Cami gets made a Trainer!

Last night with Sister Barfuss. :( 

They are celebrating with a little Pizza Party!

Cami and Sister Barfuss made these cute hats (with ears!) with a 

member who taught them how to crochet. 

P-Day fun!  #missionarylife!

This week has been a whirlwind!!! I said goodbye to one comp and hello to a brand new one! I miss Sister Barfuss but I am excited for the great things that are in store for her in NC! She is going to do great. It was super cool the day before she left though, we found 2 new investigators from a member referral so that was super cool! AND they came to church yesterday!!!! And then one of our other investigators came as well. THEN, this lady just walked into the chapel and sat down for the service and I thought to myself, we need to go up and talk to her...so we did and turns out she isn't a member, but she has a really good friend that is a member in Arizona that has been encouraging her to just come to the Mormon church and see what she thinks so yesterday she decided to come and she LOVED IT. She ended up staying all 3 hours of church with us and asked if we could come to her house and teach her and her husband on Thursday. We decided we could pencil that in to our schedule :)))))))))))))))))))))))) GLADLY. God is good.  Transfers were supposed to be on Wednesday but because of the weather they got pushed to Thursday. So Thursday I got my little compita straight from the MTC. I have had lots of de ja vu of when I first came out ha it's going good though! I feel like a parent. Her name is Sister Crawford and she is from Fairbanks, Alaska. The first night she was here we had a lesson with some members who invited some of their nonmember friends over, we watched Finding Faith in Christ and it was really sweet after the lesson the little boy walks up to me and says: "I want to help Jesus." Haha I was like heck ya! Me too!!!! I am looking forward to a good week this week. Over the past couple weeks there have been a few sisters who have come to the bishop and asked for help in becoming active in the church again and so we have a couple lessons this week with them and then hopefully lots of lessons with investigators! I started the book of mormon again this week. I looooooooooooooooooOoOoOoOoOOOOoOOoOoVE it. Have a blessed week!!!! :))))) 

 Duck Dynasty beard.  Love those Cami eyes!

A whole lot of silly going on here!

It's Sister Fife!  Cami's MTC Comp!

These were all at the Sister's Conference.  Looks like they had a GREAT time!

Cami's District

Are we casting evil spirits out of the baptistry here?  Not really sure! :)

Greetings from the North Pole!!!!

My name is Sister Frozen Icicle of the world. Nice to meet ya. life is treating me pretty good in Poquoson, it snowed here LOTS yesterday and last night, and it makes me so happy! Kinda looks like UT :))))) The only thing is that EVERYTHING in Poquoson is closed. I am emailing from a members Ipad. It feels weird to use technology. I apologize in advance for all the typos that are about to go down. 

Last Tuesday we had a sisters conference which was super good! I got to see lots of my fun friends from all over the mission and President Baker is just the best person. He told us a story about his Grandkids saying silly stuff and showed a picture of them sitting on the porch and spilling their otter pops and being funny and he said "Ya know what, sometimes you are going to spill your otter pop or say something funny, and Heavenly Father is still going to love you no matter what and that's how i feel about you Sisters!" I've had that stuck in my head all week,..."it's OK to spill your otter pop Sister Carlson...Heavenly Father still loves you." The rest of our week was just so great.  

On Wednesday we were contacting potential investigators and one of them let us in and we had a lesson, which is super rare might I add so that was miraculous! They are pretty active in their church but we musn't give up! :) On Saturday we found a new investigator!!!! YES. We met her the week before last in the trailer park when we were trying to find one of the members of the ward and we had a member out with us and we thought that we should just go over and set up a time to have a lesson, and then she just let us right in and we taught her The Restoration! It was cool too because as we were talking she goes "This seems really familiar...." and then goes: "Wait! You're from the Mormon church?! I used to go to that church when I was little! These young guys used to come over and teach my Mom, but they wore suits!" As we taught she would tear up and she said she knows that we were led to her trailer for a reason and that this is something that she needs in her life. We agreed :) 

Also on Saturday we got transfer calls and....Sister Barfuss is getting transferred to Greenville, NC....and I am going to train a new missionary!......PRAY FOR ME. Sunday we found another new investigator. God is good my friends. Yesterday a member of the ward taught us how to crotchet! We are making this really cool hat/hood thing with bear ears. Its hard but I like it :) Except for when I mess up 3 times in a row and have to start over. Ha, ha I think that's all for this week :) I love ya'll!!!

Still got the baking skills!

Cami took her work experience and made some candy bouquets for some members in 

Poquoson for them to deliver at Valentine's Day.  Walmart lost out on that sale! :)

Happy February 9th!!!

This week has been good, I finished the Doctrine and Covenants....probably the coolest thing of my life. THE CHURCH IS TRUE. I am reading the Bible now and I have faith to finish it on my mission so it is going to take some dedication but si se puede is my new motto. I can do it :) 

We had some good lessons with some less active members this week and then on Friday it was literally as if God himself was showing us where to go. We went over to one of the members house's to ask where a referral they had given us lived and her son answered the door and he told us that she was over at the referrals house! He told us it was a blue trailer with a white car out front on the next street over. So we think it should be pretty easy to find..until there are 2 blue trailers with a white car out front. So we just decided to knock both of them and the first one didn't end up being her, but it ended up being a lady that is super interested in learning about the gospel and told us to come back this week. YESSSS. So then we go to the other trailer and find them but the referral wasn't there. We are hoping to get in touch with her this week, but I think it was definitely inspired for us to meet the lady that lived in the other blue trailer! Then we were about to leave the trailer park but we see a former investigator walking into her house so we decide to pull over and go talk to her and the whole time we were there she just kept saying: "I have been waiting for you to come to my house!! I am so blessed that you came here! I am ready to be baptized." I can't think of any better words that missionaries like to hear! Haha HAPPY DAY!!! She agreed to a return appointment and wants her daughter to take the lessons as well! Later that night we went and visited a less active and found out that her daughter isn't baptized so we are going to start teaching her this week as well....and there are just miracles abound in Poquoson, I tell ya! 

I am so happy that Heavenly Father is trusting us with these people and it feels so good to help them. I just love it. Moral of the story, I LOVE TRAILER PARKS and missionary work. They go together like PB and honey :)))))))) 

I'm looking forward to a great week and hope ya'll are too as well!!

XOXOX, Sista C

Oh Happy Day! Texas Roadhouse!!!

This was Girl's Night out with the Brimhall Gals!

Cami and the other missionaries in their area at the 

Adult Session of Stake Conf. Saturday night.  

 The sisters were on their way to Williamsburg with a Sister Rawlinson 

and another sister from the ward who took them on a little outing last P-Day.

Hellllooo!!!

This week has been pretty good! When I think back on every week I am just super grateful for all the things I am learning. There are things in the scriptures I never even knew about. And this morning I realized that I just love reading the bible dictionary. Like what?! Excuse me while I become the biggest nerd to walk the earth. Gotta love it! 

We volunteered at the nursing home this week and and we had a good conversation with the lady there, we are going back this week and are hoping to talk more with her each week and eventually start teaching her. She is a sweet lady. The little old ladies there that we play bingo with are so hilarious. There is so much potential in Poquoson but it is taking a lot of patience to wait until things start happening. Last night we went over to a members house and she invited a former investigator there that we want to start teaching and we asked her if she would be interested in taking the discussions again and she said she would when she gets back from Korea in a few weeks! Her husband is in the air force and she is going to visit him there but she said when she gets back she would like to so we are excited about that! 

Yesterday was stake conference here in the good old Newport News stake and I always love it because alllll the leaders always talk about how important it is to help the missionaries find people to teach and member missionary work is and I'm just like heck ya! Represent. 

This week we are having a little dessert night on Wednesday so we are excited for that and are hoping that people will bring all their friends!!! :)))) looking forward to a good week and hope ya'll have a good week as well!

With Love, Sister Carlson

One lonely picture of Cami after a hard day's work in the mission field! 

Most weeks seem pretty low key at home in UT, with the usual of people getting engaged/married/having kids....and then there are weeks when your dads truck catches on fire next to your childhood home and people that you don't even know yet at church in Poquoson come up to you at church on Sunday and say "hey I heard about your family and the fire!" HAHAH UMMM WHAT!

(for the record, I had sent one good Sister a message and asked her to go find Cami and tell her in case she heard about it another way first, so this sister walked up on Cami hearing it from someone in the ward and she let her know first that everyone was OK before she showed her our scary pics!) Good times on the mish! Luckily I came home from church and we were doing personal study, and I just so happened to be reading Doctrine and Covenants section 100 that says: [1] "Verily, saith the Lord, [Sister Carlson] your family is well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power. [2] Therefore follow me, and listen to the counsel which I shall give unto you. [4] Therefore, I the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place; for thus it was expedient in me for the salvation of souls...[15] Therefore, let your hearts be comforted; for all things shall work together for good to them that walk uprightly and to the sanctification of the church." Super grateful for the safety of my family and for the comfort of the scriptures to know that all is well and that they are taken care of because there is a work for me to do "in this place." There were some good times spent in that truck with my deedle...listening to Kenny Chesney and drinking Slurpee's on the way to dance seems to stand out in my mind. :) RIP!! Anyway other than that my week was pretty normal...as normal as missionary life gets! 

We had interviews with President Baker which is always so great. He is a good man. It's like 15 minutes of just revelation and happiness. We had some good lessons....still looking for investigators so if you know of any...HMU!! 

Pretty crazy that this is the last week of January! Today we are supposed to get one inch of snow in Poquoson....except its like sunny and warm out soooo.. probly not. This past week I have been thinking a lot about my testimony. I was reading my patriarchal blessing and it says that I have been given a gift which will be made known to me more fully as I go throughout my life, but that I have been given a testimony and how important it is for me to share that testimony with others not only in the way I live but verbally to those around me. Sometimes as a missionary I start to wonder how strong my testimony really is... because my testimony and beliefs are questioned so often by others, but I was quickly reminded of the mercies, love, comfort, divine truth, happiness and safety that comes from living and embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was reading in this month's New Era and found something that was just perfect that says: "If you choose to keep believing, even for another day, it will be enough to keep you going until your testimony is stronger. Gaining and maintaining a testimony is a lifelong process that requires faith, scripture study, and putting gospel principles into practice. Keep working on it, be patient, and rely on what you know to be true." I loved that. It was a good reminder that its going to be a loooonnnng while until I have a perfect knowledge of things, but to just keep believing and keep trying. My favorite quote is by Elder Holland and always helps me to keep moving..."Dont you quit, you keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Trust God and believe in good things to come. Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come." :) Love you all!

-Sister Carlson

Oh wait! This, just in!  BONUS!!! Sister Brimhall sent this picture just now of Cami and Sister Barfuss.  

She had them over for dinner TONIGHT!  I just LOVE social media, it's almost like being there!  Cami LOVES this area because they get to eat with members every night and she says it's so much more fun to eat with members each night than sitting in their apartment staring at each other. :)

Cami in Poquoson, Virginia

We don't get to see any of her this week, just her apartment!

Living room

Dresser and closet in bedroom

Kitchen

Hey y'all!

I'm here and happy to report I have accomplished another week as a happy and grateful missionary! I love how much I love this area. 

Last week on Monday we had a super fun day- there are some members in the ward who let us come over on p-days and do laundry and write letters and it felt like I was just hangin' out at home which is always a good feeling! They just had a daughter in the mission field and so they like to take care of the missionaries. :) On Monday night we had dinner with some members in the ward that live on base which was suuuuuper cool- we had to go through security and this big legit looking guy with a rifle across his chest checked our I.D...Ha,ha I was like heck ya this is sweet! I like serving around service men and women. GOD BLESS AMERICA. 

On Tuesday we went and played bingo at the nursing home with like 10 old ladies haha...and anyone who knows me knows that I love old people so that was a good time! We had to literally scream so they could hear...."B89!!!!!!" they kept getting "B" and "G" mixed up.. all is well though, haha. That night we had dinner with the Fairchilds who are super awesome and Sister Fairchild is literally the sweetest person I have ever met! She is so willing to do anything for us. Along with the rest of the ward! 

On Wednesday we went to the Stake center and did family history training because the Stake President wants all the missionaries to be trained how to do it so we can teach others and I liked learning about that! 

On Thursday we had a really good day full of 5 lessons which was super cool! I love to keep busy and workin' hard so it was a good day! 

But basically to sum it up I just love the gospel and Poquoson!!! Here's to another great week! :)

Xo, Sister Carlson

Awesome Sister Tacketts sent us this picture of her taking Cami and her companion, Sister Barfuss to lunch today.  Cute missionaries!!! Actually, I think she was just trying to give me a heads up that today was a holiday and that the libraries were closed and to not FREAK OUT and call the mission home when I didn't hear from her on schedule.  I don't know what the big deal was, I only did that once while Matt was on his mission and now it's the family joke! HA!

Cami celebrates the New Year 

by leaving Nags Head!

The Sisters celebrating the New Year!

Cami and Hermana Gray Celebrating!

Cami says Good Bye to a few of her favorite people.  Hermana J. and Valdez

Boy, is Cami going to Miss Sister J!

Hermana Gray & J.

Cami with one of her favorite members in Nags Head and her daughter.

Favorite people!

The caption on this one was 'Saying good-bye to the House.' 

By all means, if you are going to get called on a mission, be sure the go to a 

beach house for 6 months with your own private outdoor shower, which they 

couldn't use! She's going to miss 'the house'!

Hello, all!

Well life is good! I am loving Poquoson and my new comp Sister Barfuss (Yes, you read right, all you Bakerites, I already checked to see if she was related to Kelly and Bruce and she's not. I thought we might have a common connection there, but nope!)  :) the past week has been pretty eventful so I will start from the beginning. 

On Monday, we dropped Hermana Valdez and Hermana Johnson off at the mission home.....that was sad. I miss them both a lot but I am excited for the great things that are instore for them at home in the good ol land of Utah :) 

On Tuesday Sister Endres from Nags Head took us out to lunch at Cafe Lachine for my last day and that was super fun! I am going to miss her and her family a lot! Also on Tuesday, I got a hair cut! Which I swore I wouldn't do on my mission because I trust few people with my hair but a member of the ward noticed my split ends and so I decided that it was time ha, ha. Luckily a different member had offered previously to pay for it so that we could have a missionary opportunity so I was like alright, what the heck! So I did it and I lived! :) I'm happy with it. She took off an inch...it needed it. It feels a lot better now :) and it gave the hairdresser lots of opportunities to ask us questions about what we do and who we are and why I hadn't gotten my hair cut in 6 months ha, ha! There are a lot of members that get their hair done by her so hopefully the missionaries that are there now take advantage of that opportunity to share more with her in the future! 

On wednesday...I left Nags Head. That was probably the weirdest thing ever! We had transfer meeting in Portsmouth and we sang "I'll go where you want me to go"...and naturally I started bawling because Nags Head became my home away from home. I filmed everything as we were driving out of Nags head with commentary of all the memories and experiences..Ha, ha that's a good video...but I am already loving my experience in Poquoson and all the people! I am looking forward to good times here as well! The ward mission leader and the ward missionaries and really the entire ward here are super loving and supportive and so helpful to us which makes the biggest difference in the world so I am grateful for that! We get fed every night of the week which has been awesome to be able to get to know the ward members and to be in their homes teaching them and their families lessons and trying to find investigators through them! I am loving it. 

I am the driver and after not driving for 6 months I am a little rusty but I am doing my best! Haha Sister Barfuss is probably like-who is this girl! Anyway....I am looking forward to lots of good things to come this week- we are working a lot with less actives and also trying to find new investigators so its going to be a great week and continuing to have a great start to 2015! 

One of my goals this year is to remember Christ all year as much as I did during Christmas and this morning during personal study I read this little thing called "giving is living" and it says:

"Go spread to the needy, sweet charity's bread,

For giving, is living" the angel said;

"O must I be giving again and again?"

My peevish and willful answer ran.

"Oh no"- said the angel and her eyes pierced me through-

"Just give till the Master stops giving to you"

I think so many times we think that we are doing all that we can do- when in reality there is so much more that we can do! Christ gives infinitely to us and I love that we have the opportunity to give to him as well. I am so grateful for this gospel and for the way it changes lives. This week I have reflected a lot about how much I have grown and changed into the person that Heavenly Father needs me to be and I am so grateful that I can continue to become that person each and every day as I lose myself in this work. Loves to all! Here's to the best week ever! :)

-Sister Carlson :)

Other notes from Sister Carlson:

I am getting a bike for free by the way from a sister in VA beach so we won't need to buy one! The zone leaders are supposed to bring it tomorrow. Hopefully it stops raining by the time we have to give the car to the elders and be on bikes. The members are really good about picking us up and giving us rides, so that is good :)

I don't see the water that much here anymore which is something I do miss about Nags Head! But the more time I spend here, the more I love it here too so I am grateful Heavenly
Father is helping me with that and helping me love each place i go and all the people! 

Pictures of Cami's new digs are promised for this next week. stay tuned!!!