October 6

So many miracles the last couple of days....

Wednesday night we went and taught Summer. Her grandpa is a less active. The first couple times we went we didn't even see him. Then we actually got to talk to him for a few minutes. Well we were teaching about tithing, follow the prophet, etc and he came downstairs and sat with us! Then he started teaching with us! I was pretty shocked. Then Summer asked him to say the closing prayer. I didn't think he would. Buuuuuuut...HE DID! I'm really hoping that Summer getting baptized is softening him up.

Thursday we did exchanges. Sister Allen came with me. It was an interesting day. President called and I figured he wanted to talk to Sister Allen, but no he wanted to talk to me. I was driving at the moment so I couldn't, and it took about three hours before I could actually talk to him again. So the entire time I was wondering what he wanted to talk to me about, yes I was quite nervous. More on that later!

We had zone meeting Friday morning. We talked all about working with members. I was way pumped! Unfortunately it's really easy to get full time missionaries pumped up about missionary work, but the members not so much. President Cleveland also wants us to work on using the pamphlets in finding. SO! We went finding afterwards and I actually had a lot of fun. It's pretty easy to get rote in finding, but we mixed it up!

Friday night was girls night! haha...a little different as a missionary. The Lykins had invited us over for dinner, but all her kids at a cross country banquet and her husband when flying, so she just took us out to dinner. Oh yeah!...tender mercy. Right when we walked in "Crush" by David Archuleta started playing. AND the elders are teaching this girl named Giselle. She's 20 and David's sister's friend. She's actually moving out to Murray in November...after she gets baptized. Anyways, yeah hearing that song made my day. We talked a lot about missionary work with her. In preparation for zone meeting we were asked to think of a creative way to work with members. Every ward has a ward mission plan, at least they are supposed. So I thought, why not family missionary plans! Then I was looking in PMG and found out it actually takes about them in there! So we talked with Sis Lykins about creating a mission plan for her family, since they are all about missionary work.

THEN! The day just got even better. We had a lesson with Don and Leah Ann. Jeremy and Carrie were both there. We asked how the reading was, Don is in 4 Nephi and Leah Ann was in Ether! Yes we've been teaching them for only a month. Anyways, then Leah Ann starts a 10 minute monologue about how there is no way a 14 year old boy could have wrote this book on his own, that 3 Nephi was full of "gold nuggets" that answered a ton of her questions. Don told us he didn't sleep because he couldn't put it down. Finally I just clearly asked them if they believed the Book of Mormon was true, they both said yes. Leah Ann told us she felt chills as she was reading. Jeremy then shared that whenever he has doubts about the church, he always goes back to that feeling. Their phone and internet hadn't been working the last couple of days and someone was coming to fix it on Saturday. Don told them they had to come after 2 or not mess with the tv because nothing was going to prevent them from watching conference (we found BYUTV when we were over there on Tuesday). He also said that they were going to turn it up loud and if they neighbors complained he didn't care.
They were pretty excited. I couldn't sleep that night because I was so excited!

The miracles continued. Saturday morning we got to help a non-member move! Ok it's dumb because the elders ALWAYS get asked to do manual service and the sisters never do because they think we wear skirts all the time or something. But the elders weren't available (YES!) A member in our ward as been friends with the family for a long time. They are looking for a church right now and it's between ours and another. So while we were packing up the kitchen we were getting to know her a bit more. She knows a ton of members in town and definitely has raised her family with good morals. We gave her our phone number and told her to call us if she needs anymore help. If she doesn't well call her haha. Anyways I love giving service. Oh and Aaron (the dad) said he has seen us walking around before and thought we were high school students! But we think that was a little sign.

CONFERENCE!!! ahh! So excited, I want to just watch it again. Revelation. It hasn't been until my mission that I have realized how important it is. That's what most of my questions were regarding going into conference. I loved the talk by Elder Maynes about spiritual stamina. We do face difficulties everyday! We have to be spiritually strong in order to receive revelation. I was thinking of it in terms of lifting weights. If you give a weak person 100 pounds to bench, it's going to crush them. You've got to start out small. The same goes for revelation. Heavenly Father isn't going to tell me something that I'm not ready to know or not prepared to act on. Elder McConkie's talk on teaching the gospel was incredible. My favorite part is teaching by the Spirit, obviously. I know when the Spirit is present in lessons if I learn too. The best lessons are when I learn! I know that's not my purpose, but it's a nice little gift. Something I learned from Elder Vinson's talked: In order to use ALL my strength, I need the help of my Heavenly Father. I can't do it on my own. As he was talking the words of a primary song came to my head (I can't remember the name) "He is always near me, thought I may not see Him there". It's so crucial to always remember that and I don't. I also really liked Elder Nelson's; I was expecting him to talk on missionary work, so it did catch me a little off guard. The reason we desire to learn and change is because we are eternal beings; it's who we are. We will never stop being children of God. We have to learn to "bridle our passions" while we are here on earth. Going back to revelation, I won't ever receive revelation if my spirit is not stronger then my body. I could go on, Elder Scott, Elder Holland, President Monson, etc. Anyways, how grateful I am for conference. And mom you're right, how grateful I am for the Ensign.

So transfers are this week. Remember how President called me on Thursday? One of the biggest blessings of my mission have been the opportunity to serve with him. He's incredibly aware of each of his missionaries, at least me. When he first called Sister Allen and was talking to her he said "Sister Mayberry and I are good friends". When I finally was able to talk to him he told me that because of our past phone calls, etc he wanted to personally ask me how I felt about training again. He doesn't want me to feel overwhelmed at all and that he wanted to help me out in any way that he could. I told him I didn't think I was ready, but a missionary is never fully ready to train. We talked for about 10 minutes. He asked me if I wanted to stay in Franklin or train somewhere else. I told him I preferred to stay put. I think I talk about President every week, but it's because he has made a huge impact on my life. He's gotten a million things to do, but he felt like it was necessary to call me personally. The major miracle this weeks was President calling. So yes, I'm staying and training again. I'm glad he gave me a couple days notice because it's given me time to pray and study. I've trained once before and I learned a lot. It was hard acting surprised when we got the call last night. I didn't really say much because I didn't want Sister Francis finding out that I had known for three days what was happening.

I'm pretty nervous, still terrified actually. But I can do it. I don't know why President, or really Heavenly Father thinks I'm capable of fulfilling this assignment, but I know it will but me in a situation where I'll learn the lessons that I need to. I haven't slept much since Thursday. I've been thinking a lot about training and what I need to change about myself. Last time I recognized my weaknesses. I had no problem sharing them with my companion and my leaders. This time around I've got to learn how to overcome those weaknesses and that's going to be hard. Yay for challenges! Just kidding, if life weren't hard I wouldn't learn anything. If my mission was easy then I would come home the same person as when I left.

September 30

Don and Leah Ann! Oh my goodness. So we set a baptismal date for them last week and Don asked if Brother Dorsey could be the one to baptize him. So when we taught them on Tuesday, we brought Brother Dorsey! Right after saying the opening prayer Don turns to Brother Dorsey and asks if he would be the one to baptism him! I literally almost jumped out of my chair! I was so excited. Brother Dorsey is a convert and he shared with them how he came to know the church was true. We also had another awesome lesson with them on Friday. They are already in Helaman and we've been teaching them for like....3 weeks. So solid! Also, jumping ahead. Yesterday our gospel principles class was the best one yet. First, it was a full house. It was an eternal marriage and one of the elders was teaching....wasn't sure how that was going to go. On Friday we had taught Don and Leah Ann about the three degrees of glory and eternal marriage. So actually this lesson was perfect! A couple members of the ward were sharing their testimonies of eternal marriage (they are married). Anyways, then somehow Leah Ann brought up something about the Spirit. This has been the biggest struggle with her. She's reading like a maniac and has been learning a ton, but she wants that answer from the Holy Ghost. Which is awesome! So many people don't search for that enough. Anyways, then the members in the class were able to teach both Don and Leah Ann about recognizing the spirit. Most powerful gospel principles class I have ever been in. Leah Ann felt the Spirit. As we were waiting for third hour to start I could tell she was feeling something. I asked her how she was doing. I don't remember what she said exactly but....they are both moving well on the conversion path.

On Friday we went tracting in Sweetwater. It's a series of lakes about half an hour south of Franklin. I felt like we were hiking! In skirts of course. I loved it...Sister Francis wasn't such a huge fan. That night I also learned I have pretty good driving reflexes. The drive down there is pretty hilly and there are a lot of turns....kind of like driving up to Mt. Baker. Anyways, coming around a corner...BOOM three deer, slammed on the breaks...we were all good! Glad I now know how I can react in a situation like that.

The General Relief Society broadcast was awesome! About two weeks ago or so I was telling Sister Francis that we don't talk about covenants enough in the church. Sure enough, two of the talks were about covenants! My favorite was the one sister (don't remember her name) who said keeping covenants brings us true happiness. Heavenly Father knows EXACTLY what is going to make us happy....even when we can't see it in the moment.

I love fast Sundays. So there's this family in the ward...best member missionaries ever. The dad got up and bore his testimony, then his daughter. She was visiting from college for the weekend and I actually met her back in Seymour because her dad is a member of the high council. Then their son who is a senior got up and share his testimony. Everything was about missionary work, which is a good thing because we asked the ward to fast to find new investigators. Anyways, so towards the end I felt prompted to go up as well. I just shared something quick, something about the miracles I get to see everyday as a missionary. Then after sacrament meeting this girl comes up and just gives me a hug! I asked her if she remembered who I was and she was like "I have never met you before", then I explained how we met. Anyways, this girl is SWEET! She's going to a Catholic private college and she started dating this boy recently. Well he isn't the first boyfriend she's introduced to the gospel. Anyways, he's getting baptized, going to church, etc. Anyways....even though this girl is younger than me, she's such an example! She came to gospel principles and she was talking about how we take celestial marriage for granted, so many people don't have that assurance! I was pretty bummed because we went to her family's house for dinner, but she had already left to go back to Kentucky. I wish I could have been like her when I was in high school....

Last night in my studies I was learning about accountability. It's necessary for everyone to learn this principle. So I continued to think about it this morning. First! Mormon 9:31 says "give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our (me my) imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise" . It goes along with the scripture in D&C that says the Lord chastens those He loves. As I recognize my weaknesses/imperfections I am able to become more wise as I overcome them. But! I wouldn't be able to overcome them if I didn't know what they were. That's why missions are so awesome! Ok going back to accountability. This morning I was thinking of scriptural examples of accountability and I thought of the Brother of Jared, actually I'm in Ether right now in my Book of Mormon reading. So this is what I learned...hopefully you can follow my thoughts. Ether 2:6 "directed continually by the hand of the Lord". From the very beginning the Lord was involved in this story...He didn't confound their language. Then after making the first part of the journey the Brother of Jared gets chastised because "he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord", he wasn't being accountable. So after repenting, the Lord tells him to "go to work...according to the instructions of the Lord" (v. 16). After he build the ships, he gives an accounting of His work (v. 18). Ok...the best part, v. 24-25. Christ tells the Brother of Jared this is going to be storms, waves, winds, etc as they are crossing the ocean. BUT, He says "I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea". We cannot make it through trials in life without being prepared by the Lord first. He's given us everything we need, scriptures, church, modern day prophets, covenants, etc. But the Brother of Jared still has a problem, how are they going to see? Christ doesn't give him an answer, He says "what will ye that I should prepare fro you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea"? When I read this...I wasn't thinking about oceans. Rather, the depths of trials. What can Heavenly Father and our Savior do to help us have light when we are in the darkness of tough times in our life? We must recognize specific help we need and then go to Heavenly Father and ask for it. Just like the Brother of Jared told Christ to touch the stones so they could provide light. It goes back to the imperfections. Recognizing our weaknesses so then we can ask for specific strength/guidance to overcome the difficulties in our life....I was pretty excited after studies, still am. Maybe this doesn't seem as revelatory to you as it did to me, hopefully it makes at least a little bit of sense. 

General conference.....so stoked! Man, I don't think I can wait five more days. Hopefully everyone watches it!

September 23rd

One year ago was when I first had the impression to serve a mission, two weeks before conference. Never would I have thought that Sunday night, that exactly a year from today I would already have almost seven months completed of a mission. I think this very easily could have been the fastest/most life changing year of my life. I look back at the person I was a year ago and in some ways I don't even recognize her. Little did I know that changes that would occur to me as embarked on the journey of a lifetime.

So...the primary program yesterday! I realized this was my first time in four years being able to see a primary program (yay for singles wards!). Anyways, I think they sang all of my favorite primary songs. Unfortunately  Don and Leah Ann didn't make it to church which I was really bummed about.

Tuesday we had zone conference in Martinsville. I learned so much. We talked about D&C 4:2. If I want to reach my full potential as a missionary I have to be socially (heart), physically (strength), spiritually (might), and mentally (mind) healthy. That's incredibly difficult, but not impossible. My favorite part of zone conference is the departing testimonies. Even know, I feel like I'm never going to be at the point of these elders going home. One of the elders told us that every decision we make should be based on love and that we should experience God's love each day.

Unfortunately, the end of this week was pretty hard. So instead of sharing stories that happened, I'm going to tell you about some of the things I've been learning.

From Alma 26:22 I learned that the purpose of revelation is to bring souls unto repentance. The Restoration of the gospel allowed us to perform saving ordinances, that's repentance. Personal revelation I receive allows me to recognize weaknesses and what I need to work on to become more like Heavenly Father.

Yesterday I was studying about faith and how it leads to miracles. I was lead to Alma 32: 41. Part of it says "looking forward to the fruit thereof". I've never noticed this before. There are fruits of conversion and we are able to look for them. Yes normally Alma 32 is thought of the faith or testimony chapter, but both of those lead to conversion. Some of the fruits of conversion are desired to do good, not rebelling against God, and being filled with love. These are attributes I must look for in investigators as I teach them, but I must also look for them in myself. I've also been thinking about D&C 97:8 "observe every covenants by sacrifice-yea, every sacrifice. Sacrifice. I wish I knew more about it. Covenants allow us to become more like Heavenly Father and our Savior. I was reading "The Challenge to Become" My Elder Oaks this morning. This was what I learned. God can give me everything He has, but in order to become like Him I must do it for myself. I must learn what He learned and live as He lives. "The gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan by which we can become what the children of God are supposed to become". We must make sacrifices in order to keep covenants. I've been listening to a lot of talks by Elder Holland. I've noticed a them in a lot of them. He talks about the trials and experiences we all must go through in order to become like Christ. We have to go through some suffering on this earth. There is no way we can ever become like God if we don't experience a degree of what He went through. Salvation isn't easy. I think I tell myself this everyday. I wish I could adequately write/describe what I've learned, but it's not coming out the way I think about it in my head. Brad Wilcox wrote an article in this months Ensign about grace. Read it. I've listened to the entire talk, and maybe I've already mentioned this before, but in it he says we aren't earning Heaven, but learning Heaven. Some people I meet think we are trying to earn Heaven by doing good works. No. We are becoming like Christ and that takes work. That's frustrating because people don't get it. In ward council we talk about less actives who have fallen away. Usually it's because they don't want to put in the work that it requires to be a disciple of Christ. The gospel challenges us to live and become like Christ.

I got a letter from Hermana Ashley Miller on Saturday. It was just what I needed. She talked about how if these are the best 18 months of my life, I have failed. Because  mission should be the best 18 months FOR my life. Yeah, I've heard that quote before. Honestly, I think thank goodness this isn't supposed to be the best 18 months of my life because then I really don't want to live the rest of my life haha! Anyways, so I feel like it's ok if I don't love every moment of my mission, or even every day. What's important is that I'm more on the road of conversion than I was before, and that will bring me happiness later in life.

Back in July when I called President Cleveland the first time, after talking to him for maybe 10 minutes or so he said "I sense you are a pretty sensitive person". My first though was to be a bit offended because when I think of a sensitive person I think of an emotional unstable girl who cries all the time....unfortunately that has been me a couple of days out here. Anyways, I think you may have told me that same thing more or dad. During lunch I read a couple of letters from July. I started crying. Before Sis Francis could noticed I went into the bathroom. So I knelt down and began to pray. I begged God that He would soften my heart. As I sat there kneeling on the bathroom floor...I realized I am sensitive. Maybe it was God telling me, I don't really know. But I am. I think back on certain times of my mission, especially my first transfer, and realize that yeah I am pretty sensitive. But instead of viewing it as a negative thing, I've got to figure out how to use it as a strength.

I sense this week is going to be pretty hard. So extra prayers would be much appreciated. I have a lot of weaknesses and sometimes they prevent me from being happy. Other people also have weaknesses and part of this life is learning to forgive.

I love you all a lot! Thank you so much for everything that you do!

Love, Kyla

September 16

Tuesday and Wednesday was about 98 degrees plus way humid. When we were outside Sister Francis and I would talk about how cold we were just to take our minds of the fact that we were actually dying of heat. All we ate that night for dinner were blizzards because we were too hot to eat anything  else. Tuesday night we taught Don and Leah Ann again. Luckily there daughter was also there (she's married to a returning less active). She even listened and commented as we were talking! We're hoping that since her parents are meeting with us she will be more likely to as well. So their grandson's name is Jonathon and he was also there. I think he's about 3 or 4. When we sat down on the couch he asked if he could sit on his laps, unfortunately we had to tell him no. Then as we were leaving he said "I love missionaries" and then processed to ask his mom if he could go home with the missionaries. At least someone loves us! haha. Don and Leah didn't come to church yesterday, they didn't make as much progress last week as they did the first week we met with them. So hopefully we'll be able to help them more out this week.

On Thursday we met Dale the hillbilly. We knocked on his door and he came out and we sat on his porch and talked to him. While trying to teach him about the Restoration, we also discussed how he had just gotten out of jail, aliens, big foot, and who knows what else. There are weird people here. But he seemed pretty interested in reading from the Book of Mormon. It was just probably one of the weirdest contacts I have ever had. Oh yeah Thursday morning it rained; my favorite thing to do is tract in the rain! Sister Francis thinks I'm crazy.

Sister Francis is officially attached to me, like she suffers from separation anxiety haha. Usually she finishes making her lunch before me and goes into our room to eat (we still don't have any tables in our apartment). Anyways, not even 30 seconds after being in there is hear "Sister Mayberry will you come in here?!" Then I tell her no haha. Anyways, we are getting along pretty good. There are some differences just because we were trained by different people.

Friday we had a sweet lesson! So Thursday we tracted into Katie, a young mother and she invited us back the next day so we could talk to her husband. Jim teaches religion at Franklin College here in town. I didn't really know what to expect because he's a religion teacher and all. AT first it started out a bit like Q&A but we ended up teaching most of the Restoration lesson. At one point he asked me what I felt like was the most attractive thing about our church. I told him about the importance of modern revelation. I've been studying revelation a lot this last week or so. It's so vital not only to be a successful missionary but also for eternal life. Somewhere in PMG it talks about how exaltation cannot be achieved with revelation. Sometimes I think revelation is this big, momentous action or something. In reality, it's simply communication with Heaven. Anyways, back to Jim. I think he was really impressed when we told him how important it was that anyone receive an answer about the Church. Currently he's trying to decide which religion he wants to join, so we caught him at a good time. No return appointment unfortunately, but he said we could stop by again sometime.

So this week....a lot of frustrating moments. Originally when we got here we decided we wouldn't geographically split the area and that both sets of us would just go for it. Unfortunately the elders got a call Saturday night from the ZLs saying we needed to split it. Bummer! So after church yesterday we spent about an hour talking with the Bishop, elders quorum president, etc. trying to figure out how to split the ward. There really was no good way to do it. The actual city of Franklin sits on the northern side of the borders and then there are a bunch of smaller communities down south. Because we have a full time car and the elders don't, they thought it would be best to give us a pretty small portion of Franklin and then everything else. I'm excited to be able to go and work in the other parts, but now we have a mileage issue. So who knows! It's just a tad frustrating because the work we were doing is now all in the elder's part. So it's almost like we've got to start from square one again. Opening areas is so hard! Luckily I just heard from Sister Jones and Seymour is doing awesome! They brought some new investigators that we found there at the end to church last week. I just have to remind myself that opening an area does take time. It took almost four months in Seymour before I felt like I was really doing anything. It's kind of hard when you here about success an area is having AFTER you have left, but that's part of missionary work.

We have a ward BBQ on Saturday. I hate being social haha. It's still so hard for me. Originally I was really excited because I knew it would be an opportunity to get to know more ward members, then once we arrived I remembered that in order to get to know people I have to actually talk to them! We did alright. This one guy in the ward calls us the sister chicks...I told Sister Francis we should get shirts. There are a lot of converts out here and some of them told us they were tracting stories, so not to give up! Sister Francis is having a hard time knocking because she personally hasn't seen anything come from it. I told her most of the investigators I had in Seymour were people we found on our own. So I just have to help her see that it can go somewhere.

This week I've really struggled with feeling successful. Unfortunately I still go back to my first transfer when we had 5 progressing investigators and 15 member presents each week. I get so frustrated because I just don't know if we are using our time effectively. In some ways I already feel like I'm running out of time, but I just don't know how to use it. Then it goes back to receiving revelation. Missions are completely ran on revelation. Successful missionaries know how to receive it and apply it. I'm still not there...yet. We are just going to have to get more creative because our area has changed now. Anyways, I'm also going to focus on having more effective studies in the morning. If my studies aren't effective then neither is my day.

To end on a more positive note, I love sharing my testimony. The best moments are when I bear my testimony because then I know I am being effective. I think I'm going to struggle for the rest of my mission, which is good because than I will never feel comfortable with myself. It will allow me to continue to grow each day.

September 9

Tuesday we tried stopping by some less actives in the ward..no one was home. Story of a missionaries life. But we got a headquarter referral that morning so we stopped by that night. Don and Leah Ann are the coolest people ever. Their son-in-law is a returning LA in the ward who the elders are working with. They have started to ask him a lot of questions and finally just requested for missionaries to come and see them. During the lesson Leah Ann was telling us it was going to be hard for her to change because her sister is a Pentecostal minister and she will get really angry once they tell her they are joining the church. She was talking like she was already planning on getting baptized! They both were very anxious to read from the Book of Mormon, they asked for two so they could each have their own copy. It's weird, from the minute I met her, Leah Ann seems so familiar; I can't quite put my finger on it. I don't know if it's because she reminds me of someone else or what. At the end of the lesson we committed them both to baptism and we were one our way, two very excited sister missionaries.

Wednesday we spent a lot of time just walking and talking to whoever we saw. At one point Sister Francis asked me why I don't pray with everyone. I told her because I don't like to do things just so it can count as an other lesson (definition: teach a principle, leave a commit, and end with a prayer). So said she likes to because a lot of people have been impressed by someone so young wanting to pray with them, but that's never happened to me. The next person we saw was this guy in his garage. When we walked up to him I didn't think he would be too interested. We ended up talking for a bit and even prayed with him. When we were done he said it was sweet of us to prayer for him and that we had enlightened him. Missionary purpose fulfilled! After lunch we had made plans to see a couple of people and as we were getting out of the car we saw this woman out on her porch. We ended up talking to her for about an hour and half and taught her the entire Restoration. The elders had approached her a couple weeks before and we talked to them later that night at dinner and I guess she wouldn't even take a family history card from them haha. Sometimes, repetition is the key. Summer is probably the smartest 11 year old I know; she's the one getting baptized in October. She reads the Book of Mormon way more than I did at her age; she even has it downloaded on her kindle so she can read it at school. Basically, she just teaches us at the lessons.

Thursday morning was a little rough. I was falling asleep during studies (I haven't slept that great because I've been sick) and we didn't have much luck finding during the morning. That night we went and saw a less active with a member. Sis Johnson (the active member) is probably the coolest person I have ever met. She texted us before the lesson to tell us to wear something that could get dirty...I wasn't really sure what we would be getting ourselves into. The LA we saw hasn't been to church in a long time because of some difficult life circumstances and she's been hurt by ward members. I wasn't sure if we were really doing anything by being there. On the way home Sis Johnson get a text from the lady we had just seen thanking us for coming and said that the sisters always bring a special spirit. Yay!

Ok Friday night...we go to Don and Leah Ann's house again. Second lessons are always hard to plan for because A. they may not be there. B. they may have not read anything from the Book of Mormon. C. they may have read a little bit. D. they may have read a lot. Well Don was already in 2 Nephi and Leah Ann had read a good junk of 1 Nephi...twice. We were pretty shocked! We reviewed with them about the Book of Mormon and talked a lot about church. We knew church would be very different for Leah Ann because she was raise Pentecostal (I've heard some pretty wild things about that church). They were pretty sure they would be able to come but didn't know if they could come for all three house. Don has diabetes and recently had one of his legs amputated so he's still recovering. But they seemed pretty set on coming.

Saturday we went down to Edinburgh to see some LA families. The first one we tried wasn't home, so then we walked over to see the other one and talked to some people on the way...no one was really interested. The family we ended up seeing was super nice! Carey (the dad) was outside cleaning the BBQ when we walked up. He immediately warmed up and invited us inside and introduced us to his wife and one daughter. He's a life long member and she was baptized about 20 years ago. They've had a lot of phases of inactivity. They started coming back to church about 2 years ago and was even sealed about a year ago. Their one daughter went to EFY and had an incredible experience. Then, they just stopped coming. There are some reasons why, but Sister Francis and I have decided to just forget about them and focus on teaching them doctrine. We don't really know if they are willing to change or what, but we are going to try! We brought them up in ward council yesterday and the ward wants us to work with them. He's originally from Hawaii and so they invited us back to eat Hawaiian food with them! Because I've met so many less active people, I've realized how important it is to always be kind in the church and to watch comments we say to people. Yes, people choose to be offended, but we can also be mindful of the things we say.

We got out of ward council right before sacrament and I saw Don and Leah Ann in the hall! I was so excited! Easiest investigators to get to church. I think Leah Ann was a little overwhelmed with everything, but Don was really enjoying it. After sacrament and then after Sunday School Leah Ann would ask Don if he was still up for staying longer, and each time he said yes! After everything was over I asked him how he liked the third hour (because obviously we weren't with him). He said he really enjoyed it and they talked a little bit about the priesthood. It's weird, when we have investigators at church I'm always concerned at what is going to be said. I've realized that a lot about what we talked about is very foreign to other people and can be really confusing. I taught gospel principles because the WML had to go home. Luckily it was only on obedience so I was able to keep things pretty simple for Don and Leah Ann. Because we've only taught them twice there is a lot they don't know. But I'm so excited for them!!!!!!! Ah they have been such a blessing this week. Things are still kind of slow, finding still isn't my favorite.

So this week President Cleveland is having us write him a scripture that gives us hope. Last week in district meeting Elder Woodhouse shared Romans 8:18. I've read versus 16 and 17 a lot because we share it with people all the time, but I guess I've never thought to keep reading :). Anyways, if you don't have your scriptures handing while reading this, I'll expound. Paul is talking about how the suffering we go through right now don't compare to the glory we will experience after this life. I've thought a lot about what eternal life is going to be life, obviously I have no clue. However, what I do know is that everything we go through while we are on earth is worth it. Hope is Christ is what keeps us going no matter how terrible things are right now. One day, we'll have a fulness of joy (3 Nephi 28:10) and this life, we'll I'm sure we'll view it differently.

Just as a side note...in the last month of so I've had a lot of dreams about going home, I'm not really sure why. This week I had a dream that you (mom and dad) forgot that I was coming home.  So somehow I got home from the airport by myself, came home (actually it was our house in Oregon) and the two of your were just taking a nap like a normal Sunday afternoon! You were quite surprised to see me haha. So you better not do that! Anyways, Sister Francis has helped me to see small miracles everyday. Sometimes I get impatient and I just want to see huge changes here in Franklin, but that's not how the Lord's work works. Missionaries learn a lot of Christ-like attributes out here, patience, faith, diligence, charity, humility, obedience. Good thing I still have a year to learn it all!

I didn't take any picture this week...so Sister Donaldson sent me this one last week, flash back to the first transfer!

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.

August 26

Today marks exactly 6 months since leaving home!!...in some ways the time has gone by incredibly fast and in some ways it seems like I've been out here for an eternity. Oh! This sister is getting transferred!!!!! More on that later, but I'm way excited. And before I forget, I won't be e-mailing next Monday because it's Labor Day.

Anyways last Monday night Sister Clark (we did another exchange) taught this guy in the park. He's Hispanic (obviously)...anyways, it was an awesome lesson. He has a lot of questions and it looking for direction in this life. We committed him to baptism, but no date. During the lesson he asked that if Christ was perfect, why did he get angry and force all the tax collectors and such out of the temple? He asked "isn't that a sin?" Then I got to tell him my incredibly awesome definition of sin (not really). Sin is doing anything against the will of God. So as a missionary, there are things that are a sin for me that aren't for another person who isn't a missionary. Anyways, I learned a lot from answering his question. My favorite lessons are when I feel like I'm learning along with the investigator. We are seeing him again tonight which I'm really excited for.

Sister Clark helps me to see miracles in the work. We had an incredible day on Tuesday. We just talked with everyone and not at them, but with them. That night Sister Jones and I taught another guy on his porch. He's in his 20's and he approached us one day a few weeks ago. At one point I looked up into the clouds and just thought about Heavenly Father (yeah not totally focused on the investigator which was kind of a mistake on my part). We talked with him a lot about our Heavenly Father. Nothing is better than testifying. Sometimes when I'm teaching, I feel God working through me. I'm grateful I'm learning how to teach people because it is such an important skill. I'm grateful I can be an instrument in His hands. Tuesday I felt like His servant and there's no better feeling in the world. Unfortunately, so far, those types of days have been few and far between.

We've been in contact with this girl for several weeks. Her parents are both less-active members in North Vernon and she left home because she isn't getting along with her mom. She's living over here in Seymour. Well she had a baby last week and we stopped by to see her on Wednesday. It broke my heart to see the type of environment this baby is going to be raised up in unless something changes. She was sleeping when we went over there. She's too perfect. All I wanted to do was take her and put her somewhere else. It provides me more motivation to help her mother, so that one day this little girl can have the blessing of the gospel in her life.

So on Friday we went to follow up with a potential but she wasn't there, typical story. We had made plans to go see a couple of other people but I felt like we shouldn't leave yet. So I told Sister Jones we were going to knock a few doors. I think we was pretty confused. So on the third door we knock, no one answers, and then a car pulls in the drive way. I absolutely HATE this scenario, it's so awkward. Anyways, this lady gets out of her car and we start talking to her. She couldn't really talk to us then because someone had just driven a car through her shed in her backyard. But we set up an appointment for the next day! After we stopped talking to her, I turned to Sister Jones and said "we can leave now" with a smile on my face. The lesson with her the next day went really well. She asked to borrow a copy of the Book of Mormon before we even offered it to her. The sisters have another appointment with her Wednesday night.

We had a last minute zone meeting on Friday to talk about working with members. Oh yeah!! We went to Texas Roadhouse afterwards, by my request. I ate so many rolls I wasn't even hungry to my actual meal. It was a little difficult to keep the elders in line....sometimes I wonder about 18 year old missionaries haha.

Ok....misconception number one in missionary work. Missionaries do missionary work and they find people to baptize through tracting.

WRONG!!!!

Members are missionaries. They find new investigators and then missionaries teach them because they have been set apart, have the authority, etc. Unfortunately changing the mindset of members takes a lot of time and it can only be done one at a time. We taught a member family on Sunday. I was totally honest with them and said that if they don't like having a small ward they need to invite their friends to learn about the church so they can get baptized. If you want a bigger ward, do something about it! You can't force people to move into the ward but you can invite the people you know. Ok I'm done.

Church was weird...haha. I hated not knowing if I was actually going to get transferred. I had a pretty good idea that I would be leaving, but didn't know for sure. Bro Crail came to church! I don't know if you remember anything about him. They are a part member family. Sister Fullmer and I taught them a few times but then we stopped seeing them because they wouldn't keep any commitments. I think my boldness about coming to church finally got to him because he agreed to get a ride (before he refused to get a ride from anyone). We talked to him for a little bit after church and he said he would come next week. He told me that he hoped I would die in Seymour; I told him it wasn't happening because I still had a year left and that would mean I spent 11 our of 12 transfers here. I was just so glad he finally came!

So this week I was listening to a talk by Elder Bednar called "Pray Always". He explained how before the temporal creation, God had created everything spiritually. Our morning prayers should be the spiritual creation before our temporal day. I still don't exactly know what that means, but I've been thinking a lot about it. Prayer is something that I'm really trying to understand more and my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Sometimes He feels so far away, but then I read from the scriptures and I begin to feel better. I also listed to a talk about grace by Brad Wilcox. He compared grace to talking piano lessons. A mother will pay for a piano and the lessons for her child. She asks that her child learn to play. When the child accepts the gift that she has provided, they don't pay the mother back. Learning the piano doesn't pay for the cost of the piano or the lessons. That's how the atonement works. We don't pay back Christ when we repent and access the enabling power of the atonement, we are simply accepting the gift that He has given us. That's something else I've been pondering a lot.

So transfers...I feel kind of bad that I'm so excited to leave. But let's be honest, this place kind of has some bad memories for me. Sister Jones is training; she's pretty nervous. I told her she's going to get a visa waiter so they can teach all the Hispanics! It will be sad to say goodbye to some people though. Unlike in YSA, I was actually here long enough to develop relationships with some people. But that's missionary life. I'm so grateful for a new start though. I've learned a ton these last 4 1/2 months and I wouldn't trade them for the world, but they've been incredibly hard. I'm excited to apply what I've learned in a new area.

Have I ever told you about the bugs in Indiana??? So gross. Mosquitoes everywhere and there are big bugs that I've never seen in my life. First picture is a bug that joined Sister Clark and I for daily planning...I may have actually screamed when I saw it haha. The second one is a bug we saw last night. The other pictures are our district picture (they all came out blurry) and Texas Roadhouse.