Guess What Day It Is??

This week has been fantastic!!

Last Monday we had another fun day in the Mission Home with Sister Huntsman! She is so great! Sister M is still trying to get that bike figured out. ;)

We spent most of Tuesday WALKING. It was wonderful! We saved a lot of miles on our car, and got some "fresh" air - ha. We also got to meet some cool people along the way and tracted a bunch of houses. This one cute old man showed us his backyard garden! It was amazing! He spends each spring planting over 2,000 flowers!! Wow! So beautiful. Fun to see what people cherish in life! God's creations are magnificent.

On Wednesday we had Zone Training! Always great to learn from the ZL's and DL's in the zone. We had a great lesson that night with our newer investigators Carol and Mark. We brought Bro. and Sis. Baker with us. (They have been neighbors with them for over 20 years!) It was the first time they had this big of a gospel discussion! That was cool to be a part of. Carol is going to read the Book of Mormon and loves everything we teach!! The catch is that her husband Mark has read the BofM and needs more evidence to support it. Hopefully Carol will have an influence on him soon. The Spirit does amazing things!

Wednesday was also my HUMP DAY!! Wow!! It's unreal. Half way?! My sweet momma sent me the cutest package. My family rocks!! Time flies when you're in the service of your fellow men!

On Thursday night we planned to teach our miracle investigator Arianna, but when we came she was basically babysitting her younger sibilings.. So not much teaching happened. Although we did bring a young woman from the ward and that was a great introduction. Arianna had some awesome questions as well. Hopefully we can teach her again soon!

We had Zone Conference on Friday with the Huntsmans and the AP's. (I know, lots of meetings this week!)  I wish I had a lot to say about that right now... but I can't remember at the moment! Blah...sorry. What I do remember is I beat some more Elders at Speed during lunch! I was third! I couldn't believe how I still have a pretty good shot! :)

That night we decided to go check on Jessica (investigator). We hadn't heard from them for the past week and worried that she was losing interest.. It turns out that she said her and her husband didn't make it to church because they were on vacation! She said, "I've been thinking about you guys! We're not avoiding you! You will see us again at churchthis Sunday. I'm going to try to stay for all 3 hours this time." She later explained that the 3 hour long meetings was "just something to get used to". REALLY?! Sister M and I were thrilled! We haven't even taught them a solid lesson yet and they are saying this? Miracles. Talk about tracting into a prepared family!!

...annnd yesterday Jessica stayed for the entire 3 hours of church! With her 10 month old baby Hank!! Her husband Tom had work, otherwise he would've been there as well. She did amazing! So did Hank. :) The ward members were fantastic and helped out a ton! Jessica was so relieved to see that other women had loud babies crawling around as well.

I can just picture them at the temple now...

:D

Wow. I'm so grateful to be here in this area! It is such a privilege to see people coming unto Christ every single day. I don't think I've seen this much success the entire time I've been in this ward. And you know what? It's nothing major that I'm doing. It's the Spirit working upon the prepared people. I just get to be here at the right time to be able to witness it! I'm so blessed.

What a great week! I'm SO grateful for all the miracles I'm witnessing. God truly is our loving Heavenly Father who guides and directs each of us.

Love you all so much!! Wish you all the best this week!

Hugs,

Sister Winterton

"What do I need to do to be baptized?"

What a miraculous week!!

Sister Makowa and I have been enduring the heat and have been tracting up a storm! It is all paying off...

First of all, I'm not going to lie and say I had a ton of energy and zeal throughout this week. It felt like I was counting down the hours of each day before it was time to go home for the night. On Tuesday and Wednesday things were pretty slow. I realized that I needed to change my way of thinking...

For the rest of the week I decided that I was not going to focus on the time, but focus on the goals I've set! As we went out I thought about how I only have ___ amount of time to find a new investigator! My whole world was changed! I had so much more enthusiasm while meeting people and I had a lot more fun. Time went by much quicker!

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to repent everyday. I knew that I had slipped into the wrong way of thinking and I knew that God would help me change! I know that the Atonement is real and that we can repent (change) every single day!

The BIG miracle happened on Thursday night. Sister Makowa and I went tracting out on the edge of our ward boundaries in the richer area. The first door we knocked was a woman named Ireldy and she let us right in!! We found out that she was baptized when she was 10 years old with her older sister but stopped going to church when she was a teenager. She is married to a Muslim guy and that is what kept her from coming back. Before we could talk more, she went to go make us some blueberry herbal tea and brought her 17 year old daughter Arianna out to chat with us. Irledy's niece (Beatriz) is an ACTIVE member who has been staying with them for the summer! She is about my age. How cool is that!? ...To make a long story short.. Arianna asked some great questions and we taught her the Restoration! She even asked, "So what do I need to do to be baptized?"  She is so prepared! She has grown up with more of a Muslim background, but is very open to learn about the gospel. We are meeting with them again this week! :)

The coolest part of it is that Beatriz told us (when it was just her in the room) that Ireldy was telling her a few days ago that she wished missionaries would come by to talk to Arianna!!! They have lived there for 10 years and none have come by!

Talk about witnessing the hand of God! I know that there are no coincidences when it comes to this great work. Heavenly Father knows us perfectly!!

Yesterday, Sister Makowa, the Elders and I had a fun time helping out in Primary! We got to dress up and pretend like we witnessed the Risen Christ. :) It's always fun to help out in Primary! The kids also get super excited to see all of us missionaries! It's fun to have little ones come up and compliment you on your performance. ♥

Last night we had another neat experience while out knocking doors. One woman answered and told us she has spent her whole life telling people not to join the Mormons because they don't believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Once we explained what we know and believe, she let us in! We had a nice talk with her and she asked to say a prayer with us at the end. It was amazing to see her eyes open to the truth! She also accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon! Her husband is a major Lutheran Bishop..so she's not super interested in changing..but the Spirit can work with her now!

Miracles galore this week! :) I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be serving and sharing the restored gospel! True happiness right there.

Love you all!! I wish you the best this week! I can't believe school is starting!!

Love,

Sister Winterton

♥♥♥

Picture: Us standing in awe after meeting Arianna! :)

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

This week felt really long, but it was full of fun!! :)

On Monday evening, our Zone did a finding fest! We all had dinner at the stake center and then did an exchange with other missionaries in the zone! So Hermana Schultz came to work with me, and Sister Makowa got to go with Hermana Atkinson to their area! Sis. M was pretty nervous going to work in Spanish for the night, but it worked out well. ;) I had a great time with Hermana S! She just finished her mission last Thursday! She had a great time tracting "big" houses with me... She had mostly tracted apartment buildings her whole mission. Pretty cool!

The Knight family had us over for dinner and a lesson on Tuesday. They are just hilarious! We went over the Restoration with them and played a game that related to the Apostasy. They loved it!!! :) We each had a mini flip notebook and played "telephone" using pictures instead of whispered words. It worked out great!

That night while tracting, Sister Makowa and I had a lot of energy and enthusiasm while walking around. When we stopped a woman walking her dog, she said "Y'all are friendly!!" :) before we parted ways. She was Jewish too! Happiness is key!!

On Wednesday morning we did service at the Methodist Church again! Always fun making sandwiches for homeless people in DC! That afternoon we went out to lunch at Café Rio with a family who Sister Makowa knew from her home ward in Zimbabwe!! They are military, so they lived there for a few years and are staying here before their next transfer. So fun for her to see them! ...and it was wonderful to get Café Rio!

That night we had a lesson with an inactive woman named Crystal. She grew up in Orem and fell away from the church after a divorce. She is now attending a Baptist church with her family. The lesson went pretty well, but it could have gotten contentious. She believes that it is only by grace that we are saved--not works. She said she won't read the Book of Mormon, but we're going to get her to soon. :) Inactives take a lot of patience! We're glad that she enjoys having us over and is willing to meet again.

The Knight family had us over again for dinner on Thursday! (They must like us or something) This time they made Sister Makowa's favorite dish from home! Sadza! It is like mashed potatoes, but made from corn mill... So more like dough.You dip it in a stew. It was interesting.... ;) haha! She LOVED it. I'm so grateful for awesome people like the Knights!

The last house we knocked on Thursday night was a super nice newly married guy named Steve. He said that what we were doing was very admirable and that it takes a lot of courage. He was proud of us! Hopefully we can meet with him again! Nice people make all the difference.

Friday night tracting was great!! We met a guy named Jared. He lived in Utah during his college years. He said that he was invited to church but never went because he partied too much. He agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and meet with us again!! He is definitely prepared. We met a younger guy (about 20 years old) named Brandon who seemed pretty interested! (Not sure if it's because we're two cute Sister missionaries) He invited us to go to a party with him... Ha! 

On Saturday evening, we went to the Nationals Baseball game with the whole mission!!!!!!! That was a BLAST! We all rode the Metro into DC. There were so many missionaries at the Stadium! The DC North Mission went as well! It was fun to hang out with my MTC companion and watch the game! The Nats won!! We all had a ton of fun. On the way home, the Metro was PACKED full of people!! Luckily everyone was able to make it back safely and not TOO late. ;)  Sister Makowa and I are still kinda tired from that night haha.

Yesterday we had a couple of investigators come to church!!! :) Jessica and her husband Tom and their super cute baby Hank. Miracle! We met them tracting a couple of weeks ago! We are so excited to meet with them again. We're praying they had a great experience! They weren't able to stay for the last two meetings.

That night we got to go support Laura (girl in our ward) who opened her mission call! She is going to serve in the Salt Lake City West Mission -- Spanish speaking! So exciting! Reminded me of when I opened my call. :) Being a missionary is the best!!

Today has been a pretty nice relaxing Preparation Day so far. We got all the cleaning and shopping done and are looking forward to biking at the Huntsmans' soon! :) They are so nice to let us use their bikes. We love them!

Sister Makowa and I got to teach in Gospel Principles yesterday! The lesson was on Praying to our Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful for prayer! I know that it works and that God hears every single one of our prayers. He loves us SO much! I also know that when we pray to learn from our difficult times we can be strengthened and given much more comfort than if we pray to get out of our circumstances. Heavenly Father blesses us with trials. They are there to help us become more like Him.

I'm so grateful to be a missionary!! I love this work and I love the Lord.

I love you all so much!

Sister Winterton

Good times. :)

Seriously, where is the time going? This week is transfers again.
Luckily I will most likely be staying with Sister Makowa to finish
training. :) We are having a great time!

Forgive me if my writing today is scrambled! I am typing on the metro
home from DC! :)

On Tuesday evening, it started POURING rain. I can't believe how much
it rains here. Pretty cool!! You'd think it would cool things down,
but it only causes it to be more humid.

We have been meeting pretty often with this woman named Alexandra
throughout this past week. We met her at church on last Sunday. She is
from Switzerland and is in her 60's. Her accent is cool! She got
baptized when she was about 18 years old, but went inactive within a
few years of becoming a member. She just decided to start coming to
church again. She had a pretty rough childhood and has gone through
some difficult times. Right now she has some sort of health problem
with her spine. Anyway, I'll try to make this short.. We are
re-teaching her the gospel and doing service for her! She is a very
sweet lady, but I'm afraid that she'll be taking advantage of us if we
continue meeting with her often. I have to be careful with how we can
help. At least she is reading the Book of Mormon and liking it! :)
Thank goodness we have support from members as well. What a different
kind of adventure!
....I didn't know what I'd get when I prayed for some less-actives to
work with!

On Thursday we went to the "Return and Report" meeting for trainers
and trainees. Always great! It was fun to see all the Sisters that I
came out with who are also training. :) I can't believe that another
transfer is gone.

Sister Makowa and I had a BLAST tracting on Friday evening! We saw
some great miracles! The first man we talked to said missionaries stop
by about twice a year... Not interested, but kind. The next door was
an older woman who at first said she is perfectly comfortable in her
faith....until the Spirit helped me know how to word the invitation to
read the Book of Mormon. She brought up the fact that we all will
return to live with God no matter what path we take. I told her that
the Book of Mormon is one of the tools that helps us on this journey
to God and we invite all to read! She accepted the invitation and told
us she and her husband would read! So great. We continued on and
handed out 3 more copies! Tracting miracle! :)

On Saturday night after daily planning we got a knock on our door...
The YSA Sisters (our besties) came over and asked to stay the night!
They accidentally locked themselves out of their apartment! We got to
have a little sleepover! :) The Office Elders came in the morning to
rescue them and unlock their door.  Pretty fun!

Last night we got to go to a New & Returning Member Fireside! It is a
meeting where some of the recent converts from the mission bear their
testimonies! Such a powerful meeting. We got one of our new
investigators to come! She is neighbors with some members in our ward.
She made sure she came because.... Sister Makowa sang a musical
number!! She did amazing!! :) I'm lucky because I get to hear her sing
all the time in our apartment!
The meeting was also a ton of fun because I got to see previous
companions and some members (Brother and Sister Davis and Sister
Parker) from my last area!!! So great! The Davis's brought their
friend Mary Susan who is not a member. I met her a couple times when I
was staying at their house. She told me that she thinks I am the
perfect example of a representative of Jesus Christ. "You have the
Spirit written all over you!!" She told me how impressed she was of me
and that if she were giving her testimony up there she would mention
my name! Wow! Who knew I had that big of an impact on her. I felt so
much love and appreciation from her. She says too bad I most likely
won't be here when she gets baptized. (She is planning it?!) Pretty
dang cool. :)

Today has been so much fun!! I got to spend the day in DC with Sis.
Hill, Sis. Waldron and Sis. Makowa. I love it there! So many Patriotic
feelings and excitement! I love all the architecture as well.
Beautiful!

I'm so grateful to be a missionary in the Washington DC South Mission.
I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to serve!!! I love it--hard
times and all. :)

Love you all!!!
Sister Winterton