Thursday, August 28, 2014
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!
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
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 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?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)