Monday, February 24, 2014

New Transfer, New Companion and a New License Plate! ;)

Dearest Family and Friends!

I am still in beautiful Beaufort and now I am with Sister Clouse from Mesa Arizona! She is pretty awesome and full of life! The entire mission knows about her cause she is hard to forget. lol :) So I wasn't too sure what to expect, but she keeps you on your toes and is always laughing and smiling! We get along just great too! :) Also I am now the driver!!! It's been fun driving a car after 3 months of being the passenger. I am surprised and happy to see how well I know the area without GPS! :) But I may have gotten us lost a few times.... it’s been a great adventure though! Plus we have found areas I didn't know existed, so we have more tracking areas! WOOT WOOT!

We are slowly moving along with Jeanette still. On Saturday we did yard work for her and the Elders came and helped us. It was a lot of fun and it helped soften her heart and also Jeanetta's and Coco's hearts too. :) (Even though Coco tried to flirt with the Elders... it was pretty funny to watch to be honest. She 'tried' to sing to them....! lol) Jeanette's yard is pretty big so we only did half of it, but we are going back to finish it this week I believe. We have realized that Jeanette doesn't comprehend the BOM so we have been focusing on reading and discussing it with her, hoping this will help her testimony grow and will lead her to Baptism! We are also going to watch the Restoration with her... I am excited!!! 

This past week has been TONS of tracking! I LOVE tracking with sister Clouse! She makes it so fun and almost like a game! lol! We are constantly laughing! :) One day we were getting a lot of doors slammed in our faces and peeps weren't nice at all! But on the last door we met Chris. He just moved from Wisconsin and is a stanch Catholic, but very nice. He invited us in but since he is single we sat on his back patio. He has 2 or 3 PHD's in Theology and has studied at the Vatican. So he is well educated and has even studied the BOM for a bit. He isn't too open to hearing our message just yet, he actually just wanted to have a heated debate/discussion but since we didn't want to get to that point we didn't. He asked us to come back and asked that we come back to have an in depth discussion. We told him we would try... we will see where this will go. :) At one point in the conversation he asked me "So why are you not Catholic?" I almost started laughing because I didn’t see that type of question coming. I talked a little about what I had learned from my History classes on Catholicism but I mostly bore my testimony of why I knew this Church was true and why I have made the decision to follow it. Every time he tried to get into the 'debate' we just shot him down with something spiritual or our testimonies, it was awesome! :) 

I hope all is going well for you back home! I hope the weather is warming up! It sure is here! It's been in the 60's and 70's this past week! Today we are all going to the Beach!!! Sister Earl is taking all the Missionaries to Hunting Island!!!! We may be just a tad excited! ;) Love you all! 

XOXOXO


~ Sister Tara Willie

 Sister Sevy...my comp for a few days last week! I LOVE her!! :)

 Sister Clouse and I!

Wood's Bridge....used in Forrest Gump!!

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Into A New Transfer

Dear Family and Friends! 

Sister Pulsipher is going home today :( so if am in Statesboro GA till Tuesday once I get me new companion in Macon. Then it is back to Beaufort! I really love Beaufort and I am so glad that I am staying. 


We have so many lessons this past week! We taught Jeanette and Jeanetta three times! Jeanette is doing great! When we taught her about the WOW and the Law of Chasity she was so funny! She was like "WHAAAAT!?!? I got to give up my sweet tea and now my men too?!?" haha! But she committed and is staying strong because she wants to receive those blessings. She really liked learning about the Temple and would love to go there one day! Hopefully her heart will be soften enough so she will accept baptism by the proper authority. :) Remember Coco? Well she has been there whenever we teach but hides from us. Until we started talking about the Law of Chasity. She came out and stated agreeing with us and really liked the idea of having respect from men when you respect yourself. Since then she has been very nice to us and her while demeanor changed! We found out that 3 years ago she was being taught by Elders and when she was ready to be baptized she couldn't because she wasn't keeping commitments, so she got offended and that is how she became anti. But by showing her love and that she can make a better life for herself, her heart has softened. :) This Gospel can do anything! 

We met this girl named Tyler and she wants to get baptized! woot! She is working on quitting smoking and she choose March 15 to be baptized! We are very excite for her and are working with her to help her stop!  :)

I have had a wonderful experience this past week where I have been an answer to someone’s prayers/questions. A member told us her amazing conversion story and how it took over 10 years for her husband to agree to let her join. She is so incredible and I love her very much! :)  She has always wondered how do we give God 100%. When she started asking us this I had a stream of thoughts and personal experiences come into my head and I felt like I needed to share them with her... so of course I shared them with her cause that is what the spirit is telling me to do. :) I told her about making our will, God's will. And how it is a choice of our agency to do that and by doing that it makes us more free and happy. I than told her the WHOLE story about how and why I chose to serve a mission. She was deeply touched and so excited to learn more! :) She told me that in 40 years no one has been able to answer her question. I felt deeply honored and blessed to be the one who was able to. (through the spirit though!)

Well I hope you are all doing great and always smiling! :) I love you lots! :)



~ Sister Tara Willie

 We heart attacked the Elders apartment on Valentine's Day!!

 Bundled up and pretending to climb the White's shrimp boat (we cannot be on boats) :)

Last pic with Sister Pulsipher! I'm going to miss her! We worked really hard these last few weeks! :)

Thursday, February 13, 2014

A week of many Promptings!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this past week has been wonderful. We have started teaching Byron. He is a really big black man. I thought he had to be a basketball player when he was younger, so I asked him. Found out that he used to be on Beufort's most wanted list and spent time in jail, so he did not. He has changed his life around a lot since getting out of jail (it was about 15 years ago) and he heard of the Book of Mormon while there. He really enjoyed going to the classes and he learned things about our church, but not a lot. He actually converted to Islam when he was in jail. We teach him at Miss. Mullen's house because he is her friend and it is safer for us anyways (We don't really want to drive all the way out to St. Helena and plus it is the Elders area.) When we met him, I kept getting this overwhelming feeling that we need to teach him! We are going to teach him! (Sister Pulsipher had the same feelings!) And then he started asking us questions and then he said he would like to be there when we come back! It was awesome!!! The spirit was so strong and Miss. Mullen bore her testimony to him! She knows the gospel is true, that the BOM is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet (she had struggled with that). It was so amazing and powerful! The only thing keeping her form getting baptized is leaving her church. She has been going there almost her whole life! So we have been having very good lessons with Miss. Mullen and Byron. 

We have started singing in all of our lessons! It has made a huge difference! We sing right before we pray and it brings the spirit in so strongly! Now many of our investigators request us to sing whenever they have friends over. lol :) We have been teaching many of the children "I am a child of God" and they love it! 

Jeannette and Jeanetta are doing pretty well. Our lessons are still going well and they both are reading the BOM very fast! We are still working on the baptism by the priesthood authority though. On Saturday we were visiting them and they had their cousin Coco over. After singing and praying we asked J & J what they had read in the BOM. I got the impression to ask Coco if she had ever heard of the BOM. OH boy had she ever! She started going off how she had and that it was the devil and that it was false and just nasty things about it and about the leaders of our church. WOW! I have never gotten angry so fast! How dare she say those untrue things about the BOM and priesthood leaders! I wanted to tell her that what she was saying was false and that she was wrong and not the smartest person.... but I held my tongue and listen to the spirit. When she started saying that the BOM doesn't talk about Christ I wanted to laugh! I then listen to the promptings of the spirit and asked Jeanette if I could see her BOM? She gave it to me and I said "that's funny. Have you never seen what it says on the cover?" and I showed her the cover and it says "Another testament of Jesus Christ" I then explained/bore my testimony to her about the BOM and it being all about Christ, She then scoffed and said "it is not the same Christ as the Bible!" HA! Little does she know! I had a firm reassurance from the spirit that she had no idea what she was talking about and to just leave her alone now, so I didn't say anything and that's when Sister Pulsipher bore a powerful testimony on the BOM! She also asked Jeannette if she is learning about Christ in the BOM. She very strongly said "Yes I have. It is all about him." Then we started getting into the lesson on Prophets and Coco got up and left. It turned out to be one of the best lessons we have had with them! :) I love being assertive and following the spirit! 

Also last night was the missionary fireside! It turned out very well! ......... But no investigators showed up. :( I was a little disappointed but I had the feeling that this was strengthening the ward members and getting them excited for missionary work. It was about hem and their needs. :) After we had many members come up and say they really enjoyed it and they were sad no investigators came but they still thought it was a success! :) Woot! Also my district sang 'behold a royal army' and we now have a senior couple! The Georges from Tulsa Oklahoma!  So that makes 8 missionaries in the Beaufort ward! 

Well I hope you all have a great week! Keep up the hard work and don't forget to smile! :) 

Luv ya!

P.S. next week is transfers! I will be getting a new comp because Sister Pulsipher is going home and I feel pretty sure I will be staying in Beaufort! (I hope so!) 



~ Sister Tara Willie

 With the Morgan Family!! They're awesome :)

Sister Pulsipher, Miss Mullen and I

All 8 Missionaries

Monday, February 3, 2014

Snow in South Carolina!!

Dearest Family and Friends,

This past week was such an adventure! We had many lessons and SNOW!!! :) 

On Wednesday it snowed/iced over. As a safety precaution we were told not to leave our apartments unless it was above freezing. President Cottle said it was because the people here don't know how to drive in it. They know majority of the missionaries can, but they wanted to keep us safe. So what did we do all day you ask?!? (because it never got above 32 degrees) Well we were productive, but we went 'sledding'!!! lol :) I mean there really are no hills here so we had to improvise. The Elders used the bridge they live by and we used a slope off of the road... it didn't really work, but it was fun! :) Sister Pulsipher and I also tried to walk on 'frozen' water! I made it pretty far out! But I promise we also did work! It got to 31 degrees in the middle of the afternoon. We had an appointment with Jeanette and we really didn't want to cancel. So we went and taught her anyways... She doesn't live too far away and we didn't have to cross any bridges! :) She really was so grateful that we came! :) It was such a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation. She understood it very well and the three degrees of glory made sense to her. She told us that she was always confused when she read 1 Corinthians 15 and that now it totally makes sense. She has yet to pray to know if she should be baptized by the proper authority though. We explained to her more about the priesthood and why it is important to be baptized by that authority. We asked her again to pray about it and she said she will. She also has started rereading the BOM!!! She started crying when she told us how much she loves it and that she feels so good when she is reading it. :)

Saturday morning we went back to Jeanette’s and taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We empathized more on baptism and asked her if she had prayed about it? She said "sort of" so we got in a discussion of why she wasn't and we came to find out that she really doesn't understand the importance of the priesthood. We had a member with us and she did a beautiful job on why she knows the priesthood is authority from God. We had her pray with us there and we asked her how she was feeling. She told us that she felt good and we talked about the Holy Ghost more.... so slowly but surely she is coming to understand. It is so amazing to see how much she changes as she accepts the gospel. :) The spirit is always very strong when we are teaching her. :) 

Out in Sheldon, (a tiny town inland) there is this beautiful abandoned church that was built in the 1750's. A member who lives out there was having us over for dinner, so she drove us over there and it was like a kid in a candy shop!!! :) hehe! Sister Pulsipher and Sister Cook (the member) were laughing at how giddy and excited I got over the stones and the graves. :) It was a lot of fun and really cool to see some prerevolutionary history. :) 

This coming Sunday we are putting on a fireside for missionary work! We are trying to get the ward excited to do missionary work and also to come out with us. We are having about 6 people from the ward tell their conversion stories and about 4 musical numbers to mix it up a bit. My district and I will be singing! I am pretty excited for this and so are many of the members! :) 

I hope things are going well for you at home. I love you all and I am so grateful for all of your love and support! Keep up the hard work and give a referral to the missionaries serving in your area! It will make there day! :) 


~ Sister Tara Willie

 Trying to sled in the snow lol

At the Old Sheldon Church!! :)