Some Days are Good, Some Bad, and Some Ugly

Sept. 2, 2013

Hello family!  Wow!  I can't believe that it is September!  2 months have flown by!  Sorry about the rushed ending on the last letter....  Maybe you didn't think it was rushed, that's good!  Keep thinking that ☺ I felt rushed finishing it though.  And then you got 2 letters!  Whoops!  My bad!☺  She sent her letter but forgot to put the last 2 pages in and so sent us a follow up envelop with the missing pages.  Well here is another week, full of fun stuff. . . I hope!

It's transfer week.  Elder Baker is headed home back to Washington and Elder Howell found out that he is training!  He will be a good trainer!  Both Sister Carrigan and I are staying here for another 6 weeks. ☺  GOOD!

Since it was P-Day and transfer week, we had a zone P-day.  Everyone came.  That meant that I got to see my cute Sis. Hooker!!  YAY!  That was a fun little thing to learn that Aunt Diana knows her!  I can't believe how many people you have told me that read the blog!  It makes me fell very loved.☺  Sis. Hooker says she actually lives really close to Aunt Diana and Uncle Dale!  Fun!  That will be good cause when we go see them I will get to see Sis. Hooker too!  She had her first baptism this last weekend.  I was so happy for her!!  It was also her birthday on Friday, what a fun birthday present!!!

I got a letter from my Rachy Face!  That was so fun!  I'm so proud of her!  She and Jake went and did sealings for their anniversary!  It made me so happy that I almost cried.☺  She said that it was really awesome!  I love that girl!

When I was e-mailing her back Sis. Carrigan needed to go to the bathroom.  I left my computer open (silly me!☺) and when I came back the whole e-mail was blank.  Oh Elder Thomas!  That goob!  He had made everything white so it looked like it had been erased.  That took me about 2 seconds to figure out.  I was reading through the letter again and suddenly in the middle of one of the paragraph's it said "Elder  Thomas is a boss."  That nerd!!!  He thought he was pretty clever.  Well, it kind of was . . . he is funny!

After P-day we had dinner at the Hendersons.  They are fun.  But we probably stayed a little too long and didn't get our 10 contacts for the day which means double for tomorrow.  We don't have a dinner so we are working straight through so we can get our 20 contacts!  It is just going to be a great week! ☺  I just know it!

September 3, 2013

It's Tuesday!  It was our last District Meeting altogether.  It was bittersweet.  It will be fun to have new people but its said to see the others go.

We heard a really sad story today.  An elder in our mission is in the hospital right now, he thinks he is 15 years old.  The last thing he remembers is graduating from sophomore year.  He was backing his comp out of a parking spot and his comp said he was there one minute (in the mirror) and gone the next.  His comp stopped the car and the elder was on the ground.  They had just finished pranking some other elders so his comp though he was kidding.  Even though there is a no pranking rule. . . .  So the comp didn't call 911 until 15 minutes later!  I don't know what he was thinking!  I can't imagine how badly he feels though!  It's so sad.  So, NO pranking!  It's bad!

On a happier note, we went to Jimmy John's for lunch today!  It made me miss working there a little bit.  They weren't too bad.  I was pretty impressed.☺  Though I am totally biased, I know, I know!

After lunch we went and visited Mary.  She is such a sweetheart!  We told her about mutual and YW.  She was very interested in that for Arianna (her daughter.).  We are thinking the best way to get to her is through Arianna.  Hopefully we can get her to let Arianna come and get the YW to fellowship her.  Mary is a widow and so it is just her and Arianna.   The church would be so great for her!  We are trying to find someone in our ward who would let us borrow a lawn mower for her yard.  Hopefully we can figure that out!

There was a guy walking by us when we were leaving Mary's.  He asked us what church we from and we told him.   Then he told us that he liked that we go door to door, that there are only 3 religions who do that, us the JW's and the Baptists (his denomination).  HA!  Baptists do NOT go door to door.  Nice try dude!  Then as he was walking off he told us what we were doing was awesome but that we weren't going to heaven.  Well gee thanks sir!  Oh people!  After the crazy Baptist man and Mary we went tracting.

We were finishing the street that we had been tracting on Sunday.  We talked to this really sweet lady who told us she really needed her house pressured washed.  So now we are on the lookout for a lawn mower and a pressure washer.  Oh boy!  To bad we aren't in Idaho!  We have both of those things!  Well we were  walking down her driveway when we heard barking and snarling... We looked over and there were these 2 dogs coming straight for us. My first instinct was to book it, so I started walking a little faster. Suddenly I couldn't take one more step. It was like my feet were glued to the ground. I couldn't move. As soon as I froze Sister Carrigan started telling me not to move. I couldn't even if I had wanted to! When the dogs got to us they were snarling and circling us like waiting to pounce. There was one that we weren't really afraid of who just came up and started sniffing us. But one looked like it wanted to attack us. I was so scared! Their owner suddenly started yelling at them and they slowly backed off and walked away. We were both shaking when we started walking again. Like the kind of shaking that we just wanted to sit down for a minute because we both felt drained. Sister Carrigan told me that She heard STOP in her head. I told her that my feet just suddenly stopped working. I am so very glad that we are protected by the Lord. I know that if I had run like I wanted to that I would for sure have been attacked! Even though the Spirit had to be a little bit more forceful with me and glue my feet to the ground I'm glad for it. I hated it at the time because it was so scary but I'm glad for it now! 

A few houses later we walked up to one house.  They had a mat with the Tasmanian devil and it said to go away.  We thought it was like a joke.  There was a no soliciting sign but we have talked to lawyers and Elder Baker and Yates went to the court house last month and made sure we were good.  They said we weren't soliciting and so we weren't breaking any laws.  So we knocked on the door.  This lady comes out and starts screaming at us and swearing.  She said she would call the police and she could have us ticketed. . . which she can't.  She was mean!  It would be such a sad life to be that mean.  I just feel pity for people like her.  Plus, it's gonna stink in judgement day when they have to account for everything they have done. . . including screaming at us.  Not gonna lie, I know it shouldn't but sometimes that makes me feel a little better.  Especially after being screamed at.

We didn't have our 20 contacts after we finished that street so we left and went to another subdivision.  We found a few potential investigators who told us to come back.  Yay!  WE finally got our 20 contacts after tracting for like 4 hours straight!  It was about 8:30 so we went to go grab the elders from their dinner appointment and go get ice cream.  Our last thing with Elder Baker.  Sister Carrigan is really sad.  We said goodbye after we had talked for a little bit.  It was sad.  I am excited to meet Elder Howell's greenie though!  That will be a fun new adventure!

September 4, 2013

Today was interesting.  This morning after working out we came home and showered and got ready.  It was Sis. Carrigan's turn to shower first so she went in and then I went.  After I got out and got dressed I walked into the living room.  Sis. Carrigan was curled up on the couch.  She had been crying..  She is really sad about Elder Baker leaving.  I don't know what to do, it makes me sad to see her so sad and not know how to fix it.  She woke up and we did 12 week and then ate lunch.  By that time it was noon.  

Yesterday we tracted into a guy who said to come back today around noon, so we did.  He hadn't expected us to come back.  When he answered his door he said he was on a conference call and to come back at 5.  Well great.  Trying to tract on Wednesday at noon doesn't work too well.  We tried.  no one was home!  So we decide to try talking to more churches about the emergency preparedness thing.  We didn't have any more flyers though. so we called Elder Howell and he said they had a lot.  We got to meet his greenie!  His name is Elder Rahman (like raman noodles), he is 19 and from California.  He is really nice!  As a trainer Elder Howell has to talk a lot more than he did with Elder Baker.  It is interesting to see the different dynamics.  He is actually way funny!

After we grabbed the papers we headed over to the church to make copies.  Elder Thomas and the new ZL, Elder Ontivaros, were there so we talked to them for a little bit.  The told us Sis. Rhodes was in the Family History Center.  She was telling them about Stephanie, her niece who we taught last week.  Did I tell you about her?  She was SO frustrating!  Every time she would feel the spirit she would make a joke or a rude comment.  She was being really mean to Sis. Carrigan!  I was getting so mad!  You do not talk to my companion that way!  Anyways she told Sis. Rhodes that she liked having us and was reading the Book of Mormon.  We told the elders what happened when we taught her and they agreed that it was an annoying situation.  We will keep seeing her but I'm not sure if I can keep my mouth shut if she is that mean to Sister Carrigan again!

We decided to tract a little before dinner.  We wanted our 10 contacts for the day!  There was a gated community that I have always wanted to go into. . .the gates were open!!  Oh My Goodness!!!  I have never seen so many gigantic houses in one place before.  These houses were HUGE!!  We were driving around and we noticed a car following us.  We were both thinking it was security   He followed us for a while!  At one point though he turned his blinker left so we turned right. 

We stopped and we were looking at our GPS when we realized we had 2 members living in this place!!! Serious?!?  So we went and tracted over by them.  Everyone we talked to was super nice.  No one was interested but still, that's a big change to go from being yelled at to being treated nice!  All the kids we talked to were inhumanly beautiful.  It was weird!  One lady was super nice and gave us water.  Sadly we had to go to dinner, but now we know we can just call the members to let us in so we can tract there again.☺

We had dinner with the Nelsons.  They were super nice and their kids were way cute!  We had salad for dinner.  It was great!  It was so nice to have just a light easy meal!  Everyone makes these big Sunday-like dinners every night and it gets a little old. . . .

After dinner we went to go see Jeff, the guy who told us to come back this morning.  Even though he had told us 5 and we had written it down, we forgot!  But we decided to go back anyways.  It was about 7:30 so we knocked on his door and he answers and says, "It's way too late ladies!" and shuts the door.  First of all, it was NOT late!  Second, I really wish people would just tell us the truth and tell us not to come back!

So we went to go see some less actives.  The last guy we went to see wasn't home  But his 16 year old son was on the phone and told us he really did want to listen.  We will go back to see him!  Hopefully we can get the son to come back and his dad and siblings will follow!!

September 5, 2013

Ah man!!  Today was awesome!!  Today was one of those days that you look at and know without a doubt that this is 100% where you are supposed to be!  So after personal and comp study we had to drive over to Cummings to grab some stuff from Elder Smith, our new district leader as well as drop off some papers that Elder Baker forgot to give him.  We had planned to talk to Richard after that but he called and was so sad because he had to go do some things and he wasn't going to be home.  He made sure we were coming next week thought!  He is cute.  I wish we could figure out how to show him the importance of being baptized by someone holding the priesthood!  I think it's hard because his son baptized him and he loves his son and that's kind of like denying him or something.  I dunno . . . did I tell you we are the first missionaries he has ever actually let into his house?  Out of the like 5 sets he has talked to we are the first.  That's progress!

There is government housing across the street that we decided to tract before an appointment we had with a member.  The second door we knocked on the lady let us into her house (that's big!) and pretty much started talking to us like we were old friends!  It was awesome!  Her name is Barbara and she is so cute!  When we told her who we were and what we do she pretty much started crying and telling us we had been sent to her from God ( Yes we were!☺)  She hasn't been to church in about a year and sees the world and what it's becoming and how people act and it's hard for her to see God.  We asked her how she would feel to know that there is a living prophet on the earth today.  She said she would love it but there are so many false people how would she know.  We told her about the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost testifying.  She took it all in.  She feels the difference and now we just have to show her the gospel would be so awesome for her!  We stayed there for an hour but then we had to leave for our other appointment.  She wanted us to come back though!  She is available from 2-5 everyday so we said how about tomorrow?!?  She said that would be great!  Sweet!

When we were praying, her neighbor (who didn't answer when we had knocked on her door)/friend walked in.  After we had finished praying she was asking us a bunch of questions like, "aren't you the ones with the other bible?"  Kinda but not really.  We explained it to her.  We aren't sure but Debbie (the neighbor) could either be a problem when teaching Barbara or super helpful. . . . Guess we will just have to see!

We left and went to Bro. Hiers.  The lesson was on tithing today and that's kind of a problem.  Right now he is trying to go through the temple but he can't because he isn't a full tithe payer.  He is really poor but he understands the blessings that will come with paying tithing, he just doesn't.  He says he is paying it in other ways.  It is frustrating!  We were pretty blunt with him.  I think it was hard for him to hear but at the same time it was good.

When we were finished we went back to the government housing since we had only knocked on 2 doors.  There was a guy digging around in his car.  We went up and started talking to him.  His name is Hakim, and he is just looking for the truth.  Great!  We have that!  We gave him a Book of Mormon, invited him to read and pray about it and invited him to church.  He was awesome!  He wants to come to church but right now he has a job that requires him to work Sundays.  He is looking for a new one so that he won't have to work Sundays.  We are praying that he finds one!  He said he really wants to come to church and that he will try so we need to look for him on Sunday.

Barbara was outside and saw us so she started talking to us again.  She has a fig tree outside her door and she asked if we had ever had one.  We said no, so she picked one.  It was pretty good!  I like figs.☺

We left Barbara and knocked on the rest of the doors.  there was one door that had a bowl next to it.  I looked down and in the bowl were maggots!  It was disgusting!  You couldn't even see the bottom of the bowl!  Ewwww!  By the time we had finished tracting it was time for dinner.

We ate at the Moons.  The are awesome!  They have a 2 year old daughter and a baby boy on the way.  Kaleigha is the cutest little girl!  She has long curly hair and is so polite and sweet!  She kept calling us missionary.  No matter who she was talking to our name was missionary.  During the thought she sat next to me.  She kept looking at my tag so I asked if she wanted to wear it.  When I put it on her she was so excited!  It was so cute!  I want to be a cute family like them someday!  After dinner we went over to the Suwanee Town Center and tried to talk to people.  Some people did NOT want to talk!  We had fun though!  After that we went home.

I got mail today!!  Thanks Syd!  A letter is coming your way.☺  I also got a letter from my cute visiting teaching comp from last year, Sarah.  She is so cute!  It was fun to get a random letter from someone I haven't talked to in a while!

6 Sept. 2013

Oh boy!  A week of opposites!  Yesterday was great, today was sorta crummy.  Weekly planning was fine.  We have a lot of potential investigators that we are trying to make investigators, so we had a lot of people to plan for.  It was a nice change to actually plan for real people as opposed to people we just hoped to have.  It took a lot longer to plan too!

We had planned to go visit Barbara (the lady we met yesterday) at 3.  She called us and cancelled.  We were sad but we figured it was ok, we had planned to take Sister Galt with us to Brenda's house (the lady who cannot for the life of her figure out that the Book of Mormon is not another version of the Bible).  We got there a little early and were sitting in the car planning and waiting for Sister Galt when Brenda walked out of her house and started up the street towards us, with her neighbor.  She saw us so we waved and got out of the car.  We asked if it was okay to visit her right now.  She was very short with us and told us to wait in the car.  Ummmm. . . .okay?  So we got back in the car and talked.  Well Brenda and her neighbor went back in front of their houses and talked for like 10 minutes.  Finally we got out and told her we could come back.  She said, "No.  You can come in but I'm NOT turning off my TV!  If you are preaching God's work then a TV wouldn't stop you."  If I didn't tell you the last time we went over, Sister Carrigan asked if she would turn the TV off.   We texted Sister Galt real quick and told her we were sorry and it would be bad if she came.  Brenda didn't listen at all.  Then she got mad cause I wasn't talking.  It was a mess.  We left as soon as we could!

We called Sister Watkins and asked if we could visit.  At this point we just needed someone to give us hugs!  Sister Watkins is awesome!  She treats us like adults but also like we are her own kids.☺  Our dinner had cancelled on us so she fed us dinner too.  Then we went to the Hendersons.

September 7, 2013

So last night Sister Henderson asked if we could come help her clean her house.  Sister Carrigan said yes.  Before that we tried to visit Tony (the guy with the pitbull we ran into while tracting a few weeks ago).  He wasn't home so we stopped by Sister Howison's house.  She is cute!  She has 2 sons, one 8 and one 18 months.  She is divorced and just got back int church a little while ago.  We talked to her and then went to the Hendersons.

Barbara had made an appointment with us so we left at 3 o'clock.  The lesson with Barbara went well!  We told her about the Restoration and she was pretty accepting of it.  We asked if she would come to church.  She said she would try but she wouldn't make any promises.  We hope she will come!

We ran home to change for dinner and then headed to the Billeters.  There 11 year old, Anna, is exactly like Sydney!  Oh my heck!  She will be 12 in Oct.  She is tall and skinny,  She love mustaches and neon colors.  She is loud and funny.  I felt like I was at home!  It was fun.☺  Don't worry Syd!  You will forever be mine!  It was just fun to be with someone like you.☺

After dinner we went tracting.  Nothing really came out of it.  We met a few nice people but no one was interested.

Sister Carrigan had told Sister Henderson that we would come back so that is where we ended our day.  Not the greatest day.  A little better than yesterday though!

September 8, 2013

We went to visit some churches for the emergency preparedness thing.  It's weird.  Most people we have talked to haven't been too happy about it.  Plus they haven't been that nice to us . . . .   Whatever.

Cherese promised to come to church today but she didn't.  : (  I was SO sad!!  I want her to come so badly!!  I hate knowing how much happier she would be and could be if she would just let the gospel into her life!  Ugh!  I hate how sad I am that she didn't come!  Moses didn't come either.  He won't let us in to talk to him.  When we call or text, he will answer us but he won't give us a set time to come see him and he will avoid the question when we ask.  We aren't giving up but it is getting really frustrating!

So we had dinner cancelled on us - they rescheduled to Sunday since we didn't have a dinner for then.  The only problem was that they ate at 3:30.  It was so good though!  We had fun and the food was yummy.

The rest of the day was not so good.

I'm sorry that I have focused on a lot of negative this week!  I shouldn't do that!  I promise I will be better this next week!  I will have happier things to say!  I love you all and I hope your week is fabulous!

♥
Molly

Ups, Downs and "Cults Overview"

August 26, 2013

Greetings Mi Familia! (Lacey, did I write that right?)  Hmmm!  That was a pretty dang big letter that I sent off this week!  I hope that you all got a kick out of my little random tangents and venting and other weird, awkward missionary thoughts…  Today was fun.  We stayed at the church the whole time.  We e-mailed, hung out with the other missionaries in our zone who came over to our church, played board games and just relaxed.  We got a gift card to Chick-fil-A from one of the ladies in our ward so Sis. Carrigan and I went to go get lunch.  We told the Elders where we were going and suddenly we had about 5 extra orders.  When we got to Chick-fil-A we looked like pigs because we had 5 bags, 2 drink carriers and just the 2 of us.  At about 5 o’clock we needed to run to the store for groceries…  Momma!  Guess what I found!  Stroop waffles!!  Oh!  I was so excited!  I indulged, I confess.  But man.  Oh, so very worth it!

After P-day we were going over to the Henderson’s for dinner.  

August 27, 2013

Today was pretty dang near perfect!  We had district meeting today.  That went really well!  I had to do a 15 minute lesson on hope…  That did not go so well..  But!  It is over and done with and I won’t have to worry about that again for a while…  I think.  It really wasn’t terrible but for some reason the subject of hope was difficult for me.  I studied and studied but I just don’t feel like I taught it that well.  Anyways, that is done and over and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.

After district meeting we went out to lunch at a place called Stevie B’s.  It’s basically a pizza/salad buffet.  I ate a lot of salad.  I wasn’t feeling too great.  We found out I had a fever.  But I didn’t care!  We were going out tracting today!  I wasn’t going to let a stupid fever stop me!

We had called Moses yesterday and asked if we could come over.  He said he would let us know…  He texted us this morning and said we could come at 2.  That was awesome!  But since he is only 21 we had to find someone to come with us.  Bro. Wernli had been talking to Moses a lot at church so we texted him and said we knew it was short notice but could he possibly come?  Thank heavens for miracles!  He said he could come from 2:15 to 3.  We went and taught him the restoration and the history of the Book of Mormon.  He accepted everything really well and even related to Joseph Smith.  That was my first official lesson!  Whoot!  We are trying to set up another appointment with him for this week.  We will see.  He said he would read the Book of Mormon and we are so hoping he does.  After Moses we went tracting for a while.  It went fine.  We found a few possible investigators…  We shall see.

We tracted until 5 and we were heading to dinner with the Holgados (they were the ones we missed dinner with because of our stupid car).  We saw the Spanish-speaking Elders walking and so of course, Sis. Carrigan pulled over and asked if they wanted a ride.  I guess they ran out of miles and so they had to walk.  I didn’t mind giving them a ride too much.   They had been walking for 6 miles and still had about 6 to go to get to dinner.  The only problem is that we ended up late for dinner.  I hate being late!  It gives me a yucky sick feeling.  And we had already missed dinner once with them.  We got there 15 minutes late.  The Holgados are super cute!  They have 2 sons with disabilities.  Bro. Holgado is from Spain and they are both converts.  They are so cute!  

After dinner we decided to stop by and try to see Cherese.  When we drove by her house there were a bunch of boys with no shirts.  We just kept driving.  We figured it was her little brother and we would just try later.  So we tracted.  We started walking down this side road but it was getting dark… it was about 8:30.  We turned around to come back when a car pulled onto the lane.  We talked to the lady, it was a 2500 foot driveway!  Crazy!

We stopped at Cherese’s house on our way home.  Her brother Colt answered.  He was so sweet!  He said Cherese talks about us a lot.  YES!  He also said she would be home all day tomorrow.  So we will try then.

August 28, 2013

I have never been this tired in my whole entire life.  Bed time is blissful happiness.  Last night I was having the hardest time sleeping even though I was so tired!  And then when I did start to fall asleep I suddenly got a charlie horse in my calf.  Ow!  One of Pres. Wolfert’s favorite things to say when a missionary tells him he/she is tired is “You can sleep when you go back home!”  Guess I’m not sleeping for a while!

Ok now about my day. Oh wait, back up!  I forgot to tell you something from yesterday…  We were tracting on a road kind of like East River Road where it is pretty busy and the houses are spaced out.  A group of bikers (not motorcycles but real bikers) rode past us and we got whistled at.  It made us laugh.  Ok!  Now, so we tried to go back to a lady’s house who had answered the door yesterday and said to come back at 10 today.  She wasn’t home.  Our appointment with Sis. Hefton got cancelled.   Again.  She has been pretty less active and about 2 weeks ago she came to church and asked us if we would give her the lessons.  We said sure and have set up 3 appointments to go see her.  She has cancelled every time!  Well Adrienne called us right after Sis. Hefton (Adrienne is a recent convert..  She is something else.  Oh Ya!  I told you about her.  She is the one who calls me potato baby.)  Anyways, she asked us if we would come visit.  Last week she had strep and I guess now she is getting over pink eye.  She promised us we wouldn’t get anything though cause she isn’t contagious anymore.  She better not be!  I don’t want strep or pink eye!  We went and saw her.  Basically she told us her childhood.  It was…well ummm she had a pretty sketchy childhood and she did a lot of not so great stuff…  Yay for the repentance process!  She is a sweetie!

After we went and heard a whole lota things we didn’t need to hear we went tracting.  Not many people were home.  We did run into a guy who talked to us for quite a while.  He was very much not interested though!  There are a few JW’s in his neighborhood so he has learned to twist words.  He wasn’t mean and he did take a B of M but that seed isn’t going to be growing quickly anytime soon I think…We finished tracting that neighborhood and went to another one we had picked out.  

We pulled over and had just finished praying when a tree across the street and about 50 feet ahead of us just fell down!  A biker was just riding by us and looked over to us with the expression on his face like, "Tell me you just saw that!"  We were pretty surprised and very glad no one had been there on the road when it fell.  We knocked on a few houses and no one answered.  One house a lady answered the door and talked with us.  She was really cute!  She gave us some water bottles too.  It was so nice!  After her house the Elders called us.  They had somehow gotten to Cummings because E. Baker had to give a baptismal interview but didn’t have a ride back.  We had a referral we were supposed to go see but we went and got them instead and were late for our referral.  After getting the Elders we went to go visit Loyce, our referral.  She answered the door with a towel on, a shower cap, and a toothbrush in her mouth.  She let us in and talked to us.  It was so funny!  Her towel kept slipping waaay down.  As a CAN I have seen worse.  Mostly it was just really funny!  She was way sweet and totally willing to listen to us.

We went to the Ketchums for dinner.  They are definitely one of my favorite family in the ward.  Sister Ketchum is Phillipino and she is the sweetest thing ever.  Brother Ketchum is awesome!  He is half Japanese and one of the nicest guys on the face of the planet.  We had a fun time with them.  All I have heard since I got here is how amazing Bro. Ketchum’s sushi is.  Sadly no sushu tonight but he did say next time… Yay!

Elder Baker wrote you guys.  I have no idea what he said but I hope it’s all nice!  I didn’t even know he was going to do that.  He wrote Sis. Carrigan’s family too.  He said he didn’t really know how to say things in her letter cause he doesn’t really know their relationship.  I said, “What about my mom?”  He said, “I figure you are exactly the same as your mom.”  Bingo!  I talk about you guys a lot.  Sis. Carrigan doesn’t talk about her family that much.

After dinner we dropped the Elders off at their appointment.  On our way there Sis Carrigan ran into a bird.  I was in the passenger seat looking down and suddenly she starts screaming.  Loud!  I thought we were getting hit by a car.  So then I start screaming and looked up.  I see a ball of feathers slam into our windshield and fall to the driver’s side.  I started laughing when I figured out we weren’t being hit.  It was funny.  We drove all the way to the Elder’s appointment with a bird on our car because Sis Carrigan didn’t want to touch it and she didn’t want anyone else to touch it.  We finally got it off!  Thank goodness!  After that we were supposed to go talk to Sis. Rhode’s niece Stephanie.  She isn’t a member so we were just going to teach her the first discussion.  We started talking and the Spirit was really strong.  All of us sudden she just starts making jokes and making fun of us.  She was being really rude.  Basically she could feel the Spirit but she felt uncomfortable with it and so she was trying to drive it away.  It was so frustrating.

August 29, 2013

This morning we went and saw Richard.  He is the one who believes in the Book of Mormon but thinks he doesn’t need to become a Mormon.  He is a sweetheart but a very confused sweetheart.  He reads everything and believes it.  Some wacko wrote a book called The Secret Teachings of Jesus and it has lost parts of the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Peter.  Richard believes it.  He is a handful!  Cute, but a handful nonetheless.  He has had like 4 sets of missionaries knock on his door.  We are the first who he has ever let in.  He doesn’t have any teeth and can’t afford dentures.  He is VERY self-conscious about it.  It is really very sad.

After Richard came Bro. Hiers set appointment.  After Bro. Hiers we went tracting.  We went to a house and no one answered.  We were walking back down the driveway and a lady pulled in.  When she opened the door I started talking to her.  She shook her head and signed “I’m deaf”  Ha!  Sweet!  So I started signing to her.  She was so not expecting that!  Sadly she said no.  Dang it!  It was fun to sign to someone for a little bit!  I miss that…

We had dinner with the Rodriguez family tonight.  It is supposed to be our last time eating at the same house with the Elders.  Our ward isn’t very happy about that new rule.  I don’t think that some families will be willing to help us keep that rule.  I guess we will see when we get the dinner calendar on Sunday… They are a fun family.

August 30, 2013

Ahhh weekly planning and comp inventory.  Even when you love your companion and things are going pretty good I think comp inventory is a blessing.  I guess this week we have both had our patience tried.  To be honest I don’t think either one of us has been very good at being patient.  We are just going to both have to work at it I suppose.

We went to dinner at the Smith’s tonight.  They have 3 little boys that are all over the place!  They were way cute though.  After dinner we went to see Moses.  We met his mom.  She was really nice and we talked for a little bit.  We read chapter 2 with Moses cause he hasn’t been reading.  He told us that 2 people stopped by and gave him some pamphlets.   He showed them to us…  JW’s.  He is checking out a lot of churches right now.  He is a lot like Joseph Smith.  We are just praying that he sees the difference of ours!  He isn’t coming to church this Sunday.  He got his car back and is going to his church.  Well, we can only pray that he listens to the Spirit on this one!  Besides visiting him and encouraging and inviting him there isn’t much else we can do.

August 31, 2013

Oh boy.  Today did not go as planned.  Dang it!  We had some really awesome plans.  So we had to finish weekly planning a little and do some 12 week.  That meant that we weren’t going to leave the house as early as we would like.  We had a list of people we were planning on seeing and a lot of tracting to do.  We have been trying super-hard this week to get our 70 contacts.  We had 22 contacts to go to reach our goal.  But we had it.  We knew what we needed to do and where to go!  But, so sad, too bad.  That was not in store for us today.  We got a call from Ben, Loyce’s husband.  The cute Jamaican lady who’s towel kept falling down.  They were planning on moving today and could we help?  Well, we are nice!  We said yes.  They didn’t have a truck yet and he was on his way to get it.  THEN we got a call from Bro. Hiers and Bro. Nevin.  They wanted us over for waffles.  Again.  Today.  We told them we could but only for a little bit.  We grabbed the Elders and headed over to Loyce and Ben’s.  Loyce didn’t know that Ben had called us.  They had no truck and she had been waiting to call us to help with the big stuff.  She was annoyed with Ben but so cute to us!  She kept telling the Elders how much she loves us and how we were best friends.  We have met her only once.  She felt bad that we came over and they weren’t ready.  She is SO cute!  I can’t wait to start teaching her!

After we finished we only had like 15 minutes before dinner.  We went to go check out some of the streets we have been planning to tract.  We have also started judging mail boxes.  I know, it is weird but it keeps us entertained when we are tracting.

We had dinner at the Johns.  Their 13 year old daughter is an even crazier reader than me and Lacey!  She read Les Miserables the unabridged version in 5 days!!  Crazy!

After dinner Sis. Carrigan asked E. Baker for a blessing.  We went to the church and he gave her one.  It was good.  I love the priesthood.

We finished off the night with tracting.  People don’t like us tracting at night.  It has been getting dark at 8:30 and will continue to get dark earlier and earlier..  Dang it!  We will have to start figuring out new things.

September 1, 2013

Today, today was a fabulous day!  So in the morning we went around to a bunch of churches to talk to them about an emergency preparedness seminar going on for Gwinette County.  It is being held in one of our churches but not by us.  They asked Pres. Wolfert if we could go around and talk to churches.  They don’t like us coming into their churches though.  Almost every single pastor that we talked to said they don’t need to do this cause their church has a plan.  But it’s not for the churches!  It’s for the county!  Ahh well.  I sent you a picture of the cult.  It was so funny!

Moses didn’t come today.  That was okay though.  You know how there are people that get up to bear their testimonies and you do a face palm?  That was Sunday.  It was a little wild!  It was pretty funny though and made me giggle.

Church was good.  It always is.  After church we went tracting.  We were having so much fun!  In order to get our 70 contacts we needed 25 people.  We got so close!  We ended up with 62.  Darn it!  We will get it for sure next week.  Mom, to answer your tracting question…  We kind of just pick a street and tract.  If they don’t answer then they don’t answer.  We probably should start keeping track…  I like how you did it…  After tracting we went to the Picketts for dinner.  It was so good!  They had salmon and the way that it was seasoned was SO good.  I’m getting the recipe from Sis. Pickett.

After dinner we went and saw Cherese.  She hadn’t been home when Colt said she would be but she was home this time!  She is SO ready!  She asked us for a Book of Mormon and is for sure coming to church next week!  Yah!  Ah!  She is awesome!  Well, that was our day.  I will keep you updated on Moses and Cherese and Mary.

I love you all! 

Love,

Molly

So Many Contacts - Please Let Us Come Back!

August 19, 2013

Hello Family!

Dang!  I love you all!  Today was for sure the busiest P-day so far.  We were all over the place!  We started off with e-mailing of course.  Thanks for all of the e-mails!  I love getting them every week!  I sure am spoiled to have a family who loves me so much.☺  I got an e-mail from Sister Beckham so that was really fun!  Did you know that Brittany got called to the Philippines?  She leaves on September 11, that's the same day Miss Lindsey Kuhn leaves I believe!

There are so many sisters now!  It is so cool!  Sister Wolfert said that after this next transfer we will have like 89 sisters in our mission and the transfer after that we will have 109!  We will have almost as many sisters now as elders!  WHOOT!  That also means that the likelihood of me having car areas goes down a lot.  I'm okay with that.  It really is a good thing to have that exercise going all day.☺

After e-mailing we went to the Suwanee Greenway.  It was so fun!  It's just a hiking trail that is on the edge of Suwanee.  It is SO pretty!  There are trees EVERYWHERE!  You feel like you are in a jungle.  It has been raining a ton lately so the creeks around the trail are super flooded.  We got about 2 miles in before we had to stop.  It was like an 8 mile hike and Elder Baker said the best part was past the flooded are.  Oh my goodness!  There are so many stinking spiders!  When we were walking we saw a HUGE one!  It was really pretty but I would not want that thing on me!  WE tried to take pictures but the spider was crawling so fast that it was a blur.  This is what it looked like and how big it was . . . I never said I was an artist, so don't judge.☺

Molly's mom says, "She really does know that spiders have 8 and not 6 legs!!  This one is a little disabled."☺

The white part that I didn't color was silver.  It was super cool but really gross at the same time!  Oh!  I saw a little leaf bug.  It was so cute!  Oh! Oh!  We saw a tree that had 5 big snakes just chilling in it.  It was weird!  And then we saw 3 little baby snakes!  I almost stepped on the first one because it was so small!  They were the size of little worms!  Here, I'll draw it.☺

I even picked one of them up!  I held it behind the head, don't worry!  It wrapped it's little body around my thumb and squeezed with all it's little might!  It didn't squeeze very hard but it was trying!  Basically that's what we did for the whole day.  Our pictures turned out weird.  Sister Carrigan is supposed to send hers to me and I will forward them to you.

By the time we got back it was time for us to go to dinner.  We were pretty wet because it had started raining right at the end.  It was hot and muggy, and then when it rained, it was hot, muggy, and wet!

We went to the Qureshi's for dinner.  Brother Qureshi is from Pakistan and has been baptized for a few years.  They have 3 kids, 2 boys and 1 girl.  They were so cute!  I don't know what it is about missionaries but kids get crazy when we come over!  They were bouncing all over the place!  Poor Sister Qureshi!  I think she was a little embarrassed.  I didn't mind though and neither did Sister Carrigan.  We had lots of fun! Sister Qureshi made curry for us. . . YUM!  It was so good!  We stayed and had Family Home Evening with them so we didn't get out of there  until pretty late.

We were going to go tracting but the Elders called.  They needed to transfer info from Sister Carrigan's GPS to theirs.  We had to go practice our song for Wednesday so while they did that we practiced.  Oh!  Did I tell you?  So there was a bunch of miscommunication for the musical number for Zone Conf.  It is now just Sister Macedone and me singing!  AHHH!  Well, that shall be interesting.  So, that's what we did for the rest of the night.  We only had about half an hour left before we had to go home for the night after dinner.  I'm nervous about singing!  It could be bad. :{

August 20, 2013

Well, today felt like it wasn't very productive.  It was but at the same time it wasn't.  I hate those days!  It makes me feel like I am a slacker missionary when we have these days.  Luckily I think there has been only one other time that I have felt like this.  It makes me want to work a lot harder the next day.  So after personal study and comp. study and 12 week and lunch, we had to go practice for tomorrow.  It is the first time Sister Macedone and I have sung together.  We met her and her comp., Sister Alvey, at the church.  We are singing Come Thou Fount.  I'm alto and I have been working really hard to know my notes and not mess up.  It's pretty stressful.  Ugh!  For the most part our voices blend okay, but not super great.  When Sister Carrigan and I were singing and practicing together our voices blended perfectly.  It was like only one person was singing both parts.  Me and Sister Macedone don't sound like that, our voices are just too different.  We don't sound bad but we don't sound as good as Sister Carrigan and I did.  Oh well!  It is what it is!

After practicing we had a whole list of less actives that Bishop Galt had asked us to go visit.  Not one of them was home.  Actually, that's a lie, some of them were cause we could hear them, they just wouldn't answer the door.  Stupid doors.  They just get in the way!  Sometimes I wish I could yell, "I know your in there!  We just want to help you!  Gosh dang it!"  People can just be a pain sometimes!

The last house we went to was the only one who answered.  It was a lady who is less active and her husband isn't a member.  Her daughter Bridget answered the door and we talked for a bit.  Sis. Killen wasn't home but Bridget said if we would come back around 7 then she would be.  I guess she was getting back from a trip.

We had a dinner appointment but she called and told us she was sick so we were on our own.   That was fine, lately we have been getting lots of left overs so we had a lot of food it get rid of.  Left overs are so great!  After dinner we went back and tracted for a while on the Killen's road.  The first lady was outside reading a golf book.  She said her son was a huge golfer and he had been to the Master's a few times.  Jealous Gabe and Dad?☺  I thought so!☺

Then we were walking down the street there was a guy walking his baby pit-bull.  Now, I don't really like grown pit-bulls but this puppy was so stinkin' cute!  He asked us what we were up to and we told him.  He said he would love to talk with us and if we came on the weekend his kids would be with him and we could teach them too!  Hopefully that works out!

We went over to the Killen's and talked for about an hour.  They are so cute!  Her husband took a temporary job in Memphis that turned into a full time job.  He lives there and she goes to see him every month. . . YUCK!  She didn't act like it was too big of a deal though.  I dunno, weird.  She said that she had been part of the RS presidency and still had great friends from the Mormon church.  She defends the church and knows a lot of stuff.  She is up to date on church news, like the age change.   We aren't really sure what happened. . . .   We are going to ask one of the ladies she is friends with and talk to them about it.

August 21, 2013

Wow!  Today was filled with fun stuff!  So last night after we got home the Elders texted us and told us they had a present for us just to say thanks for all we do.  We thought that was pretty nice!  So when we picked them up this morning to drive to Zone Conference they got in the car with a bag that had tissue paper in it.  Sister Carrigan was driving so I was going to open it while she drove.  They told us, no, Sister Carrigan has to open it. . . ummm, okay!?!?  She was really excited and throwing the tissue paper everywhere,  She lifted up the tupperware that was at the bottom and screamed.  Inside was a HUGE wolf spider.  Those boys thought they were SO funny!  Not gonna lie, it was.☺  We named him Diablo.

Zone Conference was great!  Sister Wolfert talked about having faith.  She told us about what happened before they came out here.  President Wolfert had to have surgery on his eye 3 times before they left.  They almost weren't able to come out.  He got a blessing from Elder Bednar but before he gave the blessing he asked if they had the faith for President Wolfert not to be healed.  He (Elder Bednar) gave them the night to talk and pray about it.  Sister Wolfert said it was one of the hardest things she has ever done.  Then President Futral spoke.  He is part of the 70 I think. . . I don't really know.  He talked about obedience and how being obedient will bring blessings but being exactly obedient would bring miracles.  It was a really good talk!  Then we sang.  I messed up once. :{  Oh well!  It think it went fine and well, if it didn't I will never be asked to sing again!  That is fine by me!☺

They split up the sisters and elders for a bit and we talked about flirting and what not.  I guess it has happened a few times now. . . stupid missionaries.  President Wolfert told the elders, "Yes, there are a lot of attractive sisters now.  If you start feeling those attractions, ignore them, if you can't and it's becoming a distraction, talk to me and we will work out something."  He laughed though and said, "The only problem is, I can move the elder but no matter where he ends up there is just going to be another attractive sister!"

During the whole meeting there was a HUGE rainstorm.  The thunder was super loud and a few times we could feel it and the lights flickered.  That was pretty fun.  The  thunder emphasized everything that was said.☺  After, they fed us lunch, took a picture of us and sent us on our way.

So, when we got back to Suwanee we only really had like 45 min, to do anything before dinner.  We tracted around the Warnli's neighborhood (they are who we had dinner with).  So I don't know what happened when you guys tracted on your missions, mom and dad, but on a normal day it takes like 2 hours to contact like 5 people.  It can get rough.  We contacted 8 people in 45 minutes!  It was awesome!

I do have a story to go along with our tracting!  So it is a really awesome gift that missionaries have of being protected, I will tell you what!  The first house we went to we decided to do the harvest prayer.  A guy opened the door and Sister Carrigan told him what we were doing.  He said, "Well, I'm pretty sure Jesus wouldn't like it here."  We told him it would only take a minute and we could do it on his porch. . . we didn't really feel like we should go in.  He looked at us and said, "Well, I can tell you this, if you guys come in, you won't come out.  You've been warned."  And with that, he shut the door.  What?!?  Well that's super sketchy!  We were really glad we didn't go in!  Basically that was the most exciting thing that happened but we got to talk to 8 people!  Whoot!

Dinner at the Warnli's was so much fun!  They are a younger family and their kids are so stinkin' cute!  They have a pet turtle named Timothy.  He just roams around their house and comes out when he is hungry.  It was so funny!  He was a cute little turtle and he just walked around all over!

Okay, so I forgot to say that I got your letter yesterday Mommy!  That was way nice of Aunt Liz and Uncle Jay to say that my farewell talk was good and that I was prepared.☺

I know my letters are long.   I'm sorry!  Basically I'm using these as my journal cause a) I like having you know everything☺ and b) I don't want to write it all twice!   So they have all of my thoughts and feelings too and well, people don't need to know all that!  You can just write the "exciting" things that happen.  I don't mind if you let people read the letters though.  I have nothing to hide!☺

I am glad that both Asia and Kenzie are having a good time on their missions.  I can see why Asia would be sad to be transferred.  You get attached quick to these people!  I will be so sad when I'm transferred.  Sister Carrigan figures not this transfer happening in 2 weeks but the one after that she will be out of here.  My 3 months training will be done.

You asked about Caroline and Phyllis.  We have texted Caroline and gotten no response.  We are planning on trying to see her next week.  Even if she isn't ready I know we planted a seed!  She will be ready someday!  Phyllis, well, we have called her a few times.   She has a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it.  Whether she does or not is another question.  We will keep trying with her though.  We aren't giving up!

August 22, 2013

Oh my goodness!  Today was so stinking great!  So we have a standing appointment with Brothers Hiers and Nevin every Thursday at 2:00.  I think I have told you that.  Usually we have like 2ish hours before we go see them to tract.  Doing 12 week (the greenie training) and all that jazz makes it so we don't leave the apartment until later than other missionaries.  Anyways, we finished tracting around their apartment complex last week.  There are a few sketchy apartment complexes across the street that we decided to go to.  In just those few apartments we contacted 12 people!  We knocked on one guy's door and I said, "Hi!  We're missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!"  He smiled and said, "I know who you are.  Hi Sisters!"  Turns out he is an inactive.  His dad is in the Sugar Hill ward (the other ward that shares our building).  He grew up in the church but fell away.  From what he said we are pretty sure he and his wife are having problems.  He said that lately he has been feeling like he needs to go back to church.  He said he will be staying at his dad't house for the nest few weeks but afterwards we could come see him!  Awesome!  We called the elders cause they were still on exchange and told Elder Thomas (the ZL's and another set of elders cover Sugar Hill) to watch out for him.  Hopefully it all works out!

Oh I forgot to tell you!  So before we started tracting we got a phone call.  Now back up a little more for a second.  Bishop Galt has given us a huge list of inactives and unknowns to try and go see.  We have been trying to visit them and go talk to them but for the most part we haven't had any success.  Well we got a call from a guy who we have tried to go see like 3 times.  We called him about a month ago and left a message.  He called us!  That doesn't really happen, but it did today!  He said that he has been thinking about coming back to church!  Awesome!  He said lots of stuff has been happening, like his dad just found out he has cancer.  It's sad that something drastic has to happen sometimes before people will think about going to church again.  I feel bad about his dad but I'm happy he wants to come back!  He was a little worried cause he didn't know what time church was.  Luckily we are pros with that information.☺

It was exciting to have 2 people in one day tell us that they wanted to come back to church!  Yay!

We decided to finish tracting the last row of apartment really quick.  A lady answered the door. She had a British accent (sweet!) and she knew who we were!  I guess the other sisters had been visiting her but they must have dropped her.  I'm not really sure.  They didn't keep up with their records.  Gabe!  When you go on your mission make sure that your area book stays updated wherever you are.  It is a pain not to have it fully updated!  Anyways she doesn't work on Tuesdays or Thursdays so she told us to stop by!  Yay!

We went to teach Brothers Heirs and Nevin.  Brother Nevin wasn't there and in all reality he is who we were there to teach.  So we visited with Brother Heirs for a little bit.

Afterwards we went tracting.  I love that in Georgia, the neighborhoods are clustered together and all the streets have a theme for the names.  We decided to go to Diggers Way and Gold Dust Trail.  When we told the elders where we were going they said, "I really hope there isn't a Gold Diggers Lane!"  We figured that as long as we weren't planning on being gold diggers then that was okay.☺

When we got there we started walking down the street and a lady was walking kind of by us.  She yelled, "Hey!  Are you guys JW's?!?"  Psh! As if!  We said no and told her who we were.  She goes, "Oh! I used to be a Mormon.  I got excommunicated upon request."  And she turned and walked away.  We just turned and looked at each other, we couldn't believe what we had just heard! Sad!  Then we heard, "Hey!"  We turned around and she was talking to us again.  She said, "Do you have permission to knock on doors?"  We said yes (yay for our little ministering certificate thing!).  Then she turned around and started walking again.  It was weird!

We knocked on quite a few doors and got a couple of contacts but no one really wanted to talk to us.  At one house we did the harvest prayer.  The lady was really nice but not interested.  When we got off her porch it got dark really fast.  We looked up and there were these HUGE DARK clouds rolling in really fast.  Then a siren started going off.  We decided to get back to our car.

We were opening our doors to get in when we heard, "Sisters!" and there was that lady again!  She had 2 bottles of water in her hands coming towards us.  She said, "I know it's not super hot but it's really muggy.  I figured you could use this.  I really like the family values of the church.  I was RS secretary for a few years and a few other things.  I never believed in the whole Joseph Smith thing though."  That's bull!  It's not the first time that an inactive member has told us that.  It's just a way for them to feel less guilty.  It makes me so sad that they deny what they once knew was true and what the spirit has told them is true just so that they can feel less guilty about not coming to church or whatever is going on.  It breaks my heart every time I hear people say something like that.  She was really nice and I think that her heart was softened a little bit after seeing us.  We asked her what the siren was and she said it was either a tornado (AH!  I want to see one so bad!!) or a REALLY bad storm.  Whatever it was we needed to get inside.  WE told her thanks for the water and hopped in our car.  I have never seen clouds move that fast before!  They were some of the blackest I have ever seen!  Luckily we got home just before the storm hit.  The thunder was LOUD and the lightning was literally cracking!  It was crazy!  Oh!  I wish you could have been here!  It was SO cool!!  I got a video so when I send my memory card home you can watch it. Anyways it lasted for almost 2 hours!  It was crazy!

It ended at about 6:45 which was good cause there was a RS activity and they had told us that was where our dinner was.☺  They were having officers come teach self defense and every lady in our ward told us we needed to come and learn some self defense.  Sister Carrigan also took a self defense in college and we told them that but they all were really worried.  It was funny.  We told them we would come.   So Mom, you remember that class you had me sign up for that I took my 2nd year!  The one that they talked to you about during orientation?  Well, its a nationwide program.  They taught the exact same things.  it was fun though and we got to be with the awesome ladies of our ward.☺

August 23, 2013

Well for having such an eventful day yesterday, today was quite a dud.  We did weekly planning today which actually is always fun.  We have a good time with it!  It really is very important and it does take a long time but it's worth it.

The elders' bikes had been left at their dinner appointment from last night because of the rain.   They asked us if we would give them a ride to go get them.  We had planned on tracting kind of over by there anyways, so we said yes.  Well, our car wouldn't start.  The battery was dead.  We called Elder Conners over at the mission office and asked him what he wanted us to do.  We planned to just bike instead.  He told us he would like us to get it fixed now rather than later and to call a ward member to jump us and then follow us to the nearest Pep Boys (okay the way that I wrote that sound funny☺the member wasn't jumping us just our car☺Haha!)  We called Brother Garfield so he came over to help.  The elders were going to leave but Brother Garfield was really worried about us so he asked them to ride in the car with us.  We found out it was his 40th anniversary and he was supposed to pick up his wife.  We were only 1/3 of the way to Pep Boys.  Traffic was really bad.  We called him and told him we would be fine and to go pick up his wife.  We had to assure him a few times that we would be okay.  When we got to Pep Boys they told us it would only be a 15-20 minute wait to get our car in the shop.  No.  They lied!  It took an hour just to get our car looked at!  We all missed our dinner appointments.  I felt so bad!  Not for us, for the families.  They had gone out of their way to have us and we were stuck at stupid Pep Boys!

We didn't get back until like 6:45.  Both of the families had told us that we could still go over.  The parents had gone to some marriage thing over at the church but their daughter was there.  She just got done with her first year of college at BYU-I and is thinking about a mission.  We talked with her for a really long time and it was way fun!  She is cute and will have a great time if she decides to go!  Sister Carrigan hasn't been feeling good for most of the day so we went home after talking to Sarah (the girl from dinner).

August 24, 2013

Sister Carrigan started throwing up last night.  She was sick for most of the night.  I don't think that we will be going out anywhere today.  It is 9 o'clock right now.  I got up at 6:30 and just let her sleep.  It's times like these where I think certain movies should be allowed.  I have a lot of things that I can get done today though.  I just like having a movie on while I'm doing stuff.  Ah the life of a missionary with a sick companion.☺

Well even though we didn't leave the apartment today I still feel very accomplished! Sister Carrigan woke up around 11 and came into the living room.  We talked for a few minutes and she then fell asleep on the couch.  I finished up my calendar and then started working on our phone.   So all of the sisters before us just put a bunch of names in, not indicating if they were potentials, investigators or what.  Families in our ward are in there 2 or 3 time by both first and last names.  Basically it is a mess and we don't know half the people in it!  I have been going through and writing down names and numbers that we don't know and then deleting them.  That way if for some random reason we need a phone number we have it written down.  There are like 500 contacts in there.  I'm at the J's.  My had hurts from writing.

I got bored of doing that so I decided to finally finish "Our Search for Happiness."  I love that book!  Elder Ballard is awesome!  Mary called and she just started talking.   I think she is just so lonely.  She is a sweet lady and it is just her and her 19 year old daughter who is a little handicapped.  I don't know what she has but it doesn't matter.  She is so cute!  I think Mary was hoping we would come visit.  I wish we could have!  I promised we would sometime this next week.  Eventually her heart will be ready to know the truth!  For now we will just love her.☺

I called Moses to ask about church.  He said really he just came to check it out.  Ugh!  I was so sad when he said that!  I told him we would love to have him again and to let us know.  About an hour later he texted us and said, "I'll give it another go."  YES!!!  Ahhh!!  We are so very happy!  The spirit is working on  him.  We called the EQ President to make sure that the lesson wasn't on  pornography!  Oh boy!  That was crazy!  No wonder Moses didn't want to come back!  But he is coming!  Basically that has been my day. Whoot!  Super exciting.☺

August 25, 2013

Church was awesome today!  Sacrament meeting was amazing!  Basically the ward was promised that if they would up their fast offerings there would be blessings that would follow.  One of these blessings was that there would be baptisms and people to teach!  That would be so awesome!  As missionaries we are encouraged to give fast offerings to the ward that we are serving in.  We get to take part in this promise too!  I am so excited!  I think for dinner lessons this is what we are going to be focusing on a lot for a while.  I love that we can be promised that if we will do something we will get blessings.  I love even more that if we do what we are asked that promise will come true 100%!

Moses came to church!  It's really hard to read him.  He confuses us!  He doesn't really want to meet or talk during the week but he is willing to come on Sunday. . . it is completely opposite of what everyone else does!  He stayed up super late last night and texted us at like 2:30 in the morning.  He kept falling asleep and it was so sad because he missed so many great spiritual opportunities!  Aarrg!  Dang it!

Okay, now to end on a happy note!  Momma, I forgot to say that I got your letter yesterday.  Thanks!  It was a good pick-me-up after being stuck inside all day!  Thanks for the recipes!  Daddy, how much more postage should I put on?  This one is a big one! 15 possibly 16 pages plus the letters to Grandma and Grandpa as well as Grandma Syndergaard.  I am gonna have a whole 5 billion novels by the time my mission is over.☺  Imagine if I not only wrote the letters but I used a journal too?!?  That would be A LOT!

I have been running a lot and eating a lot smaller portions at homes.  I'm almost down to my lower weight again which is good.  People (my companion) keep telling me that it is impossible for me to lose weight while on my mission and I will be lucky if I can just maintain where I'm at.  I would love to come home just 10 pounds lighter though.

Well family darlings!  I love you all so very much with all my heart!  You are all amazing!  Keep being missionaries at home and being the fabulous examples that I know you all are!  I love you!

♥
Molly