WHAT????

I couldn't really think of a clever subject because this week has been so fast that I don't even know what happened.

Really though I'm not kidding.

So driving around auburn makes me feel incredibly free. It is so gorgeous here. I can't get enough of it. We had this lesson with an investigator and they have a pet ostrich. I saw a real live ostrich on my mission. What. It was cool. The investigator in question is named Brandy and she is probably never going to get baptized but at least she owns an ostrich.

I have done a lot of soul searching this week about why I am on a mission and how fast it is going. I am going to be 20 in two weeks.

I've been alive for 20 years almost. That's bizarre to me. I've been on my mission for almost 11 months. That is also bizarre to me. I wouldn't have wanted to spend these last few months any other way.

Sister Wall is literally the best person in the world, I have laughed so much with her. We talk, joke, laugh, and I feel like I'm hanging out with a friend all the time instead of just a companion. I adore her so much, oh wow.

The missionary work in both of these wards is kind of slow, but that's ok. It's more spread out and less people want us on their property.

Since it's a lot of ranches and gated homes here, we don't really tract for fear of getting shot. But, we plod through every day. There is a less active named Pam who wants to go to the temple and we have been teaching her to help her do that. She is really big and could pound me to a pulp if she wanted to, but she's so nice. I love her.

She asks so many questions and tries so hard to do the things we ask her to do, like keep the sabbath day holy. I freaking love less active work, if I didn't tell you already.

We met with a less active named Yvonne this week who is off her rocker. She's crazy. She told us her entire life story and about how she hates the church because of tithing and how we try to steal all her belongings. Okay Yvonne. She told us how when she was younger she had a "God box" and wrote down the bad things she needed to let go off and out it in the box to burn it later. Once it was in the box, she could talk about it anymore. We decided to make her a god box, which is a box that you tape up, right down the things you've done wrong, put them in the box, and burn it. So the next time we go over there we will give it to her and help her start it out. I have worked with so many unstable people here in California it's ridiculous. I have so many stories that would take forever to put into an email about crazy people.

Don't do drugs kids, it messes you up.

I love it here, I love the missionaries I am serving with, and I love the members. They are so nice to us and always want to feed us. I am so happy I'm here for the summer, because since auburn is in the hills, the temperature is cooler than anywhere else in northern California. Haha to all the people serving in Redding. They're gonna die.

I love you all. I know the church is true. I have felt myself change spiritually during the time I've been out here. I feel stronger. I know Jesus is the Christ, and when you turn to him and let all your problems go at his feet, he takes care of it. I have felt that on such a personal level.

Here's a birthday shoutout to my Papa Nick! I'm pretty sure he's 30 for the 40th year in a row, hahaha I love you papa <3 p="">

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER KASIAH MORRISON IF YOURE READING THIS, YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND IN THE CRM <3 p="">

Ok. Thanks for everything people, I love you and I will talk to you next week.

Love,

Sister Ginn

1. Elder Shepherd and I, he's one of the best people I've ever met btw 2. Here is Yvonne's god box

3 companionship study (she's a ghost)

4. We found out that between how many days I've been out and how many days sister wall has left, we make up a whole sister mission! Yeah!

5. Hi I'm Irish

Auburn is Like Narnia

This week I have thoroughly enjoyed being here in auburn. It's up in the mountains kind of, it's very hilly and covered in trees. There's nature everywhere. It's green and pretty. Because the elevation being higher than everywhere else, it's cooler here. Deer are everywhere, they just walk across the street like they own it. Cute little animals are all over the place. Im waiting to see a centaur or a unicorn come out from behind a tree. I'm so glad I'm here for the summer.

Anyway, so I'm still double covering two wards, but this is completely different than when I was covering Lincoln 3rd and 6th ward. One ward is called Lake of the Pines and the other is called Alta Sierra. The bishops actually work with us because they know we are covering two wards, and the members don't harass us about choosing what sacrament meeting we go to. People are much slower paced here too, kind of like North Carolina. I like it, I like the feeling here. It's just relaxed.

I LOVE Sister Wall. She's the cutest human being in the world. We both love anime and tv shows and studio ghibli movies and music and we have so much in common. She is from Heber, Utah and she is 5'1. She loves theater and loves to act. She wants to direct plays and movies one day and her secret ambition is to lead the Mormon tabernacle choir. She has so many facial expressions and is hilarious. We get along great.

I've only been here for a week and I already love it here. A good friend of mine, Elder Shepherd, who has been with me since the beginning of my mission, got transferred to Auburn as well. This is his last area. He goes home in August. I'm glad I get to be here too to see one of my mission friends go home.

I've already got a piano gig, I'm playing the piano for the choir in the Alta Sierra ward. The choir director is kind of crazy and shethinks there is nothing more important than choir, but if there's an investigator at church I ain't playing, I'm sitting with my investigator. Sorry crazy choir lady.

I walked into this area and it has investigators and someone on date for baptism. Her name is Danielle. She has lots of anxieties about life and is terrified to be baptized, but she is so determined to do it. Please pray for her, her date is the 13th of June. We are working with tons of less actives here, my favorite kind of missionary work.

And they are coming back to activity! Freak yes!

I do miss Lincoln, and I miss Sister Smith. Lincoln was a great area and I love everyone there so much. I can't wait to come back and visit everyone. I said goodbye to sister Smith on Tuesday. The sister who is replacing me is Sister Cannan, the tallest sister missionary in the mission. I am the shortest sister missionary in the mission.

Coincidence? Nope.

I miss all the missionaries that are still in Lincoln. The relationships you make with people on your missions last a life time.

It's amazing the people we come to love as missionaries. I have loved all my companions. I will be celebrating my year mark soon, and my birthday is June 10th. I'll be 20. Life continues to move forward. I will only have six months left on my mission soon. I'm going to use that time to do what I can here in the California Roseville Mission.

I love you all with all the power and force of my soul!

Also my me address is 14614 GoldCreek Court #B Grass Valley, CA 95949 Send me stuff <3 p="">

Love,

Sister Ginn

1.I said goodbye to these kool Katz, I miss them all so much 2. Sister Memmott is the best 23 year old on the planet 3. DO YOU SEE THE HEIGHT DIFFERENCE 4. Goodbye to the best district ever.

5. Sister Wall and I

6. Sister Wall and I again <

13 Solid Lessons This Week

So this week was amazing. Top notch. We had solid 13 lessons this whole week. We met with Tito twice, and we have been getting him to meet with people from the ward. We talked about the word of wisdom and the law of tithing with him. Each time we asked him if he would live this commandment, he said yes and was so happy about it. He told us that if God has commanded us to do something, we should do it, no matter what it is. He kept telling us he is so excited to be baptized, and that he is ready to start a new chapter in his life. He even invited all his family and friends to be baptized. He has a very thick African accent, so when he talks you have to listen really hard to what he says. I love it. We rescheduled his baptism date for the 28th of May, a Saturday morning. He is so ready to be baptized, he is so ready for the gospel. He is so willing to keep all the commitments we have asked him to keep.

.... Too bad I'm getting transferred out of Lincoln before his baptism.

Yep, I'm leaving Lincoln. Here's a funny story to go with that:

transfer week always makes me anxious and on edge. I was talking to Sister Singer about it and she told me that if I was really struggling and stressing that I should just text president Marston and ask him if I was leaving or staying, as she had done that before and he told her if she was staying or leaving in an area. So I did, I texted him Thursday night and asked him if I was staying or leaving. He texted back saying "Not quite done yet." Which to me, means I'm staying. Ok.

Well I was kind of in denial, as I am stressed out double covering two wards. So I went through a lot of prayer and pondering and asking the lord to please help me to accept what I was supposed to do. I honestly did not want to stay. I love the area and I love the people, I am just tired of talking all the time with sister smith not speaking. But, through lots of prayer, I came to terms with the idea of me staying in an area for six months. I accepted what president wanted me to do. So I texted him and asked him that if I was going to be staying in Lincoln for another transfer of I could get a priesthood blessing to help me not be so stressed and/or area trunky.

Lesson learned: never ask president Marston about transfers. Just leave the poor man alone and accept whatever the lord is giving you without complaint.

And then I found out I was leaving. I was really surprised, mostly because I had come to terms with me staying. I had not prepared to leave mentally at all. Saturday night we got the email, and all the missionaries were anxiously waiting to see who was leaving and who was going. I flipped a lid when I saw my name. The AP's of course already know everything, and they are in my zone, those little punks, so they just sat there and watched me freak out.

In Preach My Gospel, there is a chapter that talks about doing all you can to leave your area better than you found it. I personally feel like I have done that, in both wards. I have found new people to teach in each ward in the last six weeks I have been here. I have out someone on date for baptism. I have served and done what I could to strengthen the relationships with members and missionaries. I guess I'm done, according to the lord. I've done what I could do for the Lincoln 3rd and 6th ward.

CAN I JUST SAY I AM SO HAPPY TO BE DONE DOUBLE COVERING.

Ok here's a spiritual thing, we had a member of the Seventy come to our mission to train us in being better missionaries. It was Elder Packer and his wife. They toured the mission and helped us to know what we can do to help our investigators be converted to the gospel instead of just having testimonies. When you have a testimony, you feel and believe something, but when you are converted, you act on and know something. That is why we strive to baptize converts, not investigators.

All in all, a great week. I said goodbye to so many people this weekend. I think I am ready to leave Lincoln. I've done what I could, and I am now ready to go to Auburn with Sister Wall. I've served around sister wall already in my mission when I was in Corning and I love her. We will get along fabulously. I'm still a sister training leader, and so is sister wall now. I'm excited. Auburn is only like thirty minutes from Lincoln, so I am still in the south part of the mission. I love the south.

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers. Pray I don't melt as the heat starts to get unbearable here in California.

Love,

Sister Ginn

These are some of the awesome people I had to say bye to, and then there is elder Forson in the bottom, my best friend in the CRM mission.

My Mission President Can Read Minds

This week was interviews.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I have never felt so vulnerable in my life. My mission president wrote down a list of strengths of mine and with each strength described a bit of my personality down to a T. He described my soul perfectly.

I've had this armored shell wrapped around me safely, and I've been snug and comfortable inside that shell. Within an hour of this interview, my shell shattered. I don't even know who I am anymore, holy cow. I am so mind blown. He told me things about myself I've never told another living human being. Only God knows certain things, and then president Marston spoke it out loud. I didn't even talk about the things I wanted to talk to him about, I don't think I was supposed to anyway. What a man. He is a man of God. It makes me slightly uncomfortable for him to pick me apart in minutes. I feel lighter though. So that was fun.

Thursday was MLC, and I got to see everyone again. I saw sister Morrison <3 and="" aren="" as="" back="" be="" best="" both="" changed="" close="" companion.="" companions="" cool="" drove="" easily="" eternities="" forever="" friends.="" friends="" gotten="" greatest="" grow="" have="" how="" i="" in="" included.="" it.="" it="" joking.="" last="" life="" lincoln.="" make="" mean="" mission="" missions="" mtc="" much="" my="" of="" on="" one="" our="" over="" p="" people="" really="" s="" say="" see="" serve="" serving="" she="" since="" singer="" sister="" so="" some="" started="" t="" the="" then="" they="" three="" to="" together.="" together="" transfers="" us="" ve="" we="" when="" will="" with="" you="" your="">

Friday was a good day as well, we had district meeting Friday morning and our district leader told us that president Marston was going to be coming in an attempt to make us get there on time. It worked, and we got ticked cause president wasn't actually coming. K elder Sampson I'll remember that one.

We see this less active named April Thornburg every week. We saw her Friday as well. She is one of the best people we are teaching right now, holy crap we have some of the best gospel conversations I've ever had on my mission with her. I love less actives. She has been trying her best to come back to church recently. It makes me so happy so see the people I'm teaching coming to church and making that effort. I love it.

Judy, one of our investigators, wants to see us twice a week now. I feel like she is getting closer and closer to baptism. She's amazing.

She's like a second mom to me. She is always asking if we need anything and is willing to give us her entire fridge of food if we need it. I love her. We are teaching her a lot out of the Book of Mormon and she loves it. She reads it on a regular basis and told us she knows it's true, and that the people who don't believe it's true are stupid.

We have not been able to meet with Tito for a while, but he is off of work all next week so we are going to try him every single day, gosh dangit. Whether he wants to or not.

We had a good Saturday too, I was asked to play the piano at a convert baptism and that was fun. I love playing for anything, and I'm glad people ask me to do that. We saw president Marston at the baptism and he showed us a picture of him and sister Marston holding up balloon people of themselves that sister smith had made on Wednesday while we were at interviews. I love my mission president. I love sister smith.

She taught us all how to make balloon animal monkeys.

I GOT TO TALK TO MY FAMILY OH MY GOSH THAT WAS THE BEST THING EVER. IM SO HAPPY.

Transfers are this week, we find out Saturday who is leaving. I have no idea what's going to happen. I'm always anxious transfer weeks.

It's awful, I hate how my life is controlled in six week periods. But it's amazing cause change is cool.

Missions are hard as heck, but are totally worth it. I love all of you. Thank you for all the support you give me. You're all amazing.

Love,

Sister Ginn

5,4,3,2,1 Continue

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth writing so many people in my big email because most of them don't email me at all. I feel like I'm just annoying those people with my emails. But then I stop caring, you're all getting my big email until the day I come home, too bad <3 p="">

I don't feel like typing at all. This one will probably be short.

So this week we did manage to find two new investigators. We had a good time just being missionaries and teaching. We have our black investigator Tito on date for the 14th of May. I am praying and hoping he can make it that far to baptism. I've never exercised so much faith in my entire life on something like this. God, please let Tito be baptized.

We had a great time with one of our investigators named Judy, she is one firecracker for sure. She has expressed desires to be baptized, and while I don't think she will be baptized while I'm in Lincoln, the next missionary after me is gonna get one golden investigator. I don't think I've ever met anyone in my entire mission more prepared and ready for the gospel. The spirit truly does convert people to the gospel.

Sister Smith and I are getting along more, it's week five now of the transfer. I made her talk more this week cause I am sick of talking so much.

Sunday was a fun day, (hehe that rhymes). We had some investigators come to church which was great, and we got to teach a mission prep class. It was just young men attending, but I thought it was a lot of fun. These young men try way too hard. I remember those days. Teaching a lesson is definitely not as hard as people make it look like. I bore my testimony in one of the wards, and I really felt the spirit when I did so. It was nice, I tried to talk about missionary work and get people excited about it.

We have had a good week, it's been a spiritually uplifting week for me. I am doing my best to feel the spirit every day. Something I've been thinking about it any responsibility as a missionary. I am in charge of two wards, I'm covering two areas. It is my responsibility to take care of those areas while I am here. That is incredible. The mission teaches us so much about love and being Christlike. It's such an amazing experience. It's hard as crap but it's amazing.

That's all for this week, I love all of you. There is no way I could do this without any of you. I am so excited for Mother's Day, you people don't even know. I miss my family. I miss my mommy.

Have a fab week, talk to you guys l8r.

Love,

Caroline Ginn