July 14

We had a great week! I can't believe that things are going by so fast.
This week was wonderful, we were able to teach more lessons than this
area has had in a while! There is lots of work to do with the less
active members in this area. We were able to help a father and son we
have been working with who hasn't been to church in years, a couple
who hasn't been coming in a while, and another woman who is less
active and her investigator husband and daughter came to church. The
last one has some serious word of wisdom problems, but they have real
intent and we were able to help them to make a plan to live it! They
have already come a long way and have cut in half their drinking and
smoking in the past week. We are so excited for them and as soon as
they overcome their addictions the father and daughter can be
baptized. It was such a tender mercy to see all of the people at
church. We are so grateful that we are able to work with them, and we
know it's nothing that we did but it is the hand of God working in
their lives to help them want to come back. We were just instruments.
They invited us to dinner and we were able to make a step by step plan
for them to stop by next Monday, the 21 and we are going to celebrate
with them next Monday night when they have stopped smoking and
drinking! YAY!

Also we are teaching the foster daughter of one of the members and she
is doing great. She is 16, and she loves yw. If it were up to her, she
would be baptized tomorrow, she went to the temple with the youth
yesterday and sat in the waiting room and walked around the grounds as
the others did baptisms. How cute. She has a date for August 9th. I
can't wait to hear about it. But she has a phone so I will have to
Skype her after I get back and talk to her on the day of her baptism
:)

One neat thing that happened this week, we were going to visit someone
on our Ward roster that we didn't know. We drove up to the trailer,
and there was a man outside working in the yard. We asked if he knew
the name, he said yes, that's my wife she is inside. It was really
really hot and their air conditioning was out. We sat and talked with
her for a while. Turns out she was an excommunicated member who was
working on coming back to church and going back to the temple. She was
so sweet. We talked a little and she prayed, after she did she got
tears in her eyes and said "Sisters, I know why my air went out today.
Because if it had been on, he would have been in here watching the
game and you wouldn't have been able to come in. He doesn't let people
from the church come to our house." So that was a small tender mercy
that we wee able to get into that house.

We had a great district meeting this week, we played a game where all
of the missionaries would act as people who were not the elect, just
trying to talk or waste time, and one of the 10 was elect, and you had
5 minutes to find them. Fun game :) After district meeting this week,
we went out to lunch as a district and it was weird because it was on
my 18 month mark and so that was bitter sweet. Everyone was asking me
how it felt, and what it's like. I can't describe it but bittersweet.
I am grateful for all that I have learned from observing priesthood
leaders, marriages and families, and the Cravens. I have learned a lot
about leadership and how to be a good member of the church and how to
serve in a calling. I know that God lives, I know He loves us! As I
think about the scripture I read when I felt that I needed to to on a
mission, now I see the truth of it. I know that there is nothing I
would have rather done the past 18 months than share the gospel and I
know that it really has brought me the most joy and has been of the
most worth to me.

Doctrine and Covenants 15: 4-6 "For many times you have desired of me
to know that which would be of the most worth unto you. Behold,
blessed are you for this thing, and for speaking my words which I have
given you according to my commandments. And now, behold, I say unto
you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be
to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto
me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father."

I love you all and I will see you real soon! Just be warned, there are
about 20 other missionaries on my flight, so the airport is going to
be a real crazy place :) It will be really fun and exciting though :)

This week I get to have my exit interview with President and the rumor
is he tells you who you are supposed to go home and marry so we'll see
if he has advise for me. Ha ha :)

July 7

Happy Fourth of July!

​Hello everyone! So I am inland from the hurricane, but we did have a
little rain but mostly cloudy and overcast weather, which was perfect
for bike week!

Well we did have a little trouble, sister c got a flat tire, we went
to wal-mart to get a new tube and they didn't have he right size!
Apparently her bike is a special size and they only have it in another
area. We are going to have to drive quite a ways today to get it so
she can bike again, but now we got the car back for this week, so
that's good!

One of the members is doing foster care, and she is fostering a 16
year old girl who has learned a lot about the church already. She has
gone to young women's and learned a lot, she basically taught us the
restoration and the plan of salvation. She is so solid. It's amazing
how much The Lord prepares the hearts of people to receive the gospel.
She is wanting to be baptized, and we are going to set a date when we
see her again this week!

We found a few new less actives *returning members :) to teach this
week. One is an older man who lives on his own, and hasn't been to
church in years. And one is a lady who got divorced from her husband
who is still in the Ward, she still has a testimony but she doesn't
feel comfortable, with him there. Hopefully we can help her maybe go
to a different branch or something.

People down here love Christian music and at a frozen yogurt shop this
week, we heard them playing an efy cd! We were like woah we didn't
know people loved efy music but they do! Funny.

We had a great zone meeting this week and the zone leaders talked
about overcoming fear, how to overcome our fear of talking with
everyone and how to be bold.  They had some tiny raptors and a giant
T-Rex and talked about how our faith can be strong enough to overcome
our fears.

On the Fourth of July we went down to a huge Fourth of July festival
and got to contact and give out a ton of pas along cards and talk to
people. There were so many people there!

Today we went out to lunch with a recently returned sister missionary
and a sister who is going to the MTC soon, it was fun to have people
at all different levels there, rm, missionaries, and someone with a
mission call. We went to a museum downtown and just has a blast :)

I love this gospel and I know it is true. I know that God lives, and
that He loves us. I know that the Book of Mormon is His word. If it
weren't, it wouldn't testify so much of Him! I am so grateful that I
get the chance to share it for a little longer. I want to share it
with everyone while I can. I am sprinting till the end! These last two
weeks are going to be the best and hardest working two weeks of my
mission. Thank you for all your love and support. :)

June 30

Hello everyone! I hope that you had a great week :) My companion and I

just went out to lunch at Olive Garden and so that was fun :) Yummy!!!

I am full and happy. Also we are on bikes this week, so I will

definitely burn it off.

Tuesday we did service at the he food bank again. That is such a neat

experience. I am so glad that we get to do that. It's great to help

people who really need it and who don't have enough. I decided that

this time I will take a mental note of the people who come get food of

where they live so we can go find on their streets. It's probably

legal... Also we heard of a member who was found about 19 years ago

because the missionaries were searching the newspaper of people who

recently had a baby or marriage announcements or death announcements

and they would go to those addresses. Has anybody tried that? Sounds

like a good idea.

Wednesday one of our members took us out to lunch with one of her

nonmember friends. They are both funny old ladies. We had a good

conversation about the Book of Mormon, what it is and why it is

important. Then on the way home she also took us to see her mother and

aunt and we taught them as well. Go members!

Thursday we had Zone conference all day! I love meetings! It was so

great. I loved it. The zone leaders trained about having the same fire

for missionary work and the same dependence on The Lord as we did a

year ago, a year ago a lot of people on the mission were new, and

people like me were trainers after 5 weeks, and we didn't know what we

were doing, we really had to rely on The Lord, but are we relying on

Him as much now as we did then? President trained on finding and gave

some great suggestions and we had some great role plays about talking

with everyone and talking to people on different situations, like at a

restaurant or at a park. The more people we talk to, the more people

we teach! I want to be better at talking with everyone.

Thursday after zone conference we went on exchanges. I went to high

point with sister Nielsen. I have been with her 3 times. We had a real

good time. She's fun and we have gotten close. We talked a lot about

what we have learned on our missions. And she asked a lot of advise

about being a sister training leader, what advise I had for her. We

also talked to a crazy guy who thought he was a prophet. And talked to

a teenage girl named Alma, gave her a Book of Mormon and told her to

read the book of alma. :)

So we are teaching this lady who has been kind of flaky and we haven't

been able to see much but apparently they had a really good with her

while on exchange, so that's good. :) She was taught about 10 years

ago by elders and knows that what they said is true, reads the Book of

Mormon but feels like she has to quit smoking before she learns more

and comes to church, we are seeing her with a great member tonight and

we are going to help her get over that. :) The 9 year old we haven't

seen this week because her Dad has been at work :(

We had a great lesson with Lashea on Saturday.  We tracked into her

last week and have and taught her twice. She is a sweet single Mother

in her early 20's. She is just a really happy, she's quiet and soft

spoken. I really like her and I think we would be friends in real

life. We brought a great member with us and I am really excited to see

her progress!

FUNNY/CRAZY STORY: The member who went with us on Saturday, turns out

she was a missionary on our mission about a year ago, she came out

just a little before me. She served here in Salisbury for 9 months and

was teaching this less active guy and helping him get back to church.

At one point, they were going to give up and the spirit said "you

can't give up on your husband" She was like what? And turns out like a

month later, she had some really bad health problems and went home,

turned around and came back and married him and now they live in our

Ward. It's a crazy story, the way she tells it is hilarious!

We are on bikes this week. Pray for cool weather! Please. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also I got my flight itinerary and release letter in the mail this

week. Woah! Who said that could happen! I didn't know wether to cry or

be excited. I kind of feel like I have been like Rapunzel in tangled

when she leaves her stepmothers and is like "BEST DAY EVER" and then

"Oh no what have I done" I feel like I am super excited to see my

family and have a real life, but I know that this time will never come

again, I guess I will make the most of it while I can! Love ya'll!!

Sister Jenny Forsyth

June 23

Hello ya'll! I hope all is going well on the home front.

This has been a good week..because CRISSY got baptized!

I am so happy for her :) Even though I am not in that area anymore, I have been

messaging her on FB and she told me all about it. She is such a

sweetheart and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the

opportunity to find and teach her. She truly is an example of how

people really are prepared for the gospel, but know not where to find

it. She had been living with members in Idaho for 7 years, always

wanted to learn more about the church but never was invited to.

People, we need to talk to our friends and neighbors! Invite! You

never know who is ready, you never know what in their lives has

prepared them. I am so glad my companion stopped to talk to her on the

street that night, because I was going to walk right by her. It made

me so happy to hear about her happiness in finding the gospel and the

way that she felt at her baptism. And I am grateful that we have

Facebook so I can keep up with her. :)

This week in Salisbury has been good.  We had bikes, and it was really

hot. At the beginning of the week, we had to spend sometime updating

our map because it's way out of date. You kind of need a map to plan

where you need to go! We know even though that took some time, it will

bless us this week.

On Tuesday, we went to service and we have the best service project

set up!!! Ah I loved it. The neatest experience. We got to go to the

food bank and put together peoples orders and give them their food and

help them take it out to their car. It was so neat and we got to meet

a lot of great people. I am excited that we get to do that every week.

I thought a lot about how I want to do things like this for the rest

of my life, be service oriented and help other people. I think I have

learned on my mission that my life is really not my own and it's

supposed to be spent helping out other people. I don't remember who it

was, but a prophet said "My life is like my shoes, to be worn out in

The Lord's service."

We had a great district meeting on Wednesday. Sister Holman is in my

district, and it's funny because she was Steve's supervisor at the

creamery. I love finding connections and that the people in my mission

know people in my family.

We found a great new investigator tracting this week. She's so great.

She is a single mom, she's 26, we taught her a little bit and then

came back the next day with a member and had a really great lesson.

She seemed very receptive to what we were saying. She can't come to

church this week because of work but hopefully next week. There are

people prepared!

We had a girl in our Ward who is going on a mission soon and she loves

going out with us. She is super excited about everything. I love it.

She's just like " Wow, You are missionaries!" And she is just so

amazed by the littlest things and it's so cute. I hope she keeps that

her whole mission. I think we forget as missionaries how important and

special it is that we are missionaries and get to represent The Lord.

I am grateful for it.

We met with a less active who has some real word of wisdom problems.

It was so sad to see, she has so much potential and faith but has some

serious addictions! We helped her understand that through the

Atonement, she can overcome this. I have faith that she can do it, but

it won't be easy. She also has a 9 year old daughter she wants us to

teach, so we are going back to teach her tomorrow. I have taught a lot

of kids on my mission, I think The Lord is using my elementary

education background.

We taught the 9 year old daughter of another less active and she is so

cute. Her and her family came to church and it was so great to see

them. She read her Book of Mormon chapter we left her and she loves

learning. It's so sweet to see a child's faith and how they just are

so close to the spirit. Hopefully we will be able to talk to her

family about setting a date soon.

Yesterday after church we had an appointment to see a less active. But

when we looked on the roster, the note said incorrect address. So we

called and called and she didn't answer to tell us the correct

address, so we weren't planning on going. But then she called right at

the time we were going to be there and she was like "Oh aren't you

coming??" We were pretty far away and on our bikes. But we said we

would get there as fast as we could. Then the BEST members EVER came

to our rescue. They are an older couple who just moved here from Utah.

They came with their truck and picked us up and took us and our bikes

to the appointment, waited for us to finish, then took us back, and on

top of that, they had already fed us earlier in the week but theyh

asked if we had a dinner appointment and when we didn't answer because

we didn't want to be a burden, they fed us as well, they are so kind!

He said with tears in his eyes, " I have had 6 kids serve missions and

I know people rescued and fed them, so please let us help you out, I

want to

pay them back!" They are just great examples of Christian service and

Faith. Ya'll pay it forward to, if you see some missionaries or anyone

who needs help this week, go help them because I was helped!

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom, that ye

may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye

are only in the service of your God"

June 16, 2014

Hello ya'll from Salisbury, North Carolina! Yup! I am officially here now with Sister Carter. She's so great. Transfer meeting was on Tuesday. Sister P was really nervous about becoming a trainer, it is her first time. Before transfer meeting, she's like "I hate transfer meeting, it's like the reaping!" For those of you who have seen the Hunger Games, it's when they pick one person out of the crowd to go into the hunger games. I was like "Don't worry, when they call your name I will run up and say " I VOLUNTEER AS TRAINER!!" Ha ha. The meeting was really great though, President talked about our potential and what Heavenly Father sees in us. He is always such an inspiring speaker. All of the members here agree and love hearing from him.

I got a great welcome from Salisbury :) It's a great place. It's SO country! Everything is trailer parks and forest and run down houses from the 1800's as far as the eye can see. SO much different than the wealthy Waxhaw.

There are a lot of things that I love about Salisbury...

-Everyone here is actually Southern and has thick Southern accents. Maybe I'll catch one before my time is up :)

-Everyone is so nice! The ward is wonderful. There is a family, the Artensen family who used to live in South Jordan. I went to High School with their son and daughter, and Steve knows their younger daughter and I'm pretty sure Mike knows their older daughter.

- The Ward Mission Leader brought us donuts during our studies one morning. He also is kind of goofy and reminds me a lot of John.

- We have a set of Elders in our ward! It's fun to be serving with another set of missionaries.

- At church yesterday, a less active member who hasn't been to church in years came and asked us if we could teach his 9 year old daughter and wife and help him come back to church. Sweet. We're going to see them tonight!

- Okay so here one of the members is an expert on Bikes. Turns out my bike has been braking non stop while I have been riding, and the tires have been flatter than they should be. SO all of the times I was biking and thought I was a whimp and out of shape are NOT true. YAY! I can't believe I have been riding on it for that long and just thought I was a wimp. At least I haven't had to ride it too much. I have been in full car areas my whole mission, and just ride it on Saturdays. BUT good thing I got my bike fixed now, because we are in a car share area, so we only have it every other week.

- Sister Carter, my new companion took an INSTITUTE CLASS FROM DAD. Weird, right? She's from Sandy, and she's hilarious.

- There are lots of less actives in this area, and lots of people to visit and see and hopefully we'll turn them into teaching opportunities!

I listened to a wonderful talk the other day from Elder Holland from when he was a President at BYU called "The Will of the Father". It's great and I think ya'll should read it. He talks about how the very first thing that Christ tells the people in the Americas is that he has done the Father's will and been submissive in all things. And one of the very first stories in the Book of Mormon is Nephi being asked to kill Laban. He says it isn't a coincidence that story is placed so early in the Book of Mormon, but it is there to teach us the importance of obedience to the Fathers will.  And in turn, the first thing that Christ will want to know about each of us is how obedient we each have been to what Heavenly Father has asked of us. It's a great talk, and it really makes you think about where you can follow the Savior more closely. Go read it!

June 9, 2014

We got TRANSFER calls this week. President said "Sister Forsyth, we always know you love adventure, are you up for one last change?" AH. I am getting TRANSFERRED to a new area for my last 6 weeks. I am excited, but it will be strange trying to build relationships with members and people when I know I won't be there for long>>> But I will try!

This week was great. We went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders and two of them came here with me. They actually have a missionary from Ukraine who got relocated to Charlotte, and it was interesting to hear from her all of the things that are going on there and what the work was like there. We had a great day of teaching and finding, we had fun and learned a lot from each other. 

Crissy is doing so great! She has so much faith and has such a strong desire to be baptized. We taught her twice this week and it's so neat to teach her, she is just so excited about the gospel and she does her reading, prays, comes to church, and she just loves everything that we teach her. She reminds me of the scripture that says there are people who are kept from the truth, only because they know not where to find it. She's one of those and now that she has found it she loves it! I am so sad that I won't be here for her baptism which is set for the 21, but I will be able to talk to her on Facebook and keep up with her. 

We also had dinner with part member family. She has been a member for 17 years, and he has never come to church, but I mentioned a while ago that recently he has been reading and praying every day with his wife, and coming to church alot of the time. It's amazing to see the change that this can make in people. He'll take a while, but I know that he'll join the church one day! It's amazing to see the progress in him even since I have been here. 

We had Zone Meeting we learned a lot about teaching people not lessons, and we had a training on how to ask inspired questions. We read from the Book of Mormon together on how the missionaries asked inspired questions to the people they were teaching and learned a lot. 

In downtown Waxhaw, there was a little party on Friday night. Actually there were bands playing until like 11:00 and we are right next to it so it was hard to sleep. But, we went out contacting people and talked to a lot of people. Also they had nitrogen frozen ice cream, and it was so good! I don't know how but it is the best ice cream ever. Ya'll should try it the next time you see some. 

I took pictures with some of the great families in Waxhaw and said goodbye yesterday! There are so many wonderful people I have learned so much from. A lot of what I have learned on my mission is what kind of family and marriage that I want someday. I have had so many great examples to learn from.

Off to my next and last adventure! I'll let you know where I'm going!

June 2, 2014

This is our District. And the second is Thelma. Notice how she is in the shade eating a sandwich while we work...
Hello everyone! Can you believe it's June already! Crazy!

Let's see. This week we had a great district meeting. I really learn alot from our district leader (even though he is 18 and 4 years younger than me.. don't' want to talk about how old that makes me feel) he is successful and good at motivating and training us on how to do better. And we all went to Sams Club for district lunch after, yum :)

We had dinner with this lady in the ward who just had a baby last week! She's so great and she's so giving and it was kind of her to feed us even with her new baby. She served a mission so she is always ready and willing to help us out and feed us. I think I said this before but our ward has a lot of sisters who have served missions, which is wonderful! And this member's neighbors came to church for the baby blessing! Yay for member missionary work! 

We helped our neighbor, Thelma this week with more ​yard-work. She is a hilarious old lady. We talked about what happens at her church, and what happens at ours. She's great. 

Crissy is doing great! ( the one I talked about last week who moved here from living with a member in Idaho). We had a lesson in a members house with her about the plan of salvation and she loved it. She really just soaks everything up, does her reading, and I love the opportunity to teach her! She says everything in her life is starting to make more sense now. She is still working towards her date on June 21! 

Blechhhhhhhh for the past 3 days though I have been in bed with the flu. Fever, sore throat, headache, stomach ache. The works. I haven't even been sick my whole mission for more than a couple hours until now! This flu was bad, but I'm feeling much better and almost back to normal. I was well enough to go to church yesterday. I love fast and testimony meeting, and some of the recent converts bore their testimonies and they are so sweet and a lot of them are struggling with a lot of issues but it's amazing how when they are planted in the Gospel, they can get through it. We also had dinner with the Bishop and his family, and talked about what we can do to work together. Also they made us homemade ice cream, yum!!!!! 

Fun fact. I accidentally stepped in an ant hill this week, and got bitten all over my foot. Yuck. 

Well I hope we can pick up the work now that I am feeling better! I want to work hard with every day that I have left to find more people. I am grateful for this time that I don't have a care in the world except helping people accept the gospel! It's pretty amazing when you think about it. I am not worrying about work, school, bills, dating, gas, nothing. Just helping people receive the gospel! BUT soon.. I will have to deal with those things, so I am going to enjoy it while I can. 

As a mission we have all been asked to study the 12 week training again. It's been so good to get back to the basics, and to practice things, even if I have practiced them a million times before, you can never be perfect at it!  I am really grateful for the Doctrine of Christ and how we can change and get better every day! No matter what mistakes we make, which we all do, we can always repent and try again! I was grateful for the sacrament this week, almost not feeling well enough to go made me appreciate it that much more. 

This Saturday will be transfer calls! President likes to move people for their last transfer, so we'll see! I will let you know next week. And we are going on exchanges tomorrow with the STL's! That will be fun. And Zone Meeting this Friday. Good week. :)