YOUR FAV. DAY OF THE WEEK! 02/28/2022

This week went by like a blink of an eye! Sister Pace and I were barely together this week with exchanges. I got to be with Sister Burch and it was so much fun! We lived in Newnan together for 3 transfers so it was cool being able to be companions for the day!

On Saturday a boy in our ward had his baptism and it was awesome being able to attend. Sister Romero was with me for exchanges and right when we walked in Bishop pulled us out and asked if we could speak while Caden (the boy) who was changing. Sister Romero has been out for 5 weeks and was a little nervous but we talked about what it means to endure to the end and the spirit was super strong. 

This past week I have been studying covenants and have grown so much. Covenants are so important and is ultimately how we are going to progress the most in this life. They are promises we make to God. He will never leave his end of the deal but it is us that sometimes slips. I was reading a talk called Covenants by President Russel M. Nelson given in 2011 (I highly recommend reading it) it says, 

"The greatest compliment that can be earned here in this life is to be known as a covenant keeper. The rewards for a covenant keeper will be realized both here and hereafter. Scripture declares that “ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, … and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven … [and] dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.” 

Both The Bible and the Book of Mormon teach that we must make covenants here on earth. We don't just make them though, we must keep them. Reading the scriptures, praying, serving one another and repenting are daily acts of faith the we need to do. It does not mean trials won't come as we are striving to keep our covenants with God but we will have a greater strength to endure. I am so grateful that we have the ability to make covenants with God on the earth and I know he desires the best for each of us! 

Pics:

- a carving on stone Mountain from last pday

- outside at Covington Square eating lunch for my 1 year mark! 

- a cool Sunrise from our morning workout

- an ark that the primary used for an activity we went to! 

-Sister Burch and I!!!

-Splits with some YW!

Baseball, Baptisms and Break ups

Hey everyone! A loooooooong week it was! This past Tuesday - Wednesday we had more exchanges which was super fun. Sister Scott came here with me to Covington and she is SO sweet! You always learn so much from every single missionary. This coming week I am going on exchanges with Sister Burch and am so excited! We lived together in Newnan and she is just a beast.

Riley and Graham got baptized! On Saturday we got to drive back to Summer Grove to be there! The spirit was so strong while there. When we first walked it they both came running up to me and have a big hug! I also got to see Sister Johnson and her trainee and members from that ward so it was so fun. Rileys mom gave a talk about the Holy Ghost with an activity during it and Riley and Graham were asked to pick one at a time to go up and open a paper for the activity while it was talked about. Well she told them to pick one of the kids and when Grahams turn came around he said Sister Worley and everyone was laughing haha! It was super cute. 

Also side note, I am not an Einstein when it comes to baseball BUT I do know a little bit, especially serving here in GA with the Braves and all of the talk (plus, Sister Pace is obsessed) So we are looking at the Baptism program and Sister Pace whispers in my hear "IS THAT DALE MURPHY?" And I was like huh and she then told me about him and the Braves and I said ohhhhh, yeah that is (see I know a few people haha). She was so excited. Dale Murphy is Riley and Grahams uncle who baptized them (their dads aren't members) and she was in heaven the whole time there. 

I also felt like I went through a break up this week with Sister Rhea. Sister Rhea was playing with Sister Pace and I. We went over on Friday to help her clean around her apartment as service. Well she sat us down and told us that she has just had a TON of opposition since she has been talking with us (which is true) and then got emotional and told us that she needs more time to pray and study the Book of Mormon before her baptism. Long story short, the whole time we thought she was dumping us but she isn't. She came to church and we have a lesson with her tonight! We testified of God's love for her and the spirit was so strong. She has such a massive testimony.

I was also asked to give a talk on Sunday about service and it went really well. I was so excited to talk about service and share my testimony. Especially because I'm newer in the ward, so it helped people to get to know me. After sacrament, Bishop asked if I would talk more about what I shared in a future activity with the youth and so that will be interesting lol. 

Pics: 

- Sister Scott and I at lunch!

- Riley and Grahams baptism

Valentines Day! 02/14/2022

 Happy Valentines Day everyone! I hope you all know how much I love ya'll! 

This week the Zone Leadership had to give a training in front of the stake leadership, all of the missionary representatives in each ward, and those missionaries serving, and it was so powerful. Facebook in our mission is MASSIVE and we use it so much to find people to teach. We are at the point of getting our members to share our posts into local groups. The effect of what that is, is that they know more people in Georgia and those people in turn then see the posts we make for each stake and if one is then interested they will comment. We have received SO many referrals from people seeing our posts or advertisements that we create, and it is such a cool thing to see the blessings come from using Facebook in missionary work! Last month as a whole mission we reached over 100,500,000 people through Facebook! 

Sister Rhea!! She is so awesome! She has been taught for only about 5 weeks and she is one of the biggest examples to me. She has been through some of the hardest things all combined in life. About 2 weeks ago we had a phone call lesson with her and a member, and the ward member invited her to stop smoking so she can follow the Word of Wisdom fully. Sister Rhea took that challenge and she has fully stopped. We actually had a member dinner and lesson with her and she brought her 2 granddaughters too. We taught about Fasting, and then RIGHT after the lesson she asked if we would fast with her tomorrow to help her have the strength to stop smoking! Her baptism is on the 27th and we are SO excited. 

One of my transfer goals is to study the topic gratitude. I was reading about it in gospel topics and I loved a part that states

"As we cultivate a grateful attitude, we are more likely to be happy and spiritually strong." I think the connection between gratitude and becoming spiritually strong is SO profound. Heavenly Father loves us and blesses us with so much. The world's trends do not line up with Christs Gospel and the affect of it is the change of ones heart. It is so important to have a heart full of gratitude and we will have the strength to overcome all things! ALSO WE WILL BE HAPPY as we have that gratitude. How cool is that? Overall point: be grateful and blessings will come. 

Well I love you all and hope everyone is doing okay! If you ever need anything, don't be afraid to reach out!

Pics (including last week:))

- Sister Pace and I 

- A downtown Covington art wall

- Exchanges with Sister Conde! She is awesome!