Q-Town

This week has been so crazy. and hectic. but good. :)

We had transfers on Tuesday and guess where I am................

QUANTICO!!!!

You don't even understand how happy that news is.
 I'm back in the Woodbridge zone!
Its the most north the mission goes, really close to D.C.
I served in this zone in the Lakeridge 1st ward back during Christmas and
I'm so glad to be back :)
I was praying so hard to come here and I did! Heavenly Father is so good. The work is just booming and we are going to have an amazing transfer.

My new companion is Sister Canty! She is a red head from Colorado, she is
also a farmer's daughter, she went to BYU Idaho, she's my same age, and she
is awesome. we came out together, so she was in the MTC with me but in a
different district! We're basically besties already so life is good :)

Also, fun fact. The stake is trying to start a YSA branch here, so the
Quantico ward is like a magnet YSA until we get enough people to start a
real one. So we teach all the YSA's without even being in a YSA
ward. #tailormadeforme

On Wednesday we had a little birthday dinner for a recent convert named
Curtis! Curtis and Christina got baptized earlier this year by Sister
Johns! They are pretty much like our parents here, we have a key to their
house hahaha :) We helped make him a guitar cake though, it was fun.

Then on Thursday we taught a new YSA investigator named Jared. He is really
prepared. He is kind of Catholic, but is just searching for the truth. He
also is just looking for friends and belonging, so it will be good.
We have taught him a lot this week and he loves the Book of Mormon and he came to
church yesterday! Sad news is that we had to pass him off to the elders :/
but he will get baptized so that is all that matters!

We also have a less-active member in the ward named Brother Calder and he
is the funniest, nicest, sassiest old man. We love him :)
 He teases us a lot and pretends like he doesn't love us, but he totally does.
We went over and had lunch with him one day and he gave us s'mores and let us sit in his
hammocks.

We also met with an investigator named Frank this week! So background info,
in our mission we do something called "spiritual creation" all the time.
Just like Heavenly Father created everything spiritually, before
physically, we plan to have miracles and create people that we will find
and baptize before we find them. Does that make sense? Probably not haha.
Anyway! Back in January when I was in this zone, my companion at the time,
Sister Wagstaff, and I spiritually created someone named Frank! We said he
was black and was around 30 or 40 years old. And then our sister training
leaders (who were serving in the Quantico ward) found him! It was crazy.
Then they taught him for a while, but then he disappeared for a few months.
Then last transfer he called the sisters and said he wanted to meet again!
And now I'm here and he is on date to be baptized in the next few weeks!
Crazy right?

We have also had crazy miracles with our investigator Rashida!
 She is amazing. She is 21 and from Sierra Leone.
 Her mom still lives there and she doesn't have a good relationship with the rest of her family, so she is all by herself. Last week she came to church with a less active family and
loved it! Every since then we've been meeting with her and she is so
prepared its crazy. She loves the Book of Mormon and reads it every night.

She has had a super hard life, so we had a really powerful lesson with her
on the Atonement and how it can heal her, we were all crying haha.
 Her main concern is the word of wisdom right now. She came to the General Women's
meeting with us on Saturday instead of going out with her friends and loved
it! But afterward she decided to go out after all and it was not good. So
she was pretty shaken up the next day and couldn't come to church.
 But we went and saw her and just reassured her that we still love her and that no
one is perfect. We all mess up, but we don't give up. She is like our
little best friend, we love her so much. I never knew how much I would love
someone I hardly know until my mission! She will most likely get baptized
sometime next week, so pray for her!

We also had a n awesome miracle yesterday! A YSA nonmember just walked into
church and wanted to learn more! When does that happen?? His name is
Andrew. Some missionaries had knocked on his door a long time ago and gave
him a Book of Mormon and he never read it until recently and then he read
all of 1 Nephi and all of Alma! Crazy right?! The only problem is he is
fuuuullllll of anti-Mormon material. He has heard every single bad thing
about our church. So we had a good lesson with him and he is really
searching for the truth, but it might be a challenge to overcome all of the
negative ideas he has about the church. We are meeting with him again
tomorrow!

Also, I loved the women's session of conference so much! I love hearing
guidance and council from Heavenly Father through our leaders. I especially
loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk.
 The gospel is what makes us happy! No matter what life brings :)
 I am so pumped for conference!!! It is going to be amazing.
 It has been sad to lose so many apostles, but the Lord is
hastening His work! And He has so many great things in store. Also, I saw
my recent convert Rosa there!!! I love her so much :) she is doing baptisms
in the temple next month and I told her I would come back to go through the
temple next year and she was so happy. Love that lady.

We are doing the week long Book of Mormon read-a-thon starting today! So
get reading everybody :) 75 pages a day. it's gonna be good. I love the
Book of Mormon and I've gained such a testimony of its truthfulness on my
mission.

This has been a crazy, unorganized email but here isn't even enough time to
tell you all the things!

Just know that the work is good and life is good here in the hood :)

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!
XOXO,
Sister Fowers


Here is my new mailing address! Looking forward to your letters ;)

3303 William Johnston Lane #14
Dumfries, VA 22026

Saying goodbye to my recent convert Austin at Best Buy!

He has a stellar beard.

And saying goodbye to the branch at FHE :( I miss them already......

"You are not cast in stone."

Helllloooooooooooooooooo.

This week has been crazy! 

Just to follow up with y'all, our zone didn't win the 5-K contest :/ so that's a bummer. But it was still fun! I may or may not have been super super super sore afterward. Obviously I need to run more! smh. hahaha.

On Tuesday we had sisters meeting! It was awesome. The whole meeting was based around Christ-like attributes and how we can become more Christ-like missionaries and individuals.

 Sister Nordstrom and I trained on patience and it went great!

 I always get nervous giving trainings (we all know how much I love public speaking..........haha not), but I'm always amazed at how the Spirit takes over and helps me.

 One thing that stood out to me from the meeting was something that President Wilson said. He was talking about Heavenly Father's love and said, 

"I feel His love constantly, because I see God everywhere." 
I love that. If we just stop and look around, there is so much evidence of His love.
 We just need to have the eyes to see it!

We taught a new investigator named Lauren on Wednesday and it went well. She had some really awesome comments and questions so we'll see how our next lesson goes!

We also taught a guy named Alec the other day. We met him on campus and he told us that his aunt had had lessons with missionaries and he had sat in on some. He told us that he thought the Book of Mormon wasn't true, that Jesus couldn't come to America, and that we teach false doctrine.... hahaha. So we were a little worried going into the lesson that it was going to be a Bible bash. I hate those. But it turned out better than we thought! The member we brought was perfect for him and we just kind of confounded him with some verses from the Bible that made him think. He had a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation, so pray that his heart is softened! 

It was funny though, at the end of the lesson we invited him to be baptized when he comes to know this is true and he said "No, I won't even promise that, because I know I won't know its true."

So I just said, "Well, I know that if you ask God, with an open heart, YOU WILL!" I love testifying. No one can argue with a testimony ;) 

Then on Saturday a recent convert from the branch got married! His name is Nathan, he married a returned missionary, they are so awesome. I can't wait for them to be sealed in the temple on his year mark! My old companion, Sister Weber, baptized him, so she came back for the wedding too! So it was good seeing her and catching up :) 

Guess what was Saturday night though........... transfer calls.

Yep.

And of course, I'm getting transferred. Not super surprised, but sad to leave this area. I have loved serving here so much and I am going to miss YSA :( I have made so many lifelong friends and had my testimony strengthened so much. Its crazy how Heavenly Father sends me to exactly where I need to be though, so I have no doubt He will send me where I need to go tomorrow at transfer meeting. This will be my 11th companion though! I think I might hold the record for most companions hahaha. The more the merrier though!

Packing is the worst though. Two suitcases is not enough room! hahaha.

Happy news is that my recent convert Kelsey spoke in church yesterday for my last Sunday! I felt like a proud mom. :) She is so awesome, I love her so much.

 Then the branch president asked that I go up and share my testimony since I was being transferred, and I shared something that I have been thinking a lot about lately, which is change. 

I have learned so much about it! I have seen so many people, like Kelsey and Austin and so many others change their whole lives! Its crazy to me. I don't think I ever really understood the power of Christ's Atonement and how it can help us change. There is a talk I love called "Be the Fourth Missionary" and there is a part in it that I love so much. It says:

"As you consider the question of what kind of person you will become, you must understand the dynamic process of life. You not only can change, but you do change all of the time Sometimes people do not believe this. They excuse their failures and weaknesses by saying,'That's just the way I am.' 'I am just a short tempered, impatient person.' 'I can't get up in the morning. That's just the way I am.' 'That's my nature." Or, 'I'm just shy. That's all. That's just who I am.' "I'm not really a spiritual person.' 

To believe that weaknesses and deficiencies in your character are unchangeable is to reject the central truth of the plan of salvation. You are not cast in stone. You not only can change, but you do change all of the time. You are a dynamic, changing, evolving being. You are always changing. You never stay the same. You cannot stand still."

I love that so much! It is never, ever, ever too late to change. Every single day is a new chance to start over, to be new. I'm so grateful for my Savior who made it so we never have to give up on ourselves, even when we want to. 

Also, happy news!! Remember last year when our mission did the Book of Mormon read-a-thon??? WE'RE DOING IT AGAIN! Yayyy! Basically, every missionary in the mission will be reading the Book of Mormon in one week. We can go to appointments that we have set up, but every other second of the day we will be reading. That means we have to read at least 75 pages a day! It will start on September 28th, so we can read the week before general conference. So you knew this was coming.... Do it with us! That's my challenge for you :) and then tell me how it goes! I know it will strengthen your testimony of the Restored Gospel and of the Book of Mormon. So get excited! 

I am so excited for these next few weeks, my new area, companion, all of it. There are only good things ahead :) 

Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

XOXO, Sister Fowers 

Sisters Meeting

The wedding

More 5K pics

sweater weather

Hi. What is up. :)

This week has been so good! 

On Tuesday we finally got to go proselyte at University of Mary Washington!

 Its a closed campus, so we only get to go for 3 hours every two weeks and we have to check in and check out and everything. But we actually saw a lot of cool miracles and found some awesome people!

 One girl named Savannah talked to us and then said, "I have to go to class, but if you're still here I'll come back and talk to you!" And she actually did! She seems super interested and open and we are meeting with her tomorrow! So pray that it goes well :) 

During the week we have been doing a lot of less active work! We have a list of all of the singles in the stake and it is huuuugggeee..... Like 10 pages.

 So many people to see! So we went out with our relief society president and just started visiting people! 

Its cool to see how when we look after all of Heavenly Father's children He blesses us with more success and even more investigators. So that's been awesome :) 

On Friday we went on our last exchange of the transfer! I was with Sister Tadd and we had a great day. At the end of the night we went street contacting downtown and and we talked to a guy named Josh. He told us he already goes to a baptist church, but he said he would be free to come to our activities so we invited him to a pool party we set up as missionaries as an activity that would be easy for members to invite their nonmember friends to! And guess what he actually came! He had fun and actually already knew a few of the members from high school! Crazy. And he is hopefully coming to FHE tonight! 

The pool party was really fun though! Obviously we didn't swim. :) 

But I manned the grill and it was a fun night!

 Lots of recent converts and less-active members came and it was fun to do missionary work in a different way. 

Gotta think outside the box! Also, we played apples to apples and who doesn't love that game? #thebest

Yesterday we also met with a less-active and it was a super powerful lesson. Going into it, we didn't really know his concerns, so we didn't really know what we were going to say. 

But it was so cool to see how the spirit just guided the whole lesson.

  All we have to do is trust and open our mouths and let the spirit do the rest. 

That is the best feeling. :) 

Then last night we went with our recent convert Kelsey to the CES Devotional for YSA's! It was really good and all based around reaching our potential 

and looking to the Savior as the exemplar of our lives.

  He is the one who can show us how to make the most of ourselves.

If you didn't see it, watch it on LDS.org! 

And guess what! Today everyone in our mission ran a 5-K! Woohoo! It was tiring and I'm pretty sure I'll be sore tomorrow, but it was really fun :) There should be pictures on the mission Facebook page and I'll send some. 

We also have a sisters meeting tomorrow with all of the sisters in the misson!

 Sister Nordstrom and I are giving a training on patience and I thought that was funny because I just wrote you guys about that! 

So that will be fun, I love seeing all my old companions and friends in the mish :) 

Also, transfer calls are this Saturday............. noooo! I am praying that I don't get transferred, but I think I might. You never know! So I'll let you know next week where I end up!

Also also, it is finally starting to feel like fall in VA! YAYYYYYY.

 I got really excited and already broke out all of my sweaters. :) so pumped. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and remember to read and pray and love and serve!

Y'all are the best. Love you lots.

XOXO, 

Sister Fowers

Pool party with the faves!

Excited about wearing a sweater!..................had to.

5K baby!

Happy Labor Day!

Hey everyone!

Happy Labor Day!!! Woohoo! Hope you all stay safe and have fun! 

I hope you had a wonderful week! It is finally starting to cool down here in Virginia! I'm so ready for fall :)

We have had a week full of meetings and exchanges!

I feel like we had no time for missionary work,

 but it was a great week anyway! 

On Monday and Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Massaponex sisters and it was great!

 I always learn a lot on exchanges. 

It's so funny how we just keep learning on missions and in life. We will never know it all even if we think we do. :) 

I'm grateful for that though. We just get to keep trying and learn every day. 

Then on Wednesday we had MLC down in Richmond!

 It was a really good meeting, I learned a lot. 

One training that was given that I later trained on in zone meeting on Friday,

 was about where our hearts are. I love the scriptures in Matthew chapter 6,

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

I love that last verse. What are our treasures? Possessions? Popularity? Deep, deep down do we desire things of the world more than the things of God? I know there have definitely been times where I didn't treasure the right things, but I'm so grateful that I have just a little tiny better of an idea of what's truly important. Our desires are ultimately where our hearts will end up. They are what we will become! If we actually desire to be more like Christ we will be, eventually. So it's always good to take a step back and open up your heart and see what's inside. Sometimes that can be painful to know we need to change, but in the end it will help us to refine ourselves and get rid of the things that rust away and that thieves can break through and steal. 

Ok rant over :) 

Also, I haven't told you yet, but our mission is doing a mission-wide 5-k! 

Hahaha yep, you read right.

 All of the missionaries are pretty much being forced to run/walk to make us be in shape! So funny. But each zone will hold their own and the zone that gets the fastest average time gets a pday with president and sister Wilson! So that will be next Monday. I'll let you know how it goes, pray that I don't die ;)

Friday we had zone meeting and then we went on exchanges. I went clear out into the boonies in Culpeper and it was great :) 

We didn't have a ton of success with finding people to teach this week, so not much to report. We're still searching for them :) we are doing a 40 day fast in the branch for missionary work though! So that will start next week and I know we will see miracles from it!

This week I am grateful for prayer and the blessing we have to be able to talk to our Heavenly Father.

 I'm sure He's a busy guy, but He takes time to listen to each prayer. 

That is a miracle in its self and I am grateful that I get to kneel down each night and thank Him for the opportunity to serve.

I love Him. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! You da best!

XOXO,

Sister Fowers

It's tradition to play lightning at MLC! I got hit in the face this time.... Haha but don't worry I got the elder out who hit me ;) 

Love this lady :)

Who holds the record for most selfies with president? Probably me.

Exchanges!

Herbal tea before bed.

Mystery fruit!