Macon, Georgia: Yo ho yo ho a mission is the life for me! :)

Hey Y'all!

Something happened to me last week! I think it had to be that I am now past my first 6 months and mission life seems so normal and even more fun to me now! Sister Abad and I were talking about how it took both of us a while to have these feelings, but apparently that is normal for all missionaries. :) Plus when you are obedient and working hard it is just plain AWESOME!!!

Last Tuesday was a rough day! no one was home, doors were slammed in our faces, no one wanted to talk to us and all of our appointments fell through! :( Sister Abad and I decided to pray and tell our Father in Heaven how grateful we are to have the hard days so we can appreciate the good days even more and to grow ourselves. :) The best part was that the rest of the week was on FIRE!!! We were so busy and had so many appointments, meeting many new people and teaching a lot of lessons on the door steps! The Lord loves and blesses humble people! I can sure testify for that! We were finally able to get in a lady's door that we have been trying for 3 weeks! She has had all of the lessons many times in the past. She told us that she met with 8 different sets of missionaries before... yikes! This is going to be a challenge but we are ready for it! :) She was so excited to see us and told us how much she has missed seeing the missionaries. We shared Helaman 5:12, where we are told to build our foundation on Christ. She started crying as she felt the spirit and told us how much comfort that brought her. She seems more ready now to hear and except the gospel. :) I love seeing the spirit touch our investigators and confirm to them the truthfulness; it is such an amazing thing to witness! :)

Another miracle was when we were able to teach a former investigator. Miss. Dorris let us in and she had family over. We all watched the Restoration movie. I am not sure how ready she is, but her 28 year old niece from Texas asked a lot of questions and told us she wanted to learn more! She said she has been searching for the past 10 years and hasn't found anything that soothes her soul, but she really liked what she saw in the movie. :) The Lord places you in the right place and at the right time for that one person! Ariel (the niece) was going back to Texas the next day so we got her info and said we would be sending the missionaries to see her. She was so excited! :)

Another part of missionary work that I love is helping the less actives return to church. For some reason they usually have funny quirks and stories to share. :) Recently we have been visiting the Behrend family. The parents and their 19 year old daughter don't come to church, but their 11 year old daughter Emily does! All by herself! Her dad will drop her off and pick her up 30 minutes before and after so he doesn't have to see people. lol ;) We were told before by member, that we shouldn't go on weekends and after 4pm (that’s when the dad is home).... well Sister Abad and I ignored them and we went on the weekend after 4pm too! They weren't terribly welcoming (but they let us in!) at first but Sister Abad asked them about the movie that was on pause and she found out it was a Korean drama she got excited! S Abad loves Korean drama and music and so does the Behrends! They started softening up cause we talked about the things that made them happy. I was able to talk about culture and that's how we connected. Well the Dad came and sat down with us and he started telling us stories and sharing Korean food with us! They loved us so much that today they want to take us to a Korean restaurant that is 45 minutes away! Every time we see they are all excited to see us! We really hope so get them back to church as a family soon! That would make Emily very happy! :)

So a random funny story.... Saturday we were driving to Eastman when our tire started having trouble. Well it turned out that we had ran over a nail and needed to put on the spare. So just imagine these two girls in dresses trying to figure out how to change a tire. (I'm sorry dad but I don't remember you teaching me how to do this.) Well thank goodness the Elders call us and said they would just come and help us, even though we were 17 miles away from them! I bet someone else would have stopped by but we weren't on a main road and plus it was the middle of the day and super hot! lol So they Elders taught us how to change a tire! I am a pro now... jk ;) I am trying to be humble... hehe :) Anyways it was funny and random and very nice of the Elders.

Hope y'all are having a great week! Spread the Gospel where ever you may be! Luv ya! XOXO

~ Sister Tara Willie