September 4

Last Tuesday was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Because I was in YSA for only 6 weeks I didn't really have time to get too attached to people. I met a lot of incredible people in Seymour and it was really hard to say goodbye. Bro Rollie was so sweet. I asked him if he was ever going to become a Mormon, he said he didn't know. He was just glad he got to say goodbye to me because he didn't get to to Sister Fullmer. Seeing the Gasaway's was really good. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and they had questions about how transfer worked. Courtney asked us to sing a primary song for Macy. Neither Sister Jones or I really wanted to, but we sang "I am a Child of God". It was like a repeat of the MTC all over again. It was a neat moment, Shannon said we didn't sound too bad. When I got in the car I almost started crying. This family means so much to me and it hurts that I wasn't able to see them get baptized. Wednesday morning Courtney sent me this text "thank you for everything you have given our family a sense of renewed hope that which can only be given through the gospel of Jesus Christ. You have become a great friend to us and our family, we will miss you dearly. We wish you the best of luck on the next leg of your journey. Keep in touch". That text made the last 4 1/2 months worth it. One day, they'll be members. I got their e-mail so I can keep in contact with them! We said goodbye to the Magellon's really quick. It's incredible to see the progress she had made. When I first arrived she didn't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Now she can get baptized in probably just a few weeks. Some of my most precious moments have been reading with her and her kids. I bore my testimony right before we left and I actually started crying. I don't think that kids knew what to think haha. I had a lot of hard days in Seymour and that's why I was so excited to leave, but when it came down to it I was really sad to go. I made a lot of mistakes, but I also learned a ton. I can say that I definitely left the area better than I found it. I was able to help plant a lot of seeds and I left Sister Jones with a couple of really solid potentials.

Tuesday night I only got about 4 hours of sleep. I woke up around 2:30 and just couldn't go back to sleep. I hate transfer week. I still haven't caught up on sleep. Transfer meetings are so weird, I don't know how to describe them.

So a couple of weeks ago President Cleveland told me he would put me with an experienced sister, it didn't happen. I didn't really expect it to either because there are only about 12 sisters who are older than me. Anyways, as you already know I'm done in Franklin. Sister Francis and I are opening a second area here (there are already elders here). I'm excited for a second opportunity to open an area. I learned so much of what not to do in Seymour. It's been a couple of slow days. Anyways, one of the assistants came up to us after transfers and said this was his favorite ward to serve in, but every missionary gets baptisms. So the pressure is on! We got the warmest welcome from the ward. The sisters are stocked to have sister missionaries. When we got here Wednesday night the Relief Society president brought us over BAGS of food (I'll attach a picture). I don't think we are ever going to eat it.

So the first couple of days we have just been adjusting. On Thursday we did weekly planning with the elders to just go over things. Afterwards we were in the car getting our GPS together so we could find our way home. The elders had already left on their bikes. They were just about the leave the parking lot when a car pulled up and started talking to them. Immediately Elder Callison looked at us and just pointed. Sister Francis and I just started laughing. It ended up being the Bishop, but the elders think they are just going to get forgotten about. They said they are never going to be able to get members to lessons anymore because we are just going to take all of them. Oh we've also had dinner appointments with members since Wednesday haha. They gave us one of their investigators. She has MS and her two teenage kids are RC. I think the elders are tired of teaching her and don't really know where else to go with her. We also have another new investigator already. She's an 11 year old whose grandparents are members. She's been attending church for forever but has never gotten baptized. She turns 12 in November so we are going to teach her so she can get baptized before her birthday. Sister Francis and I are both pretty excited. Oh yeah my companion! She's from Utah, 19, been out 3 months. We are already getting along pretty good. I'm so glad I'm not training haha. It puts a lot less pressure on me.

The elders had three baptisms on Saturday so those were nice to attend. The rest of our day was spent finding. I really like Franklin already. It's bigger than Seymour, but still has a little bit of that small town feel. There are trees everywhere! I was nervous I was going to get transferred to the city where there weren't a lot of trees during fall. That's not the case though!

Sunday was awesome! Seriously the best ward ever. EVERYONE came up and told us how excited they are for sisters. I guess we are the first set in about 15 or so years. I will now probably be the ward pianist. There are barely an RS sisters who play and I got asked to play yesterday. We also got to bear our testimonies in Sacrament. It was neat, as I was standing up there I realized I wasn't really nervous, at least not like I used to be. Remember how I was always terrified to get in front of people? That's mostly gone now. It's incredible to see how much I've changed. Repentance and conversion is something I've been thinking a lot about lately. From day to day I don't seem much different, but when I look back, oh man!

I've had some very positive days here in Franklin. Luckily it's cooled off today which is great because we don't have any solid plans.

Yesterday I stepped inside a department store for the first time in six months! I was joking around with Sis Francis that I wouldn't be able to handle it and that I would have an emotional breakdown haha. I got some new clothes. We also played volleyball with the elders yesterday, with a dodge-ball. We made it work.

Oh President Hilton is in our ward. He's one of the counselors in the mission presidency. He's going to be so much help. He met with us and the elders before church and gave us a ton of part member families to try. He really knows how to do missionary work and I'm excited to be able to serve around him. He's been very good to us, calling us almost everyday to see if we needed anything.

I'm way excited about the transfers. This week will probably also be a little slow, it always is opening a new area. I'm very grateful for the second chance that I have been given. I've still got so much to learn here.