I LOVE BEING IN THE SOUTH! IT IS ALMOST LIKE BEING IN FARMINGTON UTAH!-ELDER KOPISCHKE-AUG. 24, 2014

Hey Everyone!!

   Wow. This has been quite the week! Many ups and downs and many workings of Satan. I kind of don't know how to feel right now! There is a lot to tell so I will try to get it all. Ok Monday was alright. Sister Sevy felt pretty sick so we didn't do a whole lot. Tuesday we had to get an oil change on our car and that took forever. We also taught a few lessons and saw the Lee's. It was a pretty good day. Then Wednesday was our mission conference with Elder Kopischke! It was amazing! Everyone was really worried he was going to reprimand us like Elder Aidukaitis did so we were all a little wary. He was super awesome though! At the beginning he had us all write down questions that we had and have the faith that through the spirit they would be answered! It was perfect because just the night before I had all these questions I was praying about and really asking Heavenly Father to answer and when he said that it was the answer to my prayer! I immediately wrote down all of my questions. Then later in the conference when he spoke again, we had more of a discussion. He would say something and then he would ask what did you learn and we talked about it. He talked a lot about faith and the doctrine of Christ. He also talked about ways to work with members and investigators to help them feel the spirit and be curious. It was just pretty amazing all the way around! I learned so much! There was one point when he was talking about faith and going through things as taught in Alma 32, right then I knew it was just what Brittani needed! He talked about having the people we are teaching write down questions and talk with them about having the faith that they will be answered during church through the Holy Ghost. There were so many good things! It was kind of a spiritual overload, but I really loved it! Plus I got to see Sister McNeely and other people that I haven't seen for a while and it was pretty fantastic! Thursday was also a really good day. We saw Gabriel and she is doing really well and we also saw Diamond. Diamond is very interesting. She has a lot of issues but she really wants to change and progress and she reads the Book of Mormon and loves coming to church. It helps me remember that the gospel is for everyone and Christ spent a lot of time with those who were very needful and how grateful they were! I really like her! Then we went and saw a lady named Rose, her story is kind of long and confusing but she has been coming to church with her husband. She had surgery a few weeks ago so we have been really trying to have the ward fellowship her and help her and I think it has helped her a lot! She is Catholic but I think she will come around. Then Friday we saw Diamond again and had a really good lesson with her about the Word of Wisdom. Then we went and saw Brittani! We had the most fantastic lesson with her! We talked all about faith and she loved it and had really awesome answers and things to say the whole lesson. It was a really powerful lesson! Then Friday night we were on lockdown because I guess there were some crazies threatening to kill a bunch of people. Brittani was really sweet and called to warn us that we shouldn't be out walking the streets that night. She was the only person in the ward who warned us! It was very touching! Then Saturday rolled around! Sister Sevy felt really sick that day so we didn't do much. Plus it has been SO HOT this week! It has been like 106 + all week and super humid. It seriously feels like you are going to die as soon as you step outside and that makes Sister Sevy feel even more sick. We didn't do much that day but then stake conference Saturday session rolled around! It was an amazing session and the spirit was so strong! The theme was”Hastening the work of Salvation” and they had some recent converts bear their testimonies and Elder Kopischke kept asking what people were learning. It was more of a discussion then and the spirit was really strong! At the end he was asking what impressions people had received from tonight and people were answering and it was really good! Then all of a sudden this person in the way back started talking and we both realized it was Brittani and we were like uh what is she doing?!! She said that she wasn't a member of the church and had been meeting with the sisters for a long time and tonight she felt really impressed that she needed to be baptized! It was so amazing! She finally had her "aha" moment! Sister Sevy and I both started bawling! Then after it was over everyone wanted to meet her and there was like a whole posse following us around. I felt bad for poor Brittani it was a little overwhelming but she was a trooper!  It was really a miracle because of her total change of heart! We went over yesterday and talked to her and set a date for Sept. 20! Her husband will baptize her. It was so funny because her husband  wasn't at the Saturday Session and then the next day we saw him and he came up to us and was like "so I heard there were some interesting developments that happened last night" and we were like ya way to try and be cool about it. Brittani told us secretly that when she told him she wanted to be baptized he cried!  You can tell he is super happy!  There were some struggles during the week too. Carrie is struggling but it is just Satan getting to her so we are going to work with her and help her. She will be fine in the end, just some temporary set backs! One thing I have decided to do is study about Satan since he seems to be coming up so much lately in our investigators lives. It sounds like a weird thing to do but I felt it would be helpful, “Study the enemies Tactics, that is what all good soldiers do right”!  As I have continued to study in the scriptures and the prophets teachings  the most mentioned and therefore the most helpful is “OBEYING GODS COMMANDMENTS AS A PROTECTION AGAINST THE INFLUENCE OF SATAN”! My patriarchal blessing states “Your obedience to the commandments of the Lord will be as a wall of protection for you against the onslaughts of the adversary.  You will know and see how he moves about among the children of men.” I have to know how to be able to stop him from getting to those I love!!   Elder Kopischke is so cool, he is german so he has a way cool accent.  He was having a really hard time understanding the southern sounding people!! Someday I want to be as knowledgeable as he is!!!  Missionary work is awesome though! I love being a missionary! I love Heavenly Father and his plan and how the spirit works and I am so thankful I get to be here and see all these miracles. Everyone pray that I get to stay here another transfer so I can see Brittani get baptized and help work out everyone else's problems!!  I love all of you and don't forget to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost! Have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Price

 

Cute missionaries at Conference with Elder Kopischke, August 24, 2014

SISTER DROLLINGER(companion to kaitlyn in the MTC), SISTER PRICE, SISTER SEVY, SISTER MCDUFF-CONFERENCE WITH ELDER KOPISCHKE

"Ya'll are like my Sponsors, My Sponsors for Christ!!" August 18, 2014

August 18, 2014

Hey Everyone!

 

  Well it has been quite the week! We have had a lot going on. Gabriel did get baptized on Saturday so we had to marathon teach her all of the lessons! We are going to have to do a really good job on the new member lessons so that she really learns everything! She is really sweet though and her grandma was so happy. Destini got called as a ward missionary! She is so awesome. She gives us her work schedule every week and then we take her out teaching with us when she doesn't have to work. She is like the best fellowhipper ever! Alright well not much happened on Monday. Most of our plans fell through so we visited people on the roster to see if they still live there. Tuesday was a very busy day though! The Elders gave us an investigator named Diamond because she is a single women so it is easier for us to teach her. She has a few mental health issues but she is pretty cool! She is really sincere about wanting to learn and she reads and keeps all the commitments we leave her and she has come to church twice! She has had a rough life but she really wants to learn and she loves the feeling she gets when we come over and at our church. We also had a lesson with a lady named Shavonne, she was quite the roller coaster this week. We met her at an apartment complex when we were trying to visit someone else and she walked by so we talked to her and gave her a card. We taught her on Tuesday and it was amazing! The spirit was really strong and it was just a really awesome lesson. She believed everything, knew it was true and commited to pray about being baptized on Sept 20! We set up a return appt for Thursday and we were going to take Destini and it was going to be awesome! Well Thursday came and we had Zone Training Meeting and it was really good! I really like the new zone leaders (One is Elder Jones who is the nephew of Todd and Debbie Sorenson from our old Ward, he is like 6'8) they are very hardworking and they gave really good trainings. The new Sister Training Leaders did well too. I feel so bad for them! One is a Sister who just got placed in our mission from temple square and they got put in an area where Elders had been so they know nothing about the area and have no investigators! They have their work cut out for them! They are super nice and energetic though. They are fun. The sister who came from temple square is from portugal and her name is Sister Araujo. I still can't say it correctly. Then we texted Shavonne to confirm our appt and she said she needed to reschedule for later. Then a little while later she texted and said that she had gone back to her old church and didn't want to meet with us anymore because she didn't want to get confused. In other words she got super anti'd by someone. It's hard when you know they received a confirmation that it's true and then the adversary gets to them! It's just really difficult and really sad! We were feeling really depressed and all of our appts fell through so we went over to Destini's and chilled for a bit so we could remake plans and we helped her write a letter to Marshall( he is in the Mexico MTC then will serve in California). She helped us send a really awesome text to Shavonne! Shavonne hadn't answered but Destini's idea was really great. Also on Thursday we found out that Carrie's house had gotten broken into! She was a little frazzled so we went to help her clean up and she talked a lot. She talked more about her trip to Utah and showed us pictures. She said you had told her about the Rameumptom  because of that church that is here in Columbus that people climb onto it and holler their prayers out loud!  So we read the story in the Book of Mormon so she understood what we were talking about.  Then we had Gabriel's baptismal interview! It was quite a scramble to get her interviewed because she was out and about all day on Thursday. We made it happen though and she passed! She got baptized on Saturday. It was really strange, it feels like we didn't have to work hard enough for it and it kind of feels not real. It was good though. Her mom and sister showed up and they are also interested in learning. The Lee's are doing well. For some reason their little daughter who is about 15 months loves me! She always wants to hand me things or grab my finger and lead me around places. She gets super excited when she sees Sister Sevy and I or when we come to the door. It's really funny. She is super adorable to so she is like the one little kid who I have even been remotely tempted to pick up while on my mission. We read from the Book of Mormon and Brother Lee participated! It was really good! Then yesterday Sister Sevy was really not feeling well so we worked on our map most of the day. I never realized missionaries were such stalkers! We have lots of fabulous stalking tools, its pretty fun. We have a mission conference with Elder Kopischke this week and we are carpooling down with the Auburn sisters ( Sister MacDuff and Sister Drollinger-she was my companion from the MTC!) so that will be way fun! I am excited to get to see people I haven't seen for a while. Then we have stake conference and just a pretty busy week ahead. Hopefully Sister Sevy will survive! I might be dragging her along behind me like on a tarp or something by the end of the week. I feel bad because I have like endless stamina and mostly have an endless energy supply but she feels mostly dead all the time. Poor thing. Oh and Diamond is funny. We were having a lesson and she was talking and she was like "Ya'll are like my sponsers....my sponsers for Christ!" It was really cute. That really is what we are! Well have a great week everyone! I love you all! Oh and relating to my story of Shavonne and feeling sad about her, I was reading in D&C 39 this morning and its a revelation through Joseph Smith to this guy who was a baptist preacher. This guy had said he would follow anything the Lord told him to do through Joseph Smith, so of course the Lord told him to get baptized and to preach the gospel! Well then the next section talked about how this guy had been deceived by Satan and hadn't heeded the counsel he received. It made me really sad! It's really sad when people don't do what they know is true for whatever reason. Satan is super tricky and he knows his stuff! Don't let him deceive you! That's the end of my thought for the week. 

Love,

Sister Price

DESTINI'S BAPTISM! SPEAKING BOLDLY! August 11, 2014

Hey Everyone!                                                                         Aug. 11, 2014

 Wow it has been quite the week! We have been really busy and poor Sister Sevy has been really sick so mostly we just go to our appts and then come home so she can rest. On Monday we went and visited one of the old lady's in the ward who can't come to church due to health. She is really cute and always fun to visit. Then we had a really awesome lesson with Destini and resolved some of her concerns. Then we went and taught Shamiracle! Tuesday was also a really busy day! We had a lesson with Destini in the morning. She is just super awesome. Then we went and saw the Lee's, then a lady named Rozina and then Cheryl. Cheryl has had quite the week. I will tell you about that later. Then we had coordination meeting with Brother Carter (awesome ward mission leader) which he once again invited Destini to. She is totally going to get a calling as a ward missionary. She is pretty fabulous like that. I think it's really funny that our investigator is coming to the ward coordination meetings. Wednesday was also a really busy day! We went and did service at Damascus Way like we try to do once a week. Then after lunch we saw the Lee's again and then we went and saw this really cute older lady named Sister Jackson who has been a member for almost a  year! She is such a cute lady. We went to talk to her because her granddaughter has been coming to church with her a lot lately and we wanted to see if she wanted to learn more. We talked for a bit and then she said that her granddaughter told her the other day that she really liked church and wanted to join! We got her info and we started teaching her on Friday and she is going to get baptized this Saturday! It has been really crazy. She is way cool though and we are super excited! Then we had a lesson with Carrie! She is also super awesome. We talked about her trip and also the 10 commandments. She is pretty fantastic and she always has the greatest comments! I'm pretty sure she teaches us more than we teach her. She also got us these super adorable little gift bags with chocolate and sticky notes and gluten and soy free chocolate chips for Sister Sevy since its pretty much impossible to find soy free chocolate!  Oh and while we were home for dinner on Wednesday, our A/C went out!! It has been super hot this week so that was a huge tragedy! I thought that I might die! We had a short lesson with Destini after Book of Mormon class and taught her how to fill out tithing slips. Brother Carter was totally on one that night and was kind of going crazy(in a good way).  Then Thursday when the front office opened we let them know about our A/C and thank goodness they fixed it pretty quick. Thursday Sister Sevy really didn't feel good because we had been so busy the beginning of the week she was really tired. We decided to do our weekly planning that day because Friday had already pretty much filled up with appointments. We have also been taking some Laurels out with us and really trying to get the ward more involved! Now that they are mostly done moving around with the army it is easier. There are some pretty awesome Laurels in this ward! We had one last lesson with Destini Friday morning. Then after lunch we went and had a lesson with Sister Jackson's granddaughter! She is so cool! She loved everything and her grandma has a really awesome testimony and the lesson was just really great. Then we went and saw a few other people. Cheryl canceled our Friday appt so we didn't end up seeing her. However! There was a super miracle Friday night. There was a wedding at the church on Saturday and they had asked me to play the piano for the wedding, OK.  We met the lady at the church Friday evening so I could practice while she set things up. It was about 8 at night when we got there and around 8:45 as we were getting ready to leave there was this knock on the church door. The lady we were with went and opened it and the man said that his granddaughter was getting baptized in this church tomorrow (Saturday) and he was really concerned because he didn't know anything about it! Sis. Sevy and I said  "Oh you mean Destini!" Between us and the member we were able to help him feel a lot better about his granddaughter getting baptized and by the end of our conversation he said that he was ok with it and it seemed like a good church. It was an absolutely  huge miracle  that we were there at the church at that time! Heavenly Father really does have an awesome plan! I know that Heavenly Father knows each one of us personally and knows exactly what is needed when it is needed, there are no coincidences!  Saturday was the baptism! It was really wonderful. Sister Sevy gave the talk on Baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy ghost and there were lots of people there and Destini was just so happy when she came up out of the water she was absolutely GLOWING! Then we stayed for the wedding and after that was done went over and taught another lesson to Sister Jackson's granddaughter. We decided to teach Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity next to make sure she was living those before baptism. We went with a Laurel we had never taught with before but it went really well! Then later that evening we had a lesson with Cheryl.That was an interesting lesson! She started out talking about how she just wasn't sure about the church and all of these things that she keeps repeating. Then I just kind of got slightly frustrated with her and I shared our lesson and Sister Sevy said it was like she didn't even know who I was!  Apparently I said some really bold things that she was a little shocked by! I shared the” Gospel of Jesus Christ” lesson but I don't really remember what I said! Apparently it was unlike me but I remember being filled with a message that I felt so strongly needed to be shared with her right then! However Cheryl did come to church yesterday! Cheryl doesn't like how we don't have a pastor but I think she will get over that. After church we discussed with Cheryl that Bro Carter wanted to give her a blessing to help her. We also wanted to teach Sister Jacksons granddaugher after church so Sister Sevy went on splits with Destini(our newest member of the church) to teach her and I went with Sister Jones to be with Cheryl. It was really busy! Bro Carter talked to Cheryl and gave her a blessing and then he put her on date for August 30 and told her to pray about it! It was like she was a totally different person because she actually agreed! I couldn't believe it! Destini's confirmation was awesome and she was pretty much just glowing the whole time. She shared an awesome testimony with Gabrielle (the granddaughter of Sis. Jackson) and they hit it off really well.! Brother Carter has decided to challenge our ward to have one baptism every week for the next 12 weeks! I know we are going to be able to do it because miracles are already happening!  Friday night our A/C decided to go out again and then Saturday night the whole top of the faucet for our sink came off. Our apartment is pretty much falling apart. Oh well. Hopefully it holds together a little longer. I need to send this off so I have time to do other things so sorry, no spiritual thought today. The gospel is wonderful and true and it really does change lives! I love you all and you are pretty wonderful!

 Love, Sister Price

P.S. Tammy Elder Stilson just got transferred into my district!  We also received some Sisters that have been serving in the Temple Square Mission in Salt Lake, how fun, it will be great to feel of their spirit and enthusiasm.  Can’t wait to hear how Carries time in Utah was with you Mom and Dad and hear about the Ogden Temple Open house.  Love you all!

PICTURES OF DESTINI'S BAPTISM! THE CHATTAHOOCHEE! AUG. 11, 2014

HERE IS THE RIVERWALK, THIS IS THE CHATTAHOOCHEE! LOOKING TO THE RIGHT IS GEORGIA, TO THE LEFT IS ALABAMA!

HERE I AM! BEHIND ME IS THE COLUMBUS WATER TOWER, THE BUILDINGS BEHIND ME ARE NOW RENOVATED APARTMENTS.

L-R- SIS. SEVY, BRO. CARTER, DESTINI, MARSHALL(DESTINIES BOYFRIEND, LEAVES FOR THE MTC WED.) SIS. PRICE

WHAT A GREAT BAPTISM DAY FOR DESTINI-SHE WILL DO GREAT THINGS!!

SIS. SEVY, DESTINI, MARSHALL, SIS. PRICE



SIS. SEVY LOVES TO LEAVE MESSAGES WITH THE WASHABLE CRAYONS!! THAT IS MY HAND!

10 MONTHS! August 4, 2014

Hey Everyone!

 

   Well I'm staying in Columbus for another transfer! We aren't Sister Training Leaders anymore which I think is ok because it was a lot and I think it made Sister Sevy more sick. Now we can just focus on making our area even more awesome than it already is! Man this week Satan decided to have it out for us and our investigators. Here is a recap.

Carrie: Last Sunday night a bat got into her house through her chimney and attacked and bit her when she went inside her house. She now has to get the whole round of rabies shots and they are making her really sick and not feel good so we haven't seen her all week! We are really sad about this and really worried about her.

Destini: She is doing good! We had great lessons all week, she passed her baptismal interview!! Yay! She went and waited for Marshall at the temple on Saturday and loved it! She does have some personal concerns that could be a challenge but we are going to try and clear those up tonight. Other than that she is doing well! 

Lee's: Sister Lee is still pretty sad/depressed. However Brother Lee continues to like us more! I don't think he would admit it but he does like us. He informed us that apparently some Dr. contracted Ebola over in Africa and is now in Atlanta being treated/probably dying because Ebola has a really high mortality rate. He was very impressed that I knew what Ebola was. We go over quite often and read the Book of Mormon with her and he is actually starting to participate! 

Cheryl: She had a rough week, kept canceling our appointments and she has all of these sores from her uncontrolled diabetes. We went over last night and got her back on track so hopefully she will start progressing again. 

Sister Sevy has been feeling pretty rough most of the week. We had exchanges with Phenix City and that was fun! I went there with Sister Gray and we taught the Plan of Salvation to a guy who was high and got a referral from a drunk guy! It was pretty entertaining. I feel like there is more I should be telling but for some reason I can't remember anything right now. We had dinner with this really awesome family last night, the Pearce's. They are all super outgoing! They are really excited about missionary work though and the mom really wants to go out with us! She is pretty awesome! Then as we were leaving, she gave me a loaf of homemade wheat bread, which is pretty much what I have been craving since I left on my mission! It was basically a dream come true and it is delicious! I was super happy because of that! I was reading in Helaman this morning and I really loved this scripture. It's Helaman 3:35 "Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filing their souls with joy and consolation, yea even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God." All of the things that strengthened their testimony are things that still apply! Fasting and praying often, having faith in Christ. All of these things lead us to have a stronger testimony and to have less and less of a desire to sin. It's pretty amazing! We had a bunch of nonmember show up to church yesterday so that was exciting! Things are going great! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Price