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