"Last One, Best one!"

So apparently Sis. Moss' swim coach used to tell her that phrase before their last lap in practice. She kept saying in over and over to me at Zone Conference!

Ok, so the pictures: the first is our MTC district! It took us 17 months to the day, but we are all on the same side of the mission! I am holding Sis. Steven's wedding announcement! She went home last Dec. and is now married! The next is the Sister's picture from ZC. Sis. Phillips is the only one missing I think... And the last 3 pics are Sis. PHillips and I with our presents from Sis. Hill! They are these screaming flying monkeys! They are sling shots! You slip your fingers into their hands and pull back the feet and let 'em fly! When they hit, they scream!!!! Needless to say, companion study was interesting this morning!!!

Anyway...Zone Conference was good. It was a little bitter sweet. It was my last Zone Conference because they aren't doing them anymore, but it wasn't my last transfer so I didn't get to share my testimony. I was a little bummed. That's ok though...I'll deal!At ZC, President told us some pretty exciting news! Out of the 30 missions in our area (30), 26 are loosing missionaries next year. Three of the thirty are staying the same and only one mission is gaining missionaries! And we are it!!!! We are going to be getting 22 more missionaries throughout 2009! The cool part is that we aren't going to be getting more cars...so sisters might be on bikes! Only certain sisters though. There are a few sisters in the mission that can't ride bikes. Anyway...it's just up for consideration! Do you know how many more people we could talk to if we were on bikes?! It would be AWESOME!!!!!!

Other big news...we got transfer calls last night. I kept having dreams that I would be training again, but thankfully...that is not the case! However, I have been taken from VA Beach!!! :( They are ripping me away from Sis. Phillips! :( I am being transfered to Innsbrook! I'm going to Richmond...I don't know how I feel about that...I feel like a boomerang. President tried to throw me as far away as possible (Harrisonburg and EC), but I found my way back to Richmond. It will be rough leaving the Celestial Kingdom of the mission, but it makes it easier when I know that I can call or e-mail them in 6 weeks! Plus some of the ward members here are going to come to the Temple with me! :)

I'm sad to be missing JR baptism. That is probably one of the hardest things. Hopefully Innsbrook has a White Christmas set up.

Hopefully when I e-mail next I will have pictures from my last week here. OH, I will have pictures from Christmas since I don't think I'll be e-mailing next week!

Oh, and my address is:
Sister Katie Abbott
2320 Seagull Ct.
Richmond, VA 23294

Oh, and one more exciting bit of news...Sister Moss is training!!!!!!! I'm a grandma! Holy cow I'm old in the mission!!!!!!!! Wowsers!

Transfers next week!!

What a great week!!! Our Bishop announced that the ward would be helping us to Flood the Earth with the Book of Mormon this holiday season! So members of the ward are essentially going tracting!!! The youth are going caroling! And we have been getting calls from people asking for what streets we need them to go deliver copies of the Book of Mormon to!! How cool is that?!

Jr. continues preparing for his baptism! It is awesome to see the change! We will see if I get to be here for it!

Interviews were this week. They were great! But in the interview President said that nothing is finalized but it's not looking like I'll be here next transfer. He asked on a scale from 1-10 how much I wanted to stay, and I told him 25! I think he got the picture. But I know I'll be where the Lord needs me and so that is what matters.

This week my study has been awesome! I am finishing up the Old Testament! I'm so excited to finish my goal! I will be done by this Saturday! The entire standard works! And then I am going to attempt to read the Book of Mormon in one transfer! I'm excited!

I know that this gospel is true! I was reading a talk by Pres. Monson this morning and he testified that Christ is at the Helm of the church! I felt the Spirit testify that that is true! I love this Gospel! I love the Prophet and I love my Savior!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Pictures:

Random act of service-- we showed up for an appointment and they were nailing carpet to their stairs...so we joined in! :)

Christmas Party Wise men giving gifts!

At the Christmas Enrichment playing the M &M game!

Me and my two children! :) Jacob Teancum Abbott and Nicole Ester Abbott (names have been changed...because I won them!)

Happy December

Well, Thanksgiving was great! During comp study, Sis. Phillips made a comment about building a fort. I don't think she expected me to take her seriously. I figured, if Elders could play football, we could build a fort! So we did!! And we did weekly planning inside our fort! Then after planning, Sis. Phillips made some visual aids while I made some peanut butter fudge and veggie dip. We snacked a little and then got ready to go to the Schoppaul's. We ended up only eating their and just dropping by the other two houses. It was fun. I tried Sweet potatoes for the first time ever. It was great! Oh, speaking of new experiences...we were at an appointment earlier today and this woman offered us some pickled bologna! It was...an experience. I thought Sis.Phillips was going to vomit! She didn't try it. She's not one for meat...let alone pickled pig parts! Like I said, it was an experience. When she wasn't looking, the dog got most of it. I am proud to say that is the first time I've turned to the dogs on my mission.

Anyway, Thanksgiving was good. When we got home we watched Labor of Love...and laughed so hard! Then we planned and went to bed. It was a good day. I'll try to attach pictures next week. The computer is being silly.

Last night we had a couple investigators at the Relief Society Enrichment night. The hightlight of the night was definately when the Enrichment Counslor announced the game-- it was one Sis. Phillips and I had played with her and her family at a family home evening last week. Do you remember the m&m dice game?! Well, that was it! So we had all the women in the ward at their tables playing. I took a picture for proof! We had a bunch of women asking us when we were going to teach the Priesthood! All and all, it was a lot of fun!

Well, I'm about to get kicked off again! I hope you all have a great week! Remember as you are going about preparing for Christmas how blessed we are to have the Restored Gospel on the earth today to help us truly understand Christ's Atoning sacrifice for us! After you think about that for a minute, think of who you know who doesn't know that! What are you going to do about it?!

I love this gospel!

Love,
Sister Abbott

I'm thankful....

What a marvelous time to be a missionary!!! I'm so grateful to be serving here in the wonderful Salem ward! I finished another Study Journal yesterday and as I was reflecting back on the last 5 months. How blessed am I to have been able to serve a mission?! I have been so blessed to serve where I have been called! One of my favorite songs and one that has had a lot of significance to me personally is Hymn #270. In it, it talks about serving over mountain or plain or sea...I laughed because that is exactly what has happened on my mission! I started in the mountains of Harrisonburg, went to the plains of North Carolina, and now I am in the Sea of Virginia Beach. I love being a missionary! I love the VRM! I am grateful that the Lord has restored His church back to the earth so that I can enjoy these great blessings!

Last night, we set Nassin Day (Maddy Milanak's son) for baptism on December 27! It is going to be a white Christmas!!! I love this work! The Spirit was so strong! As Sis. Phillips taught about the Atonement, the Spirit just filled the room. And no matter what Satan wanted to throw at us, we knew that he needed to set a date! The whole Milanak family is really coming around. As we teach them now, all the kids come into the room. I love it!

In Relief Society on Sunday we had a lesson on Pres. Monson's talk from Conference. They asked us to use only 25 words to write and tell our family what we wanted them to know if we didn't know if we would see them again. I wanted to share with you my response:

REMEMBER what matters: Christ lives, Prayer brings strength, Follow Spirit, God cares, follow Spirit, Family, Say I love you, Listening, read scriptures, COVENANTS, value education!

I do love you all!!! We are spending Thanksgiving with the Schoppaul's, the Arney's and the Saldivars!!! I'm excited!

Love,
Sister Abbott

It's SNOWING!!!!!!

So Yesterday, I was walking out to our car, and I saw this little white stuff falling from the sky!!! Yeah, that's right...SNOW!!! I think I was a little more excited about the flurries than anyone else, but that's ok. Nothing stuck, in fact, nothing even stayed frozen once it touched ground.

We have been on exchanges again this week. It was fun. I was with Sis. Halliday in Cape Henry and Sis. James went with Sis. Phillips in Salem. I love exchanges, but I'm glad to be back. We were planning on doing a sister's p-day at the church, but I think Sis. Phillips and I might ditch it to take a nap.

We went yesterday to teach a former investigator couple. As we sat down and started talking, they mentioned their grandson who lives with them who has CP. I started talking to them about it and mentioned Jayne's botox. Jamar had also done that, and was getting ready for another treatment. They really loosened up as we spoke. As we left, Sis. Halliday said how grateful she was that I was there for that. It is always good to have the confirmation to know that you are where the Lord needs you to be. Oh, and we met Jamar, and taught him too. They will be going back in a couple days to teach them all together! I was grateful to know that just because he had braces on his legs, he was still accountable. He is really bright and pretty excited about reading the Book of Mormon. So thank you Jayne for helping me to understand Jamar better so that he can come closer to Christ!

We had a lot of really great experiences while we were on exchanges, but sadly, my e-mail time is coming to a close! I love being a missionary! I love serving the Lord! I am so grateful for the experiences He grants us in order to mold us into the person He needs us to be! It can be painful, but it is necessary. And sometimes, just sometimes, he lets us see just a foretaste of what it will be like when we finally get there! I love my Savior! I am grateful for the Atoning sacrifice that provides the way for me to return to His presence to be with my family forever!

Love,
Sister Abbott

Great week in the field!!!

Sorry I forgot to talk about Halloween last week. I totally spaced it even though ya'll asked me about it. It was really great! We celebrated Sis. Phillip's Birthday since she apparently hates her birthday. I can't even fathom that! My birthday is amazing and I'm pretty sure it should be a national holliday! Anyway, so I conspired with some ward members and the family that we live with. We had a nice birthday breakfast with waffles! And then Brother Stephens who owns a pizza place gave us a pizza and even got Sis. Phillips a birthday cake! Hopefully it made this birthday a little better. I didn't find out until the next day that she thought that I was kidding when I said that we were going to celebrate her birthday on Halloween. If there are two things I don't kid about it is birthdays and halloween! Anyway, so we spent Halloween night planning for the next week. It was fun! A little weird to hear the doorbell all night with trick or treaters, but fun!

So the pics are mostly from Halloween. The other pics are from the mission council. Elder McMurdie, Sis. Sowards, Sis. Moss and I. And the other pic is of Sis. Phillips with Sazon Goya! A member gave us some and we were adding it into everything! It was pretty funny, and kind of gross, but a good mission story none the less!

The ward had an awesome chili cookoff where we were able to meet a ton of member referrals! In fact one of the women that we met we were able to teach in her friends home on Monday night! It was pretty awesome! The Elders had a great baptism on Saturday that Janine and her fiance came to. He is not as receptive so Janine is backing off. It makes me sad, but I know that it will just take time and the Spirit working with him.

Then on Monday we found this lady who started off by saying that she wasn't interested and was a born again Christian. Long story short... 45 min later we were setting up an appointment for Tuesday. We went back and she invited her roommate. We will be going back on Friday night and they are coming to church on Sunday! I love being a missionary!!!

Well, I'm about to get kicked off! I hope ya'll have an awesome week! I know we will! It is always great in the work of the Lord!! :)

Love,
Sister Abbott

Staying in Salem!!!!

Woot Woot!!! I am SOOOOOOOO excited to tell ya'll that I am staying in good old Salem!!! That will put me at 7 1/2 months here! Hopefully I'll be able to finish here! I am probably more excited about getting to stay with Sis. Phillips! I just pray she can survive another transfer or two with me...:)

This week was great!! I was so happy to be back to normal after last week! A lot of things are a little crazy, and we have been having trouble setting appointments with our investigators, but it has been good. We have been having a ton of divine rendezvous! I love it! It is like God's way of telling you that you are exactly where he wants you. Just yesterday we met this man named Edward. We were going to visit a new woman in the ward. When I saw her on Sunday, I felt like we needed to schedule an appointment with her. So we set one up for Tuesday. Before the appointment we went finding in her apartment complex. As we were walking around this corner, we saw Edward. He was in a hurry so I asked if I could give him a card for the Book of Mormon. He stopped and we started talking. He had become disillusioned with religion a while ago and was very intrigued that we share that Christ church has been restored today. We are going back to meet with him and his wife on Saturday!!!

There have been so many! I am so grateful for this work and the small part we play in it!!! I love being a missionary! There is nothing better! This morning I realized that this would have been my last transfer. But I still have 3 months left! I am SOOO grateful that I have been granted this time to serve my Father in Heaven! This morning I was studying in Jeremiah. And I read in Chapter 18 about how we are clay in the potter's hands. I realize that sometimes I am not the most maleable. That is something I need to work on. I need to let Him mold me into what HE needs me to be before I come home! I love this gospel! I love this work! I love Salem! I love Virginia! I love my comp! I just love it all!

I hope ya'll have a great week! Happy Birthday Cambo!!!!

Love,
Sister Abbott

PS--They are putting Sisters in Cape Henry, so that is 6 sisters in our district!!!!! I'm pretty stoked!!

Mission Council!

Sorry I am writing late. I was asked to come to mission council yesterday and report on my exchange this week. They are starting to work on doing more sister exchanges which will really help us to elevate our sites! I'm pretty stoked! We had the first big ones this week. Sister Sowards went up with a companionship in Endsbrook (sp?), Sister Moss had the 3 spanish sisters come to her in Glouster (sp?), and the Nags Head sisters came up to me. It was a....growing experience! It was way fun actually! A little strange to have a companionship asking you questions like you are supposed to have all the answers. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time on my knees! The only down side was that Sister Phillips had to go down to Sandbridge! It was good, but man am I glad to have her back! Sometimes you get so used to counselling with your companion about your investigators, and it is hard when you comps don't even know who they are. Sis. Phillips and I are very glad to be back to normal. Although we are a little worried with transfers coming up. Things are really moving here and I don't want to leave Salem or Sis. Phillips. But wherever the Lord calls, I'll go! I never wanted to leave Harrisonburg, or Elizabeth City...but I wouldn't trade the miracles that followed those changes for anything in the world. I know that God knows best. It is very comforting to have His seal of approval on where you are every 6 weeks. I truly cherish that!

So the mission council was amazing! I felt so honored to be there. President Millburn, the APs and the Zone Leaders were the only ones there. And Sister Sowards, Moss and I were invited. It was so awesome to be there with them. I truly felt as if I was shoulder to shoulder with missionaries that are far more qualified to be there than I am, but I appreciated the Spirit that was there. One thing that President touched on was the importance of agency! He said that the Lord gave us agency to give us the opportunity to choose the right, not for us to have "freedom" to choose the wrong. Then he proceeded to say something that pricked my heart. He said that once we made the decision to come on a mission, we made that right choice. And we covenanted with God to do right. Now when we make choices contrary to God's will, we are not enacting agency, we are breaking covenants! All of the sudden, the little things become HUGE! I am grateful that I haven't had disobedience issues on my mission, but it made me realize that there are A LOT of little things I have to work on in order to be keeping my covenant! I know that this is applicable to all covenants! When we were baptized, we covenanted with God to share the gospel. When we fail to do so or allow an opportunity to pass us by, we are breaking our covenants, and we loose power! "Your calling gives you authority. Keeping your coventants gives you power!" (PMG pg. 11)

That was my little soap box for this week! I love the Lord! I love the covenants that he allows us to make! I am eternally grateful for the Atonement that allows us to make these covenants and allow us to be saved from our sins! I read not too long ago in PMG that the purpose of the gospel is to cleanse people in order to receive the Savior's mercy at the time of Judgement! That really is what it is all about! There are at least 36 times in the Book of Mormon where the Judgement Bar of Christ is mentioned! I don't think the Lord forgot he had already told us!

This week was amazing!!! We had a New Era experience! We were praying one night reviewing our plans with the Lord and I felt very strongly that we needed to move our back up tracting to a primary plan. So the next day we went in the morning. We found one new investigator, but I felt like there was something else that we were supposed to do there. Time flew and we had to run to our appointments. Later that day we were back over by there, and we had about 20 min. because of a cancelled appointment. We walked over to the street and the first woman that answered her door is one of the most prepared people I have met thus far on the mission! Her name is Janine and we met with her on Monday and set her for baptism at the end of November! I think I might have talked about her last week, so really the only update is that we set her for baptism! I love this gospel! We also tracted into 2 families! We will be teaching them this coming week. And we have taught 2 member referrals in their home this week! I love being a missionary!!!

Well, I hope ya'll have a happy halloween! I'll be doing some weekly planning! And we are celebrating Sis. Phillips birthday...it isn't actually her b-day. But apparently she doesn't like her b-day and she LOVES halloween, so we just switched it! We are missionaries, we can do things like that! :)

Love,
Sister Abbott

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!

First I have to tell you about how AMAZING our ward is!!!! We have been doing a Preach My Gospel Sunday school class and this week we decided that we were going to make plans to contact those that the members were working with! Long story short...Because of my amazing companion and the Spirit... we have and will be teaching at least 5 member referrals in their homes in the next 2 weeks! I am so excited! We are feeling very on fire this week! We finally decided to start setting goals with some real faith and ones that will definately make us stretch! Right now we are not on line to reach them yet, but we have more than doubled our actual lessons and new investigators! Miracles are happening as we are letting the Lord take over! I am so grateful to be serving here right now!

Now onto the pictures--quite a few this week since they didn't send last week!

1.Cheri Koumbe and Charles Hausmann.

2. Me, Cheri, Maddy, and Sister Phillips.

3. Maddy and Cheri with their cake!

4. Screaming Banshee walking away from the door with her Book of Mormon in hand!

5. Me buried in the sand with Sister Reed, Sister Harsh and a random Elder who didn't want to play football.

6. Us at the Cape Henry Lighthouse. Sister Kruta said they were our jail cells...hence the scared looks! :)

7. Sister Harsh, Phillips, and Reed on the way up the Lighthouse.

8. Us on a ship!...not on the water!

9. Do you think President would approve that as our new vehicle? The only problem would be that I couldn't see my backer!

10. This one requires a story...that is Leslie the small child in the ward that I won. I threw a cloth frisbee and it landed on our car. She climbed up to get it for me and her dad said that I won her. I think it was a lot funnier when we were there now that I'm actually writing it.

11. Us all at the lighthouse with the lightkeeper. And yes, he is wearing the screaming banshee on his shoulder! We took her with us and ended up starting a lot of gospel conversations with people about it! We found a lot of people visiting from all over the country and a one even commited to call for a family video!

We really have had a great week! I love being a missionary! Yesterday we had an awesome miracle! The night before, we were praying about our plans, and overviewing them. We felt very strongly that we needed to move one of our back up plans to the primary. So we went finding on Chase Ct. in the morning and found a woman who we will be going back to teach on Friday. Then later that day, we were back over by there and our plans fell through. We were within walking distance to Chase Ct. and we only had about 20 min before our next appointment, so we decided to go finding there more. The second door we knocked on and the first one to answer was this woman named Nina! She is sooooo prepared! She is so excited for us to come back and teach her on Friday! We had a member with us who was so excited as well and will be coming back with us. She is great! Then on the way to our next appointment, the member started telling us about a couple of her non-member friends. Sister Phillips commited her to invite them to be taught! They are in the YSA ward, but that is ok! I love this work! I love how addicting it is! You truly just can't get enough!!!

I know that this is truly the Lord's work! I can feel that everyday! I love being a missionary because I know that there is no greater cause! I love my Savior! I love His church and I am so incredibly grateful for the restoration of His divine power that allows us to be sealed together and to Him forever!!

Well, I love you all and pray for your missionary efforts!

Love,
Sister Abbott

Yar Matey!!

Last week we went to the beach...it was awesome except for the fact that I couldn't go in the water. I think my parents will understand that the chilliness in the air was not going to take me away from the water. However my desire to be obedient far outweighs it! So what did we do you say? I got burried in the sand, and they made me into a pirate! I will try to attach pics, but no promises. I was having trouble with it earlier.

I loved this week! We had some awesome miracles! We had 2 baptisms!!!!!!! Woot Woot! I felt like I was so out of practice. In Elizabeth City, I felt like a baptism running pro. But alas, it has been almost 3 months since my last one, and I'm a little rusty. I told President that I NEVER want to go that long without one.

Maddy and Cheri were beautiful! Thier confirmations were so powerful! I love these women and admire them so much. We met with them both yesterday and the Spirit just radiated from them!

Another miracle happened with a man named Barry. Last week we were our following up with some potential investigators and had as a backup to go finding on a street nearby. Well, none of them were home so we walked to the street. I forgot to tell Sis. Phillips that we were starting tracting, so when Barry answered the door and I started talking to him, she thought I had already met him. We spoke of the Book of Mormon, the Restoration and set a return appointment. As we walked away, she asked how long ago I had met him. I was a little puzzled. We had a good laugh. I felt that it was a good sign that I am not very repetitive with my doorstep approaches if my comp can't even tell that we are tracting. Anyway...that was the funny part...the miraculous part came when he came to church with one of his neighbors who is a recent convert. We taught him before church, gave him a tour, and he stayed for all 3 hours! It was a miracle because Sis. Phillips and I had set the goal to have someone new at church that week. We had forgotten about the goal until after it happened! This truly is the Lord's work...and I am so grateful for that!

Also, this week, I received some great answers to my prayers. I will be coming home in January. I am very excited about that! I don't really know what I'll do with the 8 months before school starts, but I know that the Lord will provide! I love receiving answers to prayers! I will cherish this one always!

Holy Cow I am sooooooo excited for this week! I don't really know why, but there is definately excitement in the air! It is official, I am converting all of the sister missionaries around me into pirates! It is awesome!!! More stories will come later I'm sure. Sister Phillips came up with this great idea to go treasure hunting through our area book to find investigators! And we would totally be dressed as pirates! We will probably do that next P-Day!

I love being a missionary! I love this gospel! I love that the redeeming power of the Savior can overcome anything!!!

Sorry no pics this week...too many issues

Love,
Sister Abbott

Giant Human Boomerang!

So many funny things have happened this week! First off, being companions with Sis. Phillips is like having a giant human boomerang! I was listening to a tape that Sis. Hummel and I made the night before we picked up Sis. Moss and Sis. Sowards. And we spoke of how funny it would be if I got to be companions with Sister Hummel's greenie. Little did we realize that I would be comps with her greenie's greenie! There are probably 1-2 things everyday that I laugh about. It's funny when she pulls a sister Hummel-ism, a Soward-ism, and even more funny when she pulls a Sister Abbott-ism without realizing it! I know that this is all mumbo jumbo, so I'll give you my favorite example from this week:

We were talking about revamping how we do lesson plans and she had some great paperwork on it. She handed me the stack of papers for me to look through while she was getting ready for bed. As I got to the end of the paperwork, I noticed some other photo copies that made me laugh. There I found a copy of "the sparkle" that I gave to Sister Hummel. But even funnier was the copy of the e-mail from Josh that he sent me in March. Yeah, that's right she had a copy of an e-mail that my brother sent me 7 months ago in her papers! Ok, so I realize that you all probably don't find this nearly as funny as I do, but it was just a random tidbit from this week!
I hope you like the pictures! The first ones are the beginning of a series! It is Sister Banshee goes tracting. And Sister Banshee meets a future investigator...tune in next week for the continuation! The other pics are of me and Sister Phillips and Sister Phillips and our two phones. We were without any service for 4 days...that was fun! So we were really excited to finally have our phone back!

On to the good stuff-- This Saturday at 4 pm we will be having 2 baptisms!!!! I feel so out of practice. I haven't had a baptism in 3 1/2 months! I never want that to happen again! Maddy is very excited! Cheri is SOOOOOO excited! She called this morning to let us know her dad is in for surgery. She wants to go up to him when he gets home from the hospital, but is going to wait until Monday so that she can get baptized and confirmed! She is so funny. After her interview, we had her try on her clothes. She was dancing aroung like a little 4 year old! It was so fun! It was so amazing to realize how much joy was in her heart! She is my dad's age but she was acting like my nieces! I am pretty sure she has never been happier! She thanked us not to long ago for saving her life. I can't even describe the feeling of gratitude filled my heart for the Savior who allows us to be His hands here! I truly am so grateful to be a missionary!

There is a scripture that I say to myself every morning as I get ready for the day, "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare His word among His people that they might have everlasting life!" 3 Nephi 5:13. I know that it is true and that as I continue to strive to be the disciple that He needs me to be that I will be able to be an instrument in His hands!!!

I love this gospel! And I love all of you!

Love,
Sister Abbott

The Adventures of Sister Banshee

Part 1:

Sister Banshee goes tracting

Sister Banshee meets a future investigator

Stay Tuned for next week's continuation

I'm on my mission!!!!

Sister Hopoate used to sing this funny song whenever things weren't going so well that would always perk us right up. She would just say "I'm on my mission" a bunch of times in a funny voice. Anyway, now is not a bad time, in fact it is a best time, but I thought that would be a funny subject line....anyway...

Off to a fresh start on a new transfer! Things are going well! Maddy is still all set for her baptism on Oct. 11. Cheri might be moving hers if she has to go see her dad because he is going in for surgery. Anyway, so that's up in the air, but we aren't worried. She's getting very antsy and wishes she would have stopped smoking earlier so that she could be baptized already! What a miracle! There is a line in an EFY song that says, "Seeing their lives begin to change, I know I'll never be the same!" I know that this is so true! Anytime I start to become stubborn about something stupid, I think of Simone Whitehurst or Cheri Koumbe who have truly set aside their whole lives and started fresh when that was the hardest thing to do. They are my heroes! Anyway, they are doing GREAT!!! Now we just have to keep the harvest going and continue finding the elect!

We went finding yesterday and found this man named Ricardo! He is cool. We spoke about the restoration and he wasn't very interested. So we started talking about families and how they can be forever. It was amazing to see the light turn on in his eyes! He was eager to learn more and we will be going back on Friday! We also met a woman who we asked if she ever wanted her family to be happier and more united. She wasn't very open, but through talking to her we found out her fiance was from Mesa. She called him over, we talked for a little bit and they should be coming to the missionary potluck this Friday! I love this gosel! I love being a missionary!!!!

Now onto something way awesome and super exciting!!! My new companion!!!!! Her name is Sister Phillips! She is amazing!!!! She's been out 3 months in this mission! But she has served 2 missions before in Nauvoo! She is going to BYU-Idaho. She plays something like 17 different instruments. Needless to say, she's freakishly talented. It keeps me humble! :) She is from Portsmouth, VA originally, but moved to Idaho Falls when she was 10 I think?! Anyway, so I picked her up on Thursday and I don't know if I've stopped laughing since! She is awesome! She's got a great outlook on pretty much everything! She has amazing perspective...something I sometimes struggle with! The last time I hit it off this well with a companion was a year ago--Sister Moldenhauer! Anyway, I am hoping and praying that I get to finish here with her.

Oh, something made me feel really good this week. Last Wednesday I got a couple phone calls from Auxillery leaders in the ward asking if I was staying. When I told them I was, they were uber excited. That was nice. And then on Sunday in Relief Society's good news minute, I said that I had a new companion. And Sis.Wright said that her good news minute was that I was staying in Salem. Talk about sweet. I guess working to develop trust with ward members really does work!

I love this gospel! I love being a missionary! There's nothing greater!!!!!!

Love,
Sister Abbott

Transfers!!!!

Well....I'm STAYING!!!!!!!!!! Can I get a woot woot! How about a YEE HAW!!!!!! I'm sooooooooooooo excited! I get to be here for Cheri and Maddy's baptism on October 11!!!!!!! Oh, by the way, we taught Cheri about fasting and committed her to fast this past Sunday for a specific purpose. When we asked her what she would want to fast for she told us that she wanted to fast to be prepared to be baptized soon. That made us happy! So on Saturday night we went to her house to start our fast together. After sharing a brief thought, she said, "Sisters, I want to be baptized. And soon...not in a year or six months, but SOON!" Needless to say, we set a date with her. She is great! Anyway, I'll be here for that.

Sadly, my comp is leaving me. But not so sadly she is leaving me for ELIZABETH CITY, NC!!!!!!!!! Can you even believe it?! I can't! That's 2 transfers in a row where my comps leave me for my former areas...which wouldn't be so funny except for the fact that I have only served in two other areas!!!! She is uberly bummed, understandably so. There were her first baptisms coming up. I pray that she will feel successful. I'm grateful that she will be able to meet the people I talk about ALL the time.

I'm doing well! I'm excited to stay! I am pretty sure that that means I'll finish my mission here! I can't think of anything better! I love this area! And there are so many people that are in a teaching limbo right now that we just need to pin down and commit them to living the gospel. But then again there's that agency factor! Sometime's that bossy cow side creeps out...well it actually barges out, but you get what I'm saying. I'm excited to be here for Conference and for Halloween! And I am really excited to get to go back to the beach!!!!
Oh, and you are probably wondering...my new companion is Sister Phillips. I've met her a couple times. She is from Idaho. She came out with Sis. Ewing. She has been serving in Nags Head for the last 3 months. And she was trained by Sis. Sowards! I'm excited. From what I hear, she served a mission or two in Nauvoo! How rad is that!! Maybe she knows Elder Gardner :)!

I love you all and hope your week is going well!!!

Quote of the week: "If you could see the future it would leave no room for faith!"--Lisa Abbott! So when you want to have an assurance that all will be well...remember the Savior. Have faith that what He has promised us will come to pass!

Love,
Sister Abbott

Transfers next week!!!

There has been a lot happening this week. We had interviews with President Millburn! That was amazing! He spoke to us about application of the trainings and invited us to go through the notes we have taken throughout the mission and evaluate how well we are applying what we have been taught. That has been occupying the majority of my study lately. It is so interesting to see those things that I have applied and how that has blessed those I've worked with. Also to see the things that I applied for a period of time, but have stopped doing. And those things that I for one reason or another never applied. It is definately humbling to realize that there is still so much that I need to do to become the missionary that Christ needs me to be. But I am grateful for the tools that we have been given through trainings to be able to become who He needs!

Transfers are coming next week, and I really don't know what is going to happen. Sis. Ewing and I have been together for 3 months now and I have been in Salem for 4 1/2 months. So really, either of us could go or stay. I personally don't think we'll stay together...don't know why, that's just what I think. And I have no clue where I'll be. But between the 4 missionaries in the Salem ward, I think that 2 of us will be transfered. We have had minimal changes in our district the last 2 transfers, so maybe I'm just thinking it's time to shake things up. Part of me thinks taht when I get home, I will get tired with life the way it is and pray for transfers! :)

Some really cool things happened this week!!! Our Zone Leaders committed us to vocalize every spiritual prompting and follow it. That has yeilded some pretty sweet results!! Last week, as we were pulling out of the church parking lot from being dropped off after an exchange, I saw a box of Schwann's ice cream bars on the street. I had the thought to pull over and pick it up. I wondered if this was a selfish desire or a prompting, but I pulled back into the church and ran out into the street and got it. I gave Sis. Ewing the box and asked her to look for a number on the box so we could call and let them know that we found it. Just then, we saw the Schwann's man coming back. We flagged him down and gave it back to him. He was so grateful and committed to calling for a copy of the Book of Mormon.

Then just a couple days ago, we were driving to our dinner appointment and I saw a young woman pushing a stroller along a pretty major road. I felt like we needed to talk to her. So after driving another mile we found a spot to turn around. We passed them, pulled onto a side street and briskly walked to catch up with them. We spoke for a little while and set a return appointment with her and her mom. It was awesome! And then when we got back to our car, there was a man outside working on his lawn and we talked to him. We are going back tonight for that return appointment! The miracles of the Lord are everywhere!!!

This morning in my study, I wanted to mix it up and I felt like reading Moroni 10!! It was awesome! All of the sudden I realized that this is Moroni's departing testimony! Anyway, I was reading Moroni 10:22 "If ye have no hope ye must needs be in despair; and despair cometh because of iniquity." I had a great realization that no matter what is going on in our lives, we need to have hope. If we have no hope, what is the iniquity that we need to repent of? And what do we need to do to strengthen our faith? As Sister Hummel once said, "Hope is the goal." I think I understand that better now. Our goal is to be so full of faith that no matter what happens in our lives that we will have hope. That is my goal.

And just to fill those of you in on my decision about when I'm coming home...I'm planning on December. So that means that I'll be home 3 months from today! How crazy is that?! Ahhh...I've gotta get back to work!!!

Something kind of fun is that today we are having a sister's P-day. Sister Nugent and I talked about doing it at the last Zone Conference. And last week I got clearance from the APs to do it! So today Sis. Ewing and I will be heading over to the Denbigh chapel to hang out with about half the sisters in the mission. The only down side is that Sis. Moss and Sis. Sowards got called to a meeting in Richmond, so they won't be there.

Anyway, I'm doing well! I'll update you on transfers next week! Woo Hoo!!! I love it!
I love this work! I love being a missionary! There is truly no greater call! I am so grateful for the Lord and the time He has given me to be His hands and bless His children!!

Love,
Sister Abbott

Hola!

Well, first things first!!! Maddy Milanak is getting baptized on October 11!!!! She had her interview last night and she is good to go. She has prayed about that date and feels good about it!!! We are also going to be setting Cheri tonight. Hopefully for September 27th!!! I'm so excited, but both of them are next transfer...high hopes!!!

Another big thing...I got a call from the mission office last week telling me that my release date is actually January 28. I was told that I have the choice because of school to go in Dec. or Jan....I'm still praying about it.

Last night I was reading in Job and I found something really awesome! (By the way I'm reading in Job because that's where I'm at in my OT reading, not because I'm depressed or anything...and I only have 480 pages left in the OT to be finished with my goal to read the standard works on my mission!) Anyway... I read a couple verses that really stuck out to me and that I want to memorize and have engraved on my heart in the face of temptation! It is in Job 27:5-6 "God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast;and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." How awesome is that! It is like, "take that Satan!" It made me think of Gen 39:9...How can I do this wickedness and sin against God! How wonderful if I could get to the point that it is more of a sacrifice to do bad than to do good! So often I look at life as having to sacrifice the natural man for what God wants. Is that really a sacrifice?

I'll get off my little soap box! I just wanted to share a little insight! I love this gospel! I love being a missionary!!!

Love,
Sister Abbott

Before I forget....last week I told you all about the Zoo, but I forgot to tell you something so funny! They have COWS at their Zoo! Seriously...COWS!!!!!! I was laughing soooooo hard! People were gathering and taking pictures. It made me want to take Lorin there! I thought...people pay money to look at an animal that I see all the time! I almost expected to come across a cat or a dog in a cage!

Anyway, onto more important and spiritual things... we had an AMAZING zone conference!!!!!! Elder W. Craig Zwick of the first quarum of the 70 was there! I have never felt the Spirit so strong for so long in my entire life! We got a call the night before from one of the APs asking us to give a comp talk about a principle from PMG and an experience. We chose Media and Headquarter Referrals. And I talked about Stacy Riddick! It was awesome. Elder Zwick came up to us afterward and complimented us. He told us that the Spirit bore witness with power as we spoke! I was pretty excited! I always pray and hope that what I am saying is even making sense, let alone being carried by the Spirit!

He spoke of the divinity of PMG!!! He told us that he personally saw the extension of Pres. Maxwell and Haights lives in order to complete it! Pres. Maxwell was the principle author of Ch. 6 and Pres. Haight was the author of Ch. 8! How amazing is that?! I am so grateful for the divine revelation from modern prophets of God!

After ZC we were totally ready to preach the gospel!!!!! And we found 2 families that we are teaching tomorrow and Friday!!!! One is a family of 8!!!!! I'm soooo stoked!

I love being a missionary! I know that this is Christ's church and it is His work! Otherwise there is no way that it could progress so well!!!

I love it!!!

Love,
Sister Abbott

August 27,2008

Hello everyone!

What a crazy spiritually uplifting week!!! We had 5 investigators at church on Sunday! It was miraculous!!! Two of them were in the same family, but the other three came with their fellowshippers. It was awesome!!! The Spirit was so strong in the meetings. I love the Salem ward!!!

During Sacrament Meeting, we sang "Secret Prayer". It gave me such comfort to know that my Savior truly is there for us if we know how to access Him!"When sailing on life's stormy seas, 'mid billows of despair, 'tis sollace to my soul to know God hears my sercret prayer.When thorns are strewn along my path, and foes my feet ensnare, My Savior to my aid will come, If sought in secret prayer."Later we sang Sweet Hour of Prayer "And since He bids me seek His face. Believe His word, trust His grace. I'll cast on Him my every care and wait for thee sweet hour of prayer!"

I love my Savior so much and am so grateful that there has been a way provided by our Father in Heaven to access the power of the Atonement!

Lately I've been thinking a lot more about extending my mission. The only problem was that with school, I can't extend a whole transfer or I'll miss the start of the semester. This morning in comp study, Sis. Ewing and I were talking about the Savior's ministry in the Americas. I have always been facinated by the part where he blesses the children. Something I noticed a while ago is that the parents brought the children to Christ. This morning as we were discussing that, I realized how similar being a missionary and motherhood really are. We rear God's children and bring them to the Savior so that He can bless them. As we were talking about it, I had the Spirit teach me that my life as a missionary will not be through in December. I will just be able to be a missionary in a different kind of way later in life. Now for all of you that think I'm getting baby hungry...that is NOT the case. I just needed that confirmation to know that it is ok if I am not able to extend my missionary service. Which was really good, because about 30 min later, President called me and we talked about my extending and it isn't going to be a possibility. I love the Spirit and how He prepares us to know what God would have for us!!!

Now to the secular stuff--the zoo was really cool. I bought this pen that says Virginia Zoo on one side and Sister on the other! It's pretty awesome!!! I also got a penny for Jayne's passport. The pictures are fun! We found LittleFoot. I loved the sign that says "Dessert" with greenery all around it. We had a good time. The giraffes were probably the coolest!

Man I love being a missionary!!! There truly isn't anything greater! I'm so excited because we have Zone Conference this week and Elder Zwick of the 70 is going to be there!

Jesus loves me this I know....:)

So we had the most miraculous day yesterday!!!! On Monday night during planning, we were discussing a lesson that we were going to be having with Sis. Milanak (PM). We felt strongly that we needed to commit her to be baptized. So we decided to fast on Tuesday to be prepared spiritually to do that. We talked to an amazing member of the ward who has been fellowshipping Maddy and went over the lesson with her so that she could be prepared as well. And everything went GREAT!!!!! In my morning study, I found the scripture in 2 Nephi 29:30 about line upon line and precept on precept and I felt very strongly that Maddy needed to know that God doesn't expect us to be perfect, just to continue progressing! Then we taught about the role of the Holy Ghost in learning. When we asked her how she felt about baptism, she said, "I need to set a date!" How AWESOME is that?!?!?!? I know that the Lord knows us! He is amazing!!!!!! I love being a missionary!!! So she is going to be getting baptized in 6 weeks!!! Bro. Milanak couldn't be prouder!!!

Compared to that, our week seems kind of lame. Sis. Ewing has been sick...we think she might be lactose intollerant. I personally think it's celiac! :) But we will see. It is really interesting how I can now see that I needed to be comps with Sis. Hummel to know how to help a companion who is in pain but won't talk about it. So thank you Sis. Hummel! :) The Salem ward thinks they make missionaries sick though.

Sister Hopoate left us last Thursday to go to Zion! I've decided that H'Burg is Zion, and Salem is the Celestial Kingdom....so does that make Elizabeth City the Spirit World?...Hmmmm?!

The work here is going great!!! We are continuing to strive to find the elect! They are out there, I know it...we just have to find them! Maybe there are other holes of the rocks that we haven't found....hmmm,....maybe we should go finding with my head lamp?!

I love you all sooooo much. I'm sorry I wasn't able to personally respond to all the e-mails this week!!! Please know that it is not a lack of love...just a lack of time!!!

Oh, and I'm going to the Norfolk Zoo today with the Arney's, so next week we should have some good pictures!!!

Love,
Sister Abbott

The Plagues of Egypt are back!!!

Hey ya'll!!!

What a crazy week!!!! I hit my 13 month mark!!! That was exciting! And it didn't pass without a bang! I got attacked by a dog! And not just any dog...a German Sheppard!!!!! How AWESOME is that?! Ben would be disappointed...I didn't kick her in the face. But it was awesome!!! I am a full fledged missionary now! I have to go get x-rays soon, but only as a formality. They think my bone is bruised. She bit my right foot....you know, the same one that I sprained last year! Really, I'm fine though. It didn't break the skin. Oh and the picture of my leg...those are mosquito bites! I don't know if I got all of them in the picture, but I had 18 just on my right leg. Gotta love VA summers!!

Isn't being amissionary awesome?! When else in my life can all this chaos happen?! Speaking of chaos, transfer calls came in last night. Sis. Hopoate is being transfered to HARRISONBURG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am pretty sure the only way I could be more excited is if I were going myself!!!!!! I am excited to stay here with Sis. Ewing though.

The other pics are random...there is a family here who we had dinner with last night. They are sooooo cool! They are a lot like the Bowmans. In fact, his name is Jason and they have a daughter Jayne! They called and asked how we felt about cooking out, so we roasted hot dogs on the fire pit. And we did smores while talking about the doctrine of the Resurrection! What a blessed day!!! He also has an obsession with pirates!!!! I love their family!!! Oh, the speed stack timer is how fast I did the cycle stack last p-day!! I thought you would want proof!

Wow....zers!!!! I love being a missionary! This morning I was reading about Nephi and the bow and for the first time I saw it as a missionary story! They went out to Hunt (Jer. 16:16), and they found game "by the way", and followed the Spirit/Liahona to find more "fertile" ground! We have to look everywhere for those prepared to receive the gospel and follow the Spirit to find the elect!!! I love this gospel!!!!

Love,
Sister Abbott

Spiritual Growth Spirt!

Holy Cow I love being a missionary!!!!! This was such an awesome week!!!!!!!

First off...I saw that Sam asked how I am doing...Please tell him that I am doing soooooooooooooooooooo good! I love reading his e-mails and I can't wait for the day that we can sit down and hash out old mission stories! Oh, and the other day this awesome family made Hungarian Goulash (sp?)!!!! It was soooooo amazing! I realized that I hadn't had egg noodles since being out here. Can you even imagine almost 13 months without egg noodles...Josh would die! :) Ironically I felt right at home even though I have never even had that dish before. I was able to tell them all about my awesome cousin who is serving in Hungary! Man I'm jealous....but in a righteous-I'm grateful to be serving where I am because that's where the Lord needs me-but I hope you are enjoying your mission because that's where I wanted to go-kind of way! :) I realized that no matter where you are serving, it is just AWESOME to be a missionary!!!! I got a letter this week from Stacie Riddick! And I realized how grateful I am to be serving God with all that I have. She thanked me for bringing the gospel to her and her family. It wasn't me! It was the Spirit! But the Spirit can't do His job unless we do ours!!!! I love the Riddick family! And I know that we have a bond that will never be broken! We will be able to rest together! (D&C 15:6)

How much postage does it take to send letters to Sam? I'd love to send him a letter.
I think I told you about the Speed Stacks that a member bought!? Well, I love playing on P-Day!!! I've gotten down to 16 seconds for the full cycle!!! Woot Woot!

Other than that...our week was soooooooooo grood...I mean great...and good!!! :) Yesterday we taught 2 member referals in the member's home!!!!!! Holy Cow that was sooooo awesome! I love teaching in member's homes! The Spirit is always so strong!

Last Thursday during planning, I was looking through our ward roster with a prayer in my heart trying to see who we should visit to seek referals from. A name stuck out to me and we made plans to contact them the following day. When we went, they were leaving but we set up a time to come back the following day. The son is a member because he was baptized while he lived with dad, but now he's 22 and has a bad taste in his mouth of the church. Well, mom isn't a member but is going through a rough time. So we have been teaching her! She is so open and receptive right now and is reaching out for help! I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the Restored gospel! That is truly what she needs and she is starting to see that!!!!
Also, we had interviews with President Millburn this week. That was amazing!!! We started talking about some of the struggles and trials that the area is experiencing and he called it my growth spirt!!! I love it! This really has been the most trying part of my mission, but I didn't sign on for a cake walk, and as President Holland says, "It (missionary work) is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience!" It is so true! I love the Savior and I am grateful that He has placed us here to be His hands! How great is our calling!!!!

We also had a really great experience the other day working with members. We were eating dinner with a woman who in the middle said, "Sisters, I don't want it to be awkward...I haven't shared the gospel with anyone this week. And I don't know anyone who I could, but I tried." That was a little awkward and we didn't know what to do when it came time to seek referals. But I had the thought to watch a clip from the PMG dvds about how a member invited their neighbor into their home and how that happened. We watched it and said, "We are here to help you do that." She immediately started talking about her neighbor and how she could invite her to meet with the missionaries! She contacted her and invited her to dinner for Sunday... we are still waiting to hear back, but I am soooooooooo grateful for the promptings of the Spirit! I love this work! And I know that as we do it in His way, and by HIS power, MIRACLES will happen! I know that! I've seen it! I've felt it! What a marvelous work!

Love,
Sister Abbott

I'm not apostate...P-day changed!

Holy Cow it has been an amazing week!!!!!!! So much has happened! I suppose I'll start with last Friday! We had Zone Conference and the Tree of Life fireside!!! Zone Conference was AMAZING as usual! I love President Millburn! He is such an inspired man! One of the changes made...as you can tell...is that Preparation Day is now on Wednesday instead of Tuesday. It was funny how it happened. I was talking the car czar before the meeting about getting our oil changed. I told him that we would take care of it on P-day--Tuesday. He made a comment about how it wouldn't be on Tuedsay. I was a little confused but then as part of the Conference they showed a video of bike safety. I started getting sooooooo excited thinking they were going to put us on bikes. I started making a shopping list off all the thinks that I would need in order to be a biking sister (split slips, helmet, etc.). They didn't say anything after the video, but Elder McMurdie (AP) said he had a proclamation to make. He started reading this mumbo jumbo stuff that had been altered from the preamble to the Constitution. And about half way through, I realized as clear as day that P-day was going to be on Wed. I turned to Sister Moss and told her, but she said I was crazy. But sure enough...it was. So now we have P-day on Wednesday...but sadly sisters are still in cars! :(

Zone Conference was amazing! Jessica Millburn shared some great insights that I really needed! It is so fun to see her now! She spoke of how often times we look at the missionaries in Alma and how they baptized thousands and it is easy to get a little discouraged. Especially when we look at our goals to baptize monthly and we didn't do that. But she pointed out that it didn't say that they baptized thousands in one transfer. I don't know why, but that gave me comfort! I love the Millburns!

I loved getting to see all the sisters at conference! There is a special love that we sisters have for each other! It's like how the spanish missionaries describe it--a mission within a mission!

After Zone Conference, we had an appointment that ended up falling through, but their neighbors were sitting outside and we ended up having a lesson with them and setting up a return appointment. We were able to meet with them on Sunday afternoon with a member of the ward. It was sooooooo amazing.

But after that we went to help set up the Tree of LIfe Fireside! It was soooo awesome! President Millburn and Jessica spoke and we had "Lehi" read 1 Nephi 8! The Spirit was sooooo strong and there were about 120 people there. Lots of investigators! Our Bishops mother in law who is not a member had an amazing time! She went home and read 1 Nephi 8-12 and then decided to start from the beginning of the Book of Mormon! We are going on Monday to have a lesson with her before she goes back home! I love being a missionary!!!!

We also had a member of the ward come up to us at the fireside and say that she didn't feel totally comfortable sharing the gospel with those around her but she wanted to...so she is coming out with us for a few days to get in the mode and Spirit of missionary work!!!! I love the Salem ward!!!!!!!

I feel so blessed and loved! I feel like Heavenly Father has blessed me with the 3 greatest areas in the mission field!!!!

Then on Saturday we had a pioneer day picnic that was way rad and awesome! Sis. Saldivar had orded the Speed Stacking cups when I told her about them, so it was fun to see all the kids get into them! We are taking them today to the tri-zone p-day!!!! I'm sooooo excited!

Tuesday we had our District meeting which was really good. We were all pumped up about the work and our district set 4 people for baptism yesterday!!!!! Tonight we are going to invite a young woman named Milagro Sillas (Miracle Chair in spanish!) to be baptized! We are pretty excited. Oh and last night we had an amazing lesson with another investigator! She is praying about her baptism date and when she gets back from Cali next week we are going to sit down and schedule her baptism!!! I love being a missionary!!!! Woot Woot!

Oh, remember the girl who was set and then wouldn't return our calls? We went by last week and there was a note on the door that said, "Sister Abbott, please do not come back or bring others back". I told my companions that we should go on splits so they can go teach her since they didn't kick them out. I find that the majority of people here remember my name, but not my comps. Probably because mine is the easiest to read and pronounce! But the cool part was as we were leaving there was a woman standing in front of her door. Sis. Hopoate went to talk to her. We spoke for a while and set up a return appointment. As we were about ready to go, she looked at my nametag and said, "Abbott...I'm an Abbott!" It turns out that is her mom's maiden name! She is from Jersey and is black, so I doubt that we are very closly related. But that is the 2nd black woman who has claimed relation with me! I thought that would make Meg happy!

In all sincerity, I love being a missionary! I love serving the Lord and I am so sad that I can't serve full time the rest of my life! But that is why there is an urgency in the work! I know this gospel is true! I know taht the fullness of Christ's church is here and that we are a part of it! We truly are his hands here on the earth to prepare the way for His return! How great is our calling!!!

Love,
Sister Abbott

Wow---zers!!!!

What an awesome week!!!!!!!! I love being a missionary!!!!! There was so much craziness this week. We went to this woman's house to follow up with her and had an amazing lesson, and set her for baptism!...But she hasn't returned our calls or answered her door since...talk about ups and downs. We don't know what happened, but I'm sure it will all work out!

The pics are fun ones... The first one is of me and Sis. Saldiver! She is AWESOME!!!!!! We had been having FHE at her house for all the recent converts and investigators, but last night was the last one for a while. Their family needs a break. But they got a cake from Walmart that said Choose the Right (next pic), and at the end of the night there was a cake fight...hence the make up! The 3rd pic is of a fun family in our ward...the Rodriguez'. Sis. Ewing and I sang with their 2 oldest on Sunday in Sacrament meeting. We sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". It was fun and sounded really good. I sang alto, sis E was tenor and the others sang sop. The 4th pic is Elder Winder. He is in our district and they came to help us set some stuff up for the tree of Life fireside this weekend. The other pics were from that day too. My comps and I have a lot of fun! :) I am turning SIs. Hopopate into a Pirate!!! :)

I don't remember if I wrote about this a while ago or not, but I had some really amazing revelation last year in November I think. I thought of it the other day and need to journal about it. But I was in RS in EC and we were in the Spencer W. Kimball book. They talked about how President Kimball gave council to mothers to prepare their children now to serve missions for the Lord. I looked at the date, and was amazed to realize that it was almost 19 years later when the Raising of the Bar happened! How interesting that the Lord was preparing us for that decades before. That is one thing that has amazed me on the mission. The Lord truly does go before us...he prepares the way. I know that as we follow the council of the living prophets, that we will see blessings in our lives. We may not understand it, or even whole-heartedly agree, but obedience is more important than sacrifice! There is POWER in obedience!!!!! I know that with all of my heart! I feel that every day as I strive to be EXACTLY obedient! I love this gospel! I know that it blesses families! I know that it affects generations!!! I have been very grateful lately for the missionaries that tracted into Grandma Szabo. I look forward to the day when I can meet them and express my gratitude for the blessings I've seen in my life because of their service. They truly are saviors on Mount Zion!

I love this work! Sometimes it is harder than I ever could have fathomed...but EVERY second is worth it. EVERY moment is precious!

Love,
Sister Abbott

Woo Hoo!!!

Yay for pictures...I hope it isn't too big for the e-mail. The first pic is of Sis. Ewing and I when I picked her up from Richmond. The second is at the Princess Anne Chapel with my posterity! :) The third is from Paton's baptism. I don't know if I already sent this one. But the 4th is from my 1 year mark. Those are two elders that came out with me. We had zone meeting on our one year mark. The next is Sis. Ewing and I because her one month mark was on my one year mark! How cool is that?! And the last one is of Sis. James and I! (She is my step granddaughter!!!) She is Sis. Moss' new companion.

Anyway, I hope that is fun. We had a great week!!!! It has been a rough past couple of days... We had to drop a couple investigators and a couple dropped us. But we all feel that it is preparing us for something great! We were investing a lot of time into them and maybe the Lord needs us out finding more to find the elect who will recognize us as servants of the Lord!

We are pretty excited about what is about to happen...we don't know what it is, but we feel it.

Things are going well with the trio! I love trios. Training in a trio is interesting and hard, but it is good. I am grateful to have been able to train before so that I can recognize what is harder and make adjustments. This week we are focusing on teaching in greater unity. Sis. H and I had really started to get used to each other and now things are totally different...great, but different!

The ward here is soooooooo amazing!!! I feel so blessed to be able to serve in this ward. I have never seen a ward so willing and open to be a part of the work and not just feed the missionaries! They are concerned about the work and want to be a part of it! I LOVE IT!!!!!! I really hope that I get to finish my mission here!

Well, I don't really know what else is going on here.

I read the first part about Sam's e-mail. I totally know how that feels to question yourself even though you know that you are doing all you can do. It is hard. Does he have the talk Rise to your call from Pres. Eyring? If not, that would be a good one to send him. I find that I read it at least once every 2 weeks if not more often.

I hope that ya'lls missionary experiences are booming! Remember-- members are the full-time finders!!

Love,
Sister Abbott