A Better Week! + Onesies and YouTube Sensations

Hellooooooo!

This week was much better!  President McDonough (the mission president) called Ryan's baptism a "practice baptism."  Wasn't that comforting, but I'll take it!

We worked really hard this week teaching lessons and visiting less active members of the church.  We had some funny experiences while tracting.  We met a man who claimed that our church persecutes people of his faith.  I asked him which religion he was a part of (because I was sincerely curious and had no idea what he was referring to) and he said he that was a very personal question and started to slam the door in our faces.  As he was slamming the door I shouted "We don't discriminate against anyone.  We LOVE everyone!"  through the doorway.  Maybe that wasn't the most mature response, however I got a little frustrated.  I'm not perfect yet.....

 

We had 2 investigators and 3 less actives we've been working with show up to church on Sunday! That is a pretty dang successful in my book.  We have a baptism date set for one of our investigators, Josh.  He's 13 and his mom has been less active for several years now.  He's nice and really enjoys wednesday night activities.  He's making friends really well.  Good for him!

Melissa is certain she wants to get baptized.  She is going to set a date and talk to her family about it when she goes hom for Christmas.  Good for her!

Lilly came to church yesterday and is picking out wedding dresses this week.  She wants us to go with her.  I told her that all my years of watching "Say Yes to the Dress" will finally pay off for something! She's excited about them getting married.  Good for her!

 

We are having fun as a companionship.  Some fun highlights are:

#1- Our new christmas tree and our onesie pajamas! (seriously, they're the best invention EVER).  We set the tree up last p-day and listened to Christmas music.  My trainee, Sister Armstrong, loves all things Christmas.  We're even trying to see if we can go try and share the gospel with the people waiting in line for black friday! They can't loose their spot, so they HAVE to listen to us, right!?

#2- We have been practicing reciting the first vision while another person hums "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" in the background for added impact! We can hardly make it through the first vision without someone breaking character.

#3- We sang all Christmas songs at the retirement home this last week.

#4- We made a competition with our investigator Lilly to see who can make the cheesiest Christmas card.  I need ideas! GO!

 

All joking aside, Heavenly Father definitely blessed us with a productive week to follow up our last week of disappointments.  The work never ends, and we don't want it to!

Love,

Sister McElderry

P.S. I keep forgetting to send everyone this link.  I'm still not sure how I feel about it.....  My former companion, Sister Thomas, made it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B6i6oa8I5s

Ups and Downs

So this has been the craziest week of my whole mission.  I got my new Trainee, Sister Armstrong.  She's really awesome.  I absolutely love her and I could not think of anymore more perfect to work with. We are still in a trio.  We get along really well, I just think we're a little more productive with the 3 of us.  Trios are hard because it's more people to keep track of, but they give you a personality break.  Blessing! 

So we were getting Sister Armstrong settled in at the start of the week.  Then one of our investigators named Ryan texted me and said he is ready to get baptized.  The problem was, he is getting deployed TODAY, so the following Monday after he texted me.  So we meet with him a ton between Wednesdayand Saturday getting everything worked out.  Teaching the rest of the lessons and getting him interviewed and such.  He got baptized on Saturday and it was really spiritual.  It was a baptism for the Keesler Branch, so we carpooled and took all of the branch members over to the ward building to where the font was.  It was nice.  We got to the branch on Sunday and are excited for him to get confirmed and he doesn't show.  I call him and he says he doesn't believe anymore.  This was a huge blow for me. He was my first baptism, well almost.  We met with him last night and had like a 3 hour long discussion with him.  He's very confused and doesn't know what's true anymore.  Well he deploys today and if anything, we gave him a good foundation to grow upon.  We really cared about him and were hurt by his decision, but we can't take away his agency.  I know that I was given this experience to help me learn a lesson and grow as a missionary.  It just really sucked.

That's the biggest thing thing that has happened this week.  We are putting last weeks events in a box and leaving it on a shelf.  Onward and upward.  Some prayers would be appreciated.

Love,

Sister McElderry

Below is our baptism picture

Longer Letter from Nov 6th - Training a Greenie

Where do I begin.....

 

So I got my new companion.  Her name is Sister Armstrong.  She is from Dallas, Texas.  She is a visa waiter for Brazil as well.  She's super nice and we get along well.  I am her trainer, but I feel like it's more "the blind leading the blind!"  I just barely finished training myself!  Sister Garzand is still here with us.  We are in a tri-panionship. We got a brand-spanking new Chevy Cruze to drive.  It's super snazzy and pretty.  We stole it from the elders.  They're pretty bitter.  We scheduled a meal appointment for Sister Armstrong her first night here.  We got to the house and the whole place smelled like vinegar.  It was super gross.  The couple said "since you're the newbie, we will serve you first!" and they brought out some rice dyed green and some pickled pigs feet on top.  They didn't tell her what it was, but told her that it was their favorite.  So we're all watching from the kitchen and see Sister Armstrong eating this gross looking pickled pigs foot.  There was still bone inside of it and everything.  They asked her what she thought and she was like, "it's delicious" and then we all started laughing and they brought out the real food (which they added green food coloring too as well).  In case you dont know this specific aspect of Mormon culture, brand new missionaries are called "greenies," so that's where the green food coloring joke comes from.

 

As for our investigators, Melissa is still WONDERFUL.  Just like always.  She is 100% certain she wants to get baptized because she loves everything that she's learned.  We just have to set a date.  She says she doesnt feel spiritually ready, so we're talked about that for a while and gave her some homework to help her learn more about the role of the Holy Spirit.  She's wonderful though.  We absolutely love her.  She's always so nice and happy to see us.  It's a pleasant change from the knocking doors.

 

We are teaching a young man named Ryan.  He's a young airmen and he's about to deploy to Afghanistan for who knows how long.  It's been an interesting journey with him.  He's been very hot and cold with the missionaries for the last 8 months or so.  Anyway, we've been talking with him a lot and assigning him talks to read and things like that.  His heart has softened a lot toward the church and he told us today that he wants to get baptized.  Like he wants to NOW.  I don't know if we can get it all together before he deploys.... NEXT WEEK.  But who knows.  We're meeting with him tonight, so maybe we can set some realistic goals with him.

 

Lilly is still Lilly.  She works a lot, we love her a lot.  She's getting married in a month and a half!!! She chose next transfer day, so I hope that we are still here so we can see it!

 

Those are our biggest people.  Other than that, we're working with less actives and some potential investigators.  The work is good.  Training is good. I miss home.  I'm happy here though.

Love,

Sister McElderry 

 

P.S. Did I already mention that 7 out of 10 of the missionaries from my district in the MTC are in Brazil now? Is that old news?

Hoping the Visa Comes Soon - Short Letter from Nov 5th

Hey! Biloxi is great! Having fun, working hard.  I'm going to train a Visa waiter for Brazil.  Her name is Sister Armstrong.  She's from Texas.  That's all  Iknow so far! Haven't met her yet! I'm working on getting my paperwork done for the Visa so it can continue to process.  7 out of 10 of the missionaries from my group in the MTC are in Brazil now.  I think I'll be the last one now....

Love,

Sister McElderry

Gulfport Zone Interviews - A Sneak Peak at Sis. McElderry!

I stole this gem off the Mississippi Jackson Mission Blog. Look at our sweet Sister McElderry!