Hello Family!
Dang! I love you all! Today was for sure the busiest P-day so far. We were all over the place! We started off with e-mailing of course. Thanks for all of the e-mails! I love getting them every week! I sure am spoiled to have a family who loves me so much.☺ I got an e-mail from Sister Beckham so that was really fun! Did you know that Brittany got called to the Philippines? She leaves on September 11, that's the same day Miss Lindsey Kuhn leaves I believe!
There are so many sisters now! It is so cool! Sister Wolfert said that after this next transfer we will have like 89 sisters in our mission and the transfer after that we will have 109! We will have almost as many sisters now as elders! WHOOT! That also means that the likelihood of me having car areas goes down a lot. I'm okay with that. It really is a good thing to have that exercise going all day.☺
After e-mailing we went to the Suwanee Greenway. It was so fun! It's just a hiking trail that is on the edge of Suwanee. It is SO pretty! There are trees EVERYWHERE! You feel like you are in a jungle. It has been raining a ton lately so the creeks around the trail are super flooded. We got about 2 miles in before we had to stop. It was like an 8 mile hike and Elder Baker said the best part was past the flooded are. Oh my goodness! There are so many stinking spiders! When we were walking we saw a HUGE one! It was really pretty but I would not want that thing on me! WE tried to take pictures but the spider was crawling so fast that it was a blur. This is what it looked like and how big it was . . . I never said I was an artist, so don't judge.☺
The white part that I didn't color was silver. It was super cool but really gross at the same time! Oh! I saw a little leaf bug. It was so cute! Oh! Oh! We saw a tree that had 5 big snakes just chilling in it. It was weird! And then we saw 3 little baby snakes! I almost stepped on the first one because it was so small! They were the size of little worms! Here, I'll draw it.☺
I even picked one of them up! I held it behind the head, don't worry! It wrapped it's little body around my thumb and squeezed with all it's little might! It didn't squeeze very hard but it was trying! Basically that's what we did for the whole day. Our pictures turned out weird. Sister Carrigan is supposed to send hers to me and I will forward them to you.
By the time we got back it was time for us to go to dinner. We were pretty wet because it had started raining right at the end. It was hot and muggy, and then when it rained, it was hot, muggy, and wet!
We went to the Qureshi's for dinner. Brother Qureshi is from Pakistan and has been baptized for a few years. They have 3 kids, 2 boys and 1 girl. They were so cute! I don't know what it is about missionaries but kids get crazy when we come over! They were bouncing all over the place! Poor Sister Qureshi! I think she was a little embarrassed. I didn't mind though and neither did Sister Carrigan. We had lots of fun! Sister Qureshi made curry for us. . . YUM! It was so good! We stayed and had Family Home Evening with them so we didn't get out of there until pretty late.
We were going to go tracting but the Elders called. They needed to transfer info from Sister Carrigan's GPS to theirs. We had to go practice our song for Wednesday so while they did that we practiced. Oh! Did I tell you? So there was a bunch of miscommunication for the musical number for Zone Conf. It is now just Sister Macedone and me singing! AHHH! Well, that shall be interesting. So, that's what we did for the rest of the night. We only had about half an hour left before we had to go home for the night after dinner. I'm nervous about singing! It could be bad. :{
August 20, 2013
Well, today felt like it wasn't very productive. It was but at the same time it wasn't. I hate those days! It makes me feel like I am a slacker missionary when we have these days. Luckily I think there has been only one other time that I have felt like this. It makes me want to work a lot harder the next day. So after personal study and comp. study and 12 week and lunch, we had to go practice for tomorrow. It is the first time Sister Macedone and I have sung together. We met her and her comp., Sister Alvey, at the church. We are singing Come Thou Fount. I'm alto and I have been working really hard to know my notes and not mess up. It's pretty stressful. Ugh! For the most part our voices blend okay, but not super great. When Sister Carrigan and I were singing and practicing together our voices blended perfectly. It was like only one person was singing both parts. Me and Sister Macedone don't sound like that, our voices are just too different. We don't sound bad but we don't sound as good as Sister Carrigan and I did. Oh well! It is what it is!
After practicing we had a whole list of less actives that Bishop Galt had asked us to go visit. Not one of them was home. Actually, that's a lie, some of them were cause we could hear them, they just wouldn't answer the door. Stupid doors. They just get in the way! Sometimes I wish I could yell, "I know your in there! We just want to help you! Gosh dang it!" People can just be a pain sometimes!
The last house we went to was the only one who answered. It was a lady who is less active and her husband isn't a member. Her daughter Bridget answered the door and we talked for a bit. Sis. Killen wasn't home but Bridget said if we would come back around 7 then she would be. I guess she was getting back from a trip.
We had a dinner appointment but she called and told us she was sick so we were on our own. That was fine, lately we have been getting lots of left overs so we had a lot of food it get rid of. Left overs are so great! After dinner we went back and tracted for a while on the Killen's road. The first lady was outside reading a golf book. She said her son was a huge golfer and he had been to the Master's a few times. Jealous Gabe and Dad?☺ I thought so!☺
Then we were walking down the street there was a guy walking his baby pit-bull. Now, I don't really like grown pit-bulls but this puppy was so stinkin' cute! He asked us what we were up to and we told him. He said he would love to talk with us and if we came on the weekend his kids would be with him and we could teach them too! Hopefully that works out!
We went over to the Killen's and talked for about an hour. They are so cute! Her husband took a temporary job in Memphis that turned into a full time job. He lives there and she goes to see him every month. . . YUCK! She didn't act like it was too big of a deal though. I dunno, weird. She said that she had been part of the RS presidency and still had great friends from the Mormon church. She defends the church and knows a lot of stuff. She is up to date on church news, like the age change. We aren't really sure what happened. . . . We are going to ask one of the ladies she is friends with and talk to them about it.
August 21, 2013
Wow! Today was filled with fun stuff! So last night after we got home the Elders texted us and told us they had a present for us just to say thanks for all we do. We thought that was pretty nice! So when we picked them up this morning to drive to Zone Conference they got in the car with a bag that had tissue paper in it. Sister Carrigan was driving so I was going to open it while she drove. They told us, no, Sister Carrigan has to open it. . . ummm, okay!?!? She was really excited and throwing the tissue paper everywhere, She lifted up the tupperware that was at the bottom and screamed. Inside was a HUGE wolf spider. Those boys thought they were SO funny! Not gonna lie, it was.☺ We named him Diablo.
Zone Conference was great! Sister Wolfert talked about having faith. She told us about what happened before they came out here. President Wolfert had to have surgery on his eye 3 times before they left. They almost weren't able to come out. He got a blessing from Elder Bednar but before he gave the blessing he asked if they had the faith for President Wolfert not to be healed. He (Elder Bednar) gave them the night to talk and pray about it. Sister Wolfert said it was one of the hardest things she has ever done. Then President Futral spoke. He is part of the 70 I think. . . I don't really know. He talked about obedience and how being obedient will bring blessings but being exactly obedient would bring miracles. It was a really good talk! Then we sang. I messed up once. :{ Oh well! It think it went fine and well, if it didn't I will never be asked to sing again! That is fine by me!☺
They split up the sisters and elders for a bit and we talked about flirting and what not. I guess it has happened a few times now. . . stupid missionaries. President Wolfert told the elders, "Yes, there are a lot of attractive sisters now. If you start feeling those attractions, ignore them, if you can't and it's becoming a distraction, talk to me and we will work out something." He laughed though and said, "The only problem is, I can move the elder but no matter where he ends up there is just going to be another attractive sister!"
During the whole meeting there was a HUGE rainstorm. The thunder was super loud and a few times we could feel it and the lights flickered. That was pretty fun. The thunder emphasized everything that was said.☺ After, they fed us lunch, took a picture of us and sent us on our way.
So, when we got back to Suwanee we only really had like 45 min, to do anything before dinner. We tracted around the Warnli's neighborhood (they are who we had dinner with). So I don't know what happened when you guys tracted on your missions, mom and dad, but on a normal day it takes like 2 hours to contact like 5 people. It can get rough. We contacted 8 people in 45 minutes! It was awesome!
I do have a story to go along with our tracting! So it is a really awesome gift that missionaries have of being protected, I will tell you what! The first house we went to we decided to do the harvest prayer. A guy opened the door and Sister Carrigan told him what we were doing. He said, "Well, I'm pretty sure Jesus wouldn't like it here." We told him it would only take a minute and we could do it on his porch. . . we didn't really feel like we should go in. He looked at us and said, "Well, I can tell you this, if you guys come in, you won't come out. You've been warned." And with that, he shut the door. What?!? Well that's super sketchy! We were really glad we didn't go in! Basically that was the most exciting thing that happened but we got to talk to 8 people! Whoot!
Dinner at the Warnli's was so much fun! They are a younger family and their kids are so stinkin' cute! They have a pet turtle named Timothy. He just roams around their house and comes out when he is hungry. It was so funny! He was a cute little turtle and he just walked around all over!
Okay, so I forgot to say that I got your letter yesterday Mommy! That was way nice of Aunt Liz and Uncle Jay to say that my farewell talk was good and that I was prepared.☺
I know my letters are long. I'm sorry! Basically I'm using these as my journal cause a) I like having you know everything☺ and b) I don't want to write it all twice! So they have all of my thoughts and feelings too and well, people don't need to know all that! You can just write the "exciting" things that happen. I don't mind if you let people read the letters though. I have nothing to hide!☺
I am glad that both Asia and Kenzie are having a good time on their missions. I can see why Asia would be sad to be transferred. You get attached quick to these people! I will be so sad when I'm transferred. Sister Carrigan figures not this transfer happening in 2 weeks but the one after that she will be out of here. My 3 months training will be done.
You asked about Caroline and Phyllis. We have texted Caroline and gotten no response. We are planning on trying to see her next week. Even if she isn't ready I know we planted a seed! She will be ready someday! Phyllis, well, we have called her a few times. She has a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it. Whether she does or not is another question. We will keep trying with her though. We aren't giving up!
August 22, 2013
Oh my goodness! Today was so stinking great! So we have a standing appointment with Brothers Hiers and Nevin every Thursday at 2:00. I think I have told you that. Usually we have like 2ish hours before we go see them to tract. Doing 12 week (the greenie training) and all that jazz makes it so we don't leave the apartment until later than other missionaries. Anyways, we finished tracting around their apartment complex last week. There are a few sketchy apartment complexes across the street that we decided to go to. In just those few apartments we contacted 12 people! We knocked on one guy's door and I said, "Hi! We're missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!" He smiled and said, "I know who you are. Hi Sisters!" Turns out he is an inactive. His dad is in the Sugar Hill ward (the other ward that shares our building). He grew up in the church but fell away. From what he said we are pretty sure he and his wife are having problems. He said that lately he has been feeling like he needs to go back to church. He said he will be staying at his dad't house for the nest few weeks but afterwards we could come see him! Awesome! We called the elders cause they were still on exchange and told Elder Thomas (the ZL's and another set of elders cover Sugar Hill) to watch out for him. Hopefully it all works out!
Oh I forgot to tell you! So before we started tracting we got a phone call. Now back up a little more for a second. Bishop Galt has given us a huge list of inactives and unknowns to try and go see. We have been trying to visit them and go talk to them but for the most part we haven't had any success. Well we got a call from a guy who we have tried to go see like 3 times. We called him about a month ago and left a message. He called us! That doesn't really happen, but it did today! He said that he has been thinking about coming back to church! Awesome! He said lots of stuff has been happening, like his dad just found out he has cancer. It's sad that something drastic has to happen sometimes before people will think about going to church again. I feel bad about his dad but I'm happy he wants to come back! He was a little worried cause he didn't know what time church was. Luckily we are pros with that information.☺
It was exciting to have 2 people in one day tell us that they wanted to come back to church! Yay!
We decided to finish tracting the last row of apartment really quick. A lady answered the door. She had a British accent (sweet!) and she knew who we were! I guess the other sisters had been visiting her but they must have dropped her. I'm not really sure. They didn't keep up with their records. Gabe! When you go on your mission make sure that your area book stays updated wherever you are. It is a pain not to have it fully updated! Anyways she doesn't work on Tuesdays or Thursdays so she told us to stop by! Yay!
We went to teach Brothers Heirs and Nevin. Brother Nevin wasn't there and in all reality he is who we were there to teach. So we visited with Brother Heirs for a little bit.
Afterwards we went tracting. I love that in Georgia, the neighborhoods are clustered together and all the streets have a theme for the names. We decided to go to Diggers Way and Gold Dust Trail. When we told the elders where we were going they said, "I really hope there isn't a Gold Diggers Lane!" We figured that as long as we weren't planning on being gold diggers then that was okay.☺
When we got there we started walking down the street and a lady was walking kind of by us. She yelled, "Hey! Are you guys JW's?!?" Psh! As if! We said no and told her who we were. She goes, "Oh! I used to be a Mormon. I got excommunicated upon request." And she turned and walked away. We just turned and looked at each other, we couldn't believe what we had just heard! Sad! Then we heard, "Hey!" We turned around and she was talking to us again. She said, "Do you have permission to knock on doors?" We said yes (yay for our little ministering certificate thing!). Then she turned around and started walking again. It was weird!
We knocked on quite a few doors and got a couple of contacts but no one really wanted to talk to us. At one house we did the harvest prayer. The lady was really nice but not interested. When we got off her porch it got dark really fast. We looked up and there were these HUGE DARK clouds rolling in really fast. Then a siren started going off. We decided to get back to our car.
We were opening our doors to get in when we heard, "Sisters!" and there was that lady again! She had 2 bottles of water in her hands coming towards us. She said, "I know it's not super hot but it's really muggy. I figured you could use this. I really like the family values of the church. I was RS secretary for a few years and a few other things. I never believed in the whole Joseph Smith thing though." That's bull! It's not the first time that an inactive member has told us that. It's just a way for them to feel less guilty. It makes me so sad that they deny what they once knew was true and what the spirit has told them is true just so that they can feel less guilty about not coming to church or whatever is going on. It breaks my heart every time I hear people say something like that. She was really nice and I think that her heart was softened a little bit after seeing us. We asked her what the siren was and she said it was either a tornado (AH! I want to see one so bad!!) or a REALLY bad storm. Whatever it was we needed to get inside. WE told her thanks for the water and hopped in our car. I have never seen clouds move that fast before! They were some of the blackest I have ever seen! Luckily we got home just before the storm hit. The thunder was LOUD and the lightning was literally cracking! It was crazy! Oh! I wish you could have been here! It was SO cool!! I got a video so when I send my memory card home you can watch it. Anyways it lasted for almost 2 hours! It was crazy!
It ended at about 6:45 which was good cause there was a RS activity and they had told us that was where our dinner was.☺ They were having officers come teach self defense and every lady in our ward told us we needed to come and learn some self defense. Sister Carrigan also took a self defense in college and we told them that but they all were really worried. It was funny. We told them we would come. So Mom, you remember that class you had me sign up for that I took my 2nd year! The one that they talked to you about during orientation? Well, its a nationwide program. They taught the exact same things. it was fun though and we got to be with the awesome ladies of our ward.☺
August 23, 2013
Well for having such an eventful day yesterday, today was quite a dud. We did weekly planning today which actually is always fun. We have a good time with it! It really is very important and it does take a long time but it's worth it.
The elders' bikes had been left at their dinner appointment from last night because of the rain. They asked us if we would give them a ride to go get them. We had planned on tracting kind of over by there anyways, so we said yes. Well, our car wouldn't start. The battery was dead. We called Elder Conners over at the mission office and asked him what he wanted us to do. We planned to just bike instead. He told us he would like us to get it fixed now rather than later and to call a ward member to jump us and then follow us to the nearest Pep Boys (okay the way that I wrote that sound funny☺the member wasn't jumping us just our car☺Haha!) We called Brother Garfield so he came over to help. The elders were going to leave but Brother Garfield was really worried about us so he asked them to ride in the car with us. We found out it was his 40th anniversary and he was supposed to pick up his wife. We were only 1/3 of the way to Pep Boys. Traffic was really bad. We called him and told him we would be fine and to go pick up his wife. We had to assure him a few times that we would be okay. When we got to Pep Boys they told us it would only be a 15-20 minute wait to get our car in the shop. No. They lied! It took an hour just to get our car looked at! We all missed our dinner appointments. I felt so bad! Not for us, for the families. They had gone out of their way to have us and we were stuck at stupid Pep Boys!
We didn't get back until like 6:45. Both of the families had told us that we could still go over. The parents had gone to some marriage thing over at the church but their daughter was there. She just got done with her first year of college at BYU-I and is thinking about a mission. We talked with her for a really long time and it was way fun! She is cute and will have a great time if she decides to go! Sister Carrigan hasn't been feeling good for most of the day so we went home after talking to Sarah (the girl from dinner).
August 24, 2013
Sister Carrigan started throwing up last night. She was sick for most of the night. I don't think that we will be going out anywhere today. It is 9 o'clock right now. I got up at 6:30 and just let her sleep. It's times like these where I think certain movies should be allowed. I have a lot of things that I can get done today though. I just like having a movie on while I'm doing stuff. Ah the life of a missionary with a sick companion.☺
Well even though we didn't leave the apartment today I still feel very accomplished! Sister Carrigan woke up around 11 and came into the living room. We talked for a few minutes and she then fell asleep on the couch. I finished up my calendar and then started working on our phone. So all of the sisters before us just put a bunch of names in, not indicating if they were potentials, investigators or what. Families in our ward are in there 2 or 3 time by both first and last names. Basically it is a mess and we don't know half the people in it! I have been going through and writing down names and numbers that we don't know and then deleting them. That way if for some random reason we need a phone number we have it written down. There are like 500 contacts in there. I'm at the J's. My had hurts from writing.
I got bored of doing that so I decided to finally finish "Our Search for Happiness." I love that book! Elder Ballard is awesome! Mary called and she just started talking. I think she is just so lonely. She is a sweet lady and it is just her and her 19 year old daughter who is a little handicapped. I don't know what she has but it doesn't matter. She is so cute! I think Mary was hoping we would come visit. I wish we could have! I promised we would sometime this next week. Eventually her heart will be ready to know the truth! For now we will just love her.☺
I called Moses to ask about church. He said really he just came to check it out. Ugh! I was so sad when he said that! I told him we would love to have him again and to let us know. About an hour later he texted us and said, "I'll give it another go." YES!!! Ahhh!! We are so very happy! The spirit is working on him. We called the EQ President to make sure that the lesson wasn't on pornography! Oh boy! That was crazy! No wonder Moses didn't want to come back! But he is coming! Basically that has been my day. Whoot! Super exciting.☺
August 25, 2013
Church was awesome today! Sacrament meeting was amazing! Basically the ward was promised that if they would up their fast offerings there would be blessings that would follow. One of these blessings was that there would be baptisms and people to teach! That would be so awesome! As missionaries we are encouraged to give fast offerings to the ward that we are serving in. We get to take part in this promise too! I am so excited! I think for dinner lessons this is what we are going to be focusing on a lot for a while. I love that we can be promised that if we will do something we will get blessings. I love even more that if we do what we are asked that promise will come true 100%!
Moses came to church! It's really hard to read him. He confuses us! He doesn't really want to meet or talk during the week but he is willing to come on Sunday. . . it is completely opposite of what everyone else does! He stayed up super late last night and texted us at like 2:30 in the morning. He kept falling asleep and it was so sad because he missed so many great spiritual opportunities! Aarrg! Dang it!
Okay, now to end on a happy note! Momma, I forgot to say that I got your letter yesterday. Thanks! It was a good pick-me-up after being stuck inside all day! Thanks for the recipes! Daddy, how much more postage should I put on? This one is a big one! 15 possibly 16 pages plus the letters to Grandma and Grandpa as well as Grandma Syndergaard. I am gonna have a whole 5 billion novels by the time my mission is over.☺ Imagine if I not only wrote the letters but I used a journal too?!? That would be A LOT!
I have been running a lot and eating a lot smaller portions at homes. I'm almost down to my lower weight again which is good. People (my companion) keep telling me that it is impossible for me to lose weight while on my mission and I will be lucky if I can just maintain where I'm at. I would love to come home just 10 pounds lighter though.
Well family darlings! I love you all so very much with all my heart! You are all amazing! Keep being missionaries at home and being the fabulous examples that I know you all are! I love you!
♥
Molly
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