The "Itsy Bitsy" Spider(s)

cute lil' Virginia

Ok, so at the beginning of this week Sister Ewell and I were slowly shriveling up cuz it was so hot, then BAM winter. Weird how that happens.. reminds me of a certain place I know.. (subtweet Utah) lol. So here's the worst thing ever about the surprise winter that has come upon us: wolf spiders. All of those homies wanna get warm, so what do they do? They come inside. Dun dun dunnnnn. Story time. One morning we were about to leave our house and I was putting on my shoes. I felt something in the bottom of one of my shoes and I was like heck nooo, so I took it off and hit it on the ground and guess what came crawling out? A HUGE WOLF SPIDER. In my shoe. How rude. Then he just sat there and looked at me for a hot minute. Don't worry tho, I killed him with our designated wolf spider killing mop. All is well. Sister Mod is just never going to wear shoes ever again. No worries.  

Also, everyone here goes over the top on Halloween decorations. It's so sick, but at the same time, it's just horrible. Like we literally already have enough spiders! Don't put another one on your door, k? 

Hahah other than the spiders tho this week has been awesome!! We have seen SO many miracles, it has been amazing! One day we were walking up a potential's driveway and she pulled in and was like, "I haven't seen you guys in years, how are you?? Come inside my house!!" Hahah she actually didn't know us, but all missionaries are basically the same so we just went with it. But ya, she has been struggling hardcore for the last year and she said she has just been waiting for us to come by again. She is an angel and I'm so grateful that we were able to finally talk to her. MISSIONARY LIFE IS SUCH A BLESSING. Bringing people back to the fold is the coolest. In Elder Rasband's talk last week he said, "Love what the Lord loves." I've been thinking a lot about how I can apply that to missionary work, and then I remembered that the Lord loves His children above everything else. This week I'm going to try to love like the Savior does and I hope you all can do that too!! 

 Love, 
 Sister Mod 

(PS ~ I just figured out that my email is freaking out, so if you've emailed me and I haven't emailed back, it's not because I hate you, lol. Shoot me another email and hopefully I'll get that!!) 

fall leaves :'))

lol. we were supposed to give out free hot chocolate at a town event
but we had a little problem, so no hot chocolate for the town

weekly car selfie

ALSO S/O TO MARCI MOD, THE CUTEST MOM ON THE PLANET,
FOR THE CUTEST PACKAGE EVER

happy holidays hahah

I think the people here are warming up to missionaries a little bit. I say this only because we had a little Latino grandma that we have never seen nor talked to before, sprint out of her house at us yelling, "PRINCESS ONE AND PRINCESS TWO," gave us a kiss on the cheek and told us to respect our parents. Will do gma, will do.

Speaking of respecting our elders, yesterday morning Sister Ewell was marking her scriptures and she came to the part in the Book of Mormon where they prophesy about Columbus but she couldn't quite remember his first name (the mission veil is real lol) so she wrote George Columbus hahahah and it turns out TODAY IS COLUMBUS DAY! Karma for forgetting his name. Hahah so happy George Columbus Day guys. 

ERIN CAME BACK FROM COLLEGE! 

Okay, so I always love Conference because crepes and inspiration, but seriously, Conference as a missionary was UNREAL. One of my very favorite talks was by Elder Holland (I mean me and the rest of the church). He said something to the effect of, "Our relationships with others reflect our relationship with Christ." Seriously though how true is that?? Be kind to everyone no matter what. That's what my dad always says and Elder Holland agrees. :)) Christ suffered and died for all of us because we are all worth that sacrifice to Him, now we gotta look at each other through His eyes! The church is still true and LIFE IS STILL GOOD!! I'm so grateful for a living prophet and apostles that challenge us to do better and be better. Love you allllll and hope you have a good week. :)

Love,

Sister Mod 

Erin surprised the girls and they were soooo happy!

the skyyyy <33

conference notes :))

Oktoberfest!!

WHO'S PUMPED FOR CONFERENCE?? Cuz I am. Every person we go visit asks us what we have heard about Conference rumors. (They all assume that we know something cuz we're missionaries. Let me just remind you though that we didn't even know there was a hurricane in VA until the day before it was supposed to hit). We know nothing about anything in the world right now, lol. The family we had dinner with last night proposed a 1% tithing increase for people who say, "For those of you who don't know me," while giving a talk in church. Hahah, guilty. Everyone who gave a talk last week better start pullin' their wallets out. ;)

This week was Oktoberfest up in Lovettsville!! There were SO many people everywhere, it was crazy! But ya, we went up there to go street contacting which was so fun, but Sister Ewell and I were dressed in jumper dresses that looked German so everyone assumed we were workers and kept asking us where the beer was. We debated on handing out Word of Wisdom pamphlets for a HOT minute buttt we refrained. ;) Ironic though, amiright? 

The work is good but slow right now! We are in the process of finding new people to teach which always takes a little while but the Lord has a plan for the people in this area so I'm not worried. :) I don't understand everything and I know for a fact I never will, but I do know that whatever our Heavenly Father has in store for us is exactly what we need! 1 Nephi 11:17 "And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." Hang on to the simple truths you know. GOD LOVES ALL OF YOU and so do I. :) Have a good week!! 

Love,

Sister Mod

Sister Bourgess and Sister Mod

the field is white, already to harvest. for real tho.

Gpa Dave & Gma Karen will be proud. :) Sister Mod the farmer.

Update on Sister Ewell: she's still alive!!! Five transfers in HamCat later and she's still alive. But after this last Saturday, I, on the other hand, am not. Hahah we helped the member we live with haul 10 acres of hay bales on and off of his trailer. I started off all confident but then after the second bale of hay I lifted, I remembered that my arms are the size of a Q-Tip and it just went downhill from there. Haha! We moved 450 50-pound bales that were sopping wet because Mother Nature hates us, and now I am so sore that if you asked me to do Head Shoulders Knees and Toes I might shed a tear. :') It's a hard life when your body is literally built like a stick bug. RIP Sister Mod. 

Oh we miss this girl.

WAY happy thing happened this week tho!!

So this guy just needed some peace in his life and his friend was like, "Bro, talk to the missionaries!" And he was like k, so he just casually called the mission office and asked to meet with us. So we went over and he was PUMPED to see us! (Which is a new concept because everyone that sees us standing on their porch looks at us like we just killed their cat, hahah.) But ya, he invited us right in and we taught him about the restoration! At the end we were testifying about the Book of Mormon and about how he doesn't have to take our word for it, but he can know for himself that the message is true, and he was like, "Oh no it's seriously okay. I believe you guys. I promise!" Hahah we were like lol no, take the book. 

But ya miracles are happening, Sister Mod's getting muscles (which is the biggest miracle of all;)) the Book of Mormon is true and life is so happy here in HamCat !! I'm just super grateful to be a missionary. Hope everyone has a good week!

Love,

Sister Mod

when destiny calls... lol

Well everyone, transfer calls came this week and...... drumroll plz.......... nothing is different at all!!! Didn't see that comin', did ya? Neither did Sister Ewell because she's already been here for 6 months. :)  I'll keep ya updated on if she is still sane by the end of the transfer. ;) 

So lately, everyone has been ghosting us! I know how Provo boys feel now, amiright? Hahah but no worries there because the Lord always provides and we are working hard to find new people!! If Provo boys can get married a week after their missions tho, Sister Mod and Sister Ewell can EASILY find someone to teach. 

This week was sweet though. I almost got eaten by a bear. Classic Ham/Cat. (It was like 3 miles away from me and tbh it for sure could've been a beaver, but hey) and we got to do exchanges! Exchanges always blow my mind because we go from like 4 chickens on the street to full on DC traffic. But the coolest thing happened while we were street contacting!  I ran over and said hi to this lady and her son and they immediately invited us to come into their apartment, so obviously we were like, ya sure if you insist, haha. (The mom only spoke Arabic because they moved from Egypt about a year ago, but her son spoke perfect English.) So we walked in and the lady told us in broken English that we needed to teach her son! So we shared the restoration with this 10-year-old boy and he was amazed! We told him about how we have a living prophet today and he was SHOOK. Like seriously so excited. How fun is that? GUYS, THE CHURCH IS TRUE. We have a living prophet of God on the earth. That's just so cool. I hope everyone is as pumped for General Conference as I am !! Start thinking and praying about questions you have for Conference because answers come when you put in the work. :) Hope everyone has a great week! Also, I didn't die in the hurricane btw, but keep praying for the people that are affected!!!

Love,

Sister Mod

(also baptism pics cuz I was a slacker last week sorry)

Isabel and her cute missionaries. :)

RIP New Years

Cute Isabel got baptized this week!

So I know I said I was gonna use my 30 minutes of workout time more wisely last week, but I've decided it's not New Years so that goal is invalid. One goal I actually did achieve this week though was gaining new talentsss!!! Guess who learned how to cut hair?? I'll give you a hint, it was me. (Not my own or Sister Ewell's, we follow the missionary handbook, we promise, lol.) A less-active member asked us to come cut her hair and tbh me and Sis Ewell killed it. She looked 10/10 after. 

Sister Ewell and I have talked to so many people that now literally everyone on the street looks familiar. So this week we were driving down Main Street and I saw this man and instantly I KNEW he was famous. Like no doubt in my mind. 100%. He gave me a little smile and I felt it in my soul. So naturally I yelled, "SISTER EWELL, THAT MAN IS FAMOUS. I know he is." And she was like "I was thinking the exact same thing." We were racking our brains to figure out who he was and we just could not figure it out for the life of us! So a couple minutes went by and Sister Ewell looks at me and says, "Are we going to regret it if we don't go talk to that famous man? " and I knew what we had to do. We turned the car around and started on a manhunt for this famous guy. After like 5 minutes of searching the streets we realized he's just a French guy that we talked to one time. Hahahah literally the least famous guy ever. 

On another note our cute Isabel was baptized this week!!! She is the sweetest thing and she was so so happy. It has taken her a lot to get to this point in her life so we were extra excited for her. :)) 

Spiritual gem: D&C 6:34 says "Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail." It's just so amazing to me that no matter what point we're at in life, if we have that foundation on Christ, life is going to be okay. It'll all just be okay. :) Love you all! Hope you have a fantasticccc week and thanks for all the cute emails. They make my day!!

Love,

Sister Mod

"Go big or go home"

Good but slow week here in Ham/Cat! Not much has changed since last week. I'm still tall, Sister Ewell is still not as tall, we are still missionaries, we still go to 
Chick-Fil -A more than we should, but now SISTER EWELL IS 20! 

Sister Ewell's birthday was this week! Wahooo !!! We got fed sooo many desserts, one of which was a green birthday jello (a classic). As one of the sisters in my district once said, "Go big or go home, or just go home big." After all of those desserts we decided to choose the second option. Haha RIP Sister Mod. Also, at one of the many birthday celebrations, Isabel (an 11-year-old we're teaching) came up to me and gave me a HUGE spoon and said, " A big big spoon for a big big girl," and just walked away. Hahaha. As you can tell, that birthday jello really took a toll on me. I'll be using those 30 minutes of workout time more wisely now. ;) 

But ya, so people here are hilarious. I just love them so much, hahah. 

Lately I have been thinking tons about how God knows us all so individually and knows exactly how to help us and the people around us. Sister Ewell had a feeling that we should go and visit a man that had been put in as a do not contact and we were wayyy nervous. But we went anyway and ended up talking to him for an hour about everything in his life. He was struggling hard core and needed someone to listen so badly. We couldn't have known that, but God did and I'm so grateful for that. Pray to know how to serve!!! It makes all the difference! 

Love, 
Sister Mod