Miracle filled week!

January 8, 2018

This week was so great!! We saw many miracles. Here is what happened:

-I got to go on exchanges with my trainer Sister Stokes this week! That was super fun!! It was a bit weird to be with her again. Brought back lots of good memories! We were able to teach some lessons together and find some people for them to work with in her and her companions area. 

-The cord that we use to plug in our car at night has not been working so we had to go get that fixed this week. It was a bit of a pain and we were stuck at the car dealership for a while but hopefully it is fixed now so we can plug our car in! It warmed up this week so we were able to start it without problems but last week when it was in the -40s it was a bit rough! I am grateful it is fixed!

-Sister Gatten let me cut her hair this week. So that was fun!! 

-Two of the investigators that we are working with committed to baptismal dates this week! Both of them have been living with less active members and working with missionaries for quite some time so it was a miracle that they had a change of heart and want to get baptized! We just have to plan weddings now... So that may be a bit interesting haha. We are excited though! If anyone has any wedding planning tips send them my way:) 

-During our weekly planning this week we decided to pray for referrals again. Me and Sister Knight did this in Warroad and we got a referral about a week later so me and sister Gatten decided to do it! That day we received TWO media referrals from salt lake. One was a guy requesting a book of mormon and another was a lady requesting a bible! Unfortunately the lady wanted the bible already had a book of mormon and didnt want to meet with us but we have high hopes for the guy! We are meeting with him tomorrow!! 

-We had some fun experiences tracting one night! Me and Sister Gatten both had to use the washroom really bad.. So we at one of the doors after the lady told us she didnt want us to come in I asked if we could use her washroom. She was happy to let us in for that haha. Turns out she had went to the Regina Temple open house so we got to talk to her about that!! Another lady opened the door and screamed like she was super excited. We were a bit confused and soon after we realized so was she, turns out she thought we were her friends. It was kinda fun to get that reaction though. Another lady answered the door and said "What did I win?" I replied, "A unique message about Jesus Christ from the missionaries." She was not very amused and shut her door.

That's about it for this week! I was reading in Preach My Gospel about the Book of Mormon this week and it talked about how it is the keystone to our religion. I thought about how the Book of Mormon is also the keystone to our lives! If we remove it and stop reading it daily we will crumble!! I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. It truly is the GREATEST book we have on the earth. Don't let your life crumble by not reading it DAILY!!!! I am also grateful for our beloved prophet President Monson. It was so sad to hear about his passing but I am so grateful that the Lord has provided a way for us to always have a prophet! I love this gospel and I KNOW that it is true!!! God truly does hear and answer our prayers! Have a wonderful week!!

Love, Sister Godderidge

Me and sister stokes on exchanges!!

hair cutting:)

At the subaru dealership doing our studies.. 

Happy New Year

January 1, 2018

We had a good, cold week here in Canada! Luckily it was in the -30s most of the week so we were still able to do active proselyting. It got below 40 on Friday and Saturday but we were blessed and were still able to stay busy stopping by potentials and having a few lessons. Unfortunately our teaching pool is pretty slim right now and so we have been trying to do a lot of finding, which is a bit harder in the cold. We can only bear it for about 30-40 minutes and then we have to get in our car and warm our feet up before we can go back out. It was so cold that they only had one hour of church this week! Also probably because it was New Years Eve. I am still trying to get to know the ward members but it has been harder with the holidays! While tracting this week we have tracted into 2 less-actives!! One of them was not interested but the other one let us in and invited us back! So that was a miracle! We have been teaching a lady from Tanzania english and that has been kinda fun. She has the cutest kids!! One of them this week asked where we were from and we said Utah and then he said, "Utah Jazz?" In a cool accent. He said he had watched them on TV!! 

We had a couple member lessons this week and one of the ladies we went to was an older sister who is a convert to the church and her husband is not a member. We started talking about the celestial kingdom and she expressed to us that she just didn't feel worthy to be going there. We tried to assure her that as long as she does her best here, the Savior will make up the difference and she will make it to the Celestial Kingdom. The next day in Sacrament meeting Elder Atkinson, an elder serving in our ward gave a talk. He talked about how most of us don't feel worthy to go to the celestial kingdom but we are usually too hard on ourselves. I looked over and saw this member crying. I know it was just what she needed. God works in powerful ways and I believe that it was definitely inspired that Elder Atkinson said that in his talk. That was just a cool experience from this week! 

Another cool thing that I learned this week from my studies was in Moses 1:39 when it talks about how God's work is the bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men. He does this through us! Women are given the power to bring life into the world, and men who hold the priesthood have the power to help us return to our Heavenly Father through Priesthood ordinances. Each of us have vital and important roles in our Heavenly Father's plan!! 

I hope you will all set goals for the new year! In preach my gospel it says, " Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish. Through goals and plans, our hopes are turned into action. Goal setting and planning are acts of faith."

Pics: Two of the kids in the family we are teaching english

-We did service and had dinner at one of the elders investigators house and they had a tigger costume. SIster Gatten loves Tigger so she had to put it on haha!!

I made it to CANADA and its -40!

December 26, 2017

Hello everyone!! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!! And Happy Boxing Day. It's pretty big here! I don't remember it being that big in Utah but maybe I just didn't pay attention? It's like another Black Friday. Here are some things that happened this week..

-While I was still in Warroad we got fed this type of fish called Ludafisk. I wish that I could say it was super good but I will admit it was hard getting it down! Has anyone ever had it?

-I left Warroad on Wednesday and traveled all day long to Regina. Total of about 15 hours in the car so it was a long day! We had a lesson with Trish before I left and it went pretty well. It's hard leaving because I have grown to love her and everyone else SO much but I am ready for a change! 

-I am now serving in the Wascana Ward and my companion is Sister Gatten from West Jordan, Utah. We actually met once before we left so that's pretty cool! We went to the Logan Temple together! Her roommate was an ambassador at USU with me so we connected before and now we are companions! She is great. It's kinda funny because she is pretty tall and I am pretty short so it's a bit weird standing next to her. I think I will probably have that problem with most of my companions though! 

-Now that I am in Canada I can start working on my Canadian accent;) I am super excited!!

-The members have been great here so far! There is a couple that takes all the missionaries in Regina out to eat every week and then another older couple who had us over basically all of Christmas day! 

-Christmas was fun! I loved seeing my family and getting to talk to them! We played games and watched Moana! It's fun serving in a city and being around other missionaries! Definitely different than warroad! There are 7 sets of missionaries here and 3 wards so a set of sisters and elders in each, then one set of elders that is for YSA and an Inner CIty group. 

- Yesterday the average was -41 degrees with wind chill... Today is about the same. THis whole week is supposed to be that cold! We aren't allowed to be outside proselyting once it gets below 40 so this week will probably be pretty slow. We will have to try and set up a lot of appointments and find people through our area book. We will see how it goes! Hopefully I don't get frostbite:) 

I loved this scripture from my studies this week!...

John 6:35 "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." I know that if we come unto Christ and believe in Him and the power of the Atonement our needs will be met! Love you all! Thanks for all the love and support! Have a great week:)

Two Senior Missionary couples that I LOVE

Christmas eve with all the sisters!! 

Lunch with a member from Winnipeg who came to visit!!

Tracting in the cold.. I am so short haha

Christmas with the Teifenbachs!!

Be Prepared

December 18, 2017

This week was good!! Hopefully I can remember everything that happened. It may be a scattered email so I will apologize in advance.

Here are some highlights from the week:

-We met with Trish and had a good lesson. Her concern now is that it is hard for her to believe that there is only ONE true church. It seems to be a different one each week! She seems to be sincere about wanting to know the truth though so I hope that she will continue to study and learn and receive an answer!!

-We knocked on a door and this guy answered, we asked if we could share a christmas video and he said sure. So then we asked if we could use his phone and he said yes, went and got it, and then held it up like he was taking a picture of us. I looked at him funny and said, "No, don't take a picture of us," thinking he was like mocking us or something. THen he said, "Oh, I thought I was supposed to take a video and share it on facebook or something. Hahaha so maybe we will start trying that.. Having people video us teaching them and then share it with their friends;) 

-We have gotten SO much food and treats this week! Everyone feels bad for us since we are not home for the holidays. I've decided it is the best time to be a missionary though!! 

-We had dinner with Benson Brown and his girlfriend, (the couple from Hyrum) again this week! It was super yummy:) They fed us funeral potatoes which I think may only be a Utah thing so that was good! 

-This week we decided to pray for a referral becuase we have not been seeing much success with knocking on doors. Our prayer was answered today when one of our members texted us a name and a number of his employee! That was really exciting!! We called him and he was very interested so we are super excited about that! Prayers are answered!! 

-We got stuck again this week!!! It was terrible. We were in someone's driveway and the snow was not deep at all but it was very slick. Everyone has been telling us to get shovels, blankets, kitty litter, etc. in our car but we just haven't gotten around to it. We needed it this week though. Eventually, after we said a lot of prayers, and did a lot of digging with our hands we were able to get out. After that we were soaked though! Definitely learned our lesson! It made me think of spiritual preparedness! We all need to prepare ourselves now for when the Savior comes again! Don't wait!

Alma 5:28 "Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold, ye must prepare quickly, for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life." 

-Transfers are this week. Unfortunately I will be leaving Warroad:( I have grown to love the people here so much so it will be really hard to leave! I am headed to Regina, which is a city in Saskatchewan so that will be a change of pace! Excited to see what is in store! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!! 

Christmas in Coming

December 11, 2017

This week was good! We had Christmas Zone Conference in Winnipeg and it was great! We got lots of good training and I was able to see my MTC companions, and a few other familiar faces so that was fun! We also had our branch Christmas party this week! I love everyone in the branch so much! I am so glad I have been able to get to know them all so well. It is going to be really hard to leave! Maybe I will get another transfer though:) I was also able to give another talk in sacrament this week. My first week here I gave a talk on missionary work.. Now 5 months later they asked me to give another talk on missionary work. I guess it is only fitting that the missionaries do it:) I thought about just using the same talk but then I couldn't find it;) 

Not much progress with Trish this week. It makes me really sad but it might not be her time. Hopefully we have planted some seeds though! Or maybe we will see some miracles in the next couple weeks:) 

Everyone has been getting sick and so we haven't been able to meet with most of our investigators. I am hoping that I won't get the sickness that seems to be going around! 

We were able to give Frank a picture this week of Christ getting baptized. Shout out to the Stokes family for making that possible:) He loved it so much!! You can just see the light in his eyes:) 

That's about it for this week! I read a quote from Ezra Taft Benson this week and wanted to share..

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life to God will find eternal life." Lets all lose our lives to God!!! He can make so much more out of us than we ever can alone:) Love you all! Have a great week:) 

Computers are being really slow today so I don't know if I will get to send any pictures.. Next week though!

Roller Coaster

December 4th 2017

This week was a bit discouraging. We had a lot of appointments fall through and were not able to see many of our investigators. We had a lesson with Trish and it didn't go as well as we would have hoped. Then she didn't come to church the next day either:( That was pretty disappointing. She texted us and said that she is finding comfort in her own church and family. So I was pretty devastated yesterday. But we are not giving up on her! I know it isn't going to be easy, but we are going to keep doing our best to teach her and hope and have faith that Heavenly Father will make up the difference! Missions are like a rollercoaster.. things are really good for a week or so and then it drops and things get hard and your faith is tried, but then it starts to get better and you have a peak, and the cycle just continues. So I am hoping for another peak this week!

We had exchanges in Winnipeg this week and I was able to go with Sister Jimenez from Peru again. We had another spanish lesson! We also got to eat some good philipino food from some members there. On Sunday Sister Meikle, a member here came up to me and showed a message she had gotten on facebook from Jon Meikle in Smithfield. He said how great my family was and what a small world it was that I was serving here. I agree! Then her husband.. also Jon Meikle got up and bore his testimony and talked about it too. Such a small world! 

This week in my studies I really like the scripture 3 Nephi 13:22 " The light of your body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." If we keep our eye single to God and have an eternal perspective I know that we will be full of light!! Sorry for the short email this week. Not a lot to talk about, I will try to send pics though!

The Miekles

Light the World

November 27, 2017

This week was great!! We were able to see so many miracles! The first one being that is was a bit warmer:) I think Heavenly Father felt bad that I was complaining so much so He gave us some warmer weather before it really gets cold. I have learned to just embrace it and tell myself that I like winter.. That seems to help sometimes! Here are some highlights of the week..

We saw olympic hockey player Gigi Marvin at the library! That was cool! When do the olympics start? They are this year right?

We had a yummy thanksgiving at the Meikle's house! Lots of good food. I forgot to take a picture though:(

We drove into district meeting this week and that was fun to see our district. None of us got transferred this past transfer so it has been fun to all stay together! We stayed the night with the other sisters and they have a wood burning stove or furnace (Not sure what it's called..) so we roasted marshmallows! 

We we tracted into a young dad this week and he let us come back for a lesson! He just kept saying how he was looking for religion and something to help raise his son and be a good example to him. His little boy was SOOOO cute! It was hard to teach a lesson because I wanted to play with the little boy. He was about 18 months. We are supposed to be seeing them again tomorrow so hopefully all works out with that! 

We were also able to see Trish again this week! She is so great! She is still reading the book of mormon and praying everyday but still looking for her answer before she will get baptized. I think she is a little scared because her whole family is catholic and that is how she raised her kids and so she doesn't want to stray from that. She told us that she believes joseph smith was a prophet though which is HUGE!! I was really excited about that. Hopefully we can help her to recognize answers to her prayers, because I know she will get one if she hasn't already! So if anyone has any tips on how to recognize answers send them my way!! Also she told us that she wasn't going to move anymore! That was a miracle! SHe just has to find a job in this area, so we are praying for that!! 

Seeing people change and feel the spirit in their lives is one of the greatest things about being a missionary!! I am SO grateful for this wonderful opportunity that I have. I KNOW this church is true without a doubt! And I know that Heavenly Father works miracles in our lives if we have the faith to see them! 

1 Nephi 7:12 

"the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him. Wherefore, let us be faithful to him." 

Love you all! I hope you will all participate in the Light the World this year! If you havent see the video yet look it up on mormon,org. It's so great!