Monday, April 21, 2014

Easter Miracles

Dearest Family and Friends,

This past week was so wonderful!!! We were pretty busy with seeing people and doing service! The Elders and us raked Sister Sydney Johnson's yard full of leaves (cause in the south you have to rake in the spring time too...?) we had over 70 BIG bags full of leaves and it took us 4 hours! We still have half of her back yard to do! It was a lot of fun though! I really love doing service! :) The next morning we all went and helped a member's friend pack up her house! Great work and we had fun talking to her friends about the gospel. 

Friday is poured all day long!!! By the evening time the wind was so strong that the rain was coming down sideways! We had a flash flood warning when we were eating dinner at a member’s friend’s super nice condo! His bottom floor was flooding so that was quite an adventure cleaning it up, but everything turned out good. His boat almost sank though! 

Saturday Teyla was baptized!!! Woot woot! :) It was a small and simple, but spiritual service. She was so excited to be clean! It was very exciting to see her 'glowing' once she came out of the water! Also her dad was able to baptize her! We weren't sure if he could but that was a small miracle! 

Easter Sunday was so incredible! Sister Clouse and I were asked by Elder George to go out to Parris Island (Marine base) with them Sunday morning!  There were two girls (female recruits) who want to be baptized so we get to teach them!!! :) It was so AWESOME! The services are 2 hours long. First we had sacrament meeting. Girls sit on the left and boys on the right side of the room. They are not allowed to interact with each other. There were 9 girls there (a record high) and 13 guys. 5 of them were nonmembers and of that 5, 4 were girls!  Sister Clouse and I were asked to speak during sacrament meeting... I chose the Atonement and shared with them Alma 7:11-13, one of my favorite chapters in the BOM! Sister Clouse did a great job talking about obedience and following our Savior. :) After Sacrament meeting we had a 10 minute break before we broke up into our Sunday school classes. Apparently the Male recruits really miss having female interaction so they pretty much cornered (literately) Sister Clouse and me during those 10 minutes! lol! We were "saved" by Elder George coming to get us. haha! ;) Sunday School went really well! We taught the 4 nonmembers and 3 members, 2 of them are recent converts! We went over the Restoration and it was incredible to have the RC's bare testimony of the truths! Two of the girls really want to be baptized and the other two want to learn more! I can't wait to go next week! :) 

At Beaufort ward we had a tiny miracle happen in Relief society! We've been visiting a less active we haven't known if we should keep going, if it’s helping or if she truly likes us coming over. So an answer to our prayer was her daughter, who is less active herself raised her hand and thanked us for visiting her mom every week. She loves us coming over, it is helping and it is an answer to her prayers. :) I love how much our Heavenly Father knows us and loves us! 

After Church we had a lesson with Kim. We have been praying to know when we should bring up baptism again. Before we left we both had the prompting that today was the day to ask her how she felt about it. During our lesson I felt like I needed to ask her and I did. She pondered it for a bit and then said "I would like to be baptized in the church." The spirit was so strong that I started crying and then S. Clouse started crying and her husband Joe started crying too! We are so happy and excited for her! Joe had no idea if she wanted to or not, so he was just as surprised as us! :) They will be out of town for a month though! :( so she will be getting baptized the end of May or beginning of June. She is so ready for this! She was beaming with excitement and happiness when she told us! :) 

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to remember our savior. It is incredible to testify that He lives! That he loves us, each and every one of us! He died for us so that we can live with Him again! I am so grateful to share this message with the people her in Beaufort South Carolina! I love you all very much! Keep smiling and know that Jesus loves YOU! :)


~ Sister Tara Willie

At Teyla's baptism! 

With Kim! She got us chocolate fish that say Jesus! We love them! :) 

We had Easter dinner @ the Chambers and I got to hold a duck!!! hehe! 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Mini Miracles! (And some funny instances too)

Dearest family and friends!!! 

The weeks keep flying by! Yesterday was my 5 month mark... what?!?! 

So Teyla is doing great! She will be baptized this Saturday!!! woot woot! Her dad had a total change of heart! He even bore his testimony yesterday in church and it was beautiful! The spirit was so strong! We are so excited for her! :)

Speaking of Church, yesterday was an incredible fast Sunday! Sister Summerall... the crazy lady we visit in the ward, got up and bore her testimony! She had just fed us the night before and her 6 year old grandson Brody was there. Brody's mom grew up a member but is very anti now and she will not let sister Summerall tell him about our church or even pray in front of him. So at dinner we prayed and talked a little bit about being missionaries. This little boy is very bright! Sister Summerall said in her testimony that the next morning Brody asked his mom if he could pray like the missionaries do and how he could become one. He also asked her why our church's name would have Jesus Christ in it, wouldn't it make it his church? Sister Summerall is so grateful to have this door inch open! After church we were at her house when her daughter and brody came! He was excited to see us, his mom was civil, but hearts will be soften! I am excited to help the Lord in softening this lady's heart. :) 

Miss Mullen is still moving forward.. just slowly. She asked us how we handle situations where people we teach take a long time (hinting about herself) we told her that we make it a matter of prayer and just love them. She then called herself out on being slow but that she knows she is getting there. :) 

Funny story! (sorry but I am going to leave out some details cause I am in a rush!) So on Thursday we were celebrating S. Clouse's 9 month mark and the elders gave her 4 blue pills that she thought was ibuprofen... well they were but PM ones! lol! She got super loopy on a high dose of benadryl! She was saying funny things and acting hilarious! We still had one more lesson to teach too! We went to teach Teyla the law of Chasity and the Word of wisdom.  We started teaching and she just knocked out cold! right there on the floor! haha! Good thing the Longs are pretty chill! Also it was fun/weird to be teaching by myself. But her parents had input too. :) After the lesson it took forever to wake her up!  Once I was able to get her in the car and drive home she said silly things! She grabbed my hand and said "I miss holding hands" and held my hand the rest of the way home! haha! I just love my companion! We get along great and we laugh a lot! :) 

Sorry this one is short! But know how grateful I am to be on a mission to be sharing the gospel with others and to see them change is such a blessing. :) Much love!


~ Sister Tara Willie

With Teyla and Keiryn and a sleeping Sister Clouse! 

My awesome district! 

With Sister Summerall and Brody :) 

Monday, April 7, 2014

Conference Weekend!!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Wasn't Conference wonderful!?! All the talks have helped answer my questions and concerns! I can't say if I have a favorite one, but I really liked how Elder Ballard talked about sharing what you are learning in PMG with your family, friends and the missionaries! Such a cool idea! I hope all of you will share with me what you are studying and learning out of it! To help kick us off I will tell you what I recently studied out of PMG. Chapter 3 section 5, mainly on Temples, Families and Family history work. When Elder Perry said "The Family is a pattern of Heaven" it helped make more connections of what I had just studied! I love teaching people about eternal families! It gets them very excited and gives them hope! It’s wonderful to experience this. :)

I also loved President Monson's talk about love! "Love is the very essence of the Gospel" So true! Last week we taught Alex and her family about service. She had no idea what it was! We explained to her that it is helping someone out, without expecting anything in return. And then we got into the love part. She got so excited to start serving her family! It was really cute! :) She however felt very over whelmed as a 9 year old girl that she wouldn't be able to help much outside of her family. We told her not to worry about that right now, she needs to first start in her own home and family. I loved that President Monson said that in his talk too! :) 

Things are going better with Teyla and her family! Her dad's heart has been softened and he is encouraging her more to continue to learn and to listen to us, and to stick with her date! He has many questions for her to see if she truly understands. It is wonderful seeing the power of prayer working right before your eyes! Small miracles! 

I hope all is well for you guys! Have a wonderful week! Luv ya


~ Sister Tara Willie

April Fool's Day we were given spaghetti...but it was really cake :) 

So random, but I thought it was cool. The things we find tracking. 

We are "obsessed" with Frozen! Sister Clouse is Elsa and I am Anna! We even did our hair like them!! :)