Hey Fam,
Well today
was transfer calls. . . . My heart is so sad! I so very badly wanted to stay here another
transfer. Instead, at 8:01 a.m., just as
we were starting comp study, the phone rings with President’s name. I know I looked at Sister Rowe with absolute
fear. You only get a call from President
if you are getting called to leadership.
I let it ring a few times before I answered. Then I started crying as President told me he
was calling me to be an Sister Training Leader (STL) in the Cornelia Zone. I am sad on two fronts. I would rather not be an STL and I so love
Sister Rowe and Hickory Flat! President
said he would only give me one piece of advice, just love the sisters. He then told Sister Rowe she was getting
Sister Webster and I was with Sister Arbon.
After we
hung up, I just cried for a little bit.
I am just a little scared and I have watched other STL’s and it just
seems to be a lot of extra work and responsibility. My mind and body just felt a little
drained. Then the calls and texts
started pouring in. Rules about calling
other missionaries go out the window on transfer day.
When I was
emailing I asked my Sister Hooker where she was headed. Cornelia Zone is the one she is in now. OF COURSE!!
She is now headed to the Peachtree Corners Zone and I’m headed to
Cornelia. We just switched sides of the
mission!!! Bugger! I know I should be grateful that we had each
other in the MTC and at the beginning we were in the same zone but I really
want to still be in the same area as her.
After
e-mailing I came home and started the dreaded packing. I’m REALLY gonna have to start sending
stuff home. : ?
Dinner was
at the Markhams. I really like their
family! We also stopped and said goodbye
to the Alleys and Pettits. Of course I
got pictures! J I hate saying goodbye though. It’s so hard!
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| ♥My Pettits♥ |
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| ♥Sister Alley and Thatcher - - Brother Alley wasn't home.♥ |
May 13, 2014
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| Sister Rowe, Me, and Elder Peña my most solid Missionary friends in Hickory Flat! |
It was a
hard day today! I really do hate saying
goodbye.
We had a
really good district meeting today. Man! Now I’m going to have to learn to love a
whole new district! Bugger. Hopefully it’s a fun district. Hopefully there will be totally awesome
sisters in my new district. The other
sisters in my district didn’t want to go to lunch with us, the elders all went
over to the Dustin’s to have lunch with them.
So we just went home for lunch. I
really couldn’t eat anyhow so maybe it was just as well that the other sisters
didn’t want to go to lunch. I’ve kinda
been sick to my stomach since that call from President. I know I will eventually learn to love the
STL thing but for right now not so much!
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| Max, Jenn and me! |
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| My sweet Jenn!!♥♥♥♥ |
We went and said goodbye to Max and Jenn. That one
was hard. I’m going to miss that
girl! I love her lots! I cried big time! She wrote me a sweet letter. She’ll be fine. She learn to love the gospel more and
more. She and her sweet Max will be a
great addition to the strength of the church where ever they go.
Afterwards
we went to see Billie. It was a little
different than I expected. She talked
about how she didn’t want to say goodbye to the missionaries anymore. Basically she told Sister Rowe not to come
over anymore. It was so sad. I know Sister Rowe will keep going and I know
that Billie will be glad to see her and meet Sister Webster. My Billie is a stubborn little thing but she
loves us and the gospel really does change lives. I love these people so very much. How does it happen? They have become a part of the most cherished
part of who I am. I am better because
Father chose to share them with me in this life. What a gift!
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| Sister Rethke and Taylor - - Brother Rethke was at work! |
We tracted
for a while, and then went to the Rethke’s.
Darn I am going to miss them!
They have added a delightful spice to life here in Hickory Flat.
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| ♥♥My "Mary Poppins Family"- - The Dustin's Practically Perfect in Every Way!!♥♥ |
Dinner was
at the Dustin’s. Oh man! This family has become my family in so many
ways. I love them SO much!! They are the most amazing family and oh how I
love those kids!! I am so going to miss
this family! Brother Dustin had everyone
say something they had learned from me.
It was embarrassing but so very sweet! J
Our Relief
Society activity was tonight so we went to that. I said goodbye to some of the women
there. Sister Dustin spoke about how we
need to love ourselves. She did a great
job!
We took
pictures with the elders and attempted to burn Elder Winter’s suit since he is
leaving. Haha! Epic Fail!
It wouldn’t burn.
Oh my heart
is so sad! When did I come to love this
place so much?!? I knew it had wiggled
itself into my heart, but I didn’t know it had wiggled itself in so deep! I don’t agree with the Lord making me leave,
but I know that He sees a lot more than I do!
I know I will eventually come to love Monroe. . . someday. I’m so thankful for the people I have met
here! For the memories, the joy, and the
sadness. I have grown in ways I never knew I needed to grow. They haven’t gotten rid of me. J I’ll be back!
May 14, 2014
Today was
hard and scary. But mostly hard. I woke up at around 5 this morning and I was
so nervous I couldn’t go back to sleep.
Last night I had stayed up until 12 to finish packing and
everything. So on top of being crazy
nervous I was exhausted. I couldn’t even
eat. My darling Sister Rowe made me some
food but I could only eat like 2 bites.
Sister Dustin
took us to Norcross where we were meeting up with a bunch of sisters to
exchange. The closer we got, the more
scared I got. I don’t know why I’m
freaking out so much. Ah! Annoying!!
When we got there Sister Alder came up to me and told me I would do
great. My response? Bursting into tears. Pathetic!!
Sister Arbon
found me about 10 minutes later. She is SO
cute! And instantly eased my fears just
a little.
It about
killed me to say good bye to Sister Dusting and Sister Rowe. I just wanted to jump back in the car with
them and drive right back home to Hickory Flat with them. But they headed one way, I headed the
opposite.
Sister Arbon
is DARLING! It wasn’t hard for me
to instantly love her. We figured out
that she is in Aunt Diana’s ward! Actually, Aunt Diana wrote me about her when I
first came out but I had forgotten about it!
The day was
a whirlwind. We got back and Sister
Arbon let me unpack and get settled, then we ate lunch. Which I was actually able to eat. Then we went tracting. Loganville is pretty much the most city I
have served in. Even more so than
Suwanee. We had fun and laughed a lot.
We then
visited people. Though I am unable to
tell you who. It will take me a little
while and then I’ll be fine. J Transfer days are always just long,
exhausting and overwhelming- -well at least when you are the one doing the
transferring.
May15, 2014
Oh my! I’m just never going to be able to sleep
again. : / Last night was rocky. Basically I was just exhausted all day.
We decided
to call all the sisters in our zone and get to know them. Our zone is tiny!! There are only 4 sets of sisters, including
us. It was fun to talk to them. Sister Smith, Sister Nettleton’s companion is
in Cleveland replacing Sister Hooker. I
guess I will probably find out where I stand with Sister Nettleton.
Then we went
and got Sister Arbon some medication.
She has got a really bad cold.
Poor girl! She is a trooper
though.
After the
medication we went and visited Sister Shirley.
She is the first member I’ve met!
She is such a sweetheart! Her
husband just passed away about a month ago and so she is so sad and very
lonely. She writes poetry and is really
good at it! She read us a poem she wrote
for her husband after he died. It was so
sweet! I got very teary-eyed. Sister Arbon and I decided that we would make
a set appointment from now on to go and visit her weekly!
After lunch
we drove to Monroe (which is about 20 minutes from us) to visit a lady named
Amanda. She lives in a big trailer
park. When we go there a lady from DFAX
(which I’m 97% positive is like social services) was there. Someone had reported Amanda and her husband
saying that they weren’t taking care of their 2 little children properly. It is a sad situation. They are so poor and in order to help make
ends meet they have a bunch of other people living with them. The lady left and we read with Amanda the
first chapter in the Book of Mormon. She
kept talking about how she wanted read Doctrine and Covenants first cause her
friend who referred her to us has talked about it frequently. I love all of the scriptures but the Book of
Mormon just has what we need to teach as missionaries. Most people know the Bible, the Book of
Mormon covers the gospel in such simple understandable terms. At the same time it teaches the very deepest
doctrines.
Then we went
to see Carlos, who just got baptized last week.
He was playing video games when we came in. I hate those things!! Kids get hooked on them. He was a cute kid and I’m sure he’s a lot
more focused when he isn’t’ glued to the TV.
Most people are. Technology is
good but it really does interfere with interpersonal communication and
relationships.
After visiting
Carlos and talking with him about his baptism, we went and saw Sister
Kakulani. Her husband was from
Hawaii. She has 2 children out on
missions right now. Her daughter is in
Paraguay and her son is in Italy. Her
husband passed away so it is just her. I
can’t imagine how hard that would be.
She was nice.
When we were
finished visiting we went home and had dinner.
They forgot the dinner calendar, so meals don’t exist this week, which
is fine. J We had about an hour after dinner, so we went
and visited the Pecks. Brother Peck is
working on getting back into the church.
His wife Villa, is from China and wants to be baptized. I think Brother Peck really wants to baptize
Villa. He knows that he has a little
ways to go so I don’t really know what will happen there. Sister Arbon says they finally convinced
Villa to be baptized now instead of waiting.
But I guess we’ll see what happens.
Once we got
home we did our voice mail and introduced ourselves. It took us 3 times to get it in! We were laughing the whole time! It was so much fun. J
May 16, 2014
Weekly
Planning is always interesting the first few weeks in a new area. Basically whoever has been there, gets to
plan it all by themselves. Today was no
exception. I’m slowly putting names with
information, now I just need faces! I’ll
get there eventually. J Sister Arbon is the sweetest she makes me
feel loved and happy so that’s nice.
Poor Sister
Arbon is so sick! I feel so bad! I feel like as a missionary your body takes
on sickness about 10 times more drastically that the norm. So after planning, she went and took a
nap. So I took the time to get caught up
on stuff that had been piling up because of transfers.
Sister Arbon
slept most of the day. I felt so sad for
her. It is no fun to be a sick
missionary. When she woke up, we planned
our gospel principles lesson and went and got the mail. Four letters for me. J One from Grandma (thanks for the
monies!! The letter was cute! I loved it!)
One from Sister Alder, love her.
Another from Britt (with a Wendy’s gift card). And finally one from Momma! I like the promise of a Smitty’s breakfast. J
So that was
our Friday. Nothing too exciting at
all. Except for the letters! Those were VERY exciting. J
May 17, 2014
We started
our day off with visiting a less active, Sister Conchola. She is from Germany and her husband is from
Mexico. She is 2 children, a 2 year old
girl and a 3 month old boy. Mostly she
is just lonely and needs some friends.
Her husband works all the time and so she is just with the kids. It’s not fun to be lonely. That is one of the truths I have learned on
my mission. Father really did mean for
us to be together and to love each other.
We ended up helping her fold her laundry. And strangely enough that isn’t the first
time I’ve done that while here in Georgia.
Then we went
tracting for a while before lunch.
Unfortunately, for us it’s the first weekend of the summer break, so out
of the 15-20 houses we knocked on, we talked to 2 people. : /
After lunch,
we went to visit Sister Swancey. She is
super sweet! The whole time we were
talking with her I was fighting to keep my eyes open! It was SO dark in her house and I was SO
tired! She found out we didn’t’ have
dinner, so she invited us back later to eat.
We left and
went tracting for 3 hours, on top of the one we had done this morning. Door after door either never opened, or we
got it slammed in our face. Oh boy! And we both got sunburnt! Seven contacts. We only talked to 7 people today! Out of 4 hours! Kinda totally disappointing!!
There were
members in the neighborhood, the Longs.
So we stopped by them. Their 2
kids entertained us by having us do their flashcards for math. Division has left my brain! J Then they did some “magic tricks” for us. J Haha!
It reminded me of being with Hannah while she does magic tricks.
We went back
to Sister Swancey’s for dinner and then tried to visit some people. I got my birthday letter Momma. J It made me cry! Dang I love you!!
May 18, 2014
Welcome to
the Monroe ward! The first Suday in a
new ward is always an adventurous time.
Everyone is coming up to you, asking where you’re from, how long you’ve
been out and telling you their names, along with their children. It is a little overwhelming cuz you know you
are never going to remember all of them.
It’s kinda hard core overload on the information. Luckily I feel like I keep up kinda pretty
well.
Our ward is
the only ward that meets in our building and they STILL have it at 9!! They are nuts! So, because of that, we have meetings at 7:30
in the morning! Ah well!
This ward is
kinda a big melting pot. We have a
little bit of everything. Brother Coe is
our ward mission leader. I really miss
my Suwanee ward mission leader, Brother Pickett. He is simply incredible. I know I will never be a ward mission leader
but if my husband is I want him to be like Brother Pickett.
Church was
good. It’s interesting, no matter where
you go the doctrine is the same. It’s
the people and personalities that make wards so different. Each has their pluses and minuses. Each is endearing in it’s own right.
We sent home
afterwards to eat, plan, and study. Then
we had a lesson with the Musgroves. Andy
(Brother Musgrove) grew up in the church.
Jamie (Sister Musgrove) and Kayla (a step daughter) are getting ready to
be baptized. They are all awesome. Kayla is 11 and won’t talk . . . um like for
real won’t talk. She doesn’t say a
word. My and Sister Arbon’s goal is to
get her to talk! Two of Andy’s siblings,
Sister Brown and Adam came over for the lesson.
It was the biggest hoot ever! It
felt a lot like when the Syndergaards get together. Oh my!
I was lovin’ it! It felt like I
was home. J Adam is the youngest, 30, and not
married. Such a nice guy. He will totally find someone awesome
someday.
Love you
all,
Mollo
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