Danny Prayed!

Entertainment for missionaries

Hey yall. This week went by crazy fast!! We were able to keep up with Katrina and she is still solid, I love her! 

The highlight of my week was about Danny! Every time we go over I ask him to pray and he says no. And then I ask if he will one day, then he says "okay". So this time he pauses and asked if we wanted a short one or a long one. It was so neat!!! He is playing hard to get, but he's definitely making progress. I can tell he is changing. Turns out he didn't even really know how to pray, so we taught him! It was definitely a huge step for him. I know that Heavenly Father was very happy to hear from him though. 

We also stopped by to check on Keoshia. She ordered a bible a while back so we were just following up with her and asking if she was interested. We talked to her a bit about the Book of Mormon and that was pretty cool. She seemed pretty open and had never heard of it! We are going to go back this week and check up on her. I feel like she has a lot of potential. 

Our meeting yesterday went super well! I loved the spirit we felt in Sacrament! I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have of the restored gospel and the peace that comes from it. I had to lead the music (which was a lot more intimidating in our ward of 200 compared to the branch of 15 in Chalmette Hah). But as I was leading music in the intermediate him, we were singing 249 Called to Serve. It was so cool to hear everyone's voices and feel so strongly that this is the Lord's work. Moments like that make all the discouraging moments worth it. 

I love y'all. I also love my Savior. Without him we could not find complete joy. Have a blessed week.

Sister Cornia

Nottoway Plantation House (biggest one in Louisiana)

Mississippi river on Nottoway's balcony 

Mana is the cutest puppy alive!!

Recognize the Hand of God in Your Life

Katrina's baptism day

Good morning y'all! This week was definitely full of many blessings and lessons. Heavenly Father definitely has a sense of humor....the one month I decide to study the Christlike attribute of Knowledge, He makes sure to give me many learning experiences. I am grateful for that though:) He is so aware of us and our progression!

 On Saturday Katrina was able to be baptized! It was the most powerful baptismal service. We planned it in 12 hours and everything just fell into place. It was definitely divine intervention. Plenty of ward members came to support her, and some of Katrina's cousins (that are in our ward) came as well! She felt everyone's love and support. I sang Nearer my God to thee right before her baptism and could barely get through it without crying. The spirit was so strong. When Katrina came up out of the water she was glowing. She was so excited and couldn't stop smiling! She was telling us that her baptism at this other church felt good...but that this one felt ten times better!! She felt the spirit so strongly. The opposition didn't quit though. The adversary has been continually testing her, but now that she has the Holy Ghost she is invincible! She was talking to us this morning about all that she learned on Faith and the strength it was able to give her. I know Heavenly Father has amazing plans for her in this Gospel. She is so very strong. 

 We were also able to see Danny and Shirley this week and they are making good progress. Each week I feel that Danny is coming closer and closer to our Savior. That brings me the most happiness there ever was. I love the people here! 

 This week has taught me that there is no need to fear or doubt when life starts to spin. Heavenly Father is always aware of us, His love never ceases. Even when we turn away, or even when we question Him...He is still there. I love this gospel with my whole heart and couldn't imagine my life without it. Being able to serve a mission has been the best decision of my life. There were times that I felt stressed this week and times I felt completely alone...but then I learned that the Savior has been by my side through it all. We need to always turn to Him. I read this scripture in 2 Nephi this morning and it really stood out to me.

26 O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions?

 27 And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?

 28 Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.

 29 Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.

 30 Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

 There is no need to doubt or become overcome with afflictions. Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. In the end everything will be okay. I know that the Savior lives and He is very aware of us in our situations. The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true and living church on the earth today. I am so grateful for that!!

 Have an amazing week yall! Be sure to recognize the hand of God in your life this week. He blesses us more than we realize.

LOVE ALWAYS

SISTER AMANDA CORNIA

Saturday Night Fever

SUP YALL.

Hey! This week was insanely busy and stressful, but the Lord provides. We were blessed to have Katrina AND Danny come to church! It was the best thing ever. We had multiple appointments with Katrina through out the week because Satan is working very hard on her. She knows and feels the peace when she studies and yet he still finds a way to sneak in and ruin everything, ugh. But God is good and he has been giving her and us the strength to carry on. This must be the true church of Jesus Christ because Satan works so very hard to destroy everything, he is the worst. Literally. 

We did a little bit of painting this week and cleaned out the gym at the church, so now we actually have a gym that isn't full of donations (for the flood). It was actually the first time I saw our gym looking normal and not all disoriented.

Our ward mission leader told us about something called "Saturday Night Fever" in his mission. On Saturday, the day before church, him and his comps would go around doing creative things to try and get people to come to church for Sunday. So sometimes they took pictures next to a swing set saying "we will save you a seat" or he said one time they made up a rap song for someone. This completely inspired me! So what did we do? We wrote a song on my uke:) Here were the lyrics (the tune to you are my sunshine)

Tomorrow's Sunday, yes it's Sunday

We'd love to spend the day with you 

To learn of Jesus and His commandments

If you're not there then we will feel blue

The Sabbath Day is a delight

It teaches us wrong from right

So please just come and learn His teachings

It will make our Sunday more bright

So there you have it:) I am convinced that the song we sang was the only reason Danny came! Hah, but it was great. Saturday night fever was a success! And you bet we are doing it every single week. 

In our ZTM on Friday, they talked about hope and it really stood out to me. Hope is something that leads us to act on faith. We can begin to have hope when we exercise faith. That is an incredible principle that should never be forgotten. Discouragement is not from God, but hope is:) So never lose hope!!

Sorry for the lack of stories, I would rather speak them then type them...but y'all are the best and I really appreciate all the letters! They help a lot! Have a blessed week:) 

LOVE,

SISTER AMANDA CORNIA

Selfie Sunday

Max is so cute

Katrina, Conference, and LSU Football

HOWDY.

Hello! I hope all is well in the beautiful mountains. It is cooling down a little bit which is really good because we were about to die of heat. Humidity and I have a love-hate relationship. Anyways..life in Louisiana is glorious. We had a beautiful week with Katrina, Conference, and an LSU football game! I am so grateful to be here. There is no place that I would rather be. 

The people here are incredible (like I say every week) but I mean it! Every person we run into is super friendly and aside from all the tragedy of the flood, their hopes are high. Me and Sister Hyer are so lucky to be here. ON THE REAL. 

We were able to put Katrina on date to be baptized on October 15. She is so strong and amazing! Unfortunately, Satan knows it. He has been working incredibly hard to discourage her and bring her down. She's been sharing multiple pamphlets with all of her friends and co-workers! It amazes me. She does run into a lot of negative feelings about the church, but she can usually shake it off. I pray that she can continue to grow and progress! Katrina is truly elect. I love her so much! She calls me bubbly because, as yall know, I am very bubbly. So it is a funny nickname she has for me. We were able to visit her multiple times and she came to Sister Collins house to watch the Sunday morning session of Conference!! It went super well and the spirit was strong. I love the spirit. No matter how distraught or doubtful Katrina gets, she can always be reeled in from the spirit. It's miraculous. Our work would be completely pointless without it. 

On Saturday we went to the LSU football game! It was the most magical thing ever. Poor Sister Hyer had no idea what was going on...but my heart was going to explode from happiness! Haha! I miss football. The Tates had extra tickets, so we got permission to take out our pday afternoon to go see the game! We had to leave at half time, but it was so worth it! It definitely has Utah beat for football fans haha. There were thousands of people there, and tailgating is definitely taken seriously. And they won so that is good news too!:) 

We are now helping to prepare homes for painting, so I will get my practice in for that haha. I am very glad to be moving on from the flood, it is finally getting to the point where only half the people talk about it! 

We also saw Danny this week and he watched the restoration video twice! We are going to stop by and see him today. He is my favorite. We are hoping he makes it to church on Sunday.

Well I love yall and I love the Savior. We can all come to know Him on a personal level, and I know he is there for each of us in our trials. Let us all seek for this love, I know it's accessible to all. The Savior can provide us with the greatest joy imaginable, we just need to follow. I love this gospel and am grateful for it. 

LOVE ALWAYS,

SISTER AMANDA CORNIA