Hey Y'all!

I am still here in Collins Hill the best area in the whole mission! we got two new people Sister Kafu, who is from Sacramento California and Elder Fowers who is from good ole hyrum Utah. they are both super fun and such good missionaries and we have seen many miracles this week! 

first off! HEATHER IS BAPTIZED!! i can't believe she is baptized! it was an awesome time and her son Tristan made it to the service which is also another miracle i will get to! she was baptized on Saturday and i got to give the talk on baptism! it went well. at least a bunch of people told me they liked it but maybe they said that because i told everyone that this would be the first official talk that i have given that you guys didn't proof read like ten times before telling me i could give it. :P they all thought that was pretty funny. after we went to their house to "celebrate" haha we had an all southern dinner. We had ham, collard greens, black-eyed beans, potato salad and deviled eggs. it was all really delicious! then i helped Heather and Tristan clean up in the kitchen while jimmy, Sister Arbon, sister Kelly and sister kafu went to the living and talked. I love helping people out in the kitchen and they appreciate it to. then we played monopoly for a little while. no one seemed to get into it and so put it away and had apple cobbler which was amazing!! then we were all super tired. they couldn't figure out what was wrong with us because we were super quiet and looked exhausted! we told them after a spiritual high we get that way so later they took us home and we all passed out! but it was an awesome day! 

Now about Tristan! Tristan is their son, he's seventeen years old but he turns eighteen in November. at first he wasn't interested in all about religion and i had tried to talk to him about it but he would always shrug it off or just ignore me, so i put my testimony in a book of Mormon and heather put it on his bed for me. we were over there on Tuesday night with the elders for heather's interview  the next day we asked if we could come over and teach a lesson he said yes. so we went and taught him the first lesson. this was a miracle! we could not believe that he is reading the Book of Mormon and Praying. he even came to the baptism on Saturday and is trying to come to church on Sunday!! its crazy!! 

Another miracle that happened this week was we were weekly planning, Sister Arbon felt like we really needed to go see this guy. He had knee surgery a couple months ago and they hadn't been back to see him sense. so we planned him in for the week. well! we were checking out mail and this guy came limping up to his mailbox which is near ours. Sister Arbon said hey nice yellow shorts he said thanks we then continued to talk to him, he told us about his knee surgery and about how he use to meet with missionaries. It was him! it was amazing! so we set up an earlier appointment! 

We were in Coordination meeting and the Elders were talking about who they were visiting, they started talking about this guy named Mike. it was hilarious because we had planned in to go see him that week and they tracted into him! some of these people just really need to be taught! 

After we taught Tristan's lesson we were walking back to our bikes when Sister Arbon sees this guy sitting on his porch shirt less smoking and she decides to go talk to him. Turns out he was baptized three years ago but he got super busy and has fallen back into old habits so we invited him to come back to church. it was super cool! 

We also got yelled at by this lady who told us this is a no scoliciting area. we told her were weren't selling anything we were just talking to people. she didn't like that response and told us to leave her a long. it was funny. we also ran into a guy who opened the door and said you ladies never learn! you never learn! shaking his head at us. we were so confused so i asked what we never learned. he said he was an atheist and he told us if we wanted to come in he'll convert us. it was so funny! 

but yeah! that about sums up my week! oh yeah! it was halloween! we were suppose to be in at 6 but then we got special permission to be at jimmy's house till 8. so we got to hang out there. then i went to bed early. it was awesome! :) 

p.s. our picture is on Facebook! we are famous! if you go to the LDS missionaries page you can find me and my district on there in our Halloween get up! 

Spiritual thought of the week has to go along with fast sundays! 

Sister sorenson in my ward got up and said "you can have a slow sunday, where all you think about it how hungry you are or how you have sit in church all day! Or you can have a fast sunday, you can have an amazing spiritual day and touch someone elses lives" 

have an amazing week! 

Love Sister Hanks

 - stone mountain selfie!

 - we decorated cookies on halloween oh and cupcakes!

 - This is the Parker Family from left to right Tristan, Jimmy, Heather, Sister Arbon and Me

 - Heather and I

 - Elder Lee got a Bunch of fake mustaches and we put them on after district meeting it was hilarious!

Hey Y'all

This week has been amazing! we have seen so many miracles and i don't even know where to start. :) 

   First off! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BESTEST FRIEND!! i can't believe she turns 18 today! i love you mucho kylee and i hope you have an awesome birthday! everyone give her a hug for me! 

     On Wednesday of last week Sister Arbon and I got to go to a New missionary follow-up meeting. that was really good. it was really fun to see my MTC family. They are all still here and doing good :) we also got to go to dinner with Sister Todd that night to a place called Panera!  its Mexican food and i ordered the spiciest thing on accident! i downed like 5 cups of water while eating it. plus she got us two appetizers and we each got our own dessert! i got fried ice cream! which i love! we finally got to meet with this family that Sister Arbon tracted into. they were super nice and had ton of questions but we think they are going to be baptized they really like our religion so far. 

   Thursday was soo busy! but it was a ton of fun! we went tracting that morning and knocked on this lady's door. she loves Christ and seemed pretty interested. she said that the Jehovah's Witnesses had come by before and were teaching her but they couldn't answer her question. her question is How did all the Cultures start? you should help me out! because i really can't find an answer! we are going back in two weeks. so let me know! After we talked to her for a while the sisters picked us up to go serve Ice cream since we had p-day on tuesday we switched it to thursday. there is this old man who comes in everyweek and loves to just talk to us about life. this week he gave us dating advice! he told us to watch their dates because thats how they are going to act and that's how they are going to look! he also said watch how they act around/to waitresses if they get snappy with them then they are going to get snappy with you. he is a hilarious guy and we love talking to him. He likes refering to himself as the jerk in the ice cream shop. haha then we went to the kelleys to make popcorn and cookies to go BOOing. :) it was a ton of fun! they fed us dinner which was Chicken and green beans and homemade Ceasar dressing salad. Guess what the sauce had in it?? anchovies!! it was delicious but so weird!! sister castleton said "this has a little bit of a fishie taste." then they continued to explain what was in it. yep its official i have eaten anchovies. i can't get over it either. after dinner we went out and BOO'd people it was a ton of fun. we have yet to be BOO'd but hopefully it starts spreading here soon. it might just be a utah thing though.. oh well it was fun! 

   Friday we did more tracting and tracted into a family who use to go to church all the time but never joined. her ex-husband was mormon and they love the church! they want to come back! heres the problem they are sooo busy! we are never going to have time to teach them! its crazy! so hopefully soon they will be able to find sometime for us to come over. :) We had Pizza night at the Simpsons. She is pregnant and its quite exciting for all of us. :) she is due in march! she's hilarious! she was telling us all about pregnancy and what to expect. After Dinner we went over to heather and Jimmy's house i don't remember exactly what we did. but we did something important. :P oh! wait! no we didn't have time! we didn't go over there. they came to us. we had run out of time to go over there so we told them we needed to take a rain check and they said no they would come to us. we sat outside and got to know their oldest who is getting engaged sometime here soon. she is 18 and is on her second semester of college. its crazy but its nice to be around someone who is close to my age. :) 

     Saturday we were walking down the road to head out to tracting, when we hear BOOO MORMONS! i was freaking out cuz its kinda ridiculous what we get yelled at us. but we turned and saw jimmy pulled over across the street. that man can find us any where. they told us to get powerade from the house because we need to stay hydrated. :) so we did. we got to talk to his son, who is a senior and high school. he is hilarious! so much fun to talk to. we asked him for referrals and he didn't have any. so we left him so he could go to work then we went tracting. that night was the Fall Festival for the ward! all the missionaries dressed up as wizards from harry potter it was awesome. Sister Arbon and I got to judge all the desserts! they were all soo good! we had a ton of fun and then the parkers Found us again. :P so we went to their house and jammed out to Gopel songs and get this!! i will replay the conversations we had! 

Jimmy: so heather has decided that she's joining the church!

All of the sisters jaws drop 

heather: OH yeah! when can i get baptized guys?

I HAVE ANOTHER BAPTISM!!! WOOT!! we celebrated!! plus jimmy met with a counsler on sunday so he is on his way! two more baptisms!! its soo exciting!! God really does answer prayers!! and Miracles happen every day!! on sunday they came to church and we set up a date! heather is going to be baptized November 1! its so exciting! i get to give a talk on baptism!! woot! :) 

My Favorite quote this week that has helped me out is : Find the motivation or desire, search it out and let it roar! - Elder Cleaverly

Sometimes its super hard to be motivated. in the real world or on a mission. we just need to figure out what motivates us and continue down that path! i challenge you to find something that you need to be motivated for, whether its getting up in the morning or its going to the gym! maybe its not eating snacks or candy! figure something out to help you be motivated to do it! and always remember you can pray! God can help you with anything! and everything! I love you all! 

Lots of Love and Prayers! 

Sister Hanks

- This is my District Leader Elder Lee (the blonde) and his Companion Elder Roy (the ginger) 

- Me, Elder Roy, Elder Lee and Sister Castleton. she didn't want to be a wizard she wanted to be a princess instead. :) 

- This was a sunset the other night it was gorgeous! i really do love it here! 

- i have the coolest family!! they send me the best packages! thanks guys! 

- Sister kelly and I she goes home in december and is dying out here! 

 

 

HEY!
Two more weeks until transfers! i can't believe it! i have almost survived my first transfer! i won't be transferred because im still training so i have another six weeks here in Collins Hill and then i will probably stay another 6 weeks here after that so i can be senior companion in the area. woot! Sister Castleton is going to be leaving us but Sister Kelly is staying here, president said she is dying here. We are hoping for a trio and we keep asking president about it! it would be so much fun.   we would be an amazing and powerful trio too. we would do soo good! so cross your fingers.

This week was soo good. i don't even know where to start! How about a baptism?

She had her final interview Wednesday with Elder Lee and she passed with an A+ and two gold stars! it was soo excited then we had to wait until Saturday for it to happen. when Saturday finally came around we got a ride to the church to practice singing our song. oh! Sister Kelly, Sister Castleton, Sister Arbon, the Elders and I sang a song the baptism! we sang When I was Baptized. :) it sounded super good! so we went early to go practice it, because we hadn't sang with the Elders yet, as we were practicing Sister Bennion (mission presidents wife) walked in the room. she said "y'all sound lovely we are singing a song at a funeral on Monday and you get to be my choir!" that's the next story! then she showed up, she was so excited! we took her to go change into her suit and then took pictures! Then we had the service and a good amount of people showed up which was awesome! She had to be baptized twice because the first time her foot came up. but after her baptism she was so happy. She kept walking around telling everyone she was a Mormon. it was so funny. After the baptism the ward members had brought some treats! it was way nice so we socialize for a bit then they all left. We also had interviews with president, which went well. i love president and his wife they are lots of fun. 

Oh so Sister Bennion's Choir. it was a ton of fun. we learned a song in two days. She gave it to us the night before and then we practiced it that morning its called as a child. it was super pretty. We went to someones funeral and sung it. it was fun and kinda awkward and really good for contacting. The Piano she had to play was a really crappy one and didn't play the accompaniment very well. they had an opening and closing song and us missionaries were the only ones singing. it was so awkward but we were very happy to do it. After we were done Sister Bennion took us all out for brusters. Brusters is a Georgia thing. they serve ice cream and milkshakes and its all outside at a walk up window its super cool. 

On Saturday night we went to go play soccer, I LOVE playing soccer! it is so much fun. we had quite the turn out too. We were about to start when Jimmy and Heather showed up. So we talked to them for a while then we started to play. some took the game WAY TOO SERIOUSLY!they gave us all positions and then told us what to do and they would get upset at us when we wouldn't do it, or do it correctly.  heather got some great shots ill send them to you later. Heather and Jimmy left to go to publix (a grocery store) and asked if we wanted anything we requested water. so they got us water and then got each set of missionaries (3) one pumpkin to carve! we have yet to carve ours. ours is actually in their car still. whoops. we'll get it sometime. haha Tristan wanted to take us to Steak and Shake but he couldn't drive us there or take us home, we aren't allowed to be alone with males there has to be a female present, and they wanted to take the elders out too. The sisters and elders aren't allowed to eat together. (its kinda silly. they use to be able too) so Tristan and Heather took us (Sister Arbon and I) to Steak and Shake and Jimmy took the Elders to Golden Coral. which jimmy loves for some reason. it was so much fun! Tristan is hilarious and so is heather. Heather is going to be converted i know it! jimmy even told her! Tristan is going to take some time but i can see him eventually coming too. they are so much fun! and Jimmy hopefully set up and appointment with the bishop so he can start coming back. they are a great family and they have said that they expect to be invited to my wedding and can't wait to come visit in Utah!! Heather came to church this last Sunday too. and she CRIED! it was amazing! she said "these people are getting me!" she loved sacrament meeting and hopefully she will come this Sunday as well! woot! 

We got Pedicures today!! it was soo awesome! my first pedicure and its on my mission. we are seriously spoiled here. but i love my toes. so did all the other little Asian ladies in the salon too. haha it was a birthday present to sister castleton. very worth it. 

OH! i almost got attacked by a dog this week!! it was so scary! and weird! it was at an investigators house who we go over there all the time, i have been there like 5 or six times before and the dogs have never had a problem with me but for some reason this time they did, he smelled my hand and started barking at me then almost got my hand! i had to run out of the yard! they had shockers on them so they can't leave the yard but the owners didn't call them off! my poor companion was just standing awkwardly at the door talking to them while i was at the end of the driveway staying away from them! it was scary and weird. but all is well! 

My quote and Challenge for a week! "The Father and Son have planned and prepared for your victory. If ye desire, then ye shall have." 

Think of a way to share the Gospel this week, ask God for help or even just ask him for Missionary opportunities. He wants us to succeed and made it that way. Then tell me your stories!! i would love to hear them!! 

Lots of Love and Prayers! 

Sister Hanks

~ Baptism

~ This is all the people in my zone! there are a ton of us and we are quite the silly group. 

~ Only in Georgia do you find Scriptures inside of Egg cartons. haha its one of my favorite scriptures now. 

~ Sister Arbon and I matched one day. We totally didn't plan this.

~   this was before she got baptized! 

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Howdy Ya'll! Week three

Sorry This mom is really behind!

 Howdy Ya'll! Week three went by way too fast! i can't believe im on week for of the transfer and i have been on a mission for one month and 2 days! that's soo crazy! We got to see meet the Mormons this last Tuesday and it was soo good! it comes out this friday and everyone should see it!! it makes you laugh it makes you cry and the spirit is amazing! i challenge you all to take a non-member with you to go see it. i bet they would love it to! We were tracting on Tuesday and we had a lot of people open their doors but no one really wanted to listen to us. so we were getting frustrated when we saw this guy who was a couple doors down just watch us knock on the doors, get rejected and move on to the next. when we got to the house next to his, he yelled are you guys selling stuff?? we said no we are missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. he said oh! come talk to me! so we went to talk to him. He seemed super interested and told us he was super busy but he would call us this week. he said he would call no matter what. so we are crossing our fingers. we went to dinner with the spencers. who are the senior missionaries in our ward. they are super cute. they gave me a CD with stories of the Logan temple on it. so im excited to listen to that. they took us out to Outback Steak house it was soo good and our waiters name was Jordan. :) it was pretty awesome. i ate way too much food because the next morning i woke up with a stomachache! it was so painful! i used some Oils and slept for an extra 30 mins instead of working out. I am now really careful on how much i eat. that day was really hard all day because i didn't really go away! but im better now. my companion has been feeling sick lately but we have been putting grapefruit in our water and now i have her convinced that oils work. :) its pretty great! Our neighbor, had her birthday this week, she told us nobody called her or texted her or anything so we took her pie on Thursday and visited with her. We sang Happy Birthday and we got to teach her a lesson! its amazing how food can get anyone to listen! She gave us apple cider and we talked to her for about an Hour. so it was nice for us to go visit her because she can't really get out of the house. we told her if she needs anything to just call. Jimmy and Heather fed us again this week, we had taco night. it was soo good. :) jimmy reminds me of a real southerner. he has the accent and the loudness and the southern hospitality. we found out that hes a convert. They really are like the cutest couple and we know they are going to get baptized. we love talking to them and going to their house. Heather has started reading the book of Mormon. She loves reading it. she feels super peaceful and loves what it has to tell her. they came to the morning session of general conference on sunday and Heather loved it and Jimmy did as well, he felt a little weird since it had been 20 years since he had been in a chapel but he felt super peaceful and is seriously thinking about talking to the bishop. we were getting home from dinner last night walking into our apartment and they called us asking if they could stop by and see our home. We aren't allowed to have people see our house so we told them we could come talk to them outside. :) we sat outside and talked to them fro 2 hours about the church and how they both really like it. We are going to go back tonight and see Heather tonight without jimmy. we are hoping we can finally teach a lesson. Friday was my one month mark! it was crazy! how did i celebrate?? we did weekly planning, took a one hour nap and went to a baptism! woot! it was sister arbons last area one of the people she taught was getting baptized it was still pretty awesome. Saturday was General conference!! i love conference!! it was soo good this time too! we have to go to the church to watch it which was really uncomfortable! i missed my jammies and my snacks. :P but i didn't fall asleep! miracle! haha not until sunday when i was shocked i fell asleep. i just laid my head down on the pew in front of me and the next thing i know there is a new speaker! whoops. :P it was only for like 10 mins though. :P but i loved Elder Bednar's talk!! it was soo good! i need to hear that as a missionary and it will be an awesome missionary tool. :) My Challenge this week: Find a way to share the gospel! Whether its writing your testimony in a Book Of Mormon and giving it to someone, or sending it to a missionary. Inviting people to see Meet The Mormons with you, inviting Non-members to Family home evening or sharing your testimony with a friend. :) if every one shared the gospel every one will hear it and what do you have to lose? this church is true! It brings happiness and blessings to all its members! God loves you and so do I! Love Sister Hanks - This was in the mall! they have a coke factory here but its in atlanta so we don't get to see it.

- The glitter in the package i got. it is still all over the apartment we love it!

- guess what his is?  We made chocolate tortillas  (my kids love these they are just tortillas with chocolate chips, cooked in a george forman till the chocolate melts)

They are called Hardees here in Georgia!

Week 2 in Collins Hill

Hey Ya'll i can't Believe it has been two weeks!! this is insane! i swear i have been here forever! Sister Arbon and Sister Kelly keep saying that they forget that i haven't been here that long, they say it feels like i have been here for forever. :P This week went by soo fast too! i have the best news!! but i think ill save it for last!! because it's soo good. :) so i have been tracting a ton this week. haha only like 4 hours total but im pretty sure i have knocked on over 200 hundred doors and its only week two. :P We got to meet the other sisters investigator. She is a gorgeous 19 year old girl! who is super interested in the church. We went to Breakfast at the Crandalls house where we had German pancakes which were delicious. After we went tracting. One of the coolest part of the area im in is that i am a biking area. which is super nice because hopefully i can keep off the weight. cross your fingers i stay in a biking area. The average weight gain in Georgia is like 40 lbs. which is a ton! so we get to bike everyday and our area isn't a small area at all! plus its not flat at all! it has soo many hills! they are steep too!! this week i was able to bike from the bottom to the top of the one we go up and down every day! i was soo proud of myself and so was my companion. we also found out the hard way that most of my skirts are way too long. :P haha i kept getting them stuck in my tires as i was biking but i do have a few that work and i just bought three more. On Tuesdays we have District meeting which is where we all meet together at the Church as a district and have some training's and talk. :) its really fun and super spiritual. no one in my district can play the piano except me so i have been trying to learn some new songs. so we dont' have to sing the same three over and over again. but its kinda hard because im really only around a piano on Tuesdays and that's it. :P i have to tell you about some of our members!! The Crandalls are this cute couple who have three little kids, two little boys and one little girl. they are soo much fun to be around. She stays at home with the kids and he works all day. they have fed us twice now. but she makes cute little videos from their trips to all over the world and her kids first six months. they are so much fun. Her husband love photography and Filming. The Lloyds!! they are the family who took the picture of all of us out to eat! they have 4 kids? haha one of them is exactly like Kylee. :) her name is Annie and she is gorgeous! her and kylee's personality is exactly the same. They came and played soccer with us on Saturday and then decided to take us all to Firehouse subs! they paid for us too!! they are soo generous! Brother Lloyd is in the bishopric and sister Lloyd teaches relief society. Their Youngest is 4 and is soo cute! she loves hanging out with the missionaries as does the entire family! The Seaburgers are this couple who just got married two years ago, she is 21 and he is 24. they are soo funny! one day our dinner was canceled on us so we called them up and asked if they wanted to feed us so they took us out to a place that is kinda like Pizza Pie. It was loads of fun. they gave us marriage advice and we told stories. :) its cool to see/hang out with someone around our age as well. :) This week i got to meet a recent Convert. Sister Dunn was actually the one who baptized her. we went and visited her and shes starting to have some problems. She is probably the sassiest person i have ever met and she is hilarious. She is so down to earth and very real with us. but she came with us to the Broadcast and she loves the church. she just needs to included in the ward more. we had a lesson with her and she taught herself. those are my favorite lessons where they do all the talking and light bulb after light bulb go off. the spirit is amazing. :) I saved the best for last!! she is a 66 year old lady and she reminds me of Grandma Debby. they would actually get along really well. :) she is so nice and so easy to talk to. :) she has been coming to church and to activities and loves talking to us and loves talking about the gospel. ready for the good news?? *drum roll* I asked her if she would be baptized and she said YES!! i officially have my first investigator on date!! i was soo happy she is going to be baptized on Oct. 11!! isn't that exciting?? woot! my first official full week and i have someone already getting baptized. :D she is soo excited as well. The Church really is true! God loves us so much!! He sent his son Jesus Christ to die for us so that we can return to him. I mean really how hard is it to live the gospel? not hard at all! "Life is Hard, The Gospel isn't." I promise that if you follow God and have faith you will receive many many blessings. Lots of Love and Prayers! Sister Hanks Sorry I don't know why the pictures show up twice! I'll work on that. Stephanie

- They have frozen Yogurt here! we get it like once a week. :)

- This is what an average neighborhood looks like in Georgia we went tracting here on Thursday and that hill is like every other hill that i have to bike up in our area its crazy!

- This is the picture you got from the Lloyds! we played soccer for like an hour and we were all about to leave when sister Lloyd said are ya''ll hungry? lets go get lunch! she took us all out to lunch! They also text his picture to my mom and told her they loved me!

- This is the shopping carts at the closest store. you have to put a quarter in to get to use it then when you put it back you get your quarter back. we always have to make sure that we have Quarters.

- this is my gorgeous bike!! its soo great. :)

First week in GA

Hey Y'all!! these last six days have been insane!! My Last day in the MTC we got blessings from our wonderful elders before we got on a plane to come to Georgia! it was awesome of them to give us and each other blessings it was an amazing experience and it helped a ton. :) The next morning we got up at 2:40 am to get on a bus and come to the airport to fly to Georgia! it was sooo early and we were exhausted! i got to call my amazing family. which was awesome but super hard because i bawled for like 10 mins before and 10 mins after. but i was soo glad i was able to talk to them. i can't wait for christmas! we got off the plane and ran into some elders that picked us up. then we got to meet President Bennion! he and sister bennion are soo cool and nice! then they handed us a Book of Mormon some Mormon.Org cards and a couple pamplets and said we are getting on the Marta which is the train at the airport and we are going to talk to people. This was the scariest thing i have ever done in my life! i was freaking out and i started crying because i was sooo scared!! Sister Garver reassured me that i was going to be okay because i still had her to help me. Then Elder Coleman said oh yeah! funny story your doing this by yourself!! then i started really Freaking out! But i met some awesome people on the bus and slowly got more and more comfortable with it. i gave away a Book of Mormon and a lot of Pass along cards! i did soo good! So my first day here I met my companion!! her name is sister Arbon. She is fabulous!! i sadly don't have a picture of her because its been so busy we haven't had time. :) but she is awesome and we get along really well! My mission is a tracting mission! so day on we went door to door trying to talk to people its actually a lot of fun. :) i have met so many awesome people! I haven't met a lot of the other investigators yet. but i will this week! something fun that we get to do every saturday is we get to go play soccer! its soo much fun! all of the missionaries in my area get to go and then we invite investigators or anyone really. this week we had some people show up that heard we played and wanted to play! it was a ton of fun! Elder Lee totally stepped on my foot and its soo bruised right now but it was soo much fun and totally worth it. One Last experience hopefully your not sick of them. :) on my first day we went tracting in our apartment area. a mission is soo hard. haha i am having a ton of fun. but i have been hissed at and i have been rejected i have been told that there is weed in the bible. haha its been amazing and i can't wait to start this next week!!! lots of love and prayers!! Sis. Hanks 10103 Holland Place 1175 mckendree Church Rd. Lawrenceville GA 30043 If you are going to send letters or Packages you need to send them here please!! or else i won't get them! i will let you know when it changes!

I will work on finding out how to turn the pictures the right way

Jordan Made it to Atlanta!! She called us at 5:45am when she got to the SLC airport on the 16th. The first time she called I couldn't hear her. She called back right away, we talked for a few minutes and then it hung up. It took her 6 Min. to call back!!! We are all awake now sitting on my bed freaking out waiting, except for Josh who was in St. George on business. There was a problem with her calling card, so she called back using her debit card. We called Josh and got him on speaker phone, then each of us talked to her. Addie went first said hi and then Jo asked what was she was learning in school. Addie said "ABC's" then Addie looked at me and said, "That's all I want to say" She walked out of the room and went back to bed. We all had a laugh over that. Jordan was emotional, so were we! She said it was the hardest thing she has ever done, but the best thing she has done. Her testimony has grown so much! She has learned so much about the gospel! It was so good to hear her! She hoped she could call back when she got to Atlanta, but no such luck. It has been a long couple of days. I have checked my email at least 200 times. The mission president had said they would email us when she got there. I assumed that meant that evening. An email came, finally, this afternoon that says she made it to Georgia safely. She is happy and in good spirits as she trained and left the mission office, with her companion, Sister Arbon. Her address to send packages and letters is: 1013 Holland Place Lawrenceville, GA 30043 She did tell us that she loves the letter and please keep writing her.

First email!

This is my First week in the MTC and it has been so hard and so amazing at the same time!! My first day i got to say good bye to all my family at the temple and then They dropped me off at the MTC. it was super Scary. My host took my luggage and me and I was whisked away to The main building where I went inside and said my name about ten times to ten different people while they handed me stuff and sent me to the next person not explaining anything. Then I was showed my room, we rolled my suitcases in there and left them. I was then taken to my classroom where I met my awesome teachers Sister Thompson and Sister Wells. We went from class to a devotional which was super good there are a lot of missionaries here and a good amount of them are Sisters which is super exciting!! Our first day we learn about conversion and about our purpose as missionaries. :) We met our first Investigators. way fast right?? Its our first day and we were already planning lessons. Ashley and Danielle. We are teaching Danielle shes a 76 year old Japanese American woman who loves badminton. :P The spirit is so strong here I feel it every single day. It was the first time a teacher was demonstrating for us and the spirit hit me like a bus it was insane but sooo cool! We actually taught our first three investigators at like 6 o'clock that night. It was crazy! but we learned a ton. We didn't even ask them questions we just started preaching to them. We didn't ask them or teach them to their needs. I have been learning a lot about teaching to their needs and listening to the spirit. My favorite quote of that day was heavenly Father gave us his Son, Christ died for us and we serve a mission for two years Its amazing to think about it that way. (this is day one and day two combined) Day three We planned lots of lessons. That's what we did like all day! We just planned tons of lessons we figured out how to plan different lessons and how to plan to the Investigators. I learned soo much all the days are kind of a blur so hopefully it'll all make sense. Day 4 We met a new Investigator Named Patrick and we got to teach him a district. It was super interesting and i think we did pretty well. We are working on asking inspired questions. Which is sometimes super hard to do. We taught our first official lesson with Danielle and we got her to pray!! It was soo cool! We also Got to teach a new Investigator Patty and we actually did really bad for that one. It is really hard to teach the doctrine really simply! As if we are teaching children it is soo hard but I am trying really hard! Day 5 We went to mission conference which was super good we had a lot of good talks and I learned a ton from it about serving and how we are suppose to be acting! We got to go on a walk around the temple with our district which was a lot of fun but super hard. Because that's where we said good bye to all our families! But we pushed through. Another thing that we get to do at the MTC is we get to fast. Which was super hard for me because I really don't skip more than breakfast and its mostly just because we forget to eat. But it went really well. a lot of our elders were home sick and thinking about going home so i fasted for them and it actually worked!! We still have all of our elders so far and they are doing amazing!! Day six! We Committed Danielle to Baptism!!! We actually got her to say yes to be baptized and during the second lesson! It was soo cool I hope she stays committed to it! We did this awesome activity where we all sat in a circle and told everyone our fears most were about teaching and leaving our families then our teacher said we are symbolically going to give them to Christ then we all stood up and faced the pictures of christ in the room and gave our fears to Christ I cried for like ever but after I could feel his love soo strong! and I know he is taking care of you guys! We had a devotional last night and it was really good at least the part I didn't sleep through. :P My branch president was sitting behind me and my companion and two other elders and me and the two elders fell asleep but I was the only one that got called out for it. because I move in my sleep! My head bobbed all through it. and the elders hold really still when they sleep but its soo funny! we have an elder, Elder Fry who snores every time he falls asleep which is hilarious in the middle of class. :) That is all i can write for now! I can't wait to hear from you all! i am only in the MTC for the next 6 days and I would love to get letters!!! Here is some words of wisdom for the week! Remember who you are, Remember to always Listen Carefully, remember to always say sorry, remember to have kind regard, remember that you get an abundance of blessings every day, remember to be grateful, remember to understand the atonement, remember to know that Joseph Smith is a prophet, remember that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. Sister Sitati The Gospel is the best gift you have ever been Given Brother Sitati Lots of Love and prayers! Sis. Hanks

MTC

I (Jordan's mom) am going to post from Jordans letters for her on this blog to hopefully keep you all updated on what she is doing.  I am not the best at computers, so be patient with me.  This post is more of a test, so I can figure all this out.  We have not heard from her yet. 

We went down to Salt Lake the night before Jordan left to go to one of Jordan's favorites, The Melting Pot.  We met her grandma and grandpa, and Uncle Trevor and Aunt Darci there.  We had a great time and ate lots of food.  

 Grandpa Andy, Jordan, dad Josh, and brother AJ

 Aunt Darcie, Jordan, Uncle Trevor

 Sister Kylee, Grandpa Andy, and Jordan

 Yin Yang chocolate fondue

 Flaming Turtle fondue

The whole family spent the night at Grandma and Grandpas.  In the morning we went to use a gift card she was given to the missionary mall.  We had lots of time until the restaurant opened, so we went to Bridal Vail falls. 

We went to the Brick Oven at 11.  So did quite a few other missionaries families. They sat us all in the same room.  We had lunch and then went to the Provo temple to say goodbye!

We dropped her off and watched her walk away.  Got in the car and we all had a good cry.  Addison said,"Wait, JoJo's going her mission today!?" That made us all laugh.  AJ said,"Can we go pick her up tomorrow?" 
We can't wait to hear from her!  We love her and are so proud of her! Wish me luck with this Blog!