Sometimes the Ups Outnumber the Downs

What. A. Week. Oh my gosh. Ok first off we had a a great lesson Monday night with a returning less active and his investigator wife. They are Joy and Lloyd Hostetter. Lloyd is a farm boy who has been a member of the church forever and is coming back to activity and wants to go to the temple. His wife, Joy, has been investigating the church for years and is just now starting to show interest in baptism. We see them twice a week, Monday nights and Friday nights. We read three chapters of the Book of Mormon and three chapters of the New Testament with them. Joy eats it up. Lloyd really wants her to get baptized soon so they can go to the temple and be sealed together as a family. Oh it's the perfect situation, I am so glad I get to be a tool in Heavenly Fathers hands with these two people. They are old and so in love with eachother. It's so dang cute I can't stand it. I feel the spirit every time I'm over there. I love it.

And then Tuesday happened. So one of our investigators is on date for baptism on July 17th. Her name is Danielle. She had to meet with President Marston before she could be baptized. So, we set up the appointment with her and president Marston for Tuesday at 10:30 in the morning. We were there, it went great, president Marston is the best man in the world. I love him so much. Danielle seemed fine with it, she was ok with talking to him and they both left the church building all fine and happy. Danielle is bipolar and has anxiety and depression. This is important to know because not even 15 minutes later she texted us and told us she doesn't feel like she fits in the church and she wants some time away from the missionaries. We were shocked. Sister Wall was really upset. I don't know Danielle too well, since I'm still new here and I've only met her a few times. I was upset too though. We sat at the church and moped. Then the elders came by, we told them what happened and they went and bought us ice cream.

Thank the lord for elders. I love them so much.

I think that's been the biggest struggle on my mission so far.

Whenever something bad happens, you have to keep going and keep being a missionary. You can't really take a break from it. That has been hard for me my whole mission. Some days I want to curl up in a blanket and not move for eternity. But I don't. I get up and go work. Being a missionary is the hardest thing I've ever done. People like Danielle break your heart, but then there's people like Joy who make serving a mission worth it. You have to remember, it's not about you. It's about the lord and the people who's lives you will change. It's not about you

HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO MY DADDY <3 him="" i="" love="" much.="" p="" very="">

Anyways, the rest of the week was alright. Since I am a Sister Training Leader, I have to teach at all zone meetings, and we had a zone meeting this week. Sister Wall and I taught about the power of the Holy Ghost in conversion. It went pretty well, the missionaries listened I think and people said we did ok. That was cool. I've become such a better teacher than I used to be on my mission. I've become so good at winging it that I don't even have to write stuff down anymore when I am asked to teach or speak. Yeah, spirit. Holy Ghost. Praise Jesus.

Sister Wall is literally the cutest human being on the planet. The other night she was yelling to me "HEY SISTER GINN COME LOOK I FOUND A NEW FACE" and she showed me the best facial expression I've ever seen.

She calls it her koopa troopa face. She's really into Mario and I love it. Also the other day someone called us and she completely blanked out so she said "Hi... It's me.... Mario" and I almost threw up I was laughing so hard. I love her so much.

Friday was had a car fast. #killme

We ended up getting a ride to the stake center to weekly plan and that's pretty much all we did. Some of the elders thought it would be fun to bike to our church building. Well on bike it's three hours away. So they biked for a total of six hours to and from their apartment building. Why. Just why.

I feel very happy today. I've been waking up and praying for me to have a good attitude as much as possible. I am choosing to be happy and to smile and laugh as much as I can. I'm considered one of the happiest person some people have met. I like that reputation. I like being happy. I like Jesus and I like the gospel. I know it's true.

That's all there is to it.

I love you all! You're all great and attractive people.

Love,

Caroline Elizabeth Ginn

1-2. We decided to write a bunch of puns and jokes on sticky notes and go cover the elders doors with them.

3. Weekly planning at its finest

4. Guess who got to go see Finding Dory... Not us 5. I have the greatest parents in the world. Look at them and tell me I'm wrong. I'm not.

6. Our zone conference

7. Cat

I Am An Adult Now!!

I'm 20, yes. This is a huge accomplishment to have survived for 20 years. I want to thank everyone who sent me birthday wishes! Thanks for all the emails and cards, that means a lot to me! Love you all <3 a="" also="" and="" at="" awful="" because="" birthday.="" birthday="" bought="" cake.="" cake="" cheesecake="" cook="" could="" dinner="" elders="" favorite="" for="" good="" great="" had="" happy="" house="" i="" in="" is="" it.="" it="" key="" kind="" know="" leaders="" like="" loved="" made="" make="" me="" mission="" mix="" my="" of="" off="" our="" own="" p="" sang="" so="" that="" the="" their="" they="" to="" voices="" ward="" was="" we="">

Thanks mom/Ginn family for the package, I loved everything in it! I got my harmonica and I play it all the time, dang I've missed that thing.

Quick shout out to my parents this week, they're anniversary was on Saturday and they have been married for 22 years. #relationshipgoals They are the best parents anyone could ask for. I love my mom and dad so much, and I am so glad I get to be with them for eternity.

This week was another blur, I swear it's just going by faster and faster. I know I've said this before but auburn is SO pretty. We had zone conference this past week, and that was amazing. Every zone conference all the missionaries have to prepare a five minute talk on a subject president Marston chooses. He chose for us to talk about how we have felt spiritual promptings and what we have done to follow them on our missions. He randomly chooses missionaries to get up and speak, and I was one of the lucky ducks that had to get up and talk. I also played the piano twice for two musical numbers for different zones. I felt like I was constantly walking up to the stand. Which I kind of was. Zone conference was in Lincoln and it was so nice to be back there. I miss it. I got to see some my friends in Lincoln, and one of which, Elder Argyle, goes home in August and that was probably the last time I will see him. Oh wow I loved Lincoln, it was some of the best times on my mission there. Anyway yeah zone conference was the bomb diggity.

That was probably the highlight of the week, mostly this week we've been contacting. It's hard to tract in Alta Sierra because it's in the mountains. We mostly just go after referrals from members and try knocking a house here or two there. It was a good week though, I have a lot of fun with sister wall. She complains and freaks out over the small stuff so I tell her to calm down and quit whining. It's hilarious, she has so many facial expressions. I love it.

I was having kind of a hard time last week, so I've been praying a lot more specifically to help me out this week. And it works. When you pray and are specific about it, it's easier to understand what you are asking for and what you personally need. Speaking it out loud makes it real instead of just saying it in your head. President Marston likes us to have 20 verbal amens a day, and I have been working on that.

Prayer is amazing, it's like I have a friend with me all the time and I can call on Him at any point in the day.

We had a good Sunday, the theme was the first vision from Joseph smith and I loved it. I love talking about The first Vision, it makes me so happy. Somehow, I still don't know how, I got signed up to play a special musical number in both wards on the 12th. Alta Sierra is at 9 and lake of the pines is at 11. I played the Restoration Medley for both sacrament meetings. We had investigators come to each ward and I am so glad they were there to listen to me play. Music can help people feel the spirit more than words can, I think. So many people came up to me and told me thank you. I'm so glad I have this talent and that I can share it with so many people in my mission. We also taught the gospel principles class, and that was the first time I had taught that class my entire mission.

I hit my 11 month mark this btw, party it up. One more month til my year mark. I'm gonna vomit.

K I love you all! Enjoy the pictures. I will talk to you next week.

With eternal love for all your souls,

Sister Ginn

1-5. Zone conference pics! Elder Argyle and Elder Bernhisel are my homedawgs.

6. Elder Kirby and I on our 11 month mark, he came out with me and now we are serving together 7. Sister Wall hates pictures 8. Oh deer (haha get it)

Zone Conference

She is pointing to a deer!

photo Bomb

Elder Argyle and Elder Bernhisel

Elder Kirby

Being A Missionary Doesn't Mean You are Perfect!

I have learned a lot about the atonement in the last few days. Yes, I am called and set apart to represent Jesus Christ. I am here to act in Gods name and tell people about the restoration of the gospel and help others come unto Christ with baptism by immersion and receiving the gift of the holy ghost. My calling is powerful and great. I am called to preach repentance and to call those who need it to repentance.

I am also a 19 year old young adult who has had little to no life experience and still makes dumb decisions. I am a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I am not perfect.

People hold missionaries to a higher standard. We are expected to be better and be held on a "higher plane" and I completely understand that. I know that happens whether I like it or not. I wear Jesus' name on my chest every day, and I need to act in accordance with that. But something people sometimes don't understand is that I am still human.

I will still mess up. Don't judge missionaries too harshly when they mess up. They're still people, just people with a different lifestyle and calling in life than you. I still do stupid, immature things as a missionary. I shouldn't, but I do.

I have learned and am still learning to repent quickly and easily. I use the atonement so much in my daily life. The biggest thing I have learned on my mission is exactly how powerful the atonement of Jesus Christ is and what is covers. It covers EVERYTHING. If you're sad, depressed, lonely, upset, angry, hurt, judged, anything, the atonement takes care of it. You just have to be the one to give it to Him. You have to be the one to get on your knees and ask him for help. You also have to be the one to forgive yourself. That's what I struggle with the most. I am still working on it.

I will always make mistakes. But with the atonement, I can erase those mistakes and be better all the time. When I was baptized I made that covenant that I would take on Christ's name always. I also promised to keep a remission of my sins, which means to stay as clean as I can.

Repentance, the Holy Ghost, and taking the sacrament makes that remission possible. That is why baptism is so important. I love this gospel.

This week went by pretty quickly, we had a lot of lessons with some less actives. We did have a lesson with a recent convert named Lela, she was baptized in April of this year. It is so interesting to see someone who hasn't been a member their whole life grow so much in just a few short weeks. We are teaching her the new member lessons, and she agrees with everything. She loves it. She loves the church and is so excited for callings. She is 69 and is so glad she found the church in her lifetime. I love her already.

Our mission is making a big push towards family history. We are trying new door approaches and introducing how we can help people do their own family history. The church came out with new pamphlets for the missionaries to teach from involving family history and temple work.

People may not always be interested in the church, but they are interested in their own family and ancestors. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm excited, I've never really gotten involved in family history before. The hype is real right now though, I wanna get home and do the temple work for my own ancestors. Missions only make you want to be better.

Sister Wall and I have a lot in common. We could talk for hours about anime and music and movies. Our current topic is Korean soap operas. A few days ago we talked about Nacho libre. I don't think I'll ever get bored of Sister Wall. She has so many facial expressions for everything and she is hilarious.

Also I got a haircut this week.

We had a great lesson on Saturday with one our investigators, her name is Danielle. She's been taught by the missionaries for a very long time. She is on date for baptism, and we wants to be baptized in July.

Hopefully that happens. We went over the requirements for being baptized and she straight up said she will do all we ask her and more.

Ok yes. That was amazing. Her husband Chad is a less active and is coming back to activity. Danielle desperately wants to be married and sealed in the temple to him. Definitely a worthy goal.

That's about it for this week. Prayers are appreciated always. I love you all so very much.

Talk to you l8r!

Love,

Sister Ginn

1. Me and sister Watson, I started my mission with her in citrus heights and it was good to see her again 2. Elder Forson and Elder Hébert, both from the south 3. The old Lincoln crew #lincolnswag 4. Elder Willis and I, he was my first district leader ever and he goes home in three weeks 5. our companionship in a picture