"Killed it at Zone Conference, Mama Mia, Don't Spin then run, Unfinished story-Continued, He Said Yes, & Laman & Lemuel are Jerks."

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CIAO FRIENDS!

Oh my goodness this was such a good week. We had so many miracles, it's like I don't even know where to start..... Ok after some deep thought I have decided to begin with a quote from our mission president's wife, Sister Wirthlin, to set the mood...

"It brought tears to my eyes.... and usually I only cry during dog movies!"

Anyway, let us begin. This week we...

1. Had Zone Conference. The Assistants and Pres came up to the great north and trained us on how to more effectively teach Preach my Gospel. It was super great. Sister Davis and I had the great joy to role play one of the teaching methods in front of the whole zone. We pretty much killed it. Oh man we were so, so, nervous, but it ended up ok. During these role plays President & Sister Wirthlin were throwing out all kinds of crazy quotes. To name a few...

" Religiousity! That's a new word.... everyone! Write that one down!" -President

"Everyone who has been using this has been going bananas with it. You know, bananas are pretty slick." -President

"They look properly, they dress properly, their pants are around their wastes!" -President

"Oh man, I LOVE TEXAS!" -President

2. Went on exchange with Sister Malavasi. Sister Malavasi is from Italy and pretty much the most hilarious person I have ever met. We had a super awesome time. Here are some of my favorite quotes from her...

"Oh mama mia! You have killer lady gloves on your table!"

"Langford.... its like.... a strong name. Like a business owner, or a slave owner."

"Caio bella!"

"You are just a crazy american!"

3. Hosted the YSA FHE here in Potsdam. It was pretty fun. And you may have already anticipated this, but here are some funny quotes that stemmed from planning for, and seeing out this experience.

"Have you ever tried to spin around really fast and then run in a straight line?" - Elder

"This is obviously an idea that's coming up as we're talking to you" - Elder

"These people have to... well we think its a good idea.... spin around." -Elder

"Bad things.... like adultery."
-Elder

Ok, now lets's talk about some of the cool things that happened this week.

1. To continue the unfinished story... this week we went over to this girl's house to teach her the gospel. (You will remember her.  She is the lady from the food pantry).  Well we went in and for some reason I was super nervous. Which was weird. But we got talking with them, and things seemed to be going really well. We taught them the first lesson and by the end the spirit was crazy strong. We invited them to pray about the restoration to know if it was true and they said that they believed it was! So moral of the story, we are now teaching her and her boyfriend!

2. We also had a really good lesson with our other investigator while I was on exchange with Sister Malavasi. We taught him about the plan of salvation and during the lesson Sis Malavasi told him that she would save him a seat in the Celestial Kingdom. At the end of the lesson we challenged him to baptism... AND HE SAID YES! We then asked him why he wanted to be baptized. He said "Well, I want to become a better person and continue on this path.... and this seems like the way to go! Anyway, someone is already saving me a seat in the Celestial Kingdom!" Too good! Ah, I love seeing people progress!

3. Another miracle that happened on exchange... EVERY SINGLE PERSON WAS HOME. Maybe you guys don't understand how huge of a miracle this is... but usually we have these people that we are always trying to see, but they are never home, or they are always busy... and during my 24 hours with Sister Malavasi every person we had planned to see was home, and welcomed us in. Like seriously you guys, this never happens. Not to mention that one of those people we picked up as a new investigator! amazing!

4. We went back to see this guy we found while tracting), and he had read the entire first book of Nephi and had lots to talk about! It was so good. My favorite thing he said...

"I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I think Laman and Lemuel are kind of jerks. They are my least favorite and I really don't know why they don't just leave them to die in the wilderness!"

I died.

..,.,,and then some sad things happened...

We basically had to drop all of our investigators. We realized that a lot of them were not going anywhere. This seems to be a reoccurring theme with me in Norwood... but it still is never easy. We then received a super harsh drop from one of our investigators.   She told us she wouldn't come to church anymore and that she didn't believe we had to do anything to get salvation... that grace covered it all. It reminded me a lot of Elder Holland's talk from this last conference... you know. People wanting a lazy God. But it was super heart breaking. NEVERTHELESS we found 3 new investigators this week and things will continue to progress in the north country!

Now, one more quote...

" That song should be missionary approved. There's not anything inappropriate except the deebeedee's."
-Sister Davis.

Well.... SEE YA NEXT WEEK! #ciaobella

XOXO,
Sister Langford

"New House, Flap-Jack Challenge, Floyd's Transformation, Lake Placid Nutella & Crepes, & Bicycles & the Atonement."

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Hello everyone!

Man, how is it even Monday again. That makes no sense to me. Bah. Anyway, this week kind of just happened and I'm not even really sure what to write about... There were a lot of random things that happened so let us talk about those.

Here we go.

1. 10 minutes ago... my companion and I decided to do what is known as the "flap-jack challenge" at a diner here in Potsdam. Basically you have to eat a giant pancake the size of 4 dinner plates in 45 minutes. Is it insane? Yes!  But if you complete the challenge you get a free t-shirt that says, "I ate it all!' So naturally, we needed that. Plus, the zone leaders here could only eat half of it, so we had to show them up! Well... we tried.... and I failed. I ate a little more than half of it. BUT Sister Davis ate all but a tiny bit. She would have done it, except she ran out of time! I guess I can count "eating ridiculous amounts of pancake" off my list of talents. 

2. We moved into our new house! Hurray! Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of it... but just know that it is fantastic! (pics to come next week!)

3. I went on exchange this week to Lake Placid again! Round 3 visiting that adorable mountainous town. This time I got to spend time with the adorable Sister Keller who has only been on her mission for 2 weeks! We had a really good time. PLUS She had her first experience OYMing (talking to people in the street), eating crepes, and eating nutella. I definitely enjoyed opening her eyes to all these wonderful things. ALSO, while in the Adirondack mountains I took a picture of me, sitting in an adirondack chair. dream = fulfilled.

4. EASTER. Easter was so fun we had 2 1/2 Easter dinners. All of which were delicious and filled us up to the brim! The members here are too good! :)

5. HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEK. Floyd rolled into church looking so sharp!  This week he rolls into church in a full black suit, white shirt and tie. Not to mention he got a hair cut and was carrying an Easter basket full of goodies for Sister Davis and I. It was seriously the best transformation I have ever seen. Ah man, Floyd is the best.

The cool moments... 

(Not too many this week. Like I said earlier, I don't even know what happened with this week.....)

1. To finish my story... remember a few weeks ago when I told you the story about the young mom who we really felt like we needed to talk to? Then we saw her al Walmart and missed the opportunity again? WELL this week we had the food pantry again, and she was also there. So we knew we couldn't let her get away again. So when it was her turn to come through we offered to carry her food up so that way we could get a chance to talk to her. As if Satan knew our plan, right then her baby started screaming and she was like "sorry I have to feed him now. Will you just go put those in my car?" We were feeling pretty bummed about the whole issue, but decided to leave a note on her food. Well we finished helping out at the food pantry and just as we were going out to get into our car this girl jumped out of her car and was like "Hey! I got your note! I would love to have you over sometime!" SO we are going to go over sometime this week. So I guess the story really isn't over. Can you all take another to be continued? :)

2. We had a really good lesson with one investigator this week that really put me in the Easter mood. We were talking to her about the Atonement and repentance and all that good stuff. Anyway, the spirit was really strong and it was really hitting her hard. I then felt inspired to share a story with her, that I would now like to share with you all! This story comes from a talk given by Stephan E Robinson called "believing Christ"...

"After I had come home from school one day, I was sitting in a chair reading the newspaper. My daughter Sarah, who was seven years old, came in and said, “Dad, can I have a bike? I’m the only kid on the block who doesn’t have a bike.”

Well, I didn’t have enough money to buy her a bike, so I stalled her and said, “Sure, Sarah.”

She said, “How? When?”

I said, “You save all your pennies, and pretty soon you’ll have enough for a bike.” And she went away.

A couple of weeks later as I was sitting in the same chair, I was aware of Sarah doing something for her mother and getting paid. She went into the other room and I heard “clink, clink.” I asked, “Sarah, what are you doing?”

She came out and she had a little jar all cleaned up with a slit cut in the lid and a bunch of pennies in the bottom. She looked at me and said, “You promised me that if I saved all my pennies, pretty soon I’d have enough for a bike. And, Daddy, I’ve saved every single one of them.”

She’s my daughter, and I love her. My heart melted. She was doing everything in her power to follow my instructions. I hadn’t actually lied to her. If she saved all of her pennies she would eventually have enough for a bike, but by then she would want a car. But her needs weren’t being met. Because I love her, I said, “Let’s go downtown and look at bikes.”

We went to every store in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Finally we found it—the perfect bicycle, the one she knew in the premortal existence. She got up on that bike; she was thrilled. She then saw the price tag, reached down, and turned it over. When she saw how much it cost, her face fell and she started to cry. She said, “Oh Dad, I’ll never have enough for a bicycle.”

So I said, “Sarah, how much do you have?”

She answered, “Sixty-one cents.”

“I’ll tell you what. You give me everything you’ve got and a hug and a kiss, and the bike is yours.” Well, she’s never been stupid. She gave me a hug and a kiss. She gave me the sixty-one cents. Then I had to drive home very slowly because she wouldn’t get off the bike. She rode home on the sidewalk, and as I drove along slowly beside her it occurred to me that this was a parable for the Atonement of Christ.

We all want something desperately—it isn’t a bicycle. We want the celestial kingdom. We want to be with our Father in Heaven. And no matter how hard we try, we come up short. At some point we realize, “I can’t do this!” It is at that point that the sweetness of the gospel covenant comes to our taste as the Savior proposes, “I’ll tell you what. All right, you’re not perfect. How much do you have? What can you do? Where are you now? Give me all you’ve got, and I’ll pay the rest. Give me a hug and a kiss; enter into a personal relationship with me, and I will do what remains undone.”

As we shared that parable with our investigator a strong sweet spirit entered the room and I knew that the message was true. The purpose of Christ's atonement wasn't just to make up for our sins. Or even just our sicknesses or pains. The atonement is there to help us with our every day weaknesses and shortcomings. It's there to help when we want desperately to do our best, but still constantly come up short. That's the greatest blessing of this Easter season. Because of Jesus Christ, we can do it. I am truly grateful for my Savior and His love for me.

Let's finish up with some funny quotes...

"Ok lets play rock, paper, scissors to see who has to ask. ok shoot, now be honest, what did you get?" - Atext message recieved from the elders.

 "hey Sister Davis... do you want to go get some... with me... too?" -Elder

"What in the heck is a cheesecake" - Sister Langford forgetting what cheesecake is...

 "I think someone just had a bunch of words in their mouth that they wanted to use, swished them around in their mouth a bit and then spit them on the paper. Because seriously this makes zero sense." - Sister Davis reading Isaiah

Hey, have a good week friends! Pinky promise that next week I will have exciting stories to share! Love you all!

XOXO,

Sister Langford

"No coat needed, We have bushes in Norwood, Buried Bicycles, & When in Doubt, Tract it out!!"

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Aloha everyone. I'm sorry but I just need all of you to know that it is 77 degrees today in Potsdam, NY. This is crazy business. I even went out without a coat and tights. I don't even know who I am anymore. Also, this week we discovered there were some nice bushes in front of our house. No one told me they were there since there has been at least 3 feet of snow covering it my ENTIRE time in Norwood. Also, Sister Davis and I discovered that we own bikes (these were also buried under the snow), and even though they were pretty rusted, had two flat tires, and we had to wear dorky helmets, we took 'em for a spin and it was sweet. What I'm trying to say is, SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Anyway, lets talk about the week.

1. Lets just say a lot of people we are teaching have seen a little too much of the missionaries as of late and have done a little too little progressing in the gospel. So we dropped them. :/ Which meant we had oodles of time to tract (our favorite!) Let me tell you a story about tracting.

So we were supposed to have a dinner appointment one night, but they canceled last minute. So we said, "well, let us tract" and we did. First house we knocked on was this teenage girl who was like super solid and totally wanted to learn about the gospel. We talked with her for about 30 minutes and it was super awesome! So we are feeling pretty good about our tracting. We are walking down the stairs from her house when LITERALLY RIGHT IN FRONT OF US this lady crashes her car. like... what? So naturally we stop and talk to this lady who was just dropped into our laps. We ended up talking to her for about 30 minutes while the tow truck came. (unfortunately, she wasn't interested in the gospel... but it was still sweet).  Meanwhile, this teenage girl we just found was directing traffic near by. It was hilarious. Finally the tow truck comes, and we continue on our merry way. Next door we knock on, Amish lady. Next door, gay couple. Next door, family of preachers. You could say it was a successful night. THEN to finish the night we almost got sprayed by a skunk. BEST NIGHT EVER.

Moral of the story: when in doubt, tract it out!  :)

2. Remember how last week I told you about our new investigator? That super solid guy who called us, and then we had a really cool chat with him? Well, we taught him again this week and it was so great! He really seems genuine about the gospel and is really excited to learn. We asked him if he had seen any answers to his prayers lately. His answer was "Well ya! I mean you are all sitting on my couch right now, aren't you?" So good!

3. We definitely saw some answers to prayers this week with this other investigator! She had moved in with a different member of the branch a couple of weeks ago and it really was not going well. She was feeling really bummed and was pretty negative about the gospel. We kind of didn't know what to do.... So naturally we prayed. Then yesterday, we received a huge answer to both our, and her prayers. Another member (probably one of the coolest member families), rescued her from her situation and it's helping her get back on her feet. We were talking to her and she was like, "I have been to A LOT of churches, and I've never seen one where the members demonstrate such Christ-like service. There MUST be something behind it. So, I'm going to stop fighting it. Obviously Heavenly Father led me here for a reason!" Ah, it was so good! We then had a super powerful lesson about faith :) It was such an incredible answer to prayers!

4. Did I tell you about the random less-active that we tracted into last week? I can't remember... but anyway, we tracted into this guy. We start to tell him that we are missionaries and he's like, "I know. I was baptized Mormon when I was 9!"  Hi, what? So we ended up teaching him a super good lesson and he said he would give the church another try. He then said he would read all of first Nephi by the next time we saw him. I'll keep ya posted on if it actually happens. But, it's so crazy how small Norwood is, yet how many less-active members of the church are kickin' around that town. Man, we got to get them back!

Well that was pretty much the week (kind of boring... sorry) but please enjoy all these random pictures we took... and... THE CHURCH IS TRUE! Also, we move into our new house tonight! We are super excited!
Hurray!!

*One quick funny quote*

"If I didn't know better I would think you two come ever here high!" - Brother Brown

Adios!

XOXO,
Sister Langford

"Norwood Heatwave, Sunflower Cake & conference, "I Know God Loves Me," Great General Conference, & Right Places at the Right Times."

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Hello everyone! Oh man, this week has been CRAZY! We spent two days going down to Utica for MLC, then we spent two days watching General Conference.  (OH MY GOSH IT WAS SO GOOD BUT WE WILL TALK ABOUT THAT LATER).  So... not much time for actual missionary work. But the time we did have was so, so good. Also, I would like to point out that it is SIXTY degrees today. I think we have entered into heaven. Ok, enough about the weather. Let's talk about the good stuff.

COOLIO:

1.  My investigators are so, so good. They totally came to the Sunday Morning session of conference and loved it. PLUS they stayed for the potluck (which is a big step), and even provided a lovely sunflower cake! Ah it was so good. Oh,  and did I mention that she listened to the Saturday session while she was baking said cake? So happy. Man.

2. My investigator D. He is going strong. Just as solid as ever. Just SOLID.

3. We had a super bomb lesson this week with another investigator couple. We were talking about, I don't know what, (the gospel probably), and I told her..
"If God loves us, which I know He does..."

and then she stopped me.

She got a really serious look on her face and said, "Sister Langford, how do you know God loves you?"

It seriously took me back. I don't know if I have ever had someone ask me that so directly without any warning. I took a minute and I really, really thought about it. (There was some serious soul searching). 

Then I looked at her and I said " I don't know how to explain it. But there have just been too many instances in my life where I couldn't have made it if God didn't love me. I have seen too many miracles and felt His spirit so strong that I just KNOW God loves me. And if He loves me like that, then He loves you like that too."

She thought about that for a minute. Then said, "I don't know that God loves me."

Then the spirit hit us hard as Sister Davis and I testified to her how SHE could know that God loves her. Man, it was so powerful, but I was definitely grateful that I had had that chance to really reflect on how I knew it. :)

4. RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME. This week we were SO in the right place at exactly the time we needed to be there. It was amazing how we were so led, yet didn't even realize it. here's what happened.
            -First we went to see this former investigator who we had dropped like a week after I got to Norwood and we hadn't felt inclined to visit her again until this week. Well we went in, and she started to talk to us, and all of a sudden I felt really powerfully that there was a reason that we were there. RIGHT THEN she started to tell us how that day was the anniversary of the death of her grand daughter. She also told us of some other struggles she had been having and how she realized that we were probably an answer to her prayers that day. It was so cool because we were able to testify to her of the Plan of Salvation and really just bring the peace of the spirit into her home. She probably still isn't quite ready for the gospel YET, but Heavenly Father is so mindful of His children that He sent us to see her on that very day when she needed us. It was so good.
                                                                                                  THEN
          - RIGHT after we had the previous experience, we tried this guy named C. (I mentioned him a while back, he is the one who randomly called us and said he wanted us to come teach him the gospel).  Well, we went to go see if he was home and right as we were walking to him door, so was he (awkward, but we rolled with it).  We start telling him about the restoration and he is just like "yes! yes!" It was so great! We couldn't have a full lesson, but he seems super prepared and ready to learn! I'm excited to give you all more up dates on how it all goes! :)

5. *This may be the coolest thing of my entire week* So we went down to Utica for MLC (as mentioned previously).  Well, we were hanging out at the church doing some planning with all the other Sister Training Leaders when who should I see but good old Brother and Sister Bruneau! (Grandma Dorothy's son-in-law and daughter) AH! It was so exciting :) Sometimes when you leave an area you think everything that happened there was a dream... but the Bruneau's told me that Grandma Dorothy is doing so, so good and that they are helping her prepare for the temple in September.  :)  Could not have been a happier conversation if it tried :). Ahh man, blessings!

NOW A GENERAL CONF REVIEW...

Ok.  So how good was Conference! I seriously get so stoked about the fact that a prophet of God speaks to us! Seriously, why would everyone not want to watch that? But there was a few things that I wanted to point out to all of you!

1. How much did we all love M. Russell Ballard's talk? A member totally texted us during the talk and said, "I bet this is your favorite talk so far!" haha. But anyway, Elder Ballard challenged ya'll to study from our dear Preach My Gospel and then share with the full time missionaries, (aka me), what you learned! So I just wanted to emphasize that challenge! I hope you all have a copy of PMG. I'm excited to hear what all of you are learning from that glorious handbook! #missionarywork

2. My fav. talks were definitely (this isn't necessarily in order)

-Jeffrey R Holland (shout out to sister missionaries everywhere!)

- David A Bednar (EVERYONE can use the Atonement to better ourselves. SO GOOD)

-Dieter F Uchtdorf (Be grateful not because of what you have, but just because.  #attitudeofgratitude)

- President Thomas S Monson (LOVE LOVE LOVE)

Anyway, conference was rad and I hope you all study it like mad :)

Ok ok. FUNNY QUOTES and then I'm out...

1. me- "Guess what my favorite musical is?"

     (A recent convert) - "cats!"


2. A recent covert- "Like when He suffered in the Garden of Yosemite?"


3. "Only missionaries would know about stacking big macs" -President Wirthlin

4. "When you do dumb things, enjoy them in the moment because they may never come again!" - President Wirthlin

5. "I always say, my memory is only as good as my notebook!" -President Wirthlin

6. "Remember when we role played in these chairs"

*blank stare*

"and by we I mean Elder Nygard..."

Alright,  well thats all kids! Hope you have a blessed week :)

XOXO,
Sister Langford