Monday, March 30, 2015

#ValdostaOnFire

Hey Y'all!!! 

This past week was AWESOME!!!!! So many miracles and growth is happening here in the V-town!!! :) I absolutely love it here! I loved working in the small towns, but in the bigger cities there are SO many more peeps to talk with!!! So much to share and SO little time! ...............

We had Zone Conference and learned so much! There is this new Easter initiative that the church is doing! http://www.mormon.org/easter  Go to the web page and watch the video if you haven't already! It is only 2 minutes and so worth your time! :) Our Savior Lives! I know this for myself and I love Him very much! Oh how glorious is Easter and that we are reminded more about our Saviors great sacrifice for each and everyone of us. The atonement is real and I have felt it for myself. We are all worthy and loved to use it! It brings such comfort and healing to all. 

We had 3 gators at church yesterday!!! And Gwen is on date!!! She prayed about April 11th and feels very good about it! We feel like everything should work out. :) So even more miracles! At ZC I was sitting next to an Elder and he had a ASL CTR ring on. Find out he is fluent in ASL!!! And his area is only 1 hour away from us. So he got permission to come down and help us teach! :) It was good and is helping a lot!  But at the same time it is... different teaching with Elders. They just have a different approach, method in how they teach. lol  But both ways work great, just a new adventure! 

Candace and Jamie are doing good, but are starting to plateau.... :( Candace went with us to watch the women's general broadcast and she was at church for all 3 hours!! But I highly don't like and discouraged her from searching for things online... there is so much negative stuff and really if you don't think reading just a little won't affect you, then you should rethink how you view things. When we are searching for negative, then we are leaving the door wide open for the adversary to come into our lives and influence even more! But when we are opening positive doors by reading our scriptures, going to church, praying, etc then we are letting the Savior have be the influence in our lives. You cannot do both! You cannot serve two masters as it says in Matthew 6:24" No man can serve two masters: for either he will hatethe one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

So yesterday was full of miracles, but the first is during Branch council, we are in the President's office and a knock comes, so we open the door and standing outside is a frightened lady wearing jeans and a t-shirt. It is apparent that she isn't sure of herself right then. I thought that is was a lady off the street asking for money or food cause that does happen often out here. Well she said that she wanted to see if there was anyone able to teach her 14 year old daughter the gospel cause she has been asking lots of questions cause her friend at school is a member! So Sister An and I step out into the hallway with her and we introduce ourselves and she tells us her story. She believes that her children can make there own decisions when it comes to religion, but she wants them to be properly educated by someone who is meant to 'preach', not by a peer cause she doesn't want her daughter to just get bits and pieces. Pretty awesome and it took a lot of courage to come into the church! :) We also found out that Sunshyne (that is her name)'s dad use to be a member and she went to church with her grandparents a few times when they visited. SO she has a bit of knowledge and her husband has a similar story. But neither of them are baptized. And they will be feeding us next week when we have a lesson!!! :) #maconmiracles

The other miracle is when we were driving back after dinner we pasted a gator that we haven't seen in a long time. We weren't sure if she dropped us cause she was never home or answered her phone. Well Sylvia was home and so excited to see us! She is doing much better! She was beat up by her husband. She is glowing and has decided not to go back with him! :) She has been reading the BOM and really wants to come to church next week! We told her about General Conference and she almost pouted cause she really wants to be the members at the church! lol :) We told her we would find her some to watch it with since we already have been invited to go to members or gators for ALL the sessions! She is excited to listen to the Prophet speak! :) We are super happy! And we also be teaching her this week!!! :) 

So speaking of General Conference, I am WAY excited for it!!! :) Its like super bowl for Mormons... or maybe just us missionaries, but anyway it is AWESOME and so spiritually felling! :) If you don'y know how or when to watch it go to How to watch General Conference! And there is all the info! It is this coming weekend, April 4th and 5th! And go with questions that you have, the Lord will answer your questions in General Conference if you come prepared and are listening! Such a blessing to be able to hear from the Prophet and Apostles live, twice a year! :) 

Love y'all! xoxo

~ Sister Willie
 Valdosta! :)

  @Zone Conference

We got fed real Chinese/Taiwanese food by a PM family! :)

Monday, March 23, 2015

The Lord provides technology to accomplish His purpose - Randall L. Ridd

Hey Y'all!!! 

So Gwen has given me a real sign name now! It is the letter W and you kinda wave/spin it in front of where missionary name tag go. :) We were able to get her in contact with the ASL sisters on Temple square!!!! So she has been learning from them and us! We have found a ASL interrupter who is willing to go to our lessons starting this coming week! She is a nonmember, is married to a LA! This Sunday Gwen came to church again! :) A sweet lady in the family ward was so willing to type what was being said! She was a life saver!!! :) I am so grateful for members who are willing to help out and serve others! :) 

So Jamie and Candace are both not members! We were so confused! lol But I love them so much! They really are golden! I have never met anyone who is so thirsty for the Gospel! Like we couldn't teach her fast enough! So Jamie is waiting for his best friend to get off his mission... next February! (2016) Crazy! And Candace knows that being the same religion as your spouse is important so she is so ready to learn!!! :) So we had a great lesson with her and we were there for 3 hours because she had so many questions and was pretty much inhaling everything! Also she is SO smart!! Literately I felt like we were pouring water slowly into her mouth so it didn't overwhelm her and she just kept grabbing the container and trying to 'drown' herself in it! lol Man I just love her SO much! They both are awesome and came to sports morning on Saturday! We played football in the humidity and heat! But it was a lot of fun! :) 

We had great success at the booth that we put up on campus! two of the Elders helped us also! We talked with lots of students and few were interested, but a couple came over and told us they are currently taking a class on Mormonism... say WHAT!!??!! But they were all nice for the most part. We had a return appointment with a student from Cameroon in Africa! He was pretty cool and had a lot of questions. He has a hard time understanding the priesthood authority. But has a lot of compassion. 

So thats pretty much it for this week... just having a great time down here in the deep (and hot) South!!! I love my mission so much and am so grateful for all the miracles and blessings I have been apart of! Much love! xoxoxo

~ Sister Willie
 At the booth on campus! (VSU)

  Saw an Armadillo in our front yard!!! I chased him down! lol

Lunch on our porch! #ValdostaGeese

Monday, March 16, 2015

My sign name is utah...?

Dearest family and friends! 

Well this week was over all good, many adventures and lots of teaching and finding moments! 

So this last week we went tracting in the rain and found this lady sitting outside in just her underwear smoking. Yup that was awkward, but best part was meeting this super nice lady (Gwen)... but she is deaf. So we had a hard time communicating with her, but she wants to learn more. After trying to communicate for an hour we get her info and set up a return appointment for the next day! We were super stoked and were pretty much running around trying to find a member who knew ASL or any type of signing. Well we found someone... but she is moving this Saturday!  But she comes with us and it was great! We talked about the BOM and she wanted one and wanted to come to church! She did! And she loved it, but it was hard having peeps interrupt for her. So we are trying to get Sisters on Temple square teach her via Skype! She gave us sign names and mine means Utah and sister An's is just her last name. lol! 

We have been trying to set up a booth on campus since we are the YSA sisters and are YSA teaching pool is really small... like we just have LA's & RC's right now. Well it was an adventure thats for sure! We were trying to fill out some paper work so we can have a booth on campus, but the peeps there weren't available so we were asked to wait. So the Elders and us had lunch on campus. Its weird being at a university... Like all the students stared at us. lol They had no idea how to take us! And some of the faculty thought we were there for a job interview or something. But the peeps never showed up, so we are gonna keep trying! 

While tracting we found a RC, who is in the air-force and just moved here. He just got married too! He is 20 and joined the church in October 2013 while he was in basic training. His wife is not a member and they want to keep learning! They came to the cottage meeting on Friday! This is where the RC's and members can get to know each other better by playing games and eating food! Just like FHE really. Jamie and Candace are just awesome! I really like them! :) 

The Elders had a half family baptism on Saturday!!! It was super awesome! this family has been learning for a year now! They are the Walkers and just awesome! :) They have asked us Sisters to meet with their teenage daughters to help them to continue progress! :) And after they had a BBQ! 

 Have I mentioned that I love this area?!?   After a dinner appointment this cute 3 year old girl was talking about Star Wars and so I asked her if she liked it? She said yes and I like the girls... do you like the boys in Star Wars? HAHAHHA It was just so unsuspected! lol :) 

A scripture that has been helping me is Alma 38:5  And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day. 

I love y'all so much!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

~ Sister Willie
@ lunch after ZTM!! 

 With my home boyz! Elders Schiers and Hatch!

And Elder Poti tried on my cardigan... not bad! lol

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

In the V town!!

Here is Tara's newest address:
1574 Baytree rd. #23
Valdosta, GA 31602 


Hey Y'all!!!

SO my new area is Valdosta Georgia and I am over the YSA branch here... its tiny! But I am loving it here already! I feel like I am suppose to be here! :) Plus since we are on the Florida border it is HOT!!! My companion is Sister An from Taiwan! She is a Salt Lake Temple square missionary on her outbound. She has only been here for one transfer and doesn't know the area too well, so we have been getting lost a lot! lol! :)

The branch is super small and only has 3 to 5 active people. So we have a lot of work to do. But we also work with the family ward too. There are 4 Elders in the ward, so lots of missionaries! Way fun! :) I spoke in sacrament yesterday and it was different, but cool! We meet in the relief society room and there was only 8 to 10 people there, so I felt more like I was giving a lesson, than a talk... but people couldn't answer. It has to be my favorite talk that I have given out here so far! They just asked me to speak on what I have learned on my mission and how it has strengthen my testimony in Christ! So I talked a lot on charity, the BOM, doing God's will and being humble! "Christlike love is the greatest need we have on this planet." - Elder Holland

We had this amazing media referral! Sylvia is in her 40's and use to meet with missionaries in the 80's! She told us that one day at work a customer was reading the BOM and she asked to borrow it. She remembered reading it and the peace it brought her. So the girl gave her the church's phone number but every time she called no one answered. Well later she was online and an ad for the church popped up! And she says she normally ignores them, but this time she looked and ordered a BOM! Well is was only 3 days later that we showed up! SHe was so excited and touched! :) She wants to learn more and come to church! Woot woot!

I really miss my last companion: Sister Gray! We have become best friends! She also has a temple square sister! But I know that the Lord has a great plan for us all, so we can continue to progress and improve! During relief society they share a quote that I really like. "Christ changes men, and changed men can change the world." - President Benson.

I love y'all so much! xoxoxo

~ Sister Willie
Sister An and I eating our asian food! :)


You never know what you're gonna find!


All of the Valdosta missionaries!!!!

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Gator tail, frog legs and I'm getting transferred......:(

Hey Y'all!!!!

So I am leaving North Augusta and I am SO sad! It took me a bit to truly love this area, but it has grown on me and I have made so many friends and worked hard here! Plus I love Sister Gray and I am super sad we aren't gonna be companions! :( I am no longer a STL this coming transfer... I will miss MLC and going on exchanges but I am glad that I don't have to prepare a training. lol SO I will find out my next area and companion tomorrow at the transfer meeting in Macon.... yup I am nervous.

Last Monday I jammed two of my fingers really bad from playing B-ball. Well they had to be taped together and I looked like I was doing the Star Trek "Live long and Prosper" sign. lol! SO with that in y'alls mind, the next day the Elders took us to meet a family. They are a young, nice couple with 3 crazy little boys and a baby girl. They also have some interesting beliefs. Well I am trying to hide my hand cause I think it looks funny and it easily distracts peeps from the lesson. Well Wendy sees it and asks all about it. So in a whirlwind of events she and her brother hold on to my wrist and say this prayer that Satan needs to come out of my wound and Jesus will miraculously make it better... Don't get me wrong, I believe in miracles, But not yelling to our Savior and demanding him to cure me... Really I was very uncomfortable and wanted to bolt away from them! They did it 3 times!!! Cause they asked me if it was better and NO! It still hurt! So they would do another one. The power of prayer is real and I know faith is an important factor, but just cause you demand to see instant results doesn't mean HF is gonna do what you ask right then and how you want. He is all knowing and knows what is best for us. In a way in sorta reminded me of giving Priesthood blessings... but they don't have the authority and it didn't feel sacred. It was an interesting moment of my life, that's for sure.

On Friday we had a MLC and it was a really neat one! We are talking a lot more about setting goals and how to reach them. We set a "new" standard of excellence for the mission. It was really cool to be apart of that. I am a lot more willing and excited when it comes to setting goals. We are trying to help all the missionaries realize they can reach them! And that miracles are possible and the feeling of success that comes from reaching our goals!

Also another, but awesome experience happened!! A member took us to this VERY southern restaurant. So we tried friend gator tail... not that bad, just chewy. And boiled frog legs.... ya I did not like them at all. It was fun tho! I like fried catfish and instead of having a bread basket you had all you could eat grits and butter! lol! It was neat! The Bonewicks took us! Sweet part-member couple! Bro. B. will get baptized I know it!

We had this awesome call from a girl named To-My, she is Vietnamese and from Atlanta and a life long member. She is dating this guy who is in Med-school here. She asked us to teach him. So we call him and he is very open! We met him yesterday and had a great lesson!!! He already knows a lot and had great questions! We talked a lot about the restoration, Joseph Smith, the Priesthood and the Book of Mormon! He is already reading it and really wanted to know the history! He is super smart and we (well Sister Gray and the unknown sister) have another appointment with him this coming Sunday! :) This had to have been one of my favorite lessons I have taught!! :)

I love y'all so much!!! :) xoxox

~ Sister Willie
 With the McClleans! I love this family! 

 With the Dunagans! They became our parents! :) 

Eating frog legs... hahaha