Special Olympics

Hey there! Hope y'alls week was great! Things here are good just keeping busy! We had a good week. The beginning of the week we did a lot of contacting and trying to get to know some of the people in the ward. The weekend was packed though! Friday Warner Robins hosted the Special Olympics for Georgia. And the Talleys from Pine Mountain came down for that so Jessica could participate! So we got to go to lunch with them and got to go watch her bowl! I don’t think I have ever had as many friends as I did at Special Olympics! I love special needs folks! They just are so lovable and they just want to come up and introduce themselves to you and become the best of friends. They truly are amazing people!!! That night we got to teach Rose Smith!! She is so awesome!!! She told us that when the lessons are over she is for sure going to get baptized!! She also asked when we are going to give the coffee and tea lesson cause she needs to know when she has to give it up hahah! But she is awesome and just so laid back and open to the gospel! She has been such a great blessing to us! Things have been hard here but meeting Sister Smith makes it all worth it! Love y'all Thanks for the prayers and support!

Sister Smith

Hey y'all! Hope your week was good! Things here are great! Not to many stories for the week but we did get to teach Sister Smith twice this week! So on Monday we went over for the first lesson and it went really well! Since she has been coming for a while she already has a little bit of background on what the church is all about so she had a lot of really great questions! At the end of the lesson she was in tears and said, "this just feels right! Like I’m so done with the world! Screw the world! I’m ready to choose Him over the world!" She is so awesome and spunky I just love her! Wednesday she started a new job so we texted her and asked her how her day was and she said it went really well! So we asked when we could meet again and she wanted to wait two weeks so she could read more. So we where really sad to here that she wanted to wait that long but we told her that we could come read with her and help her if she has questions but it was up to her. We did service Wednesday and Thursday for an older lady in the ward names Ms. Daisy.  She is so funny and cute! I swept and mopped her floors and vacuumed her floors. She is one of my favorite people she is always cracking jokes! That night Sister Smith texted and asked if we could come over for dinner the next night and for the next lesson! We where so excited we danced! So Friday night we went over and had dinner and her husband really opened up to her about his mission in Argentina! He got out all of his pictures and it was really awesome they had a good time talking about his experiences! We taught the plan of salvation with little blocks that have each step on them. She is all about keeping it simple! It went really well lots of questions but by the end she said, " man I feel cheated you all got to know this your whole life and I am just finding out about this!!" Its so cool to see her progressing so fast! She came to church on Sunday with her son even though her husband was sick! She sat next to me during the meetings and thanked us for coming and told me what a difference it is making for their family. I just am so happy for them and for the difference the gospel is making for them! We are meeting again this Friday! hope y'all had a great week! Thank you for all your love! Here is a picture of a cool sticker I saw on the back of a car this week! haha love ya!

Knocking Down Every Door We Could

Hey y'all! Hope that it was a great week for you! Things here are good! We worked so hard this week! Knocking down every door we could and contacting every former! It was rough but it was a good week. We got some good leads from it but nothing to promising. So by Friday we had kind of given up hope that we would find some one to get baptized. But I knew that we put in all of our efforts so even if it didn’t happen we did all we could do.  So Saturday morning around 6 we get a text from Bishop. So Sister Maher rolls out of bed and reads the text to me! It said "Sisters I received a call from Sister Smith, she is not a member but has been attending for a couple years. She wants to know how to become a member. Please call and schedule an appointment with her." um what?! So we call her and she is just like yea I want to get baptized so how do I do that? Any ways we set up an appointment to go see her tonight! Its crazy how the Lord blesses us! We did every thing we knew how to do knocking and contacting formers and less actives but the blessing came from not our efforts but by the Lord preparing the hearts of others and bringing them to us! It was a blessed week! We also went and helped Rose with her yard this week but this time she let us share a message and she has been going on mormon.org.  So we are excited to see her heart soften to the message! Fun thing we did this week is it was Brother Starkey’s birthday so we went to his birthday lunch at a place called Curry Mantra! It’s Indian food and it actually wasn’t too bad! So hey I guess I like India food! Any ways thank you for all the love and support and prayers!

A Lot of Less Active Work This Week

Wow what a week! It was one of those that just flew by! Not much has changed here. We did a lot of less active work this week. That was good to get to know some of the people in the ward and get their visiting teachers out with us. We set a lot of good goals for this up coming week and we are so excited! A while back President Cottle told us that if we pray for miracles that we can expect the Lord to bless us with them. So this upcoming week we are doing just that! We are praying for a miracle! We are going to find or help a current investigator prepare for baptism on September 3rd. So we are doing every thing that we can to make that happen. Pray for us that we will have the strength to be diligent enough to accomplish our goals! This week was Sister Maher’s birthday so we went out to Byron for peach ice cream haha! That is always our favorite! Anyways not much to report on this week.  I love y'all.  Thanks for all the prayers and support! Have a blessed week!

Transfers and Sister Maher and Me are Staying Together

Well it’s been another week here in Warner Robins! We had transfers this week and Sister Maher and me are staying together! We had to go up to Macon on Tuesday for the transfer meeting though cause we had to drop off Sister Mather that was staying with us for the last two weeks. But I was so happy we got to go to the transfer meeting I got to see all my friends! The first person I saw was Sister Swank! The senior missionary from Valdosta and I almost jumped out the window to go see her! I got to see sister brain and elder showers from Valdosta as well! I miss them all so much! Elder Beckman and Elder Phillips where there too I served with them in pine mountain! And then I got to see sister Platt too my greeny! So that was awesome! Wednesday we got to meet a lady named ms. daisy. She is a less active sister who can’t come to church cause she is 89 and is home bound. So we talked to her for a while and she is my new best friend! I love her! She has got some spunk! Thursday we didn’t have any thing to exciting, but Friday was planning day. So we spent most of the day planning and we had dinner with ms. daisy she really wanted a fish dinner. So we went down to sharks and got her a fried fish dinner that made her day! We also got to help one of our investigators move. She is moving to Perry so I’m sad about that but the sisters there will go and see her! Saturday was service day we went to help rose in her yard again this week. I was raking the ground and I kept seeing all these little holes in the ground. I didn’t think much of it until I started pulling branches off the trees and these big brown things kept falling. Well she has an infestation of zakatas! They are so nasty! And big! So that was fun! The rest of the day we helped a recent convert get some things organized at her house. Sunday was good we had a good service and a recent convert asked to come out with us. So after church we went out knocking cause we really need some new investigators! We met 4 people! One said come back I’m in the middle of a bottle of liquor, the next had no pants on so again come back latter, the third told us his name was devil dog and he had the biggest wad of chew in his mouth I have ever seen, and the last was named Thomas! And Thomas was the last door we knocked and he was actually really awesome we had a good discussion with him he gave me some home work to look up in the bible for him so I gave him some home work in the Book of Mormon and we told him we would come back next week. He’s funny, he thinks I am the most entertaining thing we went back and forth for a hour talking about the bible it was good. Things here are slowly getting better. And I pray they will continue to get better! I love ya'll thanks for all the prayers! 

My Birthday, So Hot, Like 104 Degrees

Hey y'all! Hope you had a great week! Things here are good just trying to stay goin! We did a lot this week! Tuesday we had our district meeting it was really good! Since it was the last district meeting of the transfer we had a testimony meeting and it was awesome! It was also one of the elders last weeks as a missionary so we had a funeral for him. It just makes it fun! Wednesday was a good day.  It was so hot like 104 degrees with 94 humidity! IDK how I’m going to make it through summer! We had a good Book of Mormon class that night though.  I always enjoy going to those with our recent converts and investigators! Friday was my birthday! So I’m officially 20! It was a good day! The whole zone texted my phone at the same time and told me Happy Birthday and President and Sister Grayson called and sang happy birthday to me that was cute! And I got a package from Sister Brain! And Jackie sent me a birthday package as well as a big party box from my family!  So thank y'all so much I love you! You made my day great! We went to see Sister Nina Taylor who has a stepdaughter who was the same birthday as me! She was turning 12! I love them so much! They gave me a seashell for my birthday from their vacation. It was my favorite gift that I got that day. They don’t have much and they had been saving to go on a family vacation for a while and finally where able to go.  So I know that even though a shell might not seem like much I know it meant a lot to them. We had lunch with Sister Kozak and her daughter as well.  It was very nice of them to take us out. And we had dinner at the Starkey’s! They are my favorite people! It was a good way to end the day! Saturday we kept the party going with Sister Mckenzy.  She is a less active returning member! We went over and had a lesson and had ice cream! I’m so glad that we met her this last week.  She is so awesome and is doing her best to get back into church! Transfer calls came and me and Sister Maher are staying here again so this should be good! We have a lot of great potential here and I’m excited to get down to it! Thank y'all for all your support and love! I will send pics later!

Happy Birthday Shelby!

 I can't believe that 20 years ago I became a MOM! The best thing and hardest thing I have ever done! Shelby came into this world with fiery red hair and a desire to do good! She has always been an example to everyone around her. Her siblings adore her and she teaches them everyday! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for her in my life. She has taught me Christlike love and the ability to love and listen to those around her. I hope that today as she is serving and away from home that she will feel our love for her! Happy Birthday sweet Sister Randall. I love you so much and I am grateful to have you as my daughter and dear friend in my life! Hugs & Kisses Love Mom