ITS SO HOT I COULD DIE!!- April 28, 2014

April 28, 2014

 Hey Everyone!

    Ok well first off it has been so hot this week! Heavenly Father definitely knew what he was doing sending me in October because I don't think I could handle more than one summer. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago our apartment used to have Elders in it!  Oh man, I have been scrubbing for 2 weeks!  The bathroom was HORRENDOUS!  I have scrubbed the kitchen and the stove and oven. You always wondered Mom how I would do on my own! Well I can scrub and I thank you for teaching me how!  Missionaries don’t really clean things, they just cover things over to give the impression that it is clean!  Two cockroaches entered our apt, and after much screaming they were both caught and killed!!  My condolences to the Harrops on Max, poor snappy little thing!  There are loose animals all over here in Georgia.  Sis. McNeely is deathly afraid of dogs but for some reason the dogs and cats really like to follow me around. They follow me here and they followed me around in Augusta.  It really freaks Sis. McNeely out, maybe its not me but her lovely “scared Pheromones” that are attracting them! I have been told by everyone that your skin is supposed to be so good in the humidity but my skin is way drier than it ever was in Utah! I have to use lotion all the time! I have also discovered that I can only tract for like an hour and then I have to take a break or I end up getting a terrible headache and getting super nauseous. Yay humidity (said very sarcastically.) Little note about the area I serve in the Rivercrest Ward which has the ghetto, its all good, I guess I should be scared but I’m not. There are good people here and they are trying so hard to improve their situation, at least some of them. There is a little area called “Cusetta”, they are a town with a “chip” on their shoulder. They built Ft. Benning right on the original site where this little town used to be, then they literally just moved the town over to a different area and Cusetta has been upset ever since!

 Ok so this week was pretty good. We spent a lot of time tracting and bugging less actives. Most of our investigators are still MIA though but we had a really cool thing happen yesterday! We have a lot of part member families we are working with but we haven't been able to see them lately because they have been out of town, busy, etc. Then yesterday we are greeting people as they came in for church and in walks two of the part member families with everyone present! That means yesterday we had two investigators at church! That is the most I have ever had. It was really cool. They seemed to have a good time and the ward members were really friendly and when we left they were all talking to people so it was really good. I can't believe April is almost over! This month has gone by super fast. We had dinner with a family from the ward who is from the Philippines last night and that was fun! They fed us authentic Filipino food apparently. It was mostly a lot of chicken and rice and noodles. Oh and this really yummy soup that was like egg drop soup except it also had crab and spinach in it. It was good! There is also a family from Brazil and they fed us last week and that was pretty much rice and beans and hamburger but it was good. I am getting all sorts of food here but no "southern food!" There are a lot of really good families in this ward. I like it here! I got really sick on Wednesday because I think I spent too long in the heat so that was fun. There are these two cute little black girls, one is 12 and one is 8 and they want to get baptized so bad but their mom won't let them! They just have the best hearts. They live in the super ghetto and are just surrounded by bad influences everywhere but they love coming to church and activities and things! I feel really bad for them. It's also really difficult to get them rides to church because of where they live but I just feel so bad for them! They are trying so hard and they hardly even know the difference between right and wrong. Sister McNeely tells stories about how her and her last companion had to explain how to make good choices. They just don't know but they are really sweet. I have actually never met their mother, we are only allowed to visit with the girls on week ends.  There is a lot of children in their apartment, not sure if all are related or what the situation is.  The 12 year old actually contacted the LDS church online after observing a family member somewhere who is LDS.  How super is that! I don’t go to ward council anymore, we try and tell our District leader what the needs are but I don’t know how well he delivers what we need help with to the Ward Council.  I don’t know how much the Bishop or the Primary President know of the needs of these two special little girls.  They live about 15 minutes away from the church house but because the area is high crime with robberies and shootings its hard to find members to come and get them. We as missionaries are not allowed to go get them and drive them around! (Obedience is so hard!!)  They have their Book of Mormon and it is so great to teach them!  We need a “Good Shepherd” member!  Pray for them and us!

Overall it has been a pretty good week! We are just working on finding more investigators. I am in “Chronicles” in the Old testament and reading about the prophet Miciah and King Ahab and the wicked Israelites. Miciah was talked about in Pres. Hollands talk. I love the scriptures! I love teaching about Christ. In my area I think the members think that with this huge wave of missionaries that it is our responsibility to do all the work! We are trained to “Teach” we try and find also, but as missionaries we are also learning how to be “Member Missionaries” for when we return home. I wonder what happens to former missionaries, do they lose so quickly the knowledge and spirit of knowing how much help we as current missionaries need?  Am I going to forget when I return how I feel now in serving our Father In Heaven? I know that we have to continue on with our lives but I don’t want to lose my motivation for love of scripture, seeking and helping and continuing to find those that are searching for the “Light and knowledge of Christ”. It scares me but I don’t know how to avoid it.  I will have to trust that I continue to make right choices and I am so impressed with learning that the Legacy Stake prays by name your Sister missionaries!  Or whoever would be called to serve there.  I know that all missionaries are prayed for, but to be called by name in the exact area that you are serving would be so AWESOME! This comes from a loving and concerned Stake President who has good Bishops who then have the support of their Ward councils and then the members themselves to be obedient and pray! I love being a missionary, I love serving, I am happy and healthy (a little hot and muggy) but doing well! I love the gospel and I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, I love my Savior and all that was suffered for me! Remember to continue to read the scriptures,study the Book of Mormon, pray, Randomly read the Preach my gospel, serve in your callings, extend yourselves and you will be blessed! I am now studying the scriptures with the topic of “Study”!    2 Nephi 4: 15-16 "And upon these I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children. Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard." I always loved reading and learning about the scriptures but I have definitely come to love it more as a missionary! I love how the Book of Mormon really focuses on missionary work. I never realized that until I read it as a missionary. It is so important to study the scriptures and to love doing it! I don't think it does much good if we just read because we have to. We should read and ponder the scriptures and really love doing it because the scriptures are wonderful! Have a lovely week everyone and Happy beginning of May!     Love,Sister Price

Reenactment of the Crucifixtion-Church called the "Evangel Temple"- April 22, 2014

Ok so this is what was in front of this church called the "Evangel Temple" I have no idea who they are or what they believe or anything. I just know that when we knock into people who go there they really don't like us. They had put up crosses and every afternoon this week they were doing reenactments of the crucifixion complete with centurions and mourning women and hecklers. Yes "Jesus" in the middle does have fake blood and stuff. It was kind of a strange way to celebrate Easter to me, but oh well.

""Bayou Fairy" I named her "Calypso", April 21, 2014

One of our "Less Actives" made this for me. She crochets this "Bayou Fairy" The colorful parts are her body and wings- the little dark arms are at her side- It looks like she is wearing a vest but she is not.  I am a bit scared of her eyes!  They kind of glow!  I have named her "CALYPSO"!

Pictures of the rameumpton - and Easter Fun! April 21, 2014

This is the prayer tower that is at one of the "church of God" churches here in Columbus. We have affectionately named it the "rameumptom" because what it looks like and the plaque in front of it pretty much is word for word what it talks about in the Book of Mormon! People really go here to pray. One of our former investigators goes here to pray all the time. She tells us about it. I had to take it sideways to get the whole thing in and stay up close- sorry!!

This is us when we went to volunteer to help the less active last week. She had these bunny glasses so we had to put them on! Yes Sister McNeely is tiny so I look like the jolly green giant next to her!

Elders + Buffett = Feeling Sick, April 22, 2014

Hey Everyone!

 

     Ok so it was a fairly uneventful week here in Columbus. My comp and I both got sick this week. Sister McNeely kind of has health issues anyway and she is usually feeling nauseous or having reflux or something. I got some sort of but because half the week I was super nauseous all of the time and really tired. Not nauseous that I wanted to throw up but just enough that I felt crappy all the time and I was sooo tired. Plus Sister McNeely's driving makes me kind of carsick. I think it was going to the All you can Eat Buffet that the Elders insisted we all had to go to!!  They are obsessed with this Buffett and it makes us all not feel good after!!  Ok so for some reason I can't really remember a lot of this week. I forgot my planner so I can't go back and look at what happened each day. This might be a shorter email. I'm sorry! We were both sick so we didn't get as much done as we could have. Ok but Easter was good! I got Mom's Easter package on Saturday and that was cute. I loved the stickers! You appreciate really weird things when you are a missionary like stickers and really simple things in life. Weird stuff. We had Easter dinner with the Park's last night. They are from Utah, they are here for the army. Sister Park is the Young Women's President and she is really fun. We had a really good sacrament meeting, our bishop spoke and a guy from the stake who is actually in our ward. They talked about Christ and the atonement and how Easter is a rebirth. It was really good. I wasn't too homesick but my companion was! Apparently Easter was a really big thing in her family so she was really struggling yesterday. We have always celebrated Easter but it has always kind of been a smaller thing. I have been thinking a lot lately about how I want the rest of my mission to go. I have one year left to preach the gospel here in Georgia and I have been thinking about what kind of missionary I want to be, the things I want to do and focus on, things I want to change. One year left! It seems like a long time, but yet such a short time to accomplish all of the things I want to do! All of the things I want to study and work on as a person. I just want to try and be the bravest person I can be in talking to everyone! That is mostly what I struggle with. I just don't want to hold anything back! I have also been studying a lot about Charity lately. I have found some really great talks and some really great things in the scriptures. I have found that one of the main theme's when everyone talks about charity, is that you need to acknowledge and accept God's love for you before you can then have that love for other people. You need to know that God loves and cares about you personally, and then when you feel that love you want other people to feel that love also so you begin to have Charity for others! I have definitely noticed that being here on my mission. As I realize everything I have with the gospel and the love that I know God has for me, then I just naturally want to share that with others and let them have the opportunity to feel that also! It also talks about how having Charity can help us through trials, because we know that God loves us and is giving us the trials to help us grow and learn. One scripture that I really loved was in 1 John 4:8 and it says " He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." I just love this simple statement. "God is love." If we want to be like Him wouldn't we then love everyone regardless if they are mean, weird or anything else? Christ loved everyone, including those who were cruel or who offended him. One thing that I really struggled with when I first came out was loving the people and loving my mission. I have found that I really have come to love them though! I love them when they reject us, when they are mean to us, when they ridicule our beliefs because they are our brothers and sisters and our Heavenly Father loves them so much! I know how much he loves me and knowing that, how could I help loving them? I love these people in Georgia and I love being a missionary and I love the gospel! I love my family, the prophet the people back home who support me and the people in this ward who I am getting to know! I hope that you can all feel how much I appreciate and love all of you for supporting me as I do this. I challenge all of you to think of how much Heavenly Father loves you, how he wants you to succeed and to be happy and then share that love with other people because you will be happier and it will bless your lives everyday! I love all of you and hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Sister Price

"What is that smoke I detect"?- April 14, 2014

Hey Everyone!                                                April 14, 2014

 

     Well Columbus is definitely different from Augusta but also very similar, especially since I am in a military ward again! Our side of the apartment complex that have just one bedroom have been turned into Government Housing!  So we have some interesting neighbors all around!  I don’t feel scared per say, although its really hard to blend in as we are two White girls from Utah, wearing dresses and carrying scriptures!  They all seem chill with it, but I do have to say that at night there is some tell-tale odiferous smoke happening that is definitely not Tobacco!! (My Mom said for us to make them treats and surprise them all, won’t hurt to have some friends around!)   Well last Monday we tried a few investigators and a few potential investigators and then ended up going to see one of our less actives. She is a sweet lady and has just sort of fallen out of the habit of going to church. She still has a testimony and I think with a little help she will come back to church. She is a really awesome lady! Then Tuesday we went and saw this investigator named Cheryl. She is pretty crazy but she is hilarious! We were at her house for three hours! We couldn't escape! She is kind of an eternigator (eternal investigator) because she can't get baptized until she comes to church and she can't come to church because she spends all of her time taking care of her mother who has Alzheimer's and she can't leave her. She has had a rough life and she just sort of was telling us all of her woes on Tuesday. She also has diabetes that went undiagnosed and now she doesn't control it at all so she has all of these other problems. She is just a mess! That took pretty much our whole afternoon and then we had coordination with the ward mission leader. Then we went to visit less active's and potential investigators and such. Sister McNeely hasn't been feeling very well this week so we have kind of been taking it easy. Then Wednesday we helped out with activity days because they were having an activity about missionary work so that was fun. Then Thursday we had our zone meeting. There are so many sisters in this zone! There are 14 sisters, including us. It was way fun because we all went out to lunch after. There are some really fun sisters here. Zone meeting was just a lot about being obedient and talking to everyone. It was good though. It's always fun to get that many missionaries together. Then later we went knocking but no one was really home. Then Thursday night we have ARP and that is a really cool class. It's great to see how people are changing their lives and how the gospel really helps them. Friday we pretty much weekly planned all day. We are trying to organize our area and get things the way we want them because Sister McNeely's last comp had it all weird because that's how she liked it. Sad to say the Friday night “Sports Night” was stopped by the Mission President, mostly sad for the Elders! Then Saturday we helped a girl in the ward who is less active with an Easter fair thing she was throwing to help spread awareness for the women's shelter she works for. It was fun! We were in charge of face painting and so Sister McNeely painted faces while I made sure she had enough paint and mixed different colors and stuff because I am just not artistic. Then the rest of the day we just knocked and tried to go visit less actives. We also went and visited ward members because we are trying to visit a few ward members a week and share messages from preach my gospel and kind of leave like commitments/assignments for them to do from it! It has been fun so far and I think it's going to go well. Oh and on Tuesday we went to visit the Bishop so I could meet him. He had been out of town and with general conference I didn't really get to meet any ward members! Anyway he asked me to share a five minute message which was fine but then he called about an hour later and asked if Sister McNeely and I would both give 10 minute talks on Christ as our personal Savior so that was also fine. Then someone else called and asked if we would teach the 14-15 year old Sunday School class so yesterday was a very eventful day! By the time we got home from church we were both exhausted and Sister McNeely had a terrible headache and was really nauseous so I let her sleep for a few hours and she felt much better. Then we went and saw a guy we are teaching who is from a part member family and he has actually been reading the Book of Mormon! I guess he has been taught by missionaries off and on for like 8 years and he is finally deciding to read the whole thing and then make his decision. He likes to talk and he always has a lot of questions. Everyone thinks that there should be historical facts that go along with the Book of Mormon but we have the plates that were pretty much just the spiritual account, the historical account was written elsewhere! Nephi even talks about that.Anyway so it was a pretty good week. There are some crazy people but it's fun! There has been a lot of rain but no floods, we have had some tornado watches!  It has not been as hot this week so that is good.  I guess the swelling hands is normal according to everyone here because of the humidity!  That’s all I need “Water Retention” from humidity!  Sister McNeely is feeling much better today so that is good! I have been studying charity lately because I feel like that is one of my weaknesses and one thing I thought was cool is that charity is eternal! That is why it's so important, if we work to develop charity in this life then when we move on we will just be able to continue to develop it. Keep progressing through “Preach My Gospel”!! Thanks for everyone's support, I love you all! Happy Birthday Grandpa Price!  Happy Birthday Colby!  Happy Birthday David!  I think there are some Pratt families that have birthdays also – Happy Birthday All!  Oh and sorry about Jayla’s  arm, my mom told me she got bested by some hurdles!! 

 

Love,

Sister Price

 

Where at in Georgia did Sister Kaitlyn Price Go? April 7, 2014

 

Hey Everyone!

 

    Well I got transferred this week! I am in my new area and I love it! Tuesday morning we took off to Warner Robbins (they were fixing some things in the building in macon) and went to the transfer meeting! President Cottle loves to make it as suspenseful as he can so we have lunch before the meeting and then he has to talk forever before he starts the slide show. He has this big slideshow and he puts up the picture of the person staying and then clicks and the person comes up who is going to be their new companion. It is very suspenseful! Columbus was the second zone to come up in the slideshow and I got paired up with the first sister who came up! It was so strange. I couldn't even remember where I was going at first. It is about an hour and a half from Macon. I really like it here! Oh and I was so excited because we have a washer and dryer!!! You don't even know how happy that made me. It is fantastic. I used it this morning.  The ward mission leader is awesome. He is about the only person I have met because of General Conference. I think this area has a lot of potential! It sounds like the thing we need to work on is getting the sisters to go out with us more. I can handle that though! I had to get that going in Augusta as well so I can do it here. They have a really good ward mission plan and stuff though. Our apartment is tiny! It is one bedroom one bathroom so we have to share a closet. The elders had this apartment before so it is kind of trashed. There are a lot of really ghetto areas but its not too bad. It was so hot Wednesday and Thursday! I was dying. It was just super humid and hot. Ugh. Oh and there is this really awesome park just up the street that has great running trails and like little workout stuff along the way like tires and pull up bars and monkey bars. It's so much fun! The zone leaders are in the ward right next to us and they seem pretty cool. We also do a lot of thing! Thursday morning we volunteer at a shelter for battered women and children and Thursday night we have an ARP (addiction recovery program) class and on Friday nights they have sports night. We are working on having a Book of Mormon class for Wednesday nights so there are a lot of things going on here! I like it. There are some pretty good people we are working with. This ward does have its fair share of drama though. More than what I was used to in Augusta. Then it was General Conference! Conference was awesome as usual.  I forgot to bring my notebook that I wrote notes in so I will just have to go from memory! I absolutely loved Elder Hollands talk. It  was just what I needed to hear. He was amazing. There were so many who talked about faith, obedience, following the commandments. I loved Sister Reeves. She really laid it down for everyone. So did Elder Anderson. Oh and Elder Aidukaitis spoke! We were all super excited when they announced that. He was just like that when he talked to us. Poor President Packer and Elder Hales. They looked really unwell. President Packer sounded kind of like he was giving his farewell talk. It was really good though. Oh and I loved Elder Perry's talk! He compared everything to horses. It was awesome. Oh and I loved Elder Ballards talk about following up! It was awesome. That is just what we do as missionaries! Being a missionary has given me a whole new perspective on all talks and lessons. You can definitely tell who has been on a mission and who hasn't. Well I mean if you have gone on a mission yourself. I loved all of the testimonies about the restored gospel! They were all wonderful. Ok so since Elder Ballard challenged everyone to study Preach My Gospel I am going to give everyone who wants it an assignment! As a family or individual or whatever you are the next two weeks read through the first chapter "My Purpose" and do all of the personal study or companion study applications at the end of the chapter depending on if you are studying with someone or individually. Everyone email me or write me a letter if you want to do it and then I will follow up with you in two weeks and see what you learned and how it has changed your view of missionary work because it has certainly changed mine! I know that as you study and pray you will be blessed with more missionary opportunities and have a stronger testimony of missionary work. This is my challenge to all of you! I will follow up in two weeks because I am a missionary and we are excellent at following up. I love you all and you hope you were as spiritually uplifted by conference as I was!

 

Love,

Sister Price

Farewell Augusta-Hello to Columbus, Georgia April 1, 2014

"FIRST BAPTIST" CHURCH IN AUGUSTA-IT IS AWESOME AND HUGE!

LOOK AT THESE BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS!!

IN WARNER-ROBINS FOR TRANSFER-SIS. PRICE, SIS. JEPPSON, SIS. TEVI, SIS. MCNEELY(MY NEW COMPANION) SIS. RICHARDSON

GOOD-BYE AUGUSTA SISTERS!  SIS. JEPPSON, SIS. RICHARDSON, SIS. PRICE, SIS. WOOD

Ok so this is the missionaries I am with! More people than my district. Starting on the left it is Elder Rodriguez who doesn't know any Spanish, Eder Blain, a guy from the other ward who has been inactive his whole life and was super excited about conference because he just started coming back to church, Sister Porter and Sister McNeely. Sister Ellison is sister Porter's companion, she is sort of standing behind her and I am sort of standing behind Sister Mcneely. Then the Elders on the back row are Elder Vaughan, Elder Hinton, Elder Lyman and Elder Ostler. Elder Lyman and Elder Ostler are the zone leaders. They are pretty cool, I really like them.