Address

Sister Molly George
Georgia Atlanta North Mission
1150 Cole Dr. SW
Lilburn GA 30047

mollyg@MyLDSMail.net

Friday, June 27, 2014

Summer is Hot in Georgia

June 16, 2014

Hey Fam Bam! J

Well it has been quite the day.  I will be glad when it is over.  Even when you love someone you can get edgy with them when things haven’t gone as smoothly as you would like.  Sister Arbon has been really good with me this past week while I have been sick but I think we have hit the wall.  Today has been an “I know I am on Sister Arbon’s nerves” kinda of a day.  That doesn’t mean I don’t love her because I really do.  And it doesn’t mean that I don’t think she cares about me.  It’s just been a very long week with too many hours looking at the walls of our apartment and now we’ve been stuck at Pep Boys all day long.  Sometimes the hardest part about a mission is literally being with someone 24/7.  I can’t say it’s something that I will miss all that much.  I guess I need an attitude adjustment and be thankful that Sister Arbon is my companion.  She is a good missionary and I know that I am blessed to have her in my life.

We went and emailed first, as usual, today.  Thanks for the e-mails and pictures. J  I love y’all so stinkin’ much!  Fo reals!  I never could have asked for a better family. J

Momma, I love you buckets!  I always hate it when you have days where you miss me.  Mostly cause I hate havin’ you be sad.  But it does always make me feel very loved. J

Because our tire blew out on us and we were driving on a spare we had to spend basically the rest of our P-day at Pep Boys.  So that was totally not fun!  As we were there the Cleveland sisters called.  Their car had been broken into.  So they had to cancel the exchange we were set to have.  They don’t know when their car is supposed to be fixed and so that takes priority over the exchange.  The funniest part of the story is Sister Smith.  They had parked to go tracting and then afterwards as they were walking back to the car, they see the guy breaking into their car.  So Sister Smith runs at the guy!  He hops into his car just as she gets there and she opens his door and yells at him to get out.  But he drove away!  I can laugh at it cuz she is nuts and totally lucky she didn’t’ get shot or hurt!  Her purse was stolen but all her cards and stuff were cancelled so everything is good!  Ya gotta love Sister Smith!

Dinner was with Sister Kekoolani.  I sure love that lady!  She is great!  And she’s got her two kids out right now which is super awesome!

Last we had a lesson with Musgroves.  They have been taken off date for now, which is a bummer.  But they will get there!  So not the most exciting P-day I’ve ever had but not that bad.  Y’alls emails were hands down, no question, the best part of the day. J  So thanks!!

June 17, 2014

District Meeting was SO good today!  I gave a training on knowledge for our Christlike Attribute.  I don’t feel like I did too bad of a job.  The Zone Leaders came (of course. . . Ha J) but it was good.  I love Elder Angilau and Elder Jensen!  They are awesome!  I’m glad that I get to serve with them. 

The best part about DM though was Elder Court’s training.  He kind of made up his own training because he can, because he is the district leader. J  He started out asking us if we had ever wondered why “Faith in Jesus Christ” is a Christlike attribute.  Which was a good question cause the Christlike attributes are qualities Christ has that we strive to have.  So, He had faith in Himself.  So we talked about how it is all self-confidence and how if we know who we are we will thrive as missionaries.  It was probably the best training that I have ever had as a missionary!

Both Elder Court and Elder Orme’s greenies are training this next transfer.  That’ll be interesting. We will have a bunch of GREEN elders and then us.  I will be the oldest missionary out in our district.  And either Elder Evans or Elder Bloomfield will be our DL.  It will be interesting to see what happens.

After lunch, we literally tracted for 4 hours straight!  Oh my goodness!  So.  Much.  Tracting!  I don’t know what it has been about this transfer but tracting has been hard and really not that fun!  Which is frustrating because I have always kinda like tracting.!

Our last hour of tracting it started getting cloudy and started thundering and lightning.  We kept going because there was no rain, but then the lighting started getting really close to us, which was a little sketchy.  So we headed back to the car.  Good thing we did cause about 2 minutes away from the car, it started dumping rain!

We stopped at home really quick.  Then we had dinner with the Woodfords.  Brother Woodford is in the bishopric, he is really nice.  He has a wood workshop and he makes pens, which are so very cool!  He gave us each a pen that he made.  So very nice!

Our last appointment was at the Sisics.  Ah!  I just freaking love them!!  Tiffany just had surgery so their house has been a little nuts and Anel has basically been being a single dad for a bit.  I love their kids so much!  They are adorable!  Sticky faces n’ all! J  I love kids in general but some more especially.  These kiddos are like that for me.  Kids - - yes they make messes, yes sometime they get so dirty that they look like little hobos.  But how can you not look at them, look past the dirty and sticky, and not see the Celestial light just gleaming from their little faces?!

Sorry random tangent.  Anyways we asked Anel the feelings he has when he read.  He talked about how it is peaceful.  But he still hasn’t’ prayed about it.  So we asked him to pray about it tonight.  He so badly wants to believe!  He just needs to get his answer.  He will though.  I know he will.  He will ask and God will answer.  He always does.  Sometimes we just have to persist.

June 18, 2014

Well, we started off our day by going to the dentist for Sister Arbon.  Whoot.  Brother Carter in our ward is a dentist and does the missionaries for free when they need it which is super awesome of him.  They are a really great family.

After that we had a lesson with Ashley at Sister Murphey’s.  Ashley is super awesome and if we could get her husband on board, she would be baptized within the next month.  She really is great!

Then we went to follow up on a referral we got from Mormon.org.  Turns out it was a lady that Sister Anderson and I tracted into while on exchanges.  The lady was interesting.  She was super curious but would start to try bashing and then go back to being curious.  We gave her 3 Nephi 11 to read.  Hopefully as she reads the spirit will touch her heart!

After a late lunch, we went to drop off Sister Brown’s pan and ended up staying and talking.  She is hands down in my top 5 favorite people in the ward!  She is great!  She was telling us her whole story.  Oh my heck!  She has been to hell and back and has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard!  I love her SO much!  I leave on a spiritual high every time I talk to her!

Sister Mahedy took us out to eat at Moe’s.  I really wish there was a Moe’s out west!  And a Waffle House.  Though I’m not a fan of their waffles, more their hash browns.  Hmmm. . .maybe I should buy into both of those and get ‘em going in the west.  But then I would have to live there forever, and since I’m staying in Georgia, that won’t work.  So I’ll just enjoy ‘em here I guess. J 

The rest of our night was spent tracting and tracting and tracting some more.  We really need some new investigators!!

June 19, 2014

Today was a really good day.  It was one of those days where we worked hard, had fun, and couldn’t wait for bed! J

We called all the sisters and talked with them about how things were going and to discuss what their July baptism goals were.

Sister Iketau and I talked for a while when we called them.  I love her so stinkin’ much.

After calling the sisters, we went to Sister Shirley’s.  She finally had a few things for us to do!  Ah!  I love her! J  For the past few times we have sung to her.  This time she had an old hymn book lying out for us from 1948!  Come Thou Font was in it (why don’t we still have that in our books?!) so that is what we sang. J  How grateful I am for this black name tag.  If I didn’t have it on, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do these kinds of things, like singing to a lovely lady who just needs to feel loved.

Before lunch, we went to contact a referral we had gotten.  No one would answer even though we could hear people.  I felt prompted to leave a Book of Mormon there, so we did, along with a sticky note and our card marking 3 Nephi.  As we were flipping around the door opens and a girl sticks her head out.  So I just stop the car in the middle of the road and run up to her.  Haha!  I probably looked crazy. J  It was the girl’s mom we were looking for but she was at work.  So I talked with her for a minute and explained about the Book of Mormon and told her to have her mom call.  All the while cute Sister Arbon is still in the car with the window rolled down!  Neither one of us expected it to take too long.  Probaly one of the oddest contacts I’ve ever had. J

As we were headed home for lunch, we passed a bakery and decided to stop and get a treat.  We walked in and it wasn’t set up too well, but we figured that’s because they had opened a few months ago.  It was called The Lemon Tree Bakery so we decided to try their lemon bars.  We started eating them in the car. . . FAIL!  It was tasteless. L  Serious, there was no flavor at all!!  We were SO disappointed!!  It was kinda funny though, we couldn’t help but laugh.

After lunch we tracted until dinner.  It was SO hot!!  WE were dying!  And everyone just looked at us.  No offers for water or anything.  All we wanted was the sun to be just a little covered by the clouds.  But no such luck.  We looked super gross!  Dinner was at the Galbreaths.  They were going to the temple after dinner and I just wanted to jump in the car and go with them!!

Our last stop was at the Pecks.  Our plan was to finally put Vila on date since Brother Peck got the okay on his baptism.  Well, it was a pretty frustrating evening let’s just say that.  We got home frustrated and so we got one of our favorite CD’s and blasted it in the apartment and danced.  We had to get all our stress and frustrations out, so we danced to church music.  Haha. J  Oh the things I do as a missionary that I would never do as a normal person.  It was kind of a silly and fun way to end the night.

June 20, 2014

Oh Gabey!  I hope you had a FABULOUS time at the temple!!  I thought about you all day!  I was so sad I couldn’t be there with you!!

Weekly planning was just dandy today.  We have to finish it up tomorrow cause we didn’t get it all finished.  We had a meeting with Laura, the lady we had tracted into before the pig roast.  It was a kind of baffling lesson.  She kept saying over and over that she couldn’t find anything wrong with the Book of Mormon and that it parallels with the Bible, so I asked her why she wouldn’t want to be part of the only church the teaches of the Book of Mormon.  Basically it just came down to her not wanting to change.

We have been trying to figure out ways we can contact without just tracting all the time.  But there really aren’t any parks or anything to go contacting so we went to an unlikely place for contacting.  Home Depot!  We decided while we were there, we would look for the little Georgia Bulldogs that we see everywhere, so if anyone asked, that would be the purpose we gave them. J  Haha!  Well!  It worked!  We were in the garden section when one of the employees came up to us.  He was probably in his early 20’s.  He asked, “Can I help you ladies find anything?”  I told him we were trying to find the Georgia Bulldog.  He told us he could help us.  While we were looking, he ran into some people he had helped before us.  He asked them if they had found what they needed.  They said, no.  But instead of stopping to help them, he said, “Okay, well if you go up front, someone will help you.  I’m helping these lovely ladies.”  Haha!  Oh boy.  As we were going to find the statues, we got to talking about who we are and what we do.  I’m not sure if he seemed interested cause we were two “lovely ladies,” or for real.  Probably the former.  When we found them, he didn’t leave, nope!  He carried them to the checkout stand AND carried them to our car.  I opened the back door so he could put them in.  So he does, and then as I’m shutting the back door, he goes and opens my door for me!!  What?!?  Oh my.  It was very nice of him and so funny!  Not gonna lie though, it was quite flattering and I have really missed getting the door opened for me.

After that funny excursion, we went contacting at a farmers market, which was super fun!  We got ourselves our first Georgia peaches of the season too! 

Sister Brown took us to Chili’s for dinner.  I! LOVE! HER!   She is one of the most selfless, non-judgmental people I know!  I love talking to her SO much!!

We went tracting after dinner and about 45 minutes before it was time to go in Sister Arbon told me she was taking me on a date. J  She knew I had been sad that I wasn’t in Idaho Falls with my family as Gabe was going to the temple.  So we went on a “date” to the frozen yogurt place in town.  We had gotten a $10 gift card a few weeks ago from Sister Taylor, so we went and used it.  We had fun and it made me not quite so sad. J  Thank you Sister Arbon for being so thoughtful.  I’m proud of you Gabe!  I’m so proud of you!!

June 21, 2014

Today my cute Elaina girl got baptized and it was her birthday. J  I so wish I could have been there!  I sent her a letter on Wednesday.  So she would get it by today.  Oh!  I miss my Dustin’s!!

We had to go to Pep Boys again today.  This time cause our oil needed to be changed.  Luckily they got it done pretty quickly!  Which was nice!

We tried to go see a few less actives with no such luck!  So we headed home for lunch.   When we parked, I noticed a squirrel in the tree in front of us.  There was a bird on the branch above it swooping down over and over attacking it.  Poor squirrel!  But it was funny. J  We watched for a food 5 minutes just laughing!  Oh the things that entertain missionaries.  Okay I probably would have been entertained by that whether or not I was missionary. 

After lunch, we headed out to tract.  There is a neighborhood by our apartment that we’ve been wanting to go to, so we just walked.  It was hot, and we were getting bit by mosquitoes left and right!  At the second to last house, there was a lady sitting on a chair outside.  She was looking down, painting her nails.   We said, “Hello,” and she looked up.  The lady’s name is Marsa and she had throat cancer 13 years ago so she talks using a vibrator and breaths out of a hole in her neck.  She lost her husband a few years ago, so we talked about the Plan of Salvation with her and made a return appointment for Wednesday.  Now our only problem is if she has a desire to be baptized, how are we going to do it?  We can’t plug up the hole in her throat, it’s how she breathes!!  The Lord will provide a way!!

We kept tracting and ran into this guy, Chad, who proceeded to flirt with us.  Bless his heart. J  Haha!  I dunno what it is about this week!  I guess we both just look really good covered in sweat and sunburned! J

We stopped by Sister Mosher’s to get a drink and then headed back into the heat.  After a while we headed back home.  We had about an hour before dinner, so we tried to go see less actives with not much luck. L  Boo!

Dinner was with the Hayes’.  Sister Hayes is in the Relief Society Presidency and Brother Hayes isn’t a member.  They took us to a buffet.  I had some fried green tomatoes which were pretty good!  They are really good people and I like them a lot.  Our last stop was Morgan.  She wanted to go over her talk one last time before tomorrow.  She had fixed a few things and it sounded a lot smoother.

June 22, 2014

Church was good today.  Morgan cried through her whole talk.  People laughed when she was funny and she did a great job. 

All during Sacrament meeting Suny Peck kept playing with my bag.  She is so stinkin’ cute!  Oh!  How I miss little kids!  I miss holding them and getting down on their level and playing.  I’m just very ready to be able to play with little kids again!  I’m not baby hungry - - like I don’t really want to have my own kids.  I just want to be allowed to hold them again!!!

After church we came home, had lunch and then finished weekly planning.  Then we headed to Monroe.  We went to see Sister Seagraves.  She hasn’t been to church in a while and hasn’t answered our text or calls.  Turns out her phone is broken and her breaks are out on her car.  While we were there, she showed us her paintings.   Oh my goodness!  She is SO good!  She has an AMAZING talent!  And she is going to let us come over next Monday to teach us some things!  I’m so excited!

We went over to see a new move in before dinner.  We aren’t sure of the whole situation but from what we do know the 14 year old just got baptized and is the only member.  We talked to her mom who is super nice, so maybe if the mom isn’t a member we can teach her.

Dinner was with the Perkins’.  Brother Perkins was at a meeting so it was us, Sister Perkins and their daughter Meanie.  It was pretty fun!  Melanie is headed to SVU so I told her if she watches soccer to look for Sierra (that’s where she is going right?)

We finished the night off with Sister Alley.  She is a trip!  And I mean that in the nicest way imaginable!  She said she may come to church next week, which would be a miracle cause she hasn’t been in many, many years.  We shall see!  I believe in miracles!

I love y’all!  J  Can’t wait to email tomorrow!

Love,


Molly

Friday, June 20, 2014

Happy Father's Day

June 9, 2014

Hey Y’all!

Today I woke up sick. :?  No Bueno!  I had a sore throat, pounding head, fever, puffy eyes and I was tired!  We had studies and then I took a 2 hour nap.  Thank goodness it was P-day today and I could do that!  Thank goodness for Sister Arbon who was awesome about it all and let me. J

When I woke up, we went and e-mailed.  Sister Arbon had a ton more people to e-mail than I did, so after I e-mailed y’all, I was so wiped out!  So I laid my head down and snoozed.  Kenzie Oswald e-mailed me. J  She saw Mr. Morris at a track meet and he remembered us and all our history class adventures!  So fun!

Dinner was at the Larsen’s.   They are a newer family in our ward.  Brother Larsen’s “sister” (though they aren’t related) lives with them and nannys for them.  The kids were just running around being kids.  I love kids and these kids were no exception for me. 

After dinner we went tracting.  The fireflies are back. J  I have missed those things!  We met some super nice people!  One guy was a Baptist but had been employed by an LDS construction company and helped build churches.  We also met some meanies (cause that’s just how it goes.)  This one guy answered the door and said, “Can I help you?”  I said, “Hi, how are you?”  He looked at me, shook his head and said, “Can I help you?”  Oh geez!  And then he basically shut the door in our faces as soon as I said who we were.  I will never understand some people.

I like being able to tract on Mondays!  Even if I feel like I’m about to pass out.  It’s much easier to reach our goals when we do!   Plus, we get to see all the awesome fireflies!  Who wouldn’t want that?!

June 10, 2014

Today we had a zone meeting.  On our way there I noticed a paper stuck on the wipers.  I figured it was just a flyer so I tried to use the wipers to get it off but it was stuck.  When we got to the church Sister Arbon grabbed it.  On the front of the paper it said, “Blessing.”  Folded inside was $30!  I’m glad that it didn’t fly off. J  It was a sweet tender mercy and a really kind deed.

Zone Meeting was AWESOME!  The spirit was really strong!  The Cleveland sisters sang a song called, “My Unknown Brother.”  Find it!  It was SO good!

Our training went really well.  I love it when people are willing to participate!  It makes things so much easier!  Elder Angilau and Elder Jensen are trying to get us more involved as STL’s in planning for meetings and what not.  They are so awesome!  I love ‘em!  Elder Angilau is probably out this next transfer.  He’ll have been here for 6 months.  I’m sad!  We came out together and this is the first time we’ve served together!

We went to lunch at this Mexican place, and though it was good, it took FOREVER to get our food!  It was fun to be with all the sisters.  They really are amazing women of God.

During Zone Meeting Sister Iketau made sure she took the opportunity to remind me that I had hit 11 months today.  I had blissfully forgotten until she reminded me.  Rude!  Of course, all the elders in our zone who I came out with were excited (there were 4 of them Elders McMurdie, Jensen, Angilau, and Higginbotham).  But that’s cause they still have over a year left!  My end is a lot closer than theirs!  Bugger. L

We went on exchange with the Commerce sisters today.  I’m here in Loganville with Sister Anderson and Sister Arbon went with Sisters Roundy and Tanner.  I will probably be leaving next week on exchanges.   They are struggling in Commerce right now.  Sister Anderson’s previous companion was less than enthusiastic about being a missionary.  It sometimes gets really hard to have the energy and work ethic when you have a comp who has kind of pulled you down.  I really love her but I don’t know what to do to help her.  I remember when I had a companion like that it was really hard.  I was blessed by being called as a trainer.  I had to pull myself up by the boot straps and realize that it was not just about me but that I had a new missionary who was counting on me to be my very best.  She deserved my best and Father expected me to give it.  So at this point I’m praying for some inspiration.

We got back to Loganville at about 4:30, an hour and a half until dinner.  Sister Kilpatrick had her surgery today, so we went to see how she was.  Ah!  I love the Kilpatrick’s!!!  They told us that their neighbors, Kathy and Jerry loved us!  Yay!  Hopefully we can get back in with them!  Sister Kilpatrick looked good for just having had surgery.  She is so positive and just a doll!  So is Brother Kilpatrick!  They have quickly become some of my faves!!

Dinner was at the Goodyear’s, who I had never met.  Sister Goodyear is in the Relief Society Presidency.  We had taco salad.  Guess it was just a Mexican meal day. J  Yummy!  While we were there it started pouring with lots of thunder and lightning.  I figured it would stop quickly enough.  Low and behold, it sure did!  Gotta love Georgia weather!  It’s nuts.

We finished off our night with tracting.  It was a little rocky at first.  My cute Sister Anderson doesn’t know how to tract!  She was struggling.  It was almost like tracting with a greenie!  There were a few times where she would just stop talking, so I would jump in.  Hopefully I was able to help in some small way. 

I’m trying so hard to feel and follow the spirit on this one, but I don’t feel like I’m doing that great of a job.  Oh brother!  This is another reason out of the 12 bajillion that I have for why I should NOT have been made and STL!  I’m trying my best though!  And I know that my best is all I can do.  The Lord will make up for the whole lotta rest that there is!!

June 11, 2014

So I woke up this morning with a super raspy voice!  The more I talked the worse it got.  After studies, we went to try and see people.  Most people ignored us and wouldn’t answer.  Finally though, Sister Conchola was home and let us in.  She was one of the first people I met my first week here.  It was so sad.  Her husband wants nothing to do with the church so she kept saying, “What’s the point?!”  I totally got revelation from the Lord of what to say!  It was awesome!  I talked about the stripling warriors and how they doubted not because “their mothers knew it” and were examples to them.  I told her she needed to be a mother like the stripling warriors had.  She needed to be the example that her kids could follow.  I think that sunk in for her at least a little.  She told us that she would really like help with her kids and maybe the Young Women could help but that she didn’t want to call the Relief Society President.  I think there may have been some kind of falling out there.  Sister Conchola understands that people aren’t perfect and said that she isn’t not coming to church because of the Relief Society President, which is good and is a step in the right direction.  We’ll get there.

After Sister Conchola we had lunch.  During lunch we got a text from Brother Peck!!!  He got the okay from the Stake President so we can start planning Vila’s baptism!! AHHH!  I am so happy!  My Vila is finally going to be baptized!!  YAY!!

We exchanged back and I was so tired!  I have a nasty cold and no voice.  We talked about the exchange and what we can do. 

We found out that a ton of our cars got recalled so a lot of missionaries have rental cars without TIWI.  Well we know that at least one set of elders is taking advantage of that.  On Monday, the sisters found pictures on the computer of the elders in a place with skyscrapers late at night.  We don’t have any place in their area, our Zone, or the whole mission with skyscrapers.  So they emailed the pictures to President.  It makes me so angry when missionaries are so stupid!!  What is the point of coming out on a mission if you aren't even going to care?!?  Why are they wasting the Lord’s time?!  Stupid!  Just stupid!

We tried following up on a few people before dinner but no such luck.  Ah well!  We’ll try ‘em again!  Dinner was with the Moshers, an older couple in our ward.  I was in heaven!  We got salad made from things from their garden.  Ah!  It was beautiful! J  I have missed garden food SO much!  It was just a yummy time!

We went and parked at home, then walked to the trailer park to tract.  We had about an hour and a half left of the day.  About an hour in, we see huge storm clouds coming in quickly.  We did a few more doors and then it started POURING!  No joke!  We were drenched in seconds!!  It was nuts!  And so funny at the same time!  So we started walking home in the pouring rain.  We were joking, saying how we should totally have a film crew follow us!  By the time we got home we looked like we had jumped into a pool, fully clothed.  We were that wet!  It was so much fun though. J  Kind of a fun way to end our day!

June 12, 2014

Sooo. . .getting caught in the rain wasn’t a super good thing.  I woke up feeling like I had gotten run over by a truck and then the truck backed up over me and ran over me again for good measure!  I had NO voice.  No joke.  None.  I had a hacking cough, stuffy nose, fever, the works.  It was TERRIBLE!!  So we were stuck inside.  All.  Day.  Long.  I slept most of the day.  We had to cancel everything.  I was so mad!  We had an awesome day planned and my body had to go and ruin it!  I honestly don’t remember the last time I was this sick.  When I was awake, I just laid on the couch and wrote letters in response to the pile that had been growing on my desk.  I felt so bad that Sister Arbon was stuck inside too.  But she was super sweet about it.  So that was nice. J

Hopefully I should be better by tomorrow.  Though we may have to take things a little slower.  Bugger.

June 13, 2014

Happy Friday the 13th that also has a full moon!  Crazy!!

I tried so very hard to get up and out!  But my body just wouldn’t let me!!  Why?!?  It’s totally miserable being stuck inside!  There are people that need the gospel and our time is so very precious and I feel like my body is my enemy right now.

We did weekly planning and even that just about wiped me out.  Being inside all day makes missionaries edgie.  I feel guilty cause I am stopping Sister Arbon from doing what she is here to do.  And I feel cranky because I feel sick and yucky.  Sister Arbon is trying to be patient but it is NEVER fun to be stuck somewhere inside because of someone else (for that matter it is not fun to be stuck inside because of yourself either).   However, being stuck inside and it being because of another person just doesn’t make for a greatest combination.

The Carter’s took us out to lunch . . . kinda.  They both go busy (totally understandable with their 6 darling children!) and just ended up paying for our lunch.  We went to a BBQ place called Shane’s.  that wiped me out too.  I’m pretty sure the food was amazing but I was so stuffed up  and feeling yucky I couldn’t taste it.  BUT I could hear the country music they were playing and that was killing me!  I don’t miss my country music, until I hear it.  Especially Josh Turner.  And it kills me even more when a song come on that I don’t know.  I used to know ‘em all!  I think that everything should just stop, but in 11 months there are so many new things out there!  It’s nuts!  Ah well.  All in good time these things will be back into my life when I least expect it or desire it.

After lunch my fever shot up.  I am so sick of being sick.  So I slept most of the day.  We cancelled dinner, because I really don’t want to share, so the Embry’s brought dinner to us.  They are sweet! J  And Brother Embry gave me a blessing.  Hopefully we can be out and about soon!  I’m beginning to hate the inside of the apartment!

June 14,2014

I swear!  This HAS got to be the last day we are inside!

We called the mission nurse, which I had been putting off.  Why you ask?  Well that would be because the mission nurse is not my favorite.  She got mad at me for not calling her on Thursday.   Oh well!  She wouldn’t have let me go to the doctor then.  She hardly ever lets missionaries go to the doctor.  She wasn’t going to send me to one.  But she talked to the mission doctor and he told her to have me go so we did. : /

When we walked in, the doctor told me I sounded terrible.  Yup.  I know!  And I sound better than I feel.  She gave me some medication.  Hopefully they will get me up and going again.  But I really don’t care how I feel tomorrow!  We’re going out!  I can’t take it any longer - - being cooped up like a chicken!

We had dinner at Sister Swancey’s.  She is a very interesting lady.  She is forthright and says what she thinks.  By the time dinner was over I had a pounding headache, but I was NOT going to be back inside until 9 tonight!  So I told Sister Arbon I was fine and we went tracting.  It was glorious to be working again!  Even if I did feel like my head was going to explode. J

I got the chance to pass out 2 copies of the Book of Mormon tonight!  It was exciting. J  I don’t normally just pass them out.  I try to follow the spirit on who to give them to, mostly cause I hate the thought that the people won’t even attempt to read it.  But just trash it or send it to Goodwill (which I would rather have happen than them trashing it!).  The first guy was a police officer.  His name was Stan.  He was very nice and we talked  for a while.  He told us he would leave it in his car so that while he is working and sitting in his car he will read it.  He seemed very sincere.  I marked 3 Nephi 11 for him with our card.  All we can do is pray that he will allow the spirit to touch his heart as he reads!

The last lady we talked to was Sarah.  She had just gotten to Georgia to visit her daughter; she had driven all the way from North Carolina.  We had a delightful discussion with her.  I don’t know if she could be any more prepared!  When we asked if she would like to learn more, she really thought about it.  She didn’t say yes right away but paused for about 30 seconds almost like she was waiting for the Lord to tell her.  She is only in Georgia for 4 days.  We told her how she could request the missionaries to come to her in North Carolina.  She was very excited about that.  When I gave her the Book of Mormon, she held it close.  She didn’t seem to doubt for a second that it was the Word of the Lord.  I probably won’t ever find out what happens to Sarah in this life, but I’m so very excited to find out what happened in the next. J

There are days where I just want to sit down and be done, when door after door is shut in our faces.  But then we get little miracles like Sarah, like the Lord is smiling at us and saying, “Well done my good and faithful servants.”  And that one little miracle washes away all the slammed doors and all the nasty comments.  Oh!  How I love this work! J

June 15, 2014

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY DADDY!!! J J

You were at the front of my thoughts all day long!  I just wanted to run up to everyone and tell them that I have the best Daddy in the world, in the universe, in existence!  Thank you for being the Daddy that I can be proud of!  Thank you for being the example for me of the qualities I need to have in a husband.   Thank you for always being a worthy Priesthood holder so that I never had to question who I could get a blessing from.  Thank you for loving my Momma like you do. J  I have never questioned your love for her!  Thank you for loving me and always being patient.  I have no doubt that you learned more patience than you ever should have needed to in raising me. J  Thank you for all the wonderful memories that we have created so far!  And for all the memories we will continue to make!  No girl on the planet could ever love no bake cookies and Star Trek night with her Daddy like I do. J  Thank you for just bein my Daddy!  I love you $20!!

Church was really good today!  We had 3 investigators there, which was awesome! J  And the talks were really good.  One girl spoke, whose father left when she was 15.  She talked about how there are “fathers” and how there are “dads.”  Even though her father left she had some great dads.  She is engaged and she talked about her fiancĂ© and the example he was to her in having the desire to be a great dad to their future children.  It was a really sweet talk!

After church, I grabbed Morgan Wright and had her send a text picture to you Daddy. J  I know I told you Happy Father’s day in my email last week and I’ll say it again tomorrow, but I couldn’t let the day go by without you getting something from me! J

Then Morgan read her farewell talk to us cause she gives it next week.  She doesn’t leave until the end of the next month, so I’m not really sure why she is giving it next week.   But whatever!  She will do good.  She is cute and as long as she always remembers her purpose and why she came out, she will do great!

When we got in the car to go home for lunch, it was 98 degrees!!  That doesn’t include the stinkin’ humidity!  Ah!  Blast it!  I hate the heat. :?  BUT I love Georgia! J  So it’s a pros and cons/give and take kind of deal. J

After lunch our day just went nutso.  First off, it officially got up to 100 degrees!!  Ah!  Yuck!! :?

We decided we would try to visit some less actives and then go tracting before dinner even though it was sweltering.  Every less active that we tried to see wasn’t home!  I guess that would make sense with it being Father’s Day and all. : /  We got  done with our list of people and then we decided to go see Sister Shirley since she wasn’t at church.

I was driving and we were going through a neighborhood.  I stopped at a stop sign and then turned right.  Suddenly, our car jerked, leaned to the right and we heard scraping.  I pulled over and stopped, hopped out and went to the passenger’s side.  The right front tire was completely flat with a gigantic hole (probably about 2 ½ inches) in it!  I hadn’t hit anything!  It just had popped!  It was nuts!  Sister Arbon called the Galbreaths who got to us a half hour later.  I could have changed it myself but wasn’t sure how to do that on a hill.  Well, we weren’t able to.  When they were jacking it up, the jack flipped out, in turn scraping the bottom and taking off paint.  The rim was completely messed up by this point.  We put the car in neutral so that we could push it to a level spot where we could put on the spare.  Elder Residori didn’t answer when we called so we left a message.  Basically it’s just a crazy mess!

Finally an hour and a half later, we went to dinner with the Christensen’s.  They are a really nice family and it is so nice of our sweet members to feed us. 

So tonight it has been stormy.  Sister Arbon has been sitting on our porch watching.  I went to talk to her and at my feet was huge cockroach.  I HATE cockroaches!!  And then it started running at me zippy quick!  I screamed and squealed.  It was no pleasant.  So, that was the ending of tonight.

I love y’all!!  Have a great week!

Love

Molly J

Saturday, June 14, 2014

My First Leadership Council and Goodbye to President and Sister Wolfert

June 2, 2014

Waddup Fam!

Ah!  I’m so very glad that I got to e-mail y’all. J  I didn’t like it so much when I had to wait until Wednesday last week.  No Bueno!

The Fort Yargo sisters came and spent the day with us.  I miss hanging with other missionaries!  I’m glad that they came!  Especially cause we are STL’s.  No one EVER wants to hang with the STL’s!  I never have really wanted to!  Except Sister Hamilton of course.

After e-mailing we went to lunch at Arby’s.  One of the great things about the South is that they play the Christian rock stations in the stores and restaurants!  It’s awesome!  So we can “rock out” and still have it be somewhat approved music!  Sweet!!

We decided to go to the Fish Thrift Store that we have here.  It was kinda a fail.  But we had fun!  They had some wedding dresses and prom dresses that made us laugh.  And then I found a Mumu!  So, I tried it on and threw a belt around it.  Strangely, it sorta worked!  But it still would have needed tweeking.   So I decided against it. J  Haha!

Then we went back to the apartment and just laughed and talked and had fun.  Most of the talking was done by Sister Iketau and me, with Sister Arbon chiming in here and there.  Bless Sister Richard’s heart.  She just laid there.  She is so very sweet.  We said goodbye and then hurried to the store. 

Dinner was at the Hernandez’s house.  Even though we had talked about it yesterday, they had forgotten.  Oops!  So we waited a little bit for dinner, but they were so awesome about it!

Our last appointment was with the Pecks.  Our plan was to get Villa a date for baptism.  But when we brought it up Brother Peck told us they had discussed it and decided that they wanted to be baptized at the same time.  She is so ready and we don’t know how much longer Brother Peck is going to have to wait.  It is kinda breaking my heart!  But the Lord has a plan.  He will make it all happen somehow.

June 3, 2014 

Sister Arbon turned 20 today!  Happy Birthday!  She kept telling me that 20 was so old.  I have to disagree because mostly if 20 is old then 21 is older and I am NOT old.

When we were on exchanges last week, Sister Iketau and I went to the dollar store and got balloons, streamers, and a birthday sash.  My plan was to do it during the night so everything was up when we got up.  But, of course, I was so very tired like always.  So!  I did it while she was in the shower.  It was fun and she was surprised. J

District Meeting was in Winder today, which I LOVED cause the Fort Yargo district meets there too!  Ah!  I so miss having missionaries close!  It was a ton of fun!  Elders Rahman and McMurdie are in Fort Yargo.  I miss those boys!  And our elders were a lot more talkative today so that was fun. J  It was just a REALLY good morning!

After lunch we had a team up to go see one of the ladies we tracted into on Saturday who came to the pig roast.  The funny thing is, we didn’t actually know if it was the same lady.  On Sunday we were going through the former investigators and just started calling people, well, Laura answered and asked if we were the same girls who came the other day.  We had no idea what she was talking about though.  Turns out we were!

We took Sister Carter with us and it went really well!  We may have to work with her a littler harder than we would with some other people.  That’s okay though!  After the lesson we talked with Sister Carter and she gave us some tips, which I was super grateful for!

We went to check the mail for Sister Arbon, but she didn’t have anything from her family.  I kept telling her they hadn’t forgotten her, but she was still a little sad.

We went over to the Brown’s cause Sister Brown had made Sister Arbon a cake.  We stayed and chatted for a little bit until dinner.  Dinner was at the Sisacs (I LOVE this family!!).  We walked in and on the wall was a huge banner from Sister Arbon’s family.  (I TOLD her they hadn’t forgotten her!! J)  Tiffany and Sister Arbon’s mom had been planning this for about 2 weeks.  It was all really cute. J

Last we stopped by Sister Swancey’s who also had more cake for Sister Arbon.  I stuck with my “diet” though and didn’t have any.  But I did fix her fire alarm.  It kept beeping.  Sister Swancey said it had been doing that for about 3 days.  I would have gone bonkers by then.  Funny Lady. J

Sister Arbon says she had a fun day!  I hope so!  I tried to make it awesome!  But I will forever say that my mission birthday was the best. J

June 4, 2014

Today went nothing like we had planned.  But it was still pretty dang awesome. J

First we went and followed up on a lady we tracted into a while ago.  We walked there cause it was in the neighborhood down the street.  Oh my goodness!  It was SO hot!  Ugh!  Once you’re wet in Georgia, you don’t ever get dry!  Stupid humidity!  They lady’s name is Martha.  She has a really sweet daughter.  We were getting close to her trailer and we saw her starting her car.  Sister Arbon walks towards her and starts introducing us like she’s never met us.  Both Martha and I were looking at her like she was crazy.  Haha!  It was so funny!  We ended up setting up an appointment for tomorrow. 

We went and had lunch, then headed to Sister Murphy’s for a lesson with Ashley.  As Sister Murphy opened the door, she asks us if we had gotten her text.  Just then our phone beeped.  Ashely wasn’t coming.  So we talked with Sister Murphy for a minute.  She is amazing.  She is an awesome member missionary.

We had dinner with a member in Social Circle which is a ½ hour drive for us, so we headed there.  We stopped by a lady who Cassie had asked us to see, Faye Kitchens.  She owns an antique shop in Social Circle.  When we got there her shop was closed though.  So we went into the antique shop next to her to ask the people there if they knew where she was.  We looked around for a little bit.  I LOVE antique shops!  They are so cool!!  Turns our Faye is out of town.   Darn!  Hopefully we’ll catch her!

We also went and tried to see some less actives with no such luck.  It can be very discouraging when none of your plans work out!  Dinner was with Sister Taylor.  She is a sweet lady.  She was telling us the story of her and her husband.  They dated for 3 months were engaged for a week and then married!  WOW!

It was getting late by the time we got back to Loganville, but we still had a little time.  We went tracting in the Brown’s neighborhood.  No one answered. : /  Then the Brown pulled in and invited us in for a minute.  We sat and talked for a while.  As we were leaving we had a really good discussion with Sister Brown about the premortal world and families.  The spirit was really strong and I just love Sister Brown!  She is great!

If y’all can find it, listen to Life is Like a Game of Football by Troy Dunn.  AMAZING talk!  It is a life changer.

June 5, 2014

It was a frustrating day today.  But it started out well.

We started out the day by going to the Musgroves and playing catch with Kayla.  Just trying to get her to warm up to us more so that we can get to the point where she will eventually talk to us.  It was fun!  And it was hot!  And it was sweaty!  But it was fun!  We were trying so hard to get her to talk!  We asked question after question.  She would answer if it was a yes or no question, but if it wasn’t she would look at us, half grin, and shrug.  She was a lot more animated, even if she wasn’t talking.  I think it broke more ice though.  Kayla decided I could be a 3rd baseman if I played softball, cause I can throw the ball far.  Whoot! J

We were supposed to meet Martha at 2.  But due to some frustrating circumstances we missed our appointment with her.  I was mad and frustrated.  I hate being late and I hate missing appointments.  It really makes me nuts.  Then I struggle to let go of how frustrated I am and that just never makes things better for me or for my companion.  We finally made it to her house but we were 1 ½ hours late and of course she wasn’t home. 

Dinner was at the Galbreaths. Last week they got called on a “mission.”  For the next 18 months to 2 years their records have been moved to the Madison Branch next to us.  Kind of interesting!  They will be so good for the branch though!

At the end of the day we went to the Pecks with Sister Carter.  Brother Peck wasn’t there.  We were able to just talk with Villa.  We wanted to find out exactly where she was with baptism.  She said she wants to be baptized so badly and she know she is supposed to but Brother Peck want her to wait and so she will.  Villa got teary eyed and told us that though she had grown up Christian, she had lost her way for a while.  But God had brought her here to this point.  She said that she could see her kids growing up and going on missions and that maybe China would be open to missionaries by then.  The spirit was so strong and we just sat there quietly for a moment. 

We left and talked with Sister Carter in the driveway.  As we talked, lightning cracked across the sky.  It looked like daylight!  It was SO cool!!  So that was an interesting end to our night.

June 6, 2014

Today was a good day!  It was my first leadership council as an STL.  Whoot woo.  This was probably the last time we’ll see President and Sister Wolfert.  Which is bittersweet.  They are awesome and I love them a lot, but I‘m also excited to have President and sister Bennion come.  I am excited to be a part of the leadership for his first few months.  It’ll be fun to see the changes that come.  There are always changes when you get new leadership.  Sometimes I like it sometimes I miss the old.

The trainings were really good!  President talked about consecrating ourselves and not just changing temporarily, but changing our natures.  At the very end, both President and Sister Wolfert stood up and talked about marriage and things.  That’s all fine and dandy, but I’ve still got 7 more months in Georgia and heaven only knows how much longer after that.  They were really sweet and cute about it though.

On the drive home I did a lot of thinking and re-evaluating.  I know that I am a good missionary but there are always things that I can tighten up and do to become a better missionary.  Also, all of the Wolfert’s talk about marriage was in my head too.  I just want to be the kind of missionary that I hope to marry.  It for sure puts thing in perspective when you look at it like that.

We went to dinner when we got home at the Kilpatrick’s house.  Brother Kilpatrick isn’t a member.  He calls himself a “Mormondist” because he is very active in his Methodist church but comes to Sacrament Meeting almost every Sunday with Sister Kilpatrick.  They are both just super awesome and it was SO fun to talk to them.  After we gave the thought, we asked them if there was anyone in their neighborhood we could talk to.  Brother Kilpatrick (who ISN’T the member) told us to go stop by their neighbors.

After dinner we headed over to their neighbors, Kathy and Jerry.  Jerry answered and we talked with him on the porch for a little bit.  Then he asked if we would like to meet his wife and invited us in!  Kathy was super sweet!  They both were.  They had A LOT of misconceptions about the church and Joseph Smith.  We were able to teach them the whole first lesson to answer their questions.  It was AWESOME!  We are going back next Tuesday to talk with them some more.  Ah!  It would be so cool if they got baptized - - and all because of a non-member referral.

June 7, 2014 

This morning after we were done working out, we went over to Sister Swancey’s to try and fix her fire alarm.  The dumb thing was still beeping and so she had gotten a new battery for it.  Well, I put it in and that darn thing STILL kept beeping!  Annoying!  While we were there, her daughter called and she put it on speaker.  That was a little awkward.  I was on top of the ladder trying to hurry so that we didn’t have to hear a conversation that we really weren’t a part of. 

Afterwards we went to see Sister Shirley.  Ah!  Sweet lady!  I just love her. J  I wish that I could just sit and talk with her all day long!  I think I will just give myself the calling of keeping the older ladies in the ward company when I get home.  Do we have any of those?  I hope so!  Even though working in the nursing home was the hardest job I have ever had I loved being with the old people and listening to them.

After Sister Shirley we went to lunch with the Wrights.  Morgan Wright leaves for Alaska in July for her mission.  Her twin sister is in Washington for 7 months.  They showed us a picture of her.  Her mom sends her packages every 2 to 4 weeks.  They miss their girl.

Then we headed over to the church for correlation meeting.  Our mission leader never showed up.  That was a little frustrating.

Sister Shirley had asked if we would get some things for her so we went and picked them up.  When we dropped them off, she kept calling us her angels.  It was so sweet!  I just love her. J

As we were headed to go tracting we stopped by this random creek and took pictures.  I miss the water SO much!  One day I will be able to play in the water again.  Tracting was rough.  We had one guy open the door and tell us to “scoot!”  Another guy told us never to bother him again.  It wasn’t a pleasant time.

Dinner was with April and Tony.  They are good people.  Love the missionaries.  Totally not interested.  It was a good way to end a SUPER long day though!

June 8, 2014

Sometimes it is kind of hard to be a missionary.  You are called to serve in a ward and it is with ward members that you are supposed to work.  Sometimes it’s hard to just find a way to get everything to click.

After church we had a linger longer which is dubbed “The Gleaners Meal,” all Bible foods.  It was interesting.  There was lamb and cheese,  cracker and bread, and some other stuff.  Not too bad. 

By the end of church I wasn’t feeling too hot at all.  I could hardly keep my head up!  I was trying!  We went home to plan our training for Zone Meeting on Tuesday.  Sister Arbon told me to take a nap cause I wasn’t looking too good.  I didn’t argue. 

After I got in a little nap, I was feeling a bit better.  We had some of Sister Shirley’s pots from the linger longer so we dropped those off to her.  I know I have said it before but I never get tired of saying it or feeling it.  I love her.  She is kinda my Monroe Billie. J

We didn’t have dinner so we just tracted until it was time to go home.  We tracted a trailer park.  I like trailer parks cause it’s like a little community!  And you never know what you’ll find. J

Yay for tomorrow being Monday!  Daddy, Happy Father’s Day on Sunday J since you’ll get this letter before.  I love you buckets!  Thanks for being my awesome Daddy!  There isn’t a better one out there!!

Love y’all!

Molly