A Day of Smiles. . .

Sharing my flower's with Sister Mastin. . .



Daniel and Martin's Baptism. . .

Faith Brings Surprises… I Mean Miracles!

Good Morning Family and Friends:

Sorry this is a day late, but I have been in bed with the flu for the last few days. I just couldn't drag myself to the computer yesterday. So here is Carlee's letter.

Just want to remind everyone to get their Christmas letter ready for her and send to me as soon a possible or by December 6th. If you missed my email, I am sending Christmas letters to Carlee from family and friends. Just an experience with her, a special thought, and if you would like I am sure she would love to have your testimony. Send them to my email at ladawn79@hotmail.com. I know she would love to hear from all of you.

Hope you are having a great week. Enjoy this weather while it lasts. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

Also, if you want to send a Christmas Card or anything to her, the apartment address is:

Sister Carlee Painter
11651 Norborne Drive #216
Cincinnati, OH 45240

As you will read in her letter, they don't want things going to the Mission Home.

Thanks for all your love and support.

LaDawn



Hi Family:

SURPRISE! Martin got baptized on Saturday! Yeah it was a surprise to us too! The Elders were teaching Daniel, another Ghanian friend, who decided to be baptized on Saturday so we invited Martin to come. Well Martin walks into the church before its about to begin and says, “I want to be baptized.” We said, “GREAT! We can arrange that.” Then he said, “No I want to be baptized next… today.” We kind of just looked at him for a second (thinking he was joking because he does that a lot). We had him tell Brother White and realized he was serious. We explained how you had to have an interview first and he asked if we couldn’t just do it after. Uh… no. So we held off Daniel’s baptism for a half hour while the Elders called President and got permission, interviewed him, got him dressed up and baptized. It was crazy! But he had been taught everything, he knew it, he was just waiting until it felt right. I guess when it’s right… it’s right!

It was truly a remarkable experience though. While Martin was getting interviewed I was a little nervous. Was this really the right thing to do? Was he just making an impulsive decision? I asked a quiet prayer to know if this was really okay with the Lord to baptize him right here, right now. I immediately felt a rush of peace and knew the Lord had approved. With the Lord’s approval anything is possible right! ha ha. I can’t even describe to you the feeling of love and joy I had the rest of the day!

Miracles do happen.

I’m so grateful to know we have the Lord on our side! I’m grateful to know we are here to do HIS work! What a privilege and honor that is. Isn’t that exciting! You know that means you too, not just the missionaries.

Here is my Thanksgiving List:
I’m grateful for:
-My Savior who lived as a perfect example for me!
-Heavenly Father who has a plan for each of us! And that is to bestow on us as many blessings as we’ll let him!
-The Book of Mormon! I love it and the power it brings into our lives!
-Joseph Smith and the restoration of all the priesthood keys!
-A prophet on Earth today to lead and guide us!
-My Family who continually inspires me to be better!
-Friends who write me letters! ha ha

Speaking of letters, I have bad news. This is directly from President:
New Post Office Mail policy
Due to new and reinforced postal rules and to a new expensive service that they are promoting (Premium Forwarding Service), the Post Office will no longer forward the mail that is sent to the Mission Office for free. In order for you to receive your mail (letters and packages), your family and friends need to send your mail to you directly to your apartment during the first four weeks of the transfer.
Send mail and packages between these 4 week periods:
November 3 – December 1, 2009
December 15, 2009 – January 12, 2010
January 26 – February 23, 2010
March 9 – April 6, 2010
April 20 – May 18, 2010
June 1 – June 21, 2010
July 13 – August 10, 2010
August 24 – September 21, 2010
October 5 – November 2, 2010
November 16 – December 14, 2010
All mail that is delivered to the Mission Office will be distributed at the following Zone Conference. Please note, that by the time your mail is brought to the Mission Office by the missionaries in the apartment you just left, it could be two or more Zone Conferences before your mail can catch up to you.

Moral of the Story, don’t send mail to the mission home anymore. Will you let everyone know that.

I love you lots! And I love this work!
Sister Painter

PS…
Thank you for the flowers and package! Loved it! I took a few of the flowers to Sister Mastin (she's a less-active that can't leave the house.)She loved them too!

Will you please tell Jaci I have a letter on the way for her, but I would REALLY like her to come and talk to you (Mom). Plus Jaci, my mom probably has better insight about it than I do. She’s amazing. :)

AND will you let Cindy know that she is on my black list for not sending me ANYTHING about this! Big trouble.

Up's and Down's!

Dear Family. . .

It seems that every Monday when it comes time to reflect on the previous week I always think to myself, “Wow. I can’t believe you survived last week.” ha ha. No I’m kidding…sort of. I guess that is just the essence of missionary work: many ups and downs. It’s exhausting!

However, this week was really good! Mom, you’ll be glad to know I’ve been looked after. Last week at coordination I could hardly talk because I was so stuffy and… yucky. So I got a blessing, then Monday night we got a call and Sister Underwood had homemade chicken noodles soup ready and waiting. Oh man! It was the best! It reminded me of yours! So good!

We had Zone Conference this week too! It was AMAZING! President gave a training on the Old Testament Tabernacle and how we are a covenant making people. Can I just say… I miss the temple so much! Will you please go this week?! Not being able to attend for a year and a half is torture! It truly is a blessing that so many temples have been built all over the world! How blessed we are to live in these days where we can attend the temple often! So mom and dad, will you go this week? I know our family will be blessed when you do! :) (That is a true missionary commitment!)

Let’s see, other highlights this week:

-We set up a family mission plan with Bishop Striebeck and his wife. They are such wonderful people! We’ve been blessed with good leaders!

-Last night we had a large mix-and-mingle/missionary dinner with the members and less-actives! It was great! The Elders gave a lesson on how we just have to “open our mouths” as members to invite others to learn about the gospel. Its amazing how if we are just willing to say something the Lord will tell us what to say!

-It was warm this week! Beautiful for November!

-We’ve been able to meet with all of our investigators and they are doing great! Keep Mary in your prayers. She’s still having a hard time with her granddaughter. But the gospel really does bless our lives with peace in our hardest times!

-Plus so much more!

I am so sad to hear about Earl! It almost made me cry sitting here in the library reading that! It is amazing to me how much someone can influence our lives in so short a period of time. Dad, it touched my heart to know that you were one of the first on his list for his family to call. See what simple acts of service can do! And “when we are in the service of our fellow beings we are only in the service of our God.”

I definitely got blessed with the best family EVER!

I love you all lots and lots! And I love this gospel! And this work!
Sister Painter

Oh one quick note, we’re having some issues with the Cincinnati Postal Service. Sheesh. Anyway, will you let people know to send mail to my apartment as often as they can and just be aware of when transfers are coming up and not to send anything like the week before. If you send it to the mission office address it will probably take much longer to get to me now. Just so you know.

Fall In Ohio. . .

Enjoying Fall in OHIO. . .



Sister Underwood and I trying to fit our leaf pile in the little bag!

Service Project with the RASKALS Group. . .

Leaves, Trees, and Charity

*Warning: Short Letter

This week was crazy! But it was so much fun! Sister Martineau and I are doing really well. She goes home in 5 weeks! So we’re making the best of our time!

The leaves changed and they are beautiful! Actually, they are almost gone now. If you blinked you might have missed them!

On Saturday we helped with RASKALS: Random Acts of Simple Kindness Affecting Local Seniors. Basically, we raked LOTS of leaves with the youth of the ward. It was a blast! But I am so sore! It must mean I’m getting old.

This week we made so many member visits! Sister Martineau served her for a year before she left so there were people she wanted to see, and Sister Thacker had lots of people she wanted to say good-bye to before she left. So basically we’ve been running around like crazy.

Personally, I learned so much this week! In PMG it repeats that we should “earnestly be seeking gifts of the spirit.” This week I asked for help with the gift of charity and it was SUCH a blessing! It has helped me dramatically in our companionship as well as my desire to work harder. Heavenly Father is just waiting for us to seek Him and He wants so badly to bless us. We are so blessed! Especially to have the Spirit! It amazes me sometimes. I think we live far beneath our privileges when it comes to seeking gifts of the Spirit!

So here’s your commitment for the week: Will you study and seek for a specific gift of the Spirit?! I know there are lots of good talks on LDS.org and other great discourses in the scriptures! I know that the Lord will bless us when we do!

I love you lots! And I LOVE this work! I am so grateful for the gospel in our lives!
Sister Painter

Halloween Fun. . .

Happy Halloween. . .Such Cute Witches!



Service Project with the Food Bank. . .



Sister Thacker and I are making scones with Kate. . .

FAITH. . .

Hello Family! Good news and bad news.

Good news first! This week was AMAZING! It really was! There is a promise in Preach My Gospel that says that your faith will increase as you find those who have been prepared to receive the gospel. And Sister Thacker and I decided it was time to put that to the test and guess what! It worked!

We REALLY wanted 20 lessons this week, which for some reason has been difficult in this area. But we told the Lord we were going to make it a matter of faith and that we were willing to work for it. And it happened! 23 lessons! We also were able to find several new investigators.
Believe it or not it was pretty much the easiest thing ever! Faith works! There was one day we were doubting and we said, “okay, expect miracles.” And we saw so many! My faith has definitely increased and I know the Lord is close at hand in this work and is just waiting for us to ask. How many times does he say, “Ask and ye shall receive?”

Now the bad news. Sister Thacker got transferred. Right when we got it figured out. Typical huh! ha ha. Sister Martineau and I are now companions. This is her last transfer before she goes home. Plus, she already served in Fairfield for a whole year! So I know we can get a lot done! It will be good.

I want you to know that I’m so grateful for the peace this gospel brings. I feel it practically everyday! The world seems to be getting more and more tumultuous and scary. But peace is possible and it comes when we humble ourselves enough to “just ask.” I’m so grateful for His love for us!

I love you all! Thanks for being amazing!
Sister Painter

Ps Mom and Dad I'm sending you a letter!