Pictures (7/28/14) - Santa Susana Ward; Primary, Cake and PDay Hike

Some of the sweet Senior Primary kids that we taught Sharing Time to. (Thank you Hermana Sarah Johnson for the idea.)

Beautiful day for our PDay Nature Hike :) (Probably too small of a picture to notice the Sister missionary still wearing their name tags) :)

Our 'little town'  and beautiful sky!

Here is a 'California Sunshine' smiling picture for mom :)

A very sweet elderly lady invited us over for dinner and she made this yummy cake for us, and the frosting with pecans and coconut was so good! My companion and I might have had seconds... and thirds.. :)

 'Sister K's Sunday Smile '(Karissa had no title for this one..) :)

Mom sent my companion and I this box! Thanks Mom & Papa! (Karissa told me to put this on her blog... it was just a 'this and that' box... Ha!) :) It had some souvenirs we had gotten for her and her companion. California socks etc. I wonder how the Seattle Space Needle pasta turned out..?) :) 

[6] Teaching and Serving in the Santa Susana 5th ward!

Hello dear family and friends!

I have been receiving some questions in emails that I haven't addressed so I decided to choose one to focus my missionary email on. This week I will answer a question and statement Mom had for me which was "Have you been able to teach in your ward? You love who you serve!" Sister Xayadeth and I must love our ward a lot because for the past month we have been teaching every week! (We do love them!):)

5TH SUNDAY

When we first arrived in our area we found out that we were 'white washing' the area. This means that all the missionaries that were serving here before were all transferred to a new place. And since we are replacing Elders with Sisters we sometimes call it 'pink washing' instead:) When we arrived at our apartment there was a note from the Elders on the different people they were teaching. At then at the end it said "By the way you are teaching the Combined Lesson on Sunday. Good luck!!" Even though at first we were a little overwhelmed, after we planned everything and practiced everything it ended up going so smoothly. Our lesson was for the 'third hour' and since it was the 5th Sunday of the month, it was with both the Priesthood (adult men) and Relief Society (adult women.)  We were asked to talk about how families can use Preach My Gospel in their family studies. Our amazing Bishop even ordered enough copies for each family! We passed them out and then talked about what is included in this incredible book. There are so many great things that can be learned from it. The Prophet of our church and many of the Apostle helped to contribute to it, so we have been told to study it along with our scriptures daily.  If you don't have one already, I invite all of you to order a copy.  Most people think that the Preach My Gospel (aka PMG) is only for missionaries but "every member a missionary" right? :) The lesson went really well and both my companion and I knew that the spirit was helping us share this important message with these lovely people.  Afterwords many people came up and told us we did a good job. Which is always good to hear, especially when we were really trying our best and had prayed a lot about it.  It was a blessing that we could do that on our very first Sunday, so we could get to meet a lot of the ward members, gain the trust of them, and we could share our personal testimonies with them :)

GOSPEL PRINCIPLES

The next week we were asked by the Gospel Principles teacher,Brother Tsimanis to substitute for him because he was feeling really sick during the week. We told him we would be happy to help and teach his class! We prepared during the week and practiced just as we did the week before. (Lots of prayers too!) :)  We got to class on Sunday and set up and just as we were about to start our lesson, Brother Tsimanis walked in! He just smiled at us and sat down in one of the seats.  So we still taught the lesson.   After class he said he started to feel better that morning so he came to church. Ever since he was baptized he has only missed two Sundays and didn't want to miss this one. He said he felt bad for all the work we had done, but he was not sad, because he said we did a great job! Our topic was Repentance. It is always a great feeling to be teaching something and having the feeling that you are helping others.  To help everyone remember we wrote down the ABCs of Repentance. 

A -  acknowledge what you did

B -  be sorry 

C -  confess

D -  don't do it again

E -  endure to the end

F -  forgive others and yourself

G -"go forth and sin no more"

PRIMARY

The following Sunday we were asked by our ward Primary President, Sister Shewell to help in Sharing Time (when the primary meet together there is Singing Time and Sharing Time where the kids do some type of activity) She told us that she would be out of town and so would her two councilors. The only leader there would be her sweet secretary! To make things less stressful for Sister Walker we again offered our services :) We taught both junior primary (Sunbeams - CTR 8) and senior primary (Valiant 9 - Valiant 11). We decided to play a game while we taught the children a lesson. We did a twist on Truth or Dare (I got the idea from Sarah Johnson when she taught singing time at home. Thanks Hermana Johnson!) :)  We had papers on the board that were 'truths' that they had to answer and then there were 'dares' they could pick from the jar. It was interesting to see the personalities on junior vs. senior primary. The little kids did mostly truths while the older kids did dares. They all had fun and hopefully they learned something too :) At the end we talked about the promises we make at baptism. One of them is to "take upon us the name of Christ". We can do this by following His example and acting as He would. We showed them how our missionary name tags have the name of Jesus Christ on them. We then gave them each their own personal names tags, so that they can remember that they can all be Missionaries, even at a young age. As they help others and share their sweet testimonies they will be able to "take upon them the name of Jesus Christ".  It was another favorite time on my mission. These children are just amazing!

SUNDAY SCHOOL

For our last teaching opportunity we were asked to help with the 16 year old Sunday School. This one was the easiest to prepare for. The teacher just asked us questions throughout the lesson to get our missionary perspective. The lesson was on Covenants and why they are important to make and keep. It was fun being in a small setting too and I know I learned a lot as well as the rest of the class. 

We didn't have any classes to teach this past Sunday, which was relaxing, but I am so grateful for all the opportunities in which we have been able to help this ward. I have learned so much as I have taught each class, especially the little primary children. That is one of the things I love about going to church. We go to renew our covenants and to learn from one another. There is always something new I can take away each time I attend church on Sunday. My testimony grows each time and everyday as I continue with my scripture study. I love it :) I'm really grateful for it every week. And I love the ward here. I am so grateful for them and their serving and loving examples to me.  I continue to learn and be amazed at how much our Heavenly Father knows each one of us and what we need in our life to keep moving forward and to be able to try and improve every day.

Have a great week everyone!

Lots of love,

Sister Skinner - Karatassos

Pictures (7/21/14) - Happy Pioneer Day! (Early) and Yummy Burgers:)

Sweet Sister Mason and I on Exchange day. (Twinning by accident) :)

Fun to hang out barefoot, it's been 90+ degrees all week!

 

Awesome turn out for our ward Pioneer Celebration!

 

What do you think of Sister Xayadeth and my pioneer dolls? :) Cute dresses!

 

Finally listened to the locals and had my first delicious In-N-Out Burger! Yum!

[5] Short But Sweet :) & Happy Pioneer Day!

Happy Pioneer Day everyone!

I know it is not until the 24th of July, but our ward celebrated early on Saturday and it was so much fun! They had so many types of tasty food (I'll try and get some recipes for you mom!) :) and fun pioneer games that you could buy with tickets. Sister Xayadeth and I even learned how and made little pioneer dolls :) (I'll add a picture)  A lot of our ward invited their friends, neighbors, and coworkers.  So many came to learn about pioneers, so it was a terrific turn out! It was fun showing others our LDS church having a good time with happy families and doing interesting things.

This letter is going to be a little shorter because I promised my district from the MTC that I would send them pictures this week. I hope that the pictures I include in this letter for you, can make up or it :)

EXCHANGES

I've been blessed to have some wonderful experiences.  This week I went on my first exchange! This is where we switch companions for the day and go with one of the Sister Training Leaders. It was awesome! Sister Mason is sweet, and kind and loving and I can't say enough good about her! :) And we saw many miracles that day. Within our first 20 minutes of going out to meet new people I passed out 2 Book of Mormons to people who really were interested in knowing what they were about! It was amazing! We also met several people who said we could come back and share more about our belief in Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. It was a great day. When we went home and we were reviewing how the day went, it made me feel good when Sister Mason said she was proud of me and of how well I did. I know I am still learning and have a lot more to learn.  So it was neat that she said it seems like I have been out longer than just one month because I have a sort of quiet confidence which she likes.  Sister Mason added that she could tell I am not ashamed to share the Gospel. It was so sweet of her to say those things. I learned a lot from her as a training leader.  And it's true, I do want to help others and bring them the happiness that the Gospel brings into my life.  I am blessed to have great Sisters to look up to in this mission. They are so wonderful!

LOCAL CULTURAL EXPERIENCE

Lately I have been joking that I need to have a cultural experience on my mission that matches the area and I finally had one last P-day. I went to an IN-N-OUT Burger for the first time! :) Being in California I have been told by several people that I have to try it.  We don't have any IN-N-OUT Burger places in Pennsylvania and I remember my family had planned on going there a few times when we were in California but we never got the chance.  One of the men in our ward is the executive manager for the restaurants in the whole area. His wife couldn't believe I had never been there before! But now I have and I it was delicious :) I now see what everyone has been talking about. YUM!

GO! FIGHT! WIN!

Because my letter is short I will leave you all with an adorable Mormon Message that I came across last week. One of it's messages it that in order to achieve goals we have to be looking to the Future and not focusing on where we are now. That is what I had to do this week during exchanges. I didn't see miracles and happy outcomes just because I had a different companion or person with me. We started the day with a goal in mind and sincerely worked towards it with every person we met. With a vision in mind we were able to do great things :) This little video is really cute so I hope you all like it :)

http://bcove.me/poof2yqa 

http://www.mormon.org/kazuta   if that doesn't work try this one :)

Have a great week everyone!

Lots of love,

Sister Skinner - Karatassos :)

[4] Life as a Missionary or A Day in the Life as a Missionary:)

My dearest friends and family, hello!

Thank you for the emails and letters you have sent. They mean so much. Thank you for making me feel cared about:)

OK, For this week's letter I thought I would go over my daily schedule so you can see what 'a day in the life as a missionary' is like :)

6:25 - Arise! 

The alarm goes off and we know it is time to get up.

"I hear you, get up you say. Time to start another day" - Cinderella:)  

6:30-7:00 Exercise! 

For this half hour, my awesome companion, Sister Xayadeth and I have been going out jogging every other day. We have a nice neighborhood near us which is a mile if we run around twice. And it really boosts your spirits to get out and about and your circulation moving.  When we don't go out we try to come up with a routine to last the half hour. It mostly consists of me trying to remember exercises I did on Wii Fit and Wii Fit U, Yoga poses and all :)

7:00-8:00 Prepare! 

This is when we shower and eat breakfast! (Lots of yummy fruit right now in California. Trying to eat healthy mom!)

8:00-9:00 Personal Study! 

We have one hour to read our scriptures, Ensign articles, General Conference talks by our Church leaders, and other approved Church materials. I've read so many wonderful and uplifting articles during my studies. I especially like the short stories at the back of the Ensigns, they always make me feel that each one of us is important to our Heavenly Father, that he knows us each individually, and cares about our circumstances and prayers.  I highly recommend reading as many as you can.  It is a great way to start the day. Btw, If anyone has a favorite story or talk they want to send my way, I would love to read them for studies! :)

9:00-10:00 Companion Study!

This is when we come together as a companionship and discuss what we learned during studies. It's a great way to learn new insights from each other. It is also amazing how much you can read the same things, and get different ideas and thoughts from them. Our Companion Study time is one of my favorites because we get to share our feelings and we really feel the Spirit and want to share that great feeling with others. It really motivates us.

10:00-11:00 Twelve Week!

Since I am new to the Mission, I have to be trained :) During this hour we follow a Booklet and learn how to teach others. We watch a lot of videos from The District, which is a fun part. They are videos from certain Missions that were filmed. None of the Missionaries are actors, they just show what it is like to be a Missionary. They are great examples! It is amazing to me that I get to be one of those Missionaries now and it helps me see that the Lord uses many different personalities to help bring knowledge to the people who want to learn. Everyone has something to share and give.

11:00-5:00 Time to go out!

This is when we leave for the day and begin to work. We enjoy visiting ward members to get to know them better, and the less active members in our area, and potential investigators. We also have spent a lot of time knocking on doors trying to find new people to teach who may be looking for more about our Savior or want to know more about Life's Plan. This is the scariest part though. You never know what to expect. I'll give you an example of three experiences that happened all within the very same hour:

At the first door we met a guy who seemed nice at first but then turned out to be a *basher. After talking with him for about a half an hour we just had to go and wish him well.  We then went to the next house and I taught my first 'doorway lesson!' It was great and felt really good! The kind lady accepted a Book of Mormon and told us to come back when her family returns from vacation and she said she  might have questions. It was so exciting! Then we went to one more house and knocked on the door. Nobody answered, but someone shouted really loud through the door "Go Away You!" So you never know what you are going to get when you knock on a door, but it is worth it when we find someone who is willing to listen or who show kindness to us:)

* 'Basher's- people who love to argue with us or like to twist words around. There are two churches in this town that Sister Xayadeth and I have a suspicion teach a lot of anti-Mormon classes. All the people we meet from these congregations always bring up the same type of arguments and say the same words.  They try to have us "pray for (ourselves) to find truth in the real Holy Bible". We have to repeatedly say that we do believe in the Holy Bible and study it often (daily even.) :)  Talking to these people can be really hard sometimes, very draining but the interesting part I have found is, I still love them and feel loving towards them.  We share what truthful message we can and then tell them to have a good day :)

5:00-6:00 Dinner! 

We do get a break for lunch in between the time we are out and we also get dinner with a family in the Ward. Everyone has been so nice, kind and caring and they always tell us when we are done "if someone cancels let us know and we'll make something for you! Don't eat alone" :)   Everyone is so caring in this Ward. A lot of the families have little kids like my Ward at home, so it feels comfortable too which is great. Like I mentioned in my last letter,  all the children seem to love to talk to us and show us their toys when we are over to their home.  One little girl even told us to keep coming to visit her after we are done with our missions :) Most of them wave to us too when we are at church. It is so cute!

6:00-9:00 Work some more!

We keep working and visiting people until it is time to go in :) I can not say enough that I know God knows each one of these people we visit with, and He loves them individually. It is amazing to me how blessed I am to know that we matter and that these people matter to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

9:00-10:30 Plan!

We plan for the next day; who to visit, who we will be teaching and what area we should go to.  And then prepare for bed. Light's are out at 10:30. I always fall asleep right away:) because I am so tired. But I feel it means I've worked well, which is good! (See mom, no more staying up way late!) :)

This week has been hard on the work side, but I am learning more each day. I love being a missionary and wearing the Church of Jesus Christ missionary tag. It reminds me every day that I am taking on Christ's name to help others.  I have seen how much happiness the Gospel has given me and I am grateful to have the opportunity to share it with others. Because I have found that when you have something really good, you just want to share it, like the cake pops Sister Xayadeth and I made this week! Even though they turned out looking like meteorites, haha, they still tasted delicious and it was fun to share them and brighten someone's day :)  We all have light and we need to share it!   One of my favorite scriptures is about that in the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 12:14-16.  ".......Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven." 

So that is about a day in the 'Life as a Missionary'.

I love you all and pray for you! Enjoy the week!

Love,

Sister Skinner - Karatassos

Pictures (7/7/14) - Fourth of July and Friendly Faces

 

Here are some of the awesome kids we were able to spend

the 4th of July with.

  

 

The delicious cake Sister Jenkins made us to help celebrate.

It was Red Velvet. Yum!

 

Sweet Sister Jenkins and our 4th of July Leis

  

This is food Brother and Sister Jenkins gave my companion and I!

They are the best and take good care of us.

 

A 'hidden Mickey'! Pancakes made just for Sister Xayadeth and me:)

 

Sister Xayadeth and I. Showing our red, white and blue USA spirit!

 

 Yay! We were able to see 4th of July fireworks 

from our missionary apartment's parking lot.

  

My super ward family friends, (from PA) the Gardner family! So happy 

I got to see them at the SLC airport before I left.

[3] Familiar and Friendly Faces & Being Blessed

Third Letter from our Sister K! Glad to hear she had a good 4th of July and had people to celebrate with. :) Hope everyone had a terrific Fourth of July as well!

Take Care

PS Sister K said she can now receive email from both family and friends, so if you have some time, send her a line or two :)  She'll be checking each Monday.
 

karissa.skinner-karatassos@myldsmail.net

Dear Family and Friends,

I want to wish you all a belated Happy 4th of July!!

I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday! Our ward here had a yummy breakfast for every one, which was so fun! We got to talk and meet with a lot of new people.  We were also blessed to have a ward member invite us over for their 4th of July dinner! They also had their extended family over so there were a lot of kids.  I loved being around the children.  They were so cute and they all wanted to talk and play games with my companion and I.  (And yesterday they all waved when they saw us at church) :) We ended the day’s celebrations by watching fireworks from the parking lot of our apartment. We had to be in early so I am so glad we had a good view and could see them! It was such a fun ‘getting to know you’ type of day. I am so thankful and blessed to live in this beautiful and free country. :)

FAMILIAR FACES

I've been blessed to see some familiar faces since I left. I've mentioned some of them earlier, but there is one more I need to mention from the MTC, Sister Camry Bennion. We met while taking a folk dance class at BYUH and now we are serving in the same mission! But while I am a Sister she will be a Hermana :) She learned Spanish while living in Guatemala so she only had to be in the MTC twelve days like me. It was wonderful to fly out together!

While we were at the airport at Salt Lake, ready to head out to the field, I saw five more friendly faces. The Gardener family from my home ward was there! They were visiting family in Utah. It was so nice to see some friends from home before I left and it helped to brighten my day:)  

Once I got to California I received one more surprise. At the transfer meeting I saw my really good friend Kevin from BYUH! We took one my Uncle Ben's Physical Science classes together. His home is in my mission area so he was picking up some Elders to take back to where he lives. It was exciting to see him! And it felt like another blessing was being given to me.

FRIENDLY FACES

My area is about thirty minutes from LA in a little town called Simi. Everyone is so nice here.  I’m really grateful for that.  Even when you pass people on the street, they smile and say hello. Serving in this area has been such a blessing. Our ward is the best! So many people have told my companion and I that they have been waiting to have Sisters again :) So that makes us feel good.  They are so welcoming. I feel comfortable around everyone in the ward already. I am truly grateful for everyone's kindness.

One person that makes our ward feel great is our Bishop Page. He is such a great example and works hard to help us missionaries. He is a convert to the Church and his story is pretty amazing. One day his friend brought over the missionaries and they began to teach him. He wanted to learn more and more so they taught him all the lessons in one night! And that's not the craziest part, the next day Bishop Page was baptized. He's amazing and has a wonderful spirit of love about him. He's very spiritual, but he also has a sense of humor and likes to joke with us Sisters. Since my companion and I have hard names, he takes pride in pronouncing them correctly :)

Another blessing in the ward is Sister Jenkins. She is a Ward Missionary and one of the sweetest people I've ever been blessed to meet. She's always looking out for us in different ways. The second day we arrived here, she invited us over to her home for dinner. When we were done she gave us three bags worth of groceries and some supplies from Bath and Body Works. We were so thankful! She's also in charge of the Missionary Dinner Calendar and she makes sure every day is filled so that we always have somewhere to go for dinner. She's seriously an angel. Brother Jenkins, her husband, is very sweet as well. They have a daughter on a mission in Texas right now and you can tell how much they love her. They said they like us to eat with them because it reminds them of their daughter and best friend coming over to visit :) 

I should call this email ‘blessings’.   :) I am also so blessed to have a wonderful companion. Sister Xayadeth is a great example and has helped me so much. Her last name is pronounced 'sigh-a-det'. To help people remember she tells them to think 'sigh because you are in debt' :) We get along great and like we’ve known each other for a long time, instead of a few weeks. We have similar senses of humor so we make each other laugh a lot. We are both pretty happy people so it's a blessing since we are around each other all the time :) We also pray, read scriptures, and teach well together which is important. I am so blessed to have her as my trainer!

I also met two more friendly faces this week, my new mission president and his wife! President and Sister Felix are from Utah and they are so sweet.  You can tell they are a loving married couple and work as a team.  We only met briefly, but I know they will be great church leaders to guide us:)

I've now had a full week in my first Mission area! As we've met new people each day I've realized how blessed I have been to meet many kind and loving people throughout my life. So this email is a shout out to all of you as well! Thank you for your love and support.   You are each a blessing in my life.  Your friendship means a lot to me :) I am grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I love how others look out for one another and they are always looking for ways to serve. As the scriptures say, "When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are in the service of your God" :) If you want to look up some great scripture verses read - Matt 25:34-40.    Matt 25:40 “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

I forgot to mention last week, but I am now able to email friends as well as family! So please feel free to send me something throughout the week. I will be able to see them on Mondays.  I have been printing my letters off and I read them throughout the week. They make me smile every time I read them :)

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Skinner - Karatassos :)

karissa.skinner-karatassos@myldsmail.net

Pictures - (6/30/14) Last few days at the MTC and then on to Ventura, California!

Our missionary, Karissa aka Sister K, sent us these pictures this week, and added the comments, so I hope I put the right ones with the right pictures :)  

My friend from BYUH, Sister Bennion who is also going  to

the California Ventura Mission, Spanish speaking.

                                My happy lunch day - Terriyaki Chicken from Terriyaki Stix:)
                                         (It is one of my favorite foods to eat in Utah)

                                 My Zone in the MTC. They are all wonderful Missionaries.

                 
                                 At the airport with Sister B and Sister E.   So happy to have shared
                                 my MTC teaching with them.
                            

                                                 My new Missionary Companion - Sister Xayadeth,
                                                 She is awesome.

                                My new District in Ventura, California.  I'm looking forward to
                                serving with them.