MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR, DECEMBER 30, 2013

Hey Everyone!

  Ok so this week has been busy and slow and many other things all combined! I loved getting to skype with my family and everyone so much! It was just what I needed! We went caroling Christmas Eve and it was so much fun! We had a big dinner at the Galans and they had tons of food and tons of people over. They also did a cute little nativity with the kids and I will send pictures of my week. There was just all sorts of food and we visited some of our less actives on Tuesday and they just kept wanting to feed us so I think I needed like two or three more stomachs that day. We went caroling to one of the recent converts who is going through a divorce and she has just been struggling lately. She is a really sweet lady and we are just trying to give her support so that she knows people are there for her. Then we went to some of the Elders investigators, to some of the elderly people who live in the senior apartments and some other less active people and then we ended going to the bishops’ house. It was just so much fun and I hope we can do it again next Christmas. On Christmas we had breakfast at the Gowans and then I skyped and then we went to the Ellers and had dinner and then we went back to the Meachams! It was a pretty good day even though it was very unproductive as far as missionary work goes. The week was a little rough other than that, just because all of our investigators were out of town and didn't want to meet with us and when we went tracting no one was home. Our lesson for the combined RS/Elders Quorum I think went pretty well. We showed parts of the work of salvation broadcast and just talked about how important working with the members is. We gave them all mormon.org pass along cards and challenged them to give them to one person during the week. A lot of people were gone though so it wasn't as many people as we would have liked. We did introduce our activity and make invitations for that. They were pretty simple but we did stick magnets on the back! The Elders had a baptism on Saturday, this lady they found named Roberta. She is pretty awesome and she had tons of things to say during our lesson it was really great. We are still just trying to progress in our area! I think I have been feeling a little more down lately because I don't feel like we have been working as hard as we could. We also haven't been as exactly obedient as we could be. I mean it's not like we have been disobedient, just not exactly obedient and you know how I feel about following rules. I love rules and I love to follow them so when I feel like I'm not following the rules I feel terrible and I get really discouraged. Sis Tevi doesn't really care about rules so she has more of a tendency to overlook them but I am going to step up and make sure we are being super obedient and following all of the rules. I think it will really help us this week. One of my favorite things about being a missionary is personal study time! I love it! We have an hour every morning and I wish we could have more because I just love the study time. I finished the Book of Mormon right before Thanksgiving and now I have decided I want to go through the Book of Mormon again and look up all of the footnotes! I have always wanted to do that I just have never had the time but I thought what better time to do it than now when I have an hour every morning? It is slow going and I am also studying other things so it will take me a while but so far it has been really fun! A lot of them tie back to the Old Testament when Jeremiah was the prophet in the time of Lehi, there are also just some really good cross references! I am having fun. This morning I read First Nephi 13 and that chapter is just so good. It talks all about how America will be established, how the church will be established and how precious things will be lost from the Bible. You should all study chapters 12 and 13 like tonight for FHE or sometime this week. They are just really good. Ok well I am getting low on time and I still need to send pictures so I will end this email. Oh and thanks EVERYONE for all of the Christmas packages and cards and everything! It was great to feel so supported and loved. I got a lot of socks, chapstick and hand sanitizer so I will have warm feet, moisturized lips and I will be germ free! Thanks everyone! I love you all and hope you have a very happy new year! Oh and we do have a 6 o clock curfew on New Years Eve so we aren't out with all of the wild and caarraazzzy people!

 

Love,

Sister Price

 

CHRISTMAS DAY PICTURES 2013



Took my Camera and what do you get "SELFIES"!  Elder Eklof (from Alpine, UT) Elder Hatch (Spokane Washington)

CHRISTMAS FEAST AT THE GALANS

THREE ELDERS SQUASHED ON A COUCH

NATIVITY WITH THE GALANS CHILDREN, ELDER HATCH IS A GREEN ROBED "JOSEPH"

"HERE WE GO A-CAROLING INSIDE THE VAN!"

MORE CAROLING WITH ELDER HATCH WEARING THE FABULOUS GLASSES!

SIS. TEVI AND SIS. PRICE AND LITTLE JOJO GALAN

 

 

MY DISTRICT TOP ROW L-R: Elder Spencer, Elder Judson, Elder Hatch, Sis. Tevi, Sis. Price
Bottom row L-R:  Elder Eklof, Elder Bennett, Elder Webb (the last two are the Spanish speaking Elders)

Merry Christmas from Georgia! Dec. 23, 2013

Hey Everyone!                                                                  Dec. 23, 2013

 

    Ok so not much has happened this week. Not very many of our investigators had time for us to give them lessons because it is so close to Christmas and when we go knocking no one is home so it's also really difficult to contact people! We did have a lesson this week with a guy named Matt and he is pretty cool. He was in the army for a while and now he is living here trying to apply to either PA school or physical therapy school. He grew up southern Baptist but he said he never felt comfortable with all of the fire and brimstone that he felt the Baptist churches sometime tend to focus on so he is currently just non-denominational. However he said that while he was serving in the army he had quite a few Mormon friends who he thought were really great people and he really looked up to them so he just wants to learn more. The lesson went really well and he is a pretty cool guy. Then we taught Marquita and her kids and that was an awesome lesson. We went through the pamphlets using the pictures and the kids loved it! They kept wanting to ask more and more questions but we had to go so we told them to save their questions for next time! It was a really good lesson. We didn't really have many lessons other than those two. We had a Christmas program in church yesterday which was very nice. We also taught Young Womens again yesterday and the topic was how to help your less active friends come back to church but we actually had more investigators there than ward members so we had to tweak the lesson a little bit. Then we went out and tracted and we met a few promising people. There were actually people at one of the parks we went to! Usually the parks around here are completely empty of people. Then we went over to the Meachams for dinner and when we were supposed to leave it started pouring rain and we don't like tracting in the dark and the pouring rain because it's really not super safe so we just kind of stayed at the Meachams and played games until it stopped raining. It was nice though to just kind of hang out for a bit. We all visited with the other missionaries and they told of how they all decided to serve missions.  A lot of them had stories of being rebellious and participating in not good activities.  Again I was teased for not having experienced these activities but I am used to that and its not that I don’t know or have not witnessed situations, I was just smart enough to know that it really did not bring happiness in the long run! Elder Webb from Syracuse who is just 18 and has been out here since July, he is one of the Spanish speaking Elders said “Sister Price I think you would get along with my friends so you can come and be with us when we all get home”.  I thought that was super nice of him he has been a righteous young man and they were teasing him also.  He is like a combination of Gage and Jordan.  For P-day today I splurged and Sister Meacham and Sis. Tevi and I went and got pedicures it was pretty good.  Then as a district we played basketball. The Elders took pity on my basketball skills and never tried to block me when I had the ball, chivalry is not dead!  Sis. Tevi and I are the only sisters but she is way more athletic than me and plays a great basketball! It felt good to just run and get some exercise!

 

 I am super excited to go caroling tomorrow!!  I got the package and I am totally wearing those great flashing glasses.  I love the paper Christmas tree, and my “Ornaments” are fantastic!! Thanks everyone, especially Angela and your crafting talents!  We are going to the Galans for dinner and Brother Galan is Cuban so they are roasting a pig! It will be great fun. Then I get to Skype on Christmas! Yay! I will skype from the Meachams as I want you and Dad to see them, They have been great, I love them! We are going to the Eller's for dinner and then in the evening we are all gathering as missionaries at the Meachams and having soup. They were also super cute and got stuff to make smores because I told them about our Christmas Eve tradition of  hot dog roasting and smores but we don't have time Christmas Eve so we are going to do it Christmas day. It was really nice of them. I have decided Mom and Dad that you guys definitely need to serve a mission so you can be awesome people to missionaries like me someday. You guys get to choose how long you go, plus we can call each other and skype all the time and I could even come visit you with my family! So you guys just pray about that. Ha ha. It's cool because Elder Meacham didn't get to serve a mission when he was younger so he likes being out here now. Anyway that is just my two cents for you guys. :) I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and loves and appreciates being able to spend time with your family in person! Being a missionary has definitely made me appreciate a lot of things! Like family and also keeping things clean! I feel like I will be a whole improved person when I get home. I love this Gospel and being out here just makes me realize how simple and how true our church really is! I love the atonement and I know I wouldn't be able to last and stay out here without it. I love that through the Book of Mormon we have such a knowledge of the doctrine of the atonement and how to apply it. Getting to know other people and other religions, I am realizing how they have an appreciation of the atonement and what it does for us but they don't really understand how it truly is the center of God's whole plan! Nothing would work without the atonement. I love everyone and remember this is a season of love and joy so do something nice for someone!

 

Love,

Sister Price

 

P.S. Transfers are again in two weeks, I have been out for 3 months! Oh and for now my companion has started to feel better so more testing is on hold.  I still think it might be some anxiety issues.  But it is good she is feeling better. Wow and thanks Lynnette and Barbara and Shannon (the wreath is great, My mom does not have crafty skills so its great! I hope that Gary does not eat it off his door, he does love to do that!!)  Mike and Tammy tell Gage Merry Christmas!  And Merry Christmas Harrop Family “Keep the Tradition Alive!!”  I love you all!

Augusta Zone Christmas Party and a Pretty good week - December 17, 2013

Hey Everyone!

   Ok so this has been a really busy week so I will try to remember everything I need to write to you. We went to a few Dr's with Sister Tevi which took a lot of our time so we haven't had as good of numbers as we would like but we are trying to get her to feel better so hopefully we can get things figured out! Ok so Wednesday we had a Dr.'s appt for Sis Tevi so we didn't do much that day. Oh but we did get a new investigator on Wednesday! That is really exciting because we haven't had a new investigator for almost a month. A new investigator is when you teach someone a lesson and then you get a set return appointment. It was with this guy named Earl and we found him while we were knocking. He believes in Jesus Christ and everything because I'm in the south and everyone here is religious and believes in Jesus. He is a cancer survivor however he does smoke and drink but we can work on that. He did great with the pamphlet lesson and he was super open to everything we taught him. When we talked a little about the Book of Mormon and how it is another testament of Jesus Christ and about his dealings with people in America he just said "huh I didn't know that." Then at the end when we were talking about prayer and we said if Heavenly Father were standing here and you could see him what would you ask him about what we just talked about and he said "I wouldn't ask anything I agree with everything you just told me" so that was pretty cool because no one ever says that! So you were talking in your email last week if we ever get the question about blacks and the Priesthood and yes we get that question all the time! Here are the most common misconceptions of our religion that we come across out here: we are racist, we don't believe in Jesus Christ, we are Amish, we are Jehovah's Witness or seventh day adventist, we don't believe in the Bible, we worship Joseph Smith and that is all I can think of right now. Oh and last week we knocked into a girl who was basing her knowledge of our church on the Book of Mormon musical so she starts spouting off about the Plan of Salvation and she's like " so you guys believe there was a war in heaven and some people followed God and others followed Satan" and I was good with that because that is correct and then she goes off and says "and then you believe that those who followed Satan, well that is where black people come from" and we were like woah please don't ever repeat that! I have no idea where she came up with that theory so we corrected her but it's just crazy some of the things people come up with out here. Most people we come in contact with are like "as long as you have accepted Jesus into your heart that is all you need to do" they are really big out here on the whole saved by grace thing. Friday we just knocked and did weekly planning which always takes a while. We had dinner with a military family named the Hickens and they are pretty cool. The wife is black but she is actually from England so she has a british accent that is way awesome. I guess when she came out to Georgia all the black people here tell her that she is not really a black person that she is just a white person in a black person's body so it was funny to hear her perspective on things. I can't believe people would say that to her, it's like gee racist much? Oh and then Saturday morning we got dropped by one of our investigators who had a baptism date  set but because we wouldn't pay her light bill said joining this church was not for her. I guess before the Macon mission got dissolved a couple of years ago, things were way bad out here and missionaries were telling people that if they got baptized we would pay their bills and give them food and all this stuff so we are still suffering from the backlash of that. We run into  people who will only talk to the missionaries because they want money. That's why I think that finding people in the ghetto areas is fine and sometimes they are more humble but most of the ones I have had experience with just want money. I am not trying to put anyone down right now but some of the black people out here just feel so entitled to everything without working for it. They compain all the time that they are poor and don't have money but they dont' even try to look for a job and they don't do anything to change their situation, they just keep having more kids so they can have more welfare money. I'm not saying everyone is like that because there are some that are really trying to change but there are a lot who just don't care. I’m done with my venting!

  Anyway so Saturday night we had our ward Christmas party and that was fun. We were the only missionaries who had investigators there so that was exciting! The lady who came is named Marquita and she brought her kids. Sister Tevi and Sister Grimm actually found her by knocking on her door but then she had hard times and had to move in with her dad for like 2 months but now she is back and she seems pretty interested. She works a lot so it is kind of hard to make appts with her but she seemed to really enjoy the Christmas party. We gave her a church tour  and she really liked that. She was supposed to come to church on Sunday with her family but their car wouldn't start so they ended up missing. Story of our lives our investigators never come to church! Satan works really hard on them to keep them away from church, it's kind of ridiculous really. Oh and I have a stalker in the ward! Ok so it's this guy named Bro Davis and he lives with his mom, he isn't quite all there mentally (story of my life). So he wanted to feed us a few weeks ago and we didn't really know who he was so he called us so we can coordinate  but then he just started getting really weird so we canceled dinner and never ended up going. So then last night he  found us and was following us around and then he sat in between us at dinner and kept  trying to flirt and asking all these questions that are awkward for missionaries to answer and it was just so awkward and the Elders were just laughing at us the whole time! They were no help. So he is really creepy and we are hoping he sort of just gives up so we don't have to really tell him off.  Sunday Sis Tevi was really not feeling well so we knocked a bit and had dinner at the Meachams and then just went home. Yesterday was really great though! We had our zone conference so we had district meeting in the morning and that was really great. We also had interviews with Pres Cottle throughout the meeting. In mine we mostly talked about Sis Tevi's heatlh and he asked how I was doing and I said I was  fine so my interview was pretty short. Then again I'm not a huge spiller of emotions and all of my thoughts to people so my interviews are usually pretty short. Then we had a break until five and that's when we had another Dr appt with Sis Tevi. Then we went back and had pizza for dinner and then we got to watch a movie!! It was really awesome. We watched Ephraim's Rescue. It was pretty good. Then we had musical numbers and told some Christmas stories and we had some gift exchanges. I had left my camera in the car so Sis Tevi took pictures but she forgot her camera today so I will have to send pictures next week. Zone conference was really good though. It was a really good spiritual boost and it's just nice to be around other missionaries. Oh and the sisters from a town about 30 minutes away came and somehow Sis Tevi and Sis Clouse got Pres. Cottle  to give them permission to stay at our apartment for the night so they are with us today! Oh and he announced that on Christmas Eve we are supposed to go Christmas caroling as districts! I'm super excited it's going to be so much fun! I think it's the perfect thing for missionaries to do on Christmas Eve (since I can’t do the traditional Christmas Eve hot dog roast ) so I'm super excited for that.

 I did get the letters from the ward, that was cute and I loved them!  I received the two big Christmas boxes Mom and it was great, every tiny thing is wrapped so we put it all under our tiny tree!  I have not got the other box you talked about yet.  I also got a Christmas card from Amanda and a package from her so thanks for those! Oh and as a gift last night we all got pens that have our mission engraved on them and the other side is a stylus for an ipad so he says that sometime in 2014 all of the missionaries will be getting ipads! That will be fun. I hope I got in everything I wanted to say! It's hard to remember everything I want to say sometimes. Thanks everyone for all of your prayers and support! I love all of you tons. Give Gary hugs and kisses and Christmas treats and tell him he is the best ever!!

 Love,

Sister Price

P.S.  I will be at the Meachams on Christmas day so I can skype from there.  It will probably be at 8:00 am your time, sorry there will be lots of others using that day for skyping.  I can finalize the details next Monday on my Pday before Christmas!!

 P.S.S.  You mentioned how that Missionary Mom Email lady that contacted you about how her daughter was disappointed that her call was to Macon, Georgia and not somewhere International like a lot of her friends.  You are right I was ready to go wherever I was called but in the MTC we had a group discussion about being stateside and one Sister said “Just remember in the Book of Mormon Alma and Amulek went on missions to the Nephites and she said she realized, Well they were “Stateside” missionaries and look at how much they were able to do”!  The United States definitely needs missionaries! Oh and tell Aunt Stephanie I also got a lot of my clothes from “Jen’s Clothing” online and my walking shoes and boots from Merrill online.  But for Tahiti not sure she will need boots.  Love you all,

 

Festive Zone Christmas Party Pictures - Pizza and Fruit- December 17, 2013

Sister Price with a Giant Georgia Leaf - No Snow, No Ice - Is it December?
Pictures Below of Augusta Zone Christmas Party 2013 - Kaitlyn only gave some names so will try and correctly label.



Two Happy Sisters

Elder Judson - New District Leader -(Very Cool Fellow)

Sister Price and Sister Sevy (photo bomber -Elder Judson)

Sister Trout (Kelsie Cox's Friend) and Sister Tevi

Bro.and Sis. Meacham (super great)

CHRISTMAS FEAST - PIZZA AND FRUIT

Elder Judson and Elder Heilbut (he is one of the Assistants to the President)



WHOLE HAPPY ELDERS CHRISTMAS CHORUS
We got to watch Ephraims Rescue, sing  Christmas Hymns and Pres. Cottle shared a Christmas story

Christmas Pictures of Myriad Happenings - December 2013

Some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I made while Sis. Tevi was not feeling good. Wow the one looks like it has eyes!

Cold Georgia night with my coat and my boots that I am so glad I decided to get!

 Fabulous Turkey picture sent from Gavin with artistic lines for effect by Millie! Love It!!

Sis. Tevi and Sis. Price in front of Christmas Tree, this is a great Mall in Augusta! You can see how chilly the day time weather is here!

 On Splits with Sis. Sevy she is awesome and taught me super good ways to do Door approaches.

 My new District, all pretty happy and chillin, except for the Elder about to Transform into something painful! Bro. and Sis. Meacham from Bntfl.  Love them!!

 Ward Christmas Party with an investigator family, Us missionaries look happy, not sure what the little fellow is thinking.

 Sis. Tevi and Elder Eklof, again missionaries looking Happy!

A slow week - December 9, 2013

Hey Everyone!

 

     Ok well this week has been pretty slow so there isn't a whole lot to tell. Sister Tevi hasn't been feeling very well this week. She was set to see the Dr. on Wednesday but on that day she realized her wallet was missing and it had all of her insurance information in it so we had to reschedule until Friday afternoon. We did remember where her wallet was she had left it at the Kroger on Monday. So on Friday I had to go on splits up to Aiken with Sister Sevy so her companion went with my companion to the Dr.  Again she was treated with Cipro for a UTI, an x-ray was done but nothing specific was found just a statement that she had “air in the abdomen”, since I was not with her all this was second hand.  A CT was not scheduled because it was so late in the afternoon but that is next on the list. So our two investigators keep flaking out on us and they aren't progressing. That means they won't come to church or read their scriptures but sometimes they pray. It's a little frustrating because it's so hard to get them to realize how important that is and they can't be a member of this church if they don't do it! So we are trying really hard to work on that with them. We have just been contacting  a lot of people and getting refused a lot. It's been a hard week. I won't say I'm feeling discouraged, because really I'm not, I am just a little frustrated because the two sets of Elders keep having all this success and they keep finding new investigators so it's just a little frustrating sometimes! Because we are Sister missionaries we have a more well to do area and so they are quite complacent with what they have. Oh well I am sure I am learning some sort of lesson from all of this. We did have a really awesome zone training meeting on Friday. They had a leadership conference for like the zone leaders and stuff last Wednesday so at zone training they taught us what they had learned at that meeting. It was really good. I guess they had a guy come from the missionary training department of the church and he gave them a training. He taught this really awesome method of how we can teach using the pictures in the pamphlets. It is really cool and we have had a lot of fun practicing with each other and  now we just need to find people who will listen to us that we can try it with! I am really excited about this method though because it really involves the people in the lesson so we don't feel as much like we are just talking at them. I hope we have opportunities soon that we can use it! Then after the zone training on Friday we did exchanges with the sister training leaders, they are Sister Sevy and Sister Trout. They are both really great missionaries. I went to Aiken with Sister Sevy and Sister Trout came here to Augusta with Sister Tevi. I really like Sister Sevy. We are really similar in just our personalities and our testimonies and she is one of those people that are just easy to be with. It was nice to be with her and talk with her about things. Don't get me wrong, I really love Sister Tevi and we get along really well but we are quite different in a lot of areas and it was nice to be with someone who is more similar to my intellectual side. Sometimes it seems like Sister Tevi really is from another country because she just grew up so much in the Polynesian culture that there are some American things that she just doesn't get. I still love her though and I love being her companion. Our district is really good and I really like all of the new missionaries we got in. They are all really great missionaries and the new district and Zone leaders are really upbeat and have great ideas and are very encouraging.  In fact we randomly tracted at a Gas station and just walked up to people and introduced ourselves, I can’t believe I did it, I was so scared, but I survived and actually the people were really nice.  We are still connecting with the girl whose boyfriend was trying to be a Jehovah Witness, she seems interested and we text with her a lot.  Sorry this email is kind of short! This week was a little rough, but that happens. Every week can't be great, that's why we just keep going! Things will get better from here! Thanks Catherine for the letters you guys wrote. They were super cute. Thanks family for the package I got I am really loving the new music!  Even with the discouragement I love being a missionary and I’m afraid I am going to be one of those sappy missionaries who talks about her mission all the time when I get home, even though I swore to myself when I came out I wouldn’t be!  Love you all tons!

 

Love,

Sister Price

 

Thanksgiving was great-On to Christmas - December 2, 2013

Hey Everyone!

   Ok so this week has gone by so fast! It seems like I was just here emailing on P-day! It was kind of a slower week number wise but I feel like it was a really good week for my companion and me. We got in three new missionaries and I really like all of them! Elder Hatch got a new companion named Elder Judson. He is 21 and he mostly grew up in Houston but when he was a teenager they moved to Lindon. He is our new district leader and I really like him, he is pretty awesome! Then we got our new zone leaders in and they are Elder Eklof and Elder Spencer. We also have a new Elder Webb in our district who is with the Spanish speaking.  He went to Syracuse High.  He is only 18 and boy you can sure tell! He is moving around all the time and chattering about everything but he is really excited to be out here on a mission and he sure does have a testimony he will be a great asset here!  We all get along really well and I like them a lot. I see big things ahead with this district we have and I'm really excited! Elder Judson is very helpful with things Sister Tevi and I are trying to work on and he gives really good suggestions to help us. He is a pretty chill guy but he is a very good missionary. Wednesday my companion really wasn't feeling good so we didn't go out until after dinner because she could hardly even like stand up and move so I just studied a lot and then I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Thursday was Thanksgiving and it was a fun day. We had this great idea to go out and around to parks and talk to people who were out playing football or games, you know stuff like families USUALLY do on Thanksgiving before they go eat a bunch of food but we went to all the parks in our area and not a single person was outside! Georgia is so weird! We went to Shae's first because she wanted to feed us authentic southern Thanksgiving food. I have to say that I think I like our traditional food more. They have this stuff called dressing which is cornbread that you bake and then you crumble it up and mix it with onion and seasonings and stuff and then you bake it again. It was ok but it tasted kind of weird and I definitely like stuffing more. Then she had macaroni and cheese which was pretty good but it just isn't a Thanksgiving food and she also had collard greens which I have to say were not very good. Then for our main meal we went to the Galan family. They live on post and they are really awesome. They have three kids, their oldest is adopted, and she is pregnant with a girl so I gave her the baby clothes you sent me from Grandma. They are from the west, she is from California we had normal Thanksgiving food there. It started out that it was supposed to just be Sis Tevi and I but then all of the Elders ended up coming because I guess all of their places fell through. So we ended up having all of the missionaries there but it was pretty fun! They are a pretty cool family so it was a good time. We stayed there for a few hours and then we went to the Smith family because it was their son's birthday so we said we would stop by and have some cake. The Smith's are also a pretty awesome family. We didn't really want to knock on peoples' doors because they aren't super thrilled when we knock in general so we were pretty sure they wouldn't appreciate us knocking on Thanksgiving. On Friday we had this lady come from the research department of the church and ask us questions so they could develop a survey to send out to all of the missionaries about how the recent change have affected the missionary work and stuff like that. There were about seven companionships there and it was really good. It was kind of like a group therapy session because we all talked about our experiences and if things were like what we expected and it was really good! I liked hearing about other missionaries’ experiences and thoughts on being a missionary. Then after that we went to lunch with the other sisters from our zone, Sister Sevy and Sister Turner. Sister Sevy was in Sister Tevi's district in the MTC so she is really excited that she is in our zone! They are pretty fun we went to chik-fil-a. Funny story though. So when we were almost done eating I suddenly realized I didn't have the car keys and I didn't know where they were and then we figured I probably left them in the car and we were almost done so we would just go out there and see. So we finish eating and go out to the car and not only had I left the keys in the car I had left it running! I was dying but doesn't that totally sound like something I would do? Anyway so we know Heavenly Father loves missionaries, even when they do stupid things because no one stole our car or anything from out of  it! It was so hilarious. I still can't believe I actually did it. Then we were knocking Saturday afternoon, and this one lady answered so we were asking her religious background and she was like "oh I'm not Christian I'm a witch" so we were like oh ok that's interesting, haven't heard that one before and then she started telling us she was pagan and all this stuff and it was really crazy! Then my companion didn't know what pagan meant so I had to explain it to her. Then I started trying to make witch jokes, you know like Monty python jokes and my companion has never seen that movie so there was no one who got my jokes! It was really sad. Then a few houses down we ran into this Mennonite lady who started lecturing us about the bible. Then she said we need to research our church more and make sure we aren't following a false prophet. I love it when people tell me I need to pray about the path I'm going down. It's like really? Do you think I would be out here for 18 months of my life, not able to talk to my family or do anything I love to do for something I wasn't absolutely sure was true? It just makes me laugh. The scariest is when you run into Pentecostals. They are crazy and always want to set us on the right path. Then on Sunday we had set a return appt with a lady who we knocked into and we ended up mostly meeting with her boyfriend who was studying with the Jehovah's Witness' and he just mostly wanted to quiz us about our church and he was kind of stuck on polygamy and how it's adultery and how God didn't even approve of it in the Old Testament and I am never sure what to say to refute the whole polygamy adultery thing. I mean really they just need to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon but he didn't think the Bible needed added to and it just really started dragging out and I didn't have the brain cells to be able to answer the questions because it was fast Sunday and I really couldn't think because I was so hungry. She seemed really interested but she never got a word in from what her boyfriend was saying. Oh and he kept questioning my testimony and how I know all these things for myself and mostly he just wanted to argue and I get really tired of that. So that was kind of tedious. Then we had dinner at the Meachams with all of the new missionaries and after dinner we had a planning session for our ward activity. All of the new missionaries seem excited and they are really on board with the idea! We made some really good plans and I think it's going to be a really good activity for the ward! We are just kind of centering it on how to talk to your friends about the gospel, how to bring it up, how to bring up talking with the missionaries and stuff like that. I think it will be really good and I'm really happy the new missionaries think it's a good idea! I think it's going to be awesome! Well that's about all for my week and I hope you have all had good week!  My companion is still having a lot of left lower pain, I have made an appointment at the clinic that Meredith recommended.  I was obedient though and went to the Dr. that the missionary nurse said to go to.  They just put her on Bactrim DS and dicyclamine, (I don’t know why they put her on the dicyclamine, I don’t think she needed that).  I have talked to her thoroughly and have made a list of when the pain is worse and where it is at and how long she has been experiencing it since I don’t go in the room with her.  I think at this point she needs a CT scan and maybe an ultrasound.  Her appointment is Wednesday so I hope that she can be helped as she is in a lot of pain that comes and goes.

 I got Grandma Clarks letter and I sure love it!  She told me about wanting to move the furniture around and that the zipper in my dress looks terrible (which I’m sure it doesn’t)  and about Kayes plans for going back to college,  I love you Grandma!!  Thanks for everyone's prayers and support, I know they are heard and they definitely help! I love all of you!  I forgot my cord to my camera so I will send pictures next week.  Love to all again!!

 Love,

Sister Price

 P.S.  I found my first cockroach, it was just happily chilling in the closet by my shoes!!! He was big and brown and had wings and long “feelers” coming out of his little head!!  Now I was surprised but not super screaming, I realized it was not a SPIDER cause that would cause screaming.  My companion though was quite quick and he is now in cockroach heaven.  Next time though I will catch one in a bottle and send a picture!

Baptism Pictures for Sister Kayla - November 23, 2013

 Brother Meacham, Kayla, Sister Kaitlyn

 Brother Meacham, Kayla, Sister Kaitlyn

 Sister Tevi, Kayla, Sister Kaitlyn, Kaylas Grandma in the Chair

Sister Zenger (who is awesome but she and her husband were transferred to Texas) Shae, (back in white blouse)Kayla's Grandma in front, Kayla in back, Sis. Tevi, Sis. Price and Bro. and  Sis. Meacham

I told Kaitlyn to just take a random picture of the area so I could see what Augusta looked like, Well she took me literally and went out and took a picture of the Parking Lot!

November 25, 2013 "SURPRISE A BAPTISM"

Hey Everyone!

 

            I’m staying in my area for awhile longer! This is great I was starting to dread the possibility of leaving because I have really gotten close to some of the people here investigators and ward members and the thought of leaving would have been almost as bad as when I left you and Dad and went to the MTC.  I feel there is just something more I need to be doing in this area.  I got your email Mom from the Bishop on his remembrance of the Missionary fireside, it has actually gotten a lot of good feedback from the Couple missionaries and they have even added their thoughts as to how to make that a success.  Elder Gowan is going to present the idea to the Ward Council on Sunday, we will see what happens.

 

 This has been a pretty good week! I will start off by explaining what happened with Kayla this week. Last I let everyone know her baptism was scheduled for Dec. 7. We went over there on Monday because we really just wanted to talk about things and we decided to show her the Faith in Christ DVD and we really just felt we should talk about faith. So we watched the video and talked a lot about faith and there were some long pauses but it was ok. We weren't feeling like we needed to fill the pauses because the spirit was there. Then towards the end of the lesson her mom said ok so what is the difference between getting baptized this Saturday and getting baptized Dec. 7? She couldn't come up with a good answer so her mom was like ok you're getting baptized on Saturday. So we had a baptism on Saturday! It was crazy! I still can't believe it happened! We had been praying for miracles and I guess they really do happen in the most unexpected ways! It was really good. Elder Meacham, one of the senior missionaries, baptized her and then Brother Johnson, he's in the bishopric, confirmed her. I did not know that when you and Dad went to the Temple two weeks ago that you put Kayla’s name on the prayer roll along with her Mom and my District area, myself and my companion! I sure appreciate you doing that.  I am gaining a more firm testimony that prayer is the best communicator to our Father in Heaven and when it is his will amazing things happen.  Kayla had a good day last Saturday and even though it was super quick the Baptism went well. We went and filled up the font because the Elders don't take enough time to fill it up so when they fill it up it's either freezing cold or not full enough! I didn't fall and hit my face though. Our font filling went without incident. It was the perfect temperature! I will send some pictures of the baptism day.

 

 Kayla seems to continue to be happy and now it’s just a matter of getting her feeling a little less shy to attend Young Womens.  The ward is planning on doing Baptisms for the dead on Dec. 21.  Kayla and her Mom would really like to go and participate.  Although like I said she is pretty shy at this point to extend herself , I know exactly how she feels.  She does have a good relationship with one of the Beehive girls and I am trying to get that family and Kayla and her Mom to get together and have a FHE, nothing better than a song, short lesson riotous game and refreshments!  Kayla also seems to be getting to know her Beehive leader and the Young Women President, she just feels a little more comfortable with having us missionaries still close around her.  We are going to ask permission to maybe attend the Baptism for the dead activity from our Mission President, I don’t know if he will allow us to go but with prayer and if it is what is to happen we may get permission.  I know we need to now get her on her own and we are working hard to get her integrated and comfortable and less dependent on us but it will take a little more time.  I am concerned about retention and gaining a firm testimony than I am about Baptism numbers so remember us back home in your prayers for this newly Baptized Mother and Daughter!  Also Sunday Shae was asked to substitute in primary as some of the teachers did not show up.  She was more than willing and it was pretty last minute, but she did awesome in doing the primary lesson and she was just glowing with pride that she was able to help and she enjoyed sharing time and being with the children.  She does not have a calling yet and she has been a member since last summer.  Another testament that people need Callings and a Friend!  Shae jokes that sometime in the future she wants us all to go to Africa and go to a temple there!  She wants to go to a “Unique” Temple.  She has never been to Africa or she says Jamaica but I think that is the party girl in her talking.  I said my neighbor back in Utah designs temples and so I will have my Mom ask him which temple he thinks is the most “Unique”.  This lady is doing great, like I have said before she has had a rough life she was a mom at 14, has not only used drugs but sold drugs she has really turned her life around and she will be a good influence on her daughter and she has a great sense of humor!!

 

 Tuesday we had district meeting and Elder Hatch gave a training on how to reach your goals and he did a really good job. At this District meeting at the beginning we get up and tell the district about our investigators and how they are doing or how they might need help and get ideas from how to help them from the district. The Spanish elders were up there talking and they were talking about how one of their really promising couples were just having really bad things happen to them ever since they decided to get baptized but they were still going strong so Sister Tevi suggested we could pick a day and do like a district fast for them and I thought that was great idea but Elder Phillips (our district leader) just kind of dismissed it and didn't even give it much thought. That kind of made me a little ticked off because I thought it was a really good idea. Anyway at the end he was talking about how we need to work harder to reach our goals and how we just aren't reaching our goals as a district so I said well maybe we should have a district fast to help us reach our goals. Probably a little uncalled for but still a good idea. He just brushed it off again and then I said “No but really because in Preach my Gospel and the Book of Mormon it talks so much about fasting and praying to meet goals and how Ammon and Alma fasted and prayed so much to help the people they were being missionaries to and the whole time I was saying this in my head I was thinking "am I really saying all of these things because this is really unlike me" because usually I would just let it go but it all just sort of spurted out of me. He was NOT happy with me at all but the rest of the district agreed with me and he just sort of said something about it but the fast still didn't happen. However I did stand up for myself! He is getting transferred and we have to check in on Sunday nights so last night he told me to "keep being persistent" and I'm still not sure if that is a compliment or not. Ha ha so I guess you could say for some reason being a missionary is getting my "dander up"!  In answer to your question Mom if my companion has had any missionaries go out before her my companion said that her older brother served a mission but he is inactive now. She really wants her brother who plays for the U to serve but she isn't sure if he will, she was inactive all growing up and even up until just like a year and a half ago, I think she is great and we really get along. Wednesday was a fairly uneventful day. Thursday the Sister training leaders came down and went out with us to appointments and knocking and stuff. It was really good! I went with Sister Sevy and we knocked a lot of doors,  I really learned a lot and I feel like my door approaches are much better now. They are also really great teachers. I want to get better at teaching by the spirit, I think I try to hard and I just need to let it flow. That was a really good day though. Friday we had one appointment but mostly we just knocked and tried to contact people.   Sunday all of the investigators we had who were supposed to come to church fell through even though we had even gotten them all rides! Oh well. The most exciting thing about our week was the baptism! We did have a transfer call Saturday night but the only person going from our district is Elder Phillips. Elder Hatch will get a new companion and we will get new zone leaders! I'm excited to find out who all of the new people are, hopefully they are good! Oh and I was also wanting to make some caramel popcorn to give to people so will you send me that recipe? And the Stephanie’s brownie recipe and the Texas sheet cake? Elder Webb is astounded how #1 I have enough time to bake things and #2 how I can afford stuff to bake with. It's all about budgeting! Thank you Tammy and Karen for the coat, it is just starting to get a bit chilly in the evening here so I am using it right off.  We are still just trying to find people in this area. It isn't always easy but that's ok! One month from today is Christmas!!! That means I get to Skype with the fam! So super excited for that. I love all of  you and your prayers and support!

Love,

Sister Price

 

 

 

 

November 18, 2013 - a pretty good week

Hey Everyone!

 

     Well this week hasn't been super eventful. To start with yes Mom I love the GPS it is awesome, it gets us everywhere we need to go.  We have named it “Brenda”.  There is a great couple missionary from Bountiful they are the Meachams and they let us use their washer and dryer since we don’t have one.  Today they took us to lunch at a place called “Cheddars” it was really good I think Utah needs a “Cheddars” ! I would send more pictures but there really isn’t anything super interesting to take pictures of, there are lots of trees!!  I will try and do better.  Dad that is cool that Jimmy Johnson won his 6^th NASCAR title!   College football is the big thing here and Tonks sounds Crazy, I need a picture so I can see how big she is getting.  I am totally saving those dates in my Calendar when I get home to go hunting!  Elder Heiner who was one of our Zone Leaders was into hunting but he would not believe me at all when I said I hunted to.  ( I know I just don’t have that Killer Look). We have gotten a few new investigators this last week however none of them are actually in our area! We are going to visit elevated Kidney level lady tonight and I will be sure and remind her of the hydration thing and the DASH diet.  I am trying to help her with her nutrition because they want her to lose weight for her hypertension.  It’s hard with these super southern people though and the “Fried Everything diet”.  Another investigator is a girl the elders gave us because we needed someone to teach and they didn't have anyone to go visit her with them and they can't meet just the three of them. She turned out to be pretty solid and she came to church this last week she really enjoyed it and loved the Lorenzo Snow lesson on Helping others, she really liked the Gospel principles class and she fell in love with the Manual and so we gave it to her, she was so Happy! We have taught her three times and she accepted to be baptized so she is pretty awesome. Then we got this referral from a guy in Aiken and he wanted us to go visit his sister. She basically just wants to be baptized because I guess she saw how big of a change her brother made in his life when he joined the church and she wants to make that kind of change in her life. She is pretty awesome. She also has two kids, a girl who is ten and a boy who is almost thirteen. We are going to meet with the whole family tonight so hopefully it goes well and we can commit them all to baptism! She seemed really excited when we talked about the priesthood and how after her son is baptized he can get the priesthood. The girl who we have been having trouble with, K, we recommitted her to be baptized Dec. 7 so hopefully everything goes well. We are going over there tonight and I think we really need to focus on what baptism really means and on having her find her own faith because that is something she has been a little bit reluctant to do. She really needs to pray and she won’t.  The Youth in this ward are super awesome and they have continually tried to fellowship her and have her to activities but she keeps pushing them away. Her mom is being supportive of her but she doesn't think she is really going to go through with the baptism so it's still kind of a difficult situation so everyone just keep her in your prayers! Oh and next week is transfers and I'm pretty sure I'm not going anywhere but just don't send me anything this week like after Thursday because if I do get transferred I won't get it. I will know by next Monday if I am leaving or not though. I can't believe I have been here for almost one whole transfer! Crazy! I’m pretty sure I won’t be transferred though and neither should my companion Sis. Tevi as she is my trainer and I have to be trained for 12 weeks.  We get along good and keep the bad days bearable by joking that even though no one wants to hear what we have to say now we will get to teach them again in the Spirit World!  My companion didn't feel good on Saturday and she looked terrible so I wouldn't let her go out because if she knocked on my door and wanted to teach me something, with the way she was looking I would have sent her away. She has a Dr.’s appt on Wed. with the recommended Dr. of our area but if she still continues to not feel well we sure appreciate the information on that clinic from Meredith and will seek a second opinion.  It is pretty great to know someone from around here who is in Utah that can give good information on important things like Doctors.  We had some really good days this week though. We spent a lot of time with one of the members, Sis. Lee and she is super awesome! She is in the relief society presidency and she is just a goer and she will drive us around when we are low on miles and she goes to lessons with us and she is a convert so she always gives really great insights to our lessons. She is about 56 and grew up in the Chicago area but spend a lot of time living in Las Vegas,  she has grown children from a first marriage some of them are active some are not.  Her husband is really great also.  Sad thing though she has MS but she is like a second Mom and I think you two would really hit it off! I just love her!  We are still just trying to find people to teach who are in our area! Last week we met this really awesome older couple who had just been to SLC and done the tour of temple square with the missionaries and they loved the tour and loved everything about the temple and they thought it was so cool that we knocked into them right after that happened so hopefully things go well with them! They were going out of town so we haven't been able to teach them but we are going to call today and hopefully set up a time. They are about the most promising sounding people we have contacted.  One of our investigators said she wants to be baptized but won’t until her Dad dies, not sure when that is going to be. I do feel strongly and so does my companion that we need to have a missionary fireside to help jump start missionary work here because people just need a reminder of why we are all here and that we are all Heavenly Father’s children. We were blessed to have the gospel in our lives and it’s our responsibility to share it with others, not necessarily that we are going to convert people right away but we are just planting the seeds. We wanted to challenge members of the ward to fast and  pray for missionary work and missionary opportunities.  I was thinking a good idea to motivate people to come would be to have each group of missionaries do a short visit to the members in their area and tell them about the activity and ask their family to come.  This encouragement and reminding could be once a week about three weeks before the fireside.  The Bishop of our ward (who is a convert) thinks this is a great idea, so that is a good start.  At one time I think our Zone Leaders Elder Huntsman and Elder Heiner would have been supportive but they were both transferred last week.  At this time we just have our District Leader who is quite reluctant as he feels that so many things could go wrong and that it is to big of an undertaking for just our little district of  6.  We are respectful of his worries and will continue to pray (possibly a gift of some vegemite might help him).  He is a convert at the age of 14 and he may have had some past experience that has caused him to be wary of this kind of Fireside not sure. If this Fireside takes place you can bet there will be refreshments, Food is a must at these things!  I made the “Super Chocolate Chip cookie Recipe” for our District meeting and I think the poor Elders were going to propose on the spot! (good grief). 

Thanksgiving will be good, the Galans are a great family their kids are 9,7 and 2 and are very entertaining.  I got Lynnettes Letter she had quite an adventure and I am glad how well she did, so sorry Lynnette but now you are going riding with me!  How is Melissa doing I miss our lunch chats at the hospital cafeteria.  Oh we did have one lady tell us it wasn't safe to be knocking on peoples doors as we were knocking at 3:30 in the afternoon so that was kind of funny. I looked at my car and it does not have a tape deck or a small jack in the dash, just a CD player so hopefully that helps with the decision on what kind of adaptor I need.  Mom how did you know that I finished Jesus the Christ? You know me to well that I can read an 800 page book as well as do my daily missionary work and scripture study and other responsibilities, but I loved that book it gives great insight to the gospel.  I don’t know if I am allowed to have other books, so I am going to read it again slowly.  Between that book and reading and studying the Book of Mormon it has really helped me in every aspect of missionary work and how missionary work and being the instrument of god and teaching with the spirit! As I have had the opportunity to teach some special investigators this week  it is so great when you start teaching our simple gospel principles and then you see a spark come into the eyes and it is like we are not even really teaching them its more of just reminding them of something they forgot.  It’s really awesome! Makes all the hard times worth it.(Uncle Dan you are so right, I was getting super discouraged at being rejected and hollered at repeatedly) It is to bad that when the light of the gospel comes into their lives Satan works twice as hard to tear down their faith and in the beginning it is so Fragile.

I love you all and I am working on writing Grandma and Grandpa a letter, there are some very spunky old people in this area and I enjoy getting to know them.  How is Gary?  Have you met the girl who is doing his stall?  Give him hugs for me!  I hope you all have a great week! I love you all and thanks for everyone's support!

 

Love,

Sister Price