Final Email

Paige with the Perez family (who used to live by us 11 years ago!)

It was a week full of things catching me off guard. Sister Withers and I are convinced that we found a haunted townhouse in our area, so one day as it came close to 9:00, aka bedtime, we decided to walk past the house. (Side note: Virginia doesn't believe in street lights so it's pitch black outside.) As we're walking past this house, a spotlight turns on and shines straight in our eyes---shepherd and angel style. So we're now blind and then something real freaky, aka probably a squirrel, makes the bush move, now we're blind and in fight or flight. We chose flight and booked it down the street and as I was contemplating my near-death experience I saw something super shifty out of the corner of my eye and so did Sister Withers. In reaction, she tripped and fell into the dirt and I gasped, flipped my head around and screamed SO loud only to behold a grandpa standing on his porch. It was just a grandpa. 

You know what else caught me off guard?? The end of my mission!!!! I complete my mission and fly home this Wednesday and I can honestly say I didn't see that coming. When I decided to serve I didn't realize how much I would come to know and love my Savior. I didn't understand how much God loves all of His children no matter what mistakes they've made or how far away they seem to have strayed. I had no idea how much I would love and care about my Virginians (guys these are my people. I'm tellin' ya!) and I didn't fully understand that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints truly is the restored church of Jesus Christ, the exact same one that He established during His ministry, but because of my mission, now I do. I am so forever grateful that I decided to serve a mission. I LOVE JESUS, my mission, my family and my friends. I really do love you all and hope that you feel the love of your Savior this Christmas season and every day!! 

See you soon:)

Love,

Sister Mod

Happy 18 Months to Me!

A picture of Jesus that I painted :)

This week I hit my 18 month mark and I was feeling super pumped to go out and share the gospel cuz happy anniversary to me and Jesus. I was telling Sister Withers, "This will be the best day of my mission, I promise". I was determined to share the gospel with such power to every person that I talked to. We walked by a man hanging up Christmas lights in his shorts and Uggs. I just knew he was ready for the gospel, it was so obvious. He was hanging up Christmas lights so he was probably looking for Christ's church, plus his outfit screamed let me be a scout master. There wasn't a better candidate in Virginia. I ran up and said, "Hey how are you!" He slowly turned around, looked at my name tag, gasped and ran into a nearby field. Honestly at this point I'm not convinced he stopped running, so if you see a man in shorts and Uggs point him to the nearest chapel. Hahaha! After that we got food poisoning, so the moral of the story is that the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. In case you're still wondering, it was the best day of my mission;)

I loved how they focused on that in the Christmas devotional because it has definitely been a theme for my mission. No matter what is going on around us, when we focus on Christ His peace is with us!! I can't imagine anything that I'd want more than that. 

Love,

Sister Mod

Pre-food poisoning. Happy 18 months to me lololol

A picture of my brother Tate cuz he is a lot cooler than me.

Slow Down and Pay Attention :)

Wow! Another Thanksgiving dinner with the cute family
that had us over.

Last week on "spiritual experiences with Michael Jackson" we ALMOST had a lesson featuring the Jackson 5. This week on "spiritual experiences with Michael Jackson" we DID have a lesson featuring the Jackson 5. Let me set the scene. Sister Withers and I just got let into a lady's house and are now in the process of teaching the restoration. She is feelin' it, we're feelin' it. Right as it gets to the most powerful part of the lesson we hear "I want you back." I was like what the. The music got progressively louder and louder and before you know it, Michael Jackson himself had entered our lesson. We kicked him out real quick and finished the lesson but I have a testimony of the spirit world. The veil is thin hahah.  

Happy Thanksgiving tornado

Lots and lots of miracles this week too! Sister Withers and I were out visiting people who had been taught by missionaries in the past and we were focused on visiting a lot of people in a certain area so we were being way quick, but as we were speed-walking out of an apartment building both Sister Withers and I got the impression to slow down and pay attention. Just after that we saw a light under one of the doors. We knocked and the sweetest family let us in to talk with them. I know that if the spirit didn't help us to do those things would have missed the opportunity to share the gospel with those people! I often am so worried about completing the task at hand that I forget to look around for people who are "perishing in unbelief" or loneliness, depression, stress, etc. I read a talk that says "I have come to see people not as interruptions but as the purpose of my life" and I hope to make that true of myself as well. :) Best way to serve God is by serving everyone else!!

Love,

Sister Mod

Just a big leaf

Our cute friend Anita :)

Happy Thanksgiving smaller tornado featuring pie and the B of M

Pre-Thanksgiving dinner

Wise Words: Be Someone's Example and Not Their Excuse

Our darling neighbors!!

Time is FLYING. This week was a blur so I'll just give you the cliff notes version of it. We set off 3 house alarms (I testify of my last 2 emails, still look like a criminal), accidentally attended a stake dance (for sure almost had a lesson with the Jackson 5 playing in the background, there could be worse things tho can I get an amen) and had a man ask us if it was 8 am or 8 pm. I'll be straight-up honest with you, I had to think about it for a minute.  I love my mission. I also love MJ.

Speaking of Michaels, we met the coolest guy this week!! As we were walking to our friends house we saw a man walk out of the bushes. So after we were done being confused why he was in the bushes in the first place, we went up and started a conversation with him. He told us that he went to seminary his whole senior year and the missionaries would come over every couple of weeks!!! How random is that!!! We felt prompted to ask him if the missionaries had ever talked to him about baptism and he was like, "Nope." I said, "Would you ever want to be baptized?" and he said, "Ya, for sure!" SO in conclusion: follow the spirit and if you see a man walking out of a bush ask him if he wants to be baptized. Odds are in your favor. 

Also here are some things I'm grateful for cuz tis the season:

1. The sacrament 

2. BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

3. This poem 

People are watching and that is a fact,

Others will follow the way that you act,

So make this your motto and put it to use,

Be someone's example and not their excuse. :)

Love,

Sister Mod

our bff Patrick from the grocery story <3

brother amar, another bff we met in the dollar store parking lot 

yummy Korean food

Another Case of Mistaken Identities

If I may, I would like to refer to my last email which says, "As the temperatures drop we add another layer of clothing until we are almost unrecognizable, and with the decreasing sunlight you really can't tell if we are sisters, elders or gang members." This week I would like to add 3 more categories to my list of identities that I have been mistaken for. A nun, someone's brother and the police. 

Nun: a lady that we tracted into said, "Wow! I didn't know they had nuns that were this young."

Someone's brother: they chased after Sister Withers and me saying "put on a coat" and we said we have the armor of God thank you very much. Hahah jk, no we didn't, but we thought it... 

The police: I saw a man who was sitting on a curb and so I asked him how his day was going and instead of saying a classic "good" or "fine," he threw me a "are you police?" 

For all of you who are having an identity crisis for me, I assure you that I am still Sister Mod the missionary and miracles are still happening!!! We were going to the church for a minute and saw someone standing outside in the parking lot so we went and started talking to him. He knew people that were members of the church and he talked about how they had a light about them. He asked us why we were all so happy all the time and we were able to testify to Tim of the joy that the gospel brings into people's lives! He was so excited about what we told him and I know that God was just waiting to answer Tim's question just like he is waiting to answer each of ours!! He loves you!!

Love,

Sister Mod

Our Friend has a Baptismal Date!

Because it's -200 degrees outside and it gets dark at like 5:30, Sister Withers and I have made the observation that with each passing day we look more and more like FBI agents. As the temperatures drop we add another layer of clothing until we are almost unrecognizable and with the decreasing sunlight you really can't tell if we are sisters, elders or gang members. Who really knows at this point? We visited one of our friends one night who has lots of kids. We knocked on the door and no one heard us but one of the boys had to take out the trash so he opened the door (not knowing we were there) and literally jumped so high, screamed and threw the trash bag at us hahaha. I mean, I don't blame him, but I kinda wish he was carrying a plate of cookies instead. 

Update for the area: our friend Sahid is on date to be baptized!!! We have been trying to teach him for a couple of months now and he hasn't been able to meet until this week. He has had some amazing spiritual experiences that have brought him from not believing in God at all to knowing God is there and that Jesus is the Christ. I know that this is Heavenly Father's work and I'm so grateful to be a part of it. The world changes us from the outside in and God changes us from the inside out!!! He changed Sahid and He has definitely changed me too:)

Love,

Sister Mod

Halloweeeeeennnnn!

So it's Halloween right? We are trying to be productive and the only way to do that on Halloween is to give out food. Amen? So Sister Withers and Sister Mod plan to make cookies. Fail number 1: we discover that we have 2 chocolate chips left, so no cookies. Then we are forced to make banana bread. Fail number 2: turns out if you leave banana bread in the oven too long it burns. Who woulda thought? So we had 2 dozen burned banana bread muffins. At this point our self-esteem has taken a hit but we continue on our journey to be productive on Halloween. Last but not least, fail number 3: we decide to make little God loves you sticky notes and put them on candy. Great idea, yeah? We put the bowl outside of our door and when we come back at 9:00 we find that someone took all of the "God loves you"s and left the candy. Hahaha at least someone knows that God really loves them. It's the thought that counts lol.

The burned banana bread muffins. :(

SO MANY MIRACLES happened this week. I really, really know that this is God's work. We have a friend that came to church last week for the first time in 2 years and he said that all of the talks were specifically related to him and his life circumstances. How amazing is that?? God is in the details. If you can't see the hand of God, look for His fingerprints :)

Love,

Sister Mod