President and Sister Hitchcock

July 9, 2018

We had another great week here in Winnipeg! We started off the week with exchanges with the YSA sisters. They are super great! I went with sister spencer. She is from price, Utah. Her companion is named Sister Bailey and she lived in North Logan for a year before she came on her mission! She knows some people I went to high school with so that is super neat. We also had zone conference this week and got to meet President and Sister Hitchcock. They are so great!! They are die hard Utah State fans and love cache valley! Also President Hitchcock loves to golf. He said that his brother was on the USU team. So we had lots of things to relate to! They are pretty different than president and sister craig, but I know that they are the ones to be leading this mission at this time. I am glad I will be able to experience both. They are awesome. 

We also had MLC this week. THat stands for Mission Leadership Council and we got to spend even more time with the Hitchcocks. Just great people.. Some exciting news.. Our mission hit a record last month. We were able to have 23 people get baptized which is the highest this mission has ever seen in a month. Pretty amazing and cool to be a part of that. Hopefully we can continue to see miracles as the year goes on. The weather has been super hot this week. Saturday was brutal! What makes it bad is the humidity. I swear it is like 100% humitidy levels some days. It's just funny because I have heard and noticed myself that Canadians always are talking about the weather. I think we had like a lot of people warn us about how hot it was going to be on Saturday. Just a few months ago we were complaining about the freezing temperatures! At least it is a good conversation starter:) 

Sister madsen and I were out tracting this week and we were trying to decide whether or not we should continue going straight on the street we were on or if we should cross and go to the other side. On the other side there was a bunch of people in front of the church so in my mind I thought.. I don't really want to go talk to all of those people who are mingling in front of the church.  Probably not the best thing. I will admit that I had some fear in my heart. So we decided to keep going straight. Well guess what, the next house we knocked on a girl answered and said she wanted to listen for a few minutes. She was feeling sick but still agreed! We asked her if she believed in god and she said not anymore. We asked why and she told us that her dad had passed away a couple years ago so she was sort of angry about that. We testified to her about the plan of salvation and she told us we could come back! So that was definitely a miracle. I learned from that experience that the Lord knows our hearts. I honestly think that he knew I wouldn't go talk to the big crowd of people in front of the church so he put them there to keep us going straight. Maybe that's not actually what happened but I like to think that he knows me well enough to know what to do to push me in the right direction! 

I wanted to share a quote this week that president Hitchcock shared in MLC.. "There is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone." I loved that because it is so true. I also had to give a talk in sacrament meeting this week on missionary work. This goes along perfect because we have to get out of our comfort zone in order to do missionary work and share the gospel. So I invite you all to do that this week!! Then report back and tell me what you did:) Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!! 

Love, Sister Godderidge

Lots of pictures this week lets see if I can remember them all! 

Exchanges! Sister spencer and sister bailey are the cutest

President and sister Hitchcock!

Sister gatten and sister peacock at a 4th of july barbecue one of the members invited us to. 

Sister madsen and I on the 4th of july.. next to a Canadian flag haha

These sisters are serving in warroad right now. All of us in the picture were trained there! I miss that place!

MTC companions!

Sleepover with the sisters from regina for mlc. 

supper appointment with some members and lots of missionaries!

more pictures with sisters from mlc

Happy Canada Day!

July 2, 2018

Happy Canada Day everyone! It was actually yesterday but "observed" today so lots of places are closed. I will admit that it was a bit weird to sing "O Canada" and "God Save the Queen" yesterday in church instead of the American Patriotic songs. I guess I am a canadian now though:) I hope you all have a good 4th of July! 

This week was pretty good.. 

After we taught Linda the stop smoking program she was having a hard day, but staying strong. She got a priesthood blessing and then we havent heard from her since then. We are not sure what happened?! She just kind of fell off the face of the earth and wont answer the door or our calls. So hopefully we can get back in contact with her and she is still not smoking. Addictions are hard, but the savior can heal ANYTHING!!
In district meeting this week we were talking about faith and how we all needed to have the "Faith to Move Mountains" so we can reach our goals that we have set for July. Someone then made the comment ,"I think we have had  good faith so far considering there are no mountains around.. Looks like they have already been moved". Haha so that is why we have no mountains in the Canada Winnipeg Mission. The missionaries have too much faith;) 

We got to go on exchanges with the St. James Sisters this week! That was super fun. I got to stay in their apartment for the night and they live in a penthouse with a beautiful view!! I went with Sister Cruz. She is from the Phillipines but her family moved to Calgary a few years ago. She is very very sweet and a hard working missionary! She has been out for about 5 months. It is really weird being around a lot of missionaries that are younger than me in the mission. I remember when I was them! 

President and Sister Hitchcock arrived this week! I have not gotten the chance to meet them yet, but I hear that they are great so I am really looking forward to it!! 

Yesterday in relief society we had a really good lesson! One sister made a comment that I wanted to share.. She said something to the effect that Satan is standing on our doorsteps, waiting to welcome us into his world every single day. One thing that can help us to put on our armor and face the temptations and struggles of the adversary is to pray-individually and especially as a family before you leave the house. This will help us to have the spirit with us wherever we go and the strength we need to face Satan's world. This is why we pray so often as missionaries! We pray before we do anything!! And it truly makes a difference. So I invite you all to try it this week. Everytime you leave or someone in the family leaves the house, say a prayer and I know that you will notice a difference! You will be able to put on the armor that you need! 

We also watched a short video called "Hope Works- Spiritual Beings and the Human Experience". I think you can find it on LDS.org It is like the LDS version of TedTalks. Super great!! The guy shared a quote, "We are not humans having a spiritual experience. We are spirits have a human experience." I loved that too!! 

Not much else to tell this week. I will send some pictures though! Sister Madsen and I decided that we needed to take more pictures so there are some random ones! Have a wonderful week! Love you all!!! 

Love, Sister Godderidge

Exchanges!

A funny sign we found on a door we knocked on. 

We found an actual mailbox! i think it is the first one I have seen that is not just attached to the house. It is weird that they dont have mailboxes on the street. 

the nice view

One Year

June 25, 2018
I hit my one year mark this week!! Isn't that crazy?! And shout out to my amazing mom for having a birthday on the same day!! I can't believe it's been a year already. Time is just flying! 

This week was pretty good. Except I came down with a nasty cold. So that wasn't too great. It started on Tuesday afternoon with a sore throat. I had like no warning at all it just sort of came. Then the next couple days my nose was pretty stuffed up and I had to carry a roll of toilet paper around with me everywhere. It's moved up to my ears now so I feel like im riding on an airplane and I need to yawn to unclog my ears all the time haha. Hopefully it will go away soon!! 

We also are teaching so many Chinese people! And they have all become friends now. We invited them to a baptism this week and they all came and met eachother. Some of them live right next to each other so we might just start having combined lessons. They all want to get baptized, the trick is just making sure they understand what baptism is since their English isn't great. They are awesome though!! 

We also are teaching a lady named linda who is supposed to get baptized at the beginning of July. She just needs to stop smoking. We taught her the stop smoking program this week so we are hoping that will be successful and she will be able to quit so she can be baptized! 

The church helped with a big food drive fundraiser called Winnipeg Harvest this week. We helped a lot to deliver fliers and pick up food this week. I think it was pretty successful so that was good!! 

They had a farewell fireside for president and sister Craig yesterday evening that we got to attend. They were the last speakers and when they got up to speak they talked about how it felt like their funeral because everyone was just sayinf how great they were. All the missionaries in the city sang president Craig's favorite song and we were all crying by the end. It was super neat to have the spirit so strong. They really are amazing people!! I know you are probably sick of me talking about how wonderful they are.. but it's true!! They leave this week and the new one will come in. We will see what comes with that:) it's kind of exciting, but also a bit scary too! 

I wanted to share something that president Craig talked about last night. He said, "the spirit speaks to us when we listen, when we don't want to listen, he doesn't speak. We must give him the permission to speak to us." 

I loved that so much because it is so true! Sometimes we are so distracted with other things going on around us that we don't give permission to the spirit to speak to us and we don't want to listen. I want you all to make a special effort this week to strive to be worthy of the spirit and put yourself in places and situations where he can speak to us!! Give him permission! 

I also read found a quote in our apartment this week that I thought dad would enjoy.. "Living the gospel is like brushing your teach. You can't just do it once a week, it's an everyday thing!" 

Love you all and I hope you have an amazing week:) 

Pics: They are all from last week

transfers-- driving to winnipeg

after the drive, my new companion (dont mind the messy hair)

President and Sister Craig--I LOVE THEM! 

Lill's baptism!

Transfers

June 18, 2018

Hello family and friends! This week was a rollercoaster of emotions! I was VERY VERY Sad to leave Regina. It was hard to say goodbye to the people there. I have grown too attached I guess! I also wasnt able to be at Lill's baptism on Saturday which was pretty hard. But I hear it was a success! So what matters most is that she got baptized and is now on her way to the temple! It was a pretty stressful week before transfers happened. We had so many appointments and were trying to get everything done that we needed to. On Wednesday President Craig called and said that they might have a way that I could stay for the baptism! I got super excited. We were just going to delay the transfer of me and another sister and have us drive to winnipeg on saturday evening. But it was going to be too late so we ended up not being able to do it. That was disappointing. It's okay though! I think everything went smoothly and they had a lot of support from the ward! Plus her grandson from St. George surprised them and drove up! 

I made it through my first weekend in Winnipeg. I am serving in the Waverley ward. So far all of my areas have started with "W" so hopefully I can keep this pattern going! There is another set of missionaries in our ward. The AP's, which is a bit intimidating! It seems like a good ward so far though. It's hard adjusting to a new area, especially because I think my heart is still in Regina. I know everything will be okay though! My new companion is named sister madsen. She is from Mapleton, Utah. She is the most down to earth person ever! She is also on her last transfer so I will be "killing" her. Hopefully I don't get too "trunky", another missionary term:) 

Some exciting news! Yesterday in sacrament meeting they announced that President Nelson, his wife, and Elder Andersen would be visiting winnipeg in August!!! I should still be here so hopefuly I will get to meet them! That would be a wonderful experience!! Super exciting:) I love and miss you all and hope you have a wonderful weeK! 

--

Love, Sister Godderidge

Not sure if I remember all the pictures I attached..

Sister jackson and I with our matching shirts.. Dont mind our dresses underneath:)

saying goodbye to Lill:(

District picture! This was a good district!

my new companion

Driving to winnipeg

The Tiefenbachs! The coolest members:) 

Miracle Magnet

June 11, 2018

Sister Jackson and I saw so many more miracles this week, it was amazing!! I cannot believe she is already done with her training. It has not felt like 3 months. Time keeps getting faster and faster! It's unbelievable. 

SO last monday our relief society president and another member in our ward took us geocaching. It was so fun!! I think it will be my new hobby when I get home:) 

Lil is still doing so great. I cannot believe what a miracle she is. I dont think I ever thought it was possible that someone could get baptized in 3 weeks! She is just golden though. Keep praying for her because I know the adversary will be working hard on her this week. This week we taught her the commandments... Well I should re-phrase that. She taught US the commandments. She is so amazing! She actually opened my eyes to things that I can be doing better to keep the commandments that God has given us. I have realized that I am not living them as best as I should be. She helped me to see that! 

Remember the vivint guy I talked about last week? So we called him when he didnt show up to church last week and made another deal. But he said he had to get 2 sales this week in order to come to church.. Well guess what!? We called him on friday and he had already gotten 3!!!! HE CAME TO CHURCH! That was pretty cool. I hope he will come again! 

A vietnamese family from another ward in regina got baptized this week. They are so cute! I was able to teach them several times while on exchanges with google translate. That was good to be able to see their baptism. 

We got a text from a member who got baptized just over a year ago. Her name is Brandy and she is pretty great! She said she had a friend who wanted to learn more about the book of mormon and come to church. So we called her and she told us the same thing. ANOTHER MIRACLE!! It's actualy kind of a funny story. So she said that shes been friends with brandy for a while and she came to her baptism last year. She met with sisters a couple times then but then got scared and stopped. Then we had to get our windshield fixed a couple weeks ago. I was pretty upset about it becuase it seems like we have had so many car issues while being in Regina. But there was a reason because her husband was the one who fixed our windshield! She was dropping something off to him when we were picking our car up and thats when she decided to reach out to her friend. God places us where we need to be and when we need to be there. She has 3 boys and 2 step kids too. She came to church and loved it! So exciting!! 

We also have transfers this week. I am devastated. Things are just starting to pick up here and I have to leave:( I probably wont be able to attend Lil's baptism either. But I will go where the Lord wants me to go! I have truly grown to love the people and city of Regina. I am so grateful I got to stay here as long as I did!! I am headed to Winnipeg next. I will be serving in the Waverly ward.. It's the same ward as the mission home so I will get to be there when the new president comes in. That is exciting. So although I am really really sad to leave regina I am excited for the things ahead!! Love you all!! 

Love, Sister Godderidge

pics:

Dongs baptism

geocaching.. can you see what we found?

less actives we have been working with

Transfers

June 18, 2018

Hello family and friends! This week was a rollercoaster of emotions! I was VERY VERY Sad to leave Regina. It was hard to say goodbye to the people there. I have grown too attached I guess! I also wasnt able to be at Lill's baptism on Saturday which was pretty hard. But I hear it was a success! So what matters most is that she got baptized and is now on her way to the temple! It was a pretty stressful week before transfers happened. We had so many appointments and were trying to get everything done that we needed to. On Wednesday President Craig called and said that they might have a way that I could stay for the baptism! I got super excited. We were just going to delay the transfer of me and another sister and have us drive to winnipeg on saturday evening. But it was going to be too late so we ended up not being able to do it. That was disappointing. It's okay though! I think everything went smoothly and they had a lot of support from the ward! Plus her grandson from St. George surprised them and drove up! 

I made it through my first weekend in Winnipeg. I am serving in the Waverley ward. So far all of my areas have started with "W" so hopefully I can keep this pattern going! There is another set of missionaries in our ward. The AP's, which is a bit intimidating! It seems like a good ward so far though. It's hard adjusting to a new area, especially because I think my heart is still in Regina. I know everything will be okay though! My new companion is named sister madsen. She is from Mapleton, Utah. She is the most down to earth person ever! She is also on her last transfer so I will be "killing" her. Hopefully I don't get too "trunky", another missionary term:) 

Some exciting news! Yesterday in sacrament meeting they announced that President Nelson, his wife, and Elder Andersen would be visiting winnipeg in August!!! I should still be here so hopefuly I will get to meet them! That would be a wonderful experience!! Super exciting:) I love and miss you all and hope you have a wonderful weeK! 

Love, Sister Godderidge

Not sure if I remember all the pictures I attached..

Sister jackson and I with our matching shirts.. Dont mind our dresses underneath:)

saying goodbye to Lill:(

District picture! This was a good district!

my new companion

Driving to winnipeg

The Tiefenbachs! The coolest members:) 

Principle Godderidge

June 4, 2018
This week was another pretty good week for us here in Regina!! On Monday we were teaching our investigator Joyce and she had a friend over so we invited him to join us. We were into the lesson and I wasnt sure if he was paying attention or not so I asked him a question. He looked at me and said, "I dont know".. Then I asked him another question a few minutes later and he said.. "I am a little scared of you. I dont know what it is, your like a principal.. but a nice principal." hahah it's funny because we actually had another investigator who compared me to a principal. I guess I am just too intimidating. That's probably not a good thing so I will half to lighten up this week a little bit:) 

Lil is still doing so amazing and on date to be baptized on the 15th. She is so sweet and has such a good heart. Continue to pray for her!! 

We got out of a lesson one night this week at about 8:45.. We were pretty close to our apartment so we decided to go tracting for a few minutes before 9, the second door we knocked on was a cute family! They let us in and we talked a bit about the book of mormon and plan of salvation. They were pretty open to hearing what we had to say and very welcoming to have us go back! We went on exchanges so Sister Jackson went with one of our STL's for the return appointment and they said it went well! The dad is a lawyer by profession so he is a bit skeptical about have the spirit and Book of Mormon be the evidence of Joseph Smith as a prophet. He said he is willing to try though so we will see what happens. Maybe Ted will have some good tips for us:) 

We also had our last interviews with President Craig this week. It was pretty sad but he is so great! I know I say this almost every week but I am going to miss him and Sister Craig so much!! I think our whole mission will. 

I got to go on exchanges with Sister Gillespie this week. She was one of my companions in the MTC so that was fun to be with her again and to see how much we both have changed. Really not that much but it was so great! We were able to teach a Vietnamese couple using google translate! (One of the perks of having smartphones). They are getting baptized this week! 

Another miracle.. One night we had a couple lessons planned but they both fell through so we had a few hours to go tracting.. We went to the street and when we were almost done with it we saw a young man walking around the neighborhood selling vivint security systems. I turned around to talk to him and he was a little caught off guard but he started talking to us and said, "oh you are the mormons right?" Turns out he is from BC and he was actually baptized a few years ago after he moved here from China. Although he is not active anymore. We tried to address some of the concerns he had with the church and then made a deal.. We told him that if he prayed and got a sale this weekend then he needed to come to church. He agreed! So Sunday morning we texted him to see if he got a sale. He called us a bit later and said that he didnt get a sale, but he helped one go through. He said he wanted to come to church! Plus he only lived a few minutes walking distance away!! We were super excited.. But then he didnt show up so that was too bad. But we will try again next week! He will come around!! 

So in my interview with President Craig this week he gave me one last word of advice that I wanted to share.. He told me that no matter what, always put the Savior first in your life! He is the most important aspect of our lives and the whole reason we are here! After my interview I was reading my scriptures and came across a verse that went along perfect with everything he told me. 

Alma 37:36

"Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whitersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever." 

I know that as we center our lives and everything we do on Jesus Christ we will truly be happy!! Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! 

Love, Sister Godderidge

exchanges with Sister gillespie! 

companion study at the park!