Wooohooo!

Well, the Lord definitely has a sense of humor. I am pretty sure He didn't send me on a mission to do missionary work. :) Sis. Boehula has been really sick this week and so we have been inside our apartment since Tuesday. Monday night we went out with a member and taught a lesson and then Tuesday we went to St. Vincent's and taught a lesson. But by Tuesday afternoon she was feeling really sick. We went to the doctor on Wednesday and they gave her some medication (that hasn't been helping), took some blood tests, and said to come back in two weeks. She has really bad stomach pain and we think she has TMJ. The unfortunate thing is that Sis. Boehula hasn't told anyone about how she has felt for a year! I guess I was the lucky person to get it out of her. I am also the lucky person who gets to call all the doctors, dentists, mission nurse, and President and Sister McDonough.  It has been quite the adventure this week.

I am trying to work things out with President and Sister McDonough and we will see what happens. We have Zone Conference on Wednesday so we will be able to see them and chat with them more then. Sis. Boehula is so dedicated that she just wants to work through the pain (which is what she has been doing for the last year) but I don't think it is good for her. She can't really function right now and she is so done. She is tired. Please pray for her! But Mom, she got your package today and she was so surprised! It couldn't have come on a more perfect day. :) 

As far as my health fun, I am exercising and attempting to stretch out my back regularly. It still gets really sore.  The good news: I am functioning. 

Investigators:  As of right now we have two that we have met with consistently. Alice is an older woman in her 60's I think who we met while tracting. We had an amazing lesson with her last Tuesday. We taught her about the Restoration and she said she believes everything we are saying. She has started reading the Book of Mormon! She is truly the sweetest person I have ever met. She has had cancer over the last few years and is finally cancer free for right now. Hopefully we will be able to commit her to baptism and invite her to church this week. 

Shinita is another woman we met while tracting. She is in her 30's, is married, and has an 11 year old son. I love her so much! We haven't taught her since last Sunday, but she is very open-minded, is reading the Book of Mormon and actually used to meet with some missionaries when she was in college. One of the greatest things about being a missionary is just having the opportunity to meet people with such sweet spirits and learn from them. Shinita and Alice both have the light of Christ with them and are truly trying to follow our Savior. I am learning just as much from them as they are from me. :) 

Since Sis. Boehula has been so sick we honestly haven't been able to do anything recently. Last night I made a list of people to call and I will hopefully do missionary work by sending out letters and making phone calls. I have no idea what will happen next, but it kills me that Greenville isn't getting the attention it deserves. There are so many people we need to see, but right now Sis. Boehula is our priority. J

This last week the Lord has truly helped me. I have never spent more time on my knees than I did this week. I have never spent more time in the scriptures than I have this week. I don't know why all these things are happening, but apparently the Lord is preparing me for something. Last night I just wanted to be a "normal missionary." Apparently that is not the Lord's plan for me though. :) 

I had several moments this week to ponder on why I still feel happy. It's because I know I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and is aware of what I am going through. I have a Heavenly Father who has created a perfect plan for me and as long as I am willing to listen, He will guide me. I have a Savior who has made it possible for me to return to live with Him and my Father in Heaven. I have a purpose in this life to do my best, work hard, learn a lot, and prepare to become like my Heavenly Father. For the first time I understand why this gospel makes people happy. It makes me so happy. :)

Very late last night I was reading in the book of Acts. In Acts 5:41-42 it says, "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." I love this scripture! It is incredible to me how the Apostles are so grateful to "suffer shame for his name." They are so grateful that they have the opportunity to preach of Christ and to be persecuted for Him. What a positive attitude they have! I want to be like that. I want to be grateful for every struggle I have just to preach about my Savior. Do we have that kind of attitude? Are we willing to go through anything to stand as witnesses of Christ? Just something I was thinking about. 

Well, that is about all for this week. Hopefully next Monday I will have an update of everything going on here. It is hard, but I am doing my best to hang in there. I love you all!

Love, Sister Fry

Oh, the weather outside is frightful!

 

 

Sister Fry and her girl scout cookies

Sister Fry and Sister Boehula playing basketball with Zay

Sister Fry in the snow

Hello family,

Glad to hear that it was a good week for everyone! Alright, I am going to take this day by day. 

Monday - After emailing the roads were really icy so we didn't go out at all in the evening. While we were at Walmart a guy came up to us and asked Sis. Boehula if we were LDS missionaries. We said "yes" and he told us that he and his wife were members and that they live down in Louisiana. Brother and Sister Barker - so wonderful! As a missionary it is the most exciting thing in the world when someone comes up to you and says they are a member. They told us that they were in Greenville for work and after talking to them for a bit they asked if they could buy our groceries. Huge tender mercy! It was such a surreal thing because we literally had just met them, they paid for our groceries, and then we left. There are so many ways that members can help with the missionary work. Whether it be feeding them, buying their groceries, taking them out to appointments, letting them go home teaching/visiting teaching with them, or just being a missionary themselves! Yesterday (sorry I am jumping ahead) we had Stake Conference in Monroe and President and Sister McDonough spoke. President spoke on the important role that the members play in missionary work. He said the only thing members need to know how to do is say "YES"! 

Missionary: Can you take us to an appointment with an investigator? 

Member: Yes!

Missionary: Will you feed us dinner?

Member: Yes!

Missionary: Can we go visiting teaching with you?

Member: Yes!

Haha, I really liked how President said that. The members aren't here to help the missionaries, but rather the missionaries are here to help the members. Our ward needs a lot of work with reactivation and getting people back into the church. As missionaries it is our full-time calling to do the work, but it is the members that will help others stay strong in the gospel. 

So since we stayed in Monday night we made pancakes and eggs. It's funny how with certain people you go through phases of food you eat. With Sis. Boehula it is pancakes and eggs....we eat a lot of this. :)

Tuesday - We went to St. Vincent's, but no one was there because it was so icy. So weird! We went out and contacted a lot of people we hadn't seen in a while. We were able to set up some return appointments which was good. While trying to contact an investigator, her brother was coming out of the door and so we talked to him for a minute. He looked at us and said, "Well you two look like two little drinks." Nice. I won't repeat what else he said. I had to explain to Sis. Boehula what he meant - it is sad how I feel like I am becoming more corrupted than ever while being out my mission. People are nuts and disturbing at the same time!

Wednesday - We went to DDM and during it Greenville became a winter wonderland! I am not kidding....it was perfect snow! It was heavy and so good for packing. The Elders started a snowball fight when we went out to the cars (the ZLs were there so it was basically Sis. Boehula and I against 6 Elders). I was supposed to have a doctors appointment but that got cancelled because it started snowing. Y'all are correct - everything shut down here! We went to lunch and then layered up and went tracting! Sis. Boehula was in heaven because she had never seen snow before. Even though it was dumping snow, we actually had a rather successful time because people felt bad for us so they let us come in and teach them. What's funny is one of the ladies we tracted into actually works at the Family Medical Center which is where Sis. White and I spent most of last transfer. As soon as she opened the door I recognized her immediately and she let us teach her a lesson. Oh the people you meet! 

We also taught a lady who has five kids. We met her the day before while tracting and she said we could come back the next day so we went back. She let us, gathered her five little kiddies around her, and made all of them listen. It was awesome! Her name is Jackie and we committed her and her 12 year old son to baptism. We went back on Saturday for another appointment and they weren't home and she didn't answer her phone. So we will see where this ends up going. 

At DDM, we analyzed D&C 4 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/4?lang=eng . We recite this at every DDM and zone conference. It was really interesting going deeper into what it means to serve the Lord with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. Read through it and think about it. :) 

Thursday - We were finally able to meet with Sherry! She is doing good. She has been really struggling but we had a good talk and lesson and we will be making her a priority to go and visit her. After trying to visit some investigators we were walking back to our car and I noticed a lady in her driveway putting stuff in her trunk. In her trunk were boxes and boxes of girl scout cookies!! Sis. Boehula probably thought I was nuts but I ran up to the lady and asked if she was selling them. She was, so I bought 3 boxes! Holy cow! I was so happy! Thanks Mom for being a firm believer in girl scout cookies. ;) 

Friday - Slept ALL day. My back has been in a lot of pain all week and I can feel that the muscle spasms are back. The mission nurse told me to start taking the muscle relaxers again. Here's the issue: I took them on Friday and they literally knocked me out ALL day. I positively cannot function when taking them, but nothing else really helps. So I stopped taking them after Friday and have just been pushing through the pain.  I don't have time to stay inside and take the muscle relaxers. Not quite sure what to do. I have decided I am tired of being a grown up. Argh! We have interviews in a week and a half so I guess I will just talk to President then.  

Saturday - Tracted for about two and a half hours. Funny story - We were knocking on some doors and across the street there were some boys playing basketball. One of the boys pointed at us and told us to go over there. He was a little handicapped so this makes it even better! He was the sweetest kid and he kept telling us where to stand and when to pass the ball to him so he could shoot. After a few minutes the other boys were telling him we needed to go but he would not have it! So we played basketball for a bit in our skirts and with our bags on. So funny! Afterwards we started talking to some of the other boys and we gave them a card. Then we walked away and a few minutes later one of the other boys (who is 20) asked if he could take a picture with us. I nearly died because I thought it was hilarious, but Sis. Boehula was freaked out!

Sunday - Rode with the Hughes to Stake Conference. It was really good! The Baton Rouge Temple President and Matron spoke, President and Sister McDonough, and the Stake Presidency, and two guys who are about to leave on their missions. One thing that the Temple President said is that we are all "baby Gods." Just think about it - we are all children of God and our ultimate goal is to one day be like our Heavenly Father. We had a really good talk with the Hughes on the way home about how we can reactivate people. One thing that President McDonough always says: Everyone has a window. You have no idea when that window will open. That is why we always need to keep trying. It really helped the Hughes get a better perspective because it is frustrating how they have been trying to get people to come back for 10 years and they still won't. Their window hasn't come yet. We can't give up. 

Well, that is about all for this week. This morning was hard. Trying my best not to feel discouraged or overwhelmed. I am exhausted from this week and we have another busy one ahead of us. I know Heavenly Father can give me the strength though. I love you all! Keep working hard!

Love, Sister Fry