Taught a Student From Thailand

Hey y'all! 

It was a slower week here in Valdosta but a good week! We had the chance to teach an exchange student from Thailand! A family in the ward knows Thai because the father served his mission there and the wife is from there so they where able to help us with the lesson! We had some great Thai food and we watched Jesus the Christ with her in Thai! It was different teaching someone who had no idea who Jesus Christ really is! After the video we talked a little about who he is and the importance of a Savior and then Sister Mascavich did a beautiful job telling her conversion story from when she lived in Thailand and her testimony of Jesus Christ. Her husband sat behind her and translated to English for us! After the lesson we all prayed and the girls mother called from Thailand and she told her all about Jesus it was cool! She is so willing to learn more about Christ and to come closer to him! I am very grateful for the the chance I had to grow up in a place where I know who Christ is and the message of the restoration! This is the last week of the transfer so we will see what happens! I am thinking I am staying and my comp is going! We also got a chance to hear in a world wide devotional for the missionaries some tips and suggestions to help the work progress! It was a slower week but it was good! I hope y'all had a great week hope to hear from you soon!  

Syreen and Her Children

This week was good we are working closely with Syreen and her children. They are on date for the 30th but the mother is still having problems with the word of wisdom so hopefully she will continue to push forward! We have been doing the 12 step program with her because she is not able to go to group meetings and it really is an inspired program! Many of the things that I have read have really helped me! We also have been working with Michel Jordan. She is so sweet and she really has a desire to learn and to gain a testimony! Her husband is a less active member so we are hoping that by her taking the steps towards baptism that he will see how much happiness  it is bringing her and he will remember the joy that the church has brought him! We also went to see Richard and Ann last night! They are so funny they always want to cook for us so last night we had shrimp scampi and steak and green beans! I'm sure when dad reads shrimp he's going to have a heart attack that I would even pick it up! But that's not all this week! The Peerces a family in the ward took us out to a place called Rays Mill Pond! It's out in the middle of no where and it's only open on the weekends and every one goes to it! So its on like a swamp and its just like this old house that got converted into a restaurant but any ways its real cute! But we ate so much food! sweet pickles, slaw, and then wait for it dad... hush puppies fries... fried catfish and fried gator tail! The catfish was nasty I felt like I just was eating right out of the lake but the gator tail was really good!  It was like fried pork chops! Any ways thats my fun adventure for the week! We also helped a lady move from this geto hotel to her new apartment and she is adorable she is like 60 and she is a radio announcer so we helped her and she is going to take the lessons now! Also some of the young women broke into our apartment and messed it all up!  They are crazy! It has been hard to love Valdosta coming from Pine Mountain but it is growing on me, there are amazing people here! I'm excited to see the growth in this area and hope that it will continue!
Love, Sister Randall

Pictures:
YW messed up our apartment!
Silly Missionaries!
Climbed tower to see the swamp!

Wow what a week!

Wow what a week! 
It was amazing! We have seen so much growth with in the last week! On Monday we got a call from a member in Savannah who said they had been down to Valdosta to go to the wild adventure park and met a young man names Peter. He ended up talking to him all day about the church and he was very interested! They became friends on Facebook and Peter asked to have him pass his information to the missionaries! So we met with him and he is an awesome guy and he loves the idea of the Book of Mormon  and is excited to start reading it! That was one of the many miracles we have seen this week! We have been working really hard on our area book since I have been here. The last updated progress record was July!  So we went thru our phone and called every number that was not a member and tried to set up a time to see them! So far 9 have said we are welcome to come by! We also have an investigator that the Elders had taught but didn't have time for and she and her 2 kids are on date for the 23rd.  We are just helping her finish up stopping smoking! I also got the chance to speak this Sunday in the branch and we had a good turn out! It was an amazing week and so many opportunities are opening up here! I hope and pray that things will continue to progress! 
Love, 
Sister Randall

We met all of our goals, so that was amazing!

Hey y'all I hope you had a great week! This week went pretty well for us! We met all of our goals so that was amazing! We worked hard and it showed this week! We have a new investigator her name is syriene.  She was being taught by the Elders but since it is to far for them to bike they gave her to us! She has three kids and is crazy full of energy.  She is ready for baptism but needs to quit smoking so we are going to try to start helping her with that.. but other than that we are just trying to build up our teaching pool. We went threw the phone this week and called all of the numbers that where marked as investigators and 9 of them said that missionaries haven't been over in at least a year and that we are welcome to come by! We also went to go see Richard and Ann this week.  They always seem to have food ready for us when we come!  This week we had steak and shrimp and they didn't even know we where coming.  We walked in and he started asking us how we want our steak! They are so cute I love them! Funny story for the week:  We saw a former investigator when we where knocking some projects and so we stopped to share a scripture with her and she is a little off. So I pull out my Book of Mormon and start reading and she sticks her hand out.  I get done reading and she goes to take my book! So I pulled it away and said "This is my book but we have a copy of one if you would like it?" And she grabs it again and says "Oh nah I already got one!" So I pull my book away again and said "So you don't need mine! You have one!" and she got all mad and was like "I gotta go!" Sorry lady this is my book get your own! haha but I hope y'all had a great week! Hope to hear from you soon! Love ya! P.S: Got my first hole in my shoes I'm official now! 

Sister Shelby Randall

Christmas Zone Conference

We had a wonderful Christmas Zone Conference in Tifton for the Macon, Columbus, and Tifton Zones. The food was yummy, especially the desserts made by President Fussell!!

Christmas

What a week! Hope y'all had a great Christmas! I know I did! The beginning of this week was hard still struggling to find people to teach and it feels like everyone has given up on our ysa branch so its been hard! But Christmas Eve we got to go caroling as a district to some of the families that we are trying to teach! It was really awesome and a good way to soften people to our message! Christmas morning was great we went over to the Rigden family farm and had a big southern breakfast with deep fried bacon, biscuits, grits, and all kinds of stuff and Sister Rigden got all the kids around and told them about the nativity it was cute to watch and to be able to be apart of their family for the day. After that we went over to the Robinson's and had lunch and we got to Skype home from there! It was great to see my family and to be able to talk with them! After we talked with our families we opened presents from the ward and the Robinsons.  We got spoiled! They are so sweet to us! That night we went over to Richard and Ann's house! They are a family that we found a couple weeks ago. They are an older couple and they have no kids so they kinda just take everyone in.  They have met with missionaries before but never sisters.  So they invited us over for Christmas dinner! We where a little late but we decided to go any ways and they where so excited that we came! They went all out for Christmas dinner I mean prime rib and yams and all kinds of stuff!  They are the sweetest family and they really like us so I hope that we can start teaching them more! Well I hope y'all have a good week! I love ya! 

Sister Shelby Randall