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

I Am Staying in Chico This is It!!

So I have been on pins and needles this entire week. Transfer week always does that to me. It makes my nerves completely shot. Fun right?

Well we got the transfer calls, sister Memmott is leaving and is going to Redding! I am staying and I am getting Sister Andersen. She is kind of new, she has only been out four and a half months, and I will be her third companion. I've met her once, and she seemed super cool. I'm pretty excited, she's a really happy and bubbly person like me. I think we will get along fine.

I am going to miss sister Memmott dearly. I adore her. She truly is the cutest 23 year old on the planet earth.

This past week was kind of slow, transfer week is either the best week of the transfer or mediocre. We did make contact with a bunch of less actives this week. One is coming to church next Sunday, woot woot!

None of our investigators could meet this week, which was kind of a bummer. Remember that investigator I told you about last week who called us on Sunday and said she wanted to be baptized asap? Yeah gang members kicked her out of her house and held her at gun point, so she moved to Sacramento. Good ol' Chico.

What else happened this week... oh yeah we mopped one of our less actives kitchen floor. Her name is Brenda and she goes to dialysis three times a week, and she is so tired all the time because of it. We asked her if we could do anything for her and she jokingly said "you can mop my floor" and sister Memmott and I jumped right up and found her broom and mop and did it for her. The whole time Brenda was amazed, she said she had never seen anyone so excited to mop a floor.

She called us angels. I couldn't help but laugh. It was pretty funny.

We had a couple of lessons with Breanna, our recent convert. She's doing well! She is super solid and has an amazing testimony of the gospel. She wants to serve a mission, and she will be one heck of an awesome missionary.

There's this member in our ward, brother Albert, who has this firewood business. He splits logs for a living. He has us come over something and help him split the wood. I love it, it's so much fun. Watching a log splitter completely annihilate a stump brings me a lot of joy.

Our ward had their trunk or treat Saturday night and it was sooo much fun. We had a chili cook off, and the missionaries were the judges.

I've never been in such pure bliss. I was Minnie Mouse and sister Memmott was Dorothy. It was raining, so we did the trunk or treat inside and we decorated our room with plastic bats and cobwebs. I called our room "missionaries on a low budget."

Hey guess what. I only have 12 weeks of my mission left. *loud screeching*

I can't believe I've made it this far to be honest with y'all. But I did. Here I go. This is my final run.

Sister Ginn is gonna go out with a bang.

I love you all so very much. You're all invited to my homecoming, I wanna get that out of the way right now. If you can make it. Thank you for all the support and love you give me. It is truly appreciated.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Love,

Sister Ginn