choose to be grateful

                                                 

Updates from Sister Lott:

 On the 10th,11th, and 12th Sister Robinson and I went on 3 exchanges. The one on the 10th was a mini exchange. We did it for a couple of hours. The next day we did a full exchange. It was super fun. During dinner we made an origami lantern. After our exchange was over we drove to the other sisters apartment and stayed the night. During our exchange the next day it rained so much! The sister I was with was wet all day😂. It poured the whole time we were there.

Last Sunday, I spoke in church. It was pretty funny because I was telling Sister Robinson that I wanted to speak to get the members into missionary work. A day or two later after she told me that our branch president had just texted and asked me to speak.😂 So, I spoke in church about members and missionaries using social media to spread the gospel. As well as, members and missionaries working together to spread the gospel. If we aren’t united we won’t progress. I invite you all to start using social media in that way.

On the 16th, I hit my two months as a missionary! It doesn't feel like it has been that long. I realized that I spent ¾ of it in the MTC, so that's crazy!

Sister Robinson and I went to Brookgreen Gardens with two of the members in our branch. It was so sweet of Sister Grant and Brother Bollin to take us. Brookgreen Gardens is a plantation that was turned into this huge garden. It is so beautiful! 😍 The oak trees are so huge and have this really cool moss hanging down from the branches. We went on a boat ride down the big freshwater ways. I saw pieces of two alligators!🐊 The tail of one and another one sticking its head out of the water. So I pretty much saw a full gator. 😂

The garden has galleries of art and sculptures. It was really cool to see the different types and mediums that were used. There were aluminum, bronze, and stone sculptures. We saw these really cool birds carved out of wood. They look really realistic and super intricate. There is an event that is going to happen in a couple of weeks there called "A Thousand Lights" (or Nights, I can't remember 🤷‍♀️). A ton of Christmas lights are being put up and Brother Bollin says that it is super pretty. He wants to take us to that. 

This past week just flew by. Sister Robinson and I went on an exchange with a trio of sisters. I went with one and Sister Robinson went with the other two. The sister I was with can't drive because she doesn't have a Teewie card. Teewie pretty much monitors your driving. It is like driving with your parents. It tells you to slow down, when you over the line etc. Sooo, I got to drive!😎 First time driving in the mission. It wasn't as bad/scary as I thought it was going to be. 

I had my first Pig Pickin on Saturday. It was a potluck with a huge pig. There was a ton of meat, and we got to take home some of the leftovers. The food was delicious😋. It was so much fun. It was really nice to meet more of the members. I got to know some people that I haven’t talked to before. It was a beautiful night. The pavilion had lights strung up across the ceiling and it just completed the look.

Sister Robinson and I had some mini miracles happen this week. We found 5 new people to teach! We found them all in one day. A guy we are teaching named Willie watched church over Facebook live stream! He said that he loved it.

I have been reading in Mormon for the past couple of days. A lot of things have stood out to me, but I will only mention one. We need to not procrastinate the day of our repentance. In Mormon 3: 20-22 it says, “(20) And these things doth the Spirit manifest unto me; therefore I write unto you all. And for this cause I write unto you, that ye may know that ye must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yea, every soul who belongs to the whole human family of Adam; and ye must stand to be judged of your works, whether they be good or evil;

(21) And also that ye may believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, which ye shall have among you; and also that the Jews, the covenant people of the Lord, shall have other witness besides him whom they saw and heard, that Jesus, whom they slew, was the every Christ and the very God.

(22) And I would that I could persuade all ye ends of the earth to repent and prepare to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.” We need to prepare ourselves for when Christ comes again. This also reminded me that I can be doing better. I learned in seminary that we can repent of good to become better. 

Love yall!

<3 Sister Lott

Here are some pictures!

  The exchange that rained all day

Language Study w/ Hermana Stewart and Sister Bowen!

DCM! We played Cover Your Assets! I won one of the rounds😎

 Brookgreen Gardens. They have a zoo there, and I loved the ducks. It was really cool because it is nothing like the Hogle Zoo. It felt more natural and it was in the forest.

(these members took them to the gardens)

so much to be thankful for

 My heart is full of gratitude.  I am thankful for my blessings, large and small.  I am blessed to have a wonderful family and for great friends and examples around me.  I am thankful to live and breathe.  I love to live in the special town of Hooper.  I am so thankful for flowers, for chips and salsa, a warm blanket, and Christmas lights.  Most of all I am thankful for my Savior and my testimony of Him.  I am nothing without Him.  He helps me in all my trials.  A saying hangs on the wall of my living room.  It says, "Everyday holds a possibility of a miracle."  I hope I can recognize all the little miracles in my life and give thanks to whom they come from- my Savior.  

                                                                                          

                            Updates from Sister Lott

                                                 Week 8

 

Hey Everyone!

This week has gone by so fast! We were soo busy with lessons, and doing other things. The last half of this week has been super crazy!

We had a mission tour this week/zone conference over zoom. It was really good! We had a member of the seventy, Elder Stanfill train us. We also heard from someone named Brother Donaldson. They were fantastic! I took a ton of notes. One of the things they talked about was planning for people. It is really easy to get into the habit of planning what time to fit in lessons. Planning should be for the people and their needs. 

We did a service project on Friday. An elder in our zone posted on Facebook about being able to help with service and a lady responded. Her name is Dina and she is awesome. We went and helped Elder Sherwood & Zarbock move Dina into her house. We ended up spending 9 hours moving her in, but it was all worth it. We were able to teach her some mini lessons when she needed a little break. She told Sister Robinson and I that we had a glow to us and the elders too. She said that we started to heal her in that short amount of time. She wants us to come over this week to teach her the lessons. She also wants to teach us in return. She told us that she is going to teach us yoga and how to eat healthier! I freaking love her and am excited for that. I know that it wasn’t a coincidence that Elder Zarbock made that post and Dina saw it. People are put into our paths (and vise versa) for a reason. Take advantage of those opportunities. You never know when you will change someone’s life.

Sister Robinson and I were going to do an exchange on Friday after the service project. We didn't get to the other sisters apartment until 9pm. We slept over and were still planning on the exchange. In the morning Sister Robinson decided that we were going to reschedule. We had interviews with President Monson (my mission president) the next day. So next we have two exchanges in a row. I am excited! I love sleepovers! and I can't wait to see the new things I will learn. Now this week we are going to have two exchanges in a row!

Sister Robinson found a girl named Naomi on Facebook. She is super sweet and was super receptive of our message. We taught her the plan of salvation and you could just see the spirit working in her. We asked her if she would read 2 Nephi 2 and sent it to her. She told us that she would start reading it right after our call! We are calling her again tonight to finish our last lesson.

My title is about spiders because we have had two "big" ones in our apartment. It was really funny. I wanted to take a picture so I could show people, but Sister Robinson grabbed Raid and killed it with no mercy. We had another spider during Stake conference yesterday and she killed it. It was huge! They don't look as big when they are dead because they curl up, but it was big! We also live right by a boardwalk, and I noticed last night while we were on it that there are tons of spiders on big webs.

Stake conference was amazing! Our stake president spoke and pretty much roasted our stake. He talked about missionary work and members. He said something like this, "Another paradigm to Come Follow Me is missionary work. It is thought that missionary work is missionary centered and member supported but it's flipped. Missionary work is member centered and missionary supported." I was mind blown. I had never thought about it in that way. 

I have been reading in 3 Nephi for part of my personal study. I am learning a lot about Jesus and when he visited the Americas. In chapter 14:21-23 says,"(21) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. (22) Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? (23) And then will I profess unto them: I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity." These verses are talking about not knowing Jesus Christ. Actually knowing someone is different than knowing of someone. Do we actually know Jesus Christ? Do we actually know Him and have a true relationship with Him in our lives? I invite you all to think and ponder about those questions.

Love you all! Have a wonderful week!!

 

 

Fall la la la

We live in crazy times.  We are not alone and can pray for help.

 

Some great quotes from Hermana Lott

 

                    Hang in there during your trials.

                        You are not alone.

1st week as a "Greeny"

 

                                                     Week 7

So much has happened since last week. I am now officially a greenie! That is so crazy. I am super excited to be out in South Carolina and I'm ready to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Also, everyone send me a friend request on Facebook so I don't get put in Facebook jail. It will make it easier to get my Facebook going. 

It took my mom and I a little while but we were able to get everything packed. We lucked out, the suitcases didn't go over 50 pounds. Right as my dad and I were walking back we saw Hermana Stewart and her family. That made me really happy because I didn't want to go to our gate alone. We said our goodbyes and headed off. The gate had a lot of missionaries waiting for the flight to Atlanta, Georgia. Turns out most of them were going to Kentucky. There were five missionaries on our row and all of us were going to South Carolina. A little into the flight we hit some pretty bumpy turbulence. It was really funny. I was playing sudoku and the turbulence wouldn't let me touch the screen

When we reached Atlanta, we had a four hour layover. It actually was pretty fun. We got 5 Guys for lunch and right as we finished some more missionaries came. Turns out they were going to South Carolina too! We talked to them and it made the time pass by really fast. We landed in South Carolina around 7pm and went to find our luggage. The APs, and President and Sister Monson came to pick us up. They drove us to a church where all the other missionaries were waiting. My homies Elder Bates, Decker, and Mullenaux were there too! HMTC together again! For dinner we had pulled pork sandwiches, fruit and a cupcake. It was soo good. We stayed the night in a hotel, and went back to a church the next morning to receive instruction and our trainers. 

The training was great and was given by the two senior missionary couples. They are great! I am excited to get to know them better. Then the kind of scary thing happened, we went into the chapel where all of the trainers were waiting. I saw Sister Bowen! I absolutely love her! (she was a friend of mine back home) Hermana Stewart is her new companion!(so excited for them) I got my trainer! Her name is Sister Robinson. She is from St. George and has been out for almost 11 months. She is amazing and I already love her! She is our STL(sister training leader for our zone) and our district leader. Our area is Georgetown, South Carolina. It is a great area, and we have a lot of work to do. Funny thing is it's an English area, so I'll be speaking English for the next little while. Also, we have a car! It is really nice having one because our area is pretty big. We live in a two story apartment with just the two of us. It is a pretty nice apartment, but it is cold. Sister Robinson likes the AC on so I am a popsicle. Thank goodness we both have blankets. 

They people in the south are so kind and they will tell you what's what. You talk to people and they tell you their whole life story. They don't care whether or not you want to hear it. I'm going to have to get used to that. But sometimes it works to your advantage and you find out the person's needs and wants faster. A cool thing is that the Bible is so loved down here. People talk about Jesus all the time. Sister Robinson and I live by so many churches. There are 4-5 on our street. 

I had my first dinner appointment with the Bernard family on Saturday. We went over to their house and had chili dogs. It was super fun. They are such a great family. Their yard is beautiful, (South Carolina has a ton of trees. There are everywhere. I am trying to figure out roads and directions, but it all looks the same. I love having all these trees anyway.) and they pretty much live by a forest. 

Sister Robinson and I helped with a primary activity.  Our branch isn't very big so only three girls showed up. Turns out they only have girls in the primary (around 6, but not sure). We set up a little obstacle thing and the girls would go through it blind folded. Someone was the Holy Ghost saying the right things quietly while everyone else was saying random things. It was really fun to watch and be a part of.

 We are teaching some great people right now:

Janet/Joel: (Mom and son) They are on date for baptism on November 28th. We have to teach them separately because they both like to talk so much Janet is so strong and full of faith. We taught her a lesson last night over the phone and she just soaked it up. We are having her start reading the Book of Mormon. Joel has a lot of questions and is learning how to pray. Sister Robinson and I are trying to get them to church or have a spiritual experience. 

 Shirley:

She was in some other sister's area book, but she didn't live in their area. She actually lives in our area about 40 minutes away. We went and dropped off a Book of Mormon and some other papers to her. She is so strong and wants as much information about Jesus Christ as possible. She has gone through so many hard things in her life, but her faith in Christ is still strong.  

Willie:

Sister Robinson found him on Facebook. Her previous companion and her taught him a little over some phone calls. We were able to do a facetime call with him. We taught him about the restoration and he said that what we were saying made sense. He is starting to read the Book of Mormon. We are so excited for our next call with him. 

                                                 Hope you all have a great week!

                                                                                 airport

Her MTC district.  She finally got to meet the Elders in person

her friend from Hooper

Jaime and her comp Sister Robinson

Someone she knew at BYU-Idaho

                                                     apartment

She loves the Dollar Tree

her small church

a Primary activity

stray cats that live outside the church

Someone made them spaghetti.  She hates spaghetti and wouldn't eat it at home.  She said it was good.