Nov 10 Letter

Hello everybody!

I don't have much time to write.  Our day got all weird.  I think we will be emailing later??? I hope so at least.  We have lots to catch up on!  Like..... a baptism! Wayne Roberts! It was SO GOOD!   Sister Ray and I sang a special number for it.  We've also been packing and cleaning like crazy because....... two more sisters are moving in TOMORROW!  They will spend a week with us before we go home, then they will take over our area! It's crazy and stressful and beautifully busy.  I'm really excited to finish strong! We have another baptism planned for Friday too! 

List of interesting things done this week:

Deer ribs

Packed all of my stuff

Skinned a raccoon.  We're going to feed it to the new sisters!  I cut off one of the feet!

Baptism and confirmation of Wayne Roberts.  *Magical*

We are preparing a musical number for Sunday as well.  Sister Ray has convinced me to learn to play piano and sing at the same time.  So we'll see how it goes!  It could be flop, but I think it will be fine.

We found an abandoned piano in the street and played duets on it for a little while!
Built a blanket fort at a member's house.

I'm Still Alive - Oct 20th Letter

Helloooooo Everybody!

I sure hope these emails are getting forwarded out??? (Dad)

We're doing well.  I've been coping with my hair cut.  It's okay, I guess.  I have to style my hair every day though.  :(

We had our fireside this last week.  It was good! 

Here is a picture of the 4 of us who put it on.  So good! (You can't really see it in this picture, but my bangs are crooked.)

Anyway, I don't have much to say.  Just doing the same old, same old while I can!

I would love to hear from someone.... anyway.  I'm not picky! Even an email would be nice.

K. Well, Love you!

Sister McElderry

Nov 3 Letter

Hello everybody!

I just wanted to send some quick words about the goings-on in my life! 

I had my final interview with my mission president yesterday.  He informed me that I have served an honorable mission and am prepared to meet the challenges of the rest of my life. He also talked about me getting married someday, which brought on a wave of embarrassment and blushing and such.  TOO SOON PRESIDENT!  He also informed Sister Ray and I that we will be getting two new sisters in our area..... NEXT WEEK! They will join us for our last week while we teach them the area and introduce them to everyone.  It's going to be crazy as we pack our stuff, move them in, unpack their stuff, say goodbye to people, introduce them to people, prepare for 2 baptisms, and hand over the area to them after one week. I'm going to be a stressed out mess when I get home.  But it will be worth it!

Hopefully I will get my flight plans in the next couple of days and then I can let you all know my itinerary.

Love you all!

Sister McElderry

Oct 27th Letter

Hey Everybody!

The mission continues on! My companion and I have become bogged down with all the people asking us to come and eat with them and we have 3 baptisms coming up before we go home.  Needless to say, we are a little "flustrated," as they say down here, by everything we need to get done.  We turned our marker board into a big calendar with the last 4 weeks of our mission on it.  We put literally every single appointment and thing we need to do on it.  We felt a lot better afterward.  :)

Charles Lane got a calling this week! He's now the youth sunday school teacher.  It will be interesting....

Wayne Roberts and his son Tyson are working toward their November 7th baptism date.  They are doing really well!

Laura Parnell is getting baptized on November 14th with her son who is turning 8 that week.  She's really excited!

We have lots to do and very little time to do it! Everyone has decided they want to feed us a ton of food and pre-thanksgiving meals.  Expect me to look very rotund when I get home!  

Just so everyone knows, I get home November 19th.  Not sure what time my flight is though.  I saw a discrepancy in an email about the date I get home.  

Anyway, I appreciate the emails I got! They made me feel loved!

See you soon!

Sister McElderry

1 Week, 2 Emotionally Reckless Sisters, 4 Bad Haircuts - Oct 13th Letter

Dear Family,

You will all be seeing me in just over 5 weeks.  I hope you will recognize me despite the TWO bad hair cuts my companion and I got this past week. I think I have learned my lesson that "free" doesn't always mean "good."   The only way I know how to describe it is to say "business in front, party in back."  Sister Ray and I are doing well for the most part.  Sometimes we both get emotionally compromised by the idea of going home together, and make bad choices, like our haircuts.  We don't have that newer companion who balances all the emotions out.  

Anyway, I don't have time to email much today. We're emailing again on Wednesday.  Elder Zwick is visiting our mission tomorrow.  And I'm performing two musical numbers in front of over half the mission (with the bad haircut of course!)  And we have a big musical fireside Friday night in front of all of the members and our investigators.  

Pray for me.  More importantly, pray for my hair to grow!!!

Love,

Sister McElderry

Still alive... and a Baptism!

Dear Family,

I am writing for the first time in a while to let you know that I am still alive.  Bug bitten, but alive.  

Sister Ray and I have been working hard to get this area going! We are getting a branch activity going for this weekend and a musical fireside for October.  It's going to be SO GOOD!  I love having a musical companion! We use our talents to spread the gospel!

Speaking of spreading the gospel, we had a baptism on Saturday! Charles Lane! He was so excited! (We were too!)  He's most excited to go to the temple and do his home teaching work! He reads everything he can get his hands on! 

What else..... welp, nothing else! We're teaching some other people.  We'll have some more solid information on them next week!

Love everyone!  Talk to you later!

Sister McElderry

Sister M keeping a clean apartment and getting awards...

The mission must be good for her! :P She won a polished apartment award recently, featured on the Mississippi Jackson Mission Blog.

Additional Photos of Sister M

Transfers - Aug 26th letter

Hellooooo!

Today is transfers! Sister Kelly, may she rest in peace, is going home! She finished her mission and is making her way back to the Promised Land.  I mean, Utah! 

We had a FAN-TASTIC week! We are still teaching some elect people.  5 of our investigators came to church and LOVED IT! Ironically, they love how tiny it is.  Charles told us that his experience at church was "every thing he thought it would be, and more." He went on to tell us that one of his favorite things was the fact that there was a family on the back row eating a bag of candy! These people are crazy, but I love them!  Sister Kelly and I gave talks at church.  I spoke about the importance of making covenants and compared it to rock climbing.  I think it went pretty well.  Since we're preparing people for baptism, I decided to talk about that topic for them!

I got a new companion, Sister Ray.  She is also from Utah.  We will both go home in November.  I talked with President McDonough about this and told me that we are going to evaluate our area after this transfer and see if we will keep it open.  The idea of going home and closing the area at the same time KILLS me! But everything happens for a reason! The best thing Sister Ray and I can do is keep working as hard as we can and prove to President that there's work to be done here!  But if not, it'll be alright.  This little branch is scrappy.  It's the oldest unit in Mississippi.  If it has survived this long, I'm sure it can make it a little longer.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well! I have enjoyed the emails I got this week!  Thanks for your love and your advice!

Love,

Sister McElderry

P.S. I snagged a quick picture of me and Sister Ray here in the library.  Disregard how crazy we look.  I got up super early this morning to help my companion finish packing!

A Photo from Interviews

Snagged from the Mississippi Jackson Mission Blog. 

August 19th Letter

So.... I wrote a nice long email to everyone, but thanks to my uncanny ability to mess up technology, I deleted the whole thing!  (Story of my life!)

The email was full of funny stories and spiritual experiences that would have brought you to tears.  Now you will just have to suffer with some quick notes about the people we are teaching!

Laura Parnell- She is the wife of a less active man in the ward.  We approached her one day at an activity and asked if she would like to meet with us.  She said yes and the rest is pretty much history! Her baptism date is set for September 18th and she is super excited! She loves the history of the church and the missionary lessons.  She is so prepared!

Tina Ramey- She is the caretaker of an elderly lady we visit, Sister Hazel.  We started out visiting Hazel and eventually started teaching Tina.  We talked about the blessings of the gospel and how it blesses our families.  That really appealed to her.  Then we taught the Plan of Salvation and she LOVED it.  She came to church and LOVED church! She want's her daughter to come with her!

Charles Lane- He is the neighbor of Sister Hazel.  He has been watching us visit Sister Hazel for the past couple of months and called us over to talk with him on his carport.  He wanted to know who we were and what we were doing.  We started to teach him the Restoration and he felt like it answered most of the questions he had that caused him to leave his previous church.  He's been reading from the Book of Mormon and felt like it was good, but he didn't feel like God was answering his prayers.  We have been teaching him about the cleansing power of repentance and I shared one of my favorite Book of Mormon scriptures with him, Alma 37:6- "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." He said that the verse struck him so hard and answered his prayers.  He told us that he knew that God wanted him to hear our message and that it was all true.  He told us how he's never been so happy before in his life as he is now.  He's coming to church on Sunday and it will be the first time he's stepped foot inside a church in 14 years.

Robert Dale and Linda McLain-  We baptized this couple back in July and have been teaching them the lessons again.  They are growing so much! They love to study, even though Linda can't read well and Robert Dale is illiterate.  They follow along in their scriptures every verse that we read.  Robert Dale told us about how important prayer was to his quitting his 41 year tobacco addiction.  They are on FIRE right now! They practically glow!

Wayne- He is our newest investigator.  We found him last week.  He is Linda's oldest son and would frequently walk through while we taught Robert Dale and Linda.  Finally he sat down in one of our lessons and we asked him if he knew anything about our beliefs.  He said that he knew enough to know that he should probably steer clear of us.  We invited him to meet with us again and ask any questions he may have.  We did, and he agreed with everything we shared about the Restoration.  We have him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read from it.  We scheduled to see him again last night and he called us to make sure we were still coming! We taught him and he LOVED the Book of Mormon.  He told us he feels like it is true! We are seeing him again this afternoon! 

I think the biggest lesson that I have learned over the past couple of weeks is that the Lord is a part of every aspect of missionary work.  We cannot find in conventional missionary ways here in this area.  It's "illegal" according to the police here.  Regardless of that, the Lord and dropped these prepared people in to our laps!  It's so humbling to see the Lord work on the hearts of people and to try my best to help out.  That's the only way I know how to describe it.  I feel like we do very little to help these people, yet they change so much! The gospel is REAL! 

I guess the scripture is true, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass."

I love you guys.  3 months from today I'll be home! But I try not to count.  It's distracting.  

Have a wonderful week!

Sister McElderry

July 30th Letter

Hello everybody!

I felt like I should probably update you on what's been happening down here!

Well, the top story is that we got in a car accident!  No big deal.  We were stopped in preparation to make a left-hand turn and a truck didn't stop in time and plowed in to the car that was stopped behind us, which in turn plowed in to us.  Again, no big deal.  The best part is, I got a concussion and spent the night in the ER! Again, no big deal.  Basically I was struggling to focus and couldn't really remember things clearly, so our Mission Nurse told me to go to the ER at 10:00 at night.  I didn't want to, but she and my companion insisted.  So we called a member (Sister Price) who took us on the 40 minute trek to the emergency room.  Then sat there until 5:30 in the morning when they finally released me.  It was the worst experience of my life.  We didn't get home until 6:30 in the morning.  I'm so grateful that Sister Price went with us.  It was like having a mom to take care of me again.  I just bawled my eyes out at her generous offer to go with me.  

What else is going on..... We are teaching a man named Charles Lane. He lives across the street from an elderly lady that we visit frequently.  He was impressed that we visited her and wanted to talk with us about what it is that we are doing.  So we talked with him about his beliefs and he confessed that he felt like there were gaping holes in his knowledge of the gospel.  That the Bible was missing parts and was probably mistranslated at times by people who didn't have the authority to interpret it.  He's pretty much the nicest person I've ever met.  We sit with him on his carport and teach him.  He's been reading from the Book of Mormon and just loves it.  We are so excited to be teaching him.  He and the Price family are rays of sunshine for me.

That's pretty much it! I don't have much time to write any more details.  We're just trying our best to work with what we've got here! I love the people and I love this area! I'm learning a lot.  Especially about patience.....

Love,

Sister McElderry

July 8th Letter

Can't write much today.  Guess I'll do it next week! Love everyone!

Sister McElderry

July 1st Letter

HELLLOOOO Family!

This has been a momentous week!  

We got to see President and Sister McDonough (always a highlight).  President is just so kind and loving.  We talked about so many things that I needed.  He talked with me about my work here in the Sand Hill Branch.  I love this area and the people so much.  I don't want it to close, but we are really struggling to find work to do.    We did, however, have a BAPTISM! Linda McLain! She is such a sweet and humble woman.  She loves the gospel so much.  Her husband was a member of the church but for whatever reason is no longer a member now.  The missionaries right before me found them and started teaching them.  We really stepped up our game and started teaching them every single day.  We even helped her husband, Robert Dale McLain, give up his 40 year tobacco addiction. We found out yesterday that after meeting with some leaders at church, we will be having a re-baptism for him on Wednesday!! It has been so amazing to see how the light of the gospel has really changed them since I first met them.  They read the scriptures and pray together every day and you can see how their love for each other has grown so much.  Robert Dale was really quiet and shy (he has a severe speech impediment which makes him pretty much unintelligible) when we first started teaching them, but after he gave up tobacco, he has really opened up.  He smiles and you can really see a light in them.  This was really needed for the branch because it is a ray of hope that things can turn around here.  

I love these people so much.  They have hearts of gold and they give and serve so much.  They are wonderful examples to me and their charity never ceases to amaze me.  

I hear about some more hard things happening at home.  I want everyone to know that I love and miss you guys.  I try not to think about coming home in November, but my heart is so ready to be back with you guys.  I think, worry, and pray for all of you.

Love,

Sister McElderry

P.S. We got a ton of rain this last week.  We almost drove off of the dirt roads multiple times.  Who would have thunk that wet clay/sand could feel like driving on ice? 

Short Letter - June 24th

Can't write much today.  We had interviews today with President McDonough and my companion has to go to the doctor, so our time is cut short.

Love everyone.

Sister McElderry

P.S. Send letters.  Some love in the mail box would be appreciated!

Photos of Sister Mac from transfers

Photos taken from the Mississippi Jackson mission blog...

June 10th Letter

Hey yall! 

I am typing this while tornado sirens are going off outside.  We are at the tiny local library and I have just a few minutes to write you guys! 

First things first: I love my new companion Sister Kelly.  She's from Salt Lake City, Utah (surprise, surprise) but she is super sweet! She has bright red hair and she is going home in two transfers.  I will probably be her last companion! She has only been here in Richton for 6 weeks so she really didn't know the area when I got here.   We spent a lot of time lost out on the dirt roads this last week.  Thankfully we have a JEEP because we have to go off-roading a lot!  An example of how small this town is and how everyone is related to each other, we got lost on the way to the church (40 minutes away) and stopped to ask for directions.  We went up to some people sitting in rocking chairs on the porch in front of their log cabin house and were asking them for directions.  We eventually made it to the church just in time for our meeting.  On Sunday everyone in the branch knew about us getting lost because they were all related to the person we were talking to.  In fact, one of the members saw us talking to their cousin because they were fishing in a pond next door.  Anyway, they have nicknamed us "Columbus" because "ya thought ya knew exactly where ya was, but ya were actually really lost" like Columbus was.  

The people are all really old and cute.  They have super thick accents and were born and raised in this town.  In fact, they have retired in the exact house they were raised in themselves! Their kids buy double wide trailers and move right down the dirt road from their parents! Because everyone is related and it takes 30 minutes for us to drive between appointments, we spent our first week trying to find everyone and figure out their family trees.  I had several mini panic attacks my first couple of days here because I had no idea what we were going to do with ourselves. It's an easy area to get discouraged in and give up on the work.  I called President McDonough multiple times to just talk with him and understand WHY I'm here! I told him that he sent me to a foreign country because the food is weird, I can't understand anyone, and the bugs are huge! We had a good laugh about that.  Basically he told me that he put me here to determine whether or not this area will stay open, or if they are going to pull missionaries out.  We spent equal parts of the last week visiting members and getting lost.  It was really stressful but we can laugh about it now! We have kind of figured out what we are doing since then and are really happy to put all of our energy in to a direction! We're going to work on getting to know the people really well and get their less active family back to church.  So tons of reactivating! President told us that the work here is "one of a kind" and "not like missionary work we have done anywhere else." 

Some more highlights about Richton:

-The bugs are HUGE and plentiful! 

-The people here are very sweet and kind.  They feed us multiple FEASTS a day! I can honestly say I have gained 5 pounds in just one week.  Then they give us leftovers to put in our refrigerator! We usually don't eat the left overs because we're still full from the night before! We come home at the end of the day and just lay on the couch and describe how much food we ate and how badly our stomachs hurt. Some local food favorites: fried green tomatoes.  homemade mac n' cheese.  fried chicken.  various varieties of tater tot casserole.  creamed corn.  homegrown turnip greens.  homegrown squash.  Black eyed peas. Fresh tomatoes from the garden (my favorite) And pies and cakes galore!

 -We wake up each morning to a rooster crowing.  

-I heard a member use the word "renege" at church on Sunday. (Dad, I thought of you!)

Anyway, I'm fat and happy down here! I experienced some severe culture shock, but I'm fitting right in here! They can't say my name so I'm "Sister Mac!" and they love that I am from Arkansas.

I've learned how important it is to consistently live the gospel.  It's so sad to hear the remorse these members feel because they didn't teach their kids to live the gospel.  It's really disheartening to feel the lack of hope in these members as they watch their branch die.  We're going to restore it and get this area going! I want to come back and visit this branch in 10 years and see how much it has grown.  We just have to stop it from declining first!

I love you guys and love hearing from you! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!  

Sister Mac- from Arkansas

P.S. President McDonough called and said that I've been advised to be reassigned here to the Mississippi Jackson Mission.  The wait is over! I will not be going to Brazil during my mission.

June 3rd letter - transfer

Hey everybody! 

I just wante to send a quick email and let you all know that I got transferred today! I'm in Sand Hill, Mississippi. It's close to Hattiesburg. I haven't been there yet, but from what I hear it's a small country town.  We have a branch of about 20 people on a good Sunday.  Knocking doors is illegal in town, so there isn't a direct way to meet people to teach.  The members are all really old and the area is kind of struggling! I don't know what President wants me to do there but I'll figure it out! I was so sad to leave Clinton.  I LOVED those people. 

I have mentioned a woman named Danielle Jackson multiple times in my emails.  She works for a less active man named Brother Kynerd.  I just LOVE those people.  I was so sad to leave them.  Danielle cares for Brother Kynerds handicapped sister, Carol.  She has a disorder that should have taken her life by the time she was 5, but she has lived to be 65 years old! She is a miracle and a ray of sunshine to everyone who meets her.  I realized the other day that I would have never met Danielle or Brother Kynerd if Carol had not continued living and I had gone to Brazil.  I was touched by the knowledge that there are no coincidences.  As much as I pray and desire for certain things to happen, I know that Heavenly Father's vision and plans for me are so much bigger than I can imagine!  It was such a blessing to work with those people and to touch their lives with the gospel.

Overall, we really kicked butt in Clinton this last transfer.  We worked really hard to get the members pumped and ready to do missionary work themselves. We had members setting personal goals for missionary work in their families.  Last night we followed up on a couple who were reading from Preach My Gospel in preparation to find someone to share the gospel with.  They even role played with each other!  It broke my heart to leave just when everything started to get going.  But that's how missionary work goes! I think my mission is going to be full of assists.  I don't think I'll ever really get to see the fruits of my labors.  I'm grateful to have met so many wonderful and talented people though.  I changed and grew a lot in Clinton.  I'm realizing more and more that I'm not the same person I was a year ago. I'm a better missionary and a more faithful person all around.  Sand Hill is really going to push me to change and grow more.  The Lord has been preparing me for this! It's going to be great! 

Because the area is small and weird, I probably will not be able to email consistently.  If I do, it will probably be on Tuesdays or Wednesdays from now on.  I don't really know yet.  Anyway, say a pray for me and my work here, then trust that the Lord is providing for me! I know I'm here for a reason, and I'll find that reason!

Love,

Sister McElderry

June 3rd letter - transfer

Hey everybody! 

I just wante to send a quick email and let you all know that I got transferred today! I'm in Sand Hill, Mississippi. It's close to Hattiesburg. I haven't been there yet, but from what I hear it's a small country town.  We have a branch of about 20 people on a good Sunday.  Knocking doors is illegal in town, so there isn't a direct way to meet people to teach.  The members are all really old and the area is kind of struggling! I don't know what President wants me to do there but I'll figure it out! I was so sad to leave Clinton.  I LOVED those people. 

I have mentioned a woman named Danielle Jackson multiple times in my emails.  She works for a less active man named Brother Kynerd.  I just LOVE those people.  I was so sad to leave them.  Danielle cares for Brother Kynerds handicapped sister, Carol.  She has a disorder that should have taken her life by the time she was 5, but she has lived to be 65 years old! She is a miracle and a ray of sunshine to everyone who meets her.  I realized the other day that I would have never met Danielle or Brother Kynerd if Carol had not continued living and I had gone to Brazil.  I was touched by the knowledge that there are no coincidences.  As much as I pray and desire for certain things to happen, I know that Heavenly Father's vision and plans for me are so much bigger than I can imagine!  It was such a blessing to work with those people and to touch their lives with the gospel.

Overall, we really kicked butt in Clinton this last transfer.  We worked really hard to get the members pumped and ready to do missionary work themselves. We had members setting personal goals for missionary work in their families.  Last night we followed up on a couple who were reading from Preach My Gospel in preparation to find someone to share the gospel with.  They even role played with each other!  It broke my heart to leave just when everything started to get going.  But that's how missionary work goes! I think my mission is going to be full of assists.  I don't think I'll ever really get to see the fruits of my labors.  I'm grateful to have met so many wonderful and talented people though.  I changed and grew a lot in Clinton.  I'm realizing more and more that I'm not the same person I was a year ago. I'm a better missionary and a more faithful person all around.  Sand Hill is really going to push me to change and grow more.  The Lord has been preparing me for this! It's going to be great! 

Because the area is small and weird, I probably will not be able to email consistently.  If I do, it will probably be on Tuesdays or Wednesdays from now on.  I don't really know yet.  Anyway, say a pray for me and my work here, then trust that the Lord is providing for me! I know I'm here for a reason, and I'll find that reason!

Love,

Sister McElderry

May 26th letter

Hey everybody! 

We've had a pretty fun week! One of my companions got "stripe throat." Sister Hansen couldn't say "strep."  It was pretty cute.  But her being sick wasn't.  We struggled to do work because she was super sick.  But we did manage to put on a musical fireside again and had lots of people show up! We worked really hard but it was worth it! 

I am now the proud owner of an old bike that was left in the mission home! It's a rusty old boys bike, but I hike my skirt up and ride it like a champ! It is horribly hot and I am sunburned and we look absolutely ridiculous, but it's fun! I have included a picture of me and my companion on a bike day.  It was pretty miserable.  

Transfers are next week and we found out that our area is getting split up.  We're giving the scary Jackson part to some new elders.  We're moving apartments and will lose some people that we have been working with, but it's exciting to share the work even more missionaries! 

Today we celebrated Memorial Day by going to an old Civil War site here in Vicksburg, Mississippi.  I believe I included a picture of that too.  

On a more serious note, Danielle Jackson told us that she wants to get baptized!  She also told us that she wants to go with the ward on their up coming temple trip! I'm torn because I want to get transferred, but I don't want to at the same time.  I would love to see Danielle's process through to the finish, but I don't know if that will happen! 

Anyway, I'm happy and healthy.  I'm enjoying the work!

Enjoy your memorial day weekend! 

Love,

Sister McElderry

May 5th Letter

Hello everybody! 

This week has been super fun and productive! We got a new companion and we have been working hard.  We have doubled the number of lessons we were teaching last transfer.  It's pretty cool! My new companion is a hard working sister! I love it.  We're having a lot of fun! 

Biggest highlight of the week: seeing Daniel and Tasha! I've included a picture of us in front of Chick-fil-a! It was so awesome to see them and hear about home! 

I'm looking forward to Mother's Day on Sunday and skyping home! I love and miss everyone!

Hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister McElderry

P.S. I've included a church marquee I saw the other day.  I wasn't sure if they meant the sermon would be about hell or would feel like 3 hours of hell!

April 28th Letter

Hello everybody! 

I don't have long to talk today! I'm sacrificing email time to see Daniel and Tasha and their kids.  Sorry everyone! I'm really behind on my emailing! That does not mean that I don't love you! I'm really excited to see them.  I'll probably cry.  Just being honest.  

I'll write later.

Love,

Sister McElderry

Short but Sweet

Hey everybody! 

I don't have long to email today.  It's transfers and I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Cook and she's from Utah.  The week was good.  I did a lot of manual labor and don't feel too hot now! I chopped wood! That's right, I'm a working girl now! 

Anyway, I love yall! Sorry it's short this week, I'll write more next week and include pictures.

Love,

Sister McElderry

The mission must be good for Sister McElderry...

She and her companions won the Clean Apartment Award. Are we talking about the same Sister McElderry that left last spring?? Just checking....

Helloooooo

Hey everybody! 

I don't have much time today, my p-day got encroached upon by missionary work! But that's okay! 

I just wanted to tell you about a cool experience we had with a young woman named Spandana Dasari! She's from India and she's is one of the first members of the church there.  She joined the church when there was just a branch in her city, and now there is a whole stake there.... 5 years later! She's here studying accounting at Mississippi college and she's super sweet.  She and her roommates fed us lunchon Saturday and it was a wonderful experience! Her roommates are not members of the church, but they love whenever we visit and have been very impressed by how much the members have reached out to Spandana to help her settle in and adjust to life and the customs here.  The food they served us was super hot and we had to eat with our hands, but it was a neat experience.  They told us about life in India and their favorite things about the US.  Then an older woman came in name Rosalind.  We found out that she owns the local Indian restaurant and she instantly offered to have us come eat there for free and have a party in our honor.  I was so touched by how kind they all were.  They don't hardly know us and these 3 women barely have any money to survive on here, but they wanted to serve us.  I love their example.  

I hope everyone back home is doing well.  I've loved all the emails I've gotten over the past week (people should get married while I'm gone more often!)  Thank you for all of the kind thoughts and prayers! 

Love,

Sister McElderry

April 7th Letter

Hey there everyone! 

I survived another week! We had some ups and downs, miracles and disappointments! Such is life.  We're given experiences to learn and grow and learn and grow some more.  Whenever I feel too comfortable or too confident, I am presented with another opportunity to choose what kind of person I want to be.  

Last Monday we went fishing! This is one of those times where I was presented with the opportunity to choose what kind of person I want to be, and I've decided that I will not be the kind of person who FISHES! I caught one, but I felt horrible putting the live crickets on the hook.  And I got sunburned.  Nope, not for me! 

We had a neat experience with our investigator Danielle.  We went to visit her at work (she cares for a less active man's special needs sister).  We were getting ready to leave when out of nowhere she confronts this man about the fact that he doesn't go to church.  She was like "why are you letting other people keep you from the blessings of God?" (he says he doesn't like that people gossip at church or something like that).  It was a pretty intense conversation, but I think it was good.  For all who were involved.  I'm proud of Danielle for how much she's grown! Her courage inspired me to be more bold as a missionary.  What do I have to lose besides the opportunity to bless someone's life! 

General Conference was awesome! A little overwhelming, but still wonderful! We were the only ones in the church building watching it because everyone else was watching it at home! I need to reread all the talks a lot more slowly to get more out of them.  I loved the exhortation to all families to study from Preach My Gospel!   How cool is that!? I would love to receive emails with insights from your studies in that book.  I'll try my best to include my insights from this point on.  

So I guess I'll close with what I've been studying and my testimony! I've really been studying up on the role that agency plays in every aspect of our lives.  Every moment of every day we are given the gift to choose happiness or to choose misery.  With every choice come a consequence and while we get to make our own choices, we don't get to decide the consequences.  I've been trying to be more conscientious about my choices and the effects that they have on myself and others.  I'm trying to focus on the choices that will bring me lasting happiness as opposed to temporary pleasure.  I know that our Heavenly Father has given us this gift so we can learn these lessons for ourselves. I'm grateful that He provided our Savior, Jesus Christ, because He knew we would struggle and make bad choices.  I'm grateful for the relief from guilt and emotional burdens his sacrifice gives me when I choose to turn to him.  I pray that you all will ponder what effects your choices make on yourselves and your families.  My hope is for all of us to enjoy eternal happiness together! Free of sickness, pains, and regrets.  I love you and am so grateful for your examples and love.

Love,

Sister McElderry

March 31st Letter

Hello everyone!

I hope you enjoyed your week! I was excited to hear about Joey and Christine getting married! I'm excited to see their pictures! Thank you Robert for the upside down picture of me! That's the only picture I have right now! I'm glad everyone was able to travel safely! 

Well, I had a regular week.  We are continuing to work with Danielle.  She's super solid and awesome.  She's overcoming some more trials, but she has a wonderful attitude and testimony.  She's been reading from the illustrated Book of Mormon with her children and proudly had them tell us what they remembered from what they've read.  She also attended the Women's Broadcast on Saturday.  We had a neat experience.  There was a video that illustrated how we should be focused on the temple in ever stage of our life.   Danielle saw an image of a temple and said "That building is so beautiful." I replied "My brother got married there today."  Then later there is a scene where a woman is placing flowers on the grave of her husband and the temple is in the background.  Danielle leaned over and said "Till death do us part" and I said back to her "In the temple, there is no 'til death do us part,' you're married 'for time and all eternity.'" It was a really cool moment where the magnitude of the temple and the blessings and meaning really hit me.  I still don't understand the everything about the temple, but I'm so grateful for the little I do know. I can't wait to go to the temple when I get home from my mission!

There is a new woman on our radar now! Her name is Paula.  SHE'S SO AWESOME!!!! She was introduced to us through a friend she met at the gym.  We met with her and were really nervous to teach her, but we followed the spirit in our lesson and it was SO GOOD! I told her at the beginning to pay attention to the thoughts and feelings she got from the spirit because it would teach her more than we would.  We taught about prophets and how Christ established his perfect gospel when he lived on the earth.  Then we talked about how that perfect gospel was lost and distorted.  We shared Amos 8:11-12 and she loved that scripture.  She said she has felt that way all throughout her life as she has searched for truth.  We talked about the need for a restoration and Joseph Smith and the current prophet today.  She was very open and sincere about finding out for herself.  She came to church on Sunday and had a neat experience.  She's coming to conference this weekend so she can hear President Monson herself!  

Those are my two favorite people this week! There are others that we are working with, but those are at the top right now!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Sister McElderry

I spy Sister McElderry

Sister McElderry made a few appearances on the Jackson Mississippi Mission Blog this past month. Enjoy!

March 24th Letter

Hey there Family! 

You guys are probably all preparing for the upcoming wedding for Joey and Christine.  I'm sure it will prove to be a typical Lampoon-McElderry vacation for everyone.  I hope everything goes well though! 

I thought I would send a quick email telling you that I'm alive and well.  Some highlights from my week:

-We took our investigator Danielle to a mexican restaurant for her birthday.  She loved it and felt really special.  We were in a hurry because we were running late for an appointment when all was said and done so we quickly paid the ticket and got out of there.  It was super crazy and the workers were all super busy.  After our appointment we were heading home and we were discussing how cheap the meal ended up being.  We got home and started to plan and then decided that we didn't feel right about how cheap it was.  It was almost our curfew, but we drove back to the restaurant and talked to the host about the ticket.  It turns out that the waiter accidentally gave us the wrong ticket and we only paid HALF of what the full ticket was.  He was going to have to pay the rest out of his pay check.  We happily paid the rest of the ticket and the host told the waiter.  He said that the waiter immediately got happy.  They asked how we knew to come back and we told them that we didn't feel right about what we paid, so we decided to check to make sure it was correct.  As we were leaving they asked if we were Baptists (everyone is here is Baptist) and we happily told them "Nope! We're the Mormons!"

-We attended a Baptist "home church" where they meet in different people's homes instead of in a building.  It was interesting.  I felt like I was at a folk concert.  It was really fun and had really lively music! It felt good, but lacked the depth that the fullness of the gospel has.  Our investigator who invited us made a comment basically saying that she is investigating the church to see if she's missing something, and if not, then to help us see that we're missing something.  I have pondered that idea a lot since she said it.  I feel like she does a lot of wonderful things with her life.  She is very devoted to living the gospel as she knows it.  I feel like as members, we match that level of devotion and MORE! I feel like asking her to show me what more I could do to try to be more Christlike besides refine what I am currently doing!

-I feel really gross thinking back on this now.  A member took us out to eat at a hole in the wall place called "Cock of the Walk."  She drove us wayyyyy out in to the country to try the best fried catfish in all of Mississippi.  I had a whole deep fried catfish.  Fins, tail, everything.  I felt SOOO sick afterward.  So much fried food! Everyone assumes that I ate stuff like that for dinner every night growing up in Arkansas, but thankfully we didn't! I would probably have been very sickly because I'm not handling it well now.  

That's pretty much it! We're working with people and trying to address their concerns.  Some are easier to discern than others.  I love working with these people.  It's truly a blessing.  Some days I want to lovingly beat them over the head! But seeing the growth in them and in myself is worth it!

I love you guys! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister McElderry

March 11th Letter

Hey! 

Just a quick update:

Transfers happened today! I lost one companion and gained a new one! Sister Hansen.  She's super sweet! See if you can guess which one she is!

Four visa waiters left for Brazil this week.  They all have to report to the Brazil MTC again for two weeks for intense language training.  My baby girl Sister Armstrong got her visa! She is leaving in a couple hours! 

Other than that, just regular old work!

March 3 Letter

Hello All!

I just wanted to quickly tell you about an awesome experience we had this week! 

Our investigator Danielle came to church on Sunday and right before the very end, she got up and bore her testimony! She talked about how she knows the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true.  She said she's not a member..... yet! She's so awesome!  I've included a picture of the two of us after church on Sunday.  I just wanted to share with everyone how much I love her and how excited I am for her!

I hope everyone is doing well! Many of you already received my surprise.  Just know that it was a joke! I thought you guys would get a kick out of it!

I'm happy and working hard down here.  I love and miss all of you.

Sister McElderry

February 24th Letter

ello everybody! 

Mississippi is awesome! The weather is beautiful and the food is delicious! Well, for me anyway.  Not for my companion who got FOOD POISONING! Poor thing.  She still put her skirt on in preparation to go out and work until I yelled at her to get back in bed! We love her, but my third companion and I sat outside so we didnt have to hear her throw up.

Funny story- We were sitting in Jackson getting ready to go teach a lesson in a home, when three boys rode by on their bicycles.  We were a little weirded out because they were staring at us the whole time.  A few minutes later they rode by again and we heard one exclaim to the others, "There's white girls in there!" We laughed about that for a good long while.

Update on my visa: My completed application is sitting in Salt Lake waiting for the OK from the consulate to send more applications in.  The woman told me that my visa is in the very next batch that will be sent in and the turn around rate after that is about 2.5 weeks.  This is very promising news!  I'm almost opposed to going because I really love the people we're working with here!

Because my companion was sick part of the week, we weren't able to get as much done as we would have, but I have included two people who highlighted my week:

Danielle Jackson came to church on Sunday with 5 kids! The are between the ages of 2-14.  She loved sacrament meeting and they loved it too! I sat next to the 6 year olds (they're twins!) and asked them to sing with me.  They didn't know what the hymns were, but they sang with me anyway! I even showed them how to follow along the different verses with their finger and they did it on their own for every hymn.  It was so amazing! I know it's probably not right, but I was so proud to sit with Danielle's family in sacrament meeting.  Another miracle that happened.  There was an impromptu missionary leadership meeting where all the zone leaders and sister training leaders met at our building with the stake presidents and mission president during church.  One of the sisters who came for this meeting was the original one who tried to teach Danielle.  She only saw Danielle at church with her family for a second and didnt recognize her.  After her meeting we told her that the person was Danielle and she burst in to tears.  She told us that the lesson she tried to teach Danielle was the first lesson she ever taught after her trainer left and she had to run the area.  She always felt like a failure because Danielle didn't want to learn more.  It really brought her (and me) comfort to know that even though that was a failed lesson (and I've had many of those) we're still sowing the seeds of the gospel.  Now Danielle is ready to receive the gospel in to her life.  We invited her to be baptized last night during our lesson.  She whole heartedly agreed and loves everything about the gospel.  She still has a lot to learn, but she knows that she's found the truth because of the joy and happiness she sees it bring to the lives of its members.  

That leads me in to talking about the Krason family.  Ashley and Tim Krason met the missionaries a year ago.  They knocked on her door and she turned them away, but then her dog ran out the door and the sisters chased it down for her.  After that, the sisters started helping her clean her house once a week because she had just had a baby and broke her foot.  She had the lessons from the sisters but never felt like it was true.  She is southern baptist and and loves the church and how family oriented it is, but has a couple hang ups with the church.  She's super nice and we recently recontacted her.  She told us last time we saw her that she believes that we're all saved by God's grace regardless of what we do.  She believes, in essence, that Mormons perform service to buy our place in heaven instead of believing that we're all just "saved by grace."  I was honestly a little offended by that statement.  Anyway, they were trying to move this week and asked us sisters to come help.  I told her that I would let another member in the ward know about their need and he would find some people to come help.  The day of the move she didn't think anyone was going to come help her and she was super stressed out.  At the specified time, 3 van loads of youth and men from the elders quorum showed up and had them moved in less than an hour.  She was completely blown away by the outpouring of service.  In my head I was thinking "you cant tell me that 30 people between the ages of 9-50 showed up to help a complete stranger on a Thursday afternoon right after work JUST to buy the bricks for their mansions in heaven."  It's absurd.  Anyway, she asked us to come have another lesson with her this week and we're going to address that and many other issues she may have about the church.  We're preparing a lesson that compares Christ's church in the NT to our church today with scripture citations and everything. 

Those are the top people I'm praying about.  I ask you to please include me and these people in your prayers as well.  And those are the top two miracles I saw this week!  Don't doubt that I saw many more though! 

I want to end by sharing with the family my testimony that this work is real.  I'm so grateful to be a part of the Lord's work at this time and in His chosen location.  I can testify with my whole heart that God does not forget about us.  He's given us so many tools to help us through life and help us find the truth.  He loves us and wants us to be happy.  I had a very humbling week full of experiences that have shown me how aware our Heavenly Father is of our individual needs.  I'm so grateful for the experiences I shared today, and the many others I have every single day.

I love you guys.  I know has gotten really crazy all of a sudden, but keep your chins high and your hopes higher.  

Love,

Sister McElderry