Awesome Days

August 12, 2013

Oh looky!  It’s Monday!

Ya know, Mondays never really used to be one of my favorite days but now it is!  My very most favorite part is getting on-line and reading e-mails!  I love those things!!  What is even better?  Having my Mommy on line while I am on line!  Oh Dang!  That was so much fun!  Sorry Lace, the chatting made me run out of time to write you back.  I LOVE your e-mails.  You are a dang good writer.  One day you will be on the best sellers list, I just know it.  Boy, oh boy I sure love y’all.  After e-mails we went to Target and then headed over to WalGreens to get my prescription.  Tell Benj thanks a bunch.  He is awesome.  So can I just tell you that insurance is awesome.  I only had to pay $10 for a $75 medication.  It is crazy how expensive stuff like that is.  We had a crazy awesome thunderstorm today!  It rained a little bit but mostly there was just lots and lots of thunder.  It was awesome.  There have been a lot of rainstorms and thunderstorms this year I have been told.  I have also been told that next summer is when I will really see a hot yucky Georgia summer.  I hope not!  Things can stay cool.  I am way okay with that!

After the awesome thunder that happened while we were writing hand written letters, we went to Chick-fil-A for dinner and used the cards that Sis. Pickett gave us cause we didn't have a dinner appointment.  The Elders did though.  Lucky ducks!  They don’t have one tomorrow and we do.  We are going to the Galts.  Sister Galt doesn't like the new rule too much either so she made the Elders food for tomorrow and asked if we would come pick it up.  We went tracting for a while after dinner and ended up in an Asian neighborhood.  None of them ever want to talk to us.  We met a British Asian atheist.  That was interesting.  He said he had heard things about us so we asked what.  He said “Well, you practice polygamy in Utah!”  We said no and he said “Yes you do!”  It was so funny cause then Sis. Carrigan said “Well I’m actually from Utah and I can assure you we don’t.  You might be thinking of the FLDS church.  They are not a part of our church.  That shut him up!  We giggled about that when we left.  After tracting we went over to the Galts to get the Elder’s food.  I LOVE Sis. Galt!  She is so awesome!  When she found out that Benj was in Cummings and wanted to come say hi, Sis. Galt was like “Dang! I wish you had told me!  We would have had him come over for dinner and surprise you!”  So, next time, if there is a next time, Sis. Galt will be all over that.  She is so funny.  I like her lots.

August 13, 2013

Today, we had district meeting.  I really like our district.  My favorite missionaries in our district are the ones that I work with.  Lucky me!  So E. Thomas, one of our ZL’s was in our meeting.  I told you about him.  His mom worked on the new temple video set.  Sis. Carrigan and I have had a lot of meanies and bashers lately and we have told E. Baker about them.  He decided we should split into groups and role play those kinds of people.  We split with the other two Sisters in our district.  Sis. Carrigan and I got to be the difficult people first.  Sis. Alvery asked us a question that we both thought was really good.  She asked if we believed in the Bible.  We said yes and then she asked us how we knew it was true.  We said we just knew.  We had prayed about it.  Then she said  “If you were living in Bible times how would you have known they were really prophets?”  That got us thinking.  We both would really like to use that question on someone that we talk to one day!

After district meeting we went to this place called Zaxby’s for lunch.  They are all over here.  Their chicken is REALLY good.  Yay for fried chicken.  We had fun and it was good bonding.  

After lunch we tracted.  A lot.  With not much harvesting success but boy did we plant those seeds!  We are good little planters.  We were talking about it and Sis. Carrigan said, “Yeah but we need to water too!”  I said we are watering but we have to go row by row.   Then we decided that we are like little kids who have watched a plant grow (let’s say a pumpkin).  It’s been watered and now we can see the pumpkin.  It’s still green but we keep asking our dad if we can pick it and He keeps telling us not yet.  One day we will be able to pick that pumpkin but not yet!  There you go!  That is our lovely analogy. 

After tracting we went to the Galt’s for dinner.  Sis. Galt made taco soup and corn bread.  Yummy!  It was fun to just sit and talk with them.  They are an awesome family! 

A former Sister missionary who served in Suwanee two years ago asked about all of the investigators that they had back then.  There were a lot of fires in Suwanee and they had tons of investigators.  She was asking us about all of these people, lots of whom we have visited and not with any success.  Basically with all her questions we left feeling like horrible missionaries.  It was not a very fun ending.  We had to sit and talk and remind ourselves that we can’t compare ourselves to other missionaries.  Especially not missionaries who were here two years ago with a completely different Suwanee!

August 14, 2013

Today was an awesome day!  Ah!  It was so great.  What was so great today you ask?  Well, I will surely tell you.  I got to see all my MTC district today!!  Oh!  It was so much fun!  It was so much fun to see them and see how they are doing. 

The rest of the meeting was good too.  I learned how to door approach a little better and what we need to ask.  They split up the trainers and the greenies for a bit.  Afterwards Sis. Carrigan and I were talking and she told me that the first little part of the trainers meeting was venting.  She said that she is listening to everyone and she didn’t have any complaints.   That made me happy.  I have none about her either.  I’m being spoiled, having such a great first companion!  The meeting took up pretty much our whole day.  When we got back it basically was time for dinner.  We dropped off the stuff we didn’t need and went over to the Paxtons.  She was the one who sent you guys the e-mail of me on my first day here.

They are a really good missionary family.  Bro. Paxton has given quite a few Books of Mormon to his coworkers.  Their daughter Sophie, who LOVES us, is always asking her friends to church.  Sis. Paxton is always trying to talk to people.  They have two other sons besides their missionary son who have a bunch of non-member friends and are always talking to them.  When we gave our dinner lesson Sis. Carrigan and I finally found our groove!  It was awesome!  Since we are no longer with the Elders for dinner we are doing our lessons a little different and it’s awesome.  We spent an extra half hour at their house just talking about who they are and could share the gospel with! 

Want to know the awesome ending to my night?  Well, that is when we check our mail usually and guess what I pulled out?  A big, thick envelope addressed to me from Syd!  Nice collage!  I love it.  You make me laugh so hard.  My Sydney collage is now hanging above my desk with all my other pictures.  It totally ties everything together.  Thanks for helping end my awesome day on an awesome note Sydney!

August 15, 2013

Ah!  Today, personal study was awesome!  So, since we have had a lot of bashers I have just been thinking about how the Bible and the Book of Mormon go together.  I was reading 2 Nephi 17 and Isaiah is talking about the latter-days and about Joseph Smith.  Well it said at the chapter heading to compare with Isaiah 29 so I flipped there and it talks about the same thing!  Well, I mean I knew that it would.  I just wanted to see how clear it was.  Plus I thought it was neat that he pretty much told the story about when Joseph brought some of the translations in to that historian guy to be authenticated (is that the word I am looking for?)  Anyways, it was just cool.

After we did personal and comp. study we did 12 week.  I don’t know if I have told you what that is.   It is just the training program.  We were watching a video for it on unique and different ways to get members to invite their friends…  In the video they threw a party and asked members to invite their friends.  They ended up having 75 non-members there.  They did a church tour and a few of those people were baptized.  Sis. Carrigan and I got really excited and we really want to do something like that for next month.  We talked to the Elders about and they think it is a good idea.  Now we just need to get the ward on board (Ha! That rhymes.)  E. Baker says in the past they haven’t been open to ideas like that but that we should try.  We came up with the theme—All around the World—and have food from different places, have some sort of entertainment and have church tours for non-members.  Now we are hoping on Sunday.  When we bring it up that people will be open to it…  Cross your fingers.

Today while tracting we met the most interesting man.  We knocked on his door and started talking.  He told us he already has a Book of Mormon and that he believes it.  He thinks everyone should read it.  BUT he doesn’t see why he has to change churches.  His son is a Pastor and he goes to that church.  Oh boy.  He says he has had lots of missionaries talk to him but that being LDS just doesn’t seem too important.  I asked him if he had been baptized by the proper authority?  His son baptized him and he believes that yes, his son has been called of God and holds the proper authority.  Well awesome.  We are going to bring a member with us next week and see what we can do.  I hope we can make him see.  It’s awesome that he already believes in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon!  Now we just have to work on church.  We shall see what we can do!  Hopefully we can show him what other missionaries haven’t been able to so far….

We didn’t have a dinner appointment again so after tracting we went home, ate, and went tracting again.  It is kind of funny how people will go WAY out of their way to avoid us.  Sometimes it is annoying and sometimes it is funny.  We knocked on a door and the lady was doing a crossword puzzle.  We talked to her and then she says “Oh, well I’m really busy right now and have to go.”  She was doing a CROSSWORD PUZZLE!!  She was not busy.  It was kind of funny though but really dumb.  Oh the joys of being a missionary. 

August 16, 2013

Haha!  Weekly planning day, how it makes us act so dumb!  I do not know how!  We really do get very silly!  We get our planning done in the allotted time though. 

So next week we have zone conference and the ZL’s texted everyone and told them.  Well about 3 minutes later we get a call,  we look at it and we both groan.  It was the ZL’s.  Let’s back up real quick first.  Last week Sis. Carrigan and I were playing/singing that Sisters in Zion/Army of Helaman missionary medley that John sent to me.  Elder Thomas came in and watched and listened to us.  He sang with us too.  He’s a really good singer.  Ok now, back to the story.  So we answered and E. Thomas says “ I know you both groaned when you saw that it was us!”  Haha.  We were caught!  He asked if we would get together a group to sing that song.  So, Sis. Carrigan and I have become in charge of that. 

After we finished weekly planning we went tracting.  Somehow we have been finding all of the Asian neighborhoods.  They will answer the door, talk, then see who we are and say they can’t speak English.  BULL!  It’s funny but annoying.  The last house we got to Sis. Carrigan decided to do what we call a Harvest Blessing.  Basically we just ask if we can say a prayer with them on their doorstep.  This really tall black guy answered.  His name is Moses  Sis. Carrigan told him what we were doing and told him about the prayer, she then asked if there was anything specific he would like us to pray for?  He thought about it for an minute and then said, “For me to have a better future.”  Sis. Carrigan said the prayer and it was awesome!  Then after she talked about Joseph Smith and how he wanted a better future too and how this gospel can help Moses get a better future.  She was on a roll!  She asked him to come to church and gave him a Book of Mormon.  He said he didn't have a car and we told him we would get him a ride.  He said OK!  We are super excited!  Now we have to get Cherese to church.  We tried to get a hold of her yesterday but she didn't answer.  Tomorrow we are just going to show up at her door and hope that she is there!  We already have a ward member that we talked to who is fellowshipping her.  Now we are just praying that she hasn't been anti-ed!

After we talked to Moses we got back in to our car to go eat.  We didn't have a DA and the Elders didn't either.  They called us as we were heading home and asked if we had eaten?  We said no and they told us they had chicken curry for us.  They are so awesome!  It was really good.  Ok, so after we had eaten they both started getting silly and like smiling at each other and stuff.  Then E. Baker went and got his jar of pickled pig’s feet.  So he bought this jar like two weeks ago and he has been trying to get us to taste them.  At first we thought that the chicken curry was actually pig’s feet curry.  It wasn't.  He had called one of our ward members and asked how you eat them.  Raw.  You eat them raw.  They took a video of all of us trying it.  I almost threw up.  I hadn't been feeling too great before then and that just about threw me over the edge.  Sis. Carrigan almost threw up and so did E. Howell.  E. Baker had tried it first and said they didn't taste so bad.  He was lying.  He knew we wouldn't try it if he said it wasn't good.  The punk!  But, there you go.  I have now had pickled pig’s feet and I will never have it again!!

When dinner was over Sis. Carrigan and I went over to the church.  We got called today and asked to give the lesson in R.S. on Sunday.  Good Heavens.  Everyone wants us to do stuff!  It’s on the priesthood and how women can have it in their lives.  It’s gonna be good.  We think it is a good way to show how we teach and help the women to want us to come teach their friends.  We are awesome!  I mean, who wouldn’t want us to come teach them!  We just need members to give us a chance.

August 17, 2013

Oh my goodness!  Today was just super awesome!  So Saturdays are our service days and we finally had a day where we didn't have to help anyone move.  What???  I know… Crazy.  So after personal study we got to finally go service tracting.  We had some ward members on our list so we started there.  First we went to Sister Fulwood’s.  I did forget to mention that it was raining today.  A lot!  But we figured there is always something that needs to be done.  Ok, so we pulled up to Sis. Fulwood’s house and start walking to the door.  Suddenly I hear, “Hey!  What are you guys doing?”  We looked up at one of the windows and there was Sis. Davidson.  Neither she nor Sis. Fullwood are married.  Sister Davidson rents from Sister Fulwood.  Sister Davidson joined the church probably about three years ago and Sister Fullwood joined like eight years ago.  Well, Sister Davidson likes people to call ahead.  I guess.  She met us on the porch and chastised us a little bit for not calling.  Last week at church Sister Fullwood had told us to come over anytime.  Her mom is visiting and is a Methodist.  She is the sweetest thing ever.  She actually believes in a lot of things that her church doesn't teach.  Like the three separate members of the Godhead.  Anyways, Sister Fulwood invited us in and we talked for a good hour about the gospel.  Dusty, Sister Fullwood’s mom, wasn't sure about Joseph Smith.  I got to use my Isaiah chapter from the Bible!  She was super open to most of what we talked about.  It was SO fun.  I wish more people would be willing to let us in and talk like that.  Then they took us to Golden Corral for lunch where we continued our discussion.  After that we went over to Sister Smith’s house.  She let us sweep her floor, even thou she said if Brother Smith knew he would be like, “You let them do what?!?”  She is so cute.

We got a call from the ZL’s.  They told us they ran into Cherese.  She came up to them and started talking to them about us.  We got way excited.  We haven’t been able to contact her and it’s been super frustrating.  Hopefully we will see her tomorrow.

Oh, guess who is for sure coming?!  Moses!  We called to make sure and he said he would be there.  Sweet.  We are so excited.

We had dinner at the Rhodes tonight.  They are so funny.  They both served together on their mission.  They were telling us all these stories and they had some super crazy things that happened.  After dinner Sister Rhodes heard my and Sister Carrigan’s  back popping and so she made us sit down and she massaged our shoulders.  It felt so good.  I have had so many stinkin' knots lately and it has been bad.  I was really thankful for it.  That was my awesome day!

August 18, 2013

Talk about hectic.  Today was insane.  So we taught today in R.S. and we had to send the Elders to get Moses because we had to wait at the church in case Cherese showed up.  So we were waiting and waiting and then Sister Azizi texted us and asked if we could come grab the dinner binder because she wasn't coming.  We drove over, grabbed the binder, and hurried back.  We made it before Moses got there and we didn't see Cherese anywhere.  Two minutes before church started the Elders, Brother Pickett, and Moses came in!  We were so happy.  We were still looking for Cherese.

I was praying with all my heart that she would show up.  She never did.  In PMG there is a quote by Elder Holland and it says, (this is not exact)  “When your investigators don’t keep their commitments, be devastated.”  I was.  Even though I was SO happy Moses was there.  I was SO sad Cherese wasn’t.

After sacrament, we asked him what he thought.  He said it was a good service.  Then we asked him if he wanted to go to another class?  (gospel principles)  Oh, geez!  We have a few um… very strongly opinionated converts… and so Gospel Principles was just a little crazy.  Sister Carrigan and I were just shaking our heads.  Sister Fullwood and Sister Galt were trying really hard to get back on the subject of honesty.  Basically it was kind of a train wreck.  After GP we passed him off to Brother Pickett for priesthood.  We knew what we were teaching about (the priesthood) and we just figured their lesson would be the same so we were happy about that.

Our lesson was awesome.  We showed the Mormon message, “Blessings of the Priesthood” and talked about how we as women can have the priesthood with us.  We must have impressed them because when we got our dinner binder back we were all filled up for the month.  Poor Elders.  They have no chance competing with us for dinners.  Kidding!  They had lots of days filled up.  And it’s not a contest—even though secretly it actually is.  So R.S. was great, and afterwards we ran to find Moses.  He was with the Elders and when we asked how priesthood was his eyes got really big.  Uh oh!  We asked Elder Baker and guess what their lesson was on?  Pornography..  Yup, out of ALL of the many weeks to talk about that when we don’t have investigators they chose the one day we do.  Sister Carrigan and I felt so bad.  UGG.  After we got Moses home Sister Carrigan and I went to go practice for zone conference.  So there was a ton of mis-communication and now it is me and Sister Macedone singing with Sister Carrigan playing.  We are singing Come Thou Font.  Sister Macedone is an AMAZING singer so this will be interesting.

We had dinner with the Willsons tonight.  It was so fun.  They invited the Gertsons over also and we hadn’t really met either one of their families before.  Sister Gertson is loud and fun.  Kind of like Jenny, loud in an awesome, fabulous way.  Basically it was one of the funniest, loudest dinners ever!  Great though.

Today was one of the fastest days I have ever had.  It was also one of the craziest.  I loved every minute though. 

Well, I love you all.  I hope I have been able to make you giggle and laugh! 

Love,

Molly

Feeling a Little Bashed!

August 5, 2013

Hello, Hello family dearest!

P-day was really fun today!  E-mails were awesome!  Thank you, thank you!  I love getting e-mails from all of you.  Gabey, a little more than 3 sentences please!

No one signed up for dinner tonight so we were on our own.  The elders eat out a lot!  Every Tuesday for district meeting they go out and eat.  When we don't get dessert they go and get some.  I'm trying to not spend a lot and eat healthier things.  No wonder the average weight gain here is 30 lbs!  It's a little ridiculous.
Anyways, the Elders had found this Asian market with a Korean food court and they wanted to go there.  I thought it was kind of expensive.  You get a lot of food for your money though so I guess it evened out.  They do have sushi there . . . like for pretty dang cheap too!  It was really good.  We were the only white people there.  It was a weird feeling to be the minority.  I guess you know the food is good if the majority are Asian!

August 6, 2013

Today has been fabulous!!  We had zone meeting today and so I got to see Sister Hooker!!!   Yay!  I love that girl a whole ton!  She is one of my very favorite missionaries!  Zone meeting was really awesome.  I guess the whole zone has pretty much been in a slump. . . with teaching and baptizing.  We were promised that if we met the 4 standards given then we would see results.  The standards are, 1) baptize and confirm, (As Molly's mom it seems quite logical that with this standard you would see results!!!), 2) 70 contacts a week (10 a day), 3) five lessons to investigators with members present (LIMP) 4) church attendance/baptismal date.

So Sister Carrigan and I have decided to focus on number 2 - the 70 contacts a week and then after we meet that goal we will go onto LIMP's.  If we don't get 10 contacts on one day then we have to get more the next!  We have been promised this will bring results and so we know that if we obey we will find people to teach!  After zone meeting today we went out to eat. . . surprise, surprise.  We went to Panda Express (yum!) and I only ate 1/2 of mine.  I will save if for tomorrow.☺  We had to take our car to Pep Boys, which is kinda far away, because the church has an account with them.  It took 3 whole hours!  Luckily with Sister Carrigan 3 hour just flies by.

We checked the mail before dinner and boy am I glad we did that!!!!  I GOT MY PACKAGE!!!  Thank-you, thank-you Mommy!  I loved it and it made a good day an amazing and fabulous day!  Thank you for the CD's they are perfect and very appropriate.  THANK YOU FOR THE TOFFEE!!!  AHHH!  You were right when you said "Think of Christmas in July" in the e-mail.  You sneaky mom!☺  I LOVE all of the pictures!  Thank you!  They make me happy, happy, happy!  I already have them up on the wall above my desk so I can look at them lots and lots!  I love all of them!  One of my favorites is Gabe kissing me on the cheek!☺  Thanks for the 18 month calendar!  How did you find it?!?!?  I love that it will bring me home to you!  Yay!  It will be full of happy memories by the time I'm done with it.  Thank you!  I love it all!

August 7, 2013

Oh boy, oh boy!  Today was a crazy roller coaster of craziness!  We woke up and it was raining all over the place.  There was a few thundering and lightnings but it wasn't a huge thunderstorm like you hear hit the South.  Darn it!  I'm still waiting for one of those!  We had planned on tracting pretty much all day today which didn't seem like very much fun because of the rain.  But, we promised to work our hardest so tracting it was!  I got to wear my raincoat!  I was excited about that.

We went and contacted one of the referrals we had gotten from one of the families in the ward.  He was nice and very polite.  He isn't really interested at all but he said we could come back.  Then we went and visited one of the YSA inactives.  They really should have missionaries for the YSA ward here.  They have about 300 adults who should be coming but only 20 are active.  Yes, there are some away at school but not THAT many!  She was really cute.  She had a baby at like 14 years old though and she kept him.  She is like my age and she knows having the church in her life is a good thing but she isn't going to church.  I think she feels like she doesn't really fit in with the YSAer's cause she has an 8 year old son but she also doesn't feel like she fits in with the family ward because she is so young.  It's a hard situation.  I dunno, we are going to keep working on her and see what we can do.

After visiting those two we went and did my most very favorite thing ever!  Yup! Tracting!  We went to a neighborhood that we are pretty sure hasn't been tracted in a while.  The first door we went to we got it shut in our faces.  No one answered quite a few of the doors.  We got one lady who told us we had been led astray and one day we would find the truth.  Welcome to the Bible Belt Sister George.☺  One house we went to an older guy answered the door.  I'm not sure I have ever seen someone so frazzled!  There was a baby running around and 2 dogs barking.  He asked if we could come back later at 5  and then shut the door.  In the next neighborhood we met Mary.  She was older and nice.  She invited us to sit with her on her porch and talk.  She didn't really bash too much but she also didn't really listen either.  We talked about religion and the world.  She was surprised when we asked if there was any service we could help her with.  It think it impressed her.  She said maybe on Saturday she would need help with her house.  We shall see!

We went to dinner at the Peterson's.  They both grew up in I.F.  He (Bro. Peterson) kinda looks like Zach Peterson.  I asked if there were lots of Petersons he was related to in I.F. but he said no.  Dang it!  It would have been cool to have another one of those random connections!  Oh well!  After dinner we figured, okay we will go back to that house that the frazzled man lived in.  Oh my I am so glad we did!!!  His daughter answered the door and actually stepped outside to talk to us.  That NEVER happens!  Usually they open it a crack and talk to us through the crack.  So to have that happen with Mary and then this girl was crazy!  Her name is Cherese.  She is 26 years old, has a daughter (probably about 1), is divorced and has had a pretty rough life.  She used to be a model (she is REALLY pretty) and she got into drugs and went to jail for a while because she stole from her in-laws, hence, the divorce.  She has been clean for a year though and has started going back to church.  She grew up in Southern Georgia as a Baptist.  Her parents go to a huge church in Gainsville and she hates it.  She says she feels like it is a fashion show every Sunday and that she is judged because of her past.  She also hates how big it is.  We told her about our church and what goes on there.  She really took everything in and was super accepting.  It was AWESOME!  She really loved that we call each other "Brother and Sister" and that we call it a ward family.  She even told us that she is going to share what we told her with her friend!  She is coming to church with us next week - - okay, well she is planning on it right now.  We are going to try and get in an appointment before and talk to her some more.   She seems to have been prepared for the gospel and I have already prayed for her lots and lots!

I lied.  We went to dinner AFTER we went back to Cherese.  So I dunno if it is just cause we are missionaries and they feel like they have to or if it is just what they do here, but it is a rare occasion where dessert is not served after dinner.  I don't really mind not having dessert but I guess if you have been here longer than 2 weeks your body gets used to getting a sweet after dinner.  Well there was no dessert after dinner so we went to this place called Brewsters.  They have ice cream and it is actually really good.  I just got a little scoop cause I wasn't all that hungry but it was yummy!

August 8, 2013

Well, today has officially been the most exhausting day on my mission so far.  Mostly mentally, a little bit physically, and some emotionally thrown in there too.  After comp study and personal study and all that jazz we went tracting.  On Thursdays we have a standing appointment to go see Brother Heirs.  He has been in the church for about 3 years now but he LOVES having the missionaries over to go through the lessons again.  He says it's tradition.  He is just a funny guy.☺

The appointment is always at 2 so we had a little time before so we decided to go tracting around to the other apartments by him.  A few people talked with us but for the most part no one answered their doors.  Darn peep holes! ☺  We met a lady, Annette, who had moved here just a week ago from California.  She said the reason she left was because God told her to.  She said she didn't know anyone and we told her that church was a great place to do that at.  We gave her the address and hope she wants to come!  We forgot to get her number but she has ours!

After Annette we decided to do one more set of apartments before we went over to Brother Heirs.  We met a Hispanic man who didn't really know English.  He did keep telling us he could feel God's love and that he loved us.  It made me giggle (after we left of course!).  He was sweet.  WE gave his info to the Spanish elders to check and see if what we understood was correct.

The last door we knocked on?  We shouldn't have!  The lady yells through the door "Who is it?"  A lot of people do that and if they hear us say it's the missionaries they won't answer.  She did actually answer.  It was my turn to talk (we switch off) and so I told her what church we were from and talked about how after Christ and that apostles died the truth was lost but then Joseph Smith resorted that truth and now we have the Book of Mormon to go hand in hand with the Bible.  That was pretty much the last thing I was able to say.  She went off!  Not in a mean way really, but for sure in an animated and very loud way!   She kept telling us that Christ was the only one we should worship and not this Mormon.  This lady's name was Udi, she was from Nigeria and I guess she REALLY didn't understand when I was explaining.  She talked and talked and talked.  I tried to bear my testimony so we could just get out of there but she kept interrupting me!  As she was talking thunder and lightning started and it started POURING!  SHE WAS MAKING ME MISS MY FIRST GEORGIA THUNDER STORM!  Finally Sister Carrigan interrupted Udi and told her we were really late for an appointment and we had to go.  Actually we had said that like 2 other times before but she just kepy talking!  She asked for our number so she could call us and tell us more about the truth (as I write this just imagine me rolling my eyes!).  So we had to give it to her.  But we did finally get out of there.  We were on her doorstep for a good half hour.

We ran to our car getting soaked on the way.  When we got to Brother Heirs he was ready and waiting with towels.  Oh!  I forgot to tell you, his roommate is Brother Nevin who has been a member for about a year.  They are both sweethearts.  Brother Heirs has Parkinson's Disease and it's hard because he is a computer engineer or something SUPER smart (they both are really smart) but he really can't work all that much.  He gets help from the Michael J Fox Foundation and is one of the happiest people ever.  Brother Nevin is way nice and sweet and really smart too.  His brain goes about a mile a minute.  He just got a job after being out of work for a long while, so that's good.  Anyways we went to their apartment and discussed prophets.

Brother Nevin has been part of a bunch of churches so he asks a lot of questions.  Brother Nevin was wondering things like, how a new prophet is chosen, do we believe in prophetess', what the order of the church is (prophet, apostles, 70's, stake president, etc.) things like that.  Not really hard questions, but after Udi they were hard enough that my brain was having issues.  I had a little bit of a hard time focusing.  But it's always fun to go over there.  Even though neither of them have a lot of money they are so willing to share and give everything they have!  They always make sure that we have something to drink when we go over.  Brother Nevin gave us some frozen chicken when we left.  It was so nice!

After we went to go visit some people and put away the chicken before dinner.  Dinner was at the Johnson's.  They are such an awesome family!  Their oldest son is in Twin Falls on his mission.  I guess if you are from Georgia, Idaho could be a cool mission.☺  They had steak tacos.  They were so yummy!  I guess they are like our fajitas.  They had green things for me.  Green lemonade, in a green cup, green plate, a spinach tortilla.  It was funny.  That's the first time any of the families have done that.

We went tracting in the apartments across the street from ours after dinner.  The last door we knocked on a man answered the door.  We started talking to him and found out that he and his wife were JW's.  Great.  Just what we needed (again, my eyes are rolling!).  They asked a ton of questions!  They were pretty nice.  The husband was a little easier to talk to than his wife.  He asked us a little about how missions work.  His wife kept tell us, "Well, we knock on doors  our whole life."  They got stuck on how God and Christ have a body of flesh and blood.  This is where my whoops moment comes in! :{  So they started talking about the Holy Ghost and asked if we believe that he was a body or something like that.  Well, I said he doesn't have a body now but will someday.  Sooo. . . that's not in the scriptures anywhere that I know of.  It would make sense though!  The Holy Ghost can only dwell with us without a body but after the 2nd Coming  we will know and won't need that when we are  Gods and Goddesses!  Right?!?  Okay, well anyway I probably shouldn't have said that.  They had a field day with that one.  Oh well.  Basically it was a long and bash-filled day.  I felt kind of helpless and felt like nothing I said would make a difference.

Sister Carrigan got really frustrated and cried when we got home.  I felt bad!  She kept telling me that she wasn't a good missionary and she shouldn't be training.  I kept telling her that wasn't true.  They wouldn't have listened to us even if we were the best scriptorians in the world.  It was a pretty rough day.  I know that everything will be okay though and this is just making us stronger missionaries.  No, I wouldn't have chosen to have 2 hardcore bashings today but I dunno!  Maybe it was what we really needed.  Maybe It was Heavenly Father's way of telling us the Book of Mormon is most important but it is good to know the Bible also.  I'm for sure going to be studying the Bible a little harder.

August 9, 2013

Friday is weekly planning.  We are supposed to figure out the entire week that is coming up.  It sometimes takes a lot longer than I would like.  I know it is productive to get it all figured out but sometimes when it takes a long time I don't feel like it is productive and that- - NOT being productive - - is not a fun feeling.

We didn't have a dinner appointment today.  Sister Carrigan says she can't cook, so it was up to me.  Luckily I remember a few recipes that I used a lot at school.  We had "perfect chicken" and used the chicken that Brothers Heirs and Nevin gave us.  We had a fun dinner.

August 10, 2013

Happy 1 month mark!  I can't believe that it has been a whole month since you dropped me off at the MTC!  Time goes by crazy fast!  I feel like I have been here for one day but I also feel like I have been here for forever.  My brain can't decide so it chooses to feel both.  Though it makes things quite confusing!

Today was fun!  We started out having breakfast with Brother Heirs and Brother Nevin.  They have been trying to get us to come over and eat for a long time.  We had waffles.  Well, you know how I LOVE waffles!!  They weren't your waffles Daddy!  I love those the best.  But they were waffles and Brother Heirs and Brother Nevin are so funny.  They really are willing to share whatever they have with us!

After breakfast we went over to clean Sister Billeter's cousin's rental house.  She called, well actually texted, us late last night asking if there was any way we could come help.  They had driven from Mississippi with their 2 little boys.  The house was FILTHY.  The renters before them had pretty much trashed the place.  The AC was broken so it was about 100° plus humidity in there and they had no water.  They ended up sleeping at the Billeters for the night, which was good.  Sister Billeter is just so stinkin' sweet!

The family who owns the house is also in our ward, the Garfields.   They are crazy tall!  Bro. Garfield is like 6' 9" and Sis. Garfield is like 6' 2".  It's insane!  Their kids are pretty tall for their age too.  Shocker!☺  So anyhow they had a budget and they were going to have someone come and deep clean the house but then they discovered a cockroach infestation.  YUCK!  So instead, they got the house sprayed.  Guess who became the deep cleaning crew. . . US?!?  No way!  Yup.  We did.  It was okay though because a) Sister Billeter is one of the cutest ladies ever and b) get ready to be crazy jealous Ninny!  (For those who don't know that is what Molly calls her sister Sydney) they had 2 puppies!  One was only 6 weeks old and her name was Bella, the other was named Cloee.  They were so cute!  We cleaned and they followed us around and played with our feet.  The Garfield kids left the door open and Cloee got out.  We looked all over for her but we couldn't find her.  Almost before we finished cleaning it started raining.  HARD!  Like the kind of rain where you are our for 10 seconds and you are wet from head to toe.

I got some awesome letters today!  Yay!  Bean (a nickname she uses on her sister Lacey), your talk was amazing!  You are a great writer!  You make me giggle.  I LOVED your talk!  Yay for Keisha being the YW president!  She will do a fabulous job!  I'm glad that Ninny will get Sister Matthews as her leader and Lacey will have fun with Wendie.  Plus, I'm sure Lace will get treats occasionally - - Sister Radford is a great cook.

Thanks for the fast!  I think it helped us find Cherese!  I will keep Liza in my prayers.  Scott will be an awesome bishop.  Kate will be a fabulous missionary and they will be blessed like crazy!  I'm glad we have an awesome mail person who will return Hannah's letter.  Little tender mercies!  We do that every night.  We call them our "Gorgin Moments" because we combined our names.  I should probably write them down though too.  We just tell each other before we go to bed.  It for sure makes you pay closer attention.

I am glad that you googled me.☺  It is fun that you can see where I go to church.  We actually have church at the same time because of the time difference.  Ours starts at 11:00 but we are there at 9:45 for PEC so you were close in imagining me walking to the church.  I love our building!  It is really pretty and I love all the trees around it!

We went over to the Henderson's for dinner.  Guess what she made?!?  Your chicken broccoli rice dish!  It was fun to have a taste from home.  Guess what else she made?!?  Moab brownies!  AHH!  Oh I love that cake!  We put more frosting on than she did.  I love the frosting!  Yummy!

August 11, 2013

Yay for Sundays!  I like Sundays.  I like church and it also means tomorrow is P-day.  Yay for P-day!  This morning we baked banana bread.  Oh!  It was yummy!  Nothin' like hot banana bread for breakfast!  It wasn't as good as yours though!  I don't think anything ever will be.

Church was fun.  I know I have said it lots but I like my ward!  We tracted a bit after church and then had dinner at the Picketts.  They are awesome!  Bro. Pickett is our ward Mission leader and he is the best!  He tries to make sure we have everything we need and he is trying so hard to find us people to teach!  Sister Pickett works for Chick-fil-A and she gave us a bunch of free sandwich cards.  The Elders have a dinner tomorrow but we don't.  Maybe we will just have to use our free sub cards for dinner!  She also gave us the left over fruit.  They are an awesome family!  Their kids are SUPER respectful with all the "yes sirs' and "yes ma'ams" it was a fun dinner.

To end the night were the clouds!  Oh! Georgia clouds are some of the prettiest ever!  The sunsets are amazing!  I will miss all these trees when I come home!  The trees back dropping the sky, dang!  It's so beautiful!

Well, I love you all and I hope you have a fantabulous week!

♥
Molly

Back and Forth e-mail and More!

Ha, so today we got a back and forth email session with Molly!!!  LOVED IT!!  Brad wrote his email a little late and so the initial response from her was on his email.  He is always so kind about letting me have contact with our girl.  It made me smile when he said, "Kelly, I think she is online right now if you hurry!"

Molly:  Daddy!  Daddy!  Are you still on?

Me:  Hey Cupcake, Dad said he thought you would be online right now.  Just thought I would say hey!

Molly:  I am! I didn't think he got that and I thought it would be fun to say hi! I'm bummed that I didn't get to see Benj! That would have been way fun! Sister Galt was so cute! When I talked to her! She called and said I just want to make sure that it isn't some crazy guy trying to mess with my missionaries! She takes good care of us!

Me:  Oh tell her thank you! thank you!  I didn't know any other way to take care of the thrush.  He really wanted to see you but not without permission.  So he didn't come to your ward on Sunday!  I was just jealous that he was so close!  He loved teasing me about that!

Molly:  Pah! I hate that the mission office is closed on Saturdays! It would have been fun to have him just pop in. I would have loved giving him a hug! Sister Galt is awesome. She is kind of my  mom here and she gives good hugs. NOT as good as MY Momma's hugs but for now it's not a bad filler :) I got the package on Tuesday So it didn't take very long to get here and the letters got here on Saturday. It was a WAY good pick-me-up! We have had a few good days but also a few rough ones... I officially got bashed. Welcome to the bible belt! It was crazy! JWs are NOT fun people to run into! They were pretty nice but it was still frustrating! Thanks for the medicine! I hope that it clears up this time! Ugg! Your letter this week is pretty long again :) I just can't help it! I have to tell you everything!!!

Me:  Oh we LOVE your letters.  And I think it is the best way to write - - write a little all week and then read read read on p-day.  Don't ever worry about the Bible bash thing.  Just remember, We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does NOW reveal and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God!  Also, we believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.  Just hold on to what you know and why you know it.  The Spirit has told you and it doesn't matter what man says just what you know is of God.  And true that on the JW's! :)  Love you baby girl and I love that Sister Carrigan of yours too!  As well as Sister Galt!  Hugs and Kisses from me in Idaho!

Molly:  The house is my most FAVORITE one in Suwannee! IT'S FOR SALE!!! You could come and buy it! I LOVE this house!!!  The leaves are from the Thai Elephant leaves that I told you about. They are CRAZY big!

This is probably my very favorite picture of Sister Carrigan and I. Our faces make me laugh so hard!

It is also our twinner day. We found these skirts at the thrift store last P-day... We LOVE them!

Me:  Oh you are so silly!!  The two pictures of you and Sister Carrigan came through but not the house.  In my next care package I will send you a new SD card for your camera.  We have been looking at the best way to get the pictures from your missionaries.  This seems to be it.  Then you can send us the full one.   We will get it down loaded  and then send it back to you!!  Find dad a job in Suwanee that will pay for it and I will come.  Of course that means definite transfer for you!  Haha!

Molly:  Here is the house... it is VERY purple but SO cute!!!  I was actually going to talk to you about the SD card! I forgot but I'm glad that you figured that out :) I have some pictures that didn't get deleted from before but I keep them on because I like them!

Me:  Okay that is gorgeous!   Dad needs a good job for that one.  Syd said, "Hey the shoes! Where did she get the shoes!?!"  And yes I love the pic of you and Sister Carrigan!

Molly: No! The housing market is crazy cheap here! EVERYONE has gigantic houses and they really don't cost as much as they would if you were in Utah or Idaho. Tell Ninny I got the shoes at WalMart. I needed some lazy shoes and so I got them. I'm glad you like the pic of Sis Carrigan and me. We think we are funny :)

Me:  Oh yes you are very funny - - maybe silly is a better word.  But I remember Sister Ljung and I thought we were funny too.  That makes everyone around you happy though and that is really what the gospel is all about!

Molly:  We are silly too :) I"m pretty sure we are the favorite missionaries in the ward... Not that people don't like the Elders but we are more fun to be around! So I now don't have time to write you a big long e-mail but the letter is very long I will send it today!! I love you lots and it was SO SO fun to talk to you!

So right after talking to her like this Brad when to the mailbox and found another GINORMOUS letter from Molly about her week.  I get it if you choose not to read the entire thing but if I put the entire thing in you may choose what you do and do not want to read.  :)

July 29, 2013

Hey Y'all,

Okay, so may I just say thank goodness for P-Days!  You really do just kind of need one day to recharge.  It was a good day.  I had a lot of e-mails to respond to so that was way nice!  I loved getting all of your e-mails and finding out how everyone is doing!

I got an e-mail from one of my friends who I love and adore who said that they won't be able to go on a mission for a while.  They needs to get some stuff worked out with the bishop before they go.  Getting that stuff done before you leave is always a better idea than waiting until you are on your mission and having to go home to fix everything.  I just hope that they don't lose the desire to go!!  Because things really can be worked through.

Oh! Oh! Guess what?!?  I finally saw my very first lightning bug tonight!  It was so awesome!  WE need to figure out how to get those things to live in Idaho.

I feel like I have been here forever already!  I'm glad that I haven't been here forever though and that my time is just beginning☺!

July 30, 2013

Today, today, what did we do today?  So I had my very first district meeting.  We have 10 missionaries in our district.  I was told that is a lot.  After district meeting we went to lunch.  

Then after we ate we tried to get in contact with some former investigators and we visited some members.  We also tracted.  Tracting isn't really my favorite thing.  I know that one day it will pay off though.  Mostly  it is just not that fun to get rejected over and over.  I guess if the only thing they hear is Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints then a seed has bee planted.  

Sister Carrigan showed me this really cool thing.  Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone said it in 1984, it's called Vision of the South. . . . "President Spencer W. Kimball stated, 'Make no small plans.  They have not magic to stir men's souls.'  This is the vision that I have for the South.  I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the Church than all other English speaking missions in the world together.  There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists, and members of the Church of Christ  Methodists and Catholics who are honorable people and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love Him.  As they see their church veering off to the right or to the left of those basic teachings, they will begin to search for truth.  As as pivotal teachers come into the Church and have influence, we will see the time when we will baptize hundreds and thousands  tens of thousands   In your day, you will see a million members of the church in the South.  There will be temples - plural - in the south states.  What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous  people."  Isn't that awesome?!?!  I hope I get to be a part of it!

So we went to a member's home for dinner tonight.  Daddy, you would have LOVED his yard!  It was SO cool!  He has all these tropical plants and you step outside and feel like you are in a whole different world!  He had banana trees, mangoes  lemons, oranges, kiwis, peaches, pears, blueberries, blackberries, bamboo plants, these really cool plants called something link Thai Giant Elephant Ears, which are HUGE!  The leaves get to be bigger than me!  He had some plant called like Angel Trumpets that were so pretty!  I took a few pictures and I will sent them to you.  The Elephant Ears aren't even half their full size yet!

Okay, the best thing of all, Daddy, you HAVE to get it!  It is the most amazing thing ever!  It is a plant called Miracle Fruit.  It comes in a pot and it is just a little bush.  You take one of the fruits after it's ripe and kind of bite into it and move it around in your mouth for about a minute.  You can swallow it or spit it out, doesn't really matter, but it makes everything sour taste sweet!  It works!  They  gave us a cup of straight lemon juice and it tasted like the sweetest lemonade I have ever had!  It was crazy!  So I'm gonna go all Veronica (off of Willy Wonka) on you, Daddy, I want one!! (I just read this again.  It has no affect unless you read it in a British accent.)  Research it,  It is so, so, so cool!!

July 31, 2013 (I can't believe it's the last day of July!)

Holy Cow!  I really can't believe that it will be August tomorrow!  I will have left a whole month ago in a few days.  I don't feel like that should be true at all!  So we had to run to WalMart today cause our money for the month hadn't been put on our cards yet.  So we couldn't go on P-day and we didn't really have any food and the elders didn't either.  As we were loading up the car this little British lady came up to Elder Baker and said she wanted to pay for our lunch.  Now you aren't supposed to take money from people but if you politely refuse and they keep insisting then you are supposed to take it so as not to offend them.  I'm not to  sure on that rule.  The guidelines are a little hazy. . . . Anyways she gave him $40!  Ten dollars for each of us.  We felt very rich.☺  It was really, really nice of her!  

Oh!  I was going to tell you about our almost crash!  It was pretty scary!  So we were trying to turn into the parking lot and a delivery truck was right in the middle so Sister Carrigan started turning in  and then the delivery driver decides to turn out so Sister Carrigan hits the breaks and the truck just kept on going.  The tire was inches away and actually it really should have hit us.  We really are protected by the Lord!

It was raining all day long.  We tried to contact people but no one was home!  It's been that way for the past 2 weeks.  We finally figured out it was probably because they get back into school next Wednesday so everyone is on their last vacations.  It makes missionary work very difficult!  The Lord knows we are trying our hardest though and so really, that is all that matters!

When we came home our neighbors were having a party,  I have never seen that many beer cans in my entire life!  Or that many drunk people. . . .  who's kidding who.  I've never actually seen a party before!  Well, drunk people are LOUD!  And when you are trying to follow the rules and go to bed at 10:30 drunk people are not helpful!

Aug 1, 2013

Well, when we walked outside this morning there were beer cans EVERYWHERE!  That must have been some wild party!  Luckily, despite all the yelling and loudness, I was able to fall asleep.

Today we went to go visit some inactives and former investigators.  We looked through our area book and read everything about each person and when the last time they had been taught.  None of them were home.  We left notes though and we will try them again sometime. 

We tracted for a while but either a) no one was home or b) they wouldn't answer.  Everyone has dogs and I swear it's just so that they know when we have left so they can stop hiding.  Then there are the people with huge glass doors and when you walk up they see you and just ignore you and will just walk into another room!

We have decided that yes, we have amazing members in our ward but they need to see that they can trust us with their friends and give us people to go teach.  I dunno how it is in other places but i have been told many times that it is the member's job to find people and our job to teach.  If we find people when tracting that is great but that isn't our #1 job.  So we have decided to focus a little on the member for a bit and see what we can do.

Elder Baker was at a leadership meeting all day for the past 2 days.  He was telling us some of the new rules.  The elder's dress code is being changed as I am sure you've heard.  Gabe!!! You can wear light colors!  that will be cool!  There is another new rule that we understand but we don't like very much.  The elders and sisters aren't allowed to eat dinners at members houses together anymore.  I guess that some members complained about flirting.  I understand that with the age change the elders and sisters are closer in age and so yeah, there is a bigger possibility of flirting.  Another rule is that the elders can't have backpacks anymore.  They aren't very happy about that, especially the biking elders.  Actually, this rule applies to everyone but since it is usually the elders who wear the backpacks it affects them the most.  Elders are also not allowed to baptize people anymore.  They are really sad about that but I think it is probably a good thing.  This way they have a member to look after them and are able to form this bond that would have never been formed had they not baptized them.  Whoa!  That was a complicated sentence!  You know what I mean though!

I guess that we are going to start getting super big spiders in a month.  YUCK!  And we have been told that they will hide in your toilet if they get stuck in your house.  So we have to flush the toilet every time BEFORE we go to the bathroom.  I never thought I would be scared of going to the bathroom, but I am now!  We are thinking of buying on of those bug zappers that look like tennis rackets.  We can just see ourselves accidentally zapping ourselves because we will be freaking out too much.  Oh well!  I suppose that would be an adventure.☺

August 2, 2013

Today was a silly day.☺  We did our weekly planning and we couldn't stop giggling.  We find  ourselves very funny.  Oh!  I love, love, LOVE Sister Carrigan!  We are two peas in a pod!  Then on top that we look alike!  Everyone thinks we are twins or sisters.  I think Heavenly Father has a funny sense of humor putting us together but oh. I'm so very glad He did!  I couldn't ask for a better trainer!

We finally got weekly planning done and as always we had a list of people we needed to go see.  we went to a member's house first.  She just had surgery.  Her husband is inactive and deaf.  He has an implant but Sister Carrigan says he usually just sits next to Mama Carlisle (that is what we call her☺) and reads her lips and stays quiet.  She was really excited that I know ASL and we hoped maybe I could sign a little bit.  He opened up!  It was really cool.  I didn't use a ton of ASL but it was enough to get him comfortable and talking.  I know it was more the spirit than me but it was nice to know that I helped a little bit.  When we left Sister Carrigan was so excited.  She said that was the most she had ever seen him talk.

So you know how sometimes I say really dumb things?  Yeah well, I did it again!  We were getting ready to leave the Billeter's house after dinner.  Sister Billeter asked if the elders needed a ride I said, "Nah, it's okay.  they are bunking with us!"  I TOTALLY meant to say "bumming!"  As in bumming a ride with us!  Oh boy did I get teased for that one!  Sister Billeter laughed as I yelled, "I meant bumming a ride with us!"  Oh boy. How embarrassing!  Oh well I will just chalk it up to a funny story!

August 3, 2013

Good heavens!  I have never moved so many people in my life!  This time it only took 4 hours instead of 10 though!  Yea for cutting off 6 hours!  This lady got our number from her neighbors so she called and asked us to help her.  We can't say no so instead we said yes.☺  How nice are we?!?  Very nice.☺  She had all their things shoved into a storage unit.  I don't really know what happened but it was an emergency move and so the clothes were shoved into garbage bags and boxes were thrown all around.  Basically it was a mess.  One of the boxes had a funny smell and when we set it down to look inside - - AHHHHH!  there was a bag of rotten something with a ton of cockroaches!  EWWWW!  It was super nasty!  There were larvae too and it was so gross!  Lakesha (the lady we were moving) just threw the whole box away.  That was probably a good thing since cockroach juice had leaked all over everything.

It was a lot of work.  We did it though and then we went home, had dinner and showered.  Then we went to help at the Galt's.  That is our bishop and his wife.  They sent you the text the first day to tell you I was safe.

August 4, 2013

So we went to dinner at the White's house today.  Their son Scott was home from college - - he goes to BYU-I.  When he found out I was from Idaho Falls he says, "I know it's probably a long shot but do you know Matt Monk?"  Needless to say I freaked out and got really excited.  He and Matt were roommates this year.  It was fun to find someone who knew the same person from halfway across the country.  

We went tracting tonight after dinner.  GUESS WHAT?!?!?  I handed out my first Book of Mormon today!!  She said she would read it so we are going to check up on her on Tuesday or Wednesday.  We are praying like crazy that we can teach her!  Her name is Phyllis and she is so sweet!  She has a real  southern accent! Oh I'm so happy and super excited!

While we were tracting and after we met Phyllis, a car drove past us on the street.  It was the Portuguese Elders.  They stopped and talked to us for a minute.  Elder Gomes was asking me about my family and how I like Georgia.  After a minute he said, "I would never think you were a Greenie!"  I told him I would take that as a compliment and he said good cuz' that is how he meant it.  I'm not really sure how people think greenies are supposed to act.  Sister Carrigan says I don't act like one either. 

Well, that is my week 2 of the mission!  I'm sure week 3 will be just as eventful.☺  I love you guys!  Have a fabulous week!

♥

Molly

I LOVE GEORGIA!

Molly's first email from on location!!!   GEORGIA!  Followed by her handwritten very long letter!! 

Momma, momma!

I loved hearing your voice too! I was so so sad when you didn't answer! And I knew that you knew I was calling and I was just hoping and praying that Daddy would answer his and that you would be there with him! I didn't realize how important hearing your voice was until you didn't answer! I mean, I KNEW it was really important but it didn't register how important until you didn't answer. Luckily we have more than one phone :) 

I LOVE Georgia and I LOVE Sister Carrigan. Oh my goodness, the Lord knew what He was doing when he put us together! We are so much alike and we have so much fun together. We laugh and giggle and feel the spirit! It is AWESOME! We have started a quote wall and we hope that we will be able to fill the whole wall, which we will because we think we are very funny :) 

Momma I do know that if I am always obedient then I will be just fine and everything will be peachy! I know that I have found life long friends and that they will all bless my life! 

Yay for packages :) They are fun to get! So are letters! Oh how I love letters! You will be getting another really long letter in the mail in a few days. I just finished it this morning and it is all sealed and ready to go! I just can't help it, I need to tell you everything so they end up being really long! 

YAY for Sister Missionaries! I'm so glad that you finally got some! Take Lacey on splits! That could be way fun! I guess it's nice that they are both allergic to gluten so that one sister isn't missing out on awesome food and both of them are instead :) 

Well my beautiful Momma, I'm going to e-mail Daddy now. In my hand written letter there is EVERYTHING that has happened so you will know even more things and all about my adventures soon :) I love you lots!

Love, 

Molly

P.S. I have a few requests. Could you get me a small PMG? I LOVE my big one for studying but the small ones fit easier and are a lot lighter to carry around. Also, could you send me pictures? Like ones printed off? People ask to see my family a lot and plus I wanna be able to hang some pictures up! Also, could you write birthdays on the calendar? I know birthdays but if it's not written down I know that I am going to forget! Could you look in my purple backpack I have a planner from school. Rachy Face's birthday is in October but I can't remember what day it is. It should be written in my planner. Then if you could also send me some CDs? We LOVE listening to our church music but CDs are the only way we get to listen to it.   I love you lots!    

July 23, 2013

Mommy and Daddy!!

Hello to you from me in Georgia!  Oh my goodness I can't believe I actually made it!  It is so stinking beautiful here I can hardly believe it!  Oh the green!  The trees!  The many many green trees!  Holy cow! AHHH!  I'm here!  Tomorrow it begins!  My new life changing adventures is really here!  I have taken lots of pictures.  Now I just need to figure out how the heck to get them to you. . . . I'll figure it out! 

Wanna hear where my first zone is?!?  AHHH!  I'm in the Suwanee in the Sugar Hill zone/stake!  My trainer is Sister Carrigan who just finished being trained.   The work is progressing!  I just love it!  

President and Sister Wolfert are so cute!  I already just love them lots!  I asked about the Lindleys and they got all excited.☺  They are coming next week to visit so that is fun!  Mom!  The mission home is a monster!  It 's gigantic!  All of the homes in their neighborhood are!  And the inside is crazy beautiful!  They have some of the prettiest pictures all over!  Oh!  And Sister Wolfert will be providing me my very first recipe from the South!  Oh yummy!  It is so good and made with fresh Georgia peaches!  I might gain weight. . . .  Oh dear!  Sister Wolfert was telling us that we pretty much get fed every night for dinner and I'm not sure if we are biking or not.  They didn't really tell us.  Oh shoot!  I hope I'm biking!  No!  I will not gain weight!  I won't do it!  I will figure out an even balance of things.☺

I'm a bit sad right now because I don't know what zones my elders are in.  The sisters found out first at the end of the night then they took us back to the hotel before we found out about the elders.  My fabulous Sister Hooker is in the same zone as me so we will see each other at zone conference!  President Wolfert told us that 2 elders were being changed to Spanish.

July 24, 2013

By now you will have gotten 2 e-mails and a text letting you now that I am here safe and sound!  Yay! I am completely exhausted and fully expect to be that way for a year and a half!  I'm happy though!  Suwanee is beautiful!  There are trees EVERYWHERE!  That is great, but sadly that is the same story for the bugs. . . .  In the last 2 days I have been bitten more than I can count!  I itch like crazy!

My bike was there and waiting for me all pretty and green.  I will just blend right in!  I saw one sister when we were getting ready to head out.  She told me she had been transferred every transfer, even when training.  I said, "Really? Wow!"  She told me, "Yeah, I 'm one of THOSE missionaries.  President Wolfert and I don't see eye to eye on things."  I will never be one of THOSE missionaries!  Exact obedience!  I promised the Lord my heart, might, mind, and soul and I'm going to give it to Him!

So in Suwanee there are pretty much only gated communities.  It's kinda weird.  Not at all what I pictured.  Sister Carrigan said that areas will go like this . . . (She drew a curvy line that goes up and down and up and down) with teaching and investigators and such.  Guess where Suwanee is at right now.  Yup, that bottom part.  She said it already hit rock bottom and we are S-L-O-W-L-Y making our way up.  So, it's gonna be a lot of tracting for us!  Pray for people and us so that we can find people will you?  I knew you would!☺

We went tracting yesterday.  No one was really home and the people that were home were very much not interested.  We are trying to come up with ways to get people interested.  On Saturdays we will be service tracting, which is just wearing our jeans, service shirt, and knocking on doors, asking people how we can help.  If you have any ideas, let me know!  We could use all the help we can get.☺

Okay, so that was this morning during our getting ready time.  We did a lot of tracting today it was so hot!  We were sweating all over the place.  It's strange, I had a picture in my mind of Southern hospitality.  Don't get me wrong!  There are some people who fully live up to my expectations but so far most of them don't.  I have already had quite a few doors shut in my face!  That's okay though!  Eventually we will find someone who the Lord has prepared! 

We had a girl today who I got to talk to and she said she would like to talk with us but later in the day.  We called her later and she said to come over.  Then she called us back like 2 seconds later and said her husband or someone told her no.  Dang it!  It had gotten me really excited!  We met another lady after many door slams later and she was so cute!  That's when I really saw Southern hospitality.  She talked with us for a while, not interested, but just encouraged us and was just really very nice!  After talking to someone we always ask if they need help with something and give them our number.  No one believes us even though we tell them that we really will do anything!

There is a lady who finally might take us up on the offer!  She is a 6th grade school teacher and we told her we would help her with setting up.  She said as long as we didn't go all preachy on her she would give us a call.  We told her we wouldn't.☺  Ha!  Little does she know that service IS preaching!  Just not out loud!☺  We are really hoping that she will call! 

Oh so I forgot to tell you that yup we have a car.  If our miles run out for the month then we bike.  For now it just means that I have to work extra hard in the gym.  I know it has only been 2 days but I have been weighing myself and I can totally do this!!  I will come home looking even better in that dress I love.

July 26th 2013

She called!  Yay!  Caroline, the lady who needed help with her classroom called us!  She asked us some questions and we answered.  She asked how a mission works and about BYU cause Sister Carrigan went there.  Oh side note!  Did I tell you that Sister Carrigan knows my Rachy Face!  They went to Davis together!  Fun!  Okay, now back to Caroline.  She is sweet!  I think that she really could come to love the church!  She asked if we would like to come help her in class when school starts.  We both really want to but we have to make sure that's o.k.

Okay so now I am going to let you in on one of my really blond moments that in all reality we know I have a lot of.   So as I was writing you I was looking at our kitchen.  We have an air popper and the box is on top of the cabinet.  In the picture there is butter in the scoopy thing. . . MOM!  You can melt the butter in the scoop while the popcorn is popping!  AH!  I thought it was just to measure the kernels!  And to keep the popcorn from exploding everywhere!  My mind has been blown!  The end - that's my blond moment. :)  Haha!  I'm so silly!☺

July 27th 2013

Well yesterday was weird, and fun, and funny.  We asked about helping Caroline and we got the answer we didn't want.  I understand why though.  It is just really sad that the world is so dumb.  It's dumb that parents would freak out and that could get Caroline in trouble and the church in trouble.  Darn!  We really thought it would be a good way for her to see that we care.  Hopefully we can still visit her and help her with other things!

We also went and visited a recent convert.  Adrienne.  She is a sweetheart.  I guess she gives people nicknames and when she found out where I was from she goes, "Awwwww!  You're a potato baby!" so, I think that has become my name.  Not too bad.  She was lonely so we just sat and listened to her.  It's kind of funny/weird, every convert that I have met so far (actually I would say recent convert) swears.  More so when they are telling a story.  Even some of the members that have been in the church their whole lives do too.  It's like they think if they are telling a story then it's o.k.  

After we visited Adrienne we went to our dinner appointment!   Some other family had cancelled so the family in charge of dinners for the missionaries in our ward decided to feed us instead.  We got there a little early and she wasn't ready yet and her husband wasn't home from work.  Sister Carrigan and I asked if we could help her with anything, her kids were making the lemonade and she looks at us and her children who were also helping and told us "No."  So we just kind of stood there not really knowing what to do and trying to be polite.  Finally we went to the couch.  About 15 minutes later she comes in telling us that dinner is ready, so we went into the dining room.  Her husband is from the Middle East so she had made some really good food. 

We sat down and she asked her son if he would pray.  The look he gave her would have earned me a major spanking. . . except you guys never really spanked us, that was just an example.  It was not a good look.  He prayed, she told us to eat and then she got up, took her baby and left.  I think she needed to change her.  Her husband still wasn't home.  She had put her kids in the kitchen to eat, so it was jut me, Sister Carrigan, Elder Baker, and Elder Howell that was a little strange.  Then her kids started fighting, I am SO very sorry for the times I threw a temper tantrum, especially when people were over!  She was really frustrated I am sure and I felt badly that we added to the frustration.  We never even got to share our message.   The food was really good!   

July 28th 2013

Oh my goodness!  I am so stinking SORE!  Yesterday was Saturday and also service day.  We went to go help a family in our ward load up their moving van.  They are moving to Colorado Springs.  We were there for 10 hours!!!  From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.  Everyone in the ward was skeptical when they saw Sister Carrigan and me.  I guess all of them think that girls are just in the way and will complain.  We pulled our weight just fine!  We proved ourselves!  That's for sure!  We worked way harder than a lot of the men there and we never really stopped for breaks.  We may have proved our point but it came with one of those consequences that I hate so much! ☺ I am so stinkin' sore!  Who knew that being a missionary would make your body feel 10 times older!  I crack and pop when I move.  It's ridiculous!

After moving for 10 hours, we went to a recent convert family's house.  The Elders go over every night to read scriptures with them and we sometimes go with them.  The parents are having a lot of problems and he kicked her out for a while.  He asked us to come over and help him clean the house and they had signed up for dinner so we figured after we were done we would eat.  So, right after moving we went and cleaned, like DEEP cleaned for another 2 hours.  Then Brother H. told us he forgot to thaw anything so they were going out and we were on our own.  We were all  very hungry and very tired!  So we just went to Burger King.  It was too much work to do anything else!

Oh I forgot!  When we were moving we met this man named Todd.  He had come with his friend, who is in our ward, to help.  He was the sweetest guy ever!   He kept telling Sister Carrigan and me that we were tons cooler than the sister missionaries in his ward.  That was funny maybe he just doesn't know them very well.  He is an investigator (which we didn't find out until the end of the 10 hours) and is going to get baptized soon.  He is in his lat 30's probably and he was telling us about his family.  It's sad.  One of his brothers is gay (not that he is a bad person but he will hate that Todd is joining the church!), his sister just became a grandma from her son who is only 19, and his other brother swears and screams.  He says that they are really mean to him and tell hem he is dumb, and stupid, and a bunch of other stuff.  He lives across the country from them and never visits.  I don't blame him!  It's sad .  Luckily he will have the love of a ward family who will love him lots.  I'm glad that the church can bring happiness to people.☺

July 29th 2013

Oh my goodness.  I feel like I have been here forever!  I can't believe that I was still in the MTC last week!  So me being loud is not such a bad thing!  Ha!  No one knows I'm a greenie cause I chat and talk and put myself out there.  So even though you all tell me to be quiet (except Mom, she always accepted me for who I was!) it is not a bad thing!  Ha!  Is it quiet at home without me there?  I should think so!

Church was fun yesterday.  The Suwanee ward is all very nice and welcoming.  There is a 16 year old whose name is Molly.  She spoke yesterday.  it was kind of weird cause after sacrament everyone was talking to her and saying "Molly."  I got so confused!  They kept saying my name but that's not really my name right now.  I'm Sister George!

We had PEC before church and afterwards Sister Carrigan and I were standing in the hall and a lady came running up to us.  She asked what ward we were in and when she heard Suwanee she got sad.  She told us she served in Switzerland and really wanted to go on splits and have her daughter go too.  It's a good thing that she wasn't in our ward cause there is no way I could have done splits!  I wouldn't know what to do!  Too bad we never had sister missionaries in our ward.  It would have been cool to do that!  

After church we went to go visit a lady who Sister Carrigan had found and who had actually been contacted by missionaries before.  We decided we would get to know her and invite her to church if we got the feeling to.  She is really sweet and we enjoyed getting to know her but when we got back in the car we both said that we felt that she wouldn't progress anywhere.  We will still drop by and visit but we aren't going to persue it.  

We had a really great dinner last night!  Not awkward at all!☺  We had Navajo tacos.  I haven't actually had a REAL Southern meal yet.  Sister Carrigan said we aren't rural enough for it.  There are a few people in our ward form rural areas who do know Southern cooking but for the most part there aren't.  

After dinner we were sitting around talking and Elder Baker said something we all thought was pretty profound.  He said, "I think that I have had more negative experiences than positive.  But the positive outweigh the negative."  I thought it was a good away to look at things, just always let the good outweigh the bad!

Well today is P-day so hopefully I have lots of e-mails!  Y'all are going to make me depressed if I don't hear from you soon!  I love you lots!!  Keep being my fabulous family!

♥

Molly