Hattiesburg, MS - Week #21

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic week. I hope it was full of the spirit especially for all the women who participated in women's conference this past weekend. I learned so much and I would love to share some of those with you. I hope you are all getting excited and pumped up for General Conference this weekend, I know I am and I definitely have some questions that I hope will be answered! 

This week was super crazy! Training has been going very well, Sister Abril is adjusting quickly and I have already learned so much from her this past 4 weeks she has been here! For those of you who don't remember a couple months back, Sister Kendall and I tracted into a lady named Florence. She was a very sad lady and didn't really have much to live for, she lost her job, she had an abusive boyfriend, she slept with men to pay for bills, and she had to raise two beautiful girls all by herself. Well, fast forward to a couple of days ago we finally saw her again after that experience two months ago! She now has a job, her kids are enrolled in school, and she is also going to school now, and her abusive boyfriend is long gone. She is super happy! I felt prompted to go visit her and she was out washing her car! Sister Abril and I were on our bikes, and I shouted " Hey Florence can we come help?!" And she immediately recognized who we were and said "Hey you guys! It is so good to see you again, sure you can help!" and as we were helping her we caught up and that is when she told me all of the good news. After we finished washing her car we taught her the first lesson and she loved it! We will be meeting with her this week to do the second lesson. But this was such a cool experience because she said that she thinks all of the blessings that she has seen recently all point back to when sister Kendall and I knocked on her door. How cool is that?! I am so excited to see what happens! 

Well, I just wanted to close by sharing a quote that is from women's conference. "We cannot play with satan's fiery darts and not get burned." It is so true, we should always strive to stay worthy of a temple reccemend, and always look towards the temple. We receive power and strength from the temple. I have definitely seen the blessings of the temple in my life. I love you all! I hope you all will enjoy conference this weekend love ya'll!!

HEY MOMMA! you are in for a treat! I do have some pictures for this week! YAY! also what a week at the Scott's Residence! You guys were so busy doing some pretty fun stuff! Tell Logan CONGRATS on being the SENIOR'S HOMECOMING KING! He is such a good kid, and is loved by everyone. You have raised some pretty awesome kids mom, we are super blessed to call you our mother and to be a SCOTT.  I love that picture of you and Loggie, you two look so happy to be together! That is super cute. I about cried when I read about Nikki Flink...because seeing how I am now, I KNOW that I will be different when I come home. I will be more refined. My time here as a missionary molds me into the person I want to become and more importantly what the savior wants me to become. Did you get a chance to watch women's conference? It was kinda cool to think that you may have been doing the same thing for a moment. I am super stoked about General Conference! For the Saturday session we will be going with a investigator named ambreia, and we will have breakfast together at a place called Shoney's and if the session goes well, we might ask her to be baptized. HOW COOL IS THAT?! I pray that this general conference will be great and help her realize the truthfulness of the gospel. And then on sunday we will be watching a session with a member, so cool! I am so excited for conference! It makes me sad to think that this is my first conference with out you people but I am also grateful to be out here serving. Have you seen any of my friends recently? I feel like everyone fell off of the face of the earth, and I am left out of the loop of things! Are all my senior friends home? I have just been thinking about them all recently, hope everyone is doing great. Will you please let them know I love them and miss them? I love you guys!! Here are some recent pictures from the past couple weeks (:

Hattiesburg, MS - Week #20

Dad....GUESS WHAT?? I have been out for almost 5 MONTHS! I am surprised at how fast this mission is going. I have been enjoying every moment. I am truly happy doing what I am doing. I am starting to have a more clearer mission vision than I did when I first came out here. I came out thinking I would baptize everyone I saw, and thought that I could be the perfect obedient missionary. Those are good thoughts with good intentions, but it is just not reality. So, I changed my mission vision, and the picture is not as fuzzy as it was anymore. My mission vision is to take it day by day, serving those who are in need, being friends with my investigators, being friends with my companion. This work has nothing to do with me, it really is all the LORD'S WORK. He has helped me be an instrument for him. The elders always ask me why are our numbers so good? And we say, it is not us, it really is the Lord. As we show him we are trying to be obedient he will provide spiritual experiences for us to share the gospel with others. I love my mission. I don't ever want to leave. I love having this opportunity to serve. I am taking it all in. I strive more and more to be better everyday. I love sundays not only because we get to go to church, but then we also get to see the goals that we have made, and then see the results of those goals. If the goal was not achieved than we would work on it the following week. This is how we grow. We have to set goals, and I have been thinking of some goals I can set when I get home because I know now that I can achieve them. This is so fun for me! I love you dad, I will see you in about 13 more months! 

Hey mom! We also had stake conference this week, and Sister Kendall was mentioned pretty much the entire time! She did an awesome job in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. One of her friends Kristin Ulmer moved to Hattiesburg right as Sister Kendall was called to serve here in the area! And she ended up meeting her again after a few years of not being in contact. Her husband was not a member of the church so he told his wife one day that he wanted to be baptized. The day that he said that Sister Kendall knocked on their door and he was baptized about a month later. That is such a cool story! And Kristin spoke at Stake Conference about her husband Kalyn's conversion. The next time you talk to Sister Kendall's mom ask her about this story, it is so awesome! So, Sister Kendall was mentioned several times at both sessions at Stake Conference. I miss her so much, but I have loved training my sweet companion. Sister Abril is super funny and we have learned a ton so far! We are already half way through the transfer, and I could be staying here in Mississippi for another 6 weeks or I will be transfered to a new area. We will find out here in 3 weeks! Crazy! When I first came into Hattiesburg Sister Kendall and I had our own car, but this transfer we are in a car share and so we have one week with a car and the next week on the bikes. It has been hard to figure out which investigators we should go see, because now we have to wait a whole week to see them again. It has been a challenge for me to know where to go, who to go see, but we are doing okay. I have said many prayers and the Lord hasn't let me down, he guides me exactly to where I need to go. My companion has been so patient as I have been trying to follow the spirit and be at the right place at the right time. The weather is cooling down quite a bit. It has been raining a little bit and I think summer is now over and it is starting to be fall. I can't believe I have been out for almost 5 months. It is just flying by! I have seen so many good things since I have been out here, I love it! I was emailing dad about my mission vision. It has become more and more clearer as I continue my mission. I am constantly changing it because it is becoming more personal to me as time goes on. I hope everything is good at home. I love you guys! Just 2 more transfers and I can see your faces on a computer screen! I am SO EXCITED FOR THAT DAY! Love you guys! 

Hey there everyone! 

This week has been super busy. We have had a ton of fun! We had stake conference over the weekend and it was super good! I love stake conference because it really sets the tone for the week and prepares you for General Conference. I am so excited that we have a chance to hear from our church leaders. I hope that everyone will have a chance to watch it! This transfer I have been training a new missionary her name is Sister Abril and we are already halfway through the transfer! Time flies by! There have been a few changes to the area here in Hattiesburg, before we didn't have to share our car with the elders, and now we do. We have one week with the car and one week without the car. It has been a little hard because I don't know the area very well and I am also training a new missionary. I am so grateful for the spirit to guide me to the places that I need to be at. Just yesterday, Sister Abril and I were thinking of places to tract and I didn't know where to go. We prayed that we would be guided by the spirit, and the minute we finished praying I knew exactly where to go. Because of that experience we tracted into a family of 4 and they all wanted to read the book of mormon and wanted to meet with us again. When we wrote down our weekly numbers for the week we ended up with 7 new investigators. That was a tender mercy for me this week. I am so gratefuI for the spirit. I am grateful that we have the spirit everyday to guide us. I know this was a little story and it doesn't seem like it has great significance but I have a strong testimony of prayer and the spirit. I am loving the experiences I have had since I have been out on my mission. It has been a great experience.  I love you all! I can't wait to hear from you next week! 

Hattiesburg, MS - Week #19

The bishops wife in McKennah's ward called home to us to give us the status update of her allergies....she put our voices on speaker for McKennah to hear!

 

MOM! 

Hearing your voice on the phone was torture! I wanted to so badly tell you everything that was going on! It was a tender mercy for me to hear your voice again. I can only imagine a few more months from now talking to you guys on skype. That will be a way cool experience to see! I cannot wait to not only hear your voices but to see your faces! I look forward to it! I am doing very well! Training is going great, I am just a little stressed. Training a brand new missionary is pretty hard, especially when I am so new! I guess it is a good thing because then I can relate to her better. She is super quiet..I am trying to break her out of her shell! I wanna help her be herself and ENJOY missionary work! It really is so fun! We get to choose what kind of experiences we will have. I am trying to teach her to be exactly obedient and to show her what kind of blessings come when we are exactly obedient. I am trying to teach her how to teach by the spirit. I have 3 main goals. 1) STAY HUMBLE - I am trying to stay humble especially when good things happen. I want to be humble so I can be teachable. My next goal is 2) WORK HARD - President Ezra Taft Benson says that " I have often said the secrets of missionary work is WORK! If a missionary works he will get the spirit; if he gets the spirit, he will teach BY the spirit; and if he teaches by the spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, Work, Work- There is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work". This is why I have a strong testimony of missionary work. This is why I am here! Everyday my goal is when lay down at night and pray to my heavenly father, I want to be able to tell him that I gave it my ALL that day, and if I didn't give it my all that day, then I would make a commitment to my Heavenly Father to do it the following day. Every night I reflect on my day and think of ways that I could have been better, or how could I have served this person better, ect. I love not thinking about myself. I don't wanna leave my mission, it has changed me in so many ways, I am forever grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to serve him. I have definitely gained a better relationship with him since I have been here and I LOVE IT! My next goal is 3) BE KIND - When the savior came to the earth he taught us to "love one another as thyself". This is the greatest commandment. He also taught us that "Charity is the pure love of Christ". And that Charity is the greatest attribute that man can obtain. The reason why it is the greatest, is because it is not selfish. To have Charity, we need to serve one another, bear each other burdens". Our baptism covenant is our first covenant that we make with Him, and what is the first thing that he asks of us? In Mosiah 18, it talks about our covenant, and we promised him that we would "mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and then stand as a witness of God". We promised our Heavenly Father that we would have Charity. Isn't this so cool? So, those are my 3 goals. 1) be humble 2) work hard 3) be kind. I love you mom! I hope everything at home is great! 

Hey Everyone! I hope everyone had an awesome labor day and spent it family and friends. We had a crazy week this past week. We just had transfers, Sister Kendall is now serving in Shreveport, Louisiana, and I am staying here in Hattiesburg training a new missionary! Her name is Sister Abril and she is from Arizona! She is way funny and such a good missionary, I am looking forward to serving with her and learning from her this transfer. I have so much to be grateful for, I have seen a lot of tender mercies this week, and I am so grateful that the Lord is aware of little Hattiesburg. He really does know what we need and this really is his work. This week I have just been focused on Sister Abril and trying to help her feel comfortable. We have some appointments super soon, and so there is not a lot of time on the computer this week, but I hope you all have a fantastic week! I can't wait to hear from you all next week!  

Hattiesburg, MS - Week #18

                       Mississippi Jackson Mission- with new Mission President and Sister Olson

HEY GUYS! 

I hope everyone is doing so great! Thank you for all of your prayers,emails, and letters. You are all awesome! This week has been the longest week EVER. We have transfers this week, and unfortunately Sister Kendall is getting transferred, and she will be going to Shreveport, Louisiana as an STL (which means Sister Training Leader). I loved her!! She trained me so well. We have had many good times together and I have learned so much from her, she will do a great job as an STL! As for me, I will be staying in Hattiesburg and will be training a brand new missionary!! I am super excited and I am very nervous. She is fresh from the MTC! I was very shocked when president called me to do this, I am still so fresh and new, and didn't think I was ready for this. I was expecting a follow-up trainer but the Lord had other plans in mind! Sometimes we have to put our full trust in the Lord. We may not know why some things happen, and we may not know some of those things until after this life! However, what we do KNOW is that he has a plan for each and every one of us, and if we live our lives worthily, he will give us so many blessings there will be no room to receive all of them. I love my savior! I love the relationship I have developed with him over the last 3 months. I have learned to trust him more and more as time goes on. This is His Work, I know he lives and stands at the head of it. I love you all! Thank you for everything you all do!

Hey MOMMA! 

I am sure you are sitting on a cliff hanger right now waiting for my email to know what the heck is going on! But, this week is transfers and unfortunately Sister Kendall is leaving..:( In fact she is already gone...I just feel so empty right now, she was my best friend out in the mission so far. I miss her so much already! She is on her way to Clinton, in Jackson right now, she should be arriving there pretty soon. So crazy! She will be going to Shreveport, Louisiana as an STL (which means Sister Training Leader)! I am so excited for her. She will be going on exchanges with the sisters in that zone. She says it will be pretty hard for her to work with the investigators in her area because she will be out on exchanges all the time. Sister Training Leaders are so cool. I look up to them so much! They get to go down to Jackson every transfer and talk about all the missionaries in the mission, and make suggestions to better help the missionaries and investigators in this mission. Isn't that so cool?! I would love to serve as one, maybe one day! As for me, I will be staying here in Hattiesburg...drum roll please...AS A TRAINER! HOLY CRAP! I WILL BE TRAINIG A NEW MISSIONARY STRAIGHT FROM THE MTC! WHAT THE HECK! I JUST FINISHED BEING TRAINED! Oh my, I am totally freaking out! This is one of those days I wish I could call you and talk to you about everything! This is huge, and I feel so honored to be in this position! It was because of the help of Sister Kendall, and the Lord that I am where I am now. I miss her so much. I don't have a companion right now, it is so weird! I am in a trio with a couple of girls until I know what is going down! Thank you so much for raising me right. This does not happen very often. It is pretty rare that a missionary who just finished training to be a new trainer right after. Sister Kendall, and Sister Huston are the only ones I know who have had this exact same experience. President put me in a line of missionaries who are the best. He expects me to do so well. I was so shocked. So the way the transfers work is on the Saturday before Transfers, you receive transfer calls. You can expect a call from president or the AP's (assistant to the president). If you get a call from the AP's that means that both you and your companion are staying in the area. However, If president calls, one of the companions will be transferring. So we were at a members house, and president called us and asked if we had a few minutes to talk, and I said we sure do! Then he said perfect, well you all know what happens when I call right? And we said yes, and then he said "okay sister kendall you will be going to Shreveport, Louisiana as a STL. Sister Kendall freaks out!! She was jumping up and down like crazy! She was so excited! And then president said "and Sister Scott are you ready to hear your new companion? and I said "I am ready President!" And then he said " I don't know who your new companion is because you will be training a new missionary from the MTC". And my heart DROPPED. I could not believe what I was hearing. But, I was SO EXCITED! It was an honor to hear from president, and have him say I was ready to be a leader. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN! I thought I would get a follow-up trainer, I didn't think I was ready. I still don't think I am, but the Lord knows me better. I am grateful for this opportunity, and I will be doing my very best to be exactly obedient and not lead this girl astray. Please say some prayers for me, and pray that I will receive guidance and direction from the holy ghost. I want to do, and be what the Lord wants me to be. I am excited to see what happens this transfer, it will be so fun! I love you mom! Sorry this is such a long email, but I have so much on my mind right now! I miss you so much! I wish you could see everything that I see right now. This is the coolest experience ever! Also my allergies have been clearing up. This picture was taken right before Sister Kendall left. I am wearing makeup, YAY!

Picture overload....various pictures I have found this last little bit of McKennah via Facebook.  

I am grateful for social media because of this

 Dinner appointment(s) with the Snyder's

Decorating Sister Snyder's door with a "Heart Attack" for her birthday

Attending sweet Scarlett's bday party 

(McKennah's swollen face because of an allergic reaction to something :/)

4th of July Barbecue and party with the Trussell's

 Sister Kendall saying goodbye to the Snyder's

Hattiesburg, MS - Week #17

Hey everyone! 

I hope you are all well, and happy! I love seeing all of your emails, you guys are awesome. Thank you for your support and your spiritual insights, they uplift me and give me strength. This week has been an okay week, a lot of people didn't want to talk to us, and so it has been a little frustrating, but other than that we have been doing great! I have learned a lot about my savior this week. I have learned that the savior is aware of us, and really does know exactly what we are going through. The message my companion have been sharing recently is a quote by President Uctdorf, and he says "The greatest, most capable, most

accomplished man who ever walked this earth was also the most humble. He performed some of His most impressive service in private moments, with only a few observers, whom He asked to ‘tell no man’ what He had done [see Luke 8:56]. When someone called Him ‘good,’ He quickly deflected the compliment, insisting that only God is truly good [see Mark 10:17–18]. Clearly the praise of the world meant nothing to Him. … We would do well to follow the example of our Master".  My favorite part of this quote is "clearly the praise of the world meant nothing to him, we would do well to follow the example of our master".  We shouldn't have to worry about what the world thinks of us, we have the truth. We choose to share it with those that are around us because we love them. In Galations 1:10 it explains this perfectly. I have a testimony that the savior LOVES everyone. He was always going about accomplishing his father's will. He is the most self-less person and I strive more and more everyday to be like him. I love you guys so much. Thank you for your support! I hope to hear from you all soon!  

Hattiesburg, MS - Week #16

We loved the hoodies! They are super cute! Thank you so much!

Hey mom! I got your package on Tuesday I think, It was THE BEST PACKAGE EVER! I love those pictures. It made me wanna cry and my heart dropped like crazy. I miss you guys, so much. I am really grateful for my Heavenly Father blessing me with the perfect family. I am so grateful for the awesome childhood I had and for the friendship I have with my brothers. There are a lot of broken families here. These people live some freaking hard lives and hate their childhood because it made them into a person they don't want to be. I am grateful for my childhood. I love those memories and I hold them dear to my heart. Thank you for raising us to be good people and raising us in the gospel. I realize now the importance of family. We are very lucky and I took it for granted. It sounds like you are doing so good! That is a super cool article, WAY TO GO JARET! I am so proud to be that kids' sister. Tell him good job for me! I am sending letters off to you guys this week. I think I will send it today or tomorrow. Tell them thank you for me! Also, that is super cool you have been talking to Sister Kendall's mom lately! Are you guys good friends? Sister Kendall and I are doing so well. You CHEATED. I was Planning on talking about Bob this week. CHEATER! Well I love you guys so much. I am so excited to see you all soon...ish...almost 16 more months. Love you!

Dear family and friends, 

This week has been full of many miracles! Sister Kendall and I have been super blessed this week. There are a couple of things I would like to talk about in this email. The first part is about our ZDM (Zone District Meeting) this last week. We talked about the importance of the Book Of Mormon, and how sacred that book really is. In the Preach My Gospel, there is a story of these missionaries who met this man and they were talking about the Book Of Mormon and how sacred and special the book is to them. This man realized the importance of this book, he stood up and went to wash his hands before he held the book. This man respected this missionaries and their beliefs. How cool is that? We need to handle that book with great care, it is sacred. I am grateful for the Book Of Mormon. I know that it is true. There really is power within it's pages and we can all gain a better relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ by reading it.

The last thing I want to mention is about one of our investigators Bob. He is a super cool guy, and has gone through a lot in his life. He has been searching for truth his entire life. He was atheist, he was a minister for a church for several years, he was presbyterian, etc. This guy has seen many different point of views. One of his main questions for us was "Did we create God or did God create us". This man was brilliant. He knows his doctrine pretty well. Sister Kendall has been teaching him for over 6 months and just within the last 4 weeks he has turned around. He started to open up his heart, he was ready to humble himself and truly listen to the things we were teaching him. Just last night he asked us if he could be baptized, and of course we said YES. He will be baptized on Friday. This is a testimony to me, that even if someone has a little spark of interest in the gospel, they still have great potential. We are so excited to see him baptized! Please pray for him and thank you all for the support you have given me, it means a ton to my family and I. Have a safe week