Alchemist, Missionetts, Ice storms, ZTM and One Year mark!

Tara is in the middle of no where now, so she asks that you send any letters or anything to her mission home address which is:

400 Northside Crossing
Macon, GA 31210

Holla! 

This past week was an interesting one! The week went by fast, but the days seemed forever long! I hit my year mark last week... crazy! So of course I had to burn a skirt! (it was a pretty ugly one too!) lol! :) 

We had ZTM (zone training meeting) on Thursday. My companion and I gave two training's since we are the STL's. I have realized that I really enjoy teaching large groups of people, but i don't like giving talks cause no one talks back! lol We re-vamped the zone to be better at updating their area books and to have successful exchanges. When we update the area book it shows our love for our investigators! We had a few role plays that the ZL's were in charge of. We had one Elder teach us about the role of chay-chay.... ya none of use have every heard that before either... it was kinda awkward to be honest. lol 

 After ZTM we went on exchanges! Sister Ellison was with me in NA. I just love her! She was my STL back in the Macon zone and we have become really good friends! Together we taught two really amazing lessons! We saw Jessica and taught her the Plan of Salvation using a puzzle! She was more involved and is super excited for her baptism! She chose December 6th! (I told her she could always do it the day before since thats my B-day. lol ;)) Then we saw Cheryl! We introduced the BOM to her and explained more about the role of the Holy Ghost. She  told us that she believes there can be more scripture out there and she is excited to read the BOM!!! She is the first person I have met on my mission that has said (at lease out loud) that they believe there can be more scripture besides the Bible! I almost fell off the couch when she said that! lol! She is so ready for this gospel! 

We visit this sweet older/part-member couple, the Polshas! Bro P. is very sarcastic, but sweet. He calls us the mission-etts since we are girls. lol I have never heard that one before. Sometimes we are called lady-missionaries or the sister-elders or even the missionaries and the Elder are just the Elders. haha :) But anyways, while we were there he kept looking out the window and getting distracted by something. Finally he stands up goes outside on the back deck and takes a gun with him. He starts shooting at the squirrels!!! HAHAHA!!! It was a funny site to behold since he just had surgery a week ago and was in him pajamas. His wife had been a member for over 30 years! And they have been married for 54 years! He is a stubborn man but he fully supports his wife in the gospel. I wonder what is holding him back? It takes a lot for him to open up about religion. 

We had a miracle last night! We stopped by to see Stephanie and she was super happy! That is not her normal since she is going through a divorce and messy custody battle. But she is starting to get hope! She is reading the BOM and is looking on the bright side. We committed her to have daily family prayer and scripture reading. We started right then! She called her two sons downstairs and we had a prayer with all of them! It changed the feeling in their house and the boys even noticed! Also a member invited Stephanie (on her own accord) to go with her tonight to watch "Meet the Mormons" since it is in Augusta for 5 days! woot! She is pretty excited! :)

Well I hear y'all are getting lots of snow! Thats pretty awesome! Its been getting really cold here too! But its just ice storms... we just have to be careful about where we park our car at our trailer since last winter a tree fell on the car! We live in the middle of the woods! Hope y'all are doing great! I love ya! Joshua 1:9 is one of my favorite scriptures! xoxoxo

~ Sister Willie

One Year mark! w/ Sis Porter & Elder Porchatis. We were in the MTC together! 

w/ all the sisters in my zone! 

Burning that skirt!!

Gypsies in SC... what the?

Hey y'all!

This last week we spent a good amount of it driving. We had MLC in Macon, a 3 hour drive, 6 hour meeting and then anther 3 hour drive. MLC was AWESOME!!! We helped establish (written down) what our mission culture is. "We are Macon Miracles by... Loving One Another, Being Obedient and Working Hard." That was super neat being part of that. It is also cool seeing the "behind the scene" of stuff. Mostly what we learned about was how to teach and train other missionaries. It was fun spending more time with President and Sister Cottle, plus seeing a lot of mission buddies! 

We are working on getting two town: Edgefield and Johnston, that are way out in the boonies full of investigators so eventually missionaries will be placed out there. Its hard work, but I am really enjoying it! I like being out in the smaller towns and just knocking doors. People are a bit more receptive in smaller towns from my own experience. Plus the scenery is beautiful! 

We just started teaching Jessica. She is a cute 9 year old that comes from a semi-active family. She was/is terrified of having lots of people watch her while she gets baptized. So her family put it off and now we get to teach her! She wants to be baptized, we are just helping her get over her fear as we teach her. But she participated yesterday in the primary program. We were very proud of her! 

Miracle happen last week! It was 8:30 and we had no idea who to see. We happen to have a old media referral so we went over and this lady open the door and told us now is not a good time. We weren't pushy, we just told her we had a bible for her. She open the door and told us to come in. We started talking with her. Cheryl is a widow and drives ambulances for a living.  She is pretty active in her baptist church but she is sorta interested in learning more. We talked about the restoration and what she has heard about our church. She doesn't believe that God or Jesus have bodies of flesh and that men can have the priesthood power. I really liked talking with her. She is searching and is SO ready to learn more! At the end of our lesson I wasn't to sure if she would be willing to have us back, but I knew we needed to come back! We asked her and she said she would love having us back! She even told us her schedule so we would never miss her! woot woot! I am excited! NA is getting on fire!!! :) 

Now if you think that gypsies live in wagons and are part of circus you are wrong! At lease thats not the gypsies in NA. There are about 4000 of them and they... well lets just say they know how to work the system. They all are catholic and live in a certain part of NA. They all build BIG houses, but have little houses behind them that they live in for the first year or two so all of the "bad" spirits leave the house. Its pretty cool to be honest! And you can recognize them when you are out shopping or something.  They all look a like and wear a lot of make up. We are not allowed to knock their streets... IDK but its President's rule. But if they request us to visit, then we can go over! I really want to teach one... almost as much as I want to baptize someone named Willie!!! lol :) 

I love y'all so much! Keep focusing on everyone's positives, uplift others and help those in need! XOXOXO 

~ Sister Willie

 Fall time in a peach orchard! 

We are pretty pro at washing the car in our skirts! lol 

Back in South Carolina!! :)

Welp Fam and Friends I am back in South Carolina, I didn't see this coming at all. I am serving farther up north than last time. I am in North Augusta with Sister MacDuff. She goes home after this transfer.... I really don't like killing peeps off, but she isn't truncky so thats awesome! She is from West Valley Utah, a few streets away from Keri and Matt. She says she is in a different stake tho. And we both went to USU! We even had a class together... but there was 500 students in it. We really live in a small world. lol.

Leaving Cochran as to have been the hardest thing I've done! I bawled! I feel like I left my heart there... I need it back so I can truly love NA too! Its tricky business, but I know that I will come to love this place! This area is pretty populated compared to my last two areas, but has the smallest ward out of all 3 of them. So there is a lot of work to be done here! I am excited to be here tho! It feels like BIG things are gonna happen! Sister MacDuff and I have a few themes for our transfer: #NAonFire #17miracles #SistersonFire Yup we have entered the hash-tag stage! lol :) 

We have been working with this Italian lady, Stephanie. She is going through a very messy divorce right now and has a lot of anger and resentment towards many people. We have listen to her vent and talked with her about repentance. She is very willing to listen, but when she starts feeling the spirit you can tell she feels uncomfortable. :(  I know the gospel will help her and it truly will change her life for the better. Its gonna be a long process, first she needs to have sorrow for her actions. Its been hard trying to know how best to help Stephanie out and know exactly what she needs. We are only two single girls who have never dealt with something like this at all! It is so amazing having the spirit tell us what she needs, because Heavenly Father knows what she needs. He loves us all very much and knows us so personally. It is so beautiful to be able to help some one realize this. I just love being a missionary!!! 

This past week we have been getting to know the area and work on maps and meeting members. The last sister didn't leave behind any good records so its been a struggle but it has helped Sister MacDuff and I bond a lot faster. :) We also have been setting exchanges up with the Sisters in the zone! I am way excited to be a STL! This is a great zone! 

Y'all should know that NA is like 10 degrees colder than Cochran! I have no idea how that works, but I've been freezing! Every morning its been 30 to 40 degrees and during the day it hasn't gotten above 70! Haha! I think Heavenly Father has a sense of humor, I wanted a cooler area during the summer and a warmer area during the winter. lol! Yesterday they had a record! It SNOWED!!!! Yup I am being honest! Apparently this is gonna be a very cold and strange winter here! 

Hope y'all are just doing fabulous?!! I found a new favorite scripture! 2 Nephi 9:49.... delighted = desire! It truly is our desire if we want to be righteous and follow our Savior! So beautiful!!! :) 

~ Sister Willie

 Sister Schmidt and I with our new comps! (Sis Smith & Sis MacDuff)

Driving to NA we stopped at a cotton field! (Me, S. MacDuff, S. Call & S. Porter)