Moline week 7 - hashtags...

WOA! What a week! Time here in the mission is so precious/slow moving. I can't even begin to tell you all the things that happen in one day and yet here I am at the computer like, "Is it already Monday?"

Well, here's the life of Sister Sumsion this week:

My Companero:

Is a CHAMPION! "Holy CRAP, Dad." Like seriously. We got a call this week from the mission nurse about Sister Batty's headache. It's like a constant one that never stops. It's crazy. So we go into the doctor and he's like "yeah, that's strange. have you tried pain pills?" Batty: "Yes, nothing works. I feel like it's something else that's causing them." Doctor: "Ok. Sweet. You need an MRI." So we schedule one. Mission nurse calls and says if you need an MRI, then you might need to go home. Batty is a champion and prays hard core and gets a blessing and tries everything she can to conform her will to the Lords. After days of waiting, MRI indeed DOES get approved. MRI scheduled for a few weeks from now. #NUTS!!!!!!!! Sometimes I pray really hard for her: and other times I am so peaceful about it because she is so great and is so prayerful about it and feels like the Lord is leading her and OH MY WORD she is amazing. What a trooper! So much faith!

My mind:

I swear sometimes I have short term memory loss. The Lord is so good to me and the next day I am SUPER exhausted and the only thing I can think is "sleepsleepsleepsleep" and then I pray and I'm like, "um......what am I supposed to do?" And the Lord answers me super gently and amazingly. Happened twice this week. He knows everything! It's so cool! And He's so nice about it. #mostpatientparentEVER

My heart: 

Sister Hannah Rackham emailed me and all week I had a few Jeru flashbacks and we did our first service (hopefully many more to come) at the public library and I was overwhelmed with how much I loved my life. They are things I miss (Hannah and books), but they are still part of me and sometimes I forget that. So I had this huge "I LOVE MY PEOPLE" party. It was kind of hard, but some comforting words came to me and I determined to do MUCH better at writing the ones I love.......hense this email to my closest people. I MISS YOU SO MUCH!

My studies:

because of said experiences post-Sumsion-tiredness, I had a huge attitude change and my morning studies are slowly improving. POSITIVE ATTITUDE CHANGES EVERYTHING!!!! Sister Batty's headache was so bad one day that we stayed in and I had the coolest studies ever thanks to D&C 123 and my trainer. #stillbeingtrainedbyLloyd Sometimes you get so wrapped up in worry about righteous causes that you forget how AWESOME you are and how awesome the Lord has made your life. #Gratitudechangeseverthing

The Work:

So Friday after attitude change but before tiredness went away, I randomly felt like talking to this girl who was sitting outside. Her name in Ca---: her daugther's name is Ja---. She reminds me of Summer, who's daugther's name was Jaden. Freaking out. Want to teach her family SO BAD! The Lord is so merciful. He sends us super awesome people in our lives!!!!!! So then we teach this LA lady and she just starts bearing her testimony of the Gospel and answers ALL of my prayers and I don't even feel tired and I'm crying like OH MY WORD THE LORD LOVES ME!

The Truth:

So I'm feeling relieved after awesome stay-home study and LA-pep-talk and then we teach Ni--- and I about keel over with happiness. Ni--- was baptized right before I got to Moline: she's 20. She has truly been changed by the Gospel. We went in thinking we would teach her about keeping covenants and instead she teaches me about how to feel the Spirit. I was FREAKING OUT like, "ohmywordhowcananyonebethisawesome?" She really knows how to feel the Spirit. She told us these two experiences she had this past week and "feeling good" about going into this coffee shop and then she met this super awesome Christian lady and another about "wanting to get away" from the way a co-worker was talking and about how she studied them out and planted a seed of faith and OHMYWORDWHYAMINOTMOREFAITHFULTOMYFEELINGSFROMHEAVENLYFATHER?!?!?!?

My district:

is a huge family. The elders here are hilarious and I laughed SO hard at district meeting and it felt SO good. A few of the elders transferred this week, but my favorites (Elders Wright, Sellers, and Henderson) are still here. #RockISlandersforlife Also: Sister Weist and I had an epiphany about how we grew up in the same ward together on Michigan avenue and then she finished her mission wednesday and then on sunday she brought her mom to church and they were in the hallway and were like "CHLOE" and I was freaking out hearing my first name and seeing people from home. Crazy!!!!!!!!!

My family:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAMMY!!!!!!!! 

Grandparents: I often wish I could call and talk to you. I love you 4 so much!!!!! Thank you for all you have done for this family because of your testimonies and hard work! I love you so much!

So yeah: Moral of the story is the Lord is really merciful. And also that I missed you people a lot this week. Please know I care about you and constantly beat myself up that I can't communicate the extent of that to you. Thank you for all your words to me: I hope some day I can make it up to you how much they help me and strengthen me. Thank you for being one of the channels of the mercy and love of the Lord in my life.

-Sister Chloe Michelle Sumsion

Shoutouts:

Can you tell the Barbers thank you for sending a note with some cute quotes: they are being used around the apartment and given to investigators and members. so great!

Moline with Sis. Wiest  (family friend) and Sis Batty

Moline - week 5 - a peaceful heart

Hurrah! Missions are the best! 

This week was a GOOD ONE!!!!! (I feel like it's been awhile.) Mostly because the Lord has blessed me with a lot of answers. I feel that I have waited patiently and this week Heavenly Father dumped blessings on my heart. Nothing drastic happened, but it was a lot of little things that I felt were Heavenly Father's mercies to me personally. And I think that was the biggest answer of all: that the Lord works by the small and simple. I had to learn that the hard way :)

Some random happenings:

Taught cool lesson to a member. we ended up just talking for 2 hours about the gospel and her conversion to it. I hope it helped her. It certainly was a huge blessing for me to explain it the way I did. 

Taught these two kids: Ma--- and Am---: 13 and 14. They talked to their parents about baptism before we even asked them too. Their parents weren't too happen, but Marco basically said he really wanted to know if the BoM was true, so we are excited to see where this goes.

Pa--- and Be--- are these two sisters (in their 50's) that I love. They are so busy and always reschedule but this week Patty said she "read the book" and was excited to talk to us. SO HAPPY! Batty and I little danced for like 2 minutes in the car.

Taught Ni---. She is our age and just baptized in May. She is the GREATEST. We had two super great talks this week about how the gospel has completely changed her. Because she had super awesome spiritual experiences. She is truly changed and I feel like she has come into my life for a really specific reason. I feel like I really needed her. She really understands what it means to use the Atonement and feel the Savior's love for you.

So I had that in mind one "lunch break" and started writing about the Atonement and had this really sweet experience as i wrote out my thoughts about my Savior and His relationship to me and how I really have felt His love for me personally and how that has really changed me. I LOVE THE ATONEMENT! It changes EVERYTHING. Including hearts.

We also finally made contact with a less active named Co- and he has been wanting to embrace the gospel again. We came over to teach him and he felt the Spirit and started WEEPING and told us it felt so good to finally feel it again.

The Spirit means everything to me. The Spirit testifies to our hearts that the Savior loves us and what He did for us and when I feel that, my heart is happier than I ever thought it could be.

We also had Zone Conference this week. Even though we should have been at the Nauvoo ZC, President asked us to go to the Iowa City one instead and I got to see Murphy and Farnsworth and it was the sweetest reunion. I wanted to talk to them for hours. And President is SO inspired so it's always good to hear from him.

FAITH AND LOVE,

Sister "Sumpsh"

Moline Week 4, Mission Week 41

To MOM:

I am happy. I miss home so much it hurts but I am trying to love the people instead. No one is progressing but the Lord is very merciful and sends us little reminders here and there that He has got it all in control. 

The world is really wicked, but the Lord knows that. That is why a testimony of the book of mormon is so important. WE NEED A TESTIMONY OF IT IN THIS WORLD.

I am happy. The Lord is taking care of me.

TO DAD:

 

"It's a jungle out there, kiddies! have a very fruitful day!"

Love, Chloe

Week Three - Same Corn field!  That grows faster than my school bus!

Moline Week 3, Mission Week 40 - A Baptism!!!

Last Monday, we had a gnarly storm. More rain than I've ever seen in my entire life in Utah. Luckily tornadoes don't come to the Quad Cities because of the Mississippi. But the corn fields had huge paths of wind-blown stalks. Sister Batty and I were panicking. How on earth do Iowians survive if half of their corn is gone with one storm? A few days later, they had all stood up straight again with the sun out.

Life is good. God is great. And people are crazy. -one of my favorite country songs I have long forgotten

Sometimes, we are like corn stalks. Life is hard. Sometimes unbearable. And then we feel the Spirit and are so happy that we wonder how we ever feel sadness. This is my message. This is my testimony: that the more frequently we feel the Spirit, the more frequently we feel joy. 

Keisha (her wonderful training companion Sis. Lloyd, who has completed her mission) came to the mission this week. I wouldn't have felt obedient if I saw her. It was really hard. At one point I was so tired and I felt like I wasn't doing anything here. So much work and so little success. So much vision and so little change. And then:

Joyann's baptism was Saturday. I first talked to her at the food bank we volunteered at a few weeks before I left Iowa City. (I am assuming the Chloe got to go down to Iowa City for the baptism)  She has come so far. She knows the Gospel is so true. I was so happy being there I couldn't keep myself from giggling. I felt the Spirit so strongly. Sister Murphy and Elder McGinn were there too. HUGE tender mercy from the Lord. Murph was a little reminder of Lloyd and how much us three loved and learned and trusted together. And Elder McGinn was the missionary we served with during that time who is a SPITTING image of Ben and acts just like him and it was like my brother was right there with me. He preformed Joyann's baptism. SO HAPPY to be surrounded by those I love and comforted at what that represented for me. 

Taught Ni---. Recent Convert. She answered my questions and prayers and we just talked like I had known her my whole life even though I've only met her twice.

Ran around all of Tuesday and Wednesday trying to contact people and NO ONE was home. 

Zone Training was Friday and I felt the Spirit SO strongly. I think Zone Training is my favorite part of being a missionary. Always exactly what I need. 

The 4th: pancake breakfast with the ward. Saw some members. That night: we had to be in by 6, so we had smores in our firepit with the older lady we live with: Sister Hirst. She is cool. But even cooler is her son Mi---: he's about 30 and less active and I swear he is like my brother. We just talked to him. We talked about church and the army and it was just so peaceful to not have to go anywhere. He opened up and we saw that he totally has a testimony! He just hates church. And it broke my heart because I understood exactly how he felt: and understood that it had been a very long time since he felt the Spirit. Breaks my heart. The Spirit is what I crave. It makes me so happy. When I haven't felt it for a few hours, I miss it. THAT is why this church is on the earth: to help us feel the Spirit more frequently through Jesus Christ and His Atonement. 

SO MUCH LOVE. I thought I would seriously scream because I was so happy at Joyann's baptism. "Can you imagine? In de heavens? Ah. I just can't wait....." -The District

Also: Sister Batty is having some migrains. She is a champion and pushing through and is really trying to get better (she has been dealing with it for a few months--mostly stress related, we think) so we are trying to help her. I drove one day because she was hurting and I realized it has been 14 MONTHS since I drove consistently. "Nuts" as Ben would say. I was scared I would forget: but instead I was a super good driver cuz I was like TERRIFIED! hahahhahahaha #statesidemissionaryprobs #lovemyparents #missmySUBARU 

Love from Moline, Illinois  

--Sister Chloe Michelle Sumsion

All the Sister Missionaries who have taught Joyann - in the middle.