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