Our cute window stickers, thanks Mom for the care package of stuff!!
"Tis the reason for all Seasons!"Monday, October 28, 2013
My district at the moment, Oct. 28, 2013
"Tis the reason for all Seasons!"
Pictures of our Trunk or Treat, Oct. 28, 2013
Elder Heiner just being Elder Heiner, those are some pretty straight Foot prints!
October 28, 2013 - Doing Good!
Hey everyone!
Wow this week has gone by really fast! it seems like I was just barely sending an email to everyone! I remembered my camera today so you all even get pictures today! Ok so I'm not sure what my mom posts on my blog or sends to everyone so some of this might be a bit of a repeat from what I sent in my letter. Last Tuesday we all went to macon because elder Aitoukidas from the seventy was speaking to our mission. he was so great! He talked to us for a long time and we kind of got reprimanded for not doing things right. He told us how we were suppose to plan and he talked a lot about having faith. he talked about how miracles don't happen until after the trial of our faith. It was really good! He talked about making goals and how to make good goals and he totally called some missionaries on the carpet for making bad goals. Thank heavens my companion and I were some who made good goals. I learned so much! The about faith was good because I'm pretty sure this week was the trial of my companion and I's faith! He also really pushed having members present and lessons and stuff so this week we tried really hard to have members come with us. On the way home from the zone conference we had carpooled with some sisters from a rural area and I was driving. The borrowed GPS system did get us lost by directing us onto a gravel then dirt road called "Road", what is up with that! We eventually found our way home. That GPS was pretty sketchy, speaking of sketchy we go into places that Meredith would just die if she knew about it! We have the "Progressing Projects" in our area so not as bad as the "Projects" but still pretty sketchy, we can't really go over there after dusk because it's not safe. That is kind of where most of our crazies are. This week we did really good and had members to come to a lot of lessons. However everytime we had a member with us the person we were suppose to be teaching stood us up! Every single time!! it was a little bit ridiculous, we are determined that this week is going to be better though. We have worked really hard this week and we have found every inactive person that is in our area. We have started visiting them but most of them aren't home and a lot of them have moved. One guy we visited wasn't home but his brother was and this guy talked to us for like an hour and a half about how he didn't believe in our church and how he was Pentacostal and he thought we were wrong and he really wanted to argue with us but we weren't even going there! Another guy we contacted told us we should just give up and go home and get married because we were just to naïve to be out here. He said if you looked Naïve up in the dictionary our faces would be right there as the definition, Ha, Whatever!! We went back to the lady who renamed us last week and she would only crack open her door and then said that her Preacher told her she couldn't talk to us anymore. That happens a lot here! We have also had a lot of people tell us NO as we are knocking doors because they are "Very strong Christians and they aren't looking to change that" They must have a class out here on how Mormons aren't Christian and we all worship Joseph Smith because that's what everyone seem to think. It's pretty funny. We had a lot of people feed us this week so that was good! Most of the meals have been good, we have only had one that was not good and that was on Thursday. It was this family that lives on Fort Gordon and they have 10 kids and she is pregnant with her eleventh! It's crazy there are so many of them! We had white rice and this sauce with vegetables in it that they called "Curry". I'm not sure what curry is suppose to taste like but I'm pretty sure it's not like that! It was bad I kind of just had to shovel it down and say no to seconds. They are feeding us again in two weeks so hopefully it will be something different! On Saturday Sister S fed us, she is one of our recent converts, she is great. She made homemade chili and some cornbread and it was AMAZING! The chili was so good, it even had chunks of pepper and onion and stuff and I still just loved it. We are going to go over again on Thursday and she is going to make us fried chicken, I'm excited. You would love S, she is a tall black lady and she is super spunky. She loved watching Little House on the Prairie and the Waltons so I always ask her about that when I go over. She is a really solid convert, her daughter K is coming along great and she is set to be baptized Nov. 23! They are both awaesome. S has had a really hard life and was into drugs and stuff for a long time but she shaped up awhile ago. She drives trucks for work but is out of a job right now so she is trying to get into some sort of truck driving class in Dallas so she can get a better job. Saturday the ward had a trunk or treat and that was really fun. We decorated our trunk as "Footsteps to Christ" I am going to send some pictures of it. I wanted to do the "Land of Desolation" but everyone thought that was not missionary enough. I love my district, they all have a really great sense of humor and we always have a great time. Elder Phillips (the one from Australia) sometimes doesn't have the greatest sense of humor but everyone else does so that's OK. I guess back in Australia he was some sort of professional cyclist and he won all sorts of National races and qualified for the Olympics and the tour de france. he is one of the biking Elders so at least he still gets to do what he loves! I'm stuck out here without my horse! Oh well. Oh my companions brother plays football for the U. He is a defensive end and he is number 32 (Tevi). She says he gets to play quite a bit so watch for him if you are watching any games! Yesterday church was good, all of the speakers did a great job. The talks were on faith, charity and service. After church our whole district had dinner with a member and she invited one of her friends who is sort of investigating. They made crepes which were really yummy! Oh and funny story the zone leaders made Elder Phillips try peanut butter and he hated it! he started gagging and stuff it was really funny (stick to vegemite). Then we went and taught K and had a good lesson. she has basketball tryouts today so we had one of the ward members they were close to come and give her a blessing because she was nervous. Then my companion felt like she needed a blessing so he gave her one too and it was good. This member and his wife are awesome. We don't really have big Zone parties, sounds like Gage had a good time at the one they did. We just don't have time between washing, cleaning shopping and emailing my day is full. We only have P-day until 6:00 then it back to work. Elder Aitoukidas also discouraged doing big things like that because its to distracting (where have I heard that word before) from what we are suppose to be doing as a missionary. This week has been good even though we got stood up a lot! Hopefully this coming week we make more contacts and get more new investigators! I have to say that the Evans Meadows Ward mission statement is Awesome, (its been on the program for a long time, but until I really was a missionary I never appreciated this statement). The ward I'm in now has a super lame mission plan. No one can even tell us exactly what it is. Everyone there should help the missionaries make it three member present lessons taught! That would be super awesome! I am feeling so much better this week! My attitude is so much better and I am so thankful for that! I prayed so hard last week and tried so hard to have a good mind set and now it's finally coming. I can honestly say that I am starting to love it out here. Four days ago I was 100% sure that was something that was never going to happen. I am really starting to love the people and area I am serving in. I am also learning the importance of Visiting and Home teaching and how it helps members and inactive members just by the service and the time of someone taking an interest in what someone else is doing.
Love everyone at home, especially Gary!
Sister Price
P.S. Dad can you check the Georgia weather and let me know in the emails what to expect, with no TV or radio be nice to know what the weather is doing. Love you again.
Wow this week has gone by really fast! it seems like I was just barely sending an email to everyone! I remembered my camera today so you all even get pictures today! Ok so I'm not sure what my mom posts on my blog or sends to everyone so some of this might be a bit of a repeat from what I sent in my letter. Last Tuesday we all went to macon because elder Aitoukidas from the seventy was speaking to our mission. he was so great! He talked to us for a long time and we kind of got reprimanded for not doing things right. He told us how we were suppose to plan and he talked a lot about having faith. he talked about how miracles don't happen until after the trial of our faith. It was really good! He talked about making goals and how to make good goals and he totally called some missionaries on the carpet for making bad goals. Thank heavens my companion and I were some who made good goals. I learned so much! The about faith was good because I'm pretty sure this week was the trial of my companion and I's faith! He also really pushed having members present and lessons and stuff so this week we tried really hard to have members come with us. On the way home from the zone conference we had carpooled with some sisters from a rural area and I was driving. The borrowed GPS system did get us lost by directing us onto a gravel then dirt road called "Road", what is up with that! We eventually found our way home. That GPS was pretty sketchy, speaking of sketchy we go into places that Meredith would just die if she knew about it! We have the "Progressing Projects" in our area so not as bad as the "Projects" but still pretty sketchy, we can't really go over there after dusk because it's not safe. That is kind of where most of our crazies are. This week we did really good and had members to come to a lot of lessons. However everytime we had a member with us the person we were suppose to be teaching stood us up! Every single time!! it was a little bit ridiculous, we are determined that this week is going to be better though. We have worked really hard this week and we have found every inactive person that is in our area. We have started visiting them but most of them aren't home and a lot of them have moved. One guy we visited wasn't home but his brother was and this guy talked to us for like an hour and a half about how he didn't believe in our church and how he was Pentacostal and he thought we were wrong and he really wanted to argue with us but we weren't even going there! Another guy we contacted told us we should just give up and go home and get married because we were just to naïve to be out here. He said if you looked Naïve up in the dictionary our faces would be right there as the definition, Ha, Whatever!! We went back to the lady who renamed us last week and she would only crack open her door and then said that her Preacher told her she couldn't talk to us anymore. That happens a lot here! We have also had a lot of people tell us NO as we are knocking doors because they are "Very strong Christians and they aren't looking to change that" They must have a class out here on how Mormons aren't Christian and we all worship Joseph Smith because that's what everyone seem to think. It's pretty funny. We had a lot of people feed us this week so that was good! Most of the meals have been good, we have only had one that was not good and that was on Thursday. It was this family that lives on Fort Gordon and they have 10 kids and she is pregnant with her eleventh! It's crazy there are so many of them! We had white rice and this sauce with vegetables in it that they called "Curry". I'm not sure what curry is suppose to taste like but I'm pretty sure it's not like that! It was bad I kind of just had to shovel it down and say no to seconds. They are feeding us again in two weeks so hopefully it will be something different! On Saturday Sister S fed us, she is one of our recent converts, she is great. She made homemade chili and some cornbread and it was AMAZING! The chili was so good, it even had chunks of pepper and onion and stuff and I still just loved it. We are going to go over again on Thursday and she is going to make us fried chicken, I'm excited. You would love S, she is a tall black lady and she is super spunky. She loved watching Little House on the Prairie and the Waltons so I always ask her about that when I go over. She is a really solid convert, her daughter K is coming along great and she is set to be baptized Nov. 23! They are both awaesome. S has had a really hard life and was into drugs and stuff for a long time but she shaped up awhile ago. She drives trucks for work but is out of a job right now so she is trying to get into some sort of truck driving class in Dallas so she can get a better job. Saturday the ward had a trunk or treat and that was really fun. We decorated our trunk as "Footsteps to Christ" I am going to send some pictures of it. I wanted to do the "Land of Desolation" but everyone thought that was not missionary enough. I love my district, they all have a really great sense of humor and we always have a great time. Elder Phillips (the one from Australia) sometimes doesn't have the greatest sense of humor but everyone else does so that's OK. I guess back in Australia he was some sort of professional cyclist and he won all sorts of National races and qualified for the Olympics and the tour de france. he is one of the biking Elders so at least he still gets to do what he loves! I'm stuck out here without my horse! Oh well. Oh my companions brother plays football for the U. He is a defensive end and he is number 32 (Tevi). She says he gets to play quite a bit so watch for him if you are watching any games! Yesterday church was good, all of the speakers did a great job. The talks were on faith, charity and service. After church our whole district had dinner with a member and she invited one of her friends who is sort of investigating. They made crepes which were really yummy! Oh and funny story the zone leaders made Elder Phillips try peanut butter and he hated it! he started gagging and stuff it was really funny (stick to vegemite). Then we went and taught K and had a good lesson. she has basketball tryouts today so we had one of the ward members they were close to come and give her a blessing because she was nervous. Then my companion felt like she needed a blessing so he gave her one too and it was good. This member and his wife are awesome. We don't really have big Zone parties, sounds like Gage had a good time at the one they did. We just don't have time between washing, cleaning shopping and emailing my day is full. We only have P-day until 6:00 then it back to work. Elder Aitoukidas also discouraged doing big things like that because its to distracting (where have I heard that word before) from what we are suppose to be doing as a missionary. This week has been good even though we got stood up a lot! Hopefully this coming week we make more contacts and get more new investigators! I have to say that the Evans Meadows Ward mission statement is Awesome, (its been on the program for a long time, but until I really was a missionary I never appreciated this statement). The ward I'm in now has a super lame mission plan. No one can even tell us exactly what it is. Everyone there should help the missionaries make it three member present lessons taught! That would be super awesome! I am feeling so much better this week! My attitude is so much better and I am so thankful for that! I prayed so hard last week and tried so hard to have a good mind set and now it's finally coming. I can honestly say that I am starting to love it out here. Four days ago I was 100% sure that was something that was never going to happen. I am really starting to love the people and area I am serving in. I am also learning the importance of Visiting and Home teaching and how it helps members and inactive members just by the service and the time of someone taking an interest in what someone else is doing.
Love everyone at home, especially Gary!
Sister Price
P.S. Dad can you check the Georgia weather and let me know in the emails what to expect, with no TV or radio be nice to know what the weather is doing. Love you again.
Monday, October 21, 2013
October 21, 2013 - One week in Augusta, Georgia
Dear Mom and Dad,
I don't even know where to start! I got to Georgia on Monday and the first night us new missionaries stayed in the mission home because they were having a big transfer meeting on Tuesday. The mission home is so nice!! It's in this cute neighborhood with lots of trees around it and it's just a beautiful house. There are SO many trees here in Georgia!! I never have any idea what direction I'm going but I think I'm slowly starting to get more oriented. I can now usually get back to our apartments once we get on the main road. Here in Georgia the roads are windy and the same road will have like three different names because back in segregation times the white people didn't want to have the same name road as the black did, it's crazy! My companions name is Sister Tevi (not Teri like I thought it was a typo) and she is part Tongan and Samoan, Kajsa would love her!! We get along really well. she is pretty chill but she likes to work hard so that is good. The ward boundaries here in Augusta are really big so there are actually three sets of missionaries in this ward!! That's a lot! There are actually almost 800 members in the ward but only about maybe 150 are active. Most of the active people in our ward live on the base. We have Fort Gordon in our ward. I don't know that I will be coming back with a nice southern accent because most of the members are actually from Utah. However I might come back with a ghetto black lady accent because that seems to be the only people we teach. Hopefully I don't offend anyone with that statement but it's true. I think there have been a lot of people baptized here that weren't really solidly converted when they were baptized. A lot of people also try to get into the church because they want money to help pay for stuff. We have already had that problem. We also talk to a lot of crazy people, we had a "lesson" with this lady named Cathy last week and she was CRAZY! I'm pretty sure she is actually bipolar or schizophrenic or a lot of things. So we get to her house and we sit down on the porch and she is running around trying to find her bible. she keeps going in and out of her house and one of the times as she is going back in she turns and looks at us and points to me and says "Samantha" and then she points to my companion and says "Tabitha" and then she gives this very decisive nod with her head and just walk back into house. I'm pretty sure she gave us new names. She also couldn't remember what our church was called so she kept calling us her "Saturday Lights" friends. all she wanted to talk about was proverbs so I don't know that we can say we actually got a lesson in. She also had a friend there who was all dressed up she had this sparkly shirt on and high heels and this fancy belt and then to top off her outfit she had on grey sweatpants! It was awesome. I really wanted to take a picture of her so you guys could see it. We do have this really solid baptism that my companion had in September and we'll call her S. S has had a hard life but she is awesome. She is really funny. she has a daughter we have been teaching we'll call her K and she is doing really well. she has a baptism date set for Nov. 23 but she has a crazy grandma who doesn't want her to get baptized and so we think that is swaying her a little bit but hopefully she comes through. We had a dinner on Thursday with some people on the base and they were really nice and then we had someone feed us lunch yesterday and someone feed us dinner yesterday also. Lunch was an older couple and they were super nice! Dinner was a family from Utah who lived in Clearfield and the dad is trying to get into dental school. They are awesome! I loved going over there because it felt like home. We had funeral potatoes and it was just like a dinner at home. I don't know that I'll be getting a lot of southern food because again most of the members are from Utah. They also made us homemade doughnuts and they were delicious! it has been kind of hard adjusting. I have been homesick a few times and sometimes all I want to do is come home! It's getting better though, it's just taking some time. One of the things I never realized though was how much the spirit is just in all of our homes! We go around to all of these investigators and we knock on doors and I never realized how much you can feel the spirit even just walking around in our neighborhood! I miss that! I feel so drained when I get home at the end of the day! It was so great to be able to go to the members houses and just feel the spirit there! It made me feel so much better. My companion does kind of snore and she tosses and turns all night, so I have been using ear plugs when I sleep. My bed was also SUPER uncomfortable so I went to walmart and just bought this foam sleeping mattress pad thing. That has helped a lot. Some of the people we teach only have about four teeth. That is interesting. Everyone smokes here so I feel like I always smell like smoke. Right now we are just trying to find all of the inactive people in our area so we can visit them. That is taking a while because there are so many! The people in the ward are nice. the ward mission leader is kind of useless. He isn't very helpful. The most helpful are actually the TEENAGERS! They come with us to lessons and they bring people to church! A lot of the ward is older so that makes it hard. My district leader is Elder Phillips and he is a short black guy from Australia. He has the thickest accent ever!! I can never understand him when we talk to him on the phone. I always have to ask my companion what he is saying. Oh and one of the zone leaders name is Elder Huntsman and he is from our Stake, he is the guy people kept telling me about and I had no idea who he was. Well now I know him. There is also a Brother and Sister Gowan that live on the other side of Gordon that are coming out for a wedding so they said they might try and contact you next Saturday.
Thanks Karen Harrop for the package, it didn't make it to the mission home but I got it last Friday at my apartment, It was great!! Love all the small acts of kindness they are really appreciated!!
Thank you so much for all the letters and emails I don't know how all the missionaries keep going when they don't have any letters or anything from Home!
Hope all is well, and hope Meredith is doing good in Washington D.C. I'm in her town sort of now. But the College campus is not in my immediate area but I do have the HUGE FANCY GOLF COURSE we drive past it a lot. We are having a big Zone conference tomorrow and someone from the Quorum of the Seventy is coming to talk to us, so that should be good.
Love you all,
Sister Price
I don't even know where to start! I got to Georgia on Monday and the first night us new missionaries stayed in the mission home because they were having a big transfer meeting on Tuesday. The mission home is so nice!! It's in this cute neighborhood with lots of trees around it and it's just a beautiful house. There are SO many trees here in Georgia!! I never have any idea what direction I'm going but I think I'm slowly starting to get more oriented. I can now usually get back to our apartments once we get on the main road. Here in Georgia the roads are windy and the same road will have like three different names because back in segregation times the white people didn't want to have the same name road as the black did, it's crazy! My companions name is Sister Tevi (not Teri like I thought it was a typo) and she is part Tongan and Samoan, Kajsa would love her!! We get along really well. she is pretty chill but she likes to work hard so that is good. The ward boundaries here in Augusta are really big so there are actually three sets of missionaries in this ward!! That's a lot! There are actually almost 800 members in the ward but only about maybe 150 are active. Most of the active people in our ward live on the base. We have Fort Gordon in our ward. I don't know that I will be coming back with a nice southern accent because most of the members are actually from Utah. However I might come back with a ghetto black lady accent because that seems to be the only people we teach. Hopefully I don't offend anyone with that statement but it's true. I think there have been a lot of people baptized here that weren't really solidly converted when they were baptized. A lot of people also try to get into the church because they want money to help pay for stuff. We have already had that problem. We also talk to a lot of crazy people, we had a "lesson" with this lady named Cathy last week and she was CRAZY! I'm pretty sure she is actually bipolar or schizophrenic or a lot of things. So we get to her house and we sit down on the porch and she is running around trying to find her bible. she keeps going in and out of her house and one of the times as she is going back in she turns and looks at us and points to me and says "Samantha" and then she points to my companion and says "Tabitha" and then she gives this very decisive nod with her head and just walk back into house. I'm pretty sure she gave us new names. She also couldn't remember what our church was called so she kept calling us her "Saturday Lights" friends. all she wanted to talk about was proverbs so I don't know that we can say we actually got a lesson in. She also had a friend there who was all dressed up she had this sparkly shirt on and high heels and this fancy belt and then to top off her outfit she had on grey sweatpants! It was awesome. I really wanted to take a picture of her so you guys could see it. We do have this really solid baptism that my companion had in September and we'll call her S. S has had a hard life but she is awesome. She is really funny. she has a daughter we have been teaching we'll call her K and she is doing really well. she has a baptism date set for Nov. 23 but she has a crazy grandma who doesn't want her to get baptized and so we think that is swaying her a little bit but hopefully she comes through. We had a dinner on Thursday with some people on the base and they were really nice and then we had someone feed us lunch yesterday and someone feed us dinner yesterday also. Lunch was an older couple and they were super nice! Dinner was a family from Utah who lived in Clearfield and the dad is trying to get into dental school. They are awesome! I loved going over there because it felt like home. We had funeral potatoes and it was just like a dinner at home. I don't know that I'll be getting a lot of southern food because again most of the members are from Utah. They also made us homemade doughnuts and they were delicious! it has been kind of hard adjusting. I have been homesick a few times and sometimes all I want to do is come home! It's getting better though, it's just taking some time. One of the things I never realized though was how much the spirit is just in all of our homes! We go around to all of these investigators and we knock on doors and I never realized how much you can feel the spirit even just walking around in our neighborhood! I miss that! I feel so drained when I get home at the end of the day! It was so great to be able to go to the members houses and just feel the spirit there! It made me feel so much better. My companion does kind of snore and she tosses and turns all night, so I have been using ear plugs when I sleep. My bed was also SUPER uncomfortable so I went to walmart and just bought this foam sleeping mattress pad thing. That has helped a lot. Some of the people we teach only have about four teeth. That is interesting. Everyone smokes here so I feel like I always smell like smoke. Right now we are just trying to find all of the inactive people in our area so we can visit them. That is taking a while because there are so many! The people in the ward are nice. the ward mission leader is kind of useless. He isn't very helpful. The most helpful are actually the TEENAGERS! They come with us to lessons and they bring people to church! A lot of the ward is older so that makes it hard. My district leader is Elder Phillips and he is a short black guy from Australia. He has the thickest accent ever!! I can never understand him when we talk to him on the phone. I always have to ask my companion what he is saying. Oh and one of the zone leaders name is Elder Huntsman and he is from our Stake, he is the guy people kept telling me about and I had no idea who he was. Well now I know him. There is also a Brother and Sister Gowan that live on the other side of Gordon that are coming out for a wedding so they said they might try and contact you next Saturday.
Thanks Karen Harrop for the package, it didn't make it to the mission home but I got it last Friday at my apartment, It was great!! Love all the small acts of kindness they are really appreciated!!
Thank you so much for all the letters and emails I don't know how all the missionaries keep going when they don't have any letters or anything from Home!
Hope all is well, and hope Meredith is doing good in Washington D.C. I'm in her town sort of now. But the College campus is not in my immediate area but I do have the HUGE FANCY GOLF COURSE we drive past it a lot. We are having a big Zone conference tomorrow and someone from the Quorum of the Seventy is coming to talk to us, so that should be good.
Love you all,
Sister Price
Friday, October 18, 2013
October 18, 2013 - 1st letter from Sister Price - Augusta, Georgia
October 18, 2013
Dear Mom and Dad,
Well I made it to Georgia! Our flight was a little early so we go in about 1:40 pm (Georgia time). The Atlanta Airport is HUGE!! You have to take a train just to get where you pick up your luggage, However the Elders decided we should walk, so we had to talk all the way across the Airport. SO FAR!! The Mission Pres. and his wife were there to meet us and Sister Cottle is really sweet! I really love her already. We were starving by the time we got there because all we had to eat was airplane pretzels. We didn't have time for breakfast and then I didn't get anything because I was talking to you. WHICH WAS GREAT! I LOVED IT! We got our luggage andwe were loaded into vans and off we went. I can tell it's more humid here but it's not too bad. My hair is still normal. We got to the mission home which was about an hour and a half away from the airport. The houses here are all so cute! Even in the housing subdivisions, the houses are all different looking and are set back in the trees and are just so cute! On our way in to Macon we passed an "Equestrain Park" that was great and had a cute little cross country course, I would totally ride there! Everything is just so quaint here, we have a little room up in the attic for one night and it's just adorable. It was so nice to have real home cooked food! We had sloppy joe's, grapes, veggies, salad and jello salad. Then we had short interviews with Pres. Cottle and tomorrow we get assigned to companions and areas. While we were having interviews the assistants to the Pres. talked to us and gave us a little lesson. I will finish my letter tomorrow and let you know what happens.
OK so today is Wednesday and yesterday we had a transfer meeting where we got new companions. My companions name is Sister Teri, she is from Texas and she is Tongan. So far we get along really well and I think I'll like her. She actually just got done being trained, she has just been out since July. We are assigned to Augusta. I haven't noticed it being stinky except most of the places we have been just smell like smoke. We are going to work really hard to get things going. We met with some people. ( she did not expound more on this last comment - Kaitlyns Mom)
Sorry this isn't a very long letter, I haven't had much time. I'll try to write more later.
Love,
Sister Price
P.S. The Mission Pres. was supposed to send you some pictures, I hope you got them!
P.P.S. I am driving because my companions drivers license expired. We have a Chevy Cruze and it's pretty cute! Oh and it's super confusing here (if you know me you know I am directionally challenged in the best of circumstances) and we don't have a GPS. So I could use one, not anything fancy, just a simple one.
(Again if you want to send emails to Sis. Price its kaitlyn.price@myldsmail.net she may or may not have time to personally answer each one but she usually encompasses her answers in her general emails, but she loves to hear from everyone - She still thinks hand written letters from snail Mail are the best - It's like Christmas!! So if that is the route some would like to do here is her General address that will always be forwarded to her as she will move around a lot! )
Sister Kaitlyn Price
Macon, Georgia Mission
400 Northside Crossing
Macon, GA 31210
Dear Mom and Dad,
Well I made it to Georgia! Our flight was a little early so we go in about 1:40 pm (Georgia time). The Atlanta Airport is HUGE!! You have to take a train just to get where you pick up your luggage, However the Elders decided we should walk, so we had to talk all the way across the Airport. SO FAR!! The Mission Pres. and his wife were there to meet us and Sister Cottle is really sweet! I really love her already. We were starving by the time we got there because all we had to eat was airplane pretzels. We didn't have time for breakfast and then I didn't get anything because I was talking to you. WHICH WAS GREAT! I LOVED IT! We got our luggage andwe were loaded into vans and off we went. I can tell it's more humid here but it's not too bad. My hair is still normal. We got to the mission home which was about an hour and a half away from the airport. The houses here are all so cute! Even in the housing subdivisions, the houses are all different looking and are set back in the trees and are just so cute! On our way in to Macon we passed an "Equestrain Park" that was great and had a cute little cross country course, I would totally ride there! Everything is just so quaint here, we have a little room up in the attic for one night and it's just adorable. It was so nice to have real home cooked food! We had sloppy joe's, grapes, veggies, salad and jello salad. Then we had short interviews with Pres. Cottle and tomorrow we get assigned to companions and areas. While we were having interviews the assistants to the Pres. talked to us and gave us a little lesson. I will finish my letter tomorrow and let you know what happens.
OK so today is Wednesday and yesterday we had a transfer meeting where we got new companions. My companions name is Sister Teri, she is from Texas and she is Tongan. So far we get along really well and I think I'll like her. She actually just got done being trained, she has just been out since July. We are assigned to Augusta. I haven't noticed it being stinky except most of the places we have been just smell like smoke. We are going to work really hard to get things going. We met with some people. ( she did not expound more on this last comment - Kaitlyns Mom)
Sorry this isn't a very long letter, I haven't had much time. I'll try to write more later.
Love,
Sister Price
P.S. The Mission Pres. was supposed to send you some pictures, I hope you got them!
P.P.S. I am driving because my companions drivers license expired. We have a Chevy Cruze and it's pretty cute! Oh and it's super confusing here (if you know me you know I am directionally challenged in the best of circumstances) and we don't have a GPS. So I could use one, not anything fancy, just a simple one.
(Again if you want to send emails to Sis. Price its kaitlyn.price@myldsmail.net she may or may not have time to personally answer each one but she usually encompasses her answers in her general emails, but she loves to hear from everyone - She still thinks hand written letters from snail Mail are the best - It's like Christmas!! So if that is the route some would like to do here is her General address that will always be forwarded to her as she will move around a lot! )
Sister Kaitlyn Price
Macon, Georgia Mission
400 Northside Crossing
Macon, GA 31210
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
October 16, 2013, 1st Area Augusta, Georgia
Dear Brother and Sister Price:
We were so delighted to meet your
daughter as she arrived in our mission on Monday and to be able to spend time
orienting her to this new phase of her service. On Tuesday morning we had our
transfer meeting which included instructions to the missionaries, inspirational
talks, some heartfelt testimonies and assignments to their first companion and
area of service. Following the meeting, Sister Price and her companion traveled
to Augusta, Georgia to her first assignment.
We know she will prosper here in the days
ahead and assure you that we will do everything in our power to help her find
joy in her service and success in her labors. Your weekly emails will do much
to support Sister Price as she labors in this wonderful work. Sister Price will
be able to email home on Preparation Day which is each Monday. Just a reminder,
when Monday happens to fall on a national holiday, those who use the public
libraries will not have access to a computer, therefore, they usually email on
Tuesday instead.
Your missionary is about to make an
eternal difference in the lives of others. We hope you will be encouraged and
comforted by this quote from President Lorenzo Snow. “There is no mortal man
that is so much interested in the success of an elder (sister) when he is
preaching the Gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are
the Lord’s children” (Millenial Star, July 16, 1894, p. 451).
We would like to take this opportunity to
thank you for all you have done to prepare Sister Price to faithfully serve a
mission. We look forward to getting to know her as we serve our Heavenly Father
here in the Georgia Macon Mission.
Attached please find a photo of Sister
Price with Sister Cottle and me. We are extremely pleased to have your daughter
here serving with us.
With great appreciation and
love,
Brent T Cottle
President
Georgia Macon Mission
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
October 14, 2013 *Macon, Georgia Mission Arrival*
From: "Georgia Macon Mission" <2012626@ldschurch.org>
Sent: Monday, October 14, 2013 6:56:46 PM
Subject: Missionary arrival
(Note from Mom for the blog "Sister Kaitlyn Price is there anxious to hear how things are"!)
Sent: Monday, October 14, 2013 6:56:46 PM
Subject: Missionary arrival
This is just a short note to let you know that your
missionary arrived in the Georgia Macon Mission safely. Today is such a long
day for them that I will be sending out only a group photo today. You will
receive the photo of your missionary with President and Sister Cottle first
thing Wednesday morning. Everyone was in good spirits and anxious for dinner
since they had been up for 12-13 hours already. Tomorrow they will find out
where they are assigned and who their first companion in the field will be. But
for now…
Good night,
Sister Sperlein
Secretary
Georgia Macon Mission
(Note from Mom for the blog "Sister Kaitlyn Price is there anxious to hear how things are"!)
Sunday, October 13, 2013
October 8, 2013
Dear Mom and Dad,
I have survived 51/2 days in the MTC. YAY!! Overall it is pretty good. The food is usually pretty good and they have lots of fruit and salad options which I like. I think the weirdest thing they have served were blueberry pancakes and sausage on a stick. it was really weird and only one Elder tried it. The only time I ever really feel homesick is when I first wake up and I'm slightly disoriented and I realize I'm not in my bed. Other than that I'm doing really well! probably one of the hardest things is being in the same classroom all day long! I didn't realize how used to moving around I was until I was forced to sit in a classroom for three hours at a time. We have had gym time twice and I have cherished both times! I still really like my companion. I have gotten her to open up a little bit more and found out she has four younger siblings. she played the bassoon in her High school band and the flute in the marching band. She went to Mountain Crest High School and she lives in Hyrum. She also likes to sing. sister Lrsen is on of my roommates and she is from Henderson, NV. She is awesome! We are pretty similar because we both cherish gym time and are usually more excited about it than the Elders. we both also love Harry Potter and Jane Austen. She went to BYU for a year before she came on a mission. My other roommate is sister Reed and she is from SLC. She went to West High. She is tall and really nice. she has been two years at BYU and she is a Chemistry Major! I really love all of my roommates, they are great! There are four Elders in our district, Elder Spackman who has become our Zone leader because the old zone leaders left today. he is pretty nice, he reminds me so much of Caleb it's scary! They look a lot alike and he is obsessed with basketball. His companion is Elder Allen, he took a little while to open up but he is doing much better now. He is just fresh out of High School. Elder Pabla is from Bountiful and I really like him! He is half Indian (the dot not the feather, as he says) He has six sisters and one brother and is the first one in his family to serve a mission. He is really sweet and funny and we just love him! His companion is Elder Ayers he is from Canada. He is great, he always has great things to say in our classes and he always tries so hard. He is really funny and loves to joke around. I think he has struggled somewhat with the gospel because he is always so earnest in our discussions. I'm a little bit worried about him though because Elder Pabla says he has been struggling a little bit with home sickness and stress. he has been meeting with a counselor and I hope he works through it because it would be so sad if he went home. So pray for Elder Ayers! I love my whole district we are all great, I love your letters and I just think Dear Elder.com are better than emails because I get them faster and they are printed. Mom, you could make yours sound a little less like a text message and more like a letter.
Love you all!!
Sister Price
P.S. I fly out to Georgia Monday morning!
October 11, 2013
Dear Mom and Dad,
So right after I got done emailing you I got your package! It was really exciting! I never thought I would be so excited to get letters and packages. I loved the sixlets! They were were perfect, I also loved all of the pictures! Even if I never get to show them to investigators I will enjoy looking at them all the time. I would call the MTC about the immunizations refund for insurance thing. Will I be ok having lots of Hep A vaccine's? I felt fine after, no weird side effects. I'm glad Meredith is doing better. How long did she stay at our house? Yes I am writing you a letter the same day I am emailing you. I hope you got the pictures I tried to send in my email, I couldn't tell which ones I was sending so hopefully they were fairly normal looking. We got to go to the temple today and the guy who helped me through the veil was really good looking and really tall and he had really nice looking hands. Anyway, I got an email from Angie and she said that she was "breaking up" with me and she was going to find a new morning riding partner! She also said she "Missed Me"! Give Amy my love if you see her tomorrow ! You probably won't get this until Saturday though so hopefully you knew to do it! I got an email from kajsa, she is so funny! My roommates and I are making a list of things we are going to do when we get home. so far we have: Do the Dirty Dash, Have a Harry Potter Marathon, Go to the Manti Temple.
We had a really great class tonight about the Doctrine of Christ and we practiced inviting people to be baptized! I have the hardest time with that because I don't want to be pushy!!( I guess sometimes you have to be.) Our teacher was Brother Flinders and he is awesome! he is one of my favorite teachers here.(plus he is pretty cute, that doesn't hurt) I just felt like we really worked together and really had the spirit tonight, then we had a group study and we read the first few chapters of Moroni and that was awesome! I love group studies because I really like getting other peoples perspective on things. I also feel like I talk a lot during group study but sometimes you just have to get the ball rolling on things like that. It has been a bit chilly during my stay here at the MTC, especially the first few days. They were really cold! I am also feeling bad for Elder Pabla because he hasn't heard anything from his family, they haven't even emailed him! I just felt so sad for him because he looked really down about it tonight. I can't imagine coming out here and not hearing anything from your family at all. That would be so hard. so pray for him too because we are. I said in my email that I had to be at the travel office by 4:30 am but now they have changed it to 3:30 am! That is so early! I am just going to buy a calling card and I don't think I have any layovers, I'm pretty sure I'm going straight to Georgia. I love you and can't wait to talk to you!!
Love,
Sister Price
Lots of thoughts for Colton and Cristina on their super great Wedding Day! Temples are the place! and Families are Forever!
Thursday, October 10, 2013
October 10, 2013 - FIRST WEEK!
FIRST WEEK!
Hey Everyone!!
I have survived my first whole week at the MTC!!It has been pretty good overall but it has had it's ups and downs. My companion Sister Drollinger is really nice and I like her a lot! (she is red hair). My roommates are all awesome Sis. Reed and Sis. Larsen and so are all of the Elders in my district! I love my district and I'm so glad I got put with them! The only hard part is that everyone else in my district except for myself and Sis. Drollinger are going to New Jersey, so I won't get to see them! We are all going to try and get in contact when we get home though. Especially us siters. We are all planning on having a Harry Potter marathon or something when we get home.
I got to to host New Missionaries yesterday which was way fun! It's weird to think that I have already been here a week! I could remember how they feel so clearly! It was fun to watch the cars come in and see the different reactions from the family. There were some really giant vans that came in! Elder Stilson is in my zone but he isn't in my district but we will all be flying out at the same time on Monday. I can't believe I'll be leaving on Monday! It's so crazy! Time is really weird here, the days seem like they are really long but then when you look back it seems really short. I am really learning a lot, I like all of my teachers. It's weird because most of them are my age or younger. A few are older, especially if they are Sisters. One of my teachers that I like graduated from Syracuse High. That makes me feel old because they were just a beginning high school when I graduated in 2008.
So a typical day here starts out with an hour and 15 minutes of personal scripture study and then we have breakfast. The food here isn't to bad and they have lots of fruit options and a good salad bar, so that is great! Then we come back to our classroom and have either more study time, or we have to go teach "investigators". That was so intimidating at first! They just threw us in this room and said "OK here is how you do it so you don't have that terribly awkward situation and so they want you to come back and see them again " It's a little bit like Trial by Fire! We usually have three hours of class and then lunch and then we have three more hours of class. It's killer! I'm not used to sitting that much and it's kind of hard. It's also hard to sit like a lady for that long because we are in dresses. It's so nice to be able to wear pants today! Then we have dinner and sometimes gym and then more study time YAY! The MTC is a little bit like jail because everything is so scheduled and there are tons of rules. Even more than I was expecting! Our second night here we got this big talk on how nothing should be to tight or emphasize any parts of our body or make our butt look too good because that is distracting. We also can't stretch if the Elder's are in the room with us because it makes our chest stick out and that can be distracting! you don't realize how many times you need to stretch in a three hour class period until you aren't allowed to do it! Gym time is awesome and it's one of my favorite times because I just get to work out! We found another gym other than the main gym that has all of the weights and stuff, so that is where we work out a lot. On Tuesday we had a devotional with Elder John M. Madsen who is a general authority and he talked about the atonement and how the atonement is the gospel. it was really good. Wow I only have fifteen minutes left and I felt like I have hardly typed anything! Conference was awesome!, I love the family choir on Saturday afternoon and all of the little kids made me think of the primary kids! Hey Mom do you know who your piano player will be yet? You guys should be proud of me because I took pictures and I'm going to tryreally hard to figure out how to post them! I LOVE GETTING DEAR ELDER LETTERS! They are awesome because you get them the same day and I just love hearing from people. The other missionaries tease me because I get letters everyday and they want to know what people could possibly be saying to me when I just barely left them but I think it's nice to know you all love me!! Our branch Pres. is names McMullen and he is pretty nice. I haven't had a whole lot of interaction with him because we aren't going to be here very long. Elder Spackman and Elder Allen from our district are the zone leaders for our zone and I am the music coordinator. I don't have that big of a job because I only have to plan for one Sunday. I loved conference and it was great having here at the MTC. I love all of the talks and there were so many about missionaries It was so great!! On Sunday night we had a devotional and Vocal Point came and talked to us and sang with us. One thing about being here is that we sing ALL THE TIME! We aren't allowed to listen to music but we sing hymns before every class and every meeting and we just sing hymns all the time, It's crazy. I love it here most of the time! My hardest day was probably Monday because I was just feeling really inadequate and like I was a terrible teacher and I was failing miserably at being a missionary! The last few days have gotten a lot better though and they have been really awesome! The only moments of being homesick are when I first wake up and I realize that I am not in my bed at home but then the day gets busy and I am fine. I am going to end so I can try and get some pictures on here!
Love you all so, so much!
Love
Sister Price
Sunday, October 6, 2013
October 3, 2013
Dear Mom and Dad,
It was so good to get your letter! I'm glad Brenda Berlin came over and you got to visit. I hope Meredith's Dr. appt. went well. My P-day is going to be next Thurs. but that's a long time so I'm writing you a letter. Keep the Dear Elders coming they are awesome they come so fast!
So after you dropped me off I was whisked away and got my badge and my room number and key and everything. Next we went to my dorm which is 17M for like 30 seconds to drop off my bags. Then we went straight to our classrooms! When we got there I met my companion her name is Sister Drollinger she is really nice, I like her! She is from Cache valley and she just barely graduated from High School and turned 19 on September 2. She is super short and has red hair and we get along really well. We have 4 sisters (including us) and 4 Elders in our district except everyone else in our district is going to the Morristown, NJ mission. The other two sisters are Sister Reed from SLC and Sister Larsen from Las Vegas. We are in the same dorm room and we all get along really well! There are four of us in here. The Elders are Elder Ayers who is from Ontario, Canada, he is really funny and he says "Eh" all the time! He also says things like "Washroom" for bathroom and "Pogo" for corndog. His companion is Elder Pabla from Bountiful. The other two Elders are Elder Allen and Elder Spackman. Elder Stilson is in my zone but he is in the other district but I have met him and talked to him. He seems to be doing well! last night after dinner we got together as classes and practiced teaching investigators as a group. It was an interesting experience because we really had no idea what we were doing!We learned a ton though! We learned how to plan lessons and the fundamentals of teaching. We basically just sat all day which was killer because I'm used to moving around all the time! Tomorrow we give our first lesson to an investigator, SCARY! I'm kind of nervous. Oh, also today we had to turn in our immunizations and I guess they make you get a TDAP every five years so they gave me that shot because I hadn't had one since "07 and she could not find my second HEP A shot on my paper even though I SWEAR I got it, so she made me get that one even though Elder Stilson was sitting right next to me and his lady said it wasn't actually required and she didn't make him get it! Oh the INJUSTICE! So I'm including the paper they gave me that is the bill. I think they said you could send a reimbursement claim to our insurance though.
How are you guys? How is Meredith? Let me know what day you get this letter, I'm sending it out hopefully Friday morning. I'm doing well! I met our Branch President tonight and they were nice! I get to be a "Welcomer" to the new missionaries next week, FUN!
Love you all so much!!
Sister Price
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