Hispanos 03/21/22

Miracles on miracles!!! My area, Covington, is an English area, although President Needs told me in an interview that I am here with Sister Bettinger (she changed her language while in the mission to Spanish) to find people in Spanish! So we have been praying really hard to find people in Spanish. Well last Monday we were walking in Covington Square and there was a cat in the road and Sister Bettinger ran and started petting it with another lady. Soon we realized they were Hispanic and so I went over to the husband (I don't like cats) and started talking. We explained our purpose and they didn't seem too excited about the Gospel but did like English Class! So we got His number and have been scheduling a time to teach him! 

Another miracle! So on Saturday Sister Bettinger and I were DRAINED from planning the Why I Believe program, so she wanted to go to the gas station to get a soda. Well we walk in and see two Hispanics. After she gets her soda we go up and ask how they are doing (a great attention grabber is just asking how they are as passing because they are confused why we know Spanish lol) So we explained our purpose and told them also about English classes and both of them want to come to church in English with us! They knew a little English but not a bunch. 

God is soooooo good and he will use us as instruments in His hands if we allow Him. We had Zone Conference this week and we talked a lot about our will. How the BIGGEST sacrifice that we can give Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is our will. Are we willing to take time to read our scriptures daily? Are we willing to pray to Heavenly Father daily? Are we willing to love to our neighbors? Are we willing to let the gospel change us into who Heavenly Father expects us to be? I know that He loves each and every one of us. We can show our love for Him by being willing to be instruments in His hands!

I love you all! Have a good week!

SISTER BETTINGER 03/14/21

Well Sister Pace left! We were sad when we found out she was leaving because we thought we would be together for another transfer. My new companion is Sister Bettinger and she is nice. We are pretty different but we still get along. She is from California, the second oldest, loves cats, has been out on her mission about the same time as me (came out differently though because she is called English speaking) and we have both been companions in the past with SISTER GINN! 

The beginning of the week we took one of the other sister missionaries to the airport because she was going home, so we were in a trio with her companion on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. This transfer one of our sister areas that was shut down also which was wack! Then yesterday we had a combined church with another ward and it got announced that our ward is splitting because it is really big and we got a new Bishop called. Sadly, we have a few friends that are now in the Conyers ward so we will have to pass them off to the other sister missionaries in that area now. 

A big event that we are running on Facebook is called Why I Believe. It is pretty much a 30 minute live (pre-recorded) that the stake started doing a year or so ago to help find people to teach and the missionaries run it. (AKA the Zone Leaders, Sister Bettinger and I are doing it all with the help of our technology Elders in the mission) There will be members of our stake talking about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, one of the wards children's choir is singing in it and an adult choir is as well! It is going to be put up on Facebook the Sunday before Easter to get people in the spirit! We are super excited to see how it goes. The FB page that we run in this Zone is "Followers of Jesus Christ SE of ATL" ...so if you want uplifting content, go follow it! 

Our friend Sister Rhea is doing really well. I brought Sister Bettinger over on Thursday so Sister Rhea could meet her and we had a good lesson. She is one of the toughest women I know. She has gone through so much recently but is so dedicated. I always feel the spirit so strongly in lessons with her. We are helping her make a goal with the Word of Wisdom, so keep her in your prayers! 

Really cool experience; we had dinner with Sister Cowart on Saturday night and right before, she texted us asking to move it to her daughter's home because her son is law (Bro. Packner) recently had a stroke. Well at the end we shared a thought and went into the room where he was at and the spirit was so strong. Earlier that day we felt prompted to talk about Covenants so we read through Mosiah 24:12-15 and talked about it. They all told us at the end that the Lord needed us to be there at the time with that message. We told them how we will be back to visit again this week and they were super happy. AND Sister Cowart is going to feed us authentic Philippine food so that is a plus!

I know that the Lord uses each of us to receive answers through the spirit. I hope that every day if you have a good thought or feel prompted to do something you will act because you NEVER know what someone needs at the time.

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!

HERMANA PACE 01/31/22

Well transfers came and I am BACK in the Conyers zone. How it works in the mission is that there are multiple teaching areas in each zone (our mission has 7 Zones across GA). My first area was Stone Mountain and then it was Jackson, then from Jackson I went to Newnan! I got a call the day before transfer day indicating that I am being called as a Sister Training Leader (STL). At the transfer meeting last week I was told that I would be over the Conyers Zone! I am SO VERY excited to be back in this zone! The area I am over is in the town called Covington. I have had non-stop deja'vu because this is the Stake I have been in during the majority of my mission. It is really cool because on Sunday the mission was filming videos for Facebook of the members in each stake for their Facebook page and I got to see Angie Webb from Jackson! She saw us pulling in the parking lot and she started to get so excited! I have seen so many people from my last areas because we work hand in hand with the Conyers Stake Leaders! Sad though because Stone Mountain was closed/shut down this transfer and Jackson was white washed (meaning all new missionaries) when I left.

SIDE NOTE: When I got a call to be a STL, sister Johnson was called to be a trainer! So she is training right off of her training period! She is so awesome!

My new companion is Sister Pace and she is awesome. One of the sisters that I came out with on the mission was trained by Sister Pace and we have been wanting to be companions! She is from Utah, is the oldest child in her family, she loves volleyball and sports, she likes to go boating and hiking, and she has been out on the mission for 15 months. We believe that we will stay together for one more after this and she will "die" here. 

We are teaching one lady and she was just put on date to be baptized soon. The missionaries found her in the beginning of January and she has gained a MASSIVE testimony of the Book of Mormon and this church. She has so many member friends and will contact us every day about what she reads and how excited she is for her baptism. She was definitely prepared by God!

A cool little miracle! On Thursday we received a referral from someone named Ronnie wanting to learn about the Book of Mormon. Initially we hadn't made contact with Ronnie, so Sister Pace and I decided to just stop by. He wasn't home so we tried again on Sunday and we explained who we were and he was so excited. He let us right inside his home and we talked with him. Right away he said that he wants to grow his relationship with God and that he needs a change, something to help him take steps to be prepared to return to Jesus Christ. The Spirit was so strong as we testified that the answer he is looking for is contained within the Book of Mormon. He asked told us he wants to do studies with us many times a week! 

Quote of the week from Sister Pace: 

"He doesn't care when you come to the party he just cares you're here" 

- Kinda funny but it's true. God wants us to come to him no matter what. His arms are ALWAYS open for us! Go to Him no matter what stage you are at or where you feel your testimony may be!

Pics:

- goodbyes 

- Sister Pace and I

- 4 generations of being trained:) 

An End to Summer Grove 01/24/2022

My time in Summer Grove has come to an end. On Saturday night the Zone Leaders and STLs let us know if we are leaving or not, for this weeks transfer schedule. I was on the list of those that were leaving. In my mission we don't find out where or who is scheduled to be transferring until the meeting this week on Wednesday. I got to say bye to all my favorite people though so I am good! I am ready for a change, I haven't stayed in an area longer than 3 transfers so I am at that point again. 

This week we had a lesson with Anna! She is sick again which is so sad. We haven't been having too many lessons (over the phone) due to her being ill but we just keep praying she gets over this sickness soon! We also had a good phone call with Alisha! Alisha is just so awesome. She has been taught by missionaries for a long time now and she has told us MANY times she wants to be a member. So in one of our lessons this past week we were really bold with her. We even made a plan with her to help her reach that goal she has. She is trying to follow the Word of Wisdom more and as she is giving up something, so are we too to help her, so we are all fasting sugar in support. Hahah Sister Johnson was like huh when I told her the idea. and that I have done it in the past with Carla and it want really well and it helped her. The point is that as she is trying to stop consuming something addictive, we are fasting for her with one thing we love...sugar! 

Last Thursday to Friday we had exchanges! One of the STLS came here to Summer Grove with me SISTER FURHIMAN! Then Sister Johnson went to their area with the other STL. I love Sister Furhiman! She is also from Idaho too and I know her cousins really well so it was a blast spending time with her! We went and visited some people that were taught in the past...3 out of the 9 houses we went to there was no house. Lol like we pulled up and looked to the right and left and it was an empty lot, we were dying. Over all, it was really fun!  

I hope that you all have a fantastic week and I will email y'all from my new area and about my new companion too next week! :)

- Hermana Worley 

Pics: 

-Hermana Medorio and Daisy

-Brother and Sister Vaughan 

- Hermano Sanchez 

- Sister Furhiman and I

- The other Sisters!