HEY!!

So I have had an awesome week so far! So Tuesday I got my new companion! Sister Hathaway! She is great! I'm not training her, she came pre trained! haha She is from Morgan Utah, She is 19 years old and she loves the gospel! She has been a blast to work with! We have a lot of similarities which is fun. Actually it is kinda scary how similar we are! haha! Just like all the rest of my companions, she has long blond hair... haha! is this a trait all my companions will have?!?! She is excellent! On Tuesday we got strait to work and I feel like I still have not caught my breath this week! We found 3 new investigators too!! The work is progressing muy rapido!!! Being a trainer is different! Dad you are right! I have received more inspiration, or at least I have become more sensitive to inspiration! I feel like I have grown more this week than the 3 months I have been here!!!! I am so glad that I am still in Cochran! This little town has touched my heart!

On Saturday our Ward celebrated Pioneer day. (kinda weird that the whole state doesn't celebrate it...) we had fun! The ward did a pot luck dinner and a talent show. The missionaries here did a fashion show. We first came out in our regular look. Then the next topic was evening attire, we came out in the same clothes and we had flashlights. The next topic was hot summer days. Sisters came out in sunglasses and the Elders came out with their ties loosened a little. Our last topic was beach attire. Elders came out in little inflatables and their pant legs rolled up and the sisters had flip flops on..... hahahaha the ward got a kick out of it! 

As for investigators... A________ and K___ are GREAT!!! They both have baptism dates too!! A__________ is August 17 and K________ it August 31! We are so excited for them and they can't wait!!! We walk to church with K________ every Sunday and she loves us!! She understands and believes that the church is true! She actually calls herself a "mormon"!! so cool!!!

Our other 3 investigators this week. R__________ is a friend of a member. She is 16 and has a lot of questions. We taught her the restoration yesterday and that helped her understand! We are teaching her again on Wednesday. P________ is another investigator. We actually found here my first transfer here. Do you remember when I told you when we skyped, the story of the woman that called us? Well we had not been able to see her since then. on Saturday our plans were all falling through and I just had a thought to just try P__________. So we did and she wants us to come back and teach her. She is from Jamaica and it is sometimes really hard to understand her but I'm just glad that I have been blessed with the gift of tongues! haha

But yeah this week has been very busy but it has been soooooooo good!!!  

Glad to hear that you had a good week! Sorry it was boring.... I really liked what you shared about what you learned! I really like that scripture! 

Sister M________ is awesome! I can totally see you two being friends! She reminds me a lot like you! Actually the whole family reminds me of ours! It's kinda weird actually! haha They are feeding us tonight and I can't wait! haha!

So I just got done reading about when Christ comes to the Americas. It made me sad once I got done with 3 Nephi because the rest of the Book of Mormon just gets kinda sad after this because of all the wickedness, but I am excited because some of the coolest promises and blessings are coming up! I love the book of Mormon! It really has just come to life and the stories and the message just mean something more to me! It has been fun reading it on my mission! It's kinda cool how what it is I read in the morning, I usually notice something that can relate to it during the day. I don't think that is coincidence ;)

Well I pray that you have a good week! Please know that I pray for you and love you! Miss you a lot but I am having a blast doing the Lord's work!!!  

Luv you!

~Hermana Creason

Big news! No my visa is not here yet but I still have big news!

Tomorrow is transfers and we know what is going on. Sister Snyder is leaving Cochran and becoming a Sister Training Leader. Basically she will be in charge of all the sisters in a zone (10-16 sisters) and with the new Macon mission opening, lots of wards have requested sister missionaries.... 30 new missionaries are coming tomorrow and guess who is training one of them? ME!! I will be training a missionary fresh out of the MTC! WOW! I actually saw it coming.

When I got called to be in the Macon mission I knew that there was some special reason that God needed me here. I am the only Visa waiter in the Macon mission. President Cottle (mission president) said that he had put much prayer into who needed to be training. He said that he knows that I am not in "my" mission but at this small moment in time, this is my mission. He also realizes that I may not be here for that long but he felt very strongly that I needed to train! Of course I accepted and I am PUMPED! I have been through a lot the last couple transfers but I can feel a different kind of fire in me and I am stoked for the coming days!!! I have no idea who she is but I will find out within 24 hours!! 

I am going to miss Sister Snyder something terrible! We have grown so much and I love her dearly! She has been such a great example! A lot of the times we don't know what we are doing but she is and always has been the one to know what to do! I tell her that I feel comfortable training because of her. Then she will say "I don't know what I taught you!" but the biggest teaching tool is being an example and that's what she has been to me!!

We have had a rough couple days. Sister Snyder has gotten the flu and so we have been stuck at home and I have done a TON of reading! haha buts it hass been good! I have been reading old general conference issues and I have learned a lot! I also read a lot of the Book of Mormon. I read about when Christ came to the people and they all came to him and each person got to feel his hands. I bawled like grandma does at Costco openings! ;)

Investigator wise we only have two. ___________ is 11 and the cutest gal ever!! She reminds me a lot of Kaylee and Bailee mixed together! What a combo huh?!?! We walked to church with her yesterday and she had a blast! She actually has a friend that is a member so we were not needed in primary! It was cool! Then when we were walking home she turned to us and asks, "When is my baptism?"......WOW!!!!! This girl is on fire! Her parents are not interested but are more than happy to let ________ join the church and they completely support her! Then our other investigator is 9. ____________ is a daughter of a less active family. The family realized that they need to come back to church and __________ has a desire to be baptized.

Funny how our investigators are kids right!! haha No I love it and it is actually easier to teach them than adults! But I guess that's why Christ asks us to become as little children. Meek, humble and kind!

___________ and __________ are great!! They are actually taking us to Walmart today! haha!  They are amazing and we love them so much!

____________ is doing well! We do FHE with him and the Elders every week. We also do Book of Mormon studies with him on Sundays! He is a great man and I am truly inspired by his story!

We had another death in our ward this week. ______________. Him and his wife ____________ joined the church in January. Sweetest couple ever! He would always call me "Sugar" hahaha so cute! He just celebrated his 84 birthday last week.

Glad you guys are busy! Makes life interesting I guess... haha Camping sounded.... hectic? haha but at least it was fun! Yeah 100 degree weather does not sound fun at all! It's been weird here! It has rained every day for the past 4 weeks. and rain here is not like rain at home. It POURS in sheets then when it hits the ground it bounces like 4 feet the air! It's NUTS!!! All the locals say that it has never ever done this before! So I guess I will jsut take their word for it. So because of all the moisture, humidity is usually at 100%..... ECKA!!! It is disgusting. It was funny the other day, we were walking back to our apartment and we could see the wall of rain coming our way! Weird!

Hermana Brown has her Visa?!?!?!?! WHAT?!?!?! That's nuts! Any day now I guess!  Have not heard from Hermana Buckholz yet... she is in the Atlanta Mission. I won't see her till we are in Argentina! I have no news on visa stuff but I guess it will be sooner than I think huh? ;)

Well not much more to say this week. It has been a better one than the past one! Thank you for all your prayers!

Love you!!!

~Su Misionera

Hey Y'all! So not much went on this week. no really not much.... so I really don't know what to tell ya today. So maybe i will just send you a lot of pictures today!

Well your "mommy sense" has been right this week... I was struggling this week. This week has been very hard and there is no reason why but it just has. I have been thinking about too many things and worrying too much. I have been feelin like I am in limbo because I'm not in Argentina, felt homesick, frustrated  that my leg has been acting up and we have been struggling finding new investigators. Right now we have 2 but we have not been able to find them this week. It's hard to do missionary work when you have no one to teach... Some of the less actives are going through so much drama and they want to rely on us for support. And you know me, of course I will be there... One evening Sister Snyder and I were just so tired and emotionally up to our limit. but we didn't want to be. We knew it was Satan getting to us so we did something to distract us from our feelings. People here in Cochran love to give things to the missionaries. Canned food, cakes, and clothes! So we have an extra closet in our apartment and it has become the "dress up" closet.  We keep it in the closet just in case a sister in the future wants it. Anyways so we played dress up and took pictures! (I will send you some) Made our day!!! 

I really don't want to complain. I LOVE being a missionary! I have learned so much and grown so much in the past 4 months, but it has also been harder than anything I have ever done! The other day I really just was so emotionally spent, I didn't know what to do. It was in the morning and Sister Snyder was doing her studies and I was just lost. So I went into the front room and basically prayed and pored my heart out to Heavenly Father. When I said amen I just sat there waiting to feel something. And I waited.... and waited.... I was getting more upset now because I know that I need to be patient but I really did not want to. So I prayed again and asked Heavenly Father why He wasn't answering me?! I immediately had a thought that "Why does he need to answer when I already know?" That was not my own thought. That thought was from the Spirit telling me that I didn't have to ask Heavenly Father something I already knew the answer to. At that moment I realized that I was not alone. That He was holding my hand as I do this work. I knew that He was happy with the work that I have done the work that I will do. DUH!! I felt like such a dummy :) of course I knew these things so why am I letting little things bother me so much?!? At that moment I had so much peace in my heart. I knew that Heavenly Father was there with me and that He is the one who gave me that peace.

I know that I have the Faith! After that prayer I pulled out my B of M and began to read. I was reading Helaman 4. This is when the Nephites begin to be prideful and wicked.  In verse 13 it says "and because of their great wickedness and their boasting in their own strength, they were left in their own strength ; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of all their lands."  This scripture made me realize that God had tested them according to what it is they said they had. The Nephites said that they had the strength to defeat the Lamanites, so God let them have the opportunity to see it they really did. Obviously Heavenly Father knew that they did not have the strength but he needed them to see and realize that without Him, they are nothing.

I have this analogy I use a lot. Heavenly Father gives us little grains of sand (faith), what we do with that sand is up to us. We can collect the sand in the jar or we can toss the sand on the beach. But there comes a time in our life where Heavenly Father will take the sand that we have and apply pressure. We can not control the how much or how long he applies the pressure but we do control if we allow him to do it. It we do allow him to apply the pressure on our faith, yeah it is going to hurt, be uncomfortable, we may cry for help but the pressure will most likely continue because Heavenly Father knows what he is doing. Once he is finished with applying that pressure to your grains of sand, you now have a rock. a foundation of faith that has been made over time and over trials but how great is that foundation of faith?!?! 

I know that this is just a time in your life where God has given you a few more grains of sand and is applying it to your foundation of faith. Your foundation is unlimited! There is no limit of how big your foundation can get! We just need to do all that we can to continue to expand our foundation that way it can stand in a crumbling world!

Heavenly Father has done that to me this week. I told you a few weeks ago, that I got a blessing and in the blessing he said that I have the faith to do this work. I know I do have the faith. This week Heavenly Father tested me to see if I really did. He has shown me that my faith is strong but he can make it stronger, and he has!  I know that this work is the work of God and that Jesus Christ is the one leading this army! 

Uh yeah those Hi-chews are FANFREAKIN FANTASTIC WITH 2 SNAPS AND A ;) They are sooooooo yummy!!!! I like the keep your chin HI and Chews to keep your spirits up! So cool!

AHHHHHHH The temple!!! Oh I miss it sooo much! I'm glad that you all had a good time! 

So thank you for the package and the CDs! We love them!! Yeah I got a exercise band for my leg. There is a man in the ward that is a physical therapist and he said that it could be a result of the freak weather storms we have been having. But yeah I'm working on it.

Wow! this letter turned out longer than i thought it would!  

Well I love you all soooooo much!

Luv~ Hermana Creason

July 8, 2013

Lots happened this week but guess what........

T______________ GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!! It was sooooo cool! It really was a great experience! I am so grateful for the trust Heavenly Father has in me to teach his children! It was so neat to witness the changes that he has made the past couple weeks. To watch someone come closer to Christ is an honor more than anything! This family has impacted my life in words I can not describe! 

Another thing that happened this week was we had exchanges on Tuesday with the Warner Robins sisters. Sister Snyder went there for 24 hours, and Sister Mortensen (WR sister) came to Cochran for 24 hours. It was really cool to work with her. She goes home next week, so it was really good to get ideas from her and get her help with a few things. It made me think of what I am going to be like when I have got a week left..... weird!! haha! I also realized how attached I get to my companions! I missed Sister Snyder something terrible! We have been through so much together and I just love this girl!!!! 

The 4th of july was fun! We had strict orders of being back at our apartment at 7 pm. We had a lot of member visits that day. We ate with the M_________ family and we did sparkelers with them. Missionaries are not allowed to do fireworks so we didn't see any either :( but we had a good day! Speaking of the Morris'......we see them like everyday! mostly because of T__________, but this family has really become my family here in Cochran! Sister Snyder  and I have had a bond with them from day one, and look what has come from it!!! In fact today as we were walking to the college to go email and guess who pulls up? Sister M and E________! They told us to get in the car and that they were going to treat us to breakfast..... uhhhhh.... YEAH!!! haha so we did! :) I love this family! they are wonderful people and we joke around and they say that we are adopted into their family! haha. We have a blast with them! Last Monday we did FHE with them and after the lesson we played their favorite game. Marco Polo..... hahaha we would be blindfolded and play marco polo in their front room! So much fun! Also one of the daughters, loves heels just as much as I do..... she wore a pair at the baptism.... like 6 inches tall.... size 11.... yeah I put them on!! haha of course I would! haha I forgot my camera so I can't send you the pic but I will see if Sister Snyder got one of me in them! haha!

This week emotionally and physically has been rough. I have been struggling emotionally but I realized that it was just Satan getting to us before the baptism.... stupid Satan! ;) and I have been struggling physically. My leg has been acting up again. We have had a ton of bad storms lately and my leg is extremely stiff.... no bueno! remember how I couldn't point my feet very well? well it is doing it again and I think it's worse. So tracting has been hard. I am going to call the Mission President today and see what we can do. There is a man in my ward that does physical therapy but I need an ok from the president before he can help me.

Speaking of president I met the new Macon Mission President Friday! He is FANTASTIC! I really like him! He is very laid back and is very kind and extremely funny! I am very excited to be apart of the Macon mission! Not sure how long I will be here but I am making every second count! I really do love it here! Also with President Cottle he said that we can listen to any music that is spiritually uplifting........ he completely approves of....... wait for it........................................................................................................................ DISNEY SONGS!!!!!! SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha so if you could be ever so kind and send some Disney music my way!!!!! I am thinking of the disney music on our computer. Sister Snyder  and I LOVE Disney! Some of the ride music would be cool too! Princess and the frog, Tangeled, Lion King! just surprise me! oh Mom I also want that Elders of Israel song that we like...... haha and you can just send it to my apartment instead of the mission home. We are home all morning long from studies and such so packages wouldn't be sitting on our door step. Speaking of things to send me, I always forget to ask but today I am remembering! I think I sent home my Spanish Preach My Gospel in the box I sent home from the MTC..... yeah I need that back..... haha!

Well sounds like you guys have had a great week! kinda jealous actually but its all good! ;) That is an awesome present for Conner!!!! I'm glad that he had a good day! 

The 4th for you sounded really fun! being up in the canyon! I miss the mountains!!!! it is completely flat here! That is going to be one of the things that I want to do when I get home! Take a drive in the mountains! sometimes I feel like I am at the top of a mountain here because of all the trees but there is nothing higher than the trees! haha!

CONNER HAS THE PRIESTHOOD!!!!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!! YEAH BUDDY!!!! YOU GO DUDE!!!! haha that is soooooo cool! You have always been such an example to me dude and still are! p.s. glad you like the hat ;)

I LOVE this gospel! I would be no where close to the person I am today with out it! I ran across a scripture yesterday and it is FANFREAKIN FANTASTIC! It is 3 Nephi 5:13

"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."

There is a word in that scripture that is the most important word in it.... did you catch it? the word is HIS. This is Jesus Christ's WORD, this is Jesus Christ's PEOPLE! I am just here to declare it! 

I love you soooooo much!

~Hermana Creason

MACON MISSION

MACON MISSION!!!! Yes I guess you have heard that I am now a missionary for the Macon mission. It actually started today and I am so stoked! This mission has been closed for a year or so and they opened it back up! Cochran is part of the Macon mission so I am still serving here until transfers which is the 17th or until I receive my visa. I won't know where I will be next transfer until a couple days before :) I have a lot of pictures I want to send you today so I hope you like them! I will meet the new mission president on Friday and from what I have heard he is fantastic!!!! But until then rules are still the same until further notice. So emailing time is still an hour..... sorry everyone.....

 

So this week was not very eventful. We both have been off and on sick and we are not sure why. We are very excited about T____________! He has changed so much! Last night we taught him about following the Prophet and we watched a DVD "special witnesses of Christ".  We watched the part on Thomas S Monson and Gordan B Hinkley. The spirit was so strong! We also ran by the baptismal interview questions with him and he is ready for Saturday so now we have a baptismal service to plan ;) It has been so cool to watch him grow and change. He shaved last night and he took out his gauges! I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has trust in me to teach him!

 

Other than T________ our work is really slow. We have no other investigators. I have not talked about R__________ because she is now avoiding us. we have not been able to see her for a month. We go over to see her, text and call her but she is no where in sight. I still pray for her but I'm not sure how to go about with her. Same with our other former investigators. They have just dropped of the face of the earth. We can't find any of them! I became really discouraged because of a lot of things. I was frustrated that I was sick and couldn't work like I wanted, I was a little home sick, with Sister McRae getting her visa it has made me more paranoid with my Spanish.  Spanish is getting more difficult, etc....

 

I then went through some of my old letters that you all have sent me and I have to thank you for all of your inspiring and thoughtful words :) it brought my spirits up. I read a letter from you mom (a letter a few weeks ago) and you told me to not be discouraged and that it is just Satan bringing me down. Stupid Satan! We were going to see someone but we were discouraged and didn't really feel like the Spirit was with us. Sister Snyder turned to me and asked if I wanted a priesthood blessing? Uhhhh YEAH! So we called a man in the ward and he gave us a blessing! I am so grateful that we did that! In the blessing he said that I have enough faith... Duh Aleece! I realized at that moment that I had the faith to do what God wants me to do and that right now I am doing it! I have the faith, and Satan can't take that away from me!

This morning Sister Snyder said "you know I bet Satan gets really scared at 6:30 in the morning because that's when all the missionaries wake up ;)" hehehe

 

Thank you for the package! The skirt is adorable and I love wearing it! I have worn it like 2-3 times this week! haha jk thank you so much! Yeah those Hi-chews are sooooooo yummy! We keep eating them and there are like 4 left ;)

Sounds like you guys had a good week!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm actually chatting with you right now but still happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!! 12 years old?!?!?! dang I'm old! haha take pictures of your bday k!

 

Well not much more to tell ya! love you all! 

~Hermana Creason