Week 15 Miracles

MAMA NOTES: 101 days out!  She got to email today instead of Monday!  She is headed to an amazing lighthouse in St. Joseph Michigan today it is on Lake Michigan.  She will have a new companion on Monday her name is  Sister Bailey Vera.  Here is a photo of the lighthouse it is about an hour drive each way. Her companion will be moving to Bay City. She will miss her lots!

This week was short but super fun. We had lots of lessons and saw lots of miracles. On Monday we decided to door knock on a street that we hadn't originally planned on, but felt like we should. One of the doors a lady answered and told us that she wasn't interested. Right as she was about to close the door her son said he was interested, and that it was funny we were there because he had been researching religion. He said he felt like he needed to turn his life around because Trump was president and he is scared. So we set up a return appointment with him. 

Another Miracle for the week is Abigale has been moving and every time we have called her she has said that she didn't need help. So we finally decided to stop by and see if we could help. She was home and said that we could help her wipe down the walls. So we ran and got some cleaning supplies and then went back to help her. When we went back some of her friends were there and they started asking us all of these questions about being a missionary. After a while Angel Abigale's kids Dad came and he started asking us all of these questions too. And now He and one of his friends are going to play basketball with the Elders. And two of their friends said they would be interested in learning more. It was so awesome! They even wan't to come to church on Sunday! 

 Happy New Year, Love Sister Gittins

Week 14 MERRY CHRISTMAS! #FUN

This is Haylis Mama notes:  It was amazing to talk with Hayli on Christmas.  We have all laughed about how the missionary from New York says, "HOT DOG"  The other missionaries love to laugh WITH him I hope.  I included a pic of Elder Wheldon from Long Island.  Hayli seems so Happy.  She did have a dog bite her leg last week but otherwise seems great! Now for Sister Gittins.......

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years everyone! This week was a ton of fun. We had our half mission Christmas party, which was so much fun. We played games and acted out the Nativity. We did a lot of door knocking this week. Christmas time as a missionary is the best because people are so much nicer than usual. Light the World was super fun for us to tell others about!  On Saturday Christmas Eve, we got to drop off presents for people from Secret Santa. And that was so much fun probably one of my favorite parts of the season. We sang at a nursing home with the other missionaries and the elderly people loved us! Christmas Eve we went to the Bruggers house and ate soup and played Wacky Six. It was so much fun.  Then we opened some presents. Christmas Day we had church. Sister Merriman and I sang in the choir. After church we went to Abigales and dropped off some presents for them. This was kind of a miracle we were at loaves and fishes the other day and Joe one of the guys was like I have all these toys do you know someone you can give them to? And we said yeah, one of the families we are teaching would love those. There was the exact amount of toys we needed 3 barbies and 1 truck. Which was so awesome! We got to call our Families on Christmas which was so much fun! I loved being able to see everyone! :) We went to the Ellsworth's for Christmas dinner which was fun. There son is leaving in Jan on a mission. We played a couple games with them and talked. After all this we came home and opened our gifts from each other. Being a missionary is definitely a lot of hard work, but it is so much fun! I have loved serving in Kalamazoo. 

Love you all so much!  Happy New Years! 

Love, Sister Gittins

WEEK 13 BRRR!

This week was Super Cold. We walked a ton and almost froze to death but we are hanging in there. The cold doesn't bother us anyways. haha 

 We had a really good week this week. We have 2 people on a Baptismal date. We didn't even ask them. As soon as we ended talking about Joseph Smiths First Vision, Shane said I need to be baptized again. It was so cool. 

We went to Loaves and Fishes. Painted nails at the nursing home, went to a Relief Society Party and went Caroling with the Bruggers.  Sunday we had church, we were glad that it didn't get cancelled again. We went and saw Abagale and her kids. We were able to help someone in our ward deliver them food and Christmas presents. :) Which was super neat. :) Well I hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas! :) 

                                                  Love, 

                                                            Sister Gittins 

The Drostes took us out to Lunch and I got an Ice Cream Waffle. :)

Week 12 SNOW!

This week was pretty good. It snowed for 4 days straight so there is a LOT of snow.
On Monday night we got to meet a Refugee family from Rwanda. They insisted that we stay for dinner. They made rice and beans and so we dished up our plates with a little bit of food. Their oldest boy however got mad and said you need more so he piled our plates up super high. And we felt bad cause we couldn't eat it all! Tuesday we had loaves and fishes. We had a couple of lessons that went really well. Then we went to a referrals house and met with her and her husband. Her husband had a heart attack and 3 strokes all in a row. He went to the spirit world for a while and they told him that he could stay but he wouldn't be with his wife or he could go back and be with his wife for eternity. So they have been meeting with missionaries for a year and really want to be baptized together, so they are waiting for him to get better. They are such cool people. We love them already. Wednesday we had lots of lessons and some door knocking and then we went to ARP with one of our members.  Thursday we drove to Battle Creek for District meeting and interviews with President. Then we went to Subway after for lunch with the Elders. We had lots of Less Active lesson dinners and then we weekly planned. Friday we had Loaves and Fishes again and we door knocked a lot. Saturday was the ward Christmas Party I made Chocolate chip cookies for the party and they went fast. After that we went to the nursing home with the Elders and they and Sister Merriman sang while I played the piano. It was super fun. :) Then we went and saw Debbie and the Clark family it was great. Yesterday (Sunday)  church was canceled because of the snow. So we went finding out in the snow which was pretty fun. Love you all! Always strive to remember the True meaning of Christmas! :) Love Sister Gittins

WEEK 11 Trade Offs

This week was pretty fun. We had trade offs Monday to Tuesday night so Sister Cisenarows came to K2 with me and Sister Merriman went to campus with Sister Anderson. Tuesday we went to Loaves and Fishes which was great as always. Then we door knocked a bit and found this older guy who was a Protestant elder. He would not let us go and sat and talked to us about all of these random things for a half hour. So that was super funny. Then we decided that we needed a treat so we went to Culvers and got kids meals which are like the best things ever! :) Then we traded back off. On Wednesday we had district meeting and the Zone Leaders came so that was fun. After that we went to Theo and Stacey's for district lunch. Then we went and door knocked and visited some less actives.  We went with the Elders to Ten Ten cause Sister Savage, the lady who takes us, couldn't come so she paid for us and we went:) On Thursday we went door knocking again and while we were door knocking we found a Less Active Member. We were really confused at first cause we door knocked and a guy answered the door and was like Hey Sisters come in from the cold, I'll go get my wife. And we were like what is going on no one is ever this nice. haha So he went and got his wife and she talked to us for a minute and told us that she had been a member for 30 years but hadn't been active for the past 5 cause she was trying to figure out her beliefs. She was super nice. The next door we went to the lady answered and told us she wasn't interested in anything Mormon and that we needed to leave her neighborhood because she didn't wan't her neighbors to get tricked by us. As we were walking away she said "Girls I feel so sorry for you. Your church doesn't teach what Christ would wan't to be taught and Joseph Smith was a liar. She basically told us we were going to Hell and she truly was sorry for us." We just left and were like Wow! how sad. After that we went to the Nelsons for dinner and had a great time. Saturday we had a meeting with our ward mission leader. While we were headed to their house, a house along the side of the road was burning down, the flames were huge. It was pretty cool to see, but sad because it burned to the ground. Our meeting was good and they gave us a Hello Kitty gingerbread house. :) On Saturday we also door knocked to these guys who immediately told us that they were gay. And then proceeded to tell us that they were Atheists because they had read the Bible. haha I did not see that one coming. So on Sunday we went and had a lesson with Abagale and her kids. We built the Gingerbread house with them. We love them so much! They are so cute. Abagale and her kids don't have a lot and yesterday she shared with us how her kids school was doing a fund raiser to help people in the community who didn't have food. She said that her kids took every one of their cans in their cupboards and donated them to the school. Which was so cool cause they don't have a lot but were willing to donate all they had to help others around them. :)  

Love Sister Gittins