Week of December 28, 2015: Christmas + Mission = BEST THING EVER

Christmas + Mission = BEST THING EVER

Christmas Eve! 

This last Christmas was one of my favorites. I was so shocked to hear from other missionaries when they said it was the best time to be on a mission. I was dreading the time when I would have to be away from my family on Christmas, but here I am.. completely happy and grateful to have another Christmas to look forward to in Louisiana :) 

The reason why I had such an amazing Christmas is because it was centered on Jesus Christ. And all month I was able to think of others more than myself. I was able to meet new people and spend time with them, if I wasn't out here I wouldn't even know them! It is the biggest blessing to be able to feel such a remarkable Christlike love for others. And even though Christmas is over...we can still have the spirit of Christ with us always! 

Let's learn from 3 Nephi Chapter 2:  

1 And it came to pass that thus passed away the ninety and fifth year also, and the people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven,insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen—

2 Imagining up some vain thing in their hearts, that it was wrought by men and by the power of the devil, to lead away and deceive the hearts of the people; and thus did Satan get possession of the hearts of the people again,insomuch that he did blind their eyes and lead them away to believe that the doctrine of Christ was a foolish and a vain thing.

After Christmas it is so easy to forget the signs and wonders of Christ's birth. Life continues and we make new plans for a new year. For this new year I want to invite yall to think of something that is keeping you from feeling close to Christ, and set a goal that will help you remember the light of Christ in your every day life. The atonement of Jesus Christ is here for us so that we can grow and become more like him. I am so grateful for that opportunity :)

This week we were able to get 4 new investigators. Victoria and Robert we had a lesson with on Saturday and the spirit was so strong with them as we testified of prayer and coming to know the restoration is true through asking God ourselves. Then we met Debra and Whitney on Sunday as we were contacting an online media referral. We brought Debra her bible and discussed how we can grow closer to Jesus Christ, I felt a sincere desire that they have to grow closer to their Savior. Tonight we are meeting with Josh Jay at a member's house and having a lesson with them! The Lord is blessing me and Sister Widdison so much this week :) 

Thank you for all of the letters and packages that I received this Christmas season! It meant a lot :) 

I also ate Craw fish this week...YUM!

Quotes of the week:

Elder Jensen: "Welcome to Church"

Elder Hillam: "It's the only true one so you might want to stick around"

(Voicemail) "Only true friends can call this number"

"Sweet red raspberries!"

Love and miss yall!

Sister Amanda Cornia

REALLY REALLY HOT SAUCE

This is my face after I had the most spicy 

hot sauce in the whole entire world.....my 

face is priceless hehe. Sister Widdison had 

some strong taste buds because she didn't 

even look phased!

Brother Wuertenberg reading us
the Cajun Night Before Christmas

Blue Bell ice cream
is the best ice cream
in the south and it just
barely came back!
IT'S SO GOOD

Week of December 21st - Merry Christmas Ya'll

At the Ward Christmas Party!

This week was one of the best ones I have had in the mission field. Everyone is so nice around the holidays! We were able to meet a couple individuals that are truly prepared to receive the restored gospel. Me and Sister Widdison were at the library and a guy asks "is there a temple here in Lafayette?" (that definitely caught us off guard!). We then continued speaking with him and he told us that he just moved from Texas and used to meet missionaries there! It was a beautiful tender mercy. His name is Innocence Aku and he is originally from Nigeria! He went to our ward Christmas party and even helped put the tables away! He is GOLDEN. I am just so grateful that we were at the right place at the right time to run into him :) 

Stephanie's family Christmas party

Another amazing thing that happened this week was Josh Jay. On Monday, I got a referral from Elder Gunnell! (a friend of mine serving in the Florida mission). He told me about Josh Jay and said that he was super prepared. He just moved from the area that Elder Gunnell used to be in and came to Lafayette! So it was crazy cool. We were able to set an appointment up with him for Saturday morning. When we went to his apartment there was no answer. We were super bummed and started to walk away...but something kept telling me to turn around. I ignored it and then it came back to my mind "turn around". So I turned to Sister Widdison and said that we should go see if he opened the door since we walked away. When we went to his door it was still closed. After that we just continued back to our car (going the other way). On our way, we ran into Josh! It was so awesome because we wouldn't have ran into him if we kept going the other way. So then, we had a lesson with him on his porch and it turns out he met with missionaries for years! The only thing that was holding him back was his family, but he just moved away from them. We committed him to baptism :) I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost. I am grateful that we were able to have the opportunity to meet this amazing guy who is crazy-prepared to be baptized. That was a miracle!!!

We also met this really sweet lady who was deaf this week! We had a conversation with her through her daughter, and it turns out we have a interpreter for sign language in our ward! We hope to start teaching her :) 

Another crazy thing that happened is kind of embarrassing..I sort of ran the car into a ditch. Louisiana roads are the worst! I turned the wheel slightly too soon and..we were stuck. It was so scary! Luckily southern hospitality is a real thing. This guy helped us get the car out and there wasn't much damage to the car. Plus we got to share the christmas.mormon.org website with him, so that was cool :) 

For ZTM we had a white elephant gift exchange and our mission president read us The Cajun Night Before Christmas. It was pretty funny :)

I read a talk by Elder Holland explaining the difference between enjoying Christmas and understanding Christmas. It is not a bad thing to enjoy the holidays with cheerful music and fun Christmas activities, but are we letting this over shadow our celebration of Christ's birth? Do we truly understand Christmas and keep that as our focus during the holidays? Being on a mission around Christmas time is definitely a different experience. I am truly learning how to understand Christmas more rather than just enjoying it 24/7. I remember the Savior at all times and get to share it with others. A mission experience is the best gift I have yet to receive and I feel it is the best I will ever receive. The spirit of Christmas is much more than just wrapping and unwrapping presents; it's more than decorating houses. The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of Christ, and we can carry this with us even after Christmas.

I truly hope that ya'll have a very Merry Christmas. Thank you for your emails and letters this Christmas season.

#ASaviorIsBorn

Love,

Sister Amanda Cornia

Week of December 14th: I Ate Fried Alligator

Holy cow this week has been so so crazy, but a good crazy of course :)

On Tuesday we found out that my companion, Sister Blaylock, was going to be going home on Monday for medical reasons. So this whole week was filled with getting ready for her to go home and figuring out how to ship a bike. We were still able to move on with the work though! We had Jasmine, Armoni, and Omerian (3 of the Porter's kids) come with us to the mutual activity Wednesday night! It went super well and they had a great time. It was a good experience where we got to know them a little bit more.

On Thursday we had a lesson with Ashley. She is doing good but still not progressing...we showed her the "Because of Him" video and tried explaining that Jesus Christ can really allow us to live in our lives. She has problems believing anything other than Jesus Christ's teachings, so like the Bible. I am really still trying to figure her out, I just really hope that she can feel the spirit. 

On Friday we had a lesson with the Porters (Tanya and Jasmine). They didn't read Alma 32 so we went through and read the first 12 verses with them, it went pretty well. The following day we saw Tanya and she was having a hard time so we read a scripture and committed her to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon that could really relate to her. She texted us and said that she was reading it! Conversion is really all based on God's timing, so I am definitely learning patience. 

Alligator at the UL Campus

On Saturday we ate at Don's Seafood with two women in the ward. I ATE FRIED ALLIGATOR, it tasted like chicken :) it was sooo good! 

We received a lot of media referrals (people go online and request a free Bible or Book of Mormon and we bring it to them), we were able to contact a few. It went really well! We went out with a young woman in the ward and now we have a return appointment with one and then we were able to share a message about the restoration. Her name was Rosylen. She seemed really hesitant at first but when we testified that she could pray with sincere desire and know for herself then she softened up and seemed more at peace with it :) We are going to meet with her after Christmas. 

We also got to see Alice. She is a less active and doesn't have a lot of comprehension, but in the lesson with her I was able to see her through God's eyes. It was a beautiful thing to feel Christlike love for her. I absolutely love Alice, and even though she might not be able to read very well or keep commitments/appointments, I still love her so much because she is a child of God. It was a remarkable experience :) 

For dinner we went out to Breaux Bridge and ate with the Bozemans. They're related to some members in our ward and invited us to come over (apparently it was a huge step for them). They heard Sister Blaylock's testimony on building your confidence in Jesus Christ and that really touched them. The dinner went really well and even though Sister Blaylock had to leave they still invited me and my new companion back again! The Lord has definitely blessed us so much in this area and I am so grateful for that. I truly feel he was preparing me to be able to take over the area with more peace. 

On Sunday after church, we drove to Opaleuses where we picked up Sister Widdison (MY NEW COMP) and then drove to the mission home. We ate dinner with President and Sister Hansen and then we drove home. So now I have a new companion for Christmas! She was my Sister Training Leader in my first area, so I already know her! She is super cute and really nice. We are going to get along great :)

I hope yall are having a good holiday season and I am so grateful for the atoning power that Jesus Christ has in our lives. This restored gospel is the only truth on the earth today, and I know this because I have felt it. No one can deny an answer from God :) 

Miss and love yall so much!

Young Womens with Arissa
and the Porter kids

December 7, 2015: Tender mercies, ugly Christmas sweaters, and free pizza!

Cajun Christmas!

This week was full of tender mercies, ugly Christmas sweaters, and free pizza! 

I will start with my favorite moment of the week! We have been trying to contact a referral we received from online for a while now, her name is Cathy Gray. Finally we were able to schedule a time for us to drop off this bible to her. She invited us in! Most of the time (especially for Bible referrals) we don't get invited in so this was already a miracle. She told us she was a part of this Christian Biker church and loved learning about the bible and it's teachings. Sister Blaylock felt impressed to share the Plan of Salvation with her. So we taught this lesson and talked about how this is a plan God has for us so that we all can be happy. It was really cool because she seemed to connect with our message. Her Dad had passed away so we were able to explain that he is in the spirit world right now. The spirit was so strong during the whole lesson! We are going back to teach her on Friday. I am so excited to share more with her, I really feel that the Lord has prepared her to hear the restored gospel. 

Later in the week we had a zone meeting. We had an ugly sweater contest! It was really great and we also learned a lot from other thoughts zone. Unfortunately we didn't win the contest, but our sweaters were still awesome :) 

We had another referral and her name was Wilburette. It was really funny because we had the hardest time figuring out how in the heck you pronounce that! We came to the conclusion that it was suppose to be like Wilbur (the pig on Charlotte's Web) with an -ette on the end. That's how we said her name and I think it was right because she didn't correct us haha. Anyways, we had a brief message with her about the restoration. She said that missionaries used to visit her and she really liked the Book of Mormon. So we gave her one and promised that if she read it she would feel peace in her life, she also wanted to come to church! She didn't come on Sunday, but I know she will when she isn't working :)

On Saturday we had a lesson with the Porter's and it went super well! It was the first lesson that I had been to with them where the spirit was definitely there. We watched Finding Faith in Jesus Christ with them and after discussed the impact that Jesus Christ can have on our lives. I felt prompted to share Alma 32:28 with them, so we read it. Rolland liked it so much that he asked me to read it again! We invited them to read the chapter and they said that they would! I am so grateful that we were able to have a lesson with them that had the spirit, because that is the only way to find out the truth. 

After our lesson with them we went to Walmart and ran into the Swansons (a family in our ward), they invited us over for lunch but we sadly had to decline because they were going to have the Spanish Elders over and it is against our mission rules. Instead they offered to buy us EACH frozen pizza and ice cream!!! It was a huge blessing that we received for being obedient :) even though it was really hard to turn down a meal with amazing people, we got free food out of it! 

We also met with Ashley this week and also showed Finding Faith in Jesus Christ with her. She liked it, but just related it to everything else she has seen before. She did open up to us more and so that was really awesome. She still isn't progressing but I am not losing hope on her! 

On Sunday we watched the Christmas Devotional at the Galespies! If any of yall didn't have the chance to see it PLEASE WATCH IT. The true spirit of Christmas comes from learning about Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to be here in Louisiana, especially during this time of year! My favorite part of the devotional was when Elder Bednar talked about Christmas decorations. He related the Christmas lights that we hang up to the light that Christ is in our lives. It was a simple metaphor but it really stuck out to me and now I love Christmas lights even more! 

I am so grateful for all of the blessings that the Lord is pouring out to us in this area. I am also grateful for the opportunity I have to be here. I invite yall to think about the Generous One, Jesus Christ, this season and to have him at the center of this Holiday season. I promise that if you do this, he will fill in all of the missing gaps in your lives. Through him we can have complete joy. 

I love y'all very much :)

 

Love,

Sister Amanda Cornia