Snow in Georgia? 01/17/22

Hey Everyone! I hope y'all had a good week and stayed safe! This week we had interviews with President Needs and his wife! They went really well. President and I talked a lot about how the area I am currently in called Summer Grove has been doing well especially with growing the Spanish group. President Needs told me how I have been in Summer Grove for too long and that I will be leaving at the next transfer date. We don't officially receive transfer news until this Saturday but that made my heart break a little to hear because I have loved working here! 

This week we found a few new Spanish people to teach and went and visited them with Hermana Medorio! Sister Johnson and I have also found success with calling people who were taught in the past that want to learn more about Christ Gospel. We also found 2 different Jose's to teach (haha what a coincidence) 

Last week we shared a little miracle with the guy, Bill who was home and said he has been studying the Book of Mormon. Well we went back over this week yet Bill wasn't home but we scheduled a time to come over this week to teach him and his wife! 

Riley and Graham are officially on date for teach of their baptisms! After church on Sunday we had another lesson with them both and talked about their coming baptism events to come and they are so excited.

SNOW! I didn't think it showed in Georgia! Well it definitely did on Sunday! Ever since Friday it has been SO cold here.

I love you all and so does Heavenly Father! I hope you have a great week!!

Pics:

- Sister Johnson and my boujee take out dinner from our members in a Taco Bell parking lot 

-Newnan art wall

- Downtown with the roommates 

- The snow that hit on Sunday!

Shady Grady 01/10/2022

Hey Everyone! I hope you all had a good week! You might be wondering why is the subject "Shady Grady" so i'll explain. This past week Sister Johnson and I called A LOT of people who have been taught in the past by other missionaries yet they stopped teaching them, but we have had some success. One was an old man named Grady. He is super kind and wants to continue to have phone call meetings to talk about the Gospel. Well we had our second call with Him this past week and at the end he said his nickname is Shady Grady that an old preacher gave him it because when he was younger he would jump around visiting so many different churches. One of the preachers confessed to him after many times of coming to his church, that he thought it was Shady. He nicknamed Grady, Shady Grady. So anyways kinda cool and kinda wack lol. He had a Book of Mormon but requested a bigger print one and on Saturday when we met him downtown on the square for our appointment. 

Some exciting news: Riley and Graham are both getting baptized February 19th! They are the 10 year olds we teach and both of their dads aren't members. I absolutely love them! It breaks my heart because transfers are 2 weeks before there scheduled baptisms and I will be leaving the area (as President Needs has reminded us that I am leaving) I do feel so blessed to be able to work with so many part member families in the mission, including Rebecca from the area of Jackson and Emmalyn too! It has been so much fun being able to testify of the joy that Christs Gospel brings, including my experience with seeing my dad be baptized! We told them I won't be here and they were so sad and asked if I could come back for the baptism and I said I will come back to it! :)

Also, ALWAYS LISTEN TO LITTLE PROMPTINGS! On Saturday Sister Johnson and I visited a less active family until about 4:30 and we needed to be home by 5 (gotta love car shares) I was like let's see if we can try to visit someone who was taught in the past in this area too. (Sister Johnson was hesitant because of time but didn't say no) We looked and I saw there was an older couple who was taught in the past and said we could go by them and ask if they are interested again! So when we got to the door a man answered and said sorry he is talking to his son then said one second and shut the door. We waited, then a few minutes later he swung open the door and we told him who we were and he said his son is in an accident and can't talk right now but wants us to come back. Then not even a second later he popped back inside and grabbed a Book off of a side table and waved it and said "I have been doing my homework and studying a lot recently!!!"(guess what...it was a Book of Mormon!) We said oh wow and told him we will call him and set up a time to come back because he was in a hurry and he said yes please! Once we got into the car we looked at his past history that indicated that he and his wife were taught in 2019 during the beginning of the pandemic and have not had any missionary contact since! 

This past week I was studying a talk called To Be A Follower of Christ by Elder Alfred Kyungu and it contained a quote that I love. "Let us have the courage to do what is right even when it is unpopular—the courage to defend our faith and to act by faith. Let us have the courage to repent daily, the courage to accept God’s will and obey His commandments. Let us have the courage to live righteously and to do what is expected of us in our various responsibilities and positions."

We need to have courage to do what is right even when it is unpopular. Whether that is saying sorry for something, sharing your testimony when others may not be a believer, or simply not following into the trends of the world that don't support Christs Gospel. I know that God loves us and I know that He is ALWAYS aware of the things we are going through. I want to invite you all to not give up on Jesus Christ! Keep doing what is right!

Pictures:

- Sister Johnson and I helping the Vaughns put their Christmas stuff in their attic 

- Comp Date at Redneck Gourmet! (in downtown Newnan, GA) 

- Morning walk! 

-District bowling 

- The sisters when they were in quarantine last week

Almost Quarantined Again... 01/03/22

 Happy New Year! 

This past week the Sisters that I and Sister Johnson live with were in quarantine and they just got out yesterday! They had to stay in their room the whole time so we wouldn't get Covid, and Sister Johnson and I feel great so that is good! Allegedly from the things I have heard, Georgia is pretty legit with Covid right now and I can verify that hahah. All of the missionaries in the Atlanta Zone are in Covid quarantine. Kinda crazy.

This week there was also some BIG thunder and rain storms so that was fun to see and experience! (I love stormy weather)

The past two weeks have been slower with lessons and Sister Johnson and I have spent SO many hours searching for people to share the gospel with especially on Facebook. We have been praying to find more people to teach and that their hearts will be open to hear a message of the Restoration. On Saturday night we had some miracles. We spent pretty much all day searching for people to teach. We called a lot of people that were once taught by past missionaries to see if they were interested again and we had 6 people answer! One of them asked us to call back within 15 minutes! He was legit and had come to church in the past and said that he wants to learn more about the Jesus. 

I typically am not the one to make new years goals but our Prophet Russell M. Nelson posted something on Facebook that I absolutely loved relating to this new year! He said; 

"First resolve to strengthen your spiritual foundation....Second resolve to be kind to others...Resolve to be resolute" I love that we have a prophet that leads and guides us not just in our spiritual growth but our character! I know that God loves us so much that He gave us a guide through life and I know that if you follow the council of Him while making new years goals you will come so much closer to the Savior this year!

-Love, Hermana Worley 

Talk to y'all in 2022 12/27/2021

Hey everyone! I hope that all of you had a great Christmas this past week! Our Christmas day was not too crazy. Our President advised Christmas to be a no proselyting day so we did not have any lessons to teach and couldn't really contact many people in person either. Although, we sent Merry Christmas messages to about everyone we knew. We had Christmas Eve with the Stewart family and Christmas dinner with the Kiser family. The Kisers are super kind and remind me of my own family so it was fun!

On Wednesday we had a mission Christmas party/conference. It was so fun! I got to see Sister Watson and Sister Golightly! I found out that Sister Golightly is going to Chile on January 20th so it was the last time I'll see her until we are off our missions. 

I have two bad news and one good to share. On Sunday the APs (Assistants to President) called us and told us they are taking our car back because they have a car shortage in the area and since we live with other sisters we can just share the one car. So that is kinda rough but oh well. The second is that the Sisters we live with are in Covid Quarantine status in their rooms and are getting tested tomorrow due to feeling ill.  The good news is that Sister Johnson and I are feeling really good and that we don't have to do a car share right now, because the other Sisters can't leave the apartment. So it's a "loose-win" situation currently, haha. 

I hope you all have been able to feel the Joy from the Savior this season and continue to this next year as well! I love you all and thank you so much for the letters and treats!

Pictures:

1. Sister Johnson and I

2. Our matching PJs (we had a zoom lesson with our friend Alisha and she was wearing the same PJs we have...awkward...made us feel like old ladies)

3. Sister Champagne and I:)

4. The district 

5. Hermana Golightly!!! (Last picture until we are off missions)

6. Papa Williams house lit up

7. Downtown Newnan on Christmas Eve

8. Our last "post-baptism" discussion with Emmalyn and her new pet!

9. Downtown Newnan

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hey Everyone!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM YOUR FAVORITE MISSIONARY!!! Sorry but I don't have a lot of time, here are some pictures below!!!

1- Good Ole Fries we made!

2- Santa Claus!!

3- Sister Johnson with the nutcracker. We found this nutcracker in the closet of our apartment and we have been playing elf on the shelf with the nutcracker. Sister Johnson felt the need to take it with us... haha

Just Look For The Good 12/13/21

Hello everyone!!! I think I jinxed GA weather from last weeks email saying it has been so nice! This week the weather was wack. It was super foggy, had lots of rain and was gloomy. 

Keeping it real right now, this week was rough. We had lots of lessons cancel and a handful of our friends we are teaching have ghosted us BUT looking back I have seen so many miracles. We have been able to find a new friend to teach and we have visited and met some less active and part member families! 

On Tuesday night Sister Johnson and I went and brought cookies to Brother and Sister Montonaro. It was our first time meeting them and it was so good! Brother Montonaro is one of a kind funny (he reminds me of brother Knight from my last area). He has written lots of books and was a writer when he was employed. He also gave us a reading on our hand writing. He can look at someone's handwriting and analyze it, so he can tell about the person. When we were about to leave Sister Montonaro said well why don't you both just stay here forever! We told them we will see them at church and they came! 

This week we went and stopped by one of our friends the Trasenas family. We hadn't seen her in person but we stopped by because we hadn't had any contact with her in a few weeks. When we pulled up to her home she opened the door up and invited us right in! It went pretty well. She has a tiger sitting area and everything was tiger decorated it was interesting! At the end she told us to come on back over any day next week in the morning! We are looking forward to that. 

Saturday night Sister Vaughn invited us over to her home to decorate her Christmas tree because she and her husband physically can't. do ti any more. They enjoyed it so much! So did we:) We got to know her husband pretty well and by the end they were both giving us advice for life. One thing I love that he said is that life is hard and you will go through hard things but there is one thing that will change everything. He paused and then said your attitude. He told us "just look for the good" because there will always be negative things if you are looking with a negative perspective. We have to CHOOSE to be positive. No one can make us feel a certain way, we are able to choose to be positive or negative! I love you all and I hope this week y'all choose to be positive! 

Pictures:

1- The fog in GA

2- Grinch Lunch! The Craig's invited us to their annual Grinch lunch where everything we eat is green! As Sister Craig says "You celebrate the change of heart the Grinch had" 

3- Sister Johnson kept playing tricks on me and messing with me all week

4- Decorating the Christmas tree!

A Limping Sister Missionary 12/06/21

Well to start off with the limping Sister Missionary as I said in the subject line, ya got it right, lol it is me. Georgia has some big gutters and we parked right next to one. I stepped down not realizing how steep it was and I rolled my ankle.  I was in Flat Creek with one of the STLS on exchanges, and sure did had some laughs after I fell. Sister Chickoski has a sprained ankle too so we both were walking funky. Sorry it wasn't a cool story.

We also had interviews with President! We talked about how the area is going and the Spanish as well. He started talking about how training Sister Johnson is going (a lot of fun) and he goes "that's good, because you have the second half of her training together!" It took him a second to realize that I am done training her this transfer, so that was awkward haha! Don't know if that means we get to stay together another transfer period or not, but I would be happy if we did stay together!! We will find out transfer news on Saturday.

We set up Christmas in our apartment!! In missionary apartments there is everything, including Christmas decorations! So we set some up and have a count down going. The weather definitely does not feel like Christmas here in Georgia. Just the other day it was 70 degrees and sunny! 

On Sunday Jesús came to church! Hermano Sanchez gave him a ride and we had a lesson our second hour of church service time together. We talked about the restoration of Christs restored Gospel, and how we have the Book of Mormon. The lesson went really well! 

We are still teaching Riley and Graham before church and it is so much fun! On Sunday we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ, faith, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. We got to explain that when we are baptized we aren't being held under water and that it isn't scary. Clearing that up made them super excited lol.

Light the World!!!!! Every year the church has a service advent calendar leading up to Christmas that starts December 1st. Every day the calendar gives a prompt of some sort of service, and you all are invited to do it too! Sister Johnson and I have loved doing each days event listed on the calendar  and so have some of our friends. It is a super easy way to remember the meaning of Christmas and service! I attached it below for those that haven't heard of this before! 

Pictures: 

-Hiking for Hope with other Sisters (a member started a hiking group some of our friends go to!)

-Sister Chickoski and I

- After exchanges! 

-Light the World Calendar

-District Council!