Week of January 25th, 2016: Elder Rasband makes a mean Gumbo!

King cake from Donut King

Hey yall :)

   It was a pretty eventful week. Like every week....I don't even know where to start! This week is when I realized the importance of obedience. There were many days that were challenging when we didn't want to do much but we stuck to our plans and stayed devoted. I know that the Lord was pleased with us as we tried our very best to progress in His work. With obedience comes blessings! 

   On Wednesday we had a worldwide broadcast for all of the missionaries! That hasn't been for a long while so I felt very blessed to be a part of that. We received inspired council and it was an incredible experience. I learned that we need to rely a lot more on inspiration, because this really isn't our work at all. This is the Lord's work and without His guidance then I know we would all be lost! Another part that really stood out to me was the concept of us bringing it unto the hearts of people. We can't force our message down anyone's throat, it is their choice if what we are saying goes into their hearts. We bring unto, they choose if it goes into :)

   We met with Ashley and she decided to quit smoking! She is trying to take baby steps towards it but we are praying that she stays motivated and is able to continue in her progression! I know that the light of Christ is influencing her life for the better. Whether she recognizes it or not, the reason why she wants to stop is because she has been reading scriptures and figuring out "her book of Jesus" (that is what she calls it). Later that day we were able to meet with the Porters as well! We mainly just visited with Tanya and some of her kids. We retaught the restoration to make sure she had a clear understanding that this is the restored gospel. It was cool to discuss some things with her and the spirit was definitely there. She is so willing to pray and know the truth! I know that when the time is right they will come to know for themselves :) 

For dinner we ate with Christina Kellogg! Her daughter just moved here from Tennessee. She is 19 years old and her name is Kylie. They both came to church on Sunday! It was the first time for Christina in probably 20 years. She called us Sunday night to let us know that Kylie wanted to start taking the lessons!! It was so great to hear :) I am very grateful that Heavenly Father brought the opportunity for us to see Christina and be able to share the restored gospel with her daughter. 

   On Sunday we also saw Josh Jay at church! He is now on date for February 20th. We are so very excited that he was able to make it to church and that the Elders are taking great care of him. He really is progressing more with the elders and it is cool to see that trusting God leads to everything beautiful! Stephanie didn't make it to church and that was a little sad because she told us that she was planning on making it to Sacrament. She is still working two jobs (one works her on Sunday) and now is planning on moving to California! Her son just moved there for basketball so she wants to move to be there with him. Her husband wasn't the best influence and now he is moved out! So that was good to hear...hopefully she can make it back to church soon. 

   We also saw Krista this week and she gave us her usual dreamsicle haha. We also were able to have dinner with the Bozemans and that was really nice :) They plan on coming to New Beginnings (Young Women's Introduction for Greta), and we are very excited about that!

   Okay so my invitation for yall this week is to ponder where your obedience lies! What are you obedient to? God, work, school, friends? I really hope it is the first one ;)  As you ponder this, always remember, being obedient is NOT a restriction. It is something that makes us happier for an eternity :) 

I wish I could quote this whole talk but here is just a portion of it....the link to the rest of it is just below :)

"As you and I walk the paths of life and pursue our dreams, God’s commands and standards—like the barrier—can sometimes be difficult to understand. They may appear rigid and unyielding, blocking a path that looks fun and exciting and that is being followed by so many others. As the Apostle Paul described, “We see through a glass, darkly,”¹ with such a limited perspective that we often cannot comprehend the great dangers hidden just below the surface.

But He who “comprehend[s] all things”² knows exactly where those dangers lie. He gives us divine direction, through His commands and loving guidance, so that we may avoid the dangers—so that we may set a course in our lives that is protected from spiritual predators and the gaping jaws of sin.³ "

-Elder Von G. Keetch 

( https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/blessed-and-happy-are-those-who-keep-the-commandments-of-god?lang=eng ) 

<<< I hope yall have a great week. You're in my prayers and I am grateful for the endless love and support. Y'all are the best!! >>>

Love,

Sister Cornia

Brother Brignac looks just like Elder Rasband! ! He made 

a mean gumbo for the ward :)

Week of January 19, 2016: CYT, Fake weddings, and Salvation Army

Christian Youth Theater: Greta the Storyteller

Hope that y'all had a great week. My email is a day late because all the libraries were closed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Our week was a little all over the place. At the beginning I was getting over a cold so that was not very fun...but luckily I recovered within the week and we were able to get more work done towards the end :)

For district meeting Sister Widdison and I instructed on companionship unity. When planning the lesson I accidentally mixed the two words together and said "companity". So we made that a phrase in our district :) Although y'all don't have companions, it is important to realize that we should have the Holy Ghost as our companion. With the spirit by our side we can do more and become more. Through all the lessons and studies I have experienced, it would have been nothing without the spirit there to witness the truth. When the spirit is with us always, then we can always make the right decisions and avoid heartache

.

    On Wednesday we had a lesson with Ashley. We went over concerns that she had about the Plan of Salvation, but she followed our commitment to go through the additional study in the pamphlet! She is on the right track but we are still trying to show her ways to exercise faith. Having knowledge is incredibly important, but sometimes we need to lean on our faith to carry us through the things that we don't completely understand. 

On Thursday we went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store to look for service. Luckily we were there when the management was! They were very excited to see our willingness to serve and now we plan on going there weekly. It was cool to recognize that we were making an impact on our name, sometimes it is all about planting those seeds :) We went back on Friday to help sort some clothes. It will be a neat experience to get to know the employees more and to be involved with the community! We were very grateful to have found service in the area. On Friday we met with a Bible referral named Antoinette, she was very enthusiastic about the Bible and she was super sweet, we plan to stop by and share with her more about the restored gospel! 

Us with Janet Dunbar

We also helped Janet Dunbar around her house. She is a less active who has been engaged to her boyfriend since 2006! They had been living with each other and so we encouraged her to set the date for her wedding. She planning on having a small wedding/reception at her house on Sunday but when Saturday night rolled around she decided that she wanted to speak with lawyers to make sure she wasn't tied to her fiance's debt. Needless to say she still had a brief ceremony (without being officially married) on Sunday. We pray that she actually gets married before her marriage license expires next month! 

   Friday evening we met with the English Elders to pass Josh Jay off to them. After much thought and prayer, Sister Widdison and I felt inspired that Josh would best progress with the help and support of the elders. Plus they would able to see him more with lessons in his apartment. He did not come to church but we had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation with him and it went really well. He told us that he knows it is true and he just wants to make sure he will be able to follow up on his commitment before anything is set in stone. We really hope that he will be able to attend the ward a couple times because he is just so golden! Plus it is now going to be the only time that we see him! It is all about the Lord's timing! 

   We went out to Breaux Bridge on Saturday with Sister Morgan and met with Bethany and Kennery. They read the Plan of Salvation again and even tried to do the additional study on the back! (They are so great). We shared the restoration with them and testified of it's truth. Sister Morgan is a convert and shared her testimony on when she came to know that the Book of Mormon was true. It was pretty powerful. They said that they would come to church and....they didn't :( But we are definitely not giving up! We plan to meet with them next week as well :) Later on Saturday we helped with a program called CYT, it stands for Christian Youth Theater. They had two performances of their production Shrek Jr. Greta (in the Bozeman family) was a story teller in it and she is just so cute! We helped with ushering and the concession stands. It was a really cool experience to see such young people to do what they loved and have the opportunity to worship! It will be a really great way to have our help prepare others to receive the restored gospel! We also had the opportunity to eat dinner with Donnie and Jill. I just love them so much :) 

Our week was really awesome! Here is a great quote for companionship of the Holy Ghost:

"To always have the Spirit with us is to have the guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost in our daily lives. We can, for instance, be warned by the Spirit to resist the temptation to do evil. For that reason alone, it is easy to see why the Lord’s servants have tried to increase our desire to worship God in our sacrament meetings. If we partake of the sacrament in faith, the Holy Ghost will then be able to protect us and those we love from the temptations that come with increasing intensity and frequency. The companionship of the Holy Ghost makes what is good more attractive and temptation less compelling. That alone should be enough to make us determined to qualify for the Spirit to be with us always." 

 I invite y'all to have the companity of the Holy Ghost this week, make a list of things that can help you and read them each morning :)

Companity!

I love y'all and hope that you can have a great week! Thanks for all your emails and love.

Love,

Sister Amanda Cornia

Week of January 11, 2016: Time flies!

LSU: Tiger Stadium

Hey Yall!

As of January 8th, I have been out for 6 months! It is so crazy how fast time flies. I have grown closer to my savior and seen the importance of the atonement in my life as well as the live's of my investigators. There have been many hard times but there are indescribable moments that make it all worth it :) I am grateful to be part of the Lord's work. 

This week we were able to see some of our investigators keep their commitments...and that makes me so happy because that means they are growing closer to Christ :) We met Kennery and Bethany on December 16, they live in Breaux Bridge so we just barely saw them again this week! They have a one month year old baby and he is adorable. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and went over it again putting more emphasis on the Atonement. It went really well and they want to come to church. Then Victoria (she lives right next to them!) read through the whole restoration pamphlet AND started having family prayer every night! We had a lesson with her about the Book Of Mormon. She is so in tune with the spirit and it is so amazing. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father placing these people in our path. 

We had Stake Conference this weekend in Baton Rouge. So on Sunday we rode down with the Wuertenbergs and it was beautiful because we got to take a nap in the car! After the conference we went to Tiger Stadium and ate lunch. It is now freezing here! I can no longer brag about the 80 degree weather :( Because of the humidity my hands and feet are cold ALL OF THE TIME. 

Those were the highlights of my week...and on top of that I got a cold! Yay...haha. The Lord is definitely taking care of me and Sister Widdison in Lafayette. I really love it here :) 

Thank you for all of your love and support! I love hearing from yall :) Have a beautiful week and remember that the Lord is mindful of every single one of us. 

"You will one day stand aside and look at 

your difficult times, and you will realize that He was 

always there beside you."

President Thomas S. Monson

Love,

Sister Amanda Cornia

Facemasks

LSU

Week of January 5, 2016: We ate Kermit!

We ate Kermit!  

​First off, happy new year! I can't believe it is already 2016, time goes by way too fast. To start off the new year I had fried frog legs! We went to the Bozemans (Donnie, Jill, and Greta), they are a part member family. I seriously love them so much! Donnie fried frog legs for us, and they tasted surprisingly good! You just have to get past the fact that you're eating Kermit :) In Louisiana it is custom to eat certain foods to mark off the new year with good luck! One of the foods you eat is cabbage, for good fortune. I don't know the other ones though! 

We had some really good lessons this week too! We got two new investigators from Bible referrals, that was really cool. It's hard to see them because they both live on the outskirts of our area, but we always find a way to make it work :) We taught Ashley Robinson the Plan of Salvation and it went pretty well. It was the most focused lesson we have had with her and she believed a lot of the same things in the plan! However, I still think it will take longer for her to convert. I just have to keep remembering patience!!! We also met with the Porters yesterday! They are the best family, I just love them so much. We showed "A savior is born" video (even though it is after Christmas). We had a beautiful discussion on Jesus Christ and figured out the reasons that was holding them back from church. It was the best lesson because I feel hopeful for them again :) 

We finally got to see Stephanie, after what seemed like forever! It was so good to see her. I am very hopeful that she is going to start coming back. She seems more prepared. She was super sad because her son just moved to California for basketball, but by the time we left she had a smile on her face. It was a beautiful experience because she was in tears when we left because of the Holy Ghost. We are going to help her get back into reading the Book of Mormon again! 

We also saw Krista (a less active in the ward). She is lesbian and has some brain damage from an accident. She is super sweet and feeds all the missionaries dreamsicles when they visit! We met her partner Karen as well. During our lesson with them I felt charity towards them. It just keeps coming to my mind to "Love the sinner and hate the sin". I just learned that we all have weaknesses and we really need to learn how to love one another. So that was a cool experience for me. 

As we start the new year I would invite yall to contemplate the story of Lot's wife.

"So, as a new year starts and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone, nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives. So a more theological way to talk about Lot’s wife is to say that she did not have faith. She doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she already had. Apparently she thought—fatally, as it turned out—that nothing that lay ahead could possibly be as good as those moments she was leaving behind."

-JEFFREY R. HOLLAND

I am grateful for the support y'all give me! May we all have more faith this year in 2016 and look ahead. 

Love,

Sister Amanda Cornia

Ps. Me and Sister Widdison are both staying in Lafayette for another transfer!!! Yay :)

A visit from Pop and Miss Robin (ignore the
socks, our feet were cold)