Missionary High Like No Other! Sister George HUGS an Elder!!!

September 8, 2014

Hola, Y’all:

Ah!  Gotta love P’day!  And we had a good one.  Nice and relaxing.  E-mailing was fab, as always.  Mom, it’ll be ok, the Lord has a way for me and Gabey to see each other!  I just know it.  Everything will work out.  President gave me permission for a reason.  I've prayed about this a lot.  The Lord will provide!!

The rest of the day was super chill, just hangin' out and trying to get everything that we needed to finished .  We wrote all the Sisters notes and we’ll give them to the Sisters tomorrow at zone meeting.  We had a lesson with the Hernandez family tonight.  Ah! I love them!!  We found out that Juan speaks and understands a lot more English than he lets on.  None of our Spanish-speaking team-ups could come.  Brother Erasga, their neighbor, who introduced them to the church, came with us.  Brother Erasga is Filipino and doesn't speak a lick of Spanish.  But luckily it made Juan open up more!  Which was great.  We ended up having an awesome lesson.  We talked to Juan about replacing coffee with hot chocolate.  Veronica piped up and said, “I make his coffee!  I’ll just make hot chocolate instead!”  And Juan readily agreed.

We gave Alejandro an English Book of Mormon and immediately, he sat down and started reading it.  I told him if he had any questions, he could ask us.  He grinned and said, “It’s okay! I love to read! I never have any questions.”  He is 12.  And so excited for the gospel.  Ah! How did I get so lucky to get to teach such an elect family?  I’m so grateful for the Lord and the blessings He gives me.  And tomorrow I get to see Gabe!  I’m truly blessed!!

September 9, 2014

I’m Heavenly Father’s favorite!!!  I really, really am!  My heart is so full of gratitude for everything!  If I weren't Heavenly Father’s favorite, I'm not sure I would be getting this many blessings.  I've got to be the most blessed Sister alive!

So we started off our day with zone meeting.  It went really well!  We had an amazing musical number.  I played the piano (not the amazing part) Elder Johnston played the cello, and Sister Smith and Sister Stott sang.  The song was “Homeward Bound” but the lyrics were changed to “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer”.  So good.  Zone meeting went over and I was stressing bad.  As soon as the prayer was done, Sister Hulme and I were outta there!

Ah!  Can I tell y’all how much I love Sister Watkins?  She is an angel, for reals!  Again, totally the most blessed sister alive.  I don’t know what I did to have her in my life, but I’m sure glad that I did it!  We got to the airport and we waited, and waited, and waited.  We met two families saying goodbye to their elders.  One was going to Lima and the other to Cusco.  We talked a little with the one going to Lima.  He was so sweet.  I wish that I could remember his name!  His name was Eric and his last name started with an F.  He said that he would look out for my Elder George.

My Dariling Sister Hulme and I waiting at the Atlanta Airport

Well, it was getting to the point where I thought Gabe wasn't going to come.  Sister Watkins grabbed us and prayed.  After, I was still pretty anxious but I felt a wave of peace washed over me and I was told that it was going to be alright.  And I knew it would be!  Whether I got to see him or not, it would be okay.We waited for another half hour and then suddenly, there he was!

And her joy was full!

With the cute elder going to Lima!  He had seen Gabe and told him I was waiting for him and offered to take Gabe to me.  Bless that sweet Elder. I could have kissed him!

I couldn't go past the line, and I had to wait for Gabe to come to me.  So there I am bawling and he is just walking, little bugger!  But that’s okay because I got to be with him when he finally got to me.  I think I embarrassed him but I don’t care.  It was the best moment ever.  All too soon he had to leave, but it was all okay because I had gotten my hug.  Before he went into security, I yelled at him “Hey Elder!” He looked and I grinned and said “Work hard. I’ll see you in two!”  And then he was off.  I think that I am the proudest big sister in the entire world. I know that Elder George is going to be the best missionary Peru has ever seen!!!

I got to have all of the best today!  I had the best moment with my amazing missionary brother.  I had my best Georgia mom in the entire world.  And I have the best companion who was willing and happy to let me see Gabe.

 

♥Sister and Elder George♥

As we left the airport, I waved and said, “See ya in 4 1⁄2 months!”  But not in a trunky kind of way. No, in fact, this adventure has done the opposite, it has rekindled some of my greenie fire!  I couldn't wait to get back to Loganville and have more adventures and miracles come my way.  It was so good to see my Sister Watkins.  I love her oodles.  Though I was sad to say goodbye to her, I knew it wouldn't be long until I saw her again.

We had an hour before our lesson with Nikki, so we decided to tract in our apartment complex.  The second door we knocked on, we met Cindy, who invited us right in!  She was really sweet!  We taught her about the Book of Mormon and prayed with her.  Though she wasn't really interested, we knew we left her with a seed planted!

Our lesson with Nikki was great!  We taught the Gospel of Christ.  Such basic, yet vital principles.  I love going over there cause her light gets brighter and brighter every time!  I love that she is embracing this wholeheartedly.

Basically today was one of the best days ever!  Seems like I've been having a lot of those lately.  Must be because I am Heavenly Father’s favorite.  Have I ever mentioned that before?!? ;)

September 10, 2014

Wow, 14 months ago we were saying goodbye.  I had my greenie fire blazing.  Now it is Gabe’s turn. Ah! I’m so excited for him!  He is now in Peru with a name tag and a ready heart!  And I have gotten a little of that greenie fire again and I LOVE it.  This morning after we got ready, we went to Kroger, where Brett was working, to get Brother Goga's cello so we could return it.  While we were there, I made Sister Hulme grab allergy meds.  She thinks she is just sick, I’m pretty sure she has allergies.  Ah! Gotta love being in denial. Haha!

After studies we went to see Sister Shirley.  Oh!  How I love that lady.  She told us she just found out that she might have leukemia.  I hope they are wrong!  She has already gone through so much.  She always asks how our work is going.  I love telling her cause she remembers everyone we tell her about.  She always tells us that we are the hardest working missionaries she has seen.  I always tell her that we are just fortunate to be here right now.  I get to harvest what has been planted by others.  And it is true!  These are all miracles from the Lord.  Nothing from what we have done!  Sister Arbon and Smith did their fair share of work while they both served here.  And I know others did too because I know who they are.

During lunch Sister Hulme took a nap.  She just crashed.  I hope the allergy meds will kick in eventually.  It’s never good to have or to be the sick companion.  It’s just no good for anyone.

We took back the cello to Brother Goga.  It passed his inspection but the elders forgot to put back the tuning thing.  It is back at their apartment.  So we’ll have to grab it tomorrow to give back to Brother
Goga on Sunday.  Dang!  Everything was almost perfect.

Then we had a lesson with Alisha.  Her mom is a less active member, but they came two weeks ago and Alisha liked it?  She has an 8 year old son and is 31.  She is super sweet!  We really had a good lesson!  She and her mom together just quit smoking about a month ago.  Yes!  One less obstacle for us.  I think she has great potential.  I am excited.

Sister Shirley had given us stuff to make treats for the ward party tonight, so we went home and made
those real quick, went tracting for a while, and then headed to one of my favorite family's ever for a lesson.  It is a part member family and we have been teaching the dad who is not a member.  Ah!  He is progressing so well!  I have high hopes for October 3rd and being here for one more transfer.  Then they can ship me off somewhere else.  But I have to stay!  So please keep me in your prayers.

Our last stop was the ward party.  Sister Shirley’s friends were the entertainment.  Brother Smith is blind, plays the saw, and tells jokes.  Sister Smith plays the piano.  It was so fun!  At one point they had girls come up to hula and up went my Charlize!  Ah!  I was tickled to see that.  She is amazing!  I love her so very much and I’m so proud of her!  It was really fun and it helped unify our ward a little more.  All wards need that kind of stuff!  It is fun to see how they are coming together and unifying as a ward family.  I really do love it here, more than I could ever imagine!  I know that I say it a lot, but it really is all in the attitude.

September 11, 2014

I am so thankful to be in a free country.  I can’t believe how blessed we are to be able to do what we want!  I’m grateful for freedom of religion!  Granted sometimes I wish that people would accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I am grateful for people’s freedom nonetheless.

Today we went on exchanges with the Cleveland sisters. I came to Cleveland with Sister Burgess and
Sister Smith got to go with Sister Hulme.

We met them at the nursing home they help out at and did the activity with them.  Ah!  It was bliss, as always.  Hangin' out with old people just always gets me tickled.  We had lunch all together and then went our separate ways.  Our first stop was a lady named Jeanie.  She is quite the character.  Wow! From the sound of it, she hasn't had an easy life.  She has had many obstacles placed before her in her life.  I am always amazed by people that are able to overcome such obstacles.

Next we went to see the Hardings.  While we were there, I hit a wall.  It was taking everything I could not to fall asleep.  Oh! I was so tired.  The Hardings were really sweet.  Sister Harding and her daughter live together.  Sister Harding has some health problems.  As we were leaving, they took a picture of me.  I guess they do that with all the missionaries.  Haha!  Luckily my picture turned out good .

Sister Burgess was fighting to stay awake as well, so we went to the store and got a treat to keep us going.  We saw Elder Anderson and Elder Hawkins on their bikes.  They are nice elders.  Our last visit before dinner was the Ellisons.  Kinda the same situation as the Hardings.  They were both really sweet!  I liked them.  Sister Ellison said she finds the older she gets the more she is ignored.  Oh!  That broke my heart.  That is not how it is supposed to be.

Our last stop was dinner with the Patrums.  Their family is the kind of family who is related to 3 or more other big families in the ward.  We had hamburgers for dinner.  YUM! For our lesson, we taught them the Plan of Salvation and they pretended to be people they knew who they wanted to share the Gospel with.  It was really fun!  And they did a good job. Haha!

Well, it was a good day. And I am exhausted.

September 12, 2014

This morning Sister Burgess and I had fun.  I was so tired.  We talked late into the night.  And then I
woke up multiple times in the night.

Still finding family names or nicknames as the case may be

We went to visit Sister Bragdon.  She is a cutie!  She has a corgi and it is just the cutest little doggie
ever!  She has been less active, but is coming back.  She is one of those members who just makes sure the missionaries are all taken care of!  She is really sweet!

Then we exchanged back and I drove home and Sister Hulme slept.  About halfway home I got a terrible stomach ache and a little fever.  I don’t know if it was because of the little sleep or what.  All I know is that I did not feel good.  Yuck!  We got home around 3:30 and so we weekly planned.  I still didn’t feel good at all.  No fun when that happens.

We had a HUGE storm roll through.  The lightning was a little scary.

We had a great lesson with Nikki.  She has no problems with the Word of Wisdom.  Yay!  We got a little worried about that when we realized her baptism is two weeks away, and we hadn’t talked to her about it.  But she was all good.  So that was a relief.

We went over to the Browns to figure out the plans about tomorrow.  Sister Brown wasn’t home so we talked a little with Maddie.  Today is her birthday.

September 13, 2014

Ah!  It was a glorious day.  Today, April went to the temple with 49 family names!  Oh my goodness!  It was the best thing ever.  She was glowing.  The Spirit was so strong.  When we were watching Adam and Clint Musgrove doing the boys confirmation, April leaned over to me and showed me her
arm.  She had goosebumps all over and she said, “My dad and grandpas are here!”

April wanted her grandparents sealed together, so Sister Brown, Adam, Clint, and Sister Musgrove went to do those and we hung out with April for a while.  We waited for a long time but I saw so many people from my Suwanee ward.

Sister Makenna was working in the office and I got to go see her!  Ah!  I love her so much.  And I miss her lots and lots.  I have seen a lot of my Suwanee favs since I left but I have not been able to see Sister Makenna.  So I’m really happy to finally be able to see her.

I also got to see Ricco, who was in the YSA in Suwanee.  He just went through the temple in March.  Now he is working in the temple.  Ah!  I am so proud of him.

I also got to see sister Willey. She was the one who helped us teach Kiaundra.  She is so sweet.  I love her.

Sister Makenna had the temple president, President Posey, come and talk with April.  It was so great!
He asked her about Logan, her son.  Logan is going into the military soon.  President Posey said he would give Logan’s info to the branch president in the area that Logan will be at for basic training.  April was just beaming.  It was a really cool experience!

We also went and hung out at the distribution center.  Sister Hulme tried on dresses to find the one she liked.  I was talking to one of the sisters working there, and turns out she is in Ben’s ward and she knows him.  Ah!  It was so cool.  It was hard knowing that he was so close and I haven’t seen him forever!  I can’t wait for January when he goes through the temple.  It’s going to be the best ever.

While we were sitting in the distribution center, two couples came in.  One of the guys asked us what
mission we were from.  When we told him, he asked if we knew Elder Calkins.  Uh yah!  Turns out it was his sister and brother-in law.  Small world.  They live in Tennessee and were visiting friends.  We got a picture with his sister so I could show him tonight at stake conference and she also went and wrote a long letter for me to give to him.  It was so much fun!

The only thing that could have made the temple better was if Sister Arbon could have come.  I know she wanted to.  And for a little bit we thought that maybe President Bennion would change the rules so that she could come.  He had told her that she might be able to come.  I guess those rules are going to stay in force.  The rule is that whoever is serving in the area when the new member first goes is the are the ones who get to go.  It would have been nice to have her there.

We had dinner with the Erasgas, the Urtulas, and the Hernandez families.  We had a mix between
Filipino and Mexican food. I leaned towards more of the Mexican food.  The Hernandez family
had made sabeche (okay I have no idea how to spell that). Oh my goodness!  It was so yummy. Between that and the pasole soup. Yum!  Teaching a Hispanic family is the life. Kidding!  But they do make really good food.  It was funny to watch them all communicate because they had a mix of English, Spanish, and Tagalog.  It made for quite a loud conversation.  Haha!  I loved it.

Last was stake conference.  I saw Elder Calkins and told him I had met someone really cool today.  Then I showed him the picture.

Three "sisters" but only one belongs to Elder Calkins!!

  He got really excited and said, “Ah, that is my sister!!”  It was pretty fun.  Stake conference was really good.  I liked it a lot.  They were mentioning the wards who have been having success with baptisms, but they did not mention Monroe.  It made me sad, because I wish our members could have gotten some recognition.  I think it would make them more pumped for missionary work.  Besides they deserve it.  Our ward has been doing great!  I love them and am proud to be a part of them.  It seems that Monroe gets some flack from some of the other wards.  But
they are a great ward.

I got to see Sister Knight! Oh! How I love her.  She is doing good.  She says her back is hurting from their car accident.  Hopefully that will get better.  All in all, not too shabby of a day.

September 14, 2014

It was an up and down day today. While I loved Saturday night session of stake conference today just didn't do that much for me.  Some talks were good and some that were a little off. But I got to sit with Sister Knight. So that was good. I was happy about that. I just love her so freaking much! She is just one of my favorites. It was fun to catch up with her.

The Hernandez family came.  Veronica says that she likes regular church better.  I had to laugh and agree with her.  The only good thing is that Juan got to use a headset so that he could understand everything.  We are still working on that.

When we got home we tracted and tracted and tracted.  It was hard.  We really haven’t had time at all
to tract, so my patience for it was not up to par.  Finally at the end I got back into my mindset of liking tracting. Sister Hulme wasn’t really able to find the liking mindset as fast as I did.  She will when we do it more this week though.  She is the best and a trooper to be sure.  Sometime she waits for me to find my groove and sometimes I wait for her.

We didn’t have a dinner appointment so we skipped it and met with our part member family.  The one where we are teaching the dad!  Ah!  It went great.  He is for sure getting baptized on the 3rd.  So exciting!  We went over the Plan of Salvation and the baptism questions.  He was super giddy and then got really serious when we were asking the questions.  It was so cool!  He wants all his sister missionaries to be at his baptism.  So they are going to ask for special permission from President.  It will be great!

Well, y’all. It’s been quite the week. I’m so glad that tomorrow is Monday. Can’t wait.

Love,

Molly

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

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 13^th 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 fiancé 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