Sunday, June 1, 2014

"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

 

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