"FRIENDSGIVING! 🍗🌽" (Week 61: 11/7-11/14)

Wow what a good week! It was a finding week but that's okay!! 

We had exchanges on Monday and I was in my area with Hermana Fischbeck and Sister Prach went to the hermanas area, doing Spanish work with Hermana Winterton. 

Anyways so this week was cool. Not much to write about but I did just want to share somethings that I have learned this week. 

So I have been trying to get through the Old Testament, before Christmas. Honestly I have no idea why I did that, because it is literally so hard to read, but I knew it would be good because we are truly in the good ole BIBLE BELT! 😂😭😳😱 

I am in Jeremiah right now reading, and there is seriously so much prophecy that has been revealed in these Latter-days. It is sooo cool to see how important prophets are and their main purpose as representatives of the Lord, Jesus Christ. 

I am so grateful that we have a prophet today on the earth and that we can listen to his counsel to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. If we follow the teachings of the prophet which come from the Lord we would probably be so good in our road back to our savior. Meaning we wouldn't have so much commotion in our lives. So I am very grateful for the opportunity to listen to a prophets voice!! I invite you all to listen to the prophets voice and turn to the teachings of them! 

So another cool thing is that we had the opportunity to go to a "Friendsgiving!" It was sooo fun... it's sooo cool to be here serving in a Young Single adult Ward, and to help so many people come closer to Christ especially in the hard times they have.

I love my mission and I am seriously so grateful for it. It has changed me so much and has truly helped me to become more like my Savior.

Thank you all so much for the support that you give me! I love you all & miss you tons💕💕💕

Love,

Sister Pewtress

Exchanges with Hermana Fischbeck 🐟

 

Sushi with the compy! 🍣

How we felt after 10 rolls of sushi! 😷😷

 

Thanhan got us some beautiful dragon fruit!!! 👏🏼👏🏼💕

"MEETINGS...MEETINGS...AND A BAPTISM!" (Week 60: 10/31-11/7)

It has been such a crazy week!! Are you ready for this rollercoaster? 

Monday was crazy! During the day we had Zone P-Day! Whooohoooo... we were able to go and play sports at the church! Soo much fun! We had to be inside our apartment by 5pm and we were able to deep clean our apartment. It was sooo nice todo that, because we have literally had no time at all to do it. :( whoops. Mission life is just sooo amazing! That started our craziness for the week! 

Tuesday! Wow what a spiritual day! We had half a day to find the elect. And that is where our whole week started. Tuesday at 3pm we started our next few days of meetings! At 3 we headed down to Richmond to have a sisters meeting at the mission home! We ate a lovely dinner and gen we had a whole night full of the spirit. We learned so many great and wonderful things, and it was just a wonderful night. We stayed at the mission home! I just love it there! ❤️ 

Wednesday morning, we woke up and ran in the absolute dark near the mission home. It was crazy! We then had 16 sisters get ready in 3 bathrooms! Crazy! Now I truly know how my mom felt when she was younger, living with 5 of them with one bathroom! Haha.. we then had a meeting down in Richmond, that meeting lasted till 4pm and we didn't leave there, till 6pm! Crazy! We then had institute on grounds. It was a crazy day! And one of the fun parts about this was that the Harrisonburg sisters came down with us! :) and stayed the night till Thursday! 

Thursday we had Zone conference! Always such a spiritual experience as well! That lasted from 10am-4pm. It was sooo fun!! We then went out and had a really spiritual lesson with a person named Godwill! He is just sooooo prepared! It's just amazing! He even read, more than we even invited him to read! It was sooo amazing. 

Friday we had a full day of finding! Which was amazing! We worked so hard! Due to very limited time... it was soo cool! There were so many miracles! 

Saturday! Sister Prach and I had an amazing opportunity to help John come into the fold of God. It was truly one of the most spiritual baptisms that I have witnessed. I know that the Lord is so involved with our lives and all he wants for us is to return back to him! Saturday night, we had another meeting and the last of those this week! We had Zone Meeting, and it was probably one of the funnest/most spiritual zone meetings I have ever had..

So here is the whole situation! We had some new policy updates for missionaries. The First Presidency has asked us to send all musical instruments home! Due to focusing on the mission! Which was sad. But for Zone meeting we had all those who play instruments play one last time, before sending them home! It was sooo spiritual! 

Then our fun part. We had a "finding activity" so instead of just 4 trainings on finding we had a scavenger hunt to find the different ways to find. With 5 ways to find were clues! everyone said that that was one of the best Zone meetings they have ever had! 

I am so grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity to bring people into the fold of God! I seriously cringe at the thought of even coming home. My mission is truly sacred ground to me! 

This week I have learned that through all of the trials and tribulations, the Lord is very aware of us! He is aware of our situations and our trials, and HE WILL NOT LEAVE US! NOR FORGET US! 

I love you all! Keep the faith! Till next week!

Love,
Sis. Pewtress

"HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!"" 🎃 👻 (Week 59: 10/24-10/31)

Wow.. what a week! And this week is about to get even crazier. 

First off! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Or should I say HALLO"CLEAN!" Yep that's right tonight we have to be inside our apartment at 5pm... and so our Mission President has asked us all to deep clean our apartments! I am sooo excited! 😜 

Well today is Zone P-Day! YAYY! SPORTS here we come! :)

On other news, this week like I said was super crazy! Next week is going to be even crazier. But we are sooo ready!! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

So some key things!! 

1. John is getting baptized this weekend!!! YAYY!!!!:) 
2. We have meetings all week! How crazy is that! We literally will not be in our area for like 3 days. 
3. I get to see Sister Johnsen! My trainer. 
4. So many other fun things, that I will tell you about next week! 

This week I learned so much about patience and just following the spirit. Honestly it's so hard to be patient when you have so many people that you are working with. But patience is a virtue.. right? And we always have to learn and to continue to learn , because we need to progress. It is always great to progress because we can become more like God and more like our Savior Jesus Christ. 

So my question to you is what Christ-like attribute do you want to work on this week?

I am so grateful for the gospel and for our Savior Jesus Christ! If it wasn't for Him, life would be pointless! Remember him through this week! 

I love you all! Have a wonderful happy Halloween and be safe! Ohh and HAPPY NOVEMBER! Wait what?? It's already November?? Where is time going? 

Anyways! Hopefully these pics make up for a super short email! :)

Love,

Sister Pewtress

Carving pumpkins with Sister Prach

🎃 carving with Charlotte!!

Out working hard! The work of salvation must go on when it is cold! 

The District.

Car selfies!

"HOW GREAT THOU ART!" (Week 58: 10/17-10/24)

Hey everyone! I hope you all are doing so well. 

Still helping all of these UVA students out with learning the gospel. But they are still not wanting to hear anything. They are just continuing in their life. It's crazy to think how much of the world you can be. When we are walking on grounds, literally everyone is on their phones looking down, or they are listening to music. They are literally so far away from the gospel. But it's okay. They will see that all will be great with the Lord one day. We are still teaching John and he is still preparing to be baptized on November 5th please continue to pray for him! :) we are also teaching this other girl named Khadijah. She is sooo sweet and sooo prepared. We went over the plan of salvation with her this past week and she just loved it. She had so many questions and they were all answered. 

These past couple of weeks I have been sharing a lot of scriptures on Christ's suffering, also known as the Atonement. I am soo grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. My Savior is seriously one of my best friends, and I have truly come to know him personally on my mission. Not saying that I didn't know him before, but you just go through a lot on a  mission. And I am so grateful for the things that I have learned. 

So I just had a question for you all..... what is the most read scripture in the Book of Mormon? Any ideas? It isn't Ether 12:27. And it's not Mosiah 2:17....

Well, instead of waiting a week, I will just tell you! :) so the most read scripture from the Book of Mormon is 1 Nephi 1:1! Haha, who would have known. It reads.....

"1 I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days."

I love how it says having seen many "afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days." Even Nephi struggled. Yet he was highly favored of the Lord. We are all children of Our Heavenly Father. He loves us sooo much! Though we may go through a lot in this life, don't ever forget that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father. 

Reach out to those who you haven't seen in a while because we are truly the messengers to share Heavenly Fathers great love.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve Heavenly Father's children and I know that He loves each of you!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Pewtress

Sister Prach and I

The fall leaves!! 

Sorry it's from behind the fence, but UVA Stadium! 

"THREE PEAS IN A POD!" (Week 57: 10/10-10/16)

What happened to this week! Weeks are just flying by like cookies on a plate! 🍪🍪 well last week I updated you on a little adventure that I was going on. Well I left Crozet and they put Elders in that area. Hopefully everyone is good there. I loved it there so much and there were so many wonderful members who helped us out with the work. 

Well 30 mins away from my old place is where I am now lodging. CRAZY! Haha. I am now serving in Charlottesville. On the University of Virginia Grounds and looking for all those Young Single Adults who are prepared for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

It is truly really fun, and we get to talk to soooo many people which is also super fun. Reminds me of a whole year ago when I served up in Harrisonburg and worked with the young single adults up there. 

My new companion is Sister Prach and I will be killing her and sending her home. Sooo sad. We get along so well. And a couple of weeks ago we actually switched companions for the day and I went with her. So that's funny. She is from Colorado originally, but then her family moved to Texas while she was on her mission. :(

But in other news the new area is really fun! We are teaching a ton of prepared people. And one of them actually knows a member where I served in my first area. Harrisonburg. We are teaching this guy named John and he is preparing to be baptized on November 5th, so please continue to pray for him. He is sooo ready and he said that no one will change his mind... SO AMAZING! 

Well just getting accustomed to the new area. It's pretty great. And the weather here is so amazing.

Lately I have been thinking about the atonement some more and how great it is. And Gods love is sooo great. And why would we not want to share God's love with others here in this wonderful world He has created. When we made covenants at baptism we truly promised that we would help his children to make covenants. 

So how are you helping His children?

I invite y'all to pray and ponder on things that you can do and to pray for missionary opportunities. 

I love you all and pray and hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Sister Pewtress

New address:  2110 Arden Creek #6108, Charlottesville, VA 22901

Three Peas in a Pod, Sister Patching (right), Sister Prach (middle) and me!

New Compy! Didn't plan to match either..:)

We were in a trio for the day! :) Hermana Winterton and Sister Prach!

Didn't plan it! 

UVA, The Rotunda!

The church on grounds at UVA

SAID GOODBYE TO SISTER CAMPBELL! 

"RAIN OR SHINE!" (Week 56: 10/3-10/10)

Just going to send this again.. didn't have all the pics. Sorry 

Well just a little update! We are safe and Hurricane Matthew didn't hit us to bad. So we thought that we might have gotten a lot of it, but we didn't. This whole week we had some sun-shiny weather and some not so sun-shiny weather. We had the storm roll across but it was just lots of rain and a big wind storm, so it wasn't all that bad. 

Oh and can you believe I hit 13 months in the mission field yesterday?? It feels like just yesterday I was saying goodbye to y'all! 

Sister Campbell and I have had a really awesome week. We worked our tails off and finally accomplished quite a few goals for the week! This whole transfer we have been tracting or knocking doors and not a lot of people are interested. So sad. There were times where Sister Campbell and I just wanted to give up. But a scripture kept popping into my head....

Alma 26-

"26 But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wilderness not with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent that perhaps we might save some few of their souls.

27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to aturn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world--not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.

29 And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been stoned, and taken and bound with strong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again.

30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us."

Though it has been a tough transfer and I have learned patience, I have really turned to rely on the Lord and to be happy with the little things that Sister Campbell and I were able to do. We helped the Ward a lot, we seriously strengthened it. And as we have worked our tails off we had a wonderful/depressing call from President Smith, we got news that they were transferring both of us out!! Isn't that crazy?! They are putting a whole new set of missionaries into the area. The reasoning behind that is because Sister Campbell and I have both been called to leadership positions in the mission! And we are both super nervous, but we know that the Lord qualifies those that He calls, and there is nothing that we can't do without the Lords help! 

I have loved serving here in  Crozet, and I will definitely miss it here, but I know that the Lord needs me somewhere else in Virginia! 

I am so so so grateful for opportunities to strengthen my testimony and to help others and strengthen their testimonies, I know that I will definitely miss Virginia when I have to leave totally. Virginia has become my home and it will forever be a special place in my heart for the state and more importantly for the people I have been able to serve! 

I will send you the address next week of my new place but until then have a wonderful week! 

I love y'all! And hope y'all have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Sister Pewtress

Sister Mosley

Part of the Snow Family!!

The Howell Family!

Sister Proffitt!

Atuaia Family!

Hitting my 13 MONTH! WHAT!! 😱😱😱

Gonna miss her!! Good luck training!

Gonna miss you Crozet! 😘