CA Combo for Christ: Sister Goss---W21: Riverside forever (Jan 13, 2020)

Hey!! :)

Transfers were this week and guess what!!! I'm staying in Riverside!! ;) So this means I'll hit my 6 months in the field here. Isn't that crazy?? Can you believe it was back in September when I got here?!? Wow... time is ridiculously funny as a missionary. But I'm so excited I get to stay here! Riverside is the BEST and I love the people in my ward, the people I'm teaching, the area, and the missionaries here. I'm so happy; there's no other spot I'd rather have 1/3 of my mission in. (I know... I've only ever been here. But still! Everyone else tells me the same thing: I'm lucky and I believe it!) :)

This week went super well. We've had a lot of lessons and have made a lot of progress with the people we're working with. This week we met a new person to teach and her name is Carolyn! We taught her about how God has restored His truth to the earth today and speaks to prophets as He always has and read 3 Nephi 11 in the Book of Mormon with her. She was surprised and excited; her heart was very open! She accepted a baptismal date and set one herself! We are super thrilled for her and can't wait to teach her more.

Quick miracle story! Two, actually. They are simple, but God works in simple ways. :) One day this week I was struggling to stay awake in study time. I really wanted to have a productive study, but couldn't seem to keep my eyes open. So I paused and asked in sincere prayer for His help in giving me strength. I opened my eyes and continued reading. Within 3 verses, I found a verse that was so interesting to me it led to a 40 minute search for truth and I was wide awake for the rest of the time; I didn't want to finish! It was a blatant and uncoincidental answer to my prayer. The second prayer miracle involved trying to find a house I knew we needed to knock on in a certain neighborhood. I had felt impressed to knock there, but didn't know which house and we didn't want to knock on every single door. So we said a prayer in the middle of the sidewalk right then and there. As I finished, Sister Gugelman pointed to a home and said, "they have a minivan!" When I looked over, the minivan had a sticker that said Classical Conversations on it (the homeschool group I was a part of for a couple years!). What are the odds that as soon as we opened our eyes, the home was right in front of us and we could be confident we knew it was the right home? God WILL answer prayers! Every time! It won't always be as convenient or at the exact moment as my stories, but I know He always answers prayers. Always.

The rest of the week consisted of loading trucks with shoes at Soles 4 Souls and family history work! There's a new feature on FamilySearch.org where if you look at your tree through fan chart view, you can see what countries your ancestors are by color. It is SO COOL!!! I have huge family groups from Isle of Man and Jersey, little islands between Ireland and the UK and France. As well as all the countries I knew about, such as Denmark, England, etc. Go to FamilySearch.org and make a free account! It was so exciting to see my ancestors and where they lived at what time period!

Love you all lots and lots and lots! 6 more emails until I officially only have a year left haha. That's weird. That makes it sound both forever away and really close. You choose! ;) Miss you! Have a great week and THANK YOU for your support!

Email me; I'd love to hear how you're doing or what's going on!

Love, Sister Goss