Sister Manwaring: Serving in North Carolina

  Dear Family and Friends,   I was able to attend church services in three wards today!  Raleigh 3 rd  (Spanish), Zebulon, and Knightdale.  This was a huge blessing after the last three weeks wherein I wasn’t able to attend church at all (due to quarantine and bad weather.)  In Raleigh 3 rd  Ward I was able to sit by two new friends and explain/answer questions for them.  In Zebulon the other missionaries and I were able to give “Future Missionary” name tags to the Primary children (as a thank-you for the sweet Christmas gifts they had given us.)     When I first got here, my companion and I were assigned to just Zebulon Ward.  But we were seriously under-employed.  So we volunteered to serve in Knightdale Ward also, each of us attending alternate wards each week.  And since the Raleigh 3 rd  Ward meets in the same building as Knightdale, I can usually attend at least two wards....

January 23, 2022   Dear Family & Friends,   This week started out a bit discouraging. Due to bad weather, church was cancelled on Sunday, and our Come Follow Me study group was cancelled Monday.  On Tuesday, I went over to the food pantry, but they already had enough volunteers and didn’t need me.    No one showed up for our Tuesday Come Follow Me discussion group.  My companion was sick, so it was just me, and I told God I felt like getting a piece of cardboard and writing on it “will work for nothing” and standing on a street corner.  Just then Sheri called.  Sometimes she calls and participates in our study group over the phone because she is blind and doesn’t have to be there physically.  She asked if I would like to come teach the class at her house.  This turned out to be a wonderful opportunity because Sheri had a non-member friend named Tyla there.  I picked up some lunch on my way and ...

  January 16, 2022   Dear Family & Friends,   We survived our Covid quarantine--symptom free.  And yesterday, Saturday, I was able to go teaching with Hermanas Sonnenberg and Kelsch.  On our way, we found the street names to be very instructive!  (See attached photos.)   I survived the quarantine by going on long walks and by doing family history for my friend Sheri.  (Sheri is blind and has asked me to work on her family history.)  If I hadn’t been able to do family history during the quarantine, I would have gone crazy.  Funny thing, on Tuesday two of our friends surprised us by dropping off dinner and some craft kits called diamond art to keep us busy. Hahahaha.  Gluing tiny little pieces of glass to fabric would definitely make me crazy!   But family history is so interesting, I completely lose track of time.  Most intriguing of all is looking for missing family members with ...

I just found out that I was exposed to someone who has Covid, so now my companion and I are quarantined  L   January 9, 2022   Dear Family and Friends,   I’m trying to be a better listener.  As I have done this, I’ve been blessed to meet some wonderful people.   On Monday I met an interesting woman in the Post Office.  I had a letter to mail, and could have just dropped it into the mailbox outside, but I felt impressed to go inside to mail it. A woman was inside going through her mail.  She was very friendly and we started a conversation. I learned her name was Diana.  She spoke of a friend of hers who had health problems.  She said several of her friends were praying for her friend.  I offered to pray for her friend.  I also offered to put her friend’s name on our temple prayer roll and she gratefully accepted.  I listened to my new friend as she told me of her relationship with God and ...

  District Elders January 2, 2022     Happy New Year my family & friends!   I have no great miracles to report this week, but maybe a few small ones.   Once in a while our young sister missionaries need a ride or an extra person, so I’ve had a few opportunities to participate in teaching the gospel in Spanish (which makes me nervous, but things always seem to work out.)     On Tuesday I went with the Garner hermanas to teach a woman and her young daughters.  The woman said she was Catholic but hadn’t baptized her daughters.  She said it didn’t seem right to baptize them, but she didn’t know why.  I told her that when Jesus spoke of children He said, “…of such is the kingdom of heaven.”  This seemed to resolve the issue for her.   On Wednesday we had a very uplifting District Council with seven young missionaries. We went to lunch afterward and I spoke to a couple of people standing behind me in line...