Just a couple of pics...

Exchanges! We were the guinea pigs. These sisters are first-timer Sister Training Leaders! They're amazing! :D

From left to right:

Sister Helsten

Sister Archer

(they were companions)

Me :)

Sister Webb

(we were companions)

Just a tiny glimpse of GA hair. ;) 

Intenseness of humidity + no more braids = mess of poofiness!

The Awesomeness of Being a Missionary

Monday, 27 June 2016

Dear family and friends,

Wow, I love being a missionary here in Georgia!

Each day becomes better and better. I've been learning so much about how to become more like our Savior. How to love. :)

As we have been keeping prayers of faith in our hearts, and dedicated our time to the Lord, we have been greatly blessed. Our teaching pool (the amount of people we are teaching) went from nearly empty to overflowing in only a few short weeks! We haven't even had time to go knocking on doors lately, because we've been so busy with appointments!

So many amazing people to teach! I keep getting reminded of how much I love the people in Georgia. :) 

I love seeing the eyes of those we teach light up as we share our messages with them. One of our investigators, a sweet elderly woman named Mamie, is always so enthusiastic about what we share. We taught her the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation, and both lessons she was constantly saying "Oh!" and had the sweetest responses! Her face lit up as we shared each message. :)

We went on exchanges this past week with our new Sister Training leaders, and ever since then, I've seen Sister Archer become a new person! She is lovingly bold, she is more diligent, and she's opened up a lot more! Exchanges are amazing. It has been so exciting to see Sister Archer blossom from an innocent, terrified "greenie" to a bold, loving, more confident missionary. She is amazing!

Memorable moments:

-One of our investigators asked us, "What is the origin of curiosity?"

That was an interesting subject... :)

-At the library today, a random guy started asking about our messages that we share and our beliefs, and he then tried to convert us to his religion. :D

My invitation to y'all this week is to check out justserve.org! Go there and register! It's an amazing website that the Church has been working on and there are a ton of fun service projects on it! If you are looking for opportunities to serve, that is where to go. It is amazing!

I love y'all. Very much. You are incredible and have amazing potential! Keep smiling and being faithful! Remember you are loved! You can work miracles as you are faithful! 

Have a blessed day,

Fears to lemonade!

Well, a LOT has happened in only 2 weeks! This is the awkwardness of my last district. It was fun and crazy and... yep. Awesome. :D

From left to right:

Sister Archer

Me :)Fe

Elder Owens (who is now the new District Leader!)

Elder Pettaway (Pretending to be District Leader)

Elder Jenkins (the real District Leader)

Elder Herring

We had a lot of fun! Probably the best memories from this past district was Elder Jenkins' "word vomits" where he gave incredible trainings that went crazy because he was so excited about what he had to share. Sometimes it went over our heads, but they were still really great! :)

​

Sisters photo! (These were our Sister Training Leaders)

Left to right: 

Me :)

Sister Erekson (she came out with me from the MTC!)

Sister Archer

Sister Barron

We tried to do an "I'm cute" selfie, but I ended up goofing too much and Sister Archer ended up laughing. It was fun, still! :D 

(Yes, the white thing above Sister Archer's head it a plastic fork. For your information, it is my dinglehopper tucked behind my ear and I enjoy it very much. ;))

This is my new friend that greets us every morning in the kitchen when the sun starts shining in! (It's one of those bobble head things that moves when the sun charges it). It reminded me of Daddie (Bob), so I had to get it because of its adorableness!

We decided it was time to take arms and face our fears. With lemons. 

Sister Archer drew this and now it's on our door to see right before we leave. A great reminder!

Lizards. They're everywhere. Sometimes we even find them in our apartment! :D

Sisters Preparation Day! We had a blast! We went hiking at the Sweetwater again with all the sisters in our zone. It was HOT, though! By the time we got back, we were all drenched... :o

This is Chooch, our new best friend! He's been staying with Mama Jones for the past week. :) We've had fun playing Candyland with him and helping Mama out! (He's always creamed me, though. I always start out ahead and somehow, he always beats me! The little stinker... ;))

Mama Jones! :D (Ignore the awfulness of my squinty eyes... I blinked.)

I love Mama! She's probably the one person who has exposed me the most to what a true Southerner is like! She's amazing! :D (And she has the best Southern accent!)

This is what a real life missionary looks like after a long, amazingly successful (but very hot) day. Sunburned. Dead tired. Hair a big mess. Ready for a loooong summer's nap! ;)

This fluffy creature stole my Minion game piece when I was almost to the finish (during Candyland at Mama's)! I was so close... But then this happened. ;) 

(Sorry about the creepiness of his eyes. The flash was weird.)

Georgia skies! The stormclouds that day were spectacular!! :D

Dutch braids! (I am finally figuring it out!) Messy, day two... hairspray works wonders on a mission.

Friend! :)

Life is Beautiful

Monday, 20 June 2016

Dear family and friends,

Well, I'm going to keep saying that! Life is absolutely an incredible, beautiful gift from our loving Heavenly Father! He cares deeply about each of you and will help you through anything. Turn to Him and He will guide you! Be faithful, and He will bless you! He is waiting to pour out abundant blessings upon you!

This past week was absolutely incredible!

Highlights:

1. CHRISTIAN CAME TO CHURCH! I'm sure that y'all have heard about Christian, a recent convert. She hadn't been coming to church for several weeks for various reasons. I was getting really worried about her. But last week we visited with her and committed her to come to church, and after many prayers from faithful members, and diligent efforts from them to help her get to church, she came. It was amazing! Remember that you have incredible influence on others. There are so many people who look up to you! Keep smiling and sharing your love with everyone. There are so many who need that love.

2. We went to visit our new investigators, Kent and Bob, and they are so fantastic! We taught them a bit about our purpose as missionaries, and introduced the five lessons to them. They're both really great guys. Kent has been involved in the military and he is now in a wheelchair. He has a hilarious sense of humor!

Bob is Kent's caretaker and he is also a biker! He is one of those bikers that looks intimidating at first, but he is actually very caring! He has a big heart. 

Both of them have committed to have us come teach them all the lessons, and they are excited for us to come back! It was a great blessing! Tender mercies all over!

3. A general authority, Elder Cardon of the seventy, came to visit our zone this past week. We were blessed with an opportunity to visit with him briefly and shake his hand, and then he spoke to us! 

Beforehand, we had all been asked to prepare a 3 minute talk about what the Lord has taught us about the Spirit on our missions, and so Sister Archer and I came prepared to share them. But then, Elder Cardon asked us to stand up if we were willing to exercise faith at that conference. We all stood (and it was powerful!). Then he proceeded to ask us to set aside all of our notes that we took in preparation for our talks. And then he looked out at the crowd of missionaries. After a few moments, he selected a sister missionary who had only been out for 2 months to come up and speak!

Then, he looked out at us again. And looked right at me. And called me up to share my talk! I was terrified and thrilled all at once. He called a few other elders to come speak, and then we got to share our talks! It was a powerful experience. Our talks were all given by the Spirit, and it was incredible. <3

The conference was a beautiful reminder of the importance of following the Spirit. Wow. It was amazing!

My invitation to you is to focus on the beauties of life. Remember who you are. Remember your worth. Remember that there are people who need your love. Go out and serve. Let your light shine!

You are all so amazing. Keep moving forward! Life is beautiful! I love y'all!

Keep smiling!

Well... Another copy and paste. Yep.

Monday, 13 June 2016

Dear family and friends,

As y'all probably know by now... missionary life is crazy busy. :D But it's amazing and I love it!! :D

Here's another lovely copy and paste for y'all of some things that happened this week. :)

This weekend was especially successful as we tried our best to contact more people throughout the day. Earlier in the week, I hadn't been as dedicated to the work. My thoughts were straying to other things and I felt myself becoming homesick a little. Then, as I was praying about it and how I could improve, I had the impression that I needed to humble myself and reach out in service to others. I was reminded of some great advice that my grandma told me before I left, that whenever I am feeling homesick, I need to reach out and serve others. Service really does lift spirits and brighten gloomy days.

So, following Father's guidance, I rededicated my time and efforts to serving the Lord. And blessings came from it! In our daily planning, we tried our best to plan times to reach out to as many people as we could, instead of filling small gaps of time with just phone calls (though it can be effective at times). Talking with everyone helped a lot, too! Reaching out to God's children to the best of my abilities has helped me to feel the joy that comes from serving the Lord. Yesterday we were able to contact six new people, and on top of it, we were able to get in contact with someone we hadn't been able to for a long time. Though most of the new people we talked to weren't interested, I know that we were planting seeds. And someday, those seeds may begin to bloom. :)

​My invitation to you is to walk tall this week. ​

Walk tall and remember that life is a beautiful gift from Heavenly Father!​

​ Share your light, and I promise that others will see it! You may not know it now, but you have a phenomenal influence on others. Shine your light, and they will see. But they will also follow. :)

​Y'all are amazing. Keep smiling and remember who you are! You are beloved children of Heavenly Father!  I love you!

IMMA FAERIE PRINCESS!!

"IMMA FAERIE PRINCESS!!" ...Is what I have been telling Sister Archer lately. One day I will convince her that I really am one. ;) 

We were walking out of Dollar General and a butterfly glided over and landed on my skirt. Then it just sat there for a while, gently fluttering its wings. Yep. It was awesome. :D

​

​Butterflies are just faeries in disguise, right? ;)​

I love this. We see things like this everywhere, since the amount of churches in GA are like the percentage of LDS church buildings in Utah. :D

Happy Memorial Day!

Remember to take some time to appreciate all those who gave their lives to support this country and make it the way it is today.

But most importantly, remember our Savior. He has made us into who we are now. He is our Savior, and he loves us!

For a Preparation Day activity, we went to the Threadmill mall, a historic building. It is a renovated threadmill (now a mall), and both the interior and exterior is spectacular. I love historic buildings, and we see them a lot in GA. :)




Some more of the threadmill. You can see the old windows. :) And the floors inside are mostly original. As we walked upstairs, we saw all the marks that the machines had made. It was really neat.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SISTER ARCHER!! (June 1)

This is only a glimpse of what the apartment looked like by the time I went to bed (past curfew... o.o). I stayed up after she fell asleep and surprised her with a bajillion decorations around the apartment, and then a few presents on the table. It was fun. I loved her face when she woke up. It was memorable! :D We had a great day celebrating it. :)

~~~~~~~~~~

Missing here is a picture of Sister Archer that was so very cute, with a gift bag upside down on her head.  I think Sister Archer is being shy about it, because she requested that I not post that picture.  I'm sad not to though, cause it's a GREAT picture of the fun they are having!

-Mom

Opening presents was lots of fun! Plus also, we went to DQ for birthday ice cream. :D

*Please don't post this one publicly. Sister Archer has requested it.* Thanks! :D

~~~~~~~~~~

"Cute faces" ;)

Hastening

Monday, 6 June 2016

(SIX MONTHS OUT!!!)

Dear family and friends,

Transfers are this Wednesday! And guess what? I'm still here! :D Lost Mountain is amazing, and I am so excited to stay again with Sister Archer. I know that this new transfer will bring miracles, especially as we dedicate our time more fully to the Lord. :)

I have been reminded of importance of the Lord's work lately. He is truly hastening it, and we are right in the middle of it! The field IS white, already to harvest (D&C 4:4), and we can do our part to help the Lord hasten His work!

​​We had to make a lot of changes recently with those we were teaching. Our investigators were not progressing at all. None of them were keeping their commitments, and we were struggling to keep in contact with them. So, we prayerfully considered who we should continue teaching, and who we should set aside for a time. And we ended up setting aside almost half of them! All these people that I knew and loved and wanted so badly to accept the gospel. It was devastating. 

But we knew who we trusted in. We relied on the Lord. We knew that He would guide us to those who were truly prepared! And HE DID. It was incredible! The miracles flooded in as soon as we chose to submit ourselves to the Lord's will. 

We received so many referrals to people who were truly prepared and humble. They wanted to learn more, and they were accepting of what we had to share.

Ray of sunshine!

-We received a referral from a member, who told us that he received a call from a young woman named Jasmine. She had told him that one of her friends said that if she ever needed anything, that she should contact the Mormons. And so, we were blessed with an opportunity to reach out and touch her life. She is a young, single mother with two adorable kids, and she has been going through a lot in her life right now. When we shared a little about our message of peace and hope, she brightened up and immediately asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon before we had even offered it! It was amazing.

My invitation to you is to write your testimony in a copy of the Book of Mormon, and then give it to someone that the Spirit leads you to. I testify that it will bring miracles. You will reach out and touch the lives of those you share it with. Your testimony, no matter how small it may seem, is phenomenal. It has incredible power and it can touch many lives! 

Keep smiling. Y'all are amazing and I love each of you!

Random Fun-ness of pictures!

I've found that drawing is very relaxing. It helps a LOT when I'm stressed! Plus, it's been a while. It felt good to doodle a bit. :) And Sister Archer drew a little cute doodle under mine! :D



Our attempt at catching the crazy rain that we had recently. Notice how soaked we are! You can't really tell that it's raining, but that was after it had downpoured to the point of nearly flooding.



My CTR ring broke! :( Sad day. But it still looks pretty and I know it means CTR still, so I will keep it. Besides, it's unique and perfectly describes me. ;)

Preparation Day activity! We made baby cupcakes and decorated them. Then we brought them to district meeting the next day! :D 

PS We are not claiming to be professionals. ;)

The yumness of awesomeness of lunches! This has become one of my favorite lunches. Lettuce wraps with quinoa and any extra filling desired. SO YUMMIE! (And healthy, too.)



Attack of the most disgusting spider ever! This is after we sprayed it with Raid and freaked out--because it was still moving!! Yeaukk!!! XP Thankfully it died very soon after. But still. Nasty.



Right after a loooong service project. :) We had a great day! (And I mowed a lawn... 0.0)



Sister Selfie fun! Yaaaas!



Awkward selfie photobomb!




Weekly planning can be very long and tiring, so we have to have some fun in between planning. So, this is our new friend! Her name is ROFLOL! She rolls all over the table and giggles. :D

Exchanges! We had a BLAST! :D 

(Notice my cute adorable-ness of monkey friend? He gives me hugs whenever I need them. :) His name is Charlie Boo-Boo.)

Faith

Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Dear family and friends,

Have faith. Be courageous. We can do all things through Christ!

Sometimes things don't go as planned. But they all work out. Our Heavenly Father has other things in store for us. He gives us the desires of our hearts, according to our faith. But He also does it in His own time. Sometimes, the time isn't right, and so He leads us to someone else that may stand in need of it. He gives us different circumstances that help us grow, to stretch, to become who He wants us to become. Life was never meant to be perfect. We all have room to grow. As we turn to our Savior, we can do all things. (Philippians 4:13).

A recent convert, Christian, ​has not been coming to church lately. Three Sundays in a row, she didn't come. I was beginning to get really worried. She was still answering our texts, but we weren't even able to meet with her during those weeks much. I worried a lot. I worried that she was going to fall away and lose hope. I didn't want that to happen. I also knew that we as missionaries have that responsibility to help recent converts stay active in the church. She was on my mind constantly. 

Then, yesterday, we were able to meet with her. We felt inspired to share the Restoration with her again, and so that is what we taught. Our main focus was on the Savior and how He can help us through all of our trials. Even Joseph Smith had to face the adversary, right before he had the first vision. We shared how the Atonement strengthens and blesses each of us as individuals. Through this lesson, we were able to reach out to her and remind her of her desire to attend church and gain the blessings from it. We were able to resolve some of her concerns and strengthen her faith.

Remember our Savior as you go throughout this week. Remember Philippians 4:13. My invitation to you is to turn to our Savior. Seek to remember Him in all things, like you committed at baptism. He loves you and wants you to turn to Him. His arms are open wide, waiting for you to accept His Atonement, that beautiful gift that He gave to us. Turn to Him, and He will pull you into his embrace. <3

Keep smiling, all of you beautiful, amazing, wonderful, incredible individuals! Y'all are fantastic and can do all things through our Savior! I love you!