Llamas, Tigers, and Bears. Oh My! - Week 23

Hello Everyone!

Things have been pretty exciting since Christmas!  I do have to admit that I've seen more interesting animals this week than anytime else on my mission so far.  I'm used to seeing deer, rabbits, and an occasional skunk once in a while... but never have I before seen a llama in the middle of the road... or a bear.  It was pretty crazy!

Highlights of the week!

-  Sister Rew and I got to give a special missionary moment at a double baptism this Saturday for two eight year olds in the Pleasant Valley Ward.  There was A LOT of people there and most of them were kids so we decided to give a missionary moment that the kids would enjoy.  So we played Jenga!  We taught the great apostasy and the restoration using a giant jenga block set that we borrowed from Sister Hymas.  It was really fun, especially when the giant tower fell down.  The kids really liked the lesson and the jenga game!  We also used the jenga blocks for some other lessons we had throughout the week and so far, everyone has enjoyed them!

- We had a super sweet lesson with an older lady this week.  Her husband had just passed away so we just sang hymns to her the whole time.  The Spirit was super strong and it was amazing to listen to her testify of the Plan of Salvation and that through Jesus Christ, families can be together forever.  While we were singing, she even joined in with us.  It was so touching!

-  On Christmas evening, we all decided to go caroling as a district.  There was me, Sister Rew, Hermana Udall, Hermana Styers, Elder Watson, and Elder Farmer.  Each companionship chose a couple of people to carol to in each of our areas.  We got to go sing to people in Pleasant Valley, Diamond Springs, and Placerville.  It was so much fun (and really cold)!  It was a great way to end a wonderful Christmas!

-  Sister Rew and I have been focusing on trying to make new friends this past week.  One of the best ways to do this is by going and finding people who have met with missionaries in the past.  We weren't able to make any new official friends this past week but we were able to meet quite a few people who are interested in us coming back!  We are excited to be able to work with some many awesome potentials!  

Today I wanted to share with you all the second shortest scripture in all of the standard works.  It is found in Luke chapter 17.  In verse 32, Jesus says, "Remember Lot's wife."  For those of you who don't remember the story of Lot's wife, you can read it in Genesis chapter 19.  But long story short, she gets turned into a pillar of salt because she looked back at Sodom and Gomorrah.  I've thought about this scripture a lot because it is almost the New Year!  Too often we get stuck in the past and on previous mistakes or experiences we've had.  We forget that we can't change the past.  However, we can learn from it and become better because of it.  The Atonement of Jesus Christ allows us to press forward with a steadfast faith in Christ having a perfect brightness of hope.  Unlike Lot's wife, we can choose to not look back and to continually move forward in faith.  I want to invite you all to "remember Lot's wife" as we move into 2020 and to rely on the Savior to give you the strength you need to push forward and become better!  I can promise that the Savior's grace is sufficient to help you move forward and that you will be happier and full of hope for the future as you do so!  

I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonderful New Year!  May 2020 be the best year ever and full of joy!

Lots of love,

Sister Ferrin    

Mailing Info:

8267 Deseret Ave
Fair Oaks CA 95628
United States    

Pic of the week:

1- Why did the llama cross the road? To get to the fiesta on the other side!

I'll Call Home For Christmas... You Can Count on Me - Week 22

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all having a holly jolly Christmas!  Things have been super awesome and festive here in Camino and Pleasant Valley!  Sister Rew and I even woke up to a white Christmas (sorta).  It has been an amazing Christmas day full of talking with family, visiting with members, and singing Christmas carols!  

Highlights of the week!

-  We have done A LOT of Christmas Caroling this past week!  It has been such a fun way to get to bring holiday cheer to our friends and members.  Some of our favorite songs to sing are: Joy to the World, O Come All Ye Faithful, What Child Is This?, and Silent Night.  One of the coolest lessons we had this week was with some members and the whole lesson we sang carols and talked about the importance of Jesus Christ.  In the lesson we ended up singing I Stand All Amazed and discussing what the Atonement of Christ means to us.  The Spirit was so strong and it was a great reminder of the real reason why we celebrate Christmas!

-  This Sunday was amazing!!!  We had a special Christmas Sacrament meeting in both our wards and they were both awesome!  The music was beautiful and the speakers did an amazing job of testifying of the divine mission of Jesus Christ!  Also, our members were super missionary-minded and invited seriously everyone.  There were so many new faces at church and it was great getting to know all the visitors!  Sister Rew and I were also invited to sing in the Pleasant Valley Ward Choir.  We sang a song called "Shine for Me Again Star of Bethlehem"  I loved being able to sing that song because I actually sing that song with my dad every Christmas!  It was such a little tender mercy that reminded me of home!  

-  We got to celebrate the birthday of Joseph Smith this Monday at a special mission conference!  I loved being able to reflect on the statement, "Because of Joseph Smith...".  We are so blessed to have living prophets on the earth today who help lead and guide Jesus Christ's church!  Because of Joseph Smith, I know that God loves all His children and has provided all of us with a way to return back to Him.  I also know that through priesthood ordinances performed in holy temples, families have the opportunity of being together forever!  I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and all that he did to serve the Lord!  The special mission conference was also awesome because I got to see Hermana Lewis again and give her a big hug!  A shout out to all my amazing companions that I've had so far!  I love you all so much!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas full of joy and love!  Christmas is such a wonderful time to truly humble ourselves and reflect upon the birth of the Son of God.  As we reflect upon His miraculous birth, life, death, and resurrection and give thanks for all Christ has done for us, we will be able to have our hearts filled with true enduring joy.  I want to share this quote with you from a BYU devotional that Elder Bednar spoke at.  He said,      

"Enduring joy is not a blessing reserved for a select few. Rather, every member of the Lord’s restored Church who is striving to remember and honor sacred covenants and keep the commandments can receive this gift, according to God’s will and timing. In this Christmas season, may each of us strive to appreciate more fully the supernal gift of joy. As we do so, may we begin to see with new eyes and hear with new ears as “Saints and angels sing,” as we “repeat the sounding joy,” and as we “ever worship God.”"  

Know that I love you all and that you are in my thoughts!  I pray that you will all be able to find true enduring joy this Christmas season.  Have a Merry Christmas!

Lots of Love,

Sister Ferrin

Mailing Info:

8267 Deseret Ave
Fair Oaks CA 95628
United States  

Pics of the week:

1. Matching Christmas Pajamas with the Hermanas! (also, we may have been eating the leftover frosting from making cookies for our friends)

2. El Dorado Zone back at it again!

Mary, Did You Know? - Week 21

Hello Everyone!

Once again, this P-day has been very busy so it'll be a short email. This week was super exciting but busy. We have spent most of our time inviting our friends and members to the special Christmas Sacrament Meeting on December 22nd. We also received transfer calls on Saturday and....... Sister Rew and I are both staying in Camino and Pleasant Valley!! I am so excited and grateful to be able to spend Christmas with all my friends and amazing members! Seriously the best early Christmas present ever! 

Highlights of the Week:

- We had an amazing lesson with Charlotte on the Plan of Salvation this Wednesday! She loved it all and really understood it! After the lesson, we asked Charlotte if she would be baptized by someone holding the proper authority. She had only one concern, that the water would be cold. We quickly assured her that we could heat the water up and she agreed! We were able to put her on date for January 25th! We are so excited to get to work with her towards that step on the Covenant Path!

- I got to sing in Sacrament Meeting for the Camino ward this past Sunday. The Bishop requested that I sing his favorite Christmas song which is Mary, Did You Know? It was a little crazy leading up to the performance especially since I woke up with a sore throat that morning but thanks to the Lord and much prayer, I was able to sing it. Afterwards, I found out that I made the Bishop cry (and half the ward). Someone even came up to me and said that I needed to sing every Sunday which made me laugh!

- We have a new friend! His name is Christopher and he is a referral we got from the Laie Temple Visitor Center. When we met him the first time, he had already downloaded the Book of Mormon App and read from it. He also read Moroni's promise and prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true. He told us, "Well, I didn't get a nasty feeling about it. In fact, I felt peace." We were able to testify about how it was the Spirit telling him it was true! Christopher also came to church this Sunday and really liked it! He said he would come next Sunday too!

- At the end of last P-day, we accidently locked our keys to the church gate in the Family History Library so we got stuck in the church. We tried calling the members of the bishopric but nobody was answering their phones. Finally, after two hours, someone came and freed us. It was quite an adventure!

- Some of our amazing members took us to the Sacramento temple to see the Live Nativity they put on each year. They have live actors play out the story of the birth of Christ and at the end, missionaries pass out hot chocolate and take people on temple tours. It was so touching and I loved being there! The Spirit was so strong and it was a great way to remember the true meaning of Christmas! 

I am so very grateful for all the many tender mercies from the Lord this week! Being a missionary during the Chrustmas season is the best! Getting to serve those around us has truly been such an amazing experience and I have loved every second of it! I would invite all of you this week to think of someone you know and love and invite them to the special Christmas Sacrament Meeting on the 22nd of December. If you can't think of anyone, pray for someone to be put in your path that you can invite! I can promise that the Lord will guide you to those who need the light of Christ this Christmas Season! 

I love you all so very much and I hope you have an amazing week! 

Lots of love,

Sister Ferrin 

Pics of the week include the one's from last week:

The Plan of Salvation... Followed By Live Snakes! - Week 20

Hello Everyone!

This was a very busy week!  So many wonderful things happened!  I'll just go straight to the highlights for you all because there are A LOT!

Highlights of the Week!

-  The biggest highlight of the week was... MARY'S BAPTISM!  Mary was baptized this Saturday and it was amazing!  So many people came to show love and support for Mary and her family!  One of the coolest parts for me was getting to be able to be a witness for the ordinance.  I have never done that before and it was so special!  The next day (Sunday), Mary was confirmed during Sacrament meeting and her baby sister was able to be blessed!  Once again, the whole ward just rallied around them with support and love!  It was amazing to see and my heart was so full!    

-  We had Zone Conference this past Wednesday which was awesome!  I love getting to gather as missionaries and listen to our Mission President and his wife share inspiration and council!  I actually got to speak in Zone Conference too!  Haha, it was kind of terrifying actually.  I got to give a 3-5 minute talk on Virtue.  I talked about how virtue is living our lives on a level of high standards, behaviors, and thoughts.  I also compared it to the difference between the Natural Man and a true follower of God.  Zone Conference was fun because I got to see Hermana Lewis again and give her a big hug!  It was awesome! 

-  I got to go on exchanges with my Sister Training Leader, Sister Prettyman, this week in Folsom!  Sister Prettyman is from Maryland and I loved getting to work with her!  Her birthday was actually during exchanges, so I thought it would be fun to take her out for a birthday dinner at Costa Vida!  That evening, we went and visited some members and less active members up in the really wealthy area of Folsom.  Oh my goodness.... those houses were GINORMOUS!  They were legit mansions!  It was quite different from my area in Camino and Pleasant Valley.  It was a really fun exchange though! 

-  The Camino ward had their Christmas Party which we got to go to!  It was really fun and the food was delicious.  It was awesome to see our members invite their friends to the party!  We got to meet and talk to a lot of really great people!  Christmas time is such a great time to get to know new people and grow to love them!  

-  We got to have a lesson with our friend Jan this week!  Jan is super sweet and we showed her the Christ Child Video.  She absolutely loved it and we were able to invite her to the Christmas Service on December 22nd.  The best part though was when we found out that she wasn't going to have Christmas due to financial issues... so, we quickly drove back to our apartment, grabbed one of our extra mini-christmas trees/decorations and other goodies, and "doorbell ditched" her home with all the Christmas stuff.  Later, we got a text from Jan thanking us for bringing her Christmas!  My heart was so full!  It was amazing!  

-  We had another awesome lesson with our friend Josh and his family!  We went over the Plan of Salvation with them and got to answer a lot of their questions.  We even invited Josh to be baptized.  He said that he wants to learn more about the gospel but that when he did, he would want to be baptized!  After the lesson, they brought out their snakes.... and boy, do they have a lot of snakes.  At first I was like, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  but once I started holding them and petting them, I actually really enjoyed it! Nothing like a Plan of Salvation/Fall of Adam and Eve lesson followed by snakes.  

This week has been amazing and I am so excited for this next one!  It is crazy because this is the last week of the transfer which means I may be leaving El Dorado next week.  I hope I get to stay here with Sister Rew in Camino and Pleasant Valley for another transfer but I will go wherever the Lord sends me!  Being a missionary is amazing and I love being here in California!

I hope you all have an amazing day and a great week!  Let me know if there is anything I can do for you!  You are in my thoughts and prayers! 

Lots of Love,

Sister Ferrin

Mailing Info:

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks CA 95628

United States

(For anyone who wants to send anything for Christmas... I would love you forever! *even though I probably already do*)

P.S. I don't have any pictures this week because they are on my companion's phone so I will send them all next week!  Especially the awesome snake ones!

"You two are BEASTS!" - Week 19

Hello Everyone!

This week was pretty crazy!  Not only was it Thanksgiving on Thursday, but we actually got snowed in on Tuesday and Wednesday.  On top of the snow, the power was shut off (again) for two days.  It was pretty exciting and we survived!  It warmed up quite a bit so now it is just raining.  Everyone here is super grateful for the rain because of all the crazy fires in the area.  I'm grateful for the rain because it means I don't have to drive in the snow.  So it is a win win!

Highlights of the Week!

-  We got to go down to Folsom for Team-ups on Tuesday!  I got to be in a trio with Sister Asay from Gilbert, Arizona and Sister Deng from China.  Sister Asay actually knows my great-grandma who lives in Gilbert... what a small world!  Team-ups were pretty great even though no one was really home.  It was fun getting to know some of the other Sister Missionaries in the mission!  Sister Rew and I also got Chick-fil-a afterwards which made me literally almost cry.  I love Chick-fil-a so much!

-   Between Tuesday and Wednesday it snowed about 15 inches.  Since we couldn't really get out of the area with our car, we decided to do service contacting instead!   Sister Rew and I each got a snow shovel and we walked around the neighborhood, offering to shovel the neighbors driveways.  It was quite the workout!  We shoveled this one house that had a very large driveway and right as we finished, the man who lived there pulled up next to us.  He couldn't believe that we had shoveled his whole driveway, especially with only two hand shovels.  When he found out what he did, he said, "Whoa!  You two are beasts!"  It was an awesome compliment!  

-  Thursday was awesome because it was Thanksgiving!  We got to go to the home of some members and they feed us Thanksgiving dinner.  It was super yummy and now I can say that I've officially eaten canned ham.  I'm so grateful for the amazing ward members in the area!  They have so much love and support for the missionaries!  God has blessed me so much here!

-  Mary's baptism is this Saturday!  We are so excited for her!  Mary brought her mom and little sisters to church again which was awesome!  The best moment was when Mary's little sister (about three years old) reached over and high-fived my hand when I raised it to sustain someone.  We were dying!  It was so funny!  Mary is doing amazing!  She has almost read the entire Book of Mormon!  The ward is also super excited for her baptism and are showing a ton of support to her!  It is such an exciting time!

-  Sister Rew went to a baptism in Rancho Cordova on Saturday with a member and I got to be in a trio with the Placerville Hermanas.  It was so much fun being in my old area again!  The best part though was getting to go see Dorothy!  When she saw me, she ran right up to me and gave me a giant hug!  I love her so much and I am so grateful I got the chance to see her again!  

It is officially Christmas time!  I love this time of year so much!  We are so blessed to have a time of year where we get to focus on the birth of the Savior and serving others!  I am so grateful for this season!  I wanted to share this quote with you!  

"What will you and I give for Christmas this year?  Let us in our lives give to our Lord and  Savior the gift of gratitude by living His teachings and following His footsteps."  (President Monson)  

I want to invite you all to give thanks to the Savior of the World this season by living the way He did.  Find someone you can serve or pray to the Lord to put someone in your life that you can serve.  I promise that as you do this, this Christmas season will be full of more love and joy than ever before!  I love you all so much!  You are in my thoughts and my prayers!

Lots of Love,

Sister Ferrin

Mailing Info:

8267 Deseret Ave
Fair Oaks CA 95628
United States

Pics of the Week!

1- We love Dorothy!

2- The first snow fall of the season

3- SHOVELING!