas music! Anyways... Sister Johnsen and I
have been listening to Christmas music allllllll week! We aren't tired
of it just yet! 😬

Well this past Wednesday I hit my 3 month mark! I honestly can't
believe that I have been out for 3 months already! It's crazy to
think!

Monday: emailed you and had sisters p-day! We just hung out downtown!

Tuesday: we had lunch with Rebecca and Sean. So get this.... Sean is a
member and he is currently attending SVU. and he is Rebecca's
boyfriend. We got a text about a month ago saying "hey we will be
attending church this Sunday and we would love to start taking
lessons." So we have been teaching Rebecca for about a month now! So
that was cool! We asked her to talk to Sean about a date that she
would want to get baptized. She said April 16th, we are going to try
and maybe move her a little bit up, but make her feel comfortable
about it. Nothing else really happened on Tuesday! :/

Wednesday: we had district meeting! And then we had lunch with a less
active, Sunny Cunningham, at El Charro. It's a really good Mexican
restaurant! (Mom I will have to take you here when we come back!)
after that we went to Avante and played Bingo again! Oh how I love
bingo! Then we went to sister Hebdon's and helped her set up her
Christmas stuff! Oh how I missed setting up Christmas at home this
year! Then we went knocking and tried contacting a few investigators.

Thursday: we were suppose to have weekly planning, but we didn't have
the time too. But we had a lesson with Heidi Thelin who is a less
active (kind of, she goes home for church but her records are here so
she is a less active, weird concept.) then we had an on the spot
lesson with Rebecca and sean! And she committed to baptism! So that
was super cool! Later on that night we had a lesson with Alex.
(Whitneys boyfriend, and he really believes that the Book of Mormon is
true!!) then we met this awesome guy, Matt and we talked to him until
we had to leave! So that was cool!

Friday: we finally had weekly planning! And we had a couple lessons
fall through, but the miracle of the day is this girl named Susan. So
sister Johnsen during the summer had met her. She is a roommate to one
of the girls in our ward, and well we have picked her up and dropped
her and we finally picked her up for this time. And we were having a
lesson and she said that she had been praying to know if this was the
true church and if the Book of Mormon was true..... AND SHE GOT AN
ANSWER! She received the answer that it was true! She committed to
baptism for January 16th!!!!! It's so awesome! We still have to teach
her some. Ore lessons, but she is so prepared!

Saturday: transfer call day! Dahn dahn dahn🎼!!! We actually had some
really good lessons and we had service at sister casons!  But we
received a phone call later that night from an assistant missionaryto
the president. He was calling due to someone being transferred. Well
we received the news that Sister Johnsen will be leaving! It's so sad
because she was an awesome trainer and she is honestly now one of my
closest friends! I love her so much! I can't believe she is
leaving!!!!!

Sunday: you know! My favorite day of the week! It was so weird,
because for the past 12 weeks I have been in training. And I
officially completed my training, hence the reason why sister Johnsen
is leaving! 😫 today was fast and testimony meeting and well I was in
tears because Sister Johnsen gave an awesome testimony and then Tesa a
recent convert gave hers and another less active bore hers. It was
soooooo emotional! I know that sister Johnsen is going to go to a
wonderful area and she is going to beast it up! So Tesa has 3 girls,
and her husband is not a member, but she has been talking about how
this church has helped her out and how she bore her testimony today
and how she started crying and well her husband said that he wants to
start going to church!!!! Huge miracle! Heavenly Father truly answers
prayers!

In these past two transfers with sister Johnsen, we may not have had
any baptisms, but I know that we have planted seeds into so many
people's hearts. My testimony has been strengthened as I have been out
on my mission for these past 3 months. Honestly my testimony has
shaken, but I know that when that happens my testimony only gets
stronger! I am so grateful for the Lord and for my Heavenly Father. I
know that we can lean on Them for guidance and safety and peace! I am
so grateful for this church and for the opportunity I have to be a
missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! Every
morning when I put my name tag on I consecrate my time and day to
serving the Lord! I know that we can baptize and I know that the elect
are out there! Now we just have to find them!

Oh and by the way! You know the BYU Football coach! Bronco Mendenhall!
Yeah well he's moving to UVA! Ohh and he is my companions uncle! Just
thought I should share that with you all! 🏉🏉🏉🏉

Paintings are all around downtown! A photographers favorite things! 😍

Because a Savior is born...... strength is born!



Kristina, Sister Johnsen and I! Kristina is going to Fresno California mission!


And my cute desk! 😂

I love you all and I can feel all of your prayers and support!

CHRISTMAS: 11 days AWAY!

Love you all!

Love,
Sister Pewtress

"Don't count the time, but make the time count!" (Week: 12/1-12/6)

First off, on Wednesday I will have been on my mission for 3 MONTHS!
It honestly doesn't feel like it. It's starting to get into a routine.
Which is good but isn't good. There are times (especially during this
time of year, where I WISH I was home with my family, watching
Christmas movies and playing with my cousins) but I know that I am out
here at this time for a reason. And that reason is my Savior.

I love the new Christmas video that the church has come out with! It's
so SIMPLE, YET SO BOLD.. I have probably seen the video, more than 100
times and it has honestly hit me every time. I invite you all to watch
it. Christmas.mormon.org

This week was good. A little out of whack but really good. Monday it
rained all day. 🌧🌧 and it was freezing, so boots and warm socks. It
was a cold one.

We went and did service on the JMU campus. We brought our umbrellas
and walked people to class, while sharing our message. We handed out a
Book of Mormon. :) so that was cool!

The rest of the week was the normal week. Except Friday! We had ZONE
CONFERENCE.  It was so fun. (Pic below is our zone!) they are always
so long, but honestly so fun!

We had Costco food court 2x this week! Pizza all day everyday! So good
and so cheap!

One of our roommates hit her 1 year mark so we decorated and blew up
balloons and went and at BWW.! 😍😍❤️ so good.

The Windows and grass are starting to frost. So that's saying that at
night we get into some really cold weather, but the thing is, is it is
bitter as can be! 😳

We had stake conference on Saturday and Sunday, it was amazing and
they talked about councils, whether it be one on one with the lord,
family council, or ward or stake council! It was soooo good. We sang
called to serve with all the missionaries in the stake.

The Christmas Devotional was amazing, that was the first time I have
ever watched it. It was awesome.

One night we had a "sleepover" with the other Hermanas that we live
with, (pic below) that was fun!

Oh and we have Elder Dolby(sp) who also lives with us, and we all play
pranks on each other.

Transfer calls are this week!!!! 😱😱😱😳😳😳 am I scared? heck yes!
Because that means that people leave! We will know more on Saturday
and I will tell you all next Monday! But sister Johnsen and I are
freaking out!

I have a feeling this week is going to fly by just like all the rest of them!

I hope you all have a great week and I will talk to you soon!

If you haven't noticed, I suck at ponderizing. Man! But I encourage
you all to read Jesus The Christ! It's awesome! Oh and check out the
Christmas video on Christmas.Mormon.org! It's awesome!

Love you!













Love,
Sister Pewtress

Goodbye November, Hello December! (Week 11/24-11/29/15)

I'm not kidding you this week flew by! When missionaries used to say
that the day's are long but the weeks are short, they weren't lying.
The days are super long! Well this week was an awesome week! I am so
thankful for this week and for the opportunity that we had to have
Thanksgiving! Not a lot of people were in town this week, but we
tracked into quite a few people who were ready for he gospel!

Monday: we visited with Tesa, who had her baby and started to go into
labor while at church! 😱 that was CRAZY! So we went to the hospital
and visited with her! That as we some! We also took her flowers, and I
did a cute little arrangement with some flowers and gave that and a
note to her. It was so fun to see them!

Tuesday: WE HAD INTERVIEWS WITH PRESIDENT! I just love President
Wilson so much and I am so grateful for him and his obedience. He
makes being a missionary so much easier, because he just allows us to
answer our own questions. He is so awesome! Sister Wilson had surgery
on Monday, so please keep her in your prayers. So far everything is
all good! We also had a lesson with a Gypsy!  Crazy cool! She
thought that Joseph Smith came from Europe!? What? Yeah that's what we
were thinking.. Haha! Anyways Tuesday was an amazing day!

Wednesday: we were suppose to have district meeting but a
companionship wasn't able to make it due to a fever. :( so that got
cancelled. But we went and helped out at Avante again, and helped with
a Festival Fall party! It was so much fun! We made cute cornucopias!
AND THEY WERE EDIBLE! Then After that we had dinner with the McCleves
who took us out to Wendy's! Sooo good! After that we went and visited
with some members and a less active family. Later that night we had a
lesson with Whitney and Alex! We taught them the Restoration again, so
they had a stronger foundation before we got down any deeper.

Thursday!!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!- man! That was a crazy day! WE ATE 2
DINNERS! I don't think I have ever felt so fat in my life! Never again
do I want to eat two Thanksgiving dinners in a row! The first dinner
was with the Logan family. And OHHH man was the food delicious! I will
never go back to a oven roasted turkey! ITS ALL ABOUT FRIED AND OR
SMOKED! AMAZING! And the ham was even soooo delicious! Overall
thanksgiving was soooo good!

Friday: we went to this super upper class neighborhood where the homes
are just BEAUTIFUL! They are sooo pretty! But Come to find out
that they are not in our area! WOOPS!! Oh well!  After that we went
and ate dinner and then went over to the Hamptons! We told her that we
would come back tomorrow (Saturday) and rake her leaves! Then we went
knocking again! I LOVE KNOCKING!

Saturday: we first had a lesson with Dianne and Chris Harris and we
shared with them the story called the "Seminary Donut"! And we got
them donuts! It is such an amazing story! It talks about the sacrifice
of our savior and how the price is already paid, but that it's up to
us if we take it or not. It makes me cry every single time! After that
we rushed over to the Hamptons to rake A TON OF LEAVES! Let's just say
we raked so any that I have a huge blister, but it's all good. After
that we helped her with a Mormon.org profile. Then we went to the
Risleys for dinner where we had more turkey dinner! :) we then went
knocking for the rest of the night.

SUNDAY:: OHHH how I seriously love Sunday's! Well we went to church
and had sacrament, then after that we went to dinner with the Wrights
where sister Johnsen and I had THE BEST SALAD EVER! It was made just
for us! It was sooo good! The. We went and tried to visit James,
sister Johnsen's recent convert who has called away, but we try
everything we can to get him back. After that we went knocking. But
during the meeting that we had with James ' brother, I had this strong
urge to leave and to get out of that home. I literally thought that my
heart was going to come out of my chest if we didn't leave!

I just wanted to leave you all with my testimony, that I know that the
Holy Ghost can prompt us to do something, but we have to be willing to
follow it and act upon it! I know that the sacrifice of our Savior has
alread been laid, but it is our chose on whether or not we want to
take it. The choice is yours. But I invite you tot rust in the Lord
that He will guide you and direct your path.

#ASaviorisBorn

I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Daily Planning!

Check out that house! 

It pays to get up at 6:30 in Virginia!

Debbie Court! There's also a Nelson lane!

Selfie with a less active! :)

Love,
Sister Pewtress

Updates for the family.....

The Young family! Jacob Justice helped them into the gospel! They are so dear and are so amazing!

Weekly Planning park!

This was from a couple weeks ago! When it was still kind of warm! 

But weekly planning! :)
​

--

Love,

Sister Pewtress

On our way to Zone conference down in Charlottesville!

Sister Tibbits and I 

​

The last two picture are of a cute cupcake store! AND THE CUPCAKES ARE AMAZING! (by the way the pics are for MADDY)

--

Love,

Sister Pewtress

"We didn't start the fire! 🎼" (week of 11/16-11/22)

Okay wait! Wasn't I just emailing you like 2 days ago??? Okay hold up!
This is going by way to fast. This is going way to fast! I'm so sorry
mom but I'm staying here, and it's for reals. I love Virginia. Though
it is beginning to get colder. Like FREEZING! Especially for a Vegas
person! My companion gets tired of me saying, "I'm sooo cold!!" Or "
it's freezing" haha I'm such a baby! Oh well. My companion is used to
the cold because she's from Utah and well she usually gets snow, and
we don't!

Well let's start out with Monday! We had zone P-day! So when we get
together, it's usually all of the elders and sister in the zone! Well
we play oompa! Basically it's ultimate frizbee, played with a football
and you play on a basketball court. Well it gets really really
competitive and aggressive. Well I went down to pick up the football
to play it, and Hermana Hala'eua kicked the ball, and as I went down
to pick it up and she kicked my arm, well I didn't freak out to bad,
but it hurt. Well that night I couldn't move it, and well called the
medical missionary helper for the mission and he said to go to a quick
care and to get it x-rayed. Well that was what our Monday night was.
We got an x-Ray and nothing was broken, just a sprain, and all is
well. The doctor put me in a sling. That was our Monday night. Pretty
boring!

Tuesday was FILLED with tracting and doing recent convert-less active
work! I love doing less active work and it is probably one of my
favorite things to do! I know that less active work is so important
because they are missing out on the gospel just as much as the other
people are! Except less active is sooooo hard because they say they
aren't less active but they really are! Just gotta love them!

Let's see Wednesday!! We had district meeting and then after that we
went to Avante! Where we did one on ones with the people and made
crafts with them! Well funny story.. There is a grumpy older lady who
just does not like company and well they have someone else in the room
with them. Well we decided to make a craft for thanksgiving for the
grumpy lady and when we went in we would just hang it on her board.
Well we walked in and the other lady was in there and sister Johnsen
went and hung the craft on the board, while I talked to the other
lady. Well as we were leaving I told the (grumpy) lady to have a good
day. And I finished talking to the other one, and she starts yelling
at me. I had said, "Huhh" because I didn't understand her the first
time and well she basically mocked me. Haha! But it's okay! She also
said some real mean things to me, but our goal is to make her love us
and to talk to us, and that means we just have to pray for her and
keep going to see her and making sure she is loved!  The rest of
Wednesday we did tracting and had lessons! It was a funny day!

WEEKLY PLANNING DAY! Aka.... Thursday! Pictures below!!! They were so
BIG! Well nothing really happens on weekly planning days! Sooo. That
was really boring

Friday! Service for sister Cason! And we make her food and that is
always really fun! Then we went knocking at this new complex. MIRACLE
TIME! We met this boyfriend and girlfriend Whitney and Alex! And they
have both been trying to get closer to God and Christ and have been
praying to have people help them! The lesson was so amazing and the
spirit was so strong! HUGE MIRACLE!

Saturday!! We were in Bridgewater all day! We basically worked on Less
active work all day! We went and saw Tesa who is 9 months pregnant and
was basically about to have the baby!

Sunday! Who doesn't love Sunday's! It's amazing! We went all day to
church and went to 2 sacraments( we had an investigator come to the
morning one because she had to study for tests for the upcoming week!)
well let's just say it was a really long day! In the last sacrament
meeting though, Tesa started to have contractions and we were sitting
next to her. Never in a million years have I ever thought of someone
goi into labor! She had two other daughters and they started to freak
out so we had to all them down!

Anyways it was such an awesome week! And it FLEW BY!

I love you all! And HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Eat lots of turkey!

By the way it's now in the 30s!


Love,
Sister Pewtress

The biggest leave ever!

Hermana Hala'eua stole my iPad

The only way to take beds to the other sisters in the area!

Walks for weekly planning with a huge leave! 

Urgent care on Monday! 😫

There you have it!

Love,
Sister Pewtress

Russian Around! (11/10/15-11/14/15)

It's been a really awesome week! Really awesome! We got all of the
elders area as well, so we have been super busy. Like crazy busy. But
busy keeps the work moving forward. So I am grateful for that.

So with my subject line, well you see Harrisonburg is probably like 2
hours away from Washington, D.C. And well it's definitely cheaper to
live here then up in the capital. So we have a lot of pockets of
cultural people, such as Russians, Muslims, Hispanics, and many more.
It so cool! I have definitely learned how to say hello and goodbye in
Russia and Spanish. It's definitely hard to share the language with
people who don't have the same language as you, but that was fun.

In the same neighborhood of the Russians, we have a new investigator
named Tyler, he was praying to try and be closer to God and well the
Elders stopped by and well there was his answer!! MIRACLE! Well we
have been teaching him for 2 weeks now, he has so many questions
(which we love) and he wants to be baptized!!!!!!!!! We hope all goes
well and please keep him in your prayers! Laurie, still hasn't gotten
baptized, her mom said that for however long that she is dependent on
her moms and dads income, then she can't be baptized! Elder Taylor our
zone leader said, "why wouldn't the parents let her get baptized, but
yet they don't care about the things she does as a college student?"
Crazy how people are.. But there's really nothing we can do, it's all
in Gods timing. So please pray for her. We also have an investigator
named Day! She had concerns about the Law of Chastity, and with the
video from D. Todd Christofferson coming out she really had questions!
She said that she needs to do some self-reflecting, but knows that she
wants a family. So please pray for her to consider the blessings that
this gospel has. She knows this church is true and wants to do what's
best! We also found Rose, waxing her car! We stopped and shared a
quick restoration with her and helped bring in some stuff for her ill
son. (There's some service). She said that we could come back and
share more with her! HUGE MIRACLE HAPPENED! We were on exchanges with
the sister training leaders. I was with Hermana Romero. Well we went
to find former investigators and we saw this lady carrying her
groceries. I asked her if she needed help but she didn't. Well we went
to the the house right next to her and that lady wasn't feeling good,
so we decided to just get ready and leave, so the lady who was
carrying her groceries in was still getting them inside so we gave the
card to her and started to leave. Well we didn't know where to go, so
we said a prayer. During that moment Hermana Romero got a feeling to
go back and ask if we could teach her a lesson! I said it would be
kind of awkward but let's do it anyways. So we start to think of a way
to introduce ourselves, well you won't believe what happened!!! We
went to the door and SHE HAD LEFT HER KEYS IN THE DOOR! So we knocked
and said we had the prompting to come back and we realized that you
had left your keys here. We asked if we could share a quick message
right then, but her husband was asleep, but she said we could come
back and share more! IT WAS SUCH AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE!!

This week was filled with service! FILLED! We had Avante which is a
retirement home basically (we do this every Wednesday). We played
bingo with them! It was so much fun! That night we ate dinner at the
Logans (a family in the ward) and after dinner we did service and
helped them move things around for some people to move into another
room! The next day was Friday, and we had service after service. First
we helped Sister Jackson clean and do some prepping for a catering
job, then after that we went and helped Sister Cason who is struggling
with some health problems. We go once a week to help her do meal prep!
(Pictures below)

So we aren't able to watch the news, so Sister Johnsen and I had NO
CLUE, about the attacks on North Africa and Paris. We were devastated.
But Saturday was a good day. SUNDAY ARE MY FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK! I
love partaking of the sacrament. We got to here from a high councilman
who is originally from England! AND I LOVE ENGLISH ACCENTS! It was 15
MINUTES OF LISTENING TO IT. And his message was just amazing! We also
got to go see Krisitina open her call! She is going to the California
Fresno mission and reports December 30th! AHHH it rekindled the fire
that I had when I opened my call 6 months ago!

I know this church is true and I am so honored to be a missionary and
to teach people about the joy that this gospel brings to my life! I
don't know if there was a place that I would rather be!
I love you all! And thank you all for the support you give me!

PONDERIZE: D&C 121:7-8: "7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine
adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou
shalt triumph over all thy foes."

Meal prep for sister Cason!

Sister Cason, sister Johnsen and I 

The Russians gardens behind the apartments. 😄

Pizza with Hermana Romero! ( Pathans Hermana Powell)😘

Ohh the pranks we pull!

Well until next week! 5 WEEKS UNTIL CHRISTMAS SKYPE! 🎅🏼🎅🏼🎅🏼🎅🏼

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Love,
Sister Pewtress

"EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE"

Well today marks 2 months as me being a missionary. Crazy to think! As
I look back I can see that time has FLOWN by. And I just can't believe
it. Next thing you know I will be hitting my 6 month mark. Crazy!!!
Christmas is exactly one transfer away! 6 WEEKS!!!

This week was better than last. I received a priesthood blessing from
Brother Spray. He is a member of our ward, and we really have a close
connection with their family.! Get this!!!!! So sister spray has
family in Glendora. I was wondering if her family knew my family, come
to find out they are good friends and went to the same ward. CRAZY!

We have been volunteering at a retirement home called Avante.... And
we go around doing crafts with the people who are there. We went into
this room, and her name is Ruth. She has a hard time talking and
mumbles. Sister Johnsen was asking what she needed, and she was saying
"Heal me! Heal me!" So sister Johnsen and I kneeled and said a prayer
to her. The moment we said Amen, she fell asleep. The power of prayer
is real and this moment was definitely a testimony builder. I am so
thankful for the power of prayer to feel close to my Father in Heaven.

Tom dropped us. :( but he knows he is going to be baptized into this
church. Whether or not it's with us, we do not know. But he really
wants an eternal family and the only way he can have an eternal family
is through this church. I know for a fact that he will get baptized.

So we had a lot of service activities this week. One day we helped a
lady meal prep, and so she bought us dinner. We ate at Arby's, and the
Song "Every breath you take" by the police played. Hence the reason
why my subject is that.
The next service activity was hollowing out butternut squash and small
pumpkins with Sister Spray. We have the coolest relief society here.
They are so loving and caring and care so much about the woman in
their ward. They had a unity lesson yesterday where all of the women
of the ward got together and were unified. We had a light lunch and a
PowerPoint/video, with pictures and music, and we had women get up
(including me) and share a brief story. It was so beautiful.

This week was so much better than last week. Service really does help
you forget about things and makes you really selfless.

This week was just amazing. But now we are getting into the cold
months. This past week we got up to the 80s, and today we are hitting
the 40s. AHHH!

Meal prep!!

Holding a hedgehog at an investigators house!
There will be more pics next week! 👌🏼

I love Virginia and I especially love the people!

I love you all!

PONDERIZE: D&C 31: 9 Be patient in afflictions, revile not against those that revile. Govern your house in meekness, and be steadfast.

Love you all! And stay warm! 😘❤️


Love,
Sister Pewtress