2 Months

August 21, 2017

I made it two whole months!! This week was busy which was good. One day it rained all day long and so we were soaking wet and cold all day. We have kinda become a service business. Everyone is telling their friends that we do service and giving out our number so we did a lot of service again this week. At least our name is getting out there! We helped this lady clean her sons bedroom. It was DISGUSTING. WHitli would have died:) There was like a bathroom extension on it but nothing actually worked. The toilet was full of poopy water and there was garbage everywhere. I just had to hold my breath for a while.. I think I will be scarred for life. 

I have decided that dogs love me. Everyone has a dog and every single one we see jumps on me, I think its because I am so short. So many people asked me how old I was this week. One lady told me that I looked 15. 

We had dinner with a guy from Hyrum! Him and his girlfriend moved here from Cache Valley after she graduated from USU. He grew up in the church but then left and now has nothing to do with it:( His brother actually lives in Smithfield kinda by Cortni I think. His name is Chad Brown. His wife works at Sinclair and he has a daughter named Holly. Small world. They werent interesting in us teaching them but they fed us a nice dinner! 

We have a neighbor that lives below us that I just love! Her name is Delores. We clean her house every week and do puzzles with her on Pday. She is the greatest! 

There is quite the population of Laotian people here. We met a lady who's name is Bounlong. We did some service for her and then she feeds us:) So I got to eat some Laotian food this week.. It wasnt too bad. Some of it I had to force down though. We also met a guy from Lao that read my palm. He said that I was very smart and good-hearted. And that I would have two husbands. THat was interesting. 

Overall there were many ups and downs this past week. Receiving the news of Uncle Dennis passing away was tough. It's hard to be away from family in times like this. On Wednesday during my personal study I found a talk from the last general conference called "How Does the Holy Ghost Help You?" by Elder Gary E Stevenson. I had been seraching for some form of comfort and this talk was an answer to my prayers. In his talk he points out 3 things that the Holy Ghost does--warns, comforts, and testifies. I knew that the Holy Ghost could do all of these things, and I have felt the Holy Ghost warn and testify to me in my life, especially in the past 2 months. I was trying to figure out how the Holy Ghost could comfort me. When he talks about the Holy Ghost as the comforter he tells a story of a girl named Bayley who passes away in a tragic accident. Her parents have to call her brother who is on a mission to tell him the news. His experience reminded me of just a few days earlier when I had talked to my family and they had to tell me the bad news. The calmness and assurance in their voices that everything would be okay comforted me. Just like the missionary in Elder Stevenson's talk. I was comforted by the infallible testimonies of the Savior and his plan. I have realized that the Holy Ghost comforted me this past week and still does by reminding me of things that I know. I know that through this wonderful plan we will see all of our loved ones again and they are in a much better place. I know that this life is not easy at times, but we are NEVER alone. We can have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion and we can always rely on the Savior and His Atonement through the storms of life. I know that everything happens for a reason and I know that I dont always understand those reasons, but I know that everything will work out and be okay. I know that God loves each and every one of us so much and by following Him and Jesus Christ we can truly be happy. I am SO grateful for this gospel and the peace and comfort it has brought me in my life. I know that it's true!!!! 

I challenge you all this week to write down your testimonies. Write down what you know and then share it with someone. Keep what you write down and always refer to it, especially in times of trial. Keep adding to it and keep sharing it and it will be strengthened. I love you all so much!! I'm so grateful to have such amazing examples and people in my life. Have a great week and remember what you KNOW!! (Sorry for the typos and sorry for the length.. I wont be offended if you dont read it all:) 

Love, Sister Godderidge

August 14

August 14, 2017

I hope you all are doing okay. It was nice to hear some of your voices yesterday even though the circumstances weren't great. I wish you could've all been there and I wish I could be there with you all at this time too. BHut I guess there's a reason this all has to happen. It's really not fun at all and it's hard to be away from everyone but I'm going to try my best to press forward with faith that things will be okay. I hope that this week goes okay for you all and that you remember to turn to Heavenly Father and rely on Jesus Christ for strength. He has felt all our pain plus more and knows how to help. Also remember to help eachother, I know I can't do much but I will be praying for everyone. I know that God has a plan, and I know that we will get to see our loved ones again soon. I know that we can't change the circumstances we are in but we can have help to get through them. Rely on the powers of heaven to get through, I know I will be. Love and miss you all so much! Sending my love and prayers. Let me know if there is anything I can do.

This week we went to Winnipeg again for exchanges. I went with Sister Mendenhall. She is from Canada. They were good and I learned a lot. One of the senior couples took us out to olive garden so that was good. I have just accepted the fact that I will come home 20 pounds (or more) heavier. We also had a baptism. Just some 8 year olds in the ward. Their family has 10 kids, 11 chickens, 6 cats, and 2 dogs. They are crazy. One of our investgators committed to a baptismal date and has been coming to church. We are starting to see lots of progress in this area. I am grateful to be here. 

Thank you for the prayers you send my way. I love you all soooo much. This gospel truly is amazing. I dont know how we would all live without it. It's sad that people have to. Which is exactly why I am here. I hope to be able to change people's lives becuase this church and family truly has changed mine. Times like these are defintiely hard, But it would be a lot harder without the Savior and without this church. Families are forever. I am looking forward to the day that we will all be together again. It will come soon! I love you guys more than you know. Don't forget to come unto christ. He has felt all of this pain and he knows how we feel. That is the only thing that keeps me going sometimes but I know that it is enough! Good luck this week. Love you

Sister Godderidge

August 7, 2017

August 7, 2017

Another week has come and gone. The days go by pretty slow here but the weeks are super fast! I can't believe it's already monday again. 

The weather has been super weird here. One minute its sunny and super nice and the next its cold and rainy. It even started hailing one day. It hasnt been too hot though so that's good. I just never know if I should have a raincoat with me:)

We drove into District meeting this week. It was in the other minnesota area, a place called International Falls. We stayed the night in Bergland, Ontario with the sister missionaries there so I got to go to Canada this week! They live in a little farm house and have two cats because I guess the mice are bad. My cat allergies got the best of me that night:( 

We ate at some member houses this week so that was great! I ate bear at one house and then deer at another so I guess I'm pretty cultured;) At one of the houses they had their non member nephew with them so we got to teach a lesson to him. Unfortunately when we asked him to pray and read the book of mormon he said no, but at least we planted a seed!

We almost had a baptismal date with a lady who has been coming to church with her husband for years.. but she is scared to commit to anything. Crossing our fingers for this week. 

We were knocking some doors in a trailer park the other day and we knocked on this guys door who was super tall! We were talking to him for a little bit about lots of things and right in the middle of the conversation mid sentence he looked at me and said, "Man you are short." I just replied and said, "yeah your right, want to come to church sometime?" He said maybe. I think he has potential. 

That's about it for this week! Looking forward to another great one! 

Here's a quote that is super awesome:

"The Atonement (Of Christ) is much more than a divine rememdy to correct our sins after they are committed. The Atonement is in fact the MOST POWERFUL MOTIVATIONAL FORCE IN THE WORLD... The Savior has suffered not just for our sins and iniquites-- but also for our physical pains and anguish, our weaknesses and short comings, our fears and frustrations, our regrets and remorse and despair." 

-On The Atonement by David A. Bednar 

Hope you all have a great week!!

Pics..

Not sure what order but we found our mission presidents house (John Craig) ;)

Me and my companion and someones house. 

No religion solicitors sign:( 

Service Week

July 31, 2017

Hey everyone! This week was great! We did SO much service! We met a lady in a town called Roseau that's about 30 min away from Warroad where we stay. We go there about once a week. Anyway, we met a lady who let us help her pick raspberries. That was fun and it was shaded so that was nice. It has been sooo hot here! The humidity is awful. But we are pushing through:) It's crazy how it can get so hot then you hear how cold it gets too. We met another lady and her mom in Roseau when we were tracting one day. They were  getting the house ready to sell and said we could help them! So we helped them clean and stuff. Neither of those service opportunities turned into teaching opportunities but that's okay. At least we are helping people right? Everytime we tried to bring up the church they would change the subject really fast haha. We also helped one of the less active families with 10 children in our branch. They were tearing out the walls in their attic so we went over and got super dirty and helped with that. Originally we were supposed to be teaching them a lesson but we ended up doing that instead. Someday we will teach them lessons though:)

We had success tracting this week! We knocked on this Native guys door one day and he let us come back and teach him and his sister! Hopefully we see more success with that this week!

We also ran into an 18 year old girl who let us come in and teach her yesterday! We taught a quick restoration lesson and  will hopefully get to go back and have a lesson with her this week! It is truly amazing how we can see miracles if we put our faith and trust in God. I am seeing miracles everyday here and it is awesome!!

We also had a branch picnic on saturday which was fun! It was a potluck and there was lots of good food. There are a few Phillipino ladies in our branch and they made really good (and really greasy) food! There was also some investigators, potential investigators, and less actives that came to the picnic so that was super exciting!!! Hopefully we will be able to teach them soon!! 

Saturday night after the picnic we went tracting in another town outside of Warroad. We ran into a guy who told us how we better repent soon so we dont go to hell because joseph smith was wrong. So that was exciting;)

After that we had interviews with our mission President! He was driving home from all of the outlying areas that are in our district and got to us last. That was cool to see him and have interviews with him even though its only been a couple weeks! Other than that nothing too exciting happened. I am beginning to adjust to the missionary life and really like helping people all that I can! 

I read this scripture this week and liked it.. Mostly the last line

Helaman 12:3

Don't just turn to Christ and Heavenly Father when we are having hard times. Turn to him ALWAYS and EVERYDAY and then when we do have hard times they will be more willing to help us. The Atonement is always there and it's how we get back to our Heavenly Father. 

Love you all and this gospel so much!!! 

Another Email:

I had a cool experience this week thanks to you guys.. Well maybe just dad I am not sure:) So when I got that package there was some money in it to give to someone that needed it. Then dad sent me more money a week later. (Stop doing that dad). Anyway, I have been trying to find someone that I can give it to. This week we were at a less actives house and the lady was saying that they had been having some hard times lately. The next day we went back over to return a tuperware because she sent us home with food. I decided to give her the money dad sent but i didnt want her to know so we stuck it in her car door. We saw her a couple days later and she told us how they had a knock on their door the night before and a guy that lived next to them handed them the envelope with the money in it. I guess she didnt see in in the car door and it dropped on the ground. So it is a miracle that the guy gave it to them and that I wrote there name on it.. Anyway, I just wanted to share with all of you that story because it was a miracle that happened not because of me. You all say that you are getting blessed because of my efforts but I am the one who is blessed by your efforts and prayers! I am truly grateful to have such an amazing family. Some of the situations I have seen here are really sad and have just put into perspective how lucky I really am to have such an awesome family! I love you guys and am so grateful for the support and prayers that you send my way. I am grateful to be serving a mission and know that through christ anything is possible!! LOVE YOU

PS.. I was reading in my scriptures and found these verses.. 2 Nephi 17:15, 22 LOOK THEM UP!!

(my new favorite scriptures.. it just needs to add rolls to it;)

First Week in the Field

July 24, 2017

Hey everyone! I dont have much time so this will probably be short. We had zone conference this week which was so amazing and I learned so much! My mission president and his wife are awesome! So we had a few lessons this week. One was pretty bad. We went in planning to read the book of mormon with this lady and as soon as she got there she just started telling us how crazy we were and how she didnt agree with anything the book of mormon said. So that was fun;) Then we had a lesson with an older man named Frank. He's a very nice guy. We are not sure if he is interested in the gospel or if he just likes us to come over becuase we talk to him and care about his life. He is very lonely. He came to church though which was good! But he left after sunday school because we werent talking enough about Jesus Christ, so that was a bummer. We are definitely working on him and have high hopes!

The members here are so amazing!! They treat us so good that it is almost bitter sweet! I am very grateful to have some home cooked meals though! I read this scripture a while ago and loved it because I though of the hymn (89)

1 Nephi 17:13

The Lord is our light and he will lead us along as we travel through the wilderness (or our life on earth) Let the Lord into your life so he  can guide you!

Love you all! Have an awesome week!! 

Pics:

The roads we tract..

This person wasnt home so I took pictures next to their frog decorations:)