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,
