HOT! but tender mercies and small miracles abound here- July 28, 2014

Hey Everyone!!

 

  Ok well this has been a pretty busy, exciting week! I am trying to decide where to start. I think I will go through the investigators and say how they are doing first. 

Carrie: Carrie is fabulous! She is solid for her baptism date on Sept. 13. She was funny last night, she was like, I have decided that is when I want to be baptized, what do I need to do? We said she just needs to keep doing what she is doing. She went out of town to Louisiana this weekend so she didn't make it to church. She is super excited about her trip! I think the plans you have so far are great Mom. She is down for doing all things church related and to do with the church! She doesn't have any allergies and she is pretty adventerous. However I do have to request that you take a stop at the barn because she wants to meet Gary! She is really friendly so I think she can handle the compound. She loves to talk and she is an officer in the army so she doesn't really get intimidated by much. She is pretty fantastic! Definitely go to temple square, oh and she wants to go to In-n-out because she loves it and she never gets to go there because they are all out west! That was like her only request yesterday. 

Destini: Also fabulous. We went over the baptismal interview questions with her again and she just has the most awesome answers! She is definitely ready. She gets interviewed on Wednesday so we us and the ward mission people are going to fast that day. We had dinner and a lesson with her at the Carter's on Tuesday and it was so good. Then Brother Carter had her stay for coordination meeting, which was surprising but fun! I have a feeling she is going to have a ward mission calling after she gets baptized! She is still really worried about Marshall going on a mission but I think she has a better understanding now, and Sister Sevy will stalk him for her when she gets home! She is just really awesome.

Cheryl: Oh Cheryl. She is going to get baptized soon, I can just feel it. She was kind of a rollercoaster this week. On Wednesday she was super depressed and woe is me sounding. She hadn't been taking her Paxil though so I am pretty sure that is why. Then on Saturday we saw her and she had been taking it so she was feeling much happier! Since she loved Our Search for Happiness so much Brother Carter said we should take her a marvelous work and a wonder so we did! She had just started the introduction yesterday. She has also been talking about how much she has been wanting to finish her education because she stopped when she was so close but everyone keeps telling her she is too old and that she is just going to live in that old house in Georgia for the rest of her life and die there. She says she is determined not to do that! We mentioned that there is something the church does called the Pathways program but we didn't know much about it so we would research it. Heavenly Father has a plan, because yesterday we had a combined RS/Priesthood lesson and it was all about the Pathways program!! It was so cool! It sounds like the perfect thing for Cheryl. Then we went over last night and told her all about it, the only catch is you have to be a member to do it and the regristration deadline is Aug 25! She really loved it though and she sounds like she is really close! She just has a struggle with the "one true church" thing. I love Cheryl though! She has just progressed so much since I got here! It's amazing!

Lee's: Oh boy. OK so we went and visited Sister Lee on Thursday and her dog Duncan was not doing well at all. His health has been deteriorating lately and they took him to the vet that day and found out he has diabetes so they started treating him for that. We read some with her, she always has the funniest insights on the Book of Mormon. She thinks they should just ditch Laman and Lemuel because they are just dragging everyone down. She is funny. Then we were at dinner on Friday and we get this call from her phone, then when I answer it was her husband so I was really confused. He asked what we were doing and if we had any plans later that night, I said not really, whats up and then he said that Duncan had just died and his wife had asked if we could come be with her. So so sad!! We said of course just let us finish dinner and then we will be right up. It was so sad! She was in the middle of cooking dinner and he just kind of laid down on the floor and died. We went and sat with her and then we cleaned up her kitchen because dinner was sort of all over and helped her feed their daughter. It was super tragic, but good because it totally softened his heart toward us! He was very thankful that we came and I think now he understands that we really do care about her, we aren't just looking for a baptism. Heavenly Father has a plan, sometimes its just really sad! They came to church yesterday and she seems to be doing better. It was really, really tragic though! 

Misc: On Wednesday we had exchanges, I was with Sister Eggett. She is really fun! She is a little spacy though so I am not sure if I could be her companion all the time. We taught a girl named Queneshia a few lessons and then yesterday she texted us asking for money and yesterday when we said we couldn't give her any she texted back a while later and said she had found a different church and didn't want to meet with us anymore. We are going to see if we can stop by and talk to her though. We had a really interesting experience on Saturday. We were contacting in the ghetto ( sometimes we go there because they are a lot nicer than the people we usually knock into) a few weeks ago and this lady asked if we give prayers of healing so we said well sort of and set up a time we could come back with the Elders! We went back on Saturday and we taught her the first lesson and talked a lot about priesthood and taught her about blessings and then the Elders gave her a blessing. The Dr. says she needs to have surgery but she didn't want to so she wanted a blessing. It actually went really well! She said during the blessing she had a really warm, peacefull feeling, just like she was just being filled with warmth so then we talked about the feelings of the Holy Ghost. It was pretty cool and we have a return appointment with her! We got a few referrals from ward members this week so that was cool! It has been a pretty good week! This week is going to be busy and then we have transfer calls on Saturday. Ah! I can't believe this transfer is over! I have been reading in Jeremiah this week, poor guy! Talk about no one wanting to listen to him. He gets thrown in jail and he wants to stop teaching but he can't because God called him to teach. Everyone is really wicked and there are tons of false prophets and they are killing the real prophets. The people are just a mess. He had a really hard time! I just feel bad for him. Thanks everyone for the emails and birthday cards! Heavenly Father loves everyone and has a perfect plan and its just pretty amazing! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Price

Pictures of Birthday banners, turtles and confederate flags- july 28, 2014

MY BIRTHDAY BANNER!! THANKS SIS. SEVY!!

YES, THAT IS A CONFEDERATE FLAG IN THE BACK OF THAT SUPERB VEHICLE!!

HERE ARE THE TURTLES! THEY ARE NOT VERY BIG FELLAS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!-JULY 21, 2014

                                                                                                July 21, 2014

 

Hey Everyone!

 Thanks for all the birthday wishes! It was a pretty great week. Monday Sister Sevy was really not feeling well and she hadn't been for a few days so we went over to Brother Carter's and he gave her a blessing. It was good and he talked a lot to her about how she shouldn't push herself too much which I keep trying to tell her but she won't listen to me. Then Tuesday we had district meeting and then we had exchanges with Auburn! Sister Sevy stayed in Columbus with Sister MacDuff and I went to Auburn with Sister Schmidt. Sister Schmidt went to Bountiful High and was an officer there and she says she knows who Colby is. We had a good day up there! Sister Schmidt is cool, she just stresses A LOT most of the time so we talked about how it's ok if plans fall through and she can relax. It doesn't say anywhere in Preach My Gospel or the white handbook that to be an effective missionary you have to be stressed out. She is great though. I like her a lot. Oh but on the car ride back from Auburn I all of a sudden got super nauseous and they had to pull over to the side of the road so I could throw up. It was really weird. I think it was a combination of the fact that I drank water from the tap and that always makes me nauseous and the heat and the driving but anyway. That happened. Then we got to the apartment and Sister Sevy and Sister MacDuff had made me a birthday banner! It was awesome, I will send pictures of it. Then they hung out for a bit while I opened presents! They were super awesome!! I also loved the card. It was pretty great. Then, Thursday we had a lesson with Carrie! It was super awesome. She is one of my favorite people right now. We talked about some of the commandments and about baptism. We also had a lesson with Cheryl. When we first went over to Cheryl's she was having a bad day and said she didn't want to go to church because she doesn't like our services and was just kind of letting all of her frustrations out. Then we didn't say much, she just kind of got it all out and by the end she was like, Ok you have convinced me I will go to church. It was really funny because we didn't say anything. Then we read 2 Ne. 2:21 with her because her sister thinks that our life here on earth is meant to be miserable so we read that scripture that says "Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy." and then we read Elder Maynes talk from last October conference about having the strength to endure. At the end she said it was just what she needed to hear and that she was trying to be spiritually lazy and she needed to stop it. Then Sister Sevy had the brilliant idea to take her the book "Our Search for Happiness" by Elder Ballard and she has loved that book! Then next time we went to visit her she was the happiest I have ever seen her and she was so excited about the book! She says everyone who wants to know more about the church should read it because it's so good. We also had appointments with Destini  Thursday and Friday and she is awesome! Thursday and Friday were beautiful, non-humid days in like the 80's so we had our lessons outside in the park! It was awesome! It has just been so cool to see the change in Destini since we first started teaching her and how she is now just so excited about the gospel and learning! It is just amazing! She is being interviewed for baptism on Friday!  Then Saturday we helped at a spanish baptism with the spanish elders. It was good, except it was all in spanish and I was playing the piano and the song I thought was the opening song wasn't right so everyone was singing in spanish to the wrong song! It was hilarious. Then Sunday we had Destini, Carrie and Cheryl all come to church! Carrie came to the family ward because she didn't feel like driving to Auburn. Also, Cheryl came to church!!! It was so exciting. I had to play the organ again and it went pretty well. Then we visited Carrie last night and told her about the temple open house and put her on date to be baptized for September 13! It was a pretty fabulous week! This letter isn't as detailed as I would like but I am running out of time. Love you all! 

 Love,

Sister Price

HAVING A MINUTE BEFORE THE POST MAN COMES-I'LL WRITE A LETTER- JULY 15, 2014

Dear Mom and Dad,

 

     I had a few minutes while waiting for the mailman and I thought I would just write a letter to you.  Sometimes on P-day there is so much to do and so many emails to send that I feel I don't really get to let you know the details of things.  One major thing I forgot to tell you was I played the Organ in church last Sunday.  I came prepared when I went out on my mission but have never been needed until now.  The lady who usually plays was going to be out of town, and I had shared in ward council a long time ago that if needed I could play the Organ.  All the other missionaries at the time and some of the ward members scolded me on sharing that information saying "You should never have said you knew how to play, now you will be playing the organ all the time".  Well of course, when I decided to learn to play the organ at 15 it was for the sole purpose of being able to play the hymns in church!!   The Bishop was good about letting me know a few days ahead which songs to practice, but it was such a busy week I only got to practice a small amount.  Heavenly Father did bless me I was able to play them just fine considering I have not played an organ in more than a year!  I played Hymn 78,195,339 & 156.  All of our meetings on sunday went really well, Bro. Carter asked Destini to say the opening prayer in Sunday School that was a little alarming but she did great!! It's amazing the difference in her and the progression since we first started teaching her, it was really cool.  That is an interesting story about the conversion of the Elder that is in your ward, I am interested to know more about his conversion, maybe sometime you can ask him the details.  Sis. Sevy's twin brother is serving in the St. George mission and right now he is in Manti, he says missions to Utah are the best kept secret ever!!

    I really like D&C 10:62-63 and you and dad's insights on contention.  I'm not sure what is the problem with Brandon.  He definitely needs to find some humbleness and let the spirit speak to his heart.  It's almost like he just can't handle that Sisters are teaching his family and that we have knowledge that he does not have yet since he has only been a member less than a year. He does have a problem though not seeing women as equals, which is irritating!  I think if I could take him trap shooting and beat the crap out of him and then talk to him it might just make a difference!  But I know I can't because I am a missionary, oh well.  I do have to say thanks to you Dad for raising me like you did when we were doing things you didn't ever tell me there was something I couldn't do because I was a girl!  Out here is still so old-fashioned, I'm constantly hearing "Oh you can't do that, it's a mans job".  You know how I feel about that!!  Then I have to do it and do it well, so thank you again Dad for never saying that to me and letting me know I was capable of doing pretty much whatever I set my mind to.

     Sis. Sevy and I were contemplating how to get Carrie to the Ogden Temple open house.  We were going to bring it up with her on Wednesday when we see her.  I'm glad we are on the same wavelength mom (yay, us).   She does really want to go to an open house somewhere.  She is so cool!!  She told us she asked her friend in New Mexico for a blessing which we thought was neat, she is just a really amazing person.

     I do have a small blender, it is a travel size and converts into a drink bottle, I bought it awhile back in Augusta.  So allergy free but tasty protein drinks would be great.

     First "Cops" in Augusta and now "Cold Justice" in Columbus.  Well that is one way to see the areas I'm in!  There is a huge train yard in Columbus and none of the tracks have barriers, sometimes they have flashing lights.  All of the grass here is weird and brown and poky, even around the nice houses.  I do miss our lawn a lot and our garden with fresh produce.  There are lots of things I will be very grateful for when I get home.  Sounds like Gage is having fun being a Zone Leader.  it is busy but can be fun also.  Hopefully he is a little more peppy than our Zone Leaders, they are kind of a drag, I think they don't get along very well, Poor Guys!

     I just your package from the mail man!!  Yay!  The card you all recorded for me is pretty fabulous!!  I quite like it!!  So many presents that I have to resist opening them until my Birthday!!  It won't be to bad to wait because I have exchanges and will be gone all day Tuesday and part of Wednesday.  I'm excited, it will be a great Birthday for me also because we get to see and teach Carrie that day!!  Well I will wrap it up, I feel like there is more I want to share but I have missionary Alzheimers, hopefully it goes away when I get home.  Love you lots!!   Love Sis. Price

 

 

 

REALLY, REALLY, HOT AND HUMID AND GROSS! July 14, 2014

Hey Everyone!!                                                                                                July 14, 2014

 Ok well this was a pretty busy week. We had exchanges and then we had to train at our ZTM(zone training meeting) and things were just kind of crazy. Ok on Monday we went and saw Cheryl and that was good. She is doing really well but I will get to that later. Then Tuesday we had exchanges with Lanette area sisters. I stayed here with Sister Frandsen and Sister Sevy went to Lanette with Sister Roden. It was fun! We had a really good lesson with Destini we talked about fasting and read the Book of Mormon with her she is doing awesome. Then we had a good coordination meeting. We decided to kind of back off with Brittani and Brandon for a while and just let the Jones' fellowship them. Super great news we are going to try and put Carrie on date for baptism when we visit on Wednesday and we almost have Destini on date!  Wednesday we wrapped up exchanges and saw Cheryl again. We went and helped her clean up her house a little and helped her with the laundry that she was super way behind on. It was just piled all over her laundry room and she was overwhelmed by it all. We ended up taking like four loads to our apartment and washing them in our washer and dryer so she didn't feel so overwhelmed. Her house still needs a lot of work but at least it looks a little better. It has been really deathly hot this week  super humid and in the high 90's, Some days you could seriously like see the haze and humidity in the air!  I am really grateful that I only have one summer  that's what I keep telling myself. Then Thursday we had ZTM and gave our trainings! I think they went really well. Our comp training on the pamphlets was really good. We talked about how the pamphlets have started to become a flip chart instead of the tool they were originally supposed to be, so we talked about how to fix that. We started out with Sister Sevy and I doing a really bad role play with the pamphlets and then talked about how to fix some teaching methods. Then we had the missionaries get together and we blindfolded a companionship and made them teach with a blindfold on so they had to listen to the Spirit and to the investigators! It was really fun, I think people had a good time. Then after we went to Hibachi grill. It's this Asian buffet and everyone loves it but it isn't that good, it always makes me nauseous after and it's not worth the $10 at all. Then Sister Sevy really didn't feel good so we went home and rested for a bit and finished doing Cheryl's laundry. Then on Friday we had a really good lesson with Destini! Brother Carter just started a Book of Mormon class on Wednesday nights so she had come to that and afterward we were talking and Brother Carter challenged Destini to pray about being baptized on August 2. She agreed! Then we went on Friday to check up on that challenge and she hadn't felt like she had received an answer but she felt like she doesn't know everything she needs to know to be baptized. She feels like she needs to have read the Book of Mormon and have all knowledge before she gets baptized! We showed her the Mormon message with Elder Anderson where it talks about not needing to know everything and that you know enough. She really liked it and said that it helped her! Then we went over the baptismal interview questions with her and talked about how if she felt comfortable with those questions then she knew enough to be baptized. She agreed to set a date to be interviewed and she has a tentative baptism date for August 2! She is doing so awesome! Marshall really wants to be able to baptize her before he leaves on his mission on August 13 so we are having faith that it can happen! Then we had dinner with a family who lives on post and I got dreadfully lost because one of the main connecting bridges is closed and the GPS doesn't know that so it kept trying to make me go on closed roads! I was really worried that I was going to end up on a road that I wasn't supposed to be on and get arrested or something! It was really hilarious because I am just directionally challenged and get lost so easily and its just so much worse in Georgia! We finally made it and found our destination. We went on and off post like three times, I'm pretty sure the gate guys now think we are insane. Then Saturday we had  a really interesting experience! We had this guy who Sister McNeely and Sister Stout found a long time ago who wanted to meet with us again so he gave us this address and we went over there and it was this super junky looking yard that didn't have a house number and this guy in the front yard throwing wood around and we were like oh man that is probably the house, this is going to be super awkward. It was indeed the house but it wasn't as awkward as we thought! Sister Sevy is really awesome at talking to people so we had a really great conversation with him and we are going to try and teach him again this week. Then we visited a lady who was baptized last year who keeps bringing her granddaughter to church so we wanted to see if her granddaughter wanted to learn more! She is just the cutest old lady. Then we went and tried to visit this member family Brother Carter wanted us to see. He said that the Mom of the family had shown interest in having a luncheon  with her neighbors and the missionaries! We thought that was cool so we went to visit her. Holy awkward member experience. We knock on the door and her husband answers and he just stares at us for a minute, no smile, no hi nice to see you nothing, and then proceeds to say that they were already members and then just went back to staring. We tried to  make  conversation and explain why we were there and ya we were aware they were already members but he was  just  not having it and was rude. It ended up that the wife wasn't home so we will try back later. Hopefully next time he doesn't open the door. Just a note to everyone, if the missionaries knock on your door, don't stare at them like they are crazy and say you are already members! We are aware that you are members, we know where all of the members live! We get stared at like we are crazy enough from other people, we don't need it from the members! At least look happy to see us and ask if we want a drink of water or something. Anything! Then Sunday was a really good day! All of the speakers and lessons were really good. We had a lesson with Cheryl and found out how her sisters visit was. She is just frustrated because her sister won't help her with her mom and just wants to talk about herself and how Cheryl is a failure. Also apparently Cheryl's Aunt said that no way is Cheryl  getting baptized or they will take Cheryl  to court about not being able to properly care for the mother. I'm not sure how religion can be give them a case of who gets to care for the mother  but that is the threat It will work out though!  There has been such a huge improvement in Cheryl since we first started teaching her, she is motivated to read her scriptures now and she wants to keep cleaning up her house  she has been taking her insulin regularly and keeping her blood sugar at more normal levels! It's amazing the change in her  from when I first met her! She is really great, I love her. She did have more teeth pulled so now she has even less teeth, Oh well, poor Cheryl. She is just a really great motivation to floss because she got gum disease and an infection and now has to have all of her teeth pulled! Moral of that story is floss and brush every day! We shared 1 Nephi 3:7 with her and told her that its a commandment to be baptized and the Lord always provides a way for us to do the things he has commanded!  Cheryl has been coming to church regularly and has good ward support, like I said she has changed greatly in health, cleaniliness, ability to care for her Mom, but sadly now less teeth.   We have a really great week planned and hopefully we can get Sister Sevy feeling better! I love Columbus even though it is hot like death but  things are going pretty great! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 Love,

Sister Price

 P.S.  Thanks for the email Kaye I love all emails and letters they brighten my week!! Thanks to all who remember missionaries!!

 

FOURTH OF JULY ACCESSORIES! JULY 7, 2014

WE TOOK SELFIES OF OUR FOURTH OF JULY FINERY THAT YOU SENT!  SIS. SEVY AND MYSELF.

FOURTH OF JULY! July 7, 2014

Hey Everyone!                                                             July 7, 2014

   Ok well first off last Monday we had an awesome lesson with Carrie. We talked about the priesthood and just all of the things it can do. She is super awesome and I could probably write this whole letter about how awesome she is. Then she wanted to have a lesson on temples so we had another lesson with her Thursday night before she left! It was really awesome. She really wants to go to a temple open house. She also looked up all the anti-mormon things on the internet and decided that none of it made sense and it was just people fishing for bad things to say. Basically she is a super awesome person. She has been sending us pictures from her trip and texting us and she is having a good time. Then that evening we had the FHE, Sister Jones got sick so we just ended up with Sis. Sevy and myself having FHE with Brittani and Brandon,It was ok. I think for some reason Brandon does not like us so that gets a little awkward he just really becomes contentious when we are teaching! We also decided he just needs hit with the humble hammer a few times!  We are trying to decide where to go with them we are slightly perplexed. Then Carrie had planned an FHE for the YSA people in Columbus so we went over to that for a while. Did I mention that she is awesome! On Tuesday we had exchanges with the Flatrock sisters. I stayed here with Sister Tevi and Sister Sevy went with Sister Porter it was interesting, poor Sister Sevy was super tired by the end. I went and saw Cheryl with Sister Tevi and we had a good lesson with her. We figured out that she has been praying to know if the church is true but has been avoiding the answer, silly Cheryl. Then on Friday when we saw her we had a really good lesson. I had assigned her to read Alma 32 the whole chapter but then I forgot why I assigned it to her but I knew there was a reason! She hadn't read it so on Friday we decided to read it with her! It was really funny because we got about halfway through and she said "Stop! Sister Price you little devil, you chose this on purpose. This scripture really speaks to me. It really does." It was really funny so I think that was really good, it was a game changer for Cheryl. We are going to go over on Wednesday and help her clean and rearrange her house. Then on Wednesday we exchanged back and poor Sister Sevy was exhausted so I let her rest for a bit. Then on Thursday it was MLC (missionary leadership conference)! MLC was really good we talked about a lot of things and discussed situations in our mission a lot, it is always very inspiring. Next week is ZTM and together our training will be on the pamphlet lesson and getting better at those, Sister Sevy is training on Obedience and faith and developing a culture of those in our mission and I am training on keeping an eye single to the glory of god. It should be fun. It was brought up that we need to be better at listening as we are teaching so we are going to do a role play where we blindfold people and make them teach. It should be fun. After MLC we had our awesome lesson with Carrie! Then Friday was the 4th of July. Georgia is boring on the 4th. Everyone we tried to talk to was mostly grumpy, no one was at the parks having picnics or anything and there were no parades or fireworks. I don't know if that is all of Georgia or just Columbus. Then we decided to have our own little party and made smore's over the stove in our kitchen. It was great! Then on Saturday we tried to find the farmers market and contact but it took us a while! We decided this week we would search it out and next week we can contact. Then we had lessons with Brittani and then Shamiracle but Sister Sevy was feeling really nauseous so we came home and rested for a bit. Then Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. It was a really good meeting, there were a lot of really wonderful testimonies. There were also a bunch of ward members who brought friends to church! It was awesome. We are trying to contact all of them to see if their friends are interested in learning more. There was also a nonmember who has been coming for a while who brought a friend! It was awesome. Things are going great here in Georgia! I am going to share a scripture that we talked about in Sunday School about fasting that I really liked. It's Isaiah 58: 6-8 "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed to free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward." I love how the first verse talks about why we fast, that its a choice we make and we do it to loose the bands of wickedness and focus more on spiritual things. Then he talks about how as we fast we should help those who are in need  like we do when we give fast offerings. Then the last verse talks about the blessings we receive from fasting and my favorite is the end when it says "the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward" because when you look in the footnotes under "rereward" it says that means he will be behind us to guard us. I love that promise, that as we fast we will grow in righteousness and the Lord will be behind us to guard us. I had never really understood the blessings of fasting but I really love them! I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Price