Week 52

January 30, 2017

"“The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside

in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the

slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums.

The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes

men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human

behavior, but Christ can change human nature." -Ezra Taft Benson

Hey yall!

This was a good week. We have been working hard here in St Johns River

and I am feeling pretty happy! The members here are amazing. We have

dinner every night and we have been super busy with going through our

area book and contacting all of the investigators we haven't met yet

haha.

This week we had my first Zone Meeting and it was a little stressful

since it was kind of intense. We had to figure out catering for all

the missionaries for lunch and also setting up the equipment for the

missionary broadcast after the meeting and everything so it was a

little hectic, also we found out that the assistants to the president

have been sending out texts and stuff but always sent it to the

Bartram Trails phone which nobody has right now, so we were completely

out of the loop on what we were supposed to be doing. Luckily the Zone

Leaders let us know. They are really great and include us in

everything. We have been trying to use technology more and set up

skype lessons with people so we practiced by having a skype meeting

with the Zone Leaders. It was so weird! This technology thing is going

to take some adjustment... hahaha I feel like an old person.

But in Zone Meeting we trained on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how

we can apply that to our teaching and finding. It was really great to

focus on that this week and work on applying the basics. I love my

Savior Jesus Christ. He taught so simply and powerfully. He is the

perfect example!

But the worldwide missionary broadcast was so wonderful. We have some

major changes! But it is exciting to have changes that will further

the work.

I love Sister Tullis, we have way too much fun together! She is a

hoot! I am laughing 24/7 with her as my companion. We decided we are

probably going to be companions for a long time since we whitewashed

in together. 

Ignore that I look weird in this picture and just focus on the hedgehog heehee

 Well, have a great week! Love yall!

Sister Caton

Week 51

January 23, 2017

"Sometimes we seem to get no answer to our sincere and striving

prayers. It takes faith to remember that the Lord answers in His time

and in His way so as to best bless us. Or, on further reflection, we

will often realize that we already know full well what we should do."-

Devn Cornish

Hey y'all! This week was really good and exciting.

Sister Tullis and I are still getting along great and I just love her!

She has such a great attitude and love for the work.

We found an amazing new investigator this week named Crystal! She had

been taught by sisters several years ago but kind of slipped through

the cracks. She had remembered the church and ordered a bible off of

Mormon.org! We stopped by and set an appointment and then realized we

had forgotten a bible haha. So we came back for our appointment with

her and ended up teaching the whole Restoration lesson! She loved it

so much and was very engaged, asking questions and just soaking it all

in. When we taught her about Joseph Smith she began to cry and the

spirit was just so strong! She is amazing, we are so excited to teach

her more.

Also this week on January 20th I hit my year mark of being a

missionary! I feel like I have learned a lot but also I really have

started to realize that I have been changing. I never thought I would

be one of those people who could pray for over 10 minutes just

speaking to Heavenly Father. But now I am. I never thought I would be

one of those people who would study the scriptures every single day

for an hour, and now I am. I never thought I could just speak to

anyone and everyone about the gospel but now I do. I am so grateful

for the experiences I have had and I can't wait to see how things turn

out for my last 6 months of my mission. It seems like it just flew by!

Also this week I went on 2 tradeoffs! One was with Sister Bryans, and

she is a brand new Sister Training Leader in Jax West. She is amazing

and I love her! She has such a strong testimony and a sweet spirit. We

took a picture!

I also got to go on a tradeoff with Sister Clay again in Jax East. She is so awesome, we forgot to take a picture though.

We had our Mission Leadership conference this week and it was just so awesome! There were SO MANY PEOPLE there since it was all the District Leaders, Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, and a few random people who got invited haha It was really fun, a proselyting specialist from Salt Lake came and talked to us about our purpose as missionaries and also introduced a lot of new things that we can use to teach people. He told us our mission is amazingly obedient and that he loves visiting us because he knows what he will see! That was encouraging to me.

Well I love being a missionary! I hope yall have a great week! This week we have some pretty great stuff coming up so I am excited!

Love,

Sister Caton

Week 50

January 16, 2017

"Pray as though everything depends on the Lord, then work as though

everything depends on you."

This week was really amazing!

So my new companion is Sister Tullis from Kaysville, UT! She is so

much fun and we have been having a ball together. She dresses really

cute and is helping me ;)

We look really tired but we aren't more tired than normal haha

She is so fun, she says things a lot like,

"Oh bother!" With a British accent and other funny things. We have been laughing a lot.

Okay and other good news:

ST JOHNS RIVER WARD IS SO AMAZING!

Our first morning in the area we get a knock on our door (we have a house, yay)

And it's the primary President and she brought us fresh muffins to welcome us!

We also received several texts from members saying "Hi welcome we love you!" And even a random phone call from a cute old lady in the ward telling us how excited she is for us.

We arranged for a meeting with the Ward Mission Leader and the Bishopric and they are all so amazing and just want to help us in any way! The ward is so great it is crazy.

We also have received a bunch of referrals and we have several appointments for next week! I am so excited!

We also had Stake Conference this week and it was really great, I learned so much. The quote is from that meeting.

Transfers were crazy but good. I miss Sister Colson but she is doing great in Williston!

I got to see Sister Harris at transfers!

                                                                        #reunited

I am so excited for what this next transfer holds! After this one I only have 4 left.... oh no.

I love being a missionary!

Have a great week y'all!

Love,

Sister Caton

Week 49

January 9, 2017

"Somehow forgiveness, with love and tolerance, accomplishes miracles

that can happen in no other way." -Gordon B Hinckley

Hey everybody! This week has been a little crazy and a little bit of a

roller coaster but it ended up being good.

Firstly, I am getting transferred! Which is crazy since I never

thought I would be. But I am whitewashing into the St Johns River

Ward. Whitewashing means that both of the people coming into the area

have never been there before. My new companion is Sister Tullis! I

don't know her but I have heard she is fantastic! I am excited. We are

going into an Elders area. Not sure how I feel about that haha :)

My area I am in now is being closed down and some Elders from the

nearest ward will be watching over it. The members are devastated. But

it is okay, honestly it is good. The area was really small and we

didn't teach many lessons my entire time there. It needs a break. But

I wasn't prepared to leave yet!

We had zone Conference this week also and it was kind of crazy. There

were a lot of changes in the mission! We have 5 Assistants to the

president now. And there's all sorts of changes but all good things.

                                                               My zone!

I also went on a tradeoff this week to St Augustine Shores with Sister Driggs! She has been out 5 weeks and has been through a lot but she is amazing and has done so well with it.

She is a convert and I learned a lot from her! She has that greenie fire for real!

I am really going to miss Sister Colson and Bartram but I am also excited. Things are going well and I feel like this is something I can handle. :) the Lord is strengthening me!

Also, a follow up miracle from the guy from last week. So we called back the man who called us to see if he was coming to church and he was SO NICE. He said he has been really busy and the house hasn't closed yet so he wasn't sure if he could come to church this Sunday or next. Then he sighed and said, "Does God know I'm here?" We were able to testify to him over the phone that God really did know him and knew his name. Then we were able to teach him how to pray and he said he would try it and said he would come to church next week. The Spirit was so strong and he was so sincere. Miracles!

Also I caught a lizard again. It has been SO COLD lately and I hadn't seen one in like 5 weeks. Happiness!

Well I love y'all, I will let you know my new address! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Caton