4th of JULY - Halfway Mark on my Mission, Shamiracle gets confirmed! June 30, 2014

Hey Everyone!                                                                                  June 30, 2014

  Well it has been a pretty eventful week. Monday we just mostly spent the day getting Sister McNeely ready for transfers on Tuesday. Then on Tuesday I got my new companion! It's Sister Sevy(like Seevy). It's really funny because Sister Tevi, Sister McNeely and Sister Sevy were all companions in the MTC and now I have been companions with them all! I have always secretly wanted to be companions with her because I thought she was really cool so I am really excited! She was in my zone in Augusta last winter and I got to go on exchanges with her.  However she did just find out two weeks ago that she is allergic to wheat, soy, nuts and fish so we aren't really sure what she can eat.  I guess this is her make it or break it transfer, if she can't figure out what she can eat so she feels better and stops feeling sick she has to go home and figure it out. Hopefully that doesn't happen! I am a professional now though at this “Ailing Companion” situation, I can help her!!  We started our week off with having lunch on Wednesday with all of the cute old ladies from the ward. The last Wednesday of every week we go out to lunch with all of them. It's really fun, they are all really cute. Then we had a lesson with Brittani (Miss Aha-she has the little girl and her husband is a new member) and that was really fun. We just read the Book of Mormon with her. She had some really good insights and was understanding everything really well. She doesn't get why they don't just kick Laman and Lemuel out of the group since they are causing so many problems!  Then that night we had dinner with this older couple and they always make slightly strange food but this time it was extra strange. Then we had a lesson with Carrie (the young adult from Auburn) She is so cool! Sister Goodsell came with us (she is the lady who drove us to transfers and served in the Ogden, UT mission) and they really hit it off! We taught the Plan of Salvation and talked about her experiences and how she started investigating. It was really awesome!  She wants to get baptized but she is afraid of telling her parents because she doesn't think they will have a very good reaction. She leaves this weekend to go visit a friend and then to visit her parents! We are having a lesson with her today before she leaves. She has made some really good friends in the YSA branch and seems like she is just fitting in really well! It was interesting to hear the things that changed her perspective on the church and dispelled all of the rumors that we are a weird, crazy people. I really don’t want to have the missionary story at my homecoming of how one of our investigators had to choose between joining the church and their family!  I truly love Carrie and it would break my heart if she had to make that choice! You can be sure there will be fasting and prayer on her behalf from two very concerned sister missionaries as she visits her parents this week end! I’m glad you thought of it also Mom and Dad the more prayers and fasting the better!  Last  thursday we had a lesson with Destini. She is really cool, we talked about faith and the holy ghost and a lot of things. Sister Sevy did awesome at helping her recognize the promptings and times in her life when she has felt the Holy Ghost. Then we challenged her to pray every night and to look for times throughout the week when she has the feelings we described. She came to church on Sunday and loved it she is really fun to visit with.  Then we decided we were going to go out and contact a bunch of our media referrals. We ended up contacting six! That is like a record because usually we can't get any at home. Oh and the Elders had a baptism on Thursday of a lady whose aunt got baptized and she found her Book of Mormon and read it and called her Aunt  up and said she wanted to get baptized. She had been going to another ward but found out she was in our ward boundaries so she got baptized on Thursday!  That is one of those awesome moments for missionaries when someone is that prepared!  Then Friday we pretty much planned all day because it takes a long time when you have a new companion and we had a lesson with Shamiracle. We talked about things in the Childrens Friend and then reinforced how important it was for her to be to church on time! Then on Saturday we had a really good lesson with Brittani, we read some more of the Book of Mormon again.  We then went and saw Cheryl (Ms. 5 teeth) Cheryl is funny, her sister is coming to visit next week and she hates Mormons and thinks we are a terrible awful cult and are just seconds away from all congregating in South America and drinking Kool-Aid with cyanide.  Sunday was church . .  and....drumroll....wait for it . . . . It was a “SHAMIRACLE”, Shamiracle was there on time! It was actually really good because her mom called us Saturday and asked if we could find her a ride so we got her primary teachers to give her a ride so she was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost!  All the lessons at church were really good, the fellow who taught third hour was really awesome!  He started out the lesson talking about how in order to learn we have to be open to the holy ghost and want to learn. Then he talked about family relationships  it was a good lesson . We are going to have an FHE tonight with Brittani's family and the Jones family (they are members who are ward missionaries) so after church we planned that and then went over to the Jones to let them know what we are teaching. We just really want to get Brittani and her husband communicating because her husband really wants her to learn, and she really wants to learn, but he thinks that if he talks to her about religion he will push her away and she thinks he does not care what she is learning so we are going to try and help that by challenging them to pray and read scriptures as a family. We are trying to make a good foundation so we can do a lesson on temples in the futures because I think that will really click with Brittani.  We are also starting exchanges tomorrow and we have MLC (training classes for us Leaders) back in Macon on Thursday and then next week we have to plan trainings for ZTM (Zone training for the rest of the missionaries)!  Ah! So much to do! Ok so a scripture I really liked while we were preparing our lesson for tonight is 1 Nephi 10:19 "For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round." I like that because we are going to talk about the ways we can diligently seek, which are prayer, scripture study and being sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. They are simple answers but it's what we need to do! I love you all and have a happy 4th of July!
Love,

Sister Price

P.S.  Yes the lightning bugs are a shining!  But I have to say there are every kind of bug about out here some you can see others just sneak up on you and they ALL BITE!! Or they all shriek at a very high pitch, makes your ears crazy and you feel like there will never be quietness again in the world!  Oh, and a bit of sadness we will be lonely missionaries no one signed up to have us over on the 4^th of July.  So we will have our own festivities and will “Tract and work, and Work and Tract like Missionaries do”!! Love you all again!

 

Transfers, Shamiracle gets Baptized! June 23, 2014

Hey Everyone!                                                                                     June 23, 2014

       Wow so many things happened this week. Tuesday we did exchanges with the Lanette area, so I stayed here with Sister Roden. She is brand new, this is her first transfer and she is from Orem. She is really awesome and it was lots of fun getting to know her. We went and saw Cheryl. She is still kind of crazy but I'm pretty sure she is going to be baptized soon (her and her five teeth.) She says that the happiest moments of her life in the last five years since her life fell apart are when the missionaries come visit and she doesn't care that her family hates the church and thinks we are a terrible cult, they don't help or care about her anyway so she wants to get baptized. Now we just have to get her coming to church. Once I get my new companion (Yes it was Transfers – more on that a bit later) I think we are going to go over to her house and have a cleaning intervention though. It's not super dirty, just messy with stuff everywhere. Shamiracle had her baptismal interview which went really good!  Then the next day we had exchanges with Auburn area sisters! It was a busy few days,poor Sister McNeely was toast by the end of it, especially because there is an hour time difference between here and Auburn(Alabama). On Wednsday I came back here with Sister Macduff and Sister McNeely stayed in Auburn with Sister Schmidt. We had a really awesome lesson with Brittani, basically she believes in everything and all she needs is just her "aha" moment and the confirmation that she is doing the right thing! I think if she had that she would get baptized tomorrow so we are definitely going to keep working with her. One of the ward missionaries, Brother Jones, is also working with her husband about how to support her and help her gain a testimony because he has only been a member a year and he really wants her to join, he just doesn't know how to help her and he doesn't want her to feel like he is pushing her. They are awesome though. They have the cutest daughter too! She is a year old and she has this super dark auburn red hair and she is just so adorable. Her mom keeps teaching her things, like if you go up to her and stick your hand out and say "Nice to meet you" she will shake your hand and she is just hilarious. Then we had dinner and a lesson with Kerri! Wow Kerri is just so awesome. We just have the most awesome investigators right now. We taught Kerri the gospel of Jesus Christ and she loved it. She loved all of the scriptures we shared and pretty much the whole lesson and she had read the first 5 chapters in the Book of Mormon and had really great insights from those. She committed to get baptized, she just wants to make sure she is ready to make the commitment and to make her covenants. She has been going to the Auburn YSA branch and so we are kind of working together with those sisters with her so it was really good that Sister Macduff got to go to a lesson with her because she serves in Auburn! Then the next morning we had a lesson with Destini. Destini is also really awesome. She has read half of the gospel principles manual and apparently she says she just can't put it down. She said this week she is going to read more from the Book of Mormon. She loves coming to church, she just has a few hold ups but they aren't that serious and I have every confidence that we will be able to work through them. Then on Friday we had one more lesson with Shamiracle before her baptism on Saturday. We went over Word of Wisdom and baptismal covenants. We were really concerned how we could help her understand them but then I was looking through some of the  Childrens Friend magazines Mom has sent me, (I have given her some because she loves to read them) and there was this perfect article box on baptismal covenants that broke it down perfectly so we went over that really thoroughly with her. It was perfect!. Then Saturday we saw Brittani again and talked about the Book of Mormon with her. Brittani’s poor dogs have fleas, not because they don't take care of them or are dirty, just because fleas are a way of life here and its almost guaranteed at one point that your dog will get fleas! (I remember my Animal Planet).  Then it was Shamiracle's baptism! It went really well. Then we had transfer calls. "Dun duh dunnnn!" That was stressful. We all know how that turned out though, Sister McNeely is leaving. Sad day. The thing that super stressed us out was the next day (Sunday) at church when Shamiracle was supposed to be confirmed. Notice that I said supposed to not was confirmed!  We were trying to call her mom all night and morning before church just to make sure she would be on time and none of her phones were working! She ended up coming really late so she wasn't able to be confirmed but at least she showed up. We talked with them and they are going to be early next week so that she will be able to be confirmed (little shamiracle needs that gift of the Holy Ghost)!  We have a ride to transfers! Yay for great Ward Members,it is also super stressful for me asking for rides to the Mission Home it is 2 plus hours away! . One of the ladies who just returned last year from the Ogden North mission is going to take us! She is really cool. I am excited/really nervous for transfers! We are super cleaning our aparment today becuase I hate when a new sister comes in and its dirty, because that is what always happens to me and its not fun. Its much nicer to come in to a clean apartment!

      I don't have a specific spiritual thought but I have been reading the Book of Mormon again (suprise, I know) and I just love it! Especially Alma when it gets into all of the missionary chapters. Ammon is still my favorite, even if he is a bit dramatic sometimes. Have a good week everyone! Happy Birthday soon Grandma! Love you all!

 

Love,

Sister Price

 

 

Pictures of the various "RIDES" around the town, our "BURB" "FURY"!! JUNE 16, 2014

AN INTERESTING NAME FOR A CHURCH HERE IN COLUMBUS. AND ONLY ONE WOMAN IS INVITED I GUESS TO THE CONFERENCE.

"GHETTO CARS" CADILLAC BODIES ON GIANT TIRES!! ITS THE GO-TO RIDE AROUND HERE!

OUR GIANT SUBURBAN WE NAMED IT "FURY". NOW THIS IS A MISSIONARY VEHICLE FOR TWO WHITE SISTERS IN THE "GHETTO"!

"Choirs, Sharing Gospel at the Mall, Referrals"!! June 16, 2014

Hey Everyone!

 

     Ok so this was a really fun week! Tuesday we had exchanges with the Phenix City sisters. Phenix City is right across the river in Alabama. I stayed here with Sister Miller and Sister McNeely went to Phenix City with Sister Waycott. It was really fun! Sister Miller is super brave and seriously talks to anyone! Her goal was to get better at contacting but honestly she is better at it than I am. She is really good at working gospel things and her testimony in while she is contacting. By the way I totally feel for Madison because I also dislike street contacting. It's just so hard to walk up and talk to random people on the street! I am a lot better than I used to be though. Our motto is "it's only awkward if you make it awkward." All of our appointments canceled on Tuesday so we did a lot of tracting. We did run into this really creepy old man! He wanted us to come in so he could show us one of his tattoos and we were like "well we have an appointment so we have to go." He was pretty strange. Then on Wednesday we had a really awesome lesson with Destini! Marshall was there (he is the one leaving on his mission in August) and we introduced the Book of Mormon and talked about that. She had read the pamphlet we left and she had marked chapters in the gospel principles book she wanted to read. She is pretty awesome. We also watched the Patterns of Light mormon message videos with her by Elder Bednar because I love how he talks about the difference between the Light of Christ and the Holy Ghost and how we can recognize different spiritual promptings. It was a really good lesson. She was going to come to church yesterday but then she got sick so she didn't make it. Then we had a lesson with Brittani, we had also assigned her to watch the patterns of light video so we talked about that. She is different to teach just because she has never been religious so she doesn't really know anything about God or Jesus Christ which is very different from the people we usually run into. It's fun to try and figure out how we can help her feel and recognize the spirit so we can help her find her answers. Then we went and apologized to Shamiracle's mom so she likes us again. Then on Thursday we had MLC (missionary leadership conference) in Macon and it was so fun! Sister Wood was there so I got to catch up and hear about how things are going in Augusta! That was so much fun. She caught me up on all of the happenings. The meeting was really good. We talked about being busy vs effective and how we can help our investigators want to come to church. President McCoy gave a training on motivation which was kind of scary and then President Cottle talked about "locking your hearts" because I guess there is flirting going on with the missionaries. I get to train on that at Zone training, it should be fun. We also talked about numbers and other things like that. It was a really good meeting! Very inspiring as usual. Then Friday we pretty much planned all day. Planning is like the bane of my existence. Seriously. Then Saturday was a good day. The Elders had a baptism, this guy who is a lawyer whose friend is LDS and basically one day this guy called up his friend and said he had been studying about his church for the last couple months and he wanted to join! It was really cool. We had a lesson with Cheryl who is a mess but she is funny. She finally read from the Book of Mormon like we asked her to and she seemed a lot happier! We also had  a lesson with Shamiracle and basically just reviewed things. We moved her baptismal date to June 21 but they didn't come to church yesterday so we aren't sure what happened because they were all set to come Saturday night. Then Sunday we had a really good lesson with Yovette! She is really funny. She is concerned about coming to church because she doesn't want to feel lost and out of place which is totally understandable so we are going to set up a time when we can give her a church tour and have some members meet us there so she feels more comfortable. She seemed to love that idea. Yesterday in church they talked all about the priesthood and how authority was restored. Then after church we got a call from the branch president of the Auburn YSA branch who had a  referral for us who lived in our area. He says she has been going to their branch the past few weeks and wants to meet with the missionaries but since she lives here it's too far for the YSA sisters to travel. We are going to stop by and try to meet her tonight, she sounds pretty cool. We have been getting a lot of referrals lately, it's pretty awesome! I really love being here in Columbus! I could totally be here for a long time, like five transfers or something. I hope Sister McNeely can squeak in another transfer here. We are giving a training on unity this Thursday at zone conference and there was a scripture I really loved in Alma when he is talking about the success the sons of Mosiah had with the Lamanites and it's  Alma 29:14-16 "But I do not joy in my own sucess alone, but my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren, who have been up to the land of Nephi. Behold, they have labored excecedingly, and have brought forth much fruit; and how great shall be their reward! Now, when I think of the success of these my brethren my soul is carried away, even to the separation of it from the body, as it were, so great is my joy." I really loved this scripture because Alma is rejoicing for the success his brethren had, he wasn't just worried about the success he was having. I just love it because sometimes we get so caught up in wanting "our baptisms" and not being happy when other people have succes and we forget that we are all on the same team! Oh and I forgot one thing! Sister Cottle called us last Monday and said that at the Macon stake conference they wanted a missionary choir but the Macon zone doesn't have enough sisters so all of the sisters from our zone get to go sing in the choir! Pres McCoy and his wife are going to rent a giant van and drive us down Saturday and then we get to have a sleepover at the mission home! It's going to be so much fun! I think that is all of my news. I love you all and appreciate you prayers and support! Now it's time to pray that I don't die in the heat! Ha ha. Love you all!

 

Love,

Sister Price

"Reunions and Fathers Day" June 9, 2014

Hey Everyone!

     Ok so this was a really fun week! Tuesday we had exchanges with the Phenix City sisters. Phenix City is right across the river in Alabama. I stayed here with Sister Miller and Sister McNeely went to Phenix City with Sister Waycott. It was really fun! Sister Miller is super brave and seriously talks to anyone! Her goal was to get better at contacting but honestly she is better at it than I am. She is really good at working gospel things and her testimony in while she is contacting. By the way I totally feel for Madison because I also dislike street contacting. It's just so hard to walk up and talk to random people on the street! I am a lot better than I used to be though. Our motto is "it's only awkward if you make it awkward." All of our appointments canceled on Tuesday so we did a lot of tracting. We did run into this really creepy old man! He wanted us to come in so he could show us one of his tattoos and we were like "well we have an appointment so we have to go." He was pretty strange. Then on Wednesday we had a really awesome lesson with Destini! Marshall was there (he is the one leaving on his mission in August) and we introduced the Book of Mormon and talked about that. She had read the pamphlet we left and she had marked chapters in the gospel principles book she wanted to read. She is pretty awesome. We also watched the Patterns of Light mormon message videos with her by Elder Bednar because I love how he talks about the difference between the Light of Christ and the Holy Ghost and how we can recognize different spiritual promptings. It was a really good lesson. She was going to come to church yesterday but then she got sick so she didn't make it. Then we had a lesson with Brittani, we had also assigned her to watch the patterns of light video so we talked about that. She is different to teach just because she has never been religious so she doesn't really know anything about God or Jesus Christ which is very different from the people we usually run into. It's fun to try and figure out how we can help her feel and recognize the spirit so we can help her find her answers. Then we went and apologized to Shamiracle's mom so she likes us again. Then on Thursday we had MLC (missionary leadership conference) in Macon and it was so fun! Sister Wood was there so I got to catch up and hear about how things are going in Augusta! That was so much fun. She caught me up on all of the happenings. The meeting was really good. We talked about being busy vs effective and how we can help our investigators want to come to church. President McCoy gave a training on motivation which was kind of scary and then President Cottle talked about "locking your hearts" because I guess there is flirting going on with the missionaries. I get to train on that at Zone training, it should be fun. We also talked about numbers and other things like that. It was a really good meeting! Very inspiring as usual. Then Friday we pretty much planned all day. Planning is like the bane of my existence. Seriously. Then Saturday was a good day. The Elders had a baptism, this guy who is a lawyer whose friend is LDS and basically one day this guy called up his friend and said he had been studying about his church for the last couple months and he wanted to join! It was really cool. We had a lesson with Cheryl who is a mess but she is funny. She finally read from the Book of Mormon like we asked her to and she seemed a lot happier! We also had  a lesson with Shamiracle and basically just reviewed things. We moved her baptismal date to June 21 but they didn't come to church yesterday so we aren't sure what happened because they were all set to come Saturday night. Then Sunday we had a really good lesson with Yovette! She is really funny. She is concerned about coming to church because she doesn't want to feel lost and out of place which is totally understandable so we are going to set up a time when we can give her a church tour and have some members meet us there so she feels more comfortable. She seemed to love that idea. Yesterday in church they talked all about the priesthood and how authority was restored. Then after church we got a call from the branch president of the Auburn YSA branch who had a  referral for us who lived in our area. He says she has been going to their branch the past few weeks and wants to meet with the missionaries but since she lives here it's too far for the YSA sisters to travel. We are going to stop by and try to meet her tonight, she sounds pretty cool. We have been getting a lot of referrals lately, it's pretty awesome! I really love being here in Columbus! I could totally be here for a long time, like five transfers or something. I hope Sister McNeely can squeak in another transfer here. We are giving a training on unity this Thursday at zone conference and there was a scripture I really loved in Alma when he is talking about the success the sons of Mosiah had with the Lamanites and it's  Alma 29:14-16 "But I do not joy in my own sucess alone, but my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren, who have been up to the land of Nephi. Behold, they have labored excecedingly, and have brought forth much fruit; and how great shall be their reward! Now, when I think of the success of these my brethren my soul is carried away, even to the separation of it from the body, as it were, so great is my joy." I really loved this scripture because Alma is rejoicing for the success his brethren had, he wasn't just worried about the success he was having. I just love it because sometimes we get so caught up in wanting "our baptisms" and not being happy when other people have succes and we forget that we are all on the same team! Oh and I forgot one thing! Sister Cottle called us last Monday and said that at the Macon stake conference they wanted a missionary choir but the Macon zone doesn't have enough sisters so all of the sisters from our zone get to go sing in the choir! Pres McCoy and his wife are going to rent a giant van and drive us down Saturday and then we get to have a sleepover at the mission home! It's going to be so much fun! I think that is all of my news. I love you all and appreciate you prayers and support! Now it's time to pray that I don't die in the heat! Ha ha. Love you all!

Love,

Sister Price

"ORACLE OF CHRIST" June 2, 2014

Hey Everyone!                                                            June 2, 2014

      Well this has been a very interesting week in Georgia as usual. There are always very unique people to meet here. Well after I emailed on Tuesday we went and tried to visit people and tracted a little. It was super hot and we sweated a lot. Then on Wednesday we started exchanges with the Flatrock sisters. Flatrock is just the other ward in Columbus so they were super close. I went their with Sister Porter and Sister Ellison came here with Sister McNeely. It was pretty good. Sister Porter is just very young and sometimes you can tell but overall we got along pretty well. Sister Ellison and Sister McNeely had a great time together, Sister Ellison is really funny. However Sister Porter did take me on like the Bataan death march on Wednesday. She is very concerned about gaining weight, which is one thing we are all concerned about but she is taking it to the extreme! She feels the need to walk everywhere to burn calories which is all fine and dandy except it was like 95 degrees outside and 90% humidity and I thought I was going to die. I was sweating so much it was ridiculous and disgusting. I was also getting over a cold and I felt pretty good Wednesday but I think that set me back because when I got home on Thursday I felt terrible again. Friday we went to Warner Robins to go to a dentist for Sister McNeely because she had a few cavities and an exposed root so that was fun. Then we had quite a few appointments lined up but none of them were there so we didn't get to see anyone. Saturday was a very interesting day though. We had an appt with Yovett in the morning, I can't remember if I talked about her, she was a referral from the elders and our lesson with her went really well. We covered part of the Plan of Salvation but we weren't able to get through all of it. Then we went to contact a media referral that we got from mormon.org. This is where the day got interesting:. The lady started out ok, just talking about how she loves God and she wanted some Bibles to help a friend start a small church! We were then on the alert and started talking to her and trying to figure out if we could share a message with her or what. Then she started talking about how she had eight of the nine gifts of the spirit and then she started prophesying about Sister McNeely and that is when things got weird. She went on and on about how she heals people and  can prophecy for people and how she has dreams that she kills Satan and how she gets overcome with the spirit in the middle of services and just has to start preaching and prophesying. She was also calling herself the "Oracle of Christ" because he was just so much a part of her. She also had a Boss Mustang and the license plate said "God." It was all very strange and she talked to us for like an hour and we went away just feeling like drained of the spirit and kind of icky. It was all just very weird. There are definitely some very interesting people in Georgia.

Oh one random fact about Georgia is that they don't pick up road kill here. It just stays on the side of the road until it decomposes or the vultures get it. It's kind of gross because there are dead armadillos everywhere and they just swell up and eventually explode and then there are just random skeletons on the side of the road.

Anyway. Then we went home and recovered from oracle lady and went to visit Brittani. We had a really good lesson about faith and talked about what she needs to do to receive her answer and we assigned her to later look up the mormon message "Patterns of Light" by Elder Bednar because that is a really good one that talks about different ways of feeling the spirit and how to recognize promptings. Then she said that they would be at church on Sunday but they weren't there so we aren't sure what happened. However another investigator was there that surprised us! There is a young man leaving from this ward on his mission in August and he got a girlfriend a few months ago, which we are all very concerned about, but we have been teaching her and she came to church! She is really nice and I think she will keep progressing. Then we went to teach Shamiracle and apparently we offended her mom and she won't talk to us now. There are a few things that went into it but I won't get into them here. Anyway it was another stressful week but it had its ups and downs! It's just missionary work. Sister McNeely's sister (she has a twin sister serving in South Carolina) sent her a talk someone wrote for their mission about how nobody ever talks about how hard and discouraging missions are, they just say all of the good things and miracles that happen. I liked it a lot because she talked about how missions aren't easy and you do get discouraged and frustrated and feel inadequate all the time but that's ok! It's just part of being a missionary. If you look at the missionaries in the scriptures, they all had a hard time. Abinadi only converted one person and he was burned at the stake, Ammon had to fight the Lamanites just for a chance at a first discussion, Alma and Amulek were constantly put in jail and beat up. All of the apostles in the Bible were persecuted all the time, so why should our missions be easy? Missions are just hard but that's ok because it strengthens us and helps us learn very important things! Things that will help us throughout our life and in the next. Missions are awesome! Usually. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Price

 

"UPS AND DOWNS" May 27, 2014

                                                                        May 27, 2014

 

Hey Everyone!

             Oh my goodness Lima Peru!  Caleb I can’t believe it!  I’ve known you since you were two and would not speak just stare!  That is so exciting, I think you will be down at sea level like me here in Georgia. You will be like SUPERMAN with great lung capacity. You could also go super high into the Mountains! That is awesome, I feel a bit teary eyed “Little Caleb getting all Grown-Up”.

Well it was a good week and a bad week. I didn't get robbed though so that is good!(Reference to Elder Gage in Colombia)  We go to trade in our Suburban for a small SUV. It's called a Captiva. It's cute, I like it. I don't think our car is going to be done for a while though because they said that the company who makes the part they need went out of business so now a new company has to start making them and they don't know when that is going to happen! Fun stuff. Ok so on Tuesday we had a lesson with a girl named Destini. She is the girlfriend of a guy in our ward. She is really nice, has kind of made some unwise decisions but she seemed really sincere. She has never been very into religion because she said they all were very condemning and told her because of some of the decisions she has made she was just going straight to hell and she didn't like that. We did the Restoration lesson but we also talked about the atonement and repentance and things like that. She is really cool, she wants to be a mortician and I think she will really like the Plan of Salvation! Then we stopped in to the Relief Society activity for a minute and they were talking about being holy women. It had a pretty good turnout and they had a really yummy dessert bar! Then Wednesday we did exchanges with the Pine Mountain sisters. Pine Mountain is really what everyone here calls "Harris County." It's really rural and although they say its a mountain the highest elevation we got was about 750 ft. In Columbus we are about 450 ft. So mostly not a mountain. It's really pretty up there though and we drove past this gorgeous equestrian place with huge green pastures and a beautiful barn! It was gorgeous! Sister Mcneely stayed there with Sister Brizee and Sister McElroy came down to Columbus with me. I have to stay in Columbus for all of the transfers because I am the only who can drive the rental car! Sister McElroy is awesome though! She has been out for a year and we had a great time together. We went and saw Brittani, she is the wife of a member we are working with and kind of talked about how she felt about church. Basically she has never been very religious but she is just waiting for an "ah ha" moment so she knows what to do. She also talked about how she is kind of struggling with direction in her life and other things. It was a good talk though! Now we have a goal, to help Brittani have an "ah ha" moment. Then we had a lesson with Shamiracle. Ok so her mom is pretty much morbidly obese and can't really move off of her bed. She talked for about the first 30 minutes and then Shamiracle fell asleep and we had to wake her up for the lesson. We sort of taught Gospel of Jesus Christ but I'm not sure how much it sunk in. The next day the YW Pres. drove us back up to pine mountain so we could save on gas and miles so it was fun to chat with her. She is awesome. We talked about some people in the ward she wanted us to visit and her family she is from Sandy, UT. Then on Saturday it was super hot and it felt like death so we wanted to die. We mostly just had tracting scheduled and we checked on a few referrals but none of them were home. Then we had another lesson with Shamiracle. This one went much better! We talked about baptism and taught her the commandements and reviewed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One thing is that sometimes when Shamiracle talks really fast I have no idea what she is saying! Her accent and just kind of the dialect they have is really hard to understand. The lesson went much better though and she really wanted to come to church, she even pinky promised me she would be there which is pretty binding for a 9 year old! THEN SUNDAY COMES!  We had been asked to teach the 14-15 year old sunday school class so we worked on that. Then we get to church and none of our investigators show up,that is always sad. The Zone Leaders call and tell the two Spanish Elders they have to come to another church.  This makes the Bishop upset as there is a gospel principles class that they teach in Spanish in Sunday School.  Then we get this text in the middle of sacrament saying that we needed to call Shamiracle's mom because it was an emergency! We went outside and called her and I guess her oldest daughter wouldn't wake up so she didn't have anyone to help her get dressed so she couldn't come to church but Shamiracle was ready and really wanted to come but we needed to find her a ride! We of course weren't successful because church was almost half over and I felt bad since Shamiracle really wanted to come but there wasn't a lot we could do because we aren't allowed to give rides unless someone is coming to an appt with us! Then we taught Sunday School and it was kind of like teaching a class of deaf mutes because no one would talk. Oh well I just talked at them and told the kid who was goofing off to stop it. Anyway it was just a really stressfull day and so I went home and cried because sometimes you just need a good cry. So Monday we went and spent two hours at the mall and did some retail therapy which was just what we needed and we felt lots better! I am kind of glad I live in civilization with a mall. The poor Pine Mountain sisters only have Dollar General to shop at unless a member will drive them to Walmart in Columbus. Tomorrow we do exchanges with the Flatrock sisters, that is the other ward here in Columbus so they are close. I am going there with Sister Porter and Sister Ellison is coming here with Sister McNeely. It should be fun! It's getting really hot here and I am sweating a lot.. I just keep telling myself I only have one summer and I can make it! I am looking forward to this week though and things are just going to get better!  I am reading the Book of Mormon again and I just started Alma. I am almost to my favorite story of Ammon! I also know that I have shared this scripture before but I just love this scripture so I am sharing it again! It's Alma 5: 45-46 "and this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety? Behold I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me." I just love that scripture because it is just such a strong testimony from Alma and it's exactly how everyone should gain a testimony! We can't just rely on others, we must fast and pray to know for ourselves through the Holy Spirit of God. A testimony isn't just going to magically appear! I love this church and love being a missionary (usually)!

Thanks Mom for telling me that grocery prices have gone up, I thought they had. When you said that randomly the members there buy groceries for the Missionaries that is so great!  Here in the States we don’t have a lot per month for groceries and other things so if anyone ever wonders what to do for service you bet “Give Groceries to a Missionary”!  Hope everyone has a good week! 

 Love,

Sister Price