Wednesday, December 31, 2014

On to a new year! 2015! BANG!

Holla at yo family!!!

I am so happy that I was able to skype with my family last week! It was so awesome to see y'all's faces and talk with ya! :)

So some craziness happened this week! Well our car has been in the shop and we finally got it back Tuesday morning. We had to stop at the store for something. It was raining really bad too. Well as I am looking for a parking spot an old man backs up into us!!! We didn't even have the car for 30 minutes and it gets hurt again! Oh goodness, but the old man was so sweet. We stood out in the pouring rain under my tiny umbrella while we called our mission office. We were soaked! The mission office was laughing... they teased me that I have "bad" luck. Well who knows? But this is just so random and ridiculous how it happened. lol!

Christmas eve President Cottle asked all the missionaries to go caroling! So we went with the NA Elders and a 17 year old boy from the ward: Grant. It was so much fun! We sang to our investigators! So many of them appreciated it and had us come in for a little bit. We ended at Stephanie's! She had a lot of her family over and we sang a bunch of songs for them! Plus we were fed Italian food! :)

We've spent a lot of time with Stephanie this week! We have been helping her pack up her house. She has to be out by January 16th. There is so much to pack in that BIG house! She has lived there for almost 20 years! We have had good lessons with her on the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chasity... lol. the LOC lesson was one of the funniest lessons I've been a part of! She had some interesting questions and views! haha! We all were laughing too. :) The best part is she was at church on Sunday!!!! She only came to sacrament meeting, but that was awesome! She enjoyed it too! :) I love seeing how much she is progressing, little by little! :)

I love y'all so much! Thank you for the cards and presents! I so greatly appreciated them all!! For this New Year I hope you all are making New Year resolutions and I hope one of your goals is to become more Christ-like. Focus on our Saviors attributes and pick one that you can be better on this year! So many miracles and blessings will come into your life and your families’ lives when you focus more on our Savior!

xoxoxo

~ Sister Willie
 Our district picture!

Christmas morning!!!! (Sis Gray and I had matching PJ's!!!) 

@ the Lights of the South! Super cool!

Monday, December 22, 2014

Merry Christmas! #HeistheGift

Merry Christmas Y'all!!! 

Its been an awesome week! Sister Gray and I saw miracles and found new people! woot woot!! 

So for the past few weeks I've been getting promptings that we need to knock these apartments that are about 5 miles from our trailer. We finally made it this week! We weren't sure what buildings to start with so we decided to start in the way back. Well it has been a while since I have knocked apartments, I was a bit nervous! lol! Heavenly Father knows I needed a "good" door at first to help me get rid of my nerves. :) So the very first door we knock on we got a return appointment for this sweet family! Well the next 15 or so doors were interesting... lol! We got some peeps who cussed at us and slammed the door in our face. We met some one who once we mentioned our Savior he turned around and said he is going back to his movie and shut the door... lol We laughed pretty hard over that one! We also met some nice Christians who thanked us for what we were doing but were not interested in hearing our message. But the last two doors of the night were golden!!! We met this sweet older lady named Georgie! She wants to learn more, but was getting ready for bed. Then we met Susan and her 17 year old daughter Makayla! They let us right inside! They are so sweet and very humble! Susan just had a stroke a month ago, and Makayla is pregnant. They talked with us and are so willing to have us come back! They are Jewish-Christians, so they celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas! I love how we found them! We had to meet people who are not ready and sometimes are even rude to us, so we can find the humble and meek ones who are ready to accept this gospel! :) We went back a few days later and it was the perfect timing! Georgie was having a bad day and was crying, so we comforted her and said a prayer with her. She was so grateful and it calmed her down! :) And then we stopped in to see Susan and Makayla, they were cleaning and decorating their apartment but they both were having a hard time getting around and/or reaching stuff. So we jumped right in and helped them! Susan was SO grateful! And it really was just a small thing, but by helping others and loving them it leads them to be more willing to hear your message! :) I am way excited to be teaching them! And also to knock more of those apartments!!! 

Stephanie is doing better! She has invited us to her Christmas eve party too! She is slowly reading the BOM and is praying a lot more! We are gonna be helping her pack up her house this coming weekend. We dropped Terry, she wasn't progressing at all and didn't want to. :( 

Every week since I've been here, we have been visiting this part member couple. The Boniwicks! She is pretty active and wants him to take the lessons! We asked him what was his hold up and he said he isn't sure if he would make a good member. So we talked about how that desire will come and such as he learns and finds out for himself the Church is true. We asked Bro. B if he would be wiling to take the lessons? He said he would pray about it. I love him so much! He feels like a grandfather to me! Well an ADVENTURE happen once we left their house. So they live out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees and dirt roads. Well we slid off the road cause it had been raining, into a ditch! But Heavenly father was protecting us cause the car didn't get hurt and neither did we! The B's came to help us and so did the Elders, well every one else got stuck too!!! It was red clay road and late at night! So we had 7 people and 3 stuck cars.... hahahaha! But the B's called their neighbors who have a tractor! So we were all saved! 

And yesterday us 4 missionaries sang in the ward's Christmas program! It was fun! I am loving this area more and more! I love my companion so much! She is way awesome! Hope y'all have a great week! Merry Christmas!!! XOXOXO 

~ Sister Willie
 Missionary service! Helping with the food truck.

 Giant wall mural! 

 At the ward Christmas Party!!

With the car in the ditch!

Christmas Cheer!!

Hey y'all!

Well this past week was super super busy and flew by really fast!! Transfers was on Tuesday and I was able to see many mission buddies, plus some members from my first area!! That was pretty neat! :) Well my new companion is...... drum roll please.......... SISTER GRAY!!! We were both excited to get one another so much, that we screamed and ran to each other! lol! :) We have been in the same zones a few times and get along very well! :) This transfer meeting was awesome because President Cottle put so many friends together! Many missionaries ran and screamed to each other too! lol! Sister Gray is from St. George Utah and is just awesome! I love her so much! 

So since I am still a STL but Sister Gray wasn't one before we had to go off all my notes from MLC so we could prepare our training's at ZTM, last Thursday. They went very well if I say so myself! We trained on safety and then I had to give my own training on stress. I really enjoy teaching and training, but I absolutely love having the spirit guide and direct me when I am preparing and giving them! :) 

The next day we had a multi-zone Christmas conference! That was SO much fun! We talked about family history and had a spiritual devotional from the Atlanta Temple president, President Posey! We also sang Christmas songs, President Cottle read us Christmas stories, had a live nativity, took a lot of pictures and ate food! Also President and Sister Cottle gave us all Georgia Macon Mission Temple recommend holders for Christmas! :) I am so grateful for my Savior and how he was born  to take upon my sins. He truly is the first gift. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much and has a plan for each and every one of us. I am so amazed just thinking about how much my Heavenly Father loves me! I love sharing this message of peace and hope and love with others! 

A few updates... Terry is still smoking. :( But I am still going without sugar to help her! Stephanie is still struggling. :( But little by little she is coming closer to Christ. We followed the prompting to have her meet the Elders last night. She opened up a bit, but Elder Rollins felt prompted to share some very personal experiences with her. His families situation is/was very similar to Stephanie's. It was very neat just seeing how our Father in Heaven is aware of us and places us where we need to be! 

I love y'all very much! Hope you have a fantastic week! Merry Christmas! XOXOXO 

~ Sister Willie
 After transfers! All who was in the big van!

 Our lunch buddies at the Christmas conference

 With a bunch of my MTC buddies!

 Sister Gray and I!!! 

 With Sis Gray and Sis Dunagan! She had become my "momma" in NA!

We went to see some lights and roasted hot dogs too! lol :) 

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Exchanges, Birthday and a Baptism!!!!

Hey Y'all!! 

This past week flew by super fast! Transfers are tomorrow and I am staying here in NA and still STL! I also "killed" off my comp, as of today she is flying home. 

This past week I went on exchanges with Sister Cano! She is a Salt Lake Temple Square missionary from Peru. She is her for 2 transfers! I just love her!! We work so well together and were on fire in our teaching! We taught Cheryl about the restoration and how the BOM came to be! She is reading the BOM and is almost in 2 Nephi! She is enjoying it and asked how she can get answers to her doubts! Great question! So we talked to her that having doubts is ok and that it is how she handles them is what makes a difference. We talked about Joseph Smith and the answer to his 'doubts'/questions. She is a lot more comfortable now with praying to receive an answer! i love her so much!! We also taught Terry and Sister Cano laid  down the LAW!!! It was epic! She asked Terry why missionaries come to her house? What is our purpose and what we can do to help her progress? She wasn't to sure except that we help her get closer to God. Well we told her that we are here for that but we can only help her as much as she is willing to receive that help. Then we talked about what she needs to do to truly quit smoking. She just wanted to go all cold turkey. So we helped her with her plan and Sister Cano helped work miracles! Cause two days later we visited Terry and she had stopped! Awesome! But the next day she gave in. :( She is gonna start over, we feel that she needs to go to the class and get help there too but she isn't making the effort to go. :( Little by little! 

My Birthday was good, thank y'all for the B-day wishes! :) they meant a lot to me! A few days before a member and her family fed us sushi!!! We even got to make our own! On my B-day a sweet older lady made me dinner! Some Indian curry dish! :) The next day a member took us to see a live nativity/walk through Bethlehem streets at the Methodist church. It was awesome! They had real animals! Like camels! Yup i was super happy!!! :) lol. 

Jessica was Baptized on Saturday and Confirmed on Sunday!! It was a short and small but spiritual baptism. It was just her family, the Bishop and the missionaries that where there. She didn't want peeps to be watching her. lol She is super cute! I am way excited for her!!

On a very random note.... As of yesterday, today and tomorrow morning I am staying with the sisters in Evans Georgia: Sisters Call and Porter! I love them both, but I connect with Sister Call more. And the cool/random part is we found out that we are RELATED!!! lol! So President has asked all of us to print out a pedigree chart and fan chart of our ancestors to take with us to the Christmas Zone conference which is this Friday!  We both share Anson Call as our ancestor! How cool it that?!? Ya we are pretty stoked! lol :D 

Hope y'all had a great week! Remeber to share the He is the Gift with your friends or family or that random person on the street! Christ is the reason for this season! Alma 7:10-13 
xoxoxoxo

~ Sister Willie
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
District pic! NAOF = North Augusta on Fire!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sister Cano and I chopping wood! :)
 
 
 
At Jessica's Baptism!!! 

Friday, December 5, 2014

Miracles bring couches!

Hey Y'all!!! 
 
Hope ya had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Cause I did! We were thoroughly stuffed! The Dunagans fed us and we met their extended family who are all non members! We  enjoyed talking about missionary work and He is the Gift video, which we showed them. We also ate at a recent converts house, Sharon! Very sweet of her to feed us even tho she is struggling financially. 
 
So awesome miracles! Our trailer doesn't have much in the way of furniture and I really missed sitting on a couch, I was tires of a chair that has wheels! lol. So I told my comp that we should ask the members and see if they know of a cheap one at a yard sale or something like that. Well my comp really didn't care if we got one cause she is going home at the end of this transfer so it was all up to me. I asked some members they said they would look around but they didn't find anything. Well my comp jokingly told me to pray about it, so in our next companion prayer I prayed for a couch! haha! She just shook her head at me. Well the very next day we had dinner at a members (they didn't know we wanted a couch)  house and they asked us if we knew anyone who needed a couch?! Umm We do!!! Prayers were answered within 24 hours! :) lol Yup Heavenly Father really does care about the 'silly' things! :) 
 
Jessica is getting baptized this Saturday!!! She had her baptism interview and is all set! We are all excited! 
 
Terry... She is struggling with quitting smoking and her desire/motivation is very little. Well Sister M and I have decided the best way to help her and show her we care about her is by giving something up. We both are going without SUGAR! Yup no sugar and it is over the holidays! Thanksgiving day was g=hard! I really wanted a lemon bar! lol ;) We told her about it on Tuesday and she was touched. The next time we saw her, her motivation was a lot stronger! Woot woot! So little by little she is coming along. 
 
And of course Stephanie, Well last week we saw her 4 times and man she has had a complete turn around from Monday to Sunday! She went from having no hope and being upset to having hope and peace that God will take care of everything! That is the first time in 5 weeks she has said anything like that! Last night we were not planning on seeing her but she texted us asking us to come over and pray with her! Not only did we pray with her but she said the prayer and her boys had been asking about us and wanted us to come over! Also she asked us to read the BOM with her! WAHOO!!! Thank y'all for adding her to your prayers! Hopefully it is a continual upward and onward climb!   :)
 
Yesterday was just a good day! We had many miracles, but another one was when we went to meet this part member family. They've been on our list of peeps to see but we've never had time or something else came up, so meeting the Haucks happened at just the right time! They are a young family and she is the member. Her husband wasn't home, so we got to know her. She is super cute and very friendly! She is from Oklahoma and her father is dying from cancer... he lives in Lindsey OK and is pretty active. She told us that she feels like it is time for her to come back to church. She said she knows Heavenly Father sent us now cause being surrounded by a church family will help her at this time. They just moved here in March. She is leaving this week to say goodbye to her father. She is gonna be ok, I can just feel it. :) 
 
Welp it is December! I can't believe how fast this year went! Keep looking for missionary opportunities! Or better yet! Pray to have them! Love y'all! xoxoxo
 

~ Sister Willie

 South Carolina pride!
 

 The ZL's & STL's... L is for leader.... ;)
 

With Sharon after getting stuffed!