California = Zucchini Bread (Week 53)

Hello everyone!

Oh my goodness! This week was so great! I turned a year old on the 24th which is absolutely crazy and I'm still trying to process that. 

Highlights!

- Sorella Finlinson and I had the goals to have 20 lessons this week. Thanks to our awesome members, some amazing timing, and the Lord's hand, we were able to have 25 lessons this week (both over video call and in person)! It was AWESOME!

- Our Zone Leaders gave us a referral last Monday for a man named Chris who they had met while doing laundry. We were able to meet him and his wife Sandra yesterday! We had a lesson with them at the church and oh wow! They are awesome! Chris is so excited to learn about the gospel and to read the Book of Mormon! They even want to have a Sunday service with us next week! I am beyond thrilled that we get to work with them!

- Have I mentioned before that our ward has some of the best ward members ever? Because they are so incredible! We've had some awesome lessons with them this past week! Also, everyone here loves to make Zucchini bread so we have eaten SO much of it over the past few days. 

Such a great week and we are so pumped for this next one! Happy/spiritual thought of the week:

 I ran across this quote in my personal study this past week. It says, "if you think the scripture are boring, then you're boring" (Haha, it made me laugh!) We are so blessed to have the scriptures! Whether it is the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the Doctrine and Covenants, we can learn so much about God and His plan for us! It is so amazing God can speak directly to us through words written hundreds of years ago! Keep studying your scriptures and applying them to yourself! As you do this, reading the scriptures will become an adventure! 

I love you all so so so much! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you! Have a wonderful week!

Lots of love, 

Sister Ferrin 

Our fancy address:

4151 Dena Way

Sacramento, CA 95821

Pic of the week:

1. We got Chick-fil-a for my one year! I was very happy! (we also got ice cream... still very happy)

Living with a Giant Turtle - Week 52

Hello everyone!

Yeah... this past week definitely makes it on my top ten craziest weeks of my mission list. 

Here's another list for you:

How to have a crazy but amazing week as a missionary in 10 "easy" steps:

Step 1 - Shotgun into a new ward during COVID-19.

Step 2 - Do step 1 but while training someone 

Step 3 - Have an amazing new companion named Sorella Finlinson from Fruit Heights, Utah! Extra bonus points because she also did school at BYU before her mission and she speaks Italian!

Step 4 - Don't have areabook work for four days straight. It will definitely make trying to find people to contact more exciting.

Step 5 - Have the APs bring you A NEW CAR!

Step 6 - Fall absolutely in love with your new ward members! They may even bring you some food. Or a lot of food. Also, be sure to sing with them when they whip out guitars.

Step 7 - Move into probably one of the nicest apartments in the mission. And live with fantastic members who own a giant pet turtle that is 75 years old.

Step 8 - Learn how to make homemade chicken street tacos 

Step 9 - Live next to a giant park and take long walks every morning for exercise.

Step 10 - Rely and trust completely in the Savior! Don't worry about being perfect. Give your all to the Lord and he will make it enough! He loves you so much and will help you to have an amazing transfer!

So there you go! How to have a crazy but absolutely wonderful first week of the transfer! I am so excited to get to serve in the Eastern Avenue ward here in East Sac! It is going to be an adventure!

I love you all so much! Have an amazing week! 

Lots of love,

Sister Ferrin 

Our new fancy address:

4151 Dena Way

Sacramento, CA 95821

Pics of the week:

Week 51

Hello Everyone!

Well, first things first... we got transfer calls this Saturday and... I'm staying! 

Just kidding. 

But Sister Golightly is staying and her new companion is a reassigned missionary who also served in the Philippines so that is SUPER exciting!

And now to the highlights of the week:

-  We made three new friends this week!  Two of them are some lovely ladies who live in the area that we got to contact over the phone.  They had been taught by missionaries in the past so we thought we would reach out and low and behold, we are teaching them now!  We even got to drop off a Book of Mormon to one of them! The other friend was a young woman from the Philippines who had reached out to some elders in our mission and it just so happens that Sister Golightly speaks Tagalog so they referred her to us!  

-  I got to have one final Sunday Service with our friend Wayne!  It was actually really heartbreaking to say goodbye but the Sunday Service itself was lovely!  He even shared a couple of his favorite scriptures!  It has truly been so amazing to see how much he has progressed over these past five months!  Please continue to keep Wayne in your prayers!

-  Sister Golightly and I got to do some service this past week!  A member called us a few weeks ago and asked if we would be willing to help her nonmember friend with some weeding in her flower garden.  We, of course, said yes because service is the best!  We went over Thursday morning and worked in her garden for a couple of hours.  It was so much fun and the lady we were serving was SO adorable!  She even asked if we could come back and help her again! So much fun!

- We had a bunch of really awesome member lessons this past week!  We even got to have dinner and lunch with some of them in person too! The members of the River Park Ward are so wonderful and I have loved getting to know them and learn from them!  I am so grateful for the six months I've been able to spend in this ward!  Part of my heart is going to be here in River Park forever!

-  So, if you'd like to hear some more lovely music (haha) go check out the Sunday Service that the Rancho Cordova Zone posted on Facebook yesterday.  There may or may not be a music number that the River Park missionaries sing (elders included).  

-  Since today was mine and Sister Golightly's last P-day together, we decided to go on an adventure!  We drove downtown and walked around Old Sacramento.  We had such a good time and we got Dole Whips!

Haha okay... now for the moment you have all been waiting for...

On Tuesday (tomorrow), I'm going to be transferring to the Eastern Avenue ward in East Sacramento.  They haven't had sisters in that zone for a while so that will be exciting!  Also, I'm going to be shotgun training again.  And I'll be a new Sister Training Leader.  Haha, that's so crazy. 

Well, if I had to sum up the past six months into one single sentence it would be this:

God is aware of you, no matter where or who you are. 

I am so grateful for all the miracles and memories I have experienced while being in this ward!  God has truly blessed me so much and I am so grateful for His hand in my life!  I know that God is real and that He loves all His children!  I love him so so so much!

Thank you for all of your love and support!  Have an amazing week and stay safe!

Lots of Love,

Sister Ferrin

(I don't have my new address yet but I'll let you know next week what it is.)

Pics of the week:

- Old Sac

- Last District Council of the transfer

- Being with members in person+

God Bless the USA - Week 50

Hello Everyone!

It was another great week here in the River Park Ward on the East Side in the Rancho Cordova Zone.  Lets jump straight to the highlights....

Highlights!

- First of all, Happy Birthday America!  Sister Golightly and I had a lovely 4th of July!  We got to have dinner with this awesome single sister in our ward (in person!)  She grilled us some chicken and we had corn on the cob and pie (oh my goodness, it was so good!)  Then we had an awesome lesson with our friend Pauline and we were able to have a member from the Fijian ward join in on the video call!  It was so cool to watch them talk to each other in Fijian and make connections!  When the day was done, we went outside and walked on the levee next to the American River and watched our neighbors shoot off fireworks!  It was so much fun!

- Sunday was by far the craziest day ever.  We ended up having seven lessons that day and three of them were Sunday Services with three different friends (2 over video chat and 1 in person)!  It was so cool to see the hand of the Lord throughout the day and how smoothly the timing of everything went!  Sister Golightly and I also sang a special musical number in an online Sunday Service that our zone posted on Facebook so if you want to hear us sing, go find Come Unto Christ in Rancho Cordova on Facebook and watch it!  

- We made a new friend this past week and the first lesson we had with him was actually in person!  We are hoping to get to talk with him again this week too!

-  We got to meet our new mission president and wife this past Thursday!  President and Sister Zimmerman are really great and have a lot of energy!  You can really tell how much they love the missionaries already!  I'm excited to get to work with them for the rest of my mission experience!

This next week is the last week of the transfer!  It's so crazy how fast time has flown!  We have been able to see so many awesome miracles over the past couple of weeks and here's to seeing some more in this week!  We get transfer calls this Saturday so... guess we find out if I'll be staying or going.  Crazy stuff!

I love you all so much!  Thank you for all of your love and support!  Always remember that God loves you and that you are His child!  Have an absolutely amazing week and let me know if there is anything I can do for you! (or anyone you would like me to pray for).

Lots of Love,

Sister Ferrin

Our fancy address:

8725 La Riviera Dr. Apt 93

Sacramento CA 95826

United States

Pic of the week:

1. Not a great picture, but proof that we are still alive

One Year Older and Wiser Too! - Week 49

Hello Everyone!

It was an AWESOME week!  So many tender mercies and miracles went down these past few days! Here we go! 

Highlights!

- We were able to have a Sunday Service with our friend Wayne... (wait for it)... IN PERSON!  I hadn't seen Wayne in person since March and it was Sister Golightly's first time meeting him.  It was so awesome!  We sang some hymns with him, read from the scriptures, and shared our testimonies of God's love with him.  Afterwards he told us that he has been able to recognize the presence of God more in his life since meeting with us and that he was so grateful for that!  

- Our friend Pauline has been reading from the Book of Mormon and praying about Joseph Smith!  We had a lesson with her on Saturday over video call and when we asked her if she believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, she basically said, "well yeah! duh!"  She is loving reading the Book of Mormon and we were able to get her started on the first chapter of 1 Nephi!  We are also working on getting some members in the area who speak Fijian to join in on a lesson with us!  

-  We got back in contact with our brand new friend Curina and had a lesson with her this week!  It was honestly one of the most Spirit-led lessons I have ever been in!  She really opened up on some of the things that she and her daughter have been going through and half way through the lesson, she paused and said, "I want you to know that I wouldn't normally tell all this stuff to anyone but I for some reason really trust you.  I can tell that you two are vessels of God."  It was so incredible! She is going to be reading the Book of Mormon with her daughter this week!  After the lesson, Sister Golightly and I just fell on our knees and thanked Heavenly Father for the Spirit in the lesson!  

- So... I may have turned 20 this past Thursday (weird).  That was a big highlight!  Thank you all for the awesome birthday emails and messages!  It really made my day!  Also, a huge shout out and thank you to my amazing companion, past companions, and members who reached out and made my birthday super special!  It was a great day! (and we are still eating cake)

- Sister Golightly and I made a new friend this week!  He is an older gentleman who had been taught by elders in the past.  He was super surprised to find out that sister missionaries exist.  We got to go over to his house and have a lesson with him in person too (with social distancing and masks of course).  He is a sweetheart and a talker so it was a pretty interesting lesson!

-  We said goodbye to President and Sister Hymas over zoom last night.  That was a bittersweet experience for sure.  They go home on July 1st so this week we will be welcoming in the new mission president and wife.

- 11 MONTHS! Whoohoo!

So yes!  It was a crazy, busy, awesome, spirit-filled week this past week!  Sister Golightly and I are doing great and staying busy!  Thank you for all of your prayers and support!  Before I go, I just want to share with you a quick scripture that I found this week that I fell in love with!  It is Alma 37:36 and it says, 

"Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, leat all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever."

I LOVE THIS SCRIPTURE SO MUCH!  It is so beautiful! As we rely on and trust in the Lord in all things, He promises that He will guide our paths and support us each and everyday!  Our Heavenly Father loves us so much and wants to be in our lives!  We just have to open our hearts and trust in Him!  

I love you all very much!  I wish I could describe how much you all mean to me!  I hope you all have an amazing day and an even more wonderful week!  Love ya!

Lots of Love,

Sister Ferrin

Our fancy address:

8725 La Riviera Dr. Apt 93

Sacramento CA 95826

United States

Pics of the week:

1. Yummy Tres Leches birthday cake! I feel so old

2. Birthday burritos