Monday, August 21, 2017

Last pictures from the field!
















"Sister Gronning, you are dead" πŸ’€

Well, hello everyone! This is my last weekly email in the mission
field!! I fly home this Wednesday!! 😱

Monday after our half pday, we did some things in our apartment. Moved
list, Stake reports.
We took some of Sister Rodriquez family names to the temple so we went
to her house and gave her the ones we didn't do. We talked to her for
a while, like an hour... lol.
We taught Miranda the Plan of Salvation and she loved it!!
We had dinner with the Baileys.

Tuesday was my last district meeting! Elder Huber and I are both
"dying" so we took a dying picture!
We were going to have a lesson with Laurie and we texted her sister to
confirm and she texted us back and said they already have a great
relationship with God and she would appreciate it if we didn't come to
her house anymore.. alrighty.
We had a referral who requested a bible and we called her to see if we
can deliver that to her and she said she is out of town and will call
us.
We had a lesson with Amanda. We read some stuff out of the learning
and serving in the church pamphlet. We talked about home and visiting
teaching, priesthood and auxiliaries, priesthood blessings.
We had a lesson with Elizabeth and Sister Hall came with us. We talked
about temples and families. We talked about baptisms for the dead and
being baptized for herself. Sister Hall bore a great testimony about
her baptism and the blessings she has seen in her life. We invited
Elizabeth to pray about a baptism date in September.
We ate dinner with the Sollars. They made some good spaghetti and garlic rolls!

Wednesday we had a first lesson with Todd. Sister White came with us.
We taught him the restoration.
We ate lunch with Sister Naumann at Panera Bread.
We had a lesson with Ziline and read from the children's BOM in
English to help her learn English.
We had a lesson with Diana's boys. We read the BOM with them.
We had a lesson with Miranda. Hannah Hahn came with us. We taught the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thursday, Taylor Brady drove us to Harrington for my departing
interview with President Randall! We listened to the conference call
while we were there and he did a live one where he called on random
missionaries and talked about their questions about helping our
investigators to pray, it was cool.
My interview with President went well. I thought I was going to cry
but I didn't.
After that, we did weekly planning.
We had a lesson with Amanda and we read where she is in the Book of
Mormon. 2 Nephi 17. That was tough haha.
Sister Kelley drove us to Harrington and then the Harrington sisters
and us drove to the P1 sisters apartment. I got to see and talk to
Sister Stubben!!

Friday morning we drove to the temple for my departing temple trip! It
was really good!! I love the Philadelphia temple. I got to see Sister
Collier and Sister Flandro!!
Sister Kelley picked us up from Harrington and dropped us off at the
Tinsmiths. We got to pick and eat Maryland crabs!!! It was quite the
experience! The elders came too and we had correlation with Brother
Tinsmith.

Saturday we had 4 lessons set up and only one happened.
We taught Diana's boys CPR (church, pray, read) by using an object lesson.
We ate at our apartment and then went to Dairy Queen for ice cream!!
They called us for transfer news!! Elder jones said "Sister Gronning,
you are dead" "Sister Roberts you are staying"
President just changed how we do transfers now. The missionaries don't
find out until Tuesday in a meeting with all the missionaries who are
getting transferred and getting a new companion. So you don't find out
where you are going or who your companion is going to be until
Tuesday. That is crazy.

Sunday Miranda came for Sacrament meeting.
We ate lunch at the Klos families house.
We had a lesson with Miranda and taught her the Ten Commandments. She
asked if we had another Book of Mormon she can have so she can give it
to her friend!! She was talking to her friend about it and she wants
one and so Miranda is going to write her testimony in the front and
give it to her friend!! She is so solid and I'm so sad I am going to
miss her baptism on the September 8th!!
We ate dinner at Sister Pilchards.

I have loved serving here in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia mission. I
know that this was the mission I was supposed to be in. I look forward
to seeing most of you when I get home!
Love you all!!

Sister Gronning

Monday, August 14, 2017

πŸŒͺ whaaat ?!

Well, this week has been kinda crazy!!
I don't have a lot of time today because we went to the temple on Saturday and so we are taking a half pday today because we didn't get to do any pday stuff on Saturday.

Monday we went to Assateague with Alanna Klos, Evan Klos, and Melvin! It was fun! Took some sea shells, saw horses, ate ice cream.
We ate dinner with Sister Pilchard, the relief society President and then afterwards we talked about a few relief society sisters who are less active.
Oh and during the day when we got home from the beach, it was pouring down rain so hard and we needed to go to Walmart so we ran outside and got in our car and I could barely see while I was driving because it was raining so hard! And then later that day we found out that their was a tornado in Salisbury!! It hit closer to the south side and we were told that a few trees got knocked down and some cars while driving got picked up and thrown and turned over unto other cars! Crazy!!! We had no idea this was happening....

Tuesday we had District Meeting and it was focused on courage. Stopped by a few people. Had dinner with Sister Thibault (pronounced T-Bo).
We went to a relief society activity.

Wednesday we met with Chemica and read from the Book of Mormon with her.
We were going to have a lesson with a young girl who we met I think Tuesday, named Laurie but the member who was going to come with us couldn't make it and so we talked to her on her porch about the Book of Mormon.
We went walking and knocking on doors on Zion Rd and Sassy Ln. Few people said we could come back.
We had a lesson with Amanda and Sister Smith came with us. We read the Book of Mormon with her.

We ate dinner with the Hahn's and Miranda and Brother Dipaolo at Plaza Tapatia.
After dinner we drove to Woodstown, New Jersey!!! We stayed the night with the Woodstown sisters and the Cape May sisters.

Thursday morning Sister Crystal, Sister Prince and I drove to Broomall and then the Sessions took us in a van up to the priesthood restoration site. Usually they take all of the "dying" missionaries up but this time they only took the ones who have never gone their whole missions. It was an awesome experience. I loved it. I loved just walking around the trails and seeing all of the historic church sites. We were able to see the Susquehanna river as well! The Sessions were too kind and brought us lunch. Us sisters slept on the way there and back. We came prepared and brought our pillows haha.
We didn't get back to Woodstown until like 7 or something and we got dinner at McDonald's and then drove to Dover and spent the night with the Dover sisters.

Friday we drove back from Dover in the morning.
We helped volunteer at the holly center. We sorted through donations of clothes and hung them up. I felt like I was in the back of DI haha.
We had bible study.
We did weekly planning.
We ate dinner at the Smiths house.


Saturday the Smiths took us and Melvin to the temple! It was Melvin's first time doing baptisms. It was awesome.It was my first time doing baptisms in the philly temple. I saw Sister Watkins and some members from Souderton ☺️ Sister Onorato and Brother Nelson.
We ate lunch at the Christiana mall. I had a cheesesteak with bacon on it and fries with cheese, bacon, and ranch!
We had our first lesson with Miranda (the one who came to church for the first time and bore her testimony last Sunday) she is solid. We taught her the restoration and invited her to be baptized and she said she has been thinking about it and praying about it already and we set her with a date of September 9th!

Sunday, Miranda came to church again. We had a returned missionary speak in Sacrament who just got back from Australia.
Second hour we talked about the Holy Ghost and the third hour we talked about the Book of Mormon.
We had dinner at the Johnsons with the Taylor's and the Oler's as well. They all have the cutest kids. The Olers baby boy is 2 months old! We had breakfast for dinner because that is what I requested πŸ˜‹
We had FHE at the Sollars. They just got released after 15 years 😭 the Nielsens just got called to replace them. They will do great.

It is so unreal that I leave next week. It hasn't quite hit me yet.. people keep saying "are you leaving next week?!" And I have to stop and think about it for a little bit and say "oh wow, that is next week huh." I forget because I'm not counting πŸ˜‚

I have my last interview with President Randall next week and my departing temple trip. Gahhh.

Love you all!!! See you soon😳
Sister Gronning