Skating Around Satans Traps‏

To All I Love,

Welcome to Woodbridge:

Doing planks AND
eating brownie
mix

Sis. Skaggs can multitask - eating
brownie mix WHILE planking

Well as you know I was transferred this past week. I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to be in my new area. I was transferred to an area about 30 minutes north of Fredericksburg to a somewhat suburb of Washington D.C. I have been transferred to a town called Woodbridge. So far I love it here! Sister Moore, my companion, said we have a really awesome ward which I do have to agree with her. Our Ward Mission Leader is phenomenal! He is so involved with the work. It's pretty amazing. This area is a pretty fast paced area. Nobody is laid back here. It reminds me of Southern California with everyone being on the go or busy. I again have elders in my ward so our area is about half the ward. The ward is A LOT smaller geographically compared to Spotsylvania. It only takes about 10-15 minutes, without traffic, to get to the other end of our ward which is pretty nice. I'm really excited for what these next 6 weeks will hold here in the Woodbridge 2nd ward. I feel really blessed Heavenly Father has allowed me the opportunity to serve here. This ward hasn't had a Temple Square sister before so it will be a little interesting seeing how they all react to that. Some of their facial expressions have been pretty hilarious when they start asking me about why I will be leaving at then end of this transfer when I have only been out for 8 months. Then I inform them that my mission call is to Temple Square.

Oh, so fun fact: my area has EVERYTHING in it. My last area was HUGE and we only had 1 gas station which was 20 minutes from our apartment. My new area literally has everything. You name it, I can go to it (Costco, Mall, Olive Garden, On the border, Chili's, Bob Evans etc.).

Meet Sister Moore:

My new companion is amazing. I love her so much! She is actually in her last transfer so we are both "killing each other" out of this mission, but I'm killing her out of missionary life in general. She is from Centerville, UT and is the 2nd oldest of 8! It reminds me of your family, dad, instead you're the baby of 9. She has gone through so much but she is still so strong despite everything she has experienced. When she started opening up to me and telling me, my jaw just dropped. I could never imagine going through some of the experiences she has had to face with her family. But despite everything, she is still so solid in the Gospel and has such a desire to serve her Father in Heaven.

Skating Around Satan's Traps:

"Skating" in Woodbridge

An icicle that grew in hours

How are we avoiding the traps that Satan is putting in front of us? Yesterday the area experienced, I don't want to call it an ice storm, but we just had a lot of freezing rain in the morning. With the freezing rain we experienced in the morning it caused a nice layer of ice on all the cars and sidewalks and some on the roads to the point where we were sliding/skating/dragging our feet on the sidewalk because it was to slippery. The thing about it was you couldn't necessarily tell it was ice at certain parts unless you were being observant. But I started thinking this morning about how this applies to our life. Here we are going through life so focused on everything around us that we don't see this trap Satan has laid in front of us until it is too late. There were moments yesterday as we were walking on the ice where we stopped and truly did not know how we were going to take our next step because we were afraid of falling. Whoever was in front would warn the person behind, "Hey, there is a very slick patch of ice here be careful." Satan will do everything in his power to get us to fall into one of his traps. He will do whatever it takes to make us fall on one of those patches of ice that can't be seen. What are we doing to make sure we don't fall on that hidden patch of ice; that hidden trap? That's where the Atonement comes into play. Our Savior Jesus Christ has already walked that path for us, he has already taken those steps for us and he knows exactly what we must do to overcome those traps that Satan has put in our path. As we look to our Savior in all that we do he will be by our side to guide us around those slick pieces of ice, he will be there to catch us when we fall and we can't get up on our own. That's why the Atonement occurred, because we can't get up on our own. He is the only one who has walked the path that we will ever walk. He is the only one who knows what we will face but as we rely on him he will be there to guide us safely home. How comforting is that? To know that there is someone who is willing to be by our side to guide us and catch us or to even help us get back on our feet to continue going. Satan will do whatever it takes to trap us but as 

we skate/slide down that icy path filled with seen or unseen patches of ice we can know we don't have to do it alone. Our Savior has already walked the path. He has experienced our falls. He knows the pain we go through when we do fall. He knows the sorrow and heartache when we feel like giving up. I invite you to reach out to him and to rely on him -- allow him to guide you on this icy path back home to your Father in Heaven.

Satan is Real but Tereza Endured and was BAPTIZED:

Tereza, at her baptism, with her mom
and little sister, Abbie

Sorry I'm talking a lot about this but we have just experienced a lot of the adversary this past week. There is this 9 year old little girl who is so amazing!! I just can't explain just how amazing she is. I have never seen a 9 year old with faith as strong as hers. She was finally baptized on Friday, which was such a beautiful baptism seeing this little girl so excited to make this covenant with her Father in Heaven. But Satan was doing EVERYTHING in his power to get it to not happen. The weather had already cancelled the baptism the week prior and then so many minor yet big details for the baptism was going wrong. But this little girl and her less active mom had the faith that she would be baptized. Despite everything that was occurring, even minutes before the baptism, she was baptized on Friday! She was just beyond excited! We went over before the baptism so I could braid her hair. She was like, "I'm getting baptized soon and will be making that covenant with Heavenly Father and I will get the Holy Ghost." That is the one thing she has just been beyond excited for was to get the Holy Ghost. Well, Sunday rolls around and like I mentioned before, the weather was just not good. Wards were being cancelled for the second week in a row due to the weather, the sidewalks were horrible, and Tereza got sick. 

Sis. Skaggs, Tereza & Sis. Moore
at Tereza's baptism

 Sister Moore and I just couldn't believe everything the adversary was doing to stop this 9 year old little girl from entering into these covenants with her Father In Heaven. Due to the weather they cancelled the last 2 hours of church and started 15 minutes late. The thing that scared us was Tereza's mom has a bad foot and she said, "I want to make it but if the sidewalk is bad I'm not going to be able to walk up the hill with ice on this foot." Our apartment sidewalk was horrendous and so we knew that her sidewalk was going to be horrible. When we received word from our leaders as to how bad it was we decided we needed to say a prayer and ask that a way be made possible so Tereza and her family could make it to Sacrament meeting so she could receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Despite everything, Tereza and her mom and littler sister made it to 

Abbie and Tereza with something
they put together about Tereza's
journey to her baptism

church right as we were singing the opening song. And despite Tereza being sick, she was still confirmed and received the Holy Ghost yesterday. She is an amazing example of faith. Satan is real and did all he could to stop this little girl to the point that she was sick. But she had the faith and she knew that her Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ would be right by her side to help her. She knew the importance of receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and being baptized and she wasn't going to allow anything to stop her.

It really makes you stop and think "Do I have the faith this little 9 year old girl has? Am I willing endure through anything?"

Volunteering at the Assisted Living Center:

One thing we get to do every Friday morning is we go to the near by assisted living center and we get to work with some of the people that live there. We work with a group of about 15-20. We go into this room and we sing nursery rhymes with them for about 2 hours. It is such a neat experience. One of my favorite parts is Sunday afternoons. We go over and for about an hour we have 'church' with them. We sing hymns with them and then share scriptures that go with it and then share a brief testimony. I can't explain to you the spirit that I felt in that room yesterday. Those individuals are people that already hold a special place in my heart. We have this cute lady. Her name is Mrs. Martha and she likes to lay back in her chair and sleep but while she sleeps she sings the hymns with us. She knew EVERY hymn we sang. After we sang we went and gave a hug to each of them before we left and the sweet spirits they each have just brought tears to my eyes. Several asked, "Where are you going? Why are you leaving us?" It was just so sad but we promised we would be back next week. They are some of the sweetest yet funniest people I have met. Haha, I just can't stop laughing right now at some of the experiences I have had with the two days I have been with them so far. It has always been a dream of mine to do something like this but I have never known about how I could go about do something like this. It's funny how years later your prayers can be answered. It comes not on our time but on the Lord's time. I'm so excited I get to spend the next 6 weeks with them.

Sis. Pincock and Sis. Skaggs

I love it here. I love being a missionary and I love EVERYTHING I'm learning. I love the people I have had the opportunity to meet and to witness the change in their life as they take the Gospel of Jesus Christ and apply it to their life.

Family and friends, know that I love you and care for you. I hope my comments make sense. It made sense when I was thinking about it but I don't know how it came out when I wrote it. I love you!!

Love Always,

Sister Skaggs

P.S. I found out Temple Square just received IPADS!!! Can you believe it?!?! Ahhh the work is hastening!!!! When I logged onto my missionary portal it said "your mission has just been authorized to use mobile devices please press next to learn how you will use your iPad." I was like, "Huhh? We don't have iPads here." And then I realized that I'm still connected to Temple Square and putting two and two together I realized that Temple Square must have iPads now! Anyways enough of that!

I'm Being Transferred! :(‏

From 2/23/15


To All I Love,

Time To Say Goodbye:

It's crazy to think that I'm already being transferred and I have only been here in Spotsylvania for 4 1/2, almost 5, weeks. I feel as if a part of my heart is having to stay behind. We both thought that I would stay here or that we would stay together. Well, Wednesday we were talking with the STL's and they mentioned to us that it's usually 50/50 that Temple Square Sisters stay in their first area or that they get transferred. When they informed me of that I was like great, I'm going to be leaving. Saturday is the dreaded day that every missionary in the mission is on the edge of their seat. We were waiting all day to see if we would get a phone call or not informing us of transfers. If the AP's called, you were getting transferred. If president called, you were training or getting a leadership position. And if you don't get a call, you're both staying in that area. But you have no idea and so from 10 AM - 9:30 PM you literally just have to keep the phone right next to you and you just wait to see if you get a call. Well, sure enough at about 7 PM the phone starts vibrating and I'm pretty sure I had a mini heart attack when I looked down and saw "AP-Elder Thomas". Sister Stoddard answered and he says, "How are you? May I speak with Sister Skaggs?" Not one of my fondest moments on my mission. He was like, "Sister Skaggs, how are you? Just wanted to let you know you are being transferred. Can you be at transfer conference on Tuesday?" I was like, "Wait. What? Uhhhh yah. I can be there." [Note from Sis. Skaggs mom.....that would have been funny if she said, "No. Can't be there" and then hung up!!]

To be honest, it was really hard accepting the fact that I was leaving. I have only been here for 4 1/2 weeks but I have developed some really close relationships with several members and with several investigators. So it was really hard the first 12 hours adjusting to this. But it was really neat because yesterday as I was studying during lunch I was really just asking Heavenly Father for that peace and comfort and understanding that this was his will. I decided to read a talk called "Continue in Patience". Several parts stood out about how we don't know why Heavenly Father does certain things but we must be patient with him. To be patient we must have a positive outlook because if we aren't then we are being selfish. That caught me off guard. I remember as I was finishing the talk just having a greater sense of understanding that I'm supposed to leave. I felt at peace even though I know it's going to be hard to leave this area. I felt at peace that this is the Lord's will. The Lord only needed me here in Spotsylvania for 4 1/2 weeks and that there is another area here in Virginia that he needs me to go to. I don't really know who I'm supposed to meet or why I'm supposed to be where I'm going but I can tell you I know that's where the Lord needs me to be. There are a lot of times in life when we are going to be asked to do hard things. But that's where our faith is tested. How are we willing to respond to those situations? Are we willing to trust in the Lord? Yes, its' going to be difficult but the Lord knows us perfectly. I'm excited for this change and I can't wait to tell you all about my new area, new people and new companion next week. Things work differently here so I won't find out anything until tomorrow afternoon and I won't be able to write till next p-day.

Saying Goodbye to those I love:

 Yesterday I had to say goodbye to Scott and Tiffany and then Tom, Shannon, Haliegh and Christian. That is probably the hardest part -- saying goodbye to them. They have been such amazing examples to me as they have really taken the Gospel and despite everything they are going through really just striving to apply it to their life. They have become life long friends and I know I will always be in touch with them. I look forward to the day when they will have the opportunity to make those covenants with their Father in Heaven. They are each working towards baptism right now and I hope I can make it back to see them make this next step in their life while I'm still here or see it when I get back to Temple Square. The thing that I really love the most is the desire they have. They have told us that "I won't be baptized until I have that strong confirmation" which means they aren't just doing it to make us happy. They are doing it because they know that's what Heavenly Father needs them to do. I just love Scott and Tiffany so much. It was so hard saying goodbye. Scott, when I was leaving, was like, "You, Sister Skaggs, have become a part of our family. You have had an impact on our lives and we will always stay in contact with you. When we get baptized I will do whatever it takes to make sure you see it." He made some other comments that just brought me to tears. They have no idea how much of an impact they have had on my life. I will miss them so much!

Saying goodbye to Tom, Shannon, Haliegh and Christian was so hard as well! It's a good thing I'm not saying goodbye but just "see you later". They are such an amazing family! They have gone through a lot but they have such a desire and willingness to apply the gospel to their life. We have had some amazing miracles the past couple of days with them. It was so sad saying goodbye to little Haliegh. Haha, she is so funny. I just love her! I told her that when she gets baptized I will do whatever it takes to see it. She was like. "Okay." She drew me a picture of the 3 of us together. Every time I come over she immediately goes and gets the hymn book out of her purse and comes and sings with us. She is sooo cute! When we come over now I ask her, "Haliegh, what song do you want to sing?" She responds back nice and quite "Families Can Be Together Forever". So that's what we sing every time we go over. She sits between Sister Stoddard and I on the couch and we will sing that song with her. I can't wait for the day when the four of them become an eternal family! :)

The members here have been remarkable! I feel so incredibly blessed to have developed such close relationships with several members and families here in the Spotsylvania Ward! I will miss them tremendously but I promised several people I would be back so it gives me an excuse to come back! :)

Last night I went to several families to say goodbye. It's never fun saying bye to those you grow to love. There is one sister in the ward - she actually was baptized just one year ago and went through the Temple on Saturday. She is AMAZING! I think of her as my Grandma away from home. She is sooo sweet and caring. I just cried with her last night when I said goodbye. She just hugged me and let me cry. She is amazing and has such a strong faith. Soooo many things were getting in her way of going to the temple but she finally was like, "Even if I have to ride to the Temple in an ambulance I'm still going on Saturday." She is so funny. I love her.

This morning I had to say goodbye to another family that I have really grown to love so much! The two older daughters were just going to meet us at Chick-fil-A but then the mom found out I was leaving. So they drove 45 minutes from their home to say goodbye to me. I just love the Bognars so much and I feel so blessed to have gotten to know them! Family, I can't express to you just how amazing the people are that I have gotten to know here. I feel like I'm leaving a piece of my heart here in Spotsy.

I'm sad to be leaving but I know this is what the Lord needs me to do! I will let you know next week what happens in regards to transfers! I'm excited for this new adventure. Oh, also can you believe I'm almost half way done with outbound!! Ahhh!! I just wish I could stay forever! I LOVE being here! Know that I love you all and I hope you have a great week this week! Oh and please don't write me at the address anymore!! If you do I wont get it for awhile because Sis. Stoddard will have to forward it to me.

Love you!!!!

Sister Skaggs

A Time to Prepare‏

From 2/16/15


To EVERYONE,

Due to the holiday yesterday that is why I'm emailing a day late, but it's all good. Life is going great! This past week was just amazing! :) I should start with the nice little SNOW Storm we received yesterday.

Adventures of Working in a SNOWstorm:

Just because a storm comes in doesn't mean the work has to stop. Yesterday was an EXCELLENT day to work! The snow didn't start till about 1 pm yesterday which was good. But when it started coming in it actually started sticking pretty fast which meant our cars were grounded. Well how does that work if you're not allowed to drive, its snowing and you live 2 miles from your area? Solution is you WALK! :) That's exactly what we did. Just imagine two Sister Missionaries in the snow walking down a back road with no sidewalk with traffic and that would be us. As we were walking out of the apartment complex one of our investigators [someone being taught the Gospel] called to say that due to the weather they didn't want us coming over because it was getting too dangerous. I was like, "Umm, well, Scott we are already going to be in your area." Scott was like, "Wait. What? Are you crazy? How are you going to get here?" I responded with, "Well, we can walk. In fact, we actually already are." He said, "That road is not a safe road for you to be walking on in this storm. You're going to get killed." I said, "Well the work still needs to go on. We will be careful." Scott said, "Where are you? Tiffany and I are coming to get you right now. You are not walking in this. I would be devastated if I showed up to church on Sunday and found out you and Sister Stoddard were killed by a car sliding off the road." They ended up coming to pick us up and then we went to their home and ended up teaching them.

Teaching Scott and Tiffany - I just love them so much! They have become family to me and will always hold a special place in my heart. We didn't have a specific lesson planned for them because we have taught them everything at this point. Sister Stoddard and I decided to ask them questions that they have about everything. Scott was mentioning about Prophets and having one today. It was funny because for personal study I have been studying Mormon 9 and that morning I studied Mormon 9:9 about how the church is the same yesterday, today and forever. Then I cross referenced that to Hebrews 13:8. I remember role playing with Sis. Stoddard during companionship study about how people today still don't believe that the true Church, the one Jesus Christ established, had been restored back on the earth today. Out of nowhere I just started testifying to Scott about why wouldn't we have a Prophet today? If we read right here in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible that God is the same yesterday, today and forever and how he called Abraham, Moses, Noah etc. to be his mouthpieces then why wouldn't he call another one today? I went on to testify that we did indeed have a prophet today etc. I can't really remember what I said. But I remember afterwards Scott was just like, "I never thought of it that way. You just answered a lot of my questions." I was like, "I was just saying what the spirit needed me to say." It was interesting because after we left, Sis. Stoddard mentioned to me that they have shared that with him before but for some reason today it just clicked for him. They are definitely making progress towards baptism and making that first covenant with their Heavenly Father. It is just going to take a little bit of time. They are a truly remarkable couple and I love them so much! We are having dinner with them Friday night and I'm so excited!

Tracting in the Snow - When we finished with Scott and Tiffany it was only like 4:30 and we already had cancelled our dinner appointment so we figured we would just tract the surrounding neighborhood till 6 and then go see Sister B, the amazing lady with 9 kids. Well, since it was a holiday and a snowstorm had come in that meant EVERYONE was home! Which means its Christmas time for us missionaries! We only knocked on several doors and they ALL answered which is a miracle within itself. One of the homes actually became a new investigator, well, not the home but the person living inside, and they referred their next door neighbor! When we finished talking with her it was about 6:00 and with it getting dark, cold and the snow picking up we didn't feel comfortable being out so we went to Sister B's home.

Hanging with Sister B - Okay you have no idea just how amazing Sister B is! I attached a picture of her and I together. She is the one who gave us flowers for valentines day. She was super busy with everything going on and still hadn't made dinner so we offered to help. She was making gyros - I have no idea how you spell them. But she made ALL of it from scratch-- the dough, the meat etc. Two hours later dinner was ready to be served! It was so much fun. Oh dad, you aren't going to like this, but guess what the meat was made from???? LAMB! Yup I actually had lamb for dinner last night. It reminded me of your lasagna story [from his mission]. hahaha! It was actually really good!!! Her kids have A LOT of food allergies so she has to get really creative with her meals. She is just so amazing! At like 8:30 Brother and Sister B took us home. We had already about a good 5 or so inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. They were so sweet to drive us and they had no issue doing so. I just love the members here. They are just so amazing! They make me laugh all the time and I'm learning so much as to how I can be more effective in life now and when I'm off my mission.

Day of LOVE (Valentines Day) <3

Happy belated VALENTINES DAY!! I just loved valentines day!! Well, besides going to the doctor. We thought I may have been getting a possible UTI and so we went to the Doctor to verify if it was or wasn't. The results came back negative but the symptoms were showing it could be starting so he gave me a 3 day antibiotic. I was still able to work the whole day and I'm still going strong now! Sister Skaggs is all good now! :)

Packages from home!

Where do I even begin? So first of all thank you so much, mom and family, for my valentines day package!! It came on VALENTINES DAY! Sister Stoddard went to check the mail and we both received packages and a letter on V-Day. I was super happy when I got it. Oh and the funny thing is that I saw the sweater and was like, "That is so cute. I'm going to wear that. I put it on and we left and then I read you card for me, mom....about how I should wear the sweater on Valentines day. Thank you! I truly have the best family ever! So glad I have you four for all of Eternity! Oh and thanks for the cookies they are almost gone! :)

So there is a picture attached of Sister B and I. We were out doing things and we get a text from her saying, "Where are you two? I want to meet up with you." We were like, "Well we can just come to your house." We show up to her house and she hands us each a bouquet of flowers. It totally made our day -- that was before we got the packages and so it just made us both super happy! She is so funny! After she gave us the flowers we were like, "Hey, we are going to a lesson right now. Want to come?" She is like, "Yah!" She is like, "Do you need to ask me twice? Yes I want to come." She is so funny! I just love her sooo much. I'm going to miss her when I leave!

Sis. Skaggs with LDS
author, Traci Abrahmson

That evening we had dinner with Sister Wangberg, or what I will reference now as Sister W. I just love her!! She loves to get super creative with everything so I took a picture of what dinner looked like. She has been telling us about it all week and was so excited! I felt so bad though because we were like 45 minutes late because we were at the doctor. Not fun! But they were like, "Don't worry about it. That was more important." After we had dinner she drove us to stake conference. Yah, crazy right? We had stake conference in Feb. I didn't know that was even allowed but apparently people have it in Feb. Anyways, I just love Stake Conference! Guess who I met there?? I met one of my all time favorite Mormon Authors, Traci Abrahmson!! She spoke because she lives in this stake and after her someone else spoke and he was like, "Yah, I love reading Traci's books." Sister W looked up on her phone all of her books. I was like , "They are probably going to be books I have never heard of before." Well I was WRONG! Sister W shows me all of the books and I about freaked out. In fact I did. I was like, "No way! That is her. She wrote those books. My mom and I have read ALL of them. I love her!!" And then after the meeting, I got to meet her. That is the picture that Sis W she sent you mom. It was such a treat being able to meet her!

This is The Time To Prepare:

One of the only things I want in life is to be able to see my Father in Heaven again and my savior Jesus Christ. But in order for that to happen we must prepare! This time here on earth is our time to prepare. We aren't just here to go through the motions. But we are here to prepare ourselves to live with our Father in Heaven again. I have heard A LOT lately about the last days. We are here, we are in the last days. We must not be procrastinating the day of our repentance. We must be making that change of our heart now! Don't you want to see your Father in Heaven again? Don't you want to say, "I endured to the end. I strived my hardest to do all that I could to see you again?" If that's what you want then what are you doing specifically to prepare? We are promised that as we hold tight to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we have Faith in him, Repent (Change of heart), make that first covenant with him (Baptism), receive the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, and most importantly endure to the end, we will be prepared to see our Father in Heaven again. Being on a mission we hear tidbits as to what is happening in the world around us. As we prepare we won't fear because we know that we are doing what our Father in Heaven is asking of us and we will live with him again in the Celestial Kingdom. I know with my whole heart that this is true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Jesus Christ's church that he established on the earth. The true church. I invite all to find out for yourself. Is this truly the church Jesus Christ himself established when he was here? The only way we can return to live with our Father in Heaven again is through taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ and applying it to our lives. Life most certainly won't be easy but it will be okay. We need not fear as long as we are striving to follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ and do all that is required of us. Look towards the Temple. As we look towards the Temple we will strive our hardest to align our lives so we are worthy to enter into his Holy House. I know these things are true. I wouldn't be here on a mission today if I didn't know it was. I know we are in the last days and I know that holding tight to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and keeping an eternal perspective is what will allow us to return home. If you don't know this for yourself I invite you to think to yourself right now, "What is holding me back?" Know that you are a child of God. You have a Father in Heaven who cares for you deeply and desperately wants you home. But, it's your choice as to whether or not you want to prepare to meet him again. You're a child of God, one of Infinite worth! I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sister Skaggs & Stoddard being
cute

I love you all! Family PLEASE BE SAFE! I hope you can find out who is doing this to you [the stuff shared by mom]. Know that I pray constantly for your safety and protection! I know that no matter what happens I will be with you for all of eternity! But I know the Lord is watching over you and protecting you even with what is happening in our neighborhood. It just proves to me the last days are here. But I don't worry. Know I love you so much!

Skaggs and Stoddard being
crazy!

Love for all eternity, your favorite daughter and sister ever!!! ;D But it's true because I'm the only one!! :)

Sister Jennifer Skaggs

A Time To Learn‏

This is from Feb 9th.  Enjoy!


To All I Love,

So this week has just been a week full of just a whole bunch of stuff. I don't even know where to start with this email. This email is going to be a lot different because the library is kicking us out right now. We are only allowed to be on here for one hour and we just hit our hour mark. We can email for an hour and a half but the library is only allowing us one hour today. I'm so sorry! I need to get more effective with my emailing time.

Overall I'm doing really well! The work here is going amazing and Sister Stoddard and I doing really well. Heavenly Father is teaching me a lot right now. Especially when it comes to being diligent. But that is one of the aspects about being a missionary that I love so much. I love everything Heavenly Father is teaching me right now in regards to being a missionary!

From frozen chicken.....

.....to a meal fit for a missionary!

Tracting is for the birds! (text added
by Sis. Skaggs mom) ;)

Tracting is something I'm ever so slowly coming to love. We have seen a lot of amazing miracles come the past couple of days from tracting. I still don't have an undivided love for it yet but I'm definitely enjoying it a lot more. You know when you really forget about yourself and you recognize this is the Lord's time and not your time it changes your perspective a lot on what you need to be doing and how you need to do it. Several weeks ago we tracted into this lady who was open to us coming back to seeing her. We had a lesson with her the other day and she was super open to learning more about the Gospel. When we invited for her to be baptized she said she would if she came to know these things were true. I love the simple miracles that come when we do what the Lord expects us to do. If we hadn't of been tracting we would never of met that lady.

Eating out for the first time in
Virginia!

I have to get off now. I'm so sorry this isn't like my usual emails. But the library needs us to get off right now. I love you all so much! I know this Gospel is true with all of my heart. I love the blessings that come as we sincerely strive to live the Gospel and apply it to our lives. I love Mosiah 24 - I believe it is. Life is going to be hard and life was never supposed to be easy. But I know that as we have faith and trust in our Savior Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven the trials that we have experienced in our lives can be made lighter. He is willing to ease the burdens that are placed upon our backs but we must first have faith in him and reach out to him. I love you so much! Again, I'm so sorry this email is short and not like the rest of them. This week has been a great week and I'm learning A LOT! I love my investigators, I love the members, I love my companion and I love the trials that I'm facing. Is it hard? Yes - the hardest thing I have ever done. Am I having to make sacrifices? Yes. But it is worth it. It's beyond worth it! Have a great week! Be safe!! Oh and I won't have p-day until TUESDAY next week due to it being a national holiday on Monday! Love you!!

Sister Stoddard feeding a friend!

Love,

Sister Skaggs

A Blessing to Be Here‏

To Everyone,

So sorry I'm emailing so late. We came here earlier and when we first got here, to the library, we waited for 15 minutes for a computer, which took time away for us to email because we had our dinner appointment and so our emailing time was going to be reduced so we could get there on time. Well, I started praying asking Heavenly Father for a way for me to be able to have the full hour and a half since this is the only time during the week I get to email you. We finally get to a computer and well, myldsmail thought it was super funny and didn't want to work. Sister Stoddard and I decided that we would just email President Wilson and then would try to email home after. After 30 minutes we still couldn't get it to work which would have left only 45 minutes for us to email. After talking with our STL's they said to come back later. So, here we are now. It's funny how Heavenly Father answers our prayers. It reminds me a lot of D&C 98:2 my favorite scripture.

Okay so I probably should start sharing with you what has been happening all the way over here in good old Spotsy, that's what we call it. :)

The Members:

I'm pretty sure that is probably one of my favorite aspects of missionary work out here. It is something that I never really understood, just how special it is. I mean, the fact of being able to work face to face with members. Sister Stoddard and I have really made it an effort to really get to know the ward and to develop friendships with them and to really get their help in regards to missionary work. We have some truly amazing members here. Mom, the lady who sent you the picture last night of Sister Stoddard and me, that was Sister Wangberg, our Relief Society President. She is so amazing! We had dinner at her house the very first night that I got here and when we were leaving she said, "If a dinner appointment ever falls through I will be offended if you don't come over and have dinner." She is always so willing to help us out in any way that she can! But it's not just her, its everybody in the ward here. On Saturday we were unable to find out who our dinner appointment was and so we made an announcement in Relief Society the next day apologizing and pretty much all the Sisters were like, "Wait. You didn't have a dinner appointment? Don't ever let that happen again. If anything ever happens please call me right away."

Haha oh so funny story!:

I have to Pee! The other night Sister Stoddard and I were out tracting and I had to go to the bathroom so bad but we were about a 20 minute driving distance from home. I mentioned to her that I really needed to go. She was like, "Sister Skaggs, why don't you just ask someone when we get to their door if you could use their restroom?" Hahaha! My reply, "Heck no! You think I'm going to ask a random person if I could use their bathroom? You're crazy. Tracting already scares me and now I'm going to ask to use their restroom? Yah I would rather just pee my pants." Sister Stoddard, "Okay well you must not have to go that bad. I wouldn't make you do that I was just checking to see how bad you had to go." I was like, "But I really do have to go. I just refuse to ask a random stranger to use their bathroom." She was like, "I wouldn't make you do that. Haha. I wouldn't even do that. That is just weird and scary!" What a nice companion! :) I love her though. She is amazing! We walked back to the car because, literally, I had to go to the bathroom! We made a quick phone call to a family in the ward who lived near by. They didn't answer. She texted us back asking if she could call us later. We were like "We just are in the area tracting and really have to go to the bathroom." She was like "Absolutely. Come over right now!" Well, we get there and they are in the middle of dinner. That was just awkward. Interrupting a family's dinner to use their restroom. Afterwards the dad said, "First the Elders ask for toilet paper and now the sisters use the bathroom. Our Restroom is always yours, sisters!" Haha I just love the Camps! They are such an awesome family!

I just love the members here overall! Those are a few of the simple highlights so far. I have had so many other amazing experiences with the members here but I don't have enough time nor do I type fast enough to be able to share with you all of them. Oh, another thing that is super common here is you don't ask people what they do for a living. Haha, it always ends up super awkward. Why?? Well, pretty much everyone works for the government. When I mean government I mean like they truly work for the government and we aren't allowed to know what they do. It's kind of scary, kind of comforting and kind of intriguing. So, yah, I pretty much just don't ask anymore. We have encountered far too many awkward situations where people are like "Ummm, I, umm, I just work for the government." That goes for both members, tracting, etc.

Investigators:
 

Tom and Shannon - I just love them! The sisters were already teaching them before I arrived. They are such an amazing family! They have such a sincere desire to learn. They are going through A LOT right now but they are just so sweet. They have a little girl named Haleigh who is 8 and she is just so sweet. At church she sat next to me and was reading all of the notes that I was taking out loud and was super excited to sing with me every time we sang a hymn. She really loves the hymns. She asked us several days ago why everyone else had hymn books but she didn't. She asked how she could get one. I first thought, "Well, why don't I just go buy her one?" But then I just decided it's not going to kill me to give her my little copy. So, I gave her my copy and told her that I wanted her to have it. I just said, "Since my name is in here you are going to have to cover it up and put your name there because its yours now." She left and we continued to teach her mom and dad. About 10 minutes later she comes back over to me. She opens the front cover, comes over and is like "Look what I did." She had taken my name and drew a heart around it and then wrote "This is to remember that Jennifer Skaggs gave me this hymn book and I don't want to forget that..." It brought me to tears. She is the sweetest ever and I love her so much! I will have to take a picture with her and send it to you! Her parents are always texting us making sure we are okay and always asking us what they can do to help us. Which is funny because we should be helping them since we are the missionaries and they are the investigators!

Sister Stoddard and I:

So much for a diet!

Sister Stoddard and
Sister Skaggs

I don't even know where to begin. She is amazing! I'm learning so many different things from her right now. I'm learning the importance of being diligent and being obedient. She is such a hard worker! Heavenly Father is humbling me quite a bit right now. This past week we have both been sick. There is a nasty flu going around right now and my body thought it would be super funny and hop onto the flu train. I still have it, but, oh well, it is what it is. You know when I get sick I'm sick and I'm sick for awhile. Today we had a really good conversation about a lot of things and really discussed what we can do to really help each other. We recognized that her strengths were my weaknesses but my strengths were her weaknesses. She is such a humble and diligent missionary which is something I have found that I lack in quite a bit. Haha - she was like, "You are so patient with everyone." Which is weird because that is something I have lacked since I was a little girl. I'm amazed at everything she is teaching me. And it's funny because we HAVE SO much in common. Like A LOT! But yet we are so different!

These Things are True:

I want you to know that I know with my whole heart these things are true. We have encountered several individuals this week who have been "anti" and it just breaks my heart. But every time it just really strengthens my testimony that these things are true. This Gospel truly has been restored on the earth today. We encounter afflictions and trials because it allows us to grow to become who our Heavenly Father needs us to become. I can promise you and I can testify that we do have a Father in Heaven. He knows us each by name. He knows us each personally. I can promise you and I can testify that as we each open our heart and have that real intent to know if we truly are his children he will testify to us through the Holy Ghost that we indeed are. I am so grateful to have this knowledge and to have been raised with this simple truth my whole life. I feel blessed to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ as my foundation. As we simply strive our hardest to lay the Gospel as our foundation in our life and build upon that, we will be able to see our Father in Heaven again. I know my Savior, Jesus Christ lives I know the atonement is real! I leave my testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I love you all! I hope you are each doing well! This gospel is true. If you don't know that for yourself I ask you to please ask your Father in Heaven right now if it is. Please get down on your knees and simply ask him. I can promise you he will answer you.

Please be safe and have a fantastic week!!

Love,

Sister Skaggs