[10] Library Cards, Direct Mail Address & Count Downs on computers:)

Hello sweet family and friends,


"Having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card!" (Who can guess what cartoon show that is from?) :)  

We have a change of location for our computer letter writing time today!  I am emailing you from the Simi Valley Library!  For some reason the computers weren't working in the Family History Center at our church building, so we had to move over here.   And the awesome thing about that is, now I have my very own California library card!  Mom and Papa know how much I always liked going to the library:)  Sadly we only have an hour like we do normally, AND the computers here have a count down, just ticking away to make things more stressful. (Or exciting, depending on how you chose to look at it.)  So without further ado, let's get started shall we? :)

MAIL TIME

We had a happy announcement this week about mail.  Our mission president sent out an announcement to all the Ventura Missionaries and it said that family and friends can now write us directly to our apartment. You no longer have to send it to the mission office. Here is my address for those who would like it:

Sister Karissa Skinner - Karatassos

5090 Arroyo Lane #G-105

Simi Valley, CA 93063

HANS (not of the Southern Isles) :)

It was somewhat discouraging this past week, because most of our appointments canceled except for Hans. On the bright side, Han's is a wonderful boy. He is a 9 years old, who we have been teaching with his dad for several weeks now.  He is really sweet and during our lessons and discussions you can tell how smart and bright he is. He really has a belief in his Savoir, and knows Jesus is someone who knows him personally and loves him.  It's great to see the excitement in his eyes when Han's talks to us about things he is learning.   We have been trying to set him with a baptismal date, because he wants to be baptized.  Unfortunately his parents are divorced so there is some stress there. His mom (who is also a member) wants Han's 19 year old brother to baptize him, instead of his Dad (who has been inactive for a long time.)  That would be a difficult situation on it's own, but Han's brother just left for his mission last month!  So that will be in two years!  My companion and I can feel how Han's loves both his father and his brother.  It's a pretty difficult situation.  His mom has also called our Mission President to discuss it.

We don't know what will happen.  We don't want to push him in anyway and just want Han's to be happy.  I think I have mentioned this before, but you really start to care for and love the people you teach and serve.  It helps me understand that our Heavenly Father, who has way more ability to love, has so much love for each one of us.  I feel closer to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ when I feel how much They must love us and want us to succeed and be happy.  Because that is exactly how we feel about the people we teach.  Hans is in our prayers, and maybe others can pray for this sweet boy too.  Hopefully everything will get worked out for the best.

Also to go with my Library theme, For my thought D&C 88:118 - "Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom." Our Prophet Gordon B Hinkley said 'Good books are as friends, willing to give to us if we are willing to make a little effort."

The count down says I have only five minutes!  Sorry I don't have time to write more!

Lots of love,

Lots of prayers,

Sister Skinner - Karatassos

Pictures (8/25/14) - Always Blooming, P-Day Pirate Fan, and Finding A Way In!:)

We live on such beautiful earth that the Lord has created for us.  

Taking time to appreciate the small things, 

like these little flowers.

Sweet Sister Xayadeth. No matter what type of day we are having

pink flowers lift our spirits.

Had to pick up some things at the Mall on our PDay 

and guess what I found. Our favorite Baseball team:)

This picture is for you Papa. It was a little place serving

Greek Food at the mall.  I had Soulvaki in Pita Bread. YUM! 

This is our new approach to telling people about the Gospel. jk 

We had to pick up some church materials at the other Sisters'

apartment and they were not there, so we had to climb through

the window :) Good thing we are both flexible:)

[9] Mad Madem Mim, Minecraft & Ministering to Men Women and Children:)

Hi All! Thanks for being so wonderfully supportive to our Sister Missionary.

Have a great summer week!
Karissa's Mom =]



Good Morning Everyone! 

First of all, I want to say a big thank you to everyone who takes time to pray for me, or to write me an email or send me a letter. You really brighten my heart and my day! I promise I am working on writing back to every message. Slowly but surly you will get an answer :) I will try and answer some today after writing a few things here, that have been happening with Sister Xayadeth and I.  Also it means a lot that my friends and family want to read my weekly missionary letter.  Thanks for being a part of my missionary experience and being there for me.

CATCHING UP ON HOME LIFE

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! I can't believe it is August already. Time is flying by.  I was happy to hear Kevin was able to see Kate and Emily Scanlan, Olivia and Meredith Tillitson and Gabe at his summer band.  Way to go Kevin for playing at the Pittsburgh Pirates game! (It was always fun watching you perform!)

Kenson, I am proud of you for going out with the missionaries there on your Tuesdays!  That is awesome! I wish I had done that more before I left.  I think getting into the mode of thinking of others, caring about others, and talking to others helps to serve our Heavenly Father by reaching out to those who may need it. I was sorry to hear about Sister Paris though. I remember her as a sweet kind lady and a person who always had a smile for me when I came into our church building.  I will keep her family in my prayers. I am thankful for the knowledge and Faith that we can see our loved ones again and that they keep an eye on us and still love us even after they have left this life.

That is cool  that you have both Sister and Elders in our Cranberry ward now.  In the MTC, I met some Elders who were going to Pittsburgh.  I wonder if that is them? :)  Thank you for keeping me posted with what is happening at home.  It is hard to explain, but even though I am loving my mission it also helps to know that your own family members and friends are doing well.  And also with all the time we spend helping others to find happiness in their lives, it helps to know that there are friends and family out there living what they believe, doing good for others, and being happy about it.  It is also a great feeling to be where you are suppose to be and I know Simi Valley is the best place for me right now. And that brings me a lot of happiness.

TRACTING AND TEACHING

During the past couple of weeks Sister Xayadeth and I have been trying hard to find people to teach. We have been blessed to have two appointments every Wednesday, but we are missionaries, so we are always looking for more people to teach:)  We have been doing a lot of tracting, (lots of walking and walking in the heat) it's tough when it is a super sunny 98.9+ degrees outside. But, don't worry, I am not turning into Mad Madame Mim from Sword in the Stone ("I hate sunshine!") The sun helps to keep our spirits up :) Must be all that extra vitamin D mom. ;)  After a lot of prayers and fasting to find more people who are seeking help in their lives, we found some new people to teach this week!

So during my first week here, we met this lady named Lilliana who told us the missionaries used to come and teach her son, but since he was only eight years old at the time, she didn't want him to convert then. She told us she would call us if she ever wanted us to teach him again. Then last week she called the Elders who told us that Lilliana has decided that her son needs good roles models, since he will be starting school soon and "too many girls are chasing him" haha! :)  Devin is now ten almost eleven years old, and his mom invited us for weekly visits to teach him the Bible stories. 

For our first lesson on Thursday we decided to start at the beginning of the Bible with the Creation of the Earth. Lillana set us up outside on their balcony and then went inside to talk to a friend of hers who came over to visit. The start of the lesson was pretty rough, well, really rough, because as Devin's mom explained to us, he has ADHD and he wanted to play on his iPad the whole time.  He wasn't really looking up at us.  We kept trying to get his attention, but nothing was working. Suddenly I noticed what game he was playing, which was Minecraft and I thought "This is perfect!" I began to ask Devin questions about his game and what he was building and what materials he was using. Then I related building in Minecraft to the creation of the Earth, and how it all happened in steps and how the Lord built it for us to enjoy and live here.   I don't know if it was the most spiritual lesson, but it worked!  Devin got involved and he was answering questions, even read the whole first chapter of the children's Bible we brought for him.  At the end we asked him what he learn and he was able to sum everything up really well! Success! So thank you to my brothers, Kenny and Kevin and also my awesome cousins, Katherine, Colin, Stephanie, and Natalie for teaching me so much about Minecraft! Who knew you were giving me mission prep?:)

Some of the other people we found are less active members of our church. One lady has a great Native American heritage and she goes by the name Gypsy. She loves to talk about so many interesting things that she has heard of or things she thinks about, that she does most of the talking.   We do get some time to share some scriptures with her in between her stories though :) She told us to come back because she felt a good feeling with us, so hopefully we can work on getting her to come to church soon and have more good feelings there! 

The other sweet lady we met is named Linda and she is truly amazing person. She told us about her life and opened up to us very quickly. She told us she really wants to go to church, and has felt that part of her life is missing something, but she had been so busy working on her property and helping her children.   We shared Ether 12:27 with her. 

Ether 12:27 - And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have Faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.  

And told her that the Lord gives us weaknesses so that we can become strong. We are not given trials without a reason. They are given to us to strengthen out Faith. She kept smiling as we talked. When we were done she smiled again and asked if we would please come by each week and teach her more scripture lessons and could we also 'leave a reading assignment for her to study during the week?' ('Yes, absolutely!') You can imagine our smiles after that. :)  Missionaries love requests like that.    I wish everyone we taught would say that!   But I know it is because of Linda's Faith. We told her we would and left her Alma 32 to read until next Thursday.  The Alma 32 Chapter Heading says, "Alma teaches the poor whose afflictions had humbled them - Faith is hope in that which is not seen, which is true - Alma testifies that angels minister to men, women and children - Alma compares the word unto a seed, it must be planted and nourished.  Then it grows into a tree from which the fruit of eternal life is picked."     I am excited to go back and teach her more!

I know I am always praying to make my weaknesses to become strong and I know being humble and prayerful can help all of us.   I hope everyone has a wonderful week! 

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

I love and pray for you all!

Sister Skinner Karatassos

Pictures (8/18/14) - New District, Triforce T-shirts, and Go Away Signs!:)

Our new District after transfers. I still get to be with Sister Xayadeth! Yay!

Do you like our Zone shirts? They remind me a little of Zelda and the Triforce :)

Another great day tracting! :)  We've seen a few of these 

cute signs,  even though they are sadly telling us to go away!! 

(If we only had Thin Mints, sigh!) :)

Pictures (8/11/14) - 100th B-day Parties, Balloons and Compliments:)

This is an email message I got from Brother and Sister Wallace 

who served us a delicious dinner.

Aloha & Mahalo! Thanks for visiting us & King Kong Wong!

                                                        God bless you and your families!

                                                                    Sincerely

                                                             Glenn & Raine Wallace

                                              P/s pls forward pix to sister Xayadeth , thanks!

Being at the right place at the right time.  

Wouldn't this many balloons make you smile? 

Helping the balloon man bring in these beautiful balloons into the church:)

Sister selfies in the mirror? :) Yes. Haha. Showing our bright yellow spirit.

Positive words about each Missionary in our District. 

Elder S - Kind, Bold and Patient...

Elder C - Funny, Powerful, Personable...

Sister D - Positive, Dedicated, Outgoing...

Sister X - Witty, Easy Going, Influential...

Sister K - Me.  I like Purposeful and Miss Smiles:)

Sister - Kind, Spiritual, Good Listener...

This picture is for you mom! I had your favorite choice at Taco Bell - 

Dorito Nacho Taco! I was thinking of you! :D

The cake Sister Jenkin's made in honor of her loving grandfather 

who would have turned 100 on his birthday. 

We celebrated with his favorite carrot cake recipe and candy. 

Our Missionary District on P-Day. 

Thanks again for the green Frisbee in my 'greenie care package' mom! :)

[8] Daily Adventures, Balloon Man and Light in the Wilderness.

Hello Everyone, family friends near and far!

This week has been fun and exciting! Everyday brings something new on my mission here in the Golden state :) I'll go through each day at a time to make my typing hopefully a little faster.  I seem to lose so much time at the computer at our email time! I hope to be able to upload and send a few pictures that go along with some of my missionary days/week.

MONDAY

P-day! For our district activity we played Frisbee! Thank you Mom for sending the green Frisbee in my 'Greenie package!' :)  It came in handy and we had a lot of fun while enjoying moving around and laughing. I think it helped lift the spirits. I remember it was always fun playing Frisbee in the backyard for Family Home Evening. 

TUESDAY

Over the past nine days sweet Sister Jenkins (our ward missionary) has fed us four times! She's always looking out for us :) It's great to go to her home and it feels like visiting family.  On Tuesday it was her grandfather's 100th birthday and even though he has passed away, we still celebrated. We had his favorite carrot cake recipe, and Sister Jenkins put out his picture for us to see. It was a cute little party :) I know she loved and loves her grandfather very much, and is grateful to know that she will see him again in the eternities some day.

Speaking of people over 100 years old, we met a neat lady who is 101! We were tracting when we found her. Her name is Helen and she seems very young for her 100+ age. She has a cheerful way about her, and she was up and about and she mostly takes care of herself. She is very sweet and says she knows a lot of friendly Mormons. We had a lesson with her and she participated and had such a great spirit, so hopefully we can go back and teach her more! 

WEDNESDAY

We had a lesson set up at the church, but our investigator didn't show up :( That is always a low and super disappointing feeling. Because you prayerfully prepare yourself for them and you, and then sometimes it just doesn't happen.  While we were waiting we decided to go into the church. As we were walking towards the door, an nice Indian man came up and asked us if we ordered any balloons. Confused, we said yes thinking it might be for the Japanese students that are staying with some members in our ward. (The students have class during the day in our church building) We unlocked the church for him and started carrying in all these bunches of balloons he had. We looked for the exchange students, but they weren't there that day. Eventually, after making some calls, we found out they were for a wedding reception that was being help that night at the church. The family got stuck doing other things and was running really late, and said they would be there soon as they could.   They said they were thankful for us. I'm glad we were there when the balloon man needed us:)

THURSDAY

This is the day we have District Meeting. Since transfers are this week we decided to do a group activity together. We had one person sit on a chair while the rest of us wrote compliment words behind them on the chalk board. It was such a sweet thing to do for each person! Plus is was great to think of each missionary's individual traits and make them smile :) 

On the subject of transfers, this week I am... not moving! Sister Xayadeth and I are staying together :) I'm really happy about that and feel like it's a blessing for us. I like the area we are in and feel love inside for the people in and out of our church.  Since we've found some great people that we are beginning to teach, I'm was praying to get to know them better and help them grow in the Gospel.  I was hoping I could stay and do that if that was what I was suppose to do. Hopefully great and positive things will come in the later weeks :)

This is Sister K's mom, I am not sure if her whole letter came through or if she stopped at Thursday, and missed Friday-Sunday.   There was a big space between the paragraph of Thursday, and then her Light of the World. So I will ask her next week if it was an error etc.. :) OK sorry for the interruption and  I will now return you to the rest of Sister K's missionary letter =)

LIGHT OF THE WORLD

So I have been thinking a lot about what I wrote in my last missionary letter about the Light the Gospel brings into our lives. How I would see people and spot something like a lightened countenance about them.  I have been focusing on that in my and my companions studies this week. I invite you all to read these two articles from the Ensign magazine (You can find them online at lds.org. When you go to that page, there will be a list at the top of the site and one will be Resources and then after clicking that, there will be Magazines and Manuals I think. Just click on that, and type in the month and year.)

February  2009  A Penetrating Light

March      2014   I Will Be Your Light In The Wilderness

I found those to be so helpful and inspiring for me personally this week and gave me more goals to become a light for others, like Jesus Christ is our Light in the Wilderness.

And I also liked these scriptures I came across If you'd like to look them up and read them :)

John  8: 12    -   'he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness...'

D&C  88: 7-13 -  'which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ.... The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed even the power of God, who sitteth upon his throne,...'

This third one is also one of my favorites

1 Nephi 17:13 "And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led".

That meant a lot to me because sometimes it does seem like I am in a wilderness or somewhere very unfamiliar, not just by my surroundings but when trying to find answers or talking to strangers or even just being in a crowd. And it is so good to know that the Lord loves us enough to help lead us, to care about us, and to make sure that we can have light to know what we should do. 

Remember that we can always trust in the Lord. He loves us and wants what is best for us. He will never lead us astray. And this thought helps me so much - He will be our light in the dark! 

Much love and prayers for you guys, thank you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. I couldn't do this mission without the support and love that I feel is being given to bless me.

Love and smiles,

Sister Skinner - Karatassos 

Pictures (8/4/14) - Simi Valley, Home Sweet Home, Sunset and Friends

One of the many beautiful sunsets by our apartment here in Simi Valley

The sign we pass by while we are driving around- "Welcome to Simi Valley Relax and Slow down."

Picture of my friend, Kevin and I. We met at BYUH. His family lives in California, and he was there picking up some Elder missionary's for transfers. It was great to see him. 'It's a Small world!'

Our cozy little home away from home.

This is our one and only bookshelf, it was a little messy at first, but since I like to organize things... it looks a little better now :)

We are blessed to have our own washer and dryer in our apt! So no going to the laundromat for the moment. Haven't made any white clothes pink yet:)

[7] Simi Valley, Having an Inner Light and CHURROS!:)

"Welcome to Simi Valley, relax and slow down" That is what the big sign says when you drive into town. :)  It is nice to be reminded to relax and slow down at times, but mostly we are always on the move! (Besides our important scripture and studying time, prayers and sleep.) :)  It is a good idea not to worry about the small things though, so that's what the relax part reminds me to do.   We are pretty busy all the time, especially on days like today.  There isn't much time to slow down, since it's the day we get a lot of our things on our 'to do list' done. So I am sorry but this may be a little short again, but hopefully short and sweet. 

SIMI VALLEY 

Some of you have asked in your letters about my mission area, so I thought this week I would tell you a little bit about my area and where I am living. I am in a beautiful place called, Simi Valley which is about half an hour north of L.A. To describe the area I'd say it looks like the hills and rock parts of Utah but with lots of palm trees :) It has been in the upper 90's the past couple of weeks, but we have had a few cloudy days which has been nice, especially when we are out and about tracting. I'm like my mom, and like rainy days too.  Though I am not sure that tracting in the rain would work out that well either. :)  Our area is small so it is pretty easy to get where we need to and doesn't take a lot of time in commute. We live about five minutes from our beautiful church which is really nice. We live in a one bedroom apartment, which is a really nice too, though it could use some more pictures. *hint* :)   I will attach some photos we took so you can see what it looks like. 

The only thing that has taken some getting used to for both of us, is that our apartment is right next to the train station. We can hear their train horns and bells all through the night and all times during the day.  The good part is that it's exciting to see the trains go by, (I always think how excited my brothers would be if they could see that many trains).  Speaking of which, when we do go out we have to follow a paper folded map we found in our apartment, since we don't have a GPS.  So that is very new to us.  I have to admit that I think it makes things more exciting. It's like we are on an adventure everyday. (And so far our map skills are getting better and we have not gotten too lost yet.)

COSTCO ADVENTURES

Last P-day Sister Xayadeth and I were craving Costco Churros, those yummy cinnamon sugar treats!  Since we had some extra time, we stopped by. Before we got our Churros, we decided to walk around the store and try the samples.  It was a fun activity trying out all the different samples and there was lots of things I hadn't seen before even though this is CA. :)  As we were turning a corner I saw this pretty lady with two kids and my first thought was "She looks like a Mormon mom". When she got closer, she smiled at us and said "Hi Sisters! How are you? What Ward are you serving in?" I was right! It was great talking to someone so friendly and caring.

After we were done with our sample tour, we headed outside to get our yummy churros  (I've never seen a Costco with the food section outside, but it makes sense. A lot of people were stopping by just for the food at lunchtime) While we were in line we saw this friendly looking guy look over at us a couple times. Finally he came over and said "Hi there sister missionaries!" Another Mormon! He told us he is excited to be going on a mission soon himself. He was on his lunch break from his work. He said he was trying to do something nice everyday so he bought us lunch and our Churros!  Small acts of kindness can make someone's day, especially two hungry sister missionaries :) It was very kind of him.  (And with both the samples plus lunch it felt like a holiday.)

AN APPLE A DAY

So this week we had to visit the doctor's because Sister Xayadeth hasn't been feeling well. While we were there we had one more surprise. While we were in the waiting room another cute little mom came in with her two little kids. My first thought, just like at Costco, was "I bet they are Mormon". When the mom was signing in she looked over at us, smiled and waved! I was right again! Sister Xayadeth and I joked that we now have a 'Mormon radar' because we are missionaries :) I have been really thinking of that a lot lately, trying to figure out why these people stood out to me?  And then it came to me. It was because of how happy they were. I'm not saying everyone around them looked miserable, but there was a certain light/glow around them.  I'm not sure that makes sense, but it's a little difficult to describe.  As I've been out here on my mission I have truly seen how the Gospel has brought a light into people's lives. The gospel brings peace and joy. There is so much we have to be thankful for because of our Savior Jesus Christ and our loving Heavenly Father. When we learn more about the gospel and take time to find out the truth for ourselves, we become happier because we see the good in the world all around us. As it says in Matthew "Let your light so shine". Matt 5:16 I think I've mentioned that scripture in several letters, but it's so important to know who we are, and why we are here, and what we are suppose to do and then let that light shine. So even though the cute mom was even at the Dr. Office for her two kids, she still had a glow about her.

If you haven't seen it yet I invite you all to watch the new Mormon Channel video. It touches on the same subject of the light that the gospel brings into our lives. It is really good. I hope you all enjoy it!

http://bcove.me/0djeoayt

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001

(I'm still not sure which one works better)

Thank you for everyone's thoughts and prayers I can really feel that others are praying for me, and it truly helps me. Thank you so much, in means a lot as I continue to learn, and try my best serving and love the people around me.

Let your light shine this week! Share a smile!

Sister Skinner -Karatassos