What's a Comfort Zone?

Rachel and her cute newly adopted daughter, Emily.

Feeding my favorite horse, Georgia

Some of my favorite ladies at the rest home we visit.

Hello all from Moncks Corner! It's been an eventful week in the Corner. We had the big I-pad training this week. It was really good. I am actually getting excited for them to come. It should be really useful for investigators. We get the I-pads in about 3 weeks but we aren't going to be on Facebook for another 3 months! So that's good! Not that I am anti-Facebook or anything. It just has been a nice break. :)

We had a really good lesson with a really cool couple, Betty and Patrick. We met Patrick a couple weeks back but didn't think too much about it but we went over to his house again and his wife was there. They are both searching for the gospel. Pray for them! We hope that this week goes well with them.

Well, Sister and Swanson and I got a call from President Turner on Friday. Sister Swanson is getting transferred to Columbia to be a Sister Training leader, which is like a zone leader but for the sisters. I am going to miss Sister Swanson lots and lots but I am excited for her new adventure. Another surprise came with the phone call as well. I got called to be a trainer. I am a little overwhelmed. This is going to be like a toddler training a baby how to walk ha-ha. Pray for me? I am excited to meet the greenie though. We pick her up on Wednesday in Columbia. Sister Swanson and I told Ursula that Sister Swanson was leaving. Ursula said that she is going to call President Turner and tell him that she would convert to Mormonism if he let Sister Swanson stay ha-ha. There was also a big argument among Ursula and friends what the new sister's name was going to be. After a long discussion they decided to name her Sister Rachel. So it's Sister Ruth and Sister Rachel in Moncks Corner now. Training lasts for three months so I am going to stay in Moncks Corner for another three months. :)

We got lots and lots to do today so I better go! I love you all! Thank you for all your prayers!

Love,

Laura

The Gift of Tongues

Feeding members' horses.

It's been another great week in Moncks Corner. Actually, it's been an AWESOME week! We have seen Moncks Corner really progress this week. We have 3 people on date for baptism. That hasn't ever happened to us in the Corner yet!! It's starting to pick up here and the ward is getting really excited about missionary work. We've had a couple of ward members come up to us and tell us about their missionary experiences throughout the week. We are super excited for the ward.

This week is Ipad training for the whole mission. We are getting Ipad’s this month. I am excited about it besides the fact that we have to get back on Facebook. I have been told we are going to proselyte on FB for an hour a day. It's been really nice not to have social media in my life. I am going to create a new account for my mission self though. So hopefully that will be good and fun for the kids!

Thank you all for your support! 
I love you all dearly!

Thought of the week:

Faith without works is dead but works without a pure heart is also dead.

Have a great week!

Love,

Laura

Sister Ashton

What should wear to Church?

Roadside Berries

Peanut Truck

Hello everyone! It’s been another great week in Moncks Corner! There are always surprises and interesting things happening in the Corner. The week started off with bang. We knocked into this man's house which had a ton of cans EVERYWHERE! The man wasn't interested in our message; but we asked him if we could help him pick up all of the cans from his yard. (We serve with this lady at Mepkin Abbey who picks up cans off the street and sells them for money and we thought we could give them to her to help her out.) The man was grateful to get his empty cans off his hands. The only problem was that they are basically ALL beer cans.  So we loaded them into the car and took them as fast as we could to Ursala's house. Can you image two sister missionaries with a huge bag of empty  beer cans? (Not a good image for the missionaries.) Ursala took them off our hands. We showed up to her door step and held up the bag of cans and said, "We met a drunk." It was quite the scene! The lady who sells the cans made a lot of money though! It was a pretty big bag.   The the rest of the week consisted of frogs jumping into the house and sending everyone amuck during a lesson, and kids jumping around everywhere to add to the scene. It's always an adventure in Moncks Corner.

Miracles in Moncks Corner

The BIGGEST miracle happened this week!  Several months ago the sisters were knocking on doors and met a woman who answered the door and strongly declared that the Book of Mormon was of the devil. The sisters asked if she knew anyone who was in need of service or help. She mentioned that her friend could use some help because he was going through a rough time. The sisters contacted him and he and was baptized one week into my mission.  The woman started to warm up to us a bit and we helped her plant her garden.  Well on Saturday we were teaching a lesson about the atonement and she joined us in the middle of the lesson. After the lesson she asked us, "What should I wear to church?" We were a little surprised coming from the woman who once thought the Mormons were of the devil. She said she would come to church and SHE DID! She LOVED IT! She stayed the whole time. After church she turned to us and said, "This is a GOOD kind of different. I am coming back next week." Every heart can be softened :) 

Strawberry Fields

Strawberry Patch

Hello Everybody it's been another awesome Strawberries picking week in Moncks Corner! We just finished picking Strawberries for our P-day fun! It was so fun and beautiful! Everyday in South Carolina is beautiful. Cool thing just happened at the strawberry patch! The owner told us that she had always wanted to hear about what the Mormons believed. We told her a little bit about us and gave her a Book of Mormon and she wants us to come over for a lesson!! It was awesome! You just never know who you are going to meet, even on P-day! 

This week has been good. We have been doing A LOT of office work this week because of the addition to the area. Our area is HUGE. We love it though. The Elder's area is SO NICE. There is a huge, beautiful lake in the middle of it! We are loving it. Sister Swanson is the best. I have the best companion. I hope I keep lucking out! 

It's been a good week. We met this great lady named Betty, we found her walking to an appointment. She said she was feeling really depressed and she felt a hole in her chest. She said it was aching. We read a scripture in the Book of Mormon (Jacob 3: 1-2) and she said that the hole wasn't as bad in her chest. She felt so much better. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she hugged it. The Book of Mormon heals people. I have seen it many times. We can't wait to go back and teach her! 

Dan also passed the sacrament for the first time this week! It was so neat to see. He looked SO happy. We love Dan!

I love guys so much!! Thank you for your prayers. 

Favorite Quote of the week: "Nothing else, no other choice we make, can make of us what He can." -Thomas S. Monson

Love Laura,

Hills of Daisies

One of my favorite things about Moncks Corner is the mar-keys we get to see on all the church signs. Ha-ha they are pretty great. We found one this week that said, "Silly Rabbit, Easter is for Jesus." Ha-ha. Love it! It's still Easter over here. Well this week has been really good but SO, SO CRAZY. The week started off kinda rough to be honest. No one was listening to us. We were called lesbians. That was a fun one to explain.

 We had people call us lesbians this week. So that was fun! We had to explain that we believe that marriage is between a man and a woman but we should always be kind to everyone no matter what.  It didn't go over well. We just kept having bad lesson after bad lesson. It felt like everyone hated us. Sister Swanson and I prayed at the side of the road and asked God to help us find someone to help. If we could just bring someone closer to the Savior and feel God's love.  But, nothing happened until Thursday.

We knocked into this awesome lady named Jessica. She was so nice and we connected right off the bat because she was a young mother going to school for Social Work. So it was so nice to talk to someone about something we both loved. We taught her the first lesson and it went SO well. :D There was such a spirit in her home. The same day we met another lady, Kelly, who was also so nice and normal. We also taught her the first lesson! Things were starting to look up. Sister Swanson and I were all sorts of happy. Then we get a call from the Elders in our ward. Since there aren’t as many missionaries coming out, the Elders are losing their car. So they just have the close biking area. That means we get the rest of the Elders area! Between the people we found this week and the Elders, area we have SO MANY people to teach. It is a little overwhelming, but we are SO grateful! And....we kinda feel bad for the Elders...

I am so grateful for prayer. All we wanted was to help one person but God gave us so much more when we kept moving forward with faith. This week has been one of the best weeks on my mission so far. We visit the old folks home every Saturday to visit this lady in our ward. While we were there this week we meet a lady named Lillian. Lillian showed us this book of quotes she had gathered over the years. She shared this quote that reminded me of this week. It says: 

"All I asked for was one single flower, and then God blessed me with hills of daisies." 

I loved that quote and that sweet lady, Lillian. We are so excited for all the new people that we get to teach! What a week we have a head of us! I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers! They are definitely felt. 

Love, 

Laura 

Mission Map