So I have five transfers left What????

Transfers were this week and sister wall and I were staying together!

I am so pumped, sister wall and are excited to be together 6 more weeks. We have gone through many theory discussions about lord of the rings and Harry Potter and just recently we found out that as kids we were both obsessed with the Barbie movies so this transfer is gonna be good. We also have one of our investigators on date for baptism. Guess who it is? DANIELLE. yep she told us she wants to be baptized after meeting with our mission president and that she wants to have the Holy Ghost to help her in her life. Um, ok. Yes. We can do that. We had a really good week. We're all jazzed up, especially with our lesson with Danielle.

Anywho, so my trainer came to see me! Rylee is adorable. I love her.

She surprised me last Monday and came to visit me with her mom. Oh my gosh I had the best trainer in the world. It was so good to see her.

We went on exchanges this week and I went with Sister Rosa, who is from Indonesia. She doesn't speak a lot of English, and it was interesting to have a companion from a foreign country for the day.

She's actually really sassy and I like her a lot. No one was home at all the whole day except this one less  active who sister wall and I had been trying to contact forEVER. Her name is Wendee. We pulled up to the house and knocked on the door and she told us she wants to quit smoking and come back to church. Ok. We can help with that. Oh wow the tender mercies of God are gr8, m8.

Ok so get this, we had a little extra time before we went to dinner Friday night. We decided to try tracting this street in the only neighborhood in our entire area. We get to the first house, knock, and we are shut down hard. K fine sucks for you buddy, you're missing out on salvation. We knock on the second house and this lady invites us right in before either of us say a word. Her name is Pam. She was talking to us like she knew exactly who we were. She just moved to California from Georgia and she had the most amazing southern twang I've ever heard. You people have no idea how much I miss southern accents. Anyway, I was convinced this lady was a member of the church.

I asked her if she was, and turns out she isn't. What. We talked to her for like thirty minutes. Her husband walks in and greets and is so nice to us. He goes to the kitchen, comes back out, and hands sister wall and I our own case of root beer. Double what. We talked to the couple about family history and they were both super interested and want to learn more about how we can help them start their own family history. THE HECK. THIS WAS A MIRACLE. They told us we could come by whenever we wanted. Are. Are you serious. What even happened. That was one of the coolest experiences I've had on my mission. Sister Wall and I walked out to the car and we were both shell shocked. We get in the car in silence, start driving, and then we start scREAMING AND PRAISING JESUS BECAUSE THOSE PEOPLE WERE SO PREPARED FOR US, WHAT EVEN IS LIFE. We listened to the entire track of the lord of the rings and relived the moment for about thirty minutes between the drive from Pams house to dinner.

Missionary work is amazing. It's even more amazing when the lord blesses you with nice people who give you free root beer and want to learn about family history. I don't even care if these people get baptized or not. That was seriously one of the nicest things someone has ever done for me on my mission.

Saturday was a zone blitz in another ward in the Auburn Stake. We blitzed the heck out of the Penn Valley ward. For those of you who know Norwood Truelove who served in this mission a couple of years ago, he served in that ward. The people still remember him and love him so much. It was so cool to be able to talk about him with some of the members there. He made such an impact on those people. Tim and Ann, if you're reading this, please tell Norwood that the people of Penn Valley still love him and talk about him all the time. He is a legendary elder there.

I went on splits with a sister named Sister Price for the blitz. She let me go to her house, let me pet her car, and got me Taco Bell haha.

It was a great day.

Jesus Christ is my savior, I know it without a doubt. I taught gospel principles again and we talked about the gospel and how it blesses our lives. I love my Heavenly Father so much. I love you all so much. You are all my rock.

With eternal love for all your souls,

Sister Caroline Ginn

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

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.