Transfer Day

Hello All!
Today is transfer day! I'm losing my two companions (Sister Keyes and
Sister Thomas) and getting a new one, Sister Garzand.  I haven't met
her yet.  I am currently waiting for her to come down from El Dorado,
ARKANSAS! She's been serving in Arkansas for the past 6 months.
Sister Keyes is going about an hour west of Biloxi and Sister Thomas
is going home to try and work out her back pains.  It's unfortunate
that she has to go home, but we weren't being very effective this last
week because of her pain.  Hopefully she can get everything worked out
and come back out!

Because we weren't able to do much work last week, I don't have much
to share. So I sent the two pictures of me and my trainer! I'm going
to miss her.

Hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Sister McElderry

My Trainer

Me and my trainer, Sister Keyes

<3 Her

Editors Note: If you follow the Mississippi Jackson Mission Blog, you will be pleased to have learn Sister McElderry and her companion won the "Golden Mop Award" for their area for keeping their place so clean. I think the mission must be doing good things for Sister McElderry...

Food, Beaver/Rats and Haircuts

Hello all!

photo from a training on MJM Blog

I don't have a lot of time to write today.  A member took us to the buffet at the Beau Rivage casino for brunch, so that took two hours from our P-Day and then we attended a play group with some of the moms for fun and we're getting ready to go get our hair cut.  All three of us are getting it down by a member who lives in another city.  Sister Thomas (who has never gotten her hair cut before and has hair down to her butt) is getting layers today! This is a super exciting and big step for her.  She's never lived away from home and is having to grow up really fast out here.  I'm proud of her for taking this step and getting her hair cut.  (I'm also excited that we won't look like sister wives anymore because of her ridiculously long hair)

 

Some highlights from my week:

- All three of our investigators did not attend church this week even though they told us they would.  Surprise, surprise.

- We found these beaver/rat combination animals at a park here called Nutria.  (I will attach an image of one)  They are really friendly and will get really close to you.  They almost look like beavers when they swim in the water.  Apparently they are from South America and were brought up here for the almost beaver like pelts, however there is no natural predator so they run rampant. 

- We invited some of the young women to help us write messages in chalk along the sidewalk next to the beach.  It was super fun and the girls enjoyed doing missionary work with the Sisters.  We drew pictures of temples and wrote mormon.org and such. 

- A member made the best ribs I've probably ever had and his pulled pork tasted exactly like Whole Hog.  I was in HOG heaven.  (Get it?)

 

Anyway, those are the highlights from my week.  I saw that my blog got updated so there is plenty of other stuff to catch up on. 

Love everyone back home!

Sister McElderry

they have red teeth, too

Recent Photos from Sister McElderry

We didn't get a formal letter from sister mcelderry september 2, but this is what we did get:

"Just some fun pictures my companion took.  One is when we're going to Zone conference.  The two others are from our picnic yesterday for Labor Day!"

September 9th Letter

Dear Everyone back home,

 

Yet another week has gone by here in Biloxi.  We are definitely having a blast down here!  We have been battling menstral cycles, cat poop, and colds this week.  I would say it was a roller coaster of emotions.  We decided that the best course of action today would be to take naps and relax.  Hopefully that actually happens! 

 

Updates on our investigators:

 

The Powells- We tracted in to this couple one evening and they instantly invited us inside.  We sat down on the couch.  We had no idea what to expect from this visit.  NO ONE is that friendly to us!  The first thing they do is point at a painting of "Black Jesus" above their TV and proceed to explain to us that they don't believe that Jesus was black, so they just call him  their "Black Hebrew." And then they start telling us about how they found God while in prison for murder and became Pentecostal after that.  She said "I could feel God SKRENGTHENIN' me!" They are the funniest couple.  We love them! We went back yesterday and tried to share a little about the Book of Mormon with them.  The wife didn't really listen, but Mr. Willie understood.  He said "Now y'all make sure you leave that book for me.  I want to read it!" (He has a Barry White-esque voice.)  I can't wait to go visit them again.

 

Lilly- I've mentioned Lilly before, I think.  She is a young mother who is living with a less active member name Carlos.  She really wants to get baptized, but she knows they have to be married first, so they're working on getting married while we meet with her.  She is so funny.  We haven't quite figured out how she thinks, but without fail, the Spirit helps her understand what we're teaching in a way that she can understand.  Some of my favorite highlights: when we taught her about prophets, she said "oh! so you guys are like my baby prophets because you're here teaching me what God wants me to do!" which is true, however we are not THE prophet. She also said when we taught about the premortal existence that "we all probably knew each other up there and I told you that I was going to be rebellious but yall were going to come find me and teach me. Then we all held hands and jumped down to earth together."  Her take on life after death: "And then we're all going to meet back up in the Celestial Kingdom and have a fiesta!" We love her.  Her enthusiasm about the church is contagious.

 

Jonathon and Samantha-  We tracted in to them one day and found out that Jonathon has had a couple of the lessons about a year ago.  So we had two lessons with them this week.  They're an interesting couple.  Very simple people.  I'm not sure either of them really have a job.  When we come over, they sit on the couch and we sit on the floor across from them.  They're funny because she's PAINFULLY shy.  Whenever we talk to her, she ducks behind him and starts giggling.  He's very outgoing and kind of hits on us.  It's pretty uncomfortable actually.  He always refers to us as "pretty ladies" and things like that.  One funny thing (which is actually not funny, given my recent WEIGHT GAIN).  He offered us some crackers and we all said no, then he turned to me and said "come on." so I took some.  And he said "see, I can tell that you eat a lot." WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!?  Darn you Mississippi!

 

Final story- This is about a less active member here in Biloxi.  She is in her 40's and has Lupus.  I'm not sure how debilitating of a disease it is, but word on the street is this woman can actually function a lot more than she claims she can.  But no worries, we're sister missionaries and we love to do service! So we tell her that we'll come clean her house for her.  We get in there and the place was a disaster! They recently bug bombed the apartment so there were dead bugs EVERYWHERE.  While my comps cleaned and organized the kitchen, I started sweeping.  I got behind the table and found a pile of crumpled newspaper and started to pick it up until it stuck to the floor and a bunch of cat poop fell everywhere.  I had to scrape that CRAP (literally) off of the floor with a plastic spoon.  Then I decided to be Christ-like and clean the litter box for her.  WORST DECISION OF MY LIFE.  I'm pretty sure my nostrels are still burned from the impact of the smell.  The cherry on top is that part way through, she texts us from her bedroom upstairs and says "do you want a jolly rancher?"  That was all. 

 

I laugh about the funny people that we meet, but surrounding these experiences are tender mercies from the Lord.  I wouldn't be able to keep going week after week if I didn't see the Lord's hand in our work.  I know that I'm out here serving my fellow man because I love the Gospel.  I will scrape cat poop all day for the opportunity to share our message and help people increase their faith in Jesus Christ, but God sure does have a sense of humor!

 

Well, until next week!

Sister McElderry

August 26th Letter

Hey there everyone!

 

Just a quick update about my week!

We went to the beach last Monday and of course, I got sunburned!  I even put sunblock on! We flew kites and played Uno next to the water (but not in the water). 

 

Tuesday wasn't very eventful. 

 

Wednesday was interesting.  We met with an older woman named Betty who invites us to her backporch and feeds us while we talk about the Book of Mormon and the Bible.  She's super sweet and just enjoys talking about the Bible.  I love her.  Afterward, we ate dinner in a Native American family's home.  The father of the house's name is Brother Cheif and he likes to tell us stories about how to kill a bear and become a man and how eating black cats cure asthma.  Our visits are very interesting.  Anyway, we went over for dinner they served us heaping helpings of lasagna and then expected us to eat seconds and dessert.  (This is normal here in Mississippi)  After dessert, they offered us some canteloupe.  I didn't think I could eat any more, but I agreed to it because people down here are emotionally attached to food and I wanted this family to like me.  Anyway, my companion Sister Keyes declined the offer and he turned to her and said, "You not happy.  You no eat my food." and made her feel super bad.  What's funny is that I told her before we went in there that she had to eat all of the food they offered us because that's how we'll get them to like us. 

 

You won't be surprised to hear that I've gained 6 pounds since I've been here, BUT people like us!  I'm gaining weight for Jesus!

 

Anyway, I'm happy and healthy and a little bit chunky.  The work is hard, but worth it.

Love,

Sister McElderry

August 19th Letter

Note from Kristin: Sorry I have been behind posting these!!!! I am catching up now!

Hello from Biloxi!

 

This has been an interesting week.  We had transfers and they white washed our Biloxi Spanish elders.  We got two new ones and they are AWESOME.  They get out and actually work and ride their bicycles.  It's awesome. We can actually depend on them.  I don't know if I ever mentioned before that our last elders were kind of lame.  Loved them, but they were lame.  We have so much potential to get work done around here.  We have two really great wards that we work with and everyone is enthusiastic about working with the missionaries.  Our bishop came in to Relief Society this week and talked about how hard we sisters work and how he wants the sisters in our ward to go out with us at least once a week.  It's awesome.  We're starting to get more involved with the branch on the air force base.  We were asked to teach a young airman named Brian who was introduced to the Church through his roommate.  We met with Brian and he had already read about the restoration and the beginning of the Book of Mormon and believes that it's all true.  We set him with a date for August 31st.  He wants to meet with us every day.  He asked us to meet with him EVERY DAY!!!  That doesn't happen here in Biloxi!  It just gives me the faith and confidence that Heavenly Father is a part of our work.  He has prepared people to receive our message and we just have to do our part to put ourselves in positions where we can meet those people. 

 

We have another woman who we have been meeting with regularly named Jessica.  She has been a puzzling investigator.  She's really nice and welcomes us into her home, but we can't tell if she's actually interested or not.  We found out that her husband is a very devout Catholic and has some strong objections to her meeting with us.  We finally asked her to talk to him and ask him if it's okay for her to meet with us and we even offered to have our Spanish elders (the new ones who are awesome) come over and explain what it is that we teach about to her husband (he doesn't speak English).  We'll find out either today or tomorrow what's going to happen with her. 

 

That's pretty much it as far as our investigators go. We spend the rest of our time knocking doors, meeting with less active members, and doing service projects.  Probably my favorite service we did this week was we cleaned a woman's home whose husband is deployed and her kids all have impetigo- which is aparrently a form of staph?  Anyway, I was super freaked out the whole time, but she really needed the help around her house.   We cleaned the entire downstairs part of her house for her and folded her laundry.  She cried when we left.  It was worth it.  But now every time I get a bug bite or a red mark on my body, I freak out thinking it's staph.

 

I forgot to mention that we have visited a woman named Michelle a couple of times.  She's really interesting.  The two times we've visited her in her home, we've taught the lesson while she put weave in someone's hair.  It's very interesting and distracting for me, but we get to teach 2-3 people each time we go in her home! And we're learning all about weave and weave products!  Maybe I'll become a hair dresser someday.  (Just kidding Dad)

 

I would be lying if I said every day was sunshine and happiness.  It's pretty stressful trying to teach people the keys to salvation and getting turned away.  But we always take time to find things to laugh about each day.  Sometimes we're so discouraged, we force ourselves to laugh until we're sincerely laughing.  Probably my favorite moment was when we were driving to lunch and the elders were following us. Sweet Sister Keyes, who is so careful with what she calls "The Lord's Car," flipped a u-turn in an intersection that was too small and instead of backing up to give herself room to complete the turn, gunned it and drove over the curb.  It was very abrasive and I'm pretty sure we need to get the tires realigned.  *PARENTS: DO NOT BUY TEENAGE GIRLS NEW CARS!*  They don't take care of them.  But we have been chuckling about that all week.  Any time things get stressful, we say "Hey, do you remember when Sister Keyes drove over that curb in the Lord's Car?" and we laugh our problems away.

 

Anyway, we're going to play frisbee and soccer on the beach today with our new elders.  I'm excited to expend some energy.  I love and miss everyone!  I hope everyone is doing well. 

Sister McElderry