Pre-Phase One

Hello everyone! 

So, exciting news! Virginia is in phase 3 or 4, not sure because I don't have access to the news, but as missionaries we are pre-phase one. So phase zero basically. On Thursday, July 23rd, we were told we were entering phase one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can have district activities, zone conferences, and teach people at the church building!! After over 4 months of being inside we are finally in phase one!!!! I am soooooooo excited! You could see all the missionaries on the call cheering and yelling!! Some were tearing up because it's been a long hard haul but we are out! We are soooo thankful to be in phase one. I know it's going to take probably the rest of this year to get back to some amount of normalcy but I don't care. 

So we were teaching a man named Victor a few months ago. He stopped having us teach him because the church wasn't helping him with food anymore which we had already figured that was why he was meeting with us. But then Bishop Thomas told us last Sunday why they stopped. Victor lives 4 doors down from Bishop Thomas and the other people that live there and rent to him are friends in our ward who cleared up a few things for us. Victor is a leader at his church and just happens to be in charge of the food pantry for his church...... I was soooooo mad when Bishop Thomas told us that. He told us a few other things Victor had that he said he didn't. He said he didn't have a car, he does, he said he was out of food, he's not, he said he had no money, he does and I'll explain how in a bit, he said he couldn't pay his rent and was getting kicked out, he's not and it goes on. Victor has people that pay him to pray for them and he is actually quite well off. We called him a little bit later this week to share a message and ask for referrals, he said " How can I listen to the Word of God when I am hungry?" I wanted to tell him that he would get his fill after we shared our message or he could try filling up from his church pantry but I bit my tongue and didn't say anything. Hardest thing ever to not call him out and take him apart but I didn't! 

We went to a wildlife refuge for our break this week and it was fun and pretty. We saw birds, rabbits, and a couple wild turkeys. 

Our dresser is terrible. The drawers don't shut all the way, the handles are missing and the bottom is falling out. I fixed up some of it like the bottom but its soooo crappy. Well we went to throw away our garbage and there was a really nice black dresser. Thank heavens we have an elevator because we hauled it from the dumpster and now it's in our room and soo nice! Our hands hurt a little bit because it's a little bit of a walk from the dumpster to the elevator. But it's worth it. 

We have been calling a lot of people. We have to have two lessons with people before we can count them as new. We have so many potentials but we just can't get that second lesson because people are still really busy here. But we are still trying!

Sister Lloyd shared this story with me of a boy we taught together when I was combined with the Woodbridge 2nd area. We were teaching Bakarr and he is Muslim. We tried really hard to get him to read the Book of Mormon and pray but we just couldn't get him to do it. Well I guess a couple of days ago he quit his job and has been looking for a new one. Sister Lloyd told him that if he would pray in Jesus's name, he would get a job. So he decided to try it. When they called him the other day, he was so excited and told them he had a testimony to share with them. He said he told Jesus that since he was praying in His name, he needed to give him the job and fill out the application for him. (Bakarr has a hard time with English but he wanted Christ to make the application perfect after he filled it out is basically what that means). So Bakarr filled out the application and sent it in. In three days he was hired!! He was so excited!!! He wants to be baptized! It's kinda funny kinda not because he doesn't want to tell his family (he has aunts and uncles and all sorts of relatives living with him) that he wants to be baptized because some families will kill you for converting to Christianity. But the assistants to the president have actually been teaching some of his relatives in the same house and so they are all just hiding it from each other. It's going to be one big baptism day! I was so happy when Sister Lloyd told me that story because I still miss the people in that area a lot. 

I think that is it for this week! Love you all! 

Sister Creager 

Third of the Way There

Hello everyone! I have officially been out 6 months! I hit my 6 month mark on July 15th; it's kinda sad how fast time is going.

We have no service projects yet but when we call people in our area book, we always ask if they know of anyone who  is in need of service. So far no one has anything. But it's okay! 

This week we have had quite a few referrals! 3 doesn't sound like a lot but it is for us! If you want to help out the missionaries SEND THEM REFERRALS! Seriously. We are relying almost 100% on the members right now. The 3 referrals we got were all from non-members which is really neat. 

We called one man, Talent, and asked him if we could share a brief message and he said yes so we shared Roman's 8:38-39. He was happy and said to call him again later so we could share a message with him and his wife Natalia. We called them the next day and shared the first half of the plan of salvation! They were so open and are so nice! We are planning to teach them the restoration next time we call! 

We got a new elder's quorum president and he is awesome!! He is sooo missionary minded and we are loving it! He does everything he can to help us which is amazing.  

This Tuesday is transfers but both Sister Jones and I are staying! I'm glad because I love having her as a companion. She is really good at small talk before hand which I really appreciate because I can't small talk for the life of me! But she is also really good at teaching too. I feel like I might leave Lake Ridge next transfer but we will see. 

I realized earlier Today that when August gets here I'll only have one year left and it's so sad!!! I love being a missionary and I would be perfectly happy to stay a missionary forever. Other than I'd still want to ride horses but I really don't want to go home. Time is passing way too fast for me here. 

We are having quite a few missionaries go home this transfer because they mentally can't take quarantine anymore or because they finished. It's really sad to see missionaries who don't want to go home but need to so they can get their mental health back to normal. I have an old companion who is leaving today because she is not doing well mentally and she really doesn't want to go home. It makes you wonder how long we are going to last in quarantine. We have made it 4 months and they are talking about not having church start until November. So I might very well spend almost my entire mission in quarantine. But, even though it's hard, there are little miracles every single week! We are always seeing new doors open after we have exhausted a different option.  The Lord knows what He is doing and all we have to do is have the humility to listen. 

In Mosiah 5:7-10 it talks about how we are children of Christ when we are baptized. That got me thinking about the sacrament and I'd like to share some of the thoughts I had. When we take the sacrament, we witness that we are willing to take Christ's name upon us. That could be understood as taking upon us the authority of Jesus Christ. So things like participating in the temple, and doing all we can to be called among those at the last day are what show our willingness to have His name. 

We got to have another break this week and we went to a place called Leesylvania state park. It was so much fun and so pretty! It also has a lot of historic sites that have to do with explorer John Smith as well as the civil war. It was really fun and we are going to go back next week! We got to go on a pier and it was fun because part of it is Maryland! 

I think that's all for this week, sorry I don't have very many interesting stories! 

Sister Creager

Freedom Is Ringing

Hello everyone! 

Great news, we can start doing service really really soon! They are just waiting for projects to be approved!! Freedom is sooo close, it's ringing in our ears! 

This week we have had so many power visits with members, it's been fun! We have also made a lot of calls to potential friends. So it's been a good week! We have been working really hard on companion unity and switching back and forth on points when we teach. We practice taught a member, Kaitlynn, and her non-member boyfriend, Aaron, so that Sister Jones can practice her teaching skills and it's been so fun! They are awesome and they give us great feedback when we are done. But this last time, they told us that we were doing great at switching back and forth and we were excited! 

This is going to be a long spiritual thought just so you all know but I haven't given one yet so I'm taking advantage now! 

1. A while ago I was studying PMG Chapter 6 which is about Christlike attributes. I was studying humility because let's face it, I am not the most humble person in the area. But as I was reading, it said " Humility is the willingness to submit to the will of the Lord." At first I was really frustrated with that because to me, submitting meant backing down or cowering and that didn't set well with me. But as I thought about it, something clicked for me and I had a train of thoughts follow! So here they are! I love training horses but when I train, the first thing I ask is for my horse to submit to me. I ask him to submit because I have a plan for him. I know his potential and I know how to help him reach that potential. As soon as he submits, I can teach him. Christ asks us to submit because He has a plan for us and He knows our potential. He wants to help us reach that potential and as soon as we submit, He can teach us!  

2. I then thought about a bridle. When I use a bridle, it helps my horse be submissive and allows me to have better communication with him through the use of my hands. It also allows me to guide him where I want him to go. Christ asks us to bridle our passions so that we can feel the influence of the Holy Ghost more in our lives. It is a better way for us to communicate with Christ and for Him to guide us where he wants us to go!  

3. A key point in training is soft hands. I do not yank or pull on my horse. My hands need to be soft so that my horse doesn't get hurt and when I have gentle hands, it builds trust, friendship, and love. Christ is gentle with us because He loves us. Our trials are not meant to throw us off, they are to build trust, friendship, and love!

4. I do random circles and patterns because my horse is not the leader in charge. I do different patterns to get his attention so he will listen to me. I want to keep him safe, but also have him rely on and trust me. If he doesn't know where he is going or what I am going to ask next, he trusts me and follows my guidance.  Christ gives us unexpected things so that we can rely on and remember Him. As we listen and pay attention to what He asks, He will lead us!

5. My horse is my partner. I trust him and he trusts me. I love him and I want to be with him. We are a team. And we both work hard to continue being a team. Christ wants to be our partner. He is pulling for us and He wants US on His team. He is ready when we are. 

I have felt pure joy a couple times in my life, one is when I realized how I am making/allowing Christ to be my partner and when my horse realizes that we are a team and together, we can accomplish anything. Christ loves all of us and He is willing to help and wait for us! We just have to humbly submit our will to His and allow Him to teach us. 

Pictures: We tried facemasks that Sister Jones's sister sent us and we looked like burn victims or haunted ghosts, take your pick! We also went to the marina again today and walked a trail. That was fun and we goofed off a little in the elevator. Sorry that's it for pictures this week! My amazing sister and mother took these pictures for me and I love how you can see them working as a team.  

I Don't Know What To Put Here

Good morning!

I forget that I'm a couple hours ahead of you all sometimes. Okay, well nothing really new happened this week except we got told that we can possibly start doing service next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are sooooooooooo excited! We were quarantined on March 16th so it's been a while since we have been able to go out and about! 

We went on another 2-3 hour excursion on Thursday to Prince William Forest. They have a ton of little trails so we got in a good walk for those couple of hours. It was pretty hot but not too humid so that was nice. We remembered bug spray and thank heavens for that because bugs here are HUGE. At least the spiders aren't that big though. 

We haven't been able to find any new people for the last 2-3 weeks and that was a little discouraging when we were planning out our week on Friday. So we decided to take a page from Enos and pray sincerely for revelation. We felt prompted to go to our area book and contact people who were in the top of our area. So yesterday, we spent 2 hours contacting everyone we could and even though some people were skeptical, they said we could call back to share a message!! We have return calls set up for most of this week. We are excited about that!

This morning we called a man who was a hard core bible basher. I haven't had to deal with that a lot and the last time I did, I was in training and my companions handled it. It was a little nerve racking because he kept talking at us and told us we were going to go to hell if we kept preaching lies and that God would destroy our souls if we kept lying to people and so on and so forth but we bore our testimonies and left it at that. Sometimes I wish I was still in training so I could know what to do in those situations but I reckon the spirit will be a better guide than anything else!

Our 4th of July was not a good day for us at first. Saturdays are our least favorite day already but not one person answered when we called and that made the day drag on forever. We did get to see blue angels do a little air show from our windows and that was fun to watch. A lot of the fireworks here got cancelled but once 8:30-9pm hit, people in our neighborhood started to light off fireworks and it totally made the day better. They were really big and so pretty. It turned out to be a great 4th because we could see about 5 different firework shows going on from our windows and one show was really close up and we loved it. 

I think that's about it. We haven't done a whole lot this week. The pictures are of us in Prince William Forest and of us sitting outside at a marina close by watching fireflies. I am not a picture taker at all and all these pictures are from Sister Jones who loves pictures and I'm glad!

Love you all! Talk to you next week!

Sister Creager