Feliz Navidad

We were knocking a couple of doors the other day and we ran into this
family that seemed so nice and actually interested in who we were.
Only they spoke Spanish and no English. Somehow sister Andersen and I
managed to convey that we had a video about Jesus Christ that we
wanted to share with them, and they said yes and watched it! The kids
gathered around our iPads and the mom watched. They all liked it. I
literally know zero Spanish so all I could say was Feliz Navidad and
smile. The spirit was still there. It was awesome. We immediately
referred them to our Spanish speaking sisters.

Hence my subject line.

We got to do a white elephant gift exchange this week with another
ward relief society, they invited all the missionaries and it was
great. I got a bunch of jam preserves and sister Andersen got a can of
French vanilla hot chocolate, so we were both pretty happy.

I am working my tail off over here and really loving it. This week was
transfer week, and it was weird, sad, but good all at the same time.
It's weird to think that this is my final run.

I GET TO TALK TO MY FAMILY IN A WEEK.

Happy birthday Hannah! Tear it up my dude, you're 16 now. Go date cute boys.

What else happened.... oh we had a cool experience in a park! It was
Tuesday morning and we had nothing to do. I was driving down the road
and I saw a park with some swings. Being the spontaneous human that I
am, I immediately pulled over cause I wanted to swing on the swings.
We were swinging away when this older gentleman came walking towards
us. We engaged him on conversation and turns out he's the happiest
person to talk to. We explained that we were missionaries and we were
Mormon and he seemed to think that was the coolest thing ever. He
wasn't really interested in us coming by to have a lesson, but it was
nice to talk to him and explain who we are and what we do. Planting
seeds in parks. Heck yes.

I got to see some of my really good friends this week, like elder
mace. we went to Buffalo Wild Wings together and it was so fun. I've
been to Buffalo Wild Wings 14 times since I've been in Chico. It's
wonderful. I eat the chicken bones and gross everyone out.

Sorry that my emails are getting shorter and shorter every week. I am
losing the motivation to write lots of stuff.

I love all of you. Also, Alta Sierra/LOP people. The plan for the 19th
of January thus far is that my companion and I will be leaving Chico
at 1 and plan on being there around 3. As it gets closer we can
coordinate, I wanna see you guys before I go!

Talk to you all next week!

Love,
Sister Ginn

1. Most of the zone
2. Bye elder Clarke

3. At the park
4. SWINGS
5. I got to see elder mace this week. He's my bff
6. Bdubs with the fam
7.  We set up our relief society presidents tree <3 br=""> 8. White elephant!
9. We're so cute

I Am So in the Christmas Spirit This Year!

I am so in the Christmas spirit this year, I am yelling at people
across the street to tell them Merry Christmas and I'm singing
Christmas songs every five minutes. It's driving sister Andersen nuts
but I don't care, ITS CHRISTMAS. I get to talk to my family in two
weeks.

This week was kind of a slow week, but it was a fun week. So transfers
came last night, and I am staying in Chico with Sister Andersen my
last six weeks of my mission. 43 days left, y'all. I am very happy, I
love my companion, I love my zone, and I love the area.

I love being able to be a missionary right now. I really do. These
last 17 months have been the best thing that's ever happened to me.

Birthday shout out to my mom, happy birthday mommy <3 br="">
We had our Christmas party this week, and sister Andersen and I
performed in it. She sang, I played the piano. Everyone loved it. We
had so many nonmembers and less actives there, it was a Christmas
miracle. I played basketball afterwards with some kids in my dress.
I'm a winner.

We taught a lesson to an investigator who was high this week. That was
fun. We spent Thursday being in homes that either smelled of weed or
dead things. Chico is glorious.

Zone meeting was also this week, and elder Ford is going home. He's
been a good friend of mine most of my mission, and it's sad to see him
go. But he did his two years, and I know the friendship I made with
him will last a life time. I have so many good friends here, it's
amazing.

We had our church choir sing on Sunday, and it went really well. Our
choir director is really intense and if you miss a practice she might
kill you. It's great.

Heads up to those people in Alta Sierra and Lake of the Pines, I will
be in that area on the 19th of January to say bye to some people. Let
me know if you want me to drop by.

I really don't have much to say except merry Christmas! I love you
all. Talk to you next week.

What??

Was thanksgiving seriously last week

Ok well this week went by quick, and by quick I mean by the speed of
lightening.

We taught a ton of people and it was great. See, we teach a lot of
people here in Chico. But none of them are progressing. They aren't
willing to do things we ask. They don't want to come to church. But
they still want the missionaries to teach them and come over. Ok. Well
it's better than nothing.

I do love it though, even though the people we teach are being bums I
still love them anyways <3 br="">
We taught a lesson this week to one of my favorite investigators names
Cathy. She wants to get baptized and she has decided to stop smoking.
She is eating dum dum lollipops like crazy whenever she has a craving
to smoke. It's so cute, gosh dang her determination for baptism makes
me so happy.

This week I got to say goodbye to elder Forson. He is one of the best
friends I have made in my entire mission, and I love him so much. He
is going back home to Washington DC, and we're probs gonna hang out
and stuff. The friendships you make here will last a life time. I love
it. So much.

So yeah it's December and I go home in a month. *internal screaming*

Christmas is around the corner and it's exciting. I love all the
lights and stuff everywhere. Oh, it makes me so happy.

We also went in exchanges this week. I went with sister Canann, who is
the tallest sister missionary in the mission. I'm the shortest. She
lives in Virginia, and she goes home a transfer after I do. It was so
much fun, we taught this lady who loves weed and sold some weed to her
dad cause it's legal now in California to do that. She said she was
just spreading the joy. Ok. It was funny.

I am really in the Christmas spirit. There was a Christmas singing
concert we got to go to and it was wonderful. I really enjoyed it.
There was an entire family of six that played the cello, the violin,
and the piano. There was so much talent it was kind of ridiculous.

We got to set up some Christmas trees at one our of investigators
house. They had soooo many ornaments, and the mom kept telling sister
Andersen and I how her family is lazy and hates setting up the tree.
Girl I'll set up your tree anytime.

Anyway, I love you all! My testimony continues to grow each day. I
know the lord is proud of my service. I am happy with the way things
are going.

See y'all soon!

Love,
Sister Caroline Ginn

I Gave My Departing Testimony This Week (Heavy Breathing)

Hey.

We had zone conference this week. At the end of each zone conference,
we have people who are leaving to go home give their departing
testimonies. I was one of those people, since I go home in January.
That was the weirdest thing in the world. I've been using the rest of
this week to come to grips with the fact that truly, my mission is
almost over. But I'm pretty excited about it. I'm excited to see my
family again, and I am excited to apply all the things I've learned
here for the rest of my life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MELANIE SHES 19 NOW YEEEAHHHH love you my dude

I've also realized that I will only see president Marston a few more
times before I go home. That's such a sad thought.

This week was pretty kool. One neato thing that happened was sister
Andersen and I were able to contact a whole family who are not
members. They're called the Hubbards, and they are really funny.
There's the mom and dad and two kids. They love missionaries and they
told us we could stop by again whenever we wanted to. Heck yeah.

We also had stake conference this weekend. Elder Lawrence of the
seventh came by to the Chico stake and spoke to everyone. It was so
good, president Marston was there as well and he even gave a talk
about how members and missionaries need to work together. At the end
of conference, president had a bunch of candy in his pocket to give
all the missionaries because he knew we were starving. We were like
vultures swarmed around him eating all his candy. I love that man so
much.

We helped this less active lady move out of our ward boundaries this
week, and we found out she was Wiccan. It was freaking sweet, I had
never met a Wiccan before in my life so o asked her a bunch of
questions about what she believed. I can tell you if I wasn't a member
of the church I'd probably be Wiccan. But the gospel is my life so too
bad.

#9weeksleftimgonnadie

It's so funny, whenever we are at a dinner the adults will say "oh
you've been out 16 months, you're ready to go home!" Ok thank you so
much for constantly pointing that out.

I love you all! Enjoy the pictures. Talk to you soon face to face, everyone!

Hey Ya'll How is Life?

This week was a pretty solid week guys, I don't know about you.

So first off let me tell you how the spirit works in my life. We were
driving to contact this less active who wanted to see the
missionaries, but we could not find her house. It was down a dirt road
and it was getting dark, and in Chico trying to contact people at
night is a horrible idea. We decided to try to find the house later,
when it was light outside. In my head I was thinking about if I should
have gone out of the car and tried a few people, even though it was
dark, when suddenly another name of a person we should see popped into
my kind. It was another less active who we have not been able to see
in two weeks. We stopped in, she was home, and she was a mess. She is
on dialysis three times a week, but for some reason she had skipped
four treatments. Her apartment was in shambles and she was stressed
out. So what do we do? We cleaned her entire kitchen in 45 minutes.
She felt so relieved and was so happy that we had stopped by. I knew
right then that we were not supposed to meet that less active ok the
dirt road white yet. We were supposed to be at this lady's house right
then to help her clean. Everything truly does happen for a reason, and
I  am glad I am in tune with the spirit so it can tell me who we need
to go see.

We also had zone meeting this week, yaaaay. We talked about scriptures
and how we as missionaries need to apply personal scripture study to
our own lives. I've been able to see a huge change in my testimony as
I read the scriptures every day. It's amazing guys. You should try it.
Really. I promise it works.

There's this investigator that we have been working with who is
totally ridiculous. She asks some very deep, doctrinal questions and
has a hard time with baptism. We decided to ask one of the members to
come with us to a lesson, and holy cow the entire atmosphere changed.
The lesson went really well, and it was honestly because of the
presence of a member. That showed me how important it is to try to
have a member present to every lesson. When members become friends
with those we are teaching, that changes EVERYTHING. It's amazing. So
go out with the missionaries and love the people they teach too. It
makes a huge difference.

Sister Andersen is pretty rad. I like her a lot. We sing randomly in
the car and we laugh a lot. It's been a great transfer so far.

Haaaaa I only have 10 weeks left. Stop.

By the way, I love each of you very much.

Saturday night was a lot of fun, the youth of the stake put on a
roadshow! Our recent convert, Breanna, was in it. Our ward had a theme
of despicable me and they did a skit on how the minions could get a
long better through Christ. It was awesome. I have never seen
roadshows before, and it was so much fun to watch each wards different
skit. It made me miss my home ward so much.

SHOUT OUT TO MY DAD CAUSE HIS BIRTHDAY WAS SATURDAY. I love you daddy <3 br="">
As my time grows shorter, all the rest of my friends are going home
too. It's weird guys. It's so weird to think that I actually have a
life after the mission. I'm not totally sure if I am ready for that
yet.

Love y'all! Talk to you next week.

Love,
Sister Ginn

So We Raced A Train and Taught A Hippie!!!

Hola.

I hope all is well for y'all, and I hope you are getting everything your heart desires.

This week was soooo long but short at the same time. Transfer week is always that way, I think. So Tuesday I said goodbye to sister Memmott, she went to Redding! My new companion came. Her name is sister Andersen, and she is from Gilbert, Arizona. She is one of seven siblings and she likes musicals and movies a lot. She also quotes spongebob all the time. It's wonderful. She has been out 4 1/2 months.

So far we have had a lot of fun this week, and I have seriously loved being sister andersens companion. We get along great, and I've already scared her a few times. It's been wonderful.

We went tracting a little this week when we saw this really weird house completely decked out with art and signs telling us to come in.

So of course we knock. This hippie guy named Norm let us in, and his entire house was covered in paintings he did himself. the first thing he said was "are you here to make me vote?" Then he saw our nametags and he said "oh you are, you're making me vote for Jesus!" And then proceeded to tell us that he lives his life according to his emotions.

So if his emotions tell him to kill someone, he will do it. Ok Norm.

Let us know how that works out for you when you are serving a life sentence in prison.

We were driving to Durham one evening when a train came up behind us going like 50 mph. I decided to match the speed of the train, and we tried to catch the eye of the conductor and wave to him. It didn't work, but we beat the train and it was fun.

We also got to pet a wolf, which was amazing because wolves are my favorite animals, next to hedgehogs. The things you do on missions.

Anyways, we had a good time teaching this week! We were able to contact a lot of people that haven't seen the missionaries in a while.

One instance was really neato, I was driving along a neighborhood and I suddenly got the impression to go see this less active lady we have been trying to contact forever. We pull up to her house and knock on her door, and lo and behold she is home. We talked to her and set up a return appointment for next week. Follow the spirit people, it knows what it's doing.

We are teaching these two kids named Mobeen and Rameen. Mobeen is 13 and Rameen is 11. They are adopted, and when the adoption papers go through, they can be baptized, yay! Please pray their adoption goes through successfully, I love them both and want to see them get baptized before I leave. I love teaching kids so much.

There's this deli/hotdog place called Zotts that gives lunch for free to missionaries. We went there this week with some elders, and that was fun. I will never get free food again like this on my mission, so I am taking advantage of it.

Also we are officially in the ward choir for Christmas. That's gonna be fun.

I've really come to appreciate the sacrament. When I take the sacrament now, I truly see it as a sacred ordinance that helps me repent. It makes me feel clean when I take it, and I love that time where I think about the atonement and how I can make my coming week better. Sacrament meeting has become one of my favorite things to do in my life.

I love you all! 11 weeks to go. Gosh this is going by fast.

Love,

Sister Ginn

1. We carved pumpkins as companions for Halloween 2. Elder Duseigner got transfers