Guess whaaaaaaat......

I'M TRAINING!

They're sending me a BRAND NEW missionary straight out of the MTC tomorrow haha. And I am so excited haha, but so terrified. But I really am so stoked, we are about to work the hardest we have ever worked in our entire lives to help bring people unto Christ. Ha knowing that I'm getting a new missionary and that I get to teach her what I know and how to be an effective missionary has made me so happy. I feel so blessed that I get this opportunity. Ha we are going to have so much fun.

This week was pretty dang good!

Monday we went hiking in Waterton with Sister Robson and her two girls, Shelby and Hannah. Haha I love them so much. We hiked Bear's Hump and it was gorgeous at the top! like breath taking. Ha then we had a great time feeding chipmunks pistachios haha. I even got one to stand on my shoulder hahaha, they were so friendly. We had a great time though haha it was fun to be hiking in the mountains, so peaceful and relaxing, I miss hiking. And Waterton is just gorgeous beyond measure ha. And on the drive home we made a little pitstop to see the Cardston Temple :) So Beautiful.

We did some more service this week ha mowed some more lawns. Went well ha.

Wednesday I got my training call, haha and I was so excited and worked up about it I couldn't sleep ha. Friday we drove all day! haha well, it felt like all day. We went up to Calgary for Trainers Training from President. And I got to see some of my favorite sisters! Sister Keller and Sister Shumway!! Theyre both training tooooooo! We're stoked.  I got to see Elder Becker toooooo! His companion is training so he got to come to the meeting. Ha on the drive home our bad bumper on our car popped off a bit and was dragging.....so I used my extensive automobile knowledge to assess the situation, I taped it back to our car with packing tape that I found in the backseat of our car haha. Dont fret, it worked. The elders and us put on a basketball tournament for Raymond Friday night and we had a pretty good turn out, quite a few non-members came. It was so good that we're planning another one for next month!

Elder Becker and I, representing home. Vega$ kids fo' lyfe.

Me and mah girl Keller!!! Im sad its blurry though. /:

Our investigator Scott and his family came to church on Sunday! And stayed all three hours! He seemed to like it ha. We picked up a new investigator this week. His name is Dan. He's an older gentleman that lives alone, he's been going through some rough times lately and a  member sent us his way. We gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet like 3 weeks ago to read and yesterday while we were there he told us that he's already read it 4 times! I was like wait what?! Ha and we gave him a Book of Mormon yesterday. He was like, "Yeah, I think I want to strengthen my relationship with God again, and go to church. Maybe even that Mormon church down the street." Ha I was like, "Dan you know were the Mormons right?" Haha he did. But we set up to go see him again on Saturday to teach him more! I'm so excited, he needs the gospel right now. I love sharing what we have with people, and helping them find the truth. Just warms my heart.

Welp, Im off! I love you all so much, thank you for all the letters, emails, and prayers. I dont know how I got so lucky to have such great family and friends. That's all Ive got for now for The Adventures of Sister Connor. ;) Tune in next week eh? 

haha John 3:16-17 We have a Saviour, he was sent to save you, all of us. Don't waste the atonement, utilize the gift of his love. :) 

Until we meet again folks!

Be good.

Do good.

​

This is Sister Streibel, we live in her basement :)

Sister Johnson goes home in 2 days!!!! She's done :(

Hutterite or Missionary?

Ha we had SO MUCH FUN at the hutterite colony last monday! They had so much fun with us too ha dressed us up and everything. I didnt even want to leave I enjoyed it so much. They took us all around their little colony. There was a group of about 15 girls around ages 15-22 that just became our best friends. They even sang for us, they sing all acapella and harmonize like angels. I got chills and my eyes teared up. Such beautiful people. We sat and chatted with them for about a good hour, they just kept asking us all about our missions and our families and our lives. I loved it :) 

We did a lot of service this week haha, when we run into people that arent members of the church that dont really want to talk to us, I ask them if I can mow their lawn. Hahaha So far its been working. And were getting into a lot of homes that missionaries havent been able to get into in the past. I found Winn Dixie this week randomly haha immediately sat in the grass and played with him hahaha.

Welp, I lov eyou fam and friends! We are off to waterton with the Robsons for PDAY!

Helaman 5:12

Talk to you soon

Horsin Around!

Oh you know just preaching to ALL CREATURES haha. This picture was too perfect I just had to share it haha. 

This week was pretty good! I took a lot of pictures haha so this email might just be a few sentences. Cause pictures speak louder than words right? I hope so haha

Welp, last Monday we went to a Hutterite colony! And it was so much fun! Don't know what Hutterites are? Hutterites Ha it was a blast, a group of like 5 kids took us on a tour of the colony. They were so sweet and precious. Ha there was a little 9 year old girl named Emerson, and of course we became best friends. Ha we skipped around and held hands the whole tour ha. They are such a cool people, ha when they got there the first thing the kids told us was, "We have a wedding coming up, this morning we slaughtered 800 ducks." Ha I was like, "Wait what?" haha They were serious too! I dont have pictures of the ducks but I got some pigs haha Sorry for the veggies out there

Ha not much else to report on this week. I went on exchanges is Cardston with Sister Martin! Gahhhh I love her. She makes me so happy haha we always have so much fun together. And since theyre in a 3 leg now I got to see Sister O'Dell too. We ate lunch at an old folks home they volunteer at. :)

This week in Raymond we did a lot of door knocking, Trying to figure out who's a member and who is not. It's been going pretty well! Meeting a lot of new people. :) 

Next weeks email will be better I promise! We're headed off now to another Hutterite colony :) Expect more amazing pictures next week! 

Love you all!

​

Here's this weeks scripture of the week! 2 Timothy 3:15-17 READ YOUR SCRIPTURES! They will bring you hope,I can promise you that. Keep going.

​

Pretty much my mission in a sticker.

CANADA eh!

HELLO LOVELY FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

Pretty good week up here in Raymond ha. Its been pretty hot here lately ha, 31 C, I bet thats probably nothing compared to the 110F you guys are getting down there. But it is nice to be up here and not want to die because Im sweating so much haha. I realized my emails are pretty random and all over the place ha, so Ive decided to just give little daily summaries of what Ive been doing ha. Sorry for the lack of apostrophes by the way, this computer refuses to let me type them, they show up as this, È. Okay, here we go!

Monday! After emails Sister Barton and I, along with the sisters from Cardston, drove up into Lethbridge to do some shopping :) We ended up mostly just at Value Village, ha Its a HUGE thrift store. It was a lot of fun, Lethbridge is the closest like Big City to these small towns. It was nice to get some new clothes though, ha especially when theyre thrift store cheap. After we got back into Raymond we ate a little dinner and then went to the Raymond Family Program. Since it was Canada Day on Tuesday the whole town was putting on all sorts of little events. The Family Program is a show the town puts on with local people showing off their talents, ha we only got to catch a bit of it. But the part I did get to see was the Stake President doing cowboy poetry. Ha the whole time in my mind all I could like was, Only in Raymond! I loved every second of it though ha I love this town, after the program we got the opportunity to serve free cake to everyone that came. They had a dance with a band out on the street too. It was so cute and fun! And while serving cake I met, Sheri Dew! THE Sheri Dew. For those of you who dont know who she is, here you go, Sheri Dew . 

Tuesday was Canada Day! SO MUCH FUN! (Not as fun as the 4th in America but still a lot of fun ha)

​We started out the day by going to the town parade! Ha it was so cute! Ha its just like the parade that they have in Panguitch, in fact I felt like I was actually in Panguitch. I kept waiting for Smokey the Bear to drive by in a Forestry truck throwing frisbees. Ha but it was still good haha. After the parade we went to a BBQ over by the ball diamonds with people from one of our wards. It was fun to sit and eat and talk with all of them ha. From there some of my most favourite people EVER from Calgary were in town and came and picked us up. THE VANCES, from my first area in Calgary! I was so happy to see them! It felt like it had been for ever, It was so good to give them a HUUUUGE hug! We hung out with them for quite a while. But then we went to another BBQ over in the 7th ward ha, we ate a lot that day. The Robsons ( My favourites that got me the Vegas T-shirt), invited us over to their brothers for HOME MADE DOUGHNUTS. Yes I repeat HOME MADE DOUGHNUTS. And they were SOOOOO GOOOOD. Naturally I ate three in about 10 minutes. Ha. We watched them fry them then glaze em and everything. It was like a real life Krispy Kreme machine. That night  we worked at the Towns Family Fun Fair, our Jobs? To man the bouncy houses. -___- Ha I kid I kid. It was fun haha. But my feet were killing me! haha and for some reason that day I must have had on mosquito attractant rather repellant because they just had a hay day devouring me haha. I have so many bites it looks like I have chicken pox. Not fun at all.

Wednesday we taught one of our investigators the Law of Chastity . It went so well! And was definitely directed by the spirit. The spirit was so strong, and at the end of the lesson she even asked us how she could repent! I was like whoa! It was so cool to see. Not much else happened except I was a snack for the mosquitos again haha.

Thursday wasnt too exciting either, haha sorry. But someone gave me a full ziploc full of licorice! Ha that was a highlight haha, dont worry Its already devoured :)

Friday was good! We did service at like an Old Folks Home like Hospital thing and a girl who was visiting from the states came and played her trumpet for the residents! I was so excited haha And guess what?! When she found out I played she was like want to try!? Ha I was like YESSSSS! Ha felt good to play again, I pulled out the hymn book and only played a few hymns but it felt so great. :) I didnt realized how much I missed my trumpet. Today I gave away my first copy of the Book of Mormon in Raymond. Putting me at 62 Copies of the Book of Mormon given away on my mission. :) It was to a family who just moved here from Nova Scotia, they had never really heard of the church before. So I whipped a copy out of my back pack and bore my testimony of it and invited them to read it. I hope they do. They were so nice too. We went on splits with 8th ward, pretty fun to walk around and do misisonary work with ward members.

Saturday was a day full of service!! In the morning we helped clean someones house with the 8th ward Relief Society. Then went and had lunch with someone from the 4th ward. :) We then went and taught one of our investigators and after the lesson I then taught her how to mow her lawn! Ha she had never done it before, and Sister Barton hadnt either. So we had a nice little Sister Connor Lawnmower lesson. I figured if I just did it she would have to call us again then again and again to come cut it down. And hey give a man a fish and he will be fed for a day, teach a man to fish and he will be fed for life right? o I showed them where everything was and how to start it, then I mowed a little section of the lawn as an example then let her try. Ha it so awesome to see how proud of herself she was. Huge smile! And then Barton got to do a section too. So fun :) I know its not too gospel related but I just thought Id share. I love service. We also had a lesson with one of our less-active members we have been working with. And I felt like we had just been hitting a wall and I didnt know what to do. So I decided to start asking her questions to see what she was understanding. I started with Do you believe God is your Loving Heavenly Father, she said I dont know. Then I asked do you believe it the plan of salvation ? And she said that she wasnt sure. So, long story short, we taught it to her haha and the spirit was so strong! We ended up that night at a bonfire with a family in the 1st ward. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and played soccer with the kids. Then before we left we shared a message about the priesthood with a little video. So good.

And Sunday was great. Or as I like to call it Sunday Runday. Because we are constantly going from church building to church building to go to all the wards we cover. It was good though. I love church :) We taught one of our investigators Sunday night and it went pretty well ha. Their kids were super hyper and everywhere but we were able to teach a little bit. And at the end of the lesson when we were saying bye, the mom said, Who knows Sister Connor, when youre home off your mission you might hear of a sister missionary named Zinna (their daughter whos 4) serving in your area, and youll be able to say, hey I remember that blonde little girl! Made my heart so happy :) I love being a missionary and teaching people and helping them change their lives for the better! I love this gospel, I know its true.

Welp! I love and miss all of you so much! I hope everyone is happy and well!

Alma 36:3 (Book of Mormon)

Love you always

Oh Canadaaaaaa.......

June 30, 2014

Hello Beautiful Friends and Family! 

I hope all is going well, where ever you are! I don't have a lot of time this week. But things are going great up here! It started to rain again -__- Ha but hopefully it will be gone soon. This weekend and tomorrow is Canada Day weekend and I kid you not this little town of Raymond has almost tripled in size! Ha there are so many people here that came home to celebrate. It's been fun though! This Saturday we got to volunteer at the free Breakfast the community puts on. My job was serving sausage ha, I was like SWEET! It gave me an opportunity to talk and joke with a lot of people in the community, and let them know that missionaries are not these awkward robots ha. I love that kind of stuff so I was right in my element. We've just been walking around and talking to as many people as we can.

Ha the Robsons, one of my favourite families in Raymond went down to Vegas last week and brought me back a little surprise! haha Excuse my crazy hair.

HA! Awesome right!? I was so stoked! I went home an immediately hung it above my desk. So sweet of them. Ha the other picture a 2 year old named Haley took of me with my camera while we were teaching her Mom. To keep her entertained and busy while we teach I just let her empty out my backpack and play with whatever she wants, which includes my camera haha, I think she did a pretty good job.

We are trying to find new people to teach here in Raymond. We started teaching a man again this week that we had taught before and as I was talking with him about following the 10 commandments the spirit kind of just took over and I invited him to be baptised. I was like whoa! Where the heck did that come from?! But he said that after he prays about it and receives an answer that he will! So that's exciting!  Hopefully we can find some more work here pretty soon. After Canada Day a lot more people will be willing to meet with us so that will be fun! I'm hoping to get us out tracting (door knocking) this week and finding those that Heavenly Father has prepared to accept the Gospel.

I love being a missionary. I'm having so much fun! And I'm learning and growing so much! Holy cow! I am so thankful!

Sorry this email is so lame and short this week. :( I really need to get better at this.

I love and miss all of you so much! Thank you for all your prayers, love and support. It really helps!!!

Love you always!

Sister Jaynie Connor

The Sun Came Out!

June 23, 2014
Ello Lovelies!

LOOK HOW MUCH IT RAINED! Ha this is the Tatlow family, they're probably one of my favourite families in Raymond ha, they definitely take life as it is and live it to the fullest.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=774366445927779&set=vb.208279115869851&type=2&theater

Ha but the rain did stop though, FINALLY. I think it ended this Friday. Lots of homes had flooded basements. And there were ponds everywhere! 

Look at the fields! The water just kept building up.

Things are going great here! Both our investigators came to church this week. One of them has a 2 year old daughter that can be pretty antsy during sacrament so of course I played with her to keep her entertained ha, I whipped out my Book of Mormon picture book, then all my stickers, ha and after all that her favorite thing was just drawing on the program paper with pen haha. I love kids so much, they're my best friends. Ha nothing I love more that just chilling with a kid. They understand the gospel so much too, I love it. It's so simple to them, ha have faith, repent, get baptized, get the holy ghost, keep doing all that and you'll live with God again. Done. Drop the mic. 

There's a family here that we help a lot that's not members. They come to church almost every Sunday though ha. Their son Donald turned 8 this weekend and they had a party at the park with all his friends and their families, who also are not members. We helped set up and then stayed. It was a lot of fun, I got our frisbee out of the car and got all the kids out in the field with us and just played. Ha they loved it. I did too ha, probably looked silly running through a field in a pink pencil skirt though. But after when everyone was eating, they all started asking us questions about the church and what we do! And we got to answer just so many questions and bust so many myths. Like the plural marriage one. I never thought an 8 year olds birthday party would be a great place to teach! It went so well. Sent them to Mormon.org where they can live chat with missionaries and ask all the questions they want haha. Loved it.

We should be safe from rain for a while, hopefully.

The Rain brought out monster worms!

This is Elder Poulter, he was one of the Elders here in Raymond with us and he got transferred. 

He also hit his 6 month mark, so before he left we had a little ceremony and he burnt one of his ties ha. It was fun!

I love and miss all of you so much. I want you all to know that I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the exact same church that Jesus Christ established in the New Testament. I know that it was restored and the Joseph Smith is a prophet. I know that we have a living prophet on the earth today named Thomas S. Monson. I know that The Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That book has changed my life and has brought me a type of happiness that I can't even put into words. I would like to invite all of you to read the Book of Mormon, even if its a verse a day. I've calculated that if each of you read a page and a half everyday you will finish the Book of Mormon before I come home. I can promise you that as you do this you are going to feel the spirit confirm to you that it is true, and that you're faith in you saviour Jesus Christ will increase. Its true,  I promise.

mormon.org

I cant believe I've been out 9 months :( Where has the time gone?! Its going too quickly. I love being a missionary!

Talk to you soon!

Love you always!

Sister Jaynie Connor

ITS RAININ MEN

Ha just kidding. No men. But, it is raining like CRAZY here, I guess cats and dogs would be more fitting. Someone told us it's supposed to rain about 6 INCHES. I was like uhhhhh excuse me?!  It started raining about last Friday and I feel like it hasn't stopped since haha. Good thing I like rain :)

 

Things are going swell down here in good ol' Raymond. We just found out that me and Sister Barton are staying together another transfer. Things are going good with our investigators, so many miracles are happening. :) I am so terrible at family emails because I can never think of what to say ha. I found a family that is willing the lend me their violin for a bit here. I'm going to reteach myself and hopefully be able to play some beautiful music for some people :) I can't believe that it's already June! Me and Sister Barton are almost halfway through our missions! I got a little sad the other day because it has gone so fast :(

 

I hope all is well where ever all of you are! Be safe an be kind to one another!  There's always tomorrow :)

Since Im bad with words, here's a ton of pictures :)

 

Love you always

Bye!

 

2 Nephi 2:13 Book of Mormon pg 58

Rhurbarbbbbbbbbb! My favorite!

I'm too tall for Raymond......

Week 3 in Southern Alberta!

Hello Friends! 

Ha lots of pictures this week! Sorry there were just so many good ones I couldn't choose. Great week! Things are going just dandy down here in Raymond. I'm meeting more and more people each week, which is good ha cause I still feel like I don't any one! Raymond has a population of about 4,000 people, ha a little bit smaller than what I'm used to but I like it. 

This week we taught lots! Since I'm new in town it gives us an excuse to stop by peoples houses. Ha I have no idea how many times I've said, "Hi! I'm Sister Connor, I'm new here in Raymond so I'm going around and introducing myself to everyone, what's your name?" Ha and I'm gonna keep saying it because it's working, we're getting in with people that haven't seen missionaries for quite some time. I'm determined to meet them all! 

Our investigators are still doing good, they learning and progressing. Our one investigator we teach has a son that's baptized but doesn't come to church, he's 13 and awesome, but refuses to come. So last night as we were leaving their house I asked him if he was coming to church and he laughed at me and then said "eh... maybe  I dont know" So I stuck out my pinky to have him pinky promise me, and he said "Nahh I dont do that" Then proceeded to spit on his palm then stick his hand out for a hand shake. I was like "oh... that serious huh?" and spit on my hand and shook his. Ha I think he did it thinking I would be grossed out and refuse, I wish I had a picture of his reaction. Took him quite by surprise hahaha, his butt better be in church on Sunday! I take spit shakes and pinky promises very serious. Our other investigators are doing good too, always keeping an eye out for more though. The Gospel is for everyone to enjoy, that's Heavenly Fathers plan. That's why I've been called on a mission, to let people know that.

Yesterday for PDay we went to Waterton National Park. Holy cow......Its gorgeous. The pictures don't even do it justice. Some members from Stirling AB (the small town next to us) took us and the Stirling Sisters. We spent all day walking around in awe at all the animals and pretty sights. We saw some black bears, big horn sheep, a fox, deer, elk, and........some Tatonka! haha yep even saw some buffalo! It was so much fun!! I love it down here, everything is just beautiful!

Well guys I hope everything is going well wherever you are. I miss each of you more and more each day. I love Alberta so much, and being a missionary. They had stake conference up here in Canada this weekend (big meeting for all the members across Canada) and at the Saturday night meeting for adults they had me speak! They asked me to talk about what I'm doing to "Hasten the work of Salvation" and I said, "Serving a mission....." Hahaha then talked about what my purpose as a missionary. Which is to Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. :) It went really well, got lots of handshakes after ha, now everyone in the town of Raymond over the age 12 knows my name and why I'm here haha.

I'm so grateful for all that I've been blessed with, Heavenly Father is truly taking care of me. I love him so much. And my saviour Jesus Christ. They have done so much for me, and for you.

Scripture of the week:

Matthew 21:21-22  (Bible, New Testament) 

 21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

 22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

If you have enough Faith you can move mountains, don't doubt yourself, or God's love and power. Have the faith that your prayers will be answered. I love you all. YOU can do it NOW. Until we meet again!!